Here Comes CarbonSoup!

Neighborly Resolutions and Energy Revolutions

It's that time of year again when we start discussing RESOLUTIONS! People have all kinds of ways with dealing with the passing of a year and the welcoming of a new one. I'm all for inventory! Here's a radical idea. Instead of making resolutions that (let's face it) focuses on US, let's make them focus on our community, our neighborhood (alright, get one or two in for you too). Grist just did a fabulous list on 7 resolutions to make your neighborhood/town/city a better place. With 7 resolutions you can fit three more in, of your own choosing.

If you really want to bring the New Year in right, read Jeff Biggers's New Year's Resolution to stop mountain top removal! Very inspiring!

Top 10 Environmental Stories of 2010 & A Glimpse into 2011

Glenda here....
If you didn't catch the show on Monday, I wanted to share two links that comprised a lot of the material.
Grists - Top 10 stories

and a look at what to expect on the activists lines in 2011 - let's just say, things are getting personal! Greenpeace is doing a marvelous job of furthering the movement to educate, engage and make progress toward climate policies that are solutions for ALL of us.

Balloons and Extinction: We are running out of Helium!

What do you do when you have a valuable item and you are told by trusted professionals that you can't get more of that item?

Well if you are the U.S. - you use it - FAST ! ?? 
Helium Blues...
A great article on The Muse gets at the crux of the matter.
And for some video information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVg8EPl9ZmQ

Illinois Home Birth Act: Act Now!

As it's very important to take action this week....
I share this from Illinois Families for Midwifery blog:
Here is what we have to do:

1 - Please call the Governor's office today and
Thank him for his support of the Home Birth Safety Act and
Ask him to PLEASE help us get it passed. The Governor's # is 217-782-0244 

2 - We need to keep pushing. 

Dan gave an inspiring speech in the Capitol yesterday. He mentioned that we have gotten farther than anyone thought we could. (When the secretaries were telling us the bill was dead, everyone really thought the bill was dead.) Dan reinforced that our progress is all due to our grassroots organization. When the legislators see our faces... when the legislators know we are following their votes on a bill; they respond. We saw that Wednesday. We saw legislators come out and talk to us for the first time ever. (And some of these guys have been hearing from us for years).

So.... We need to get our faces in front of these people. District office visits. Try to get an appointment with your rep for early next week. If you can't get an appointment, drop in. If your legislator is already a yes voter, stop in anyway and ask if they have any suggestions for convincing other legislators. Maybe your legislator could even talk to another legislator about the bill? If your legislator is not a yes, please try to find out what their objection is.

Please report back to the coalition for feedback and suggestions. 


3 - It is URGENT that we increase the number of individuals calling their legislators.

PLEASE find a way to contact friends or family members today or tomorrow asking them to do ONE of the following things:

a) Call their Representative asking how they will vote on SB 3712. Let the Rep. know they support this bill and if the Rep. doesn't have a position on it, the friend would like a call back to know when the Rep. has decided.

b) Go see their Representative (either by making an appt. or just dropping in). Bring a handwritten note and maybe even a plate of m&m cookies (or just a bag of m&m's) and ask for the Reps. support. If you can get a group of friends to go in to the Reps. office together to do this, even better!

c) Have your friends write notes to their Reps. asking their support for SB 3712, the Homebirth Safety Act.

ALL forms of communication should be followed up by another phone call asking how the Rep will vote - unless you already got a firm yes or no on the phone previously. If your Rep. already supports, still have people call. Ask them just to thank their Rep. for his/her support. All Reps. need to hear from constituents because they are all being pressured by the ISMS to vote against our bill. 

If you can help your friend by looking up their Rep for them, giving them the phone number and writing out a "script" for them, all the better. They need to know how easy is to make the call or write the letter. 

On the anniversary of JFK's assassination....

Google - Buckyball 25th Anniversary

This week was the 25th anniversary of the Buckyball! I found this out shortly after mid-night because I was going to do a google search on .... CARBON60 -- I kid you not!! One of the first tasks of my new job as development director for the Fuller Dome Home has been to present a document in time for the restoration of the Dymaxion car in Madrid. The document is the building block of our fund-raising action to restore Buckminster Fuller's Dome Home.

Thanks for putting the buckyball out there google. To honor the occasion(s) see this posting and the previous! I also posted last year on the state of the dome in Carbondale! - Well before thinking I'd eventually work for the dome. It makes sense, as Bucky said to look around and "do what needs to be doing." -- well -- the dome needs to be restored and used as cultural, creative, regenerative solution! A restored dome is a step forward for our region and the world!

Below you will also find more about the story of the buckyball. Contrary to most peoples knowledge the buckyball's origin is not a toy -- it's an actual carbon molecule the Bucky predicted before dying and is now being used in cutting edge nanotechnology.

Bucky launched the design science decade in Carbondale. Anticipatory design science! We anticipate that this little dome, in the "heartland" of the United States, is an artifact by which transformation of our region and the earth citizens that visit can take place. It's the only dome he ever called home. The captains cabin. Carbon60 is the atom but lately Carbon60 for me is a question. Where will Carbondale be in 2060 or 50 years from now? The dome was constructed 50 years ago on the brink of SIUC's heyday! We launch restoration this year. Fifty years from now?