Be-In Blog

Organic Solutions

digitalbein — Thu, 04 May 2006 21:34:15 GMT

[Re-posted from Sophia's blog] The Organic Solutions Panel was the second of three panels at the Earth Day Digital Be-In's Planet Code Symposium (http://www.be-in.com/symposium.html ). Kari Winn from Planetwork moderated with speakers Randy Hayes, Executive Director, International Forum on Globalization, “Redwood Mary” Kaczorowski, Women’s Global Green Action Network (http://www.wggan.org ), Mark Kasky, co-founder, Green Century Institute. One of the topics Randy Hayes touched on was the decline in our biosphere, evidence of which was to be seen in recent deadly heat waves, such as the one that killed 3000 in France in 2003. He called them eco-spasms of the biosphere. Not to be all doom and gloom, Hayes then shifted his tone on how to change the saying "Another world is possible" into "Another world is probable." His belief was that this could be brought about by switching to community-led economies. Localization is part of the anti-globalization that is spreading, he said. Redwood Mary also talked about community-based solutions to environmental degradation. From the outset she framed the situation as an opportunity for action. Mary emphasized keeping hope alive and using technology for communication. Her organization, Women’s Global Green Action Network, uses Skype to connect women on different continents, for example. Mary called for women to empower themselves, pointing out the role of mothers in holding together community. Women, she said, are often the ones to help pick up after natural disasters. Therefore Mary said it's important for women who have access to technology to engage in outreach and mentoring to those who otherwise would not be able to learn to use technology in communication. Marc Kasky took his turn to discuss the relationship between community and ecology, given the imbalances on the earth. He wrapped up by asking those present to consider going outside their own circles, network with others and reach out to people different from themselves and invite them into the work they are doing. See the Be-In blog post covering Mary's and Kasky's ideas. http://people.tribe.net/digitalbein/blog/637426a8-8fc4-4a42-ab60-8295504550c4

Integral Solutions Panel

digitalbein — Thu, 04 May 2006 21:32:40 GMT

[Re-posted from Sophia's blog] Bridging together "digital" and "organic" solutions, the 3rd panel at the Earth Day Digital Be-In was on "Integral Solutions." Jair of Imaginify Community Network opened it up as Moderator. He reinforced the need for people to take care of the Earth, and "not simply entrust competition" but make a decisive effort to educate about collaboration and cooperation. Jair also made note that there are many "Integral Theories," not just one. Jim Fournier, CEO of Eprida took the mic next. He talked about how Eprida offers a revolutionary new sustainable energy technology that will allow us to remove carbon dioxide from the air by putting carbon into the topsoil where it is needed. Here is a nice flash animation of the process... www.eprida.com/eprida_flash.html Greg Steltenpohl, founder of the Interra Project, spoke next. He presented a "Green Community Card" and a preview of the "Identity Mashup" happening with John Clippinger (another Be-In participant) at Harvard Law School. See idmashup.com Laurent Pacalin, co-chair of the California Clean-Tech Open, was the final speaker. Pacalin informed everyone that it was the MIT Club of Northern California (MITCNC) which had provided the impetus to start a competition for a technology-enabled green business plan. They are joined by volunteers from UC Berkeley and Stanford University and professionals donating their time. Each participant comes up with an overview plan in one of five categories; Energy Efficiency, Smart Power, Renewable Energy, Transportation, and Water Management. Read more in an article about the California Clean-Tech Open on Worldchanging.com.

