Big Money Thrown at Short Term Solutions

So my blog about drilling got a Google Ad placed on my site from American Solutions. At first glance, looks like a group headed by former Speaker of the House Newt G. Didn't take time to check out the money behind this because the message is clear, "want lower energy prices, drill here now." So who is putting out the message, "want a long-term sustainable energy policy..."?


Tired of High Gas Prices?
Drill now. Drill here. Pay less. Learn how to make this happen...
www.AmericanSolutions.com/DrillNow

Are You Part of the Solution

We can solve it. Energy Independence in 10 Years? Do you think it is possible?



Watch this ad, go check out the We Can Solve The Climate Crises Website to Learn More.

Who Are These Guys

I recently received a copy of Environment & Climate News. Upon picking it up, I thought it might be another rag who picked my name off the Sierra Club list. Yes, I'm a lifetime member of the Sierra Club. A full on card carrying member. So when I start reading this rag the first article is about "Public Opinion Shifts in Favor of Domestic Oil and Gas Production". Now as you read this article you get all these facts about how the public is pushing more for off-shore drilling and less for conservation. You can read the numbers for yourselves, but what was surprising is that just when I thought this article was going to veer into the territory of "isn't this awful that the public is taking a short term view on energy policy and right at the time when we, as a nation, should take control of our energy future, conserve more and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil"...the article takes an unexpected turn. This rag is actually using this data to say that we should drill more and conserve less.

Get it! The polls and the people know best! Sure, we deserve to have cheep oil. We deserve to have our SUV's and drive where ever we want and whenever we want, we should just drain the globe off all its oil and fill our tanks, drill off shore, drill in ANWR, drill, drill, drill. Spend, spend, spend, gas gussling gluttons that we are (isn't this one of the seven deadly sins?). It is our God given right as Americans, "In God We Trust", its on our money, so we trust and we must spend. What is even more incredulous is that rags like this one, published by the Heartland Institute (these guys may have heart, but they've got no head) are taking the short-term, fickle-minded, poll-driven mindset of the "Will of the American People" to justify their position to drill, drill, drill.

At the conclusion of the article, the story quotes Tom Pule, president of the Institute for Energy Research, "Most Americans understand the law of supply and demand...but they may not know that America is the only developed nation in the world that restricts access to its own offshore energy resources, or that an annual vote in Congress is required to continue that policy." So great, lets get everyone to write a letter to Congress to just drill, drill, drill. But wait, take a look at the preface to this statement postured by president Toms - the reason to drill is that "Most Americans understand the law of supply and demand". Wow, the law of supply and demand! So what does this mean in the mind of these short-term-minded brainiacks..."if you drill more, you get more oil, more supply means the price drops and Americans can drive, drive, drive." But if "Most Americans [TRULY] understand the law of supply and demand", they also know that if you demand less, the price will drop, drop, drop. So rather than buy that SUV that guzzles less than 10 MPG, try conservation and fuel efficiency, drive a car that gets more than 40 MPG. So maybe "most Americans" do get the supply and demand curve, but these idiots are only focusing on the SUPPLY side. Supply side, gee, haven't I heard that somewhere before. I guess I understand where the Heartland Institute receives its funding. The real key to a long-term successful energy policy and reducing dependence on foreign oil is conservation, NOT increased supply from more drilling. The argument of supply side, drill for oil policy is like having a family budget based on going further and further into debt by spending more and more rather than tightening your belt and spending within your means. Didn't we just go through this with the banks and home mortgages recently. Don't GM and Ford feel the pain of blinding themselves to the reality of the laws of supply and demand of oil. Who is the Heartland Institute fooling other than themselves and the lemmings that follow them off the cliff?

You got to read this stuff just to see what the short-minded are pitching to the dim-witted. Man this makes me mad. What really pisses me off is that first McCain jumps on these poll numbers and creates a series of political ads saying he's all for more drilling (supply-sider, lower costs at pump) and that Obama is against it. Now that pushes Obama to make a poll based decision. Just when I was really respecting the guy for taking a position of true leadership and courage by stating that he was against dropping the gas tax because it was a stupid short term driven decision. Obama, what happened to leadership and change? Change from making unpopular decisions that were right for the country in the long-term? This is leadership, this is what Americans needs, good parents as our political leaders, not weak parents that capitulate to the short term decisions of the the childish populace. I have a 5 year old and a 7 year old. I took a poll recently and found that they would rather watch TV than read. In fact, these poll numbers are showing that my children are increasingly demanding TV more and more over reading. So what should I do? Well if it were up to the Heartland Institute and like minded folks, I should let them watch all the TV they want.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Cowardice asks the question 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." When will our leaders make the right decisions?

