My Big Fat Green Wedding...

Tired of the looking for a vegetarian meal in a marinated meat market?

Exhausted in your search for a patchouli-scented siren?

Need some spark in your hookah?

Dreaming of a dreadlocked darling to hacky your sackey?

Want to put the us in your Prius?

I could go on and on...seriously, I could.

But I digress...

While I'm long-since out of the dating pool (thank Ganesh!) with a lovely wife and a healthy-boweled17 month-old son, this little website was still able to catch my eye. To each their own, so why not the tree-hugging set, right?

Ethical Singles: The Matchmaking Service for People who Care about Humans, Animals and the Environment.


OUR MEMBERS INCLUDE:
-Green business practitioners!
-Vegan vixens!
-Organic farmers!
-Eco-warriors!
-Human rights supporters!
-Pacifists!
-Wildlife protectors!
-Earth-friendly consumers!

I wonder if you can be both pacifist and Eco-warrior, trudging into battle with a bulletless, flower-filled rifle stock? I have a feeling the soldier might look a little something like this...
It’s free to join, and as an added bonus there aren't any uppity couples gushing over one another in TV spots.

Hippie love is a wonderful thing. That reminds me, can you believe it's almost time for Comfest?

Woohoo!!!

Streetsblog types on two wheels...

Continuing with my bicycle rant, please allow me to gush about my new favorite blog...

It was the April 3rd Streetsblog post that really caught my eye.

Why?

Well, this past week, I witnessed a State Farm ad in which an African American male stands in suit and spandex, embarrassed about how he needed to switch from four wheels to two because of recent surges in gas prices. He stood on a giant velvet red dot as the announcer proclaimed how "State Farm could get you back behind the wheel by saving you hundreds of dollars on car insurance." Saddened by his bicycle dilemma, the male unlocks his bike to head home as a coworker happens by, sarcastically noting, "Nice pants, Jim." Not only can he not afford to drive, but the ladies don't like his red bicycle shorts.

Needless to say, I wasn't very appreciative of the ad. Was the cyclist really put in the same situation as the yellow-plated DUI offenders of the world, mortified by the hollow gaze of his peers in the company parking lot? If anything, I hope we can say that his embarrassment was a result of his outfit. The spandex/suit jacket doesn't really work all too well, so why go aerodynamic solely from the waist-down?

Anywhoo, Streetsblog approached it wonderfully and the comment gates opened up, offering them a little more than they anticipated in terms of action. Here are some of my favorites from their contributing masses:

#12. Dan o: "...if they're trying to get crossover life insurance business, where's the guy's helmet?"

#17. Steve Ardrey: "...I routinely commute to work by public transit and BICYCLE. This keeps my mileage for insurance below 5k a year thus lowering my insurance rates."

#20. Ubrayj02: "This ad presents the option of riding a bike to work (instead of driving) as an emasculating, humiliating, experience - which will leave you struggling with a bike lock outside of work while your car-driving coworkers breeze by.

The skinny pants are meant to show how vulnerable men's genitals will be if they dare to use their bike to get around..."

Turns out, what I thought was just another good post --Freudian genital analyzation included-- was actually quite engaging. Apparently the blogbees buzzed loud enough that Streetsblog author Aaron Naparstek received a response (in the comment section, no less) from State Farm's Director of Marketing Communications, Tim Van Hoof. A proactive response to a legitimate customer concern...in a technologically advanced medium such as a blog? Huh?!?! You can read that HERE. Be sure to check out the comments, also.

So basically...(Great post + Great comments) x Great response = My new favorite blog.

Bonus? High quality, informative videos! I kept surfing and ran across these gems. My favorite so far? Their argument for the implementation of physically separated bike lanes.

Quite some time ago there was an article in Good Magazine titled, Decongestion: Five innovations in urban transportation that you won't find in America, yet. I was really impressed with Copenhagen and the length the Danes went to to create a bicycle-friendly city, so much so that we sent the link out to anyone and everyone that had local influence over urban planning and design. That was then. Now that the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission is looking for comments and suggestions as to the future of downtown Columbus, I thought nothing of forwarding the terrific StreetFilm links. Surprisingly, I received a direct response with 30 minutes from one of the Principal Planners, and hope that they truly take some of these wonderful ideas to heart.

Now, considering I was almost clipped twice last week on my ride home from work, the issue hit pretty close to home. While both of the aforementioned near-crash instances were a result of text-while-driving idiots, Ohio continues to ignore the implementation of hands-free laws nationwide. If this continues, it's safe to say (literally) that I want as much space as possible between us and them. Cement/trees/cars/pylons/unicorn statues...whatever.

What's more, is the fact that you can make some tremendously interesting barriers. While the parked cars typically act as the traditional buffer between cyclist and traffic, it's also possible to liven them up, adding trees and shrubs to the space and giving the metro area some greenscape in a place typically void of such surroundings. The more green downtown, the better.