More Be-In Photos

digitalbein — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 19:02:45 GMT

Wappytea's http://www.flickr.com/photos/wappytea/tags/bein/ Sophia Hanifah's http://flickr.com/photos/gotsophia/sets/72057594114463534/ Maria Mouk's http://www.flickr.com/photos/79904417@N00/search/tags:be-i

Digital Solutions Panel

digitalbein — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:06:44 GMT

[This late post off Sophia Hanifah's blog] When I got to the Digital Be-In, the Digital Solutions Panel was underway. Erik Sundelof, of the Digital Visions Program at Stanford, speaking about using technology to help strengthen Social networks and community building among those who lack access to information technology, encouraged people to visit their website at http://www.rdvp.org/. David Ulansey finished the panel by talking about the problem of extinction (http://www.well.com/~davidu/extinction.html ). He wanted the audience to realize how serious the problem is, being that we only have a five-year window to help stop the rapid loss of life on the planet. Ulansey encouraged the "use of mass media very rapidly to bring the human collective mind" to find a solution so that we could "start talking to people" and start facing the gravity of the situation while still being able to "cut the denial... hopelessness and despair." [Addendum: I think he meant New Media via the web, etc. rather than mass media in its traditional sense.] A blogger at the Be-In, Mark Glaser, posted a response to Ulansey's vision, expressing doubt that it could work. Read his entry to see if you agree. http://people.tribe.net/digitalbein/blog/353ed3b1-dc94-48bf-b38c-7a2aa9a77d26

FINAL POST

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:27:39 GMT

OK--FINAL POST from the dancefloor, I swear it! (Sitting right in front of Mr. Shiva Nataraj Himself.) It's finally heating up--Neptune is spinning. The sound is hard & thick, the bass is rumbling in my elbows. People bouncing & weaving & waving in that slightly out-of-kilter, 2.7 step fashion we so love. That angular BreakBeat Butt Shake, "turn & burn" it sounds like the voice in the speaker says. I'm looking for the evidence of the eco-pajama party Lux was describing. . . . Maybe. . . Does anyone have any theories or handy tips on overcoming our collective inertia? Or did it all dissolve yesterday? Lux confirmed a previous intuition. Some unknown wacko on Art Bell did his own calculations on 2012, and came to the conclusion 2012 already happened--in 2006! This year! We've already gone over the Edge into the New World. The world has already ended. This is it. Now we can all make a daytime career out of being eco-conscious freaks. OK, why am I still posting, now that we've figured that out? Just get up & dance, Twist, & stop trying to philosophize about it all. HAPPY EARTH DAY! Over & out, Cinnamon Twist, the Be-In BlogMeister twist.blogsource.com

A Chat with Reinhold Ziegler

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 09:56:23 GMT

CT: I kept overhearing you talk, while sitting at your booth. You've got all these amazing energy gizmos. Tell us what you're up to. RZ: I'm Executive Director of Dynamis China US, a R&D incubator and biz accelerator. We find inventors who have ideas. We push them to be a success. We're going to help the third world produce very cheap energy. CT: Why China not US? RZ: Because the US is falling apart. CT: You worked on the documentary "The End of Suburbia," so you know about Peak Oil. Is our culture going to have to survive on a much lower energy regime from here on out? RZ: No, I'm not worried about it. There's so much energy all around us. There's energy in that bottle of water. CT: OK, give me a couple specific examples of these technologies. RZ: We're working on underwater turbines. It turns out that the most powerful wave energy occurs on the west coast of all continents. The west is the best. I'm working on a wave energy device for Fort Bragg. We have a trailer with a back to the ocean, a tower with floats, so when the waves come in, they start pushing up air, and the compressed air is pushed to shore. We have devices that can boost the energy pressure from 100psi to 5000psi, feeding into carbon fiber tanks. CT: What about this water car idea I keep hearing about? Is that for real? RZ: Yes, it is. They're using ultrasonics to rupture the water molecule. We're creating Brown's Gas. Hydrogen and oxygen, separated. They want to implode back into water. So we have, for example, a Japanese group who have found a way to stabilize Brown's Gas so it doesn't implode, so you're getting the oxygen out of that. At this point we got into a debate over free energy and thermodynamics. We kept asking, "but do you get more energy out than you put in?" Reinhold kept answering "Yes." Reinhold believes that mainstream physics has suppressed a key part of Maxwell's original work on electro-dynamics -- "Quaternions". I didn't understand this part, as my physics is poor. Reinhold went on to describe another invention, "Aquafuel," a kind of carbon plasma derived from running an electrical arc inside a water bottle. . . I'm not sure if I'm describing it right, but at 2:52am, you can't expect us to be totally lucid. Reinhold is obviously a guy with a bevy of unorthodox ideas for alternative energy sources. He's not worried about the future--at least, about oil depletion. Now global warming. . . that's another matter entirely! http://www.synergyii.com/

Fashion Analysis -- Going Green?