50% Savings for Legal Eagles

Today I got a FedEx envelop that was reusable. The design is simple. Under the current closure is a secondary closure. As you rip open the first closure, you are left with a secondary closure. Each envelop now gets used twice cutting in half the amount of envelops that get trashed. Genius, now if they can put a reusable opening on each of the other 3 sides of the envelop they would cut trash by another 50% x 50% x 50%. From an initial reduction of waste of 50%, they would reduce waste by over 95% (assuming all envelops get re-used to the max. The reusable envelop is ONLY available in Legal size, why NOT in letter size?

Great start FedEx, great innovation. Look forward to more such small innovations to report about. If you know of any, let me know.

Legal Size Reusable FedEx® Envelope
Legal Size Reusable FedEx Envelope. Designed so it can be used twice.
Holds up to 24 unfolded pages of legal size 8.5" x 14" paperwork.
For documents up to 8 oz. Shipments over 8 oz. are rated at the next whole pound.
Weight when empty: 2.0 oz.
Inside dimensions: 15.75" x 10" (40.01 cm x 25.40 cm)
Maximum declared value: $500 within US; $100 to international destinations.
For use with a FedEx Ship Manager label or ASTRA label.
Note: The FedEx® Envelope is designed for shipping paper. If you would like to ship fragile items such as pagers, sunglasses or diskettes, please use a FedEx® Box.

Buy, By, Bye

In this holiday season, I am once again struck by the influence of consumerism and its effects on the environment.

First, Sandra sent me a link to the Story of Stuff - great little video from Free Range Studios - it is 20 minutes of pure gold explaining how consumerism is at the heart of the environmental crises. How we have been "re-trained" to buy, buy, buy. How events like Christmas have been turned into the Consumer Super Bowl to drive the economy resulting in havoc to environment and us. Watch it. Show it to your kids. Share it with your entire family and with your friends.

Second, so Sandra decides that this year, this holiday season, we will not be giving gifts, at least not the type driven by a consumer society bent on destruction, poison and disposability. This season we are giving gifts on your behalf to non-profits that stop this destructive cycle. I told a colleague about Sandra's plan. She told me, "Yeah, I tried that one year and I was left with nothing but un-happy kids and was made out to be the Grinch..." Sure, I can see how this happens, but there has to be a better way to stop the consumerism and still be able to give. So beyond the donations to non-profits, we are re-gifting - recycling old gifts - recycling things that we like and turning them "new" again. No, you won't be getting my torn, old shirts as a present. But that DVD of Season One of "Weeds" that you haven't seen yet, well I've seen it and it is new to you. So enjoy. It will come wrapped in newspaper.

Third, the greatest gift I can give now, is my time, time being fully present with my family and loved ones. So that's where I'm off to now...

Oh the Places You Will Go

I was recently asked in an email introduction, "How did you go from enterprise software in the US to saving rainforests and creating eco-developments in Mexico?" The short answer, accidentally, OK, if you want to know the real answer, it is my wife's fault. I blame it all on her. When did it start, well most of that story is on the website of Rainforest2Reef, read Our Story. But even that was an evolution the culmination in genetic mutation came when you realize that conservation can only truly happen with less and less consumerism.

I just saw a funny bit by George Carlin about the 10 Commandments. In it reduces the list of 10 to just 2 or 3. When he gets to "thou shall not covet" he basically says, if we stop that, we stop the entire economic engine. Way to go George.

So back to the transformation to Accidental Environmentalist, its actually a fairly easy path. When I look back at all the crap I used to do, like hawk movies for HBO or mobility software, when ever you were dealing with a really shitty situation, you always had to remind yourself, "hey, this isn't brain surgery, I'm just hawking movies...", but when you are working on saving the planet, now that has a different ring to it all together. Sure if feels good to say it. Sure you feel real guilty when you go out and buy something new (that you really didn't need), sure you feel like it is an uphill battle against swarm of mongrels, but in the end, the people that are on your side and the rewards from small wins are simply "priceless". I see more and more people slowly make the move from the dark side to join forces with us, this is the mother of all battles and we will prevail.