See the StreetFilm argument for yourself:

And their movies are really catching on. Over the last year, StreetFilms has received over 500,000 views. While that might not be monkey-drinking-its-own-pee kind of numbers, it's huge when you consider genre-specific nature.

I look forward to stopping by on a daily basis.

Spring, she is risen...

I am both sad and ecstatic at the prospect of spring...

The snow is officially gone and we have crawled out of our winter dens. I've been biking (weather permitting) to and from work as often as I can, and it feels great to be in motion again. I've packed on some winter pounds and with gas prices as high as ever, I can't think of a reason not to commute on two wheels.

But alas, as I put petal to the pavement I can't help but notice a grime. A filth. A yuck.

In addition to avoiding the 9,487,341,245 potholes from our city's use of cheap, non-Snowbelt grade pavement, I've found myself bouncing over bottles, swerving past cigarette packs, riding around wrappers, a flailing over fast food bags.

The snow plows, while adept at pushing snow off of our roads, also transport and and all rubbish to the curbside. Seeing as we've (yet) to install any bike lanes on any of our streets, this has left for some utterly disgusting rides.

Wanna see what I'm talking about?

You get this:

From this:

Welcome to beautiful Columbus.

Anywhoo...

In honor of Earth Day weekend --!April 25th-27th!-- my firm is sponsoring a clean-up at a Frisbee golf course near Grigg's Reservoir (it doesn't get anymore hippie than that), as well as an all-office/landscape scrubbing around the perimeter of our building (we happen to be situated at the north end of a quarry and the wind blows all the trash our direction, so we're constantly flooded with garbage).

I'm thinking I might need to extend that clean-up to my ride home. I encourage anyone and everyone who reads this little hole-in-the-wall to do the same.

Grab a biodegradable bag and a pair of gloves and hit your street/school/church/work/park/library/bar. Help get some of this disgusting grime off our roads.

The forsythia is about to bloom, so why not make a better backdrop for her pictures.

Columbus Forsythia picture from Flickr user jfsl3.

It's official, Ohio blows...

It was inevitable...I poke a little fun at the diminutive scale of Ohio's brownfield (re)development, thus eluding to our slackeresque approach to renewable energies, and somebody sends me this:

Ohio development chief predicts area can be solar-energy capital

Ohio's top business booster predicted yesterday that northwest Ohio could one day be known as the solar-energy capital of the Midwest.

At the end of a year that saw more gloomy economic news locally, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who directs the Ohio Department of Development, offered a relatively rosy forecast for the region. "I'm very optimistic about the future of the northwest Ohio economy," he said.

Citing the presence of firms involved in development and production of more cost-efficient solar panels in metro Toledo, plans for a commercial wind farm south of Bowling Green, and construction of ethanol plants elsewhere in the region, Mr. Fisher said northwest Ohio leads the state in alternative energy ventures." More HERE.
Wow. Who knew that Cleveland was worth more than rock-and-roll and horrible football (I was born and raised a Bengal's fan, so feel free to insert your joke here)? I know that most don't think green when they think of Ohio, but it looks like the sun/wind tides are turning.

Seriously though, I couldn't be happier. If anybody/anywhere is in need of revitalization, it's the Great Lake region. Since 2001 --the end of the most recent recession-- there's been a significant (5%) increase in employment nationwide. While that might be great for the US, the Midwest has seen little (if not damaging) change. It's evident that the 5% productivity is not consistent for each state:

"...Michigan and Ohio have continued to lose jobs. The problem, not surprisingly, is in manufacturing. Michigan and Ohio have lost 159,000 and 136,000 manufacturing jobs, respectively, since November 2001 (see table below). Ohio's losses add up to just under 15% of the state's manufacturing jobs, while Michigan has lost about 20%—or one in five—of such jobs. Only California, a much bigger state, has lost a greater number of manufacturing jobs."

Additionally...

"Michigan and Ohio rank No. 1 and 2 on mortgage finance company Fannie Mae's list of states with the largest credit losses through Sept. 30. Fannie Mae listed losses --loans written off as having no chance of being recovered-- of $185 million for Michigan and $101M for Ohio."

But...

"Michigan...ranked No. 4 in a 2004 U.S. Department of Energy report on new job potential in the wind energy sector. The top spot on the list belonged to California; Ohio was second."

Like I said, who knew? They might be in bad shape, but it looks like they're only going up.

With Congress authorizing $125 million for green job training in the US and the struggling Midwest looking green with potential energy, I can only hope and pray that we jump into the forefront of the sustainable energy movement. Given the fact that green collar jobs transcend the traditional blue and white, consequently affecting all income classes in the public sector, this would be a HUGE boost for our struggling neighbors up north. Companies, manufacturers, individuals and communities could all profit greatly! The sky is (literally) the limit.