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:46:03 GMT

No party report is complete without an exhaustive fashion analysis. Please excuse the respondents for their less-than-coherent responses--we're well into the wee hours of the AM by now. . . Lux D?Coda -- My fashion analysis? Kinda like A BAROQUE, ECO-PAJAMA PARTY. Stephan B. -- I thought Byzantine, myself. There's a tendency of everyone trying to look so different they end up looking the same. I just come to Be-In for the girls. I like girls with a conscience. I haven't seen anybody on anything yet. I've been here 20 minutes already and nobody's offered me a thing. Lux -- I really don't think people are on corticosteroids. Erica -- The fashion? BAD. Carlos -- The look is a little tired. It''s become so ubiquitous, echoing a certain nostalgia for a time that no longer exists. People are trying to escape into some fictional culture, rather than trying to deal with what exists right now. At this point the survey degenerated into philosophical musings. I asked how soon we'd all start getting sick of the word green (I'd already gotten in trouble for this elsewhere): Dov -- Green is definitely gaining in popularity. The affiliation of "green" 3 years ago spoke more about. . . Stephan -- . . . Meant you're a stoner! Dov -- A few years ago people thought, "Nader's over our heads, and the rest are stoners." Green has gained a lot of power. Stefan -- Green is now a buzzword among corporate fucking craziness. The other new buzzword is Web 2.0. I just don't think green is a good example of that, it's too primary for it to be a buzzword. It's like saying "money." You don't get sick of it. Web 2.0. It's just you being a nazi, Twist. As soon as you've seen it 5 times. you've moved on already. Like that's so last Tuesday. The endless search for novelty must drive you batty. At this point, we were far afield from fashion analysis. I tried to bring the conversation back home, with the following question: How can humanity break though its collective inertia in face of converging challenges? Carlos offered a dignified response, in 3 parts: 1. Get centered, so you can use your body's intelligence and not be so much in your head. 2. Shop at a farmers' market, buy everything organic, and don't use plastic. 3. Look fabulous! But yet, original. Because if you don't look fabulous, no one will listen to you preach about your really cool lifestyle. Tristan? "Enjoy each other. The more we enjoy, the more we are enjoyed. When we do this in the present moment we can realize an ecstasy and ultimate peace that is liberated from crisis entirely, by transcending suffering." So much for fashion analysis! --Twist

POLYGLAMOROUS

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:29:38 GMT

That's a new word, invented on the floor of the Be-In, at approx. 1:14am.

Digital BE-IN Then and Now

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 05:40:18 GMT

I've been coming to this event for years, ever since I first heard of it. Not really too far back, but middle age for the event, back when the Digital Be-In was still an integral part of the Mac World convention at San Francisco's Moscone Center. I understand that when Michael Gozney and others first started the event it was designed to be an expression of the human gathering element expressed in the 1960s, matched with the new digital revolution of the 1980s. In other words, the love and harmony hippie generation mixing it up with the first computer geeks. What makes the Digital Be-In such a vital and important event is the integration of worldly human issues combined with the amazing strides made in the technology sector. Everything has come such a long way in the world since the first Human Be-In exploded onto the San Francisco scene during the Summer of Love (circa 1967). Computer enhanced "tools" have opened new realms for artists. Electronic generated music, including the DJs who "disseminate information" introduced a new way to dance and listen to beats. The Internet allows us access to the world's library and a multitude of learning possibilities. By expressing these advancements in the form of a "Digital" Be-In, we can meet cyberspace halfway -- in a way that doesn't degrade us, but celebrates technology and the glorious age we live in. It reminds me that humans are still in control -- we developed technology and by god we should be able to enjoy it! Your in the Celebration, Brad Olsen Executive Director of "How Weird Street Faire" Publisher and Author at "CCC Publishing"