Now this might sound religious to you. No, I'm no zealot. Being "converted" is more about learning, about becoming aware of what is happening, knowing what you eat, knowing what you consume, understanding the sources and contents of all you consume. In the end, it all goes back to consumerism, knowledge, common sense and following your gut. Take Food - How difficult is it to understand that if pesticides kill bugs, they can kill you too (maybe more slowly, but still hasten your death). Step one, buy organic. Then you make the next leap, buy local. The same happens in other areas of your life, like transportation, entertainment, medicine/healthcare, your home, your vacations, your life...step one, then the next leap and the next.

The great thing about us human beings, we adapt. Oh the places we will go, come join me for all the beer you can drink and lets talk about it some more...

Death to Zealots

Had lunch with Rob Caughlan today. What a force of nature. His inspirations: his mom, JFK (what can you do for your country) and Jacques Cousteau (don't be a follower of someone like me, go do your own thing). I invited him to join the board of R2R, I hope he joins us. We spoke of turtles and surfing, over population and John Doerr, the new Pambo and PLC.org , Amazing Grace and Blessed Unrest. What a wise man with such great stories. Part of his message, be an environmentalist, or find your cause, but what ever you do, have fun. That he does. He is also working on a documentary about Pete McCloskey. He needs about $25K to finish the project, wanna donate to make this happen, drop me a line.

GreenBuild Chicago 2007

GreenBuild was way too big, too many people, with diminishing marginal returns. Highlights: while Clinton was the keynote, the show was stolen by the chairman of United Technologies who admitted to his company being responsible for 5% of current carbon emissions. Like any addict the first step is to admit responsibility, next comes the 12 steps to recovery. Having the chairman of a Fortune 50 (47th in 2006) admit culpability and begin to outline solutions was remarkable. The next highlight was Joe van VanBellegham of Three Point Properties. It was truly inspirational to hear a developer of that size outline a complete and almost regenerative vision of development. After the weeks events, I had time to stop by dad's grave site and leave a stone for each member of the family.

4 Convenient Moments

Here is another great video on Global Warming and what you can do to stop it. This video is like watching "An Inconvenient Truth" in Spanish in 4 minutes. Can't beat that! Unless, someone can find it in English.

Ayuda a Calderón

This video by Greenpeace in Mexico criticises the government of President Calderon for his policies related to tree planting projects. They claim that close to 50% of trees planted the first year die making the program less than 50% effective and funds highly wasteful. Their recommendation is to work with local Ejidos to fund them to plant trees and manage forests. See the video completed for http://www.rainforest2reef.org/ by Rana Lee TV, Guardians of the Selva Maya. This video shows a community program we support to do exactly what Greenpeace recommends.

The moral of the story: Environmental programs, like so many other projects, need local sponsors and local partners who have a vested interest in the success of the endeavor.

Guardians of the Selva Maya

This video about the Tree Planting Project is part of the community development activities of Rainforest2Reef. It was screened recently at the Toas Film Festival.

Carbon Ranching?

IN an op-ed piece in the NY Times, Sat, June 16th, Willam Powerss and Gelnn Hurowitz write about the need for "Carbon Ranching" and the economic value of land conservation. In their words:

"Its survival is the fruit of one of the first experiments in carbon ranching: allowing polluters to make up for their greenhouse gas emissions by paying third world countries like Madagascar to preserve their tropical forests.

Programs like this represent the world’s best hope to save vanishing tropical forests and avert global climate catastrophe.

Reversing tropical deforestation could be surprisingly cheap and easy because it can be driven by simple economics. Right now, it’s worth more to a logging company or a peasant to convert the rainforest to stumps or soybeans than it is to leave that rainforest intact. One hectare (about 2.5 acres) of forest cleared and converted to ranchland or crops produces a piece of land worth, on average, $200 to $500. But that’s nothing compared to the value of preserving the rainforest as a sponge for carbon dioxide.