WARNING: MASS EXTINCTION AHEAD

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 04:49:32 GMT

by Mark Glaser blogger at PBS MediaShift http://www.pbs.org/mediashift It's like being hit in the gut. "The world's scientists and biologists have come to the consensus that half the world's species will be extinct within 100 years." This is the line that David Ulansey had to say twice slowly, letting it sink in, when he spoke on the digital panel at the Be-In. There was an audible gasp when he spoke. It's hard to imagine half the world's species disappearing in just 100 years, and Ulansey explained it could be even less time with the effects of global warming upon us. And one-quarter of mammals could be extinct within 30 years, he said. Ulansey (pictured above) is a professor in philosophy and cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and has taught at UC Berkeley, Boston University, Princeton University, among others. "My specialty is the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world, especially the ancient mystery religions, Gnosticism, ancient cosmology, and early Christianity," Ulansey says on his website at: http://www.well.com/~davidu/index.html But more to the point, Ulansey notes that if you do a Google search for the word "extinction," it brings up his other website, "Mass Extinction Underway" first -- http://www.well.com/~davidu/index.html The site has a jaw-dropping 300 links to news stories detailing the problem of species extinction, starting from the assertion that about half the species will disappear off our planet in 100 years. That's all the site is, a collection of links and screen shots taken from stories from mainstream news outlets such as the Washington Post, NY Times, BBC, National Geographic, Nature and many many more. Ulansey has created a short video on the subject that he's showing at the Be-In, and he also has a long-form documentary in the works, "The Call of Life." He has started the Species Alliance at http://www.speciesalliance.org in the hope of spreading the word of this impending disaster before it's too late. And he estimates we have only 5 years to really make a difference. At the end of his talk, I felt utterly hopeless, so I shouted out, "What's the solution?" He said he was out of time to answer me but mentioned that his documentary and mass media attention would help. But I wonder... if all these 300 plus articles over the past 8 years haven't done much to help, how can media attention alone make a difference? The Species Alliance does have a high school education program in the works, and that could help. But what else can we do right now to make a difference? I hope his documentary helps point the way...

Mark (Glaser) on Marc (Kasky) talking about stretching our networks

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 04:23:54 GMT

by Mark Glaser, blogger with PBS MediaShift http://www.pbs.org/mediashift I'm sitting down backstage at the Be-In blogging by candlelight. I'm trying to listen to all the amazing speeches being made while simultaneously writing about the amazing speeches that have already been made. Before I get to the panel on digital ideas, which is the panel I initially wanted to cover the most -- I want to tell you about what my cousin Marc Kasky (pictured above) just had to say. I admire Marc a lot (not just because he's my relative) because of the way he lives his life, in a loving open way, and also because of the fantastic things he's accomplished -- from taking Nike on all the way to the Supreme Court (and winning!) to starting Fort Mason and beyond. Marc just spoke on the organic panel, and what he said was really important for me. Marc is a techno-refuser, the "Last of the Mohicans," as he put it. He doesn't go online and he only recently started answering email from time to time. To stay in touch with Marc I have to call him on the phone and see him face to face. And that was part of his wisdom today in his speech. He said that face-to-face communication was strong, was powerful, and that he has grown as a human being because of it. OK, I'll go offline, I'll get unhooked, and I'll try to put more emphasis on interpersonal relationships beyond the techno-centered. And even more, Marc noted that the definition of community had shifted recently. When he used to work with community when he was younger, it meant people from all different backgrounds, income groups, women, men, young, old, etc. Now there are communities of interest, groups around women's rights, worker's rights, the business community, the design community, the gay community, and so on. But what might be more powerul, what might cause us to learn more and strengthen our networks would be to REACH OUT, outside of our interest groups and join up with people in groups where we don't share an interest. "I encourage you to stretch beyond your own constituents and invite different people in, and expand your network," Marc said. "And that will make your network stronger, broader and more sustainable and adaptable, and change it in an important way." What Marc doesn't know because he doesn't go online is that these words of advice are even more relevant for those of us who live our lives online, where the catch-word is always "personalization" and finding email groups, tribes, websites, and blogs that are segmented into our areas of interest. Why don't we reach across these more often, and reach out to others who don't share our interests? It's a great idea, a timely idea and one I'll try to put into practice.

NETWORK IS KEY -- Redwood Mary

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 03:55:48 GMT

[Excerpt] NETWORK. Network is the key word. The digital world has brought us video, music, an explosion of possibility. We can digitally track endangered species, use the web, podcasts. And of course email has revolutionized activism. . . . One thing I learned working prior to founding Women's Global Green Action Network, I was working in the forest of northern California, and that's where I had my first eye-opener being with a redwood tree--the interconnection of the species and ecosystems, from mycorhizza up to top almost 1200 species that work together, interconnections of trees and other ecosystems. Taking that further, into networking, into our communities, we can only could be as strong as we stand together. Each part has an important component. What your abilities are, how much money you have, . . . we now have digital tech that can empower all of us, . . . What Linda and I saw need for, in communities around world, there was a need for people to interconnect. Right now we're faced with dire straits and we don't have much time to turn it around. But the exciting thing is the possibility, the tools, the tech, we are presented with the most incredible opportunity in the history of this planet TO DO AND TO BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT. RE-EVOLUTION not revolution. Using digital tech, to share our best practices, keep hope alive, with the tech we have.

Tarnas: THE INITIATORY THRESHOLD

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 02:50:09 GMT

Rick Tarnas Talk at Planet Code Symposium KEY QUOTE: Our moment today is one of being at an INITIATORY THRESHOLD -- THE KAIROS. The right moment for a major transformation. A moment when small numbers can have much greater influence than normal, because of the INSTABILITY OF THE LARGER SYSTEM. - - - - - - Thanks to Gosney for creating this IMPROVISATORY MATRIX for unexpected things to happen, . . . As we talk today about the challenges that all know, it's helpful to seek a larger picture to bring a coherence into our activities, to help us transcend the entrapments when we can't see beyond the private battles. . . In particular, we've got this COMBO of SOCIAL ACTIVISM and CUTTING EDGE THOUGHT, DEEP ECOLOGICAL COMMITMENT, a sense of the value of COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES, and these all come together in a very creative way here today on Earth day. . . Where are we historically in our evolution? We are at such an extraordinary turning point, if we look back to Sumer (?), it's an enormous experiment, the human being has been gradually forged as an autonomous being with capacity for self reflection and sense of . . has gone with a sense of our separation from nature, and somehow acting upon nature rather than being embedded in it. . . . Let's recall that image from 2001: A Space Odyssey, a primate who is turning a bone into a tool, discovery of a tool, smacking a rock, hitting it, . . . [capturing the separation of subject and object]. But an enormous price has been paid for that emergence of the rational autonomous self. We've all grown up with that, a sense of living in a universe where nature has been objectified. Human against object (like the image of 2001), in the same way you can see that in corporate policies, how we live in a disenchanted universe. We feel that we are purposeful conscious human selves, within a nature that seems random, purposeless. It's an enormous contradiction that we all tend to compartmentalize. For those of us who take science seriously but take our interior seriously, we live with this tremendous polarity. A tension of opposites--we are today at the critical turning point. One more word about the price we pay, it's not just psychological dissonance, it's not just a philosophical question. If you