On European markets, the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide trades today at more than $20. With each hectare of intact rainforest storing around 500 tons of carbon dioxide, that means that each hectare has a value of $10,000 as carbon dioxide storage, far more than the value of even the most productive tea or soy plantation.

As a recent World Bank report put it, “Farmers are destroying a $10,000 asset to create one worth $200.” To the farmer or agribusiness corporation, of course, that makes perfect sense, because that $10,000 is all theoretical. It can’t put food on the table or deliver dividends to shareholders."

Amen brothers.

LOHAS 11

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. Read more about it on the LOHAS website. To me, it represents our target audience for much of what we are doing now including Playa Viva, Casa Viva, Calakmul, Rainforests2Reefs and more. I call them the "Whole Foods Shopping, Prius Driving, Yoga Class taking" consumers. The conference reinforced my belief that this group shops based on their values first.

Two big highlights from this conference:

1. TerraCycle - You got to love these guys. Their product is Garbage (Worm Pop and Worm Tea used as organic plant food. Their packaging is garbage (recycled plastic bottles). They develop a recycling program with schools and other organizations to raise money by recycling bottles for them. We hope to work with TerraCycle to develop a recycling program in Mexico. Mexico has a huge problem due to the cultural habit of burning trash. Now that PET Plastic bottles are part of the trash (rather than traditional all organics), the burning of PET releases poisonous and cancer causing dioxins into the air and ground water supply.


2. LivingHomes - We visited with Steve Glenn - founder and user of LivingHomes. His house is the model and it is a model. It is a prefab green home, so green that he achieved Platinum LEED Certification. Steve has thought of everything, from xeriscape roof garden, solar radian heat, denatured alcohol fume free fireplace, undersink composter and my favorite system of all is his computer system for tracking energy usage in real time. I thought watching and working the MPG meter in my Prius was a challenge befitting the Accidental Environmentalist, try monitoring and optimizing all the electrical use in your home. It woudl be nice to create pre-fab, modern green beach home project...maybe we can convince Steve to join us on our next project.

This was my first LOHAS conference, it was VERY LA (sitting in on Mariel Hemingway pitching her new book was just one example). Looking forward to this event moving back to Colorado next year.

SVN 20th Anniversay

So I joined SVN, Social Venture Network, a few months ago and attended my fist SVN member gathering, which happened to be its 20th anniversary. This was one of the best decisions of my life and one of the best events I've ever attended. What made it so great. First the people, the quality of people and the work they are doing. Second, the inspiration, just when you thought you were doing everything right, these folks show you what it really means to "do it right". So you want examples of what I mean by this, I can give you two:

1) Judy Wicks and White Dog Cafe - Not only is Judy a pioneer but she keeps on innovating. It was not enough to be organic, she had to be local, and then when she was local, she provided those resources to her competition to help the local community farmers. Her commitment is to the health of the community.

2) Bernie Glassman - and then their is Bernie - he truly is a Zen Master. But his commitment to socially responsible ventures is in one word, "inspiring". Here is just a slice of his story, more on his website:

Greyston Bakery. Founded in 1982 in the southwest corner of Yonkers, a poor neighborhood beset by high unemployment, violence and drugs, the bakery began to hire people that conventional businesses had deemed “unemployable.” It trained its employees in bakery crafts and soon they were producing some of New York's most expensive, high-end cakes and tarts sold in the city's fanciest eateries. In 1990 it began to produce brownies for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and its revenues shot up dramatically. Since its humble founding, the bakery grew into a successful $6 million business with more than 75 employees. Its hiring remains to this very day "First come, first served," and much of its profits are recycled into seed money for its sister not-for-profits, thus making the entire network more sustainable and financially independent.




I am looking forward to more of SVN.


More on SVN to come.

Johnny Appleseed - Permaculture Near and Far

Back at it, no excuses. I spent the morning with Farmer Mike getting supplies to fill the newly constructed planters at my son, Ilan's, school - organic planting soil, herbs, veggies, some flowers, etc.

We first met Michael Yoken at Camp Tawonga during the Peacemaker Camp. Mike was tending the organic garden at the camp, and while I headed to the pool with Ariela, our daughter, Ilan would take off on his own for the secret garden to work with Mike to pick vegetables, make veggie pizzas in their brick oven and just get his hands dirty.