live in a disenchanted universe then none of that is sacred. If you live in a disenchanted universe it powers the impulse that profit and power are the bottom lines for all human activity, then old growth forests are just lumber, animals are harvestable commodities, children's minds are no more than marketing targets, indigenous tribes need to be moved out of the way for progress to take place. When you live in such a cosmos there is a constant attempt to fill that inner void by a techno-consumerist frenzy. . . YOU CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH OF WHAT YOU DON'T REALLY NEED. So we're at this extraordinary point of empowerment, of a sense of autonomy, but also according to the mainstream scientific point of view, one where we are a stranger in a strange land. And yet we see the great artistry of the cosmos where our technology has brought forth this amazing tool, the Internet and computers, the democratization of information access, bringing about a greater sense of communion of planetary consciousness, sensitivity to all the peoples of the world rather than being identified with our [local?] identity. Technology produced LSD and it too provided this enormous catapaulting of consciousness that would not be here if it weren't for LSD in the 60s. Our moment today is that of being at an INITIATORY THRESHOLD, what the Greeks called THE KAIROS, the right moment for a major transformation. A moment when small numbers can have much greater influence than normal because of the INSTABILITY OF THE LARGER SYSTEM. The amount of courage, imagination and passion each of you brings is going to make a difference in the whole. . . nothing any of you do in the smallest moments of your life is not without influence in the larger drama. On another level some of you have been initiated into a view that recognizes that we are in a cosmos where planetary movements have meaning, I grew up as a skeptic but no question in my mind that major planetary alignments correspond with major archetypal alignments of human experience. In the 1960s, aligned with French Revolution, the evidence is there. One word about where we are right now. We are in a short 3-year period that is pretty challenging in terms of our idealism, the confrontation of our spiritual and social ideas with the harsh reality of an entrenched world that seems to be negating those ideals with almost machiavellian power. We typically see this Neptunian opposition, . . social discouragement, uncertainty . . . a deeper impulse for WANTING TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE IDEAL AND THE REAL, . . . SERVICE AND A CERTAIN SPIRITUAL SOBRIETY. It's a period of looking at the dark night of the soul and engaging the challenging concrete tasks that are before us. BUT there's a bigger alignment just starting. It's the first cyclical alignment in a cycle that begin with 60's conjunction of Uranus and Pluto, one that coincided with immense social and political and every other form of emancipation and freedom and radical change, as well as a very strong impulse for a LIBERATION OF THE "WILL TO POWER" that is is NOT ALWAYS OF A MORAL CHARACTER. Liberation of the Id that can take different forms. It's already happening in Paris. Paris is like the canary in the mine. As soon as this alignment sets up, that's when you get barricades, the French Revolution, 1968, it consistently coincides with a 15 year period of tremendous empowerment for radical change, quite a bit of social and political turmoil, . . . A lot will depend on what we bring to this moment. How we carry forward the noble brilliant impulses at work in the 60's that we're still living out the potential of, and at the same time to CONQUER THE SHADOW SIDE of that period. A lot will depend on what the generation was born in the 60's will bring, now coming to power.

Riding & Guiding the "Gathering Green Storm"

digitalbein — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 01:36:05 GMT

6:34pm The doors are open, and people are filtering in. The program is running a little behind. Boom! I run into Scott Fossel! We quickly determine that we both have peacock feathers in our hats. Good sign! Scott is one of the key people at Green Century Institute, a main sponsor of the Be-In. I drag Scott over to Reinhold's Synergy corner for this interview. Two baby pine trees are our witnesses. Alas, Scott couldn't talk publicly about their latest & hottest project: Twist: SO, what CAN you talk about, Scott? Scott: GCI is launching into a new phase of project development. GCI has always done networking events. But now CALIFIA is coming online--I've been supporting it from the beginning. We are holding an open community design summit on May 20, at 1-6pm, @ CIIS. We've got a working group forming, and we intend to have a 10-15 page document from that community design process, which we then intend to take to major stakeholders and shopholders. Twist: Uh, OK, Scott, let's back up here. *I* know what Califia is, but can you give our readers the elevator pitch? Scott: Califia is an eco-city development of 7-10,000 people, to be bult over the next 10 years. It will showcase the very best of global green tech, green social development. It will be the human potential movement, come home to roost. We intend it to be a living laboratory for the future of green culture across the globe. Twist: And who is invited to the design summit? Scott: Community stakeholders. We've targeted 15-20 different sectors of society & economy. . . all with a green edge. 50% will be targeted interest, directly called. Twist: What about a 3D visualization? Scott: Yeah, anything that would move the project toward realization. We're not going along any one pathway right away. We like to look at it as a GATHERING GREEN STORM. Twist: And SOLERI's ARCOLOGY is an inspiration, right? Scott: Yeah. Before green architecture existed, there was arcology. As is so often the case, as a movement gets popular, its forefathers are left behind, and then revived after it becomes mainstream. Twist: That's big. What else? Scott: We're building a GREEN COMMUNITY NETWORK. It's been an intention of GCI for a while, but with the emergence of web-based mapping tech over last year, that platform has obviously become immediately realizable. in the last 3 months, GCI has developed a pilot map which charts the locations and immediately links websites of 25 different eco-green communities around the world. We're spearheading specs for an entirely new form of map, a "Green META-MAP". Imagine being able to immediately search a map for every data point linking Muslims and Hindus and water-rights in Kashmir, a superfast map that can pull up any environmental data set over the web, particularly oriented to green biz, consumerism, environmental response. But--it's *not* Google maps. This is basically a way of bringing together datasets related to green movements from around the world that otherwise have no hub. We've got the specs for that and we're opening it up for open source development. Twist: OK, so the founders of GCI are Marc Kasky, Henry Dakin, and Michael Gosney. . . . But who is this guy Scott? Scott: I've been utterly blasphemously intrigued by the planet for too long. I've been philosophically studying and writing about the planet for about 12 years, and I've been working with GCI for 3 years. I traveled around the world studying ecovillages on four continents. I have a kid and a dog. And they're both BRIGHT GREEN. I dye them in a bathtub every morning. And they read WorldChanging every morning too, I hope! --Twist

Loading In. . .

digitalbein — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 21:00:20 GMT

1:15pm - EarthDay On-site, laptop-enabled. Crews are loading in. Altar Goddess (or is that Goddess Altar?) Trinity unloading ferns & cala lillies & red veils. I gave Shiva a lift from Goz's. There's Joegh Bullock, infamous Anon Salon MegaPartyMeister, gesticulating, checking lighting diagrams w/crew. This a pretty primo party spot, must say. Cavernous warehouse space, 3-floor high ceilings. A 20-foot goddess statue, headless but bewinged in diaphonous gold, guards the Brannan Street entrance. Nice loungey outdoor area, rusted metalworks, benches, nooks, & green growing thingies. OK, now I'm sitting on a long mahagony table, watching a 3D flying view of downtown SF, corporate rooftops sprouting gardens & PV arrays, & butterflies flitting, kiddies smiling . . ("The Greening of Post-Street," CGI by David Vasquez). A cluster of girls nearby chitchatting about "sex parties? . . . I've heard about those. . . crazy apparatuses & stuff. . . . I need some caffeine. . . I really need food. . . I want Cafe Gratitude, it's close. . . we totally rushed that song. . . . coulda woulda shoulda. . . " (Prayerformance girls, perhaps?) Ambient area-to-be has exhibit of Mongol art, contemporary, that is: mountainscapes, great plains, stylized apparitions of Genghis & his horseful hordes, headdresses, . . . They're testing the soundsystem with dub by GelSol (Seattle). I like this space! Maybe I should move back to SF just to throw parties here! & as a once (& future?) Party-Meister myself, old habits die hard: Check the bathroom first. Well, I can certify the Men's Room @ SomArts: 2 urinals, 3 sinks, 2 stalls. Toilet paper: check. Towels: check. Hand lotion: check. Floor reasonably clean: check. Good to go! Bathroom blogging, how's that for an innovative medium? ;-) --Twist