So after camp, we invited Mike to join us for dinner. He also gave us a consultation on how to make our garden grow better. Like every other resident of this area, we have a "mow and blow" gardener, but that gardener really doesn't garden, they just trim and clean. So Mike was the perfect addition to the gardening team - enriching the soil, planting edible garden and teaching us all something new. Since then, our winter ground cover is in full green bloom as fave beans, common vetch and barley grow strong and add needed nitrogen to the soil. We added volcanic rock to the garden to lower the pH and added mulch to keep the roses warm over the winter. Last week, Mike returned from Israel and came by to help plant a small herb garden. So when Ilan's school sent out an email asking for financial help on the filling the new garden beds that were constructed, I figured it was time to call in Farmer Mike. That was the morning.

This afternoon I got a call from Bill Wolf. Bill was introduced to me by my old college friend Gregory Kats. Bill was telling me about a project he is working on outside of Charlotte, NC - Kanawha. Of particular interest was the work they are doing in setting up Organic Farm on this 340 acre development. Part of the plan was to put in an organic agriculture teaching program and provide consulting to new residents in planting edible landscape. I could only think of our friend Gabriel who lived in Charlotte and is originally from Mexico. Gabe had set up a small landscaping business on the side hiring hard working Mexicans to provide mow and blow services around Charlotte. These same Mexicans probably came from small villages in Mexico where they spent their days helping their parents working on farm. These farm boys would end up crossing the border to become industrious "mow and blow" specialists. And then Bill Wolf would set up a school at Kanawha to teach these same guys to be farmers again.

What are the economies of scale of turning everyone's mow and blow lawns into edible gardens? What are the economies of scale of putting solar power on all of their roofs? Is this a step towards reversing the progress of the industrial revolution? Or a step towards the next revolution?

Tomorrow, we actually work with Ilan's 16 or so classmates to create an organic, edible garden. These poor kids, do they know that they might be part of a revolution?

What Happened to November

November was jam packed with travel and conferences. I attended the 1st Mexico Sustainable Conference and Expo held in Monterey Mexico. The big take-away was that CFE, the national utility, had some projects where they were "buying" back solar power from customers. This is big news for us, it allows Playa Viva to be net neutral or even positive energy producers while still leveraging the grid.

This event was followed by US Green Build Council in Denver. 13,000 attendees demonstrated that green building is not a fad, but a full fledged movement. Lots of great products on display at the expo. The highlight of the show was William McDonough co-author of the book "Cradle to Cradle". Also worth the price of admission was bumping into Gregory Katz who I last saw when I was a freshman in college.

I was able to fly home in time to be with my daughter for her 4th birthday party and then it was off to Santa Fe for the Regenesis Alliance meeting to discuss the future of the Regenerative Design Process with the members of the Regenesis Group. Playa Viva has hired members of the Regenesis Group to assist with the design of this project. We even managed a quick visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum.

David Miller, our project manager joined me in Denver and in Santa Fe. We were able to make great contacts including Michael Ogden who "wrote the book" on Constructed Wetlands.

November ended with a great Thanksgiving Feast at Mom's in Scottsdale, AZ.

The Next Greatest Generation

Hurray Allison (Arieff in her article in the NYTimes - The Green Market - October 4, 2006) you nailed the irony of sustainable marketing - sustainability is about using less not buying more. The irony of a luxury sustainability magazine being sustainable only if its readers buy the goods from the advertisers that support it is sublime. On the other hand, the notion of sustainability is in its infancy and yet to reach its tipping point. Sure, we don't all wake up in the morning making decisions on what we can do to lower our footprint.

I am currently building a Luxury Sustainable Resort Community and in talking to partners, investors and potential guests, the questions that inevitably comes up is, "How can a resort be both 'Luxury' and 'Sustainable'?" To that question I answer with this short story. We have two Prius cars in our driveway, one is the original, now 5 years old and it has very few extra's in it. When we went to buy our second Prius, now 3 years old, it came with many more amenities - Navigation System, 6 CD Changer, Voice Control, etc. Our project lawyer just drove up to a meeting in her brand new Prius, guess what, they now come with Leather Seats! Seems that Toyota made an initial assumption that the market for a green car would be people who want to save gas, but it seems that it is the other way around. The Prius is the car for people who can and want to make a conscious effort to reduce their footprint.

So now, when my lawyer wakes up in the morning, she doesn't have to think about lowering her footprint when she is worried about getting her girl to school on time. That is how Sustainability will hit the tipping point, a large lifestyle decision like buying a green car will make smaller decisions about reducing your footprint integrated into your day to day lifestyle - one decision and decision maker at a time. Sure the "Greatest Generation" built our "modern" society based on the idea of plenty and boundless resources. Now it is time for the Next Greatest Generation that can create a new society around the ideas of scarcity and sustainability. Hurray Allison, keep speaking and writing about this topic and lets create a new vision of modern living that makes sustainability commonplace and effortless.

Life is a Holiday

This Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Travel, one of the first articles was on EcoTourism. The title "Easy Being Green" and the main point "guilt free luxury" and "green is becoming the new normal in luxury hotels". So now for the self-serving message, the Accidental Environmentalist is either jumping on the bandwagon or driving, we are not sure which, the later giving us more credit than the former, either way the message is the same...We are building a "Luxury Sustainable Resort Community". What does that mean?

Luxury is defined both by design and service. Quality and attention to detail in both construction and design as well as in the details of service delivery. Attention to detail is both sublime and subdued, noticed and yet integrated, it is artistry and common, it is architecture simple and natural in form and function. And service is both attentive an unobtrusive, it is expected yet integrated, it is polite and not overt, it is pleasing and soothing, transparent and personal.

Sustainability is honest, it is true to its origins and location, it is by nature cost efficient yet it requires a significant investment. It creates an environment of plenty and demands restraint and conservation. Sustainability is conscious of its surroundings and transformative in nature.

Resort is a haven. It too is transformative, it takes you from where you were to where you want to be and where you ought to be and back. It can be a subtle change through imperceptible changes to the entire infrastructure around you or it can make you cry, overcome by emotion over the slightest nuance.
Community is about interactions and creating connections with people and places. Connections may last a lifetime or the duration of a holiday, they may continue on or they may end with a simple goodbye. Community in a resort is harking back to that lake house you went to year after year with your family and the memories that stay with you like the stuff you take with you from house to house and never throw out.

The combination of these cardinal elements creates a powerful brew with think is irresistable - it is Playa Viva, the evolution of Casa Viva.

Hot World and Cool Cities

In the back of a greasy hamburger joint in San Mateo, about 9 people gathered, all had received an evite from Rafael Reyes with the Sierra Club. The topic was vague, "come talk about San Mateo, energy and climate action". We went around the table and introduced ourselves, some were retired, some out of work, two educators, two writers, one engineer, one city worker and me and Rafael. Turns out the Rafael has been pretty involved in the Sierra Club, including local chapter president and now elected to the board, good for Rafael.

Each person told their story as to why they came to this meeting. Several mentioned having seen "An Inconvenient Truth" and wanted to do something. (I'm so glad that Al made his movie and that it is motivating people to take action.) The engineer had put solar panels on his house and wanted to do more to make San Mateo a Green City. The city worker had actually helped the city develop a sustainability plan, a copy of which he had in this hand. The retired guy was available to write proposals, position papers and other documents. Some could dedicate more time, others would commit to be a show of force when needed.

As for me, I had just done a tour of the new San Mateo Public Library by the architects who were showing off the Green design elements of the building. Having just finished the book "Greed to Green", the idea of a city making a commitment to becoming green was not foreign. Now I found myself smack-dab in the middle of a group that was actually forming to forward this same cause. Seems that the Sierra Club is embarking on a city by city campaign called "Cool Cities". I am not sure what my level of commitment will be at this time, but I am interested in what we can do at the local level to promote a sustainable community.

Where this will go, I don't know, but it looks like the group has some key elements for success: good people, good cause, good knowhow and a specific target and goal. So the Accidental Environmentalist is now going local. More to come, hopefully, on the success of this new endeavor.

Greening the Desert - Solving All Your Problems

This just in from Tim Murphy, the Permaculturist (is that word in Wikipedia yet?), on our project in Playa Viva. It is a nice little inspiring Flash video on how permaculture is greening the desert of Jordan. You can't miss the exhuberence of our host who will promise to solve the world's problems with a garden.