Satiric Politic Raps&Riffs. . .

digitalbein — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 17:11:57 GMT

Another late addition to the line-up: Mo & Joe doing political cabaret & satiric raps -- check http://www.auditorials.com

Evolvers @ Be-In

digitalbein — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:56:00 GMT

Update: "Visions from the Green Edge," is the Evolver-hosted chillspace and infospot. A dedicated nook, where you can get the full picture of what they're up to (via powerpoints, chats, etc.). Copies of the ultra-sexy & highly sought-after "ZERO" issue will be given to true "Evolver Seed Planters" -- expect to fill out a rigorous questionnaire, and be subjected to a video interview ;-) Evolver Editor Erik Davis speaking at the PlanetCode Symposium. Daniel Pinchbeck (Executive Editor), alas, will not be present, BUT you can pre-order his new book: 2012 :THE RETURN OF QUETZALCOATL from Amazon.com. Shipping in May.

Live from the Be-In, It's. . .

digitalbein — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:37:40 GMT

That's right, we'll be posting live from mid-afternoon Saturday into the wee hours of the AM Sunday from SomArts Gallery, giving you impromptu interviews with entities from the Be-In floor. . . Guest-bloggers TBA; we'll also be posting video clips periodically on a separate module, video hosting courtesy revver.com). Stay tuned. . . !

Be-In Gallery Updates

digitalbein — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:43:58 GMT

-- Evolver Project is hosting a "Visions on the Green Edge" exhibit; -- Amy Seidman's ˜In Response to That," environmental action photo essay; -- Cory Richardson's "Katrina Relief Moments;" -- PLUS, a landmark SOMARTS exhibit: ¯The Great Mongol: Contemporary Art from Mongolia." A couple other recent additions to the performance line-up include: Political Cabaret with Mo and Joe; "Love Letter to the Milky Way," by eco-poet Drew Delllinger ttp://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=708 http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=386 & at midnight, a musical tribute to Chet Helms: -- featuring The Helm's Angel's - Freddy Clarke, Nelson Braxton, Georges Lammam, Jose Najera, Vassil Bebelokov - plus - Clara Bellino, Jeff Jolly and others http://www.chethelms.com

Just Added: Greening the Burn

digitalbein — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:35:36 GMT

Last year, Larry Harvey gave his Sunday chat at Otter Oasis. Sustainability on the playa (or lack thereof) came up repeatedly. Larry encouraged eco-Burners to lead the way, & BMORG would follow by supporting working examples. A number of initiatives are now underway, inside and outside "BMORG". Kachina Katrina and Paul Scheer ("Blue") will report. greeningtheburn.tribe.net

Califia

digitalbein — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:27:46 GMT

Califia, a proposed model eco-city project for the San Francisco Bay Area, is being developed by the Green Century Institute. The pioneering settlement will combine a revolutionary "arcological" (architecture-ecology) design integrating cutting edge sustainable development and technology resources with community innovations. These innovations include extended family communal housing configurations, new kinds of public facilities and services, advanced power generation and recycling systems, permaculture farms and greenhouses, non-traditional financing and "social capital" programs. Envisioned as a dramatic, integrated complex melding natural environments with dense urban spaces, Califia will be built in phases over a 10 year period. Michael Gosney and Marc Kasky, co-founders of GCI, will discuss Califia at the Be-In's Planet Code Symposium, and will convene a facilitated visioning workshop at the California Institute of Integral Studies on Saturday May 20, 2006 from 1 to 5 pm. The workshop will include invited experts and potential stakeholders - those interested in attending should contact Scott Fossel @ scott.fossel@gmail.com, and see http://www.greencenturyinstitute.org.