Common Ground: Nobel Women

February 2006 | Dock of the Bay

Nobel Women

With all the hullabaloo over the presentation of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize (congratulations, Mohammed El-Baradei!), here’s a local story that was overlooked. For the first time, the nominees for the prestigious prize included the names of 1,000 women — 40 from the US and 14 from the Bay Area.

The idea for the group nomination began in March 2003 after Swiss Parliament Member Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold visited refugee camps in Bosnia and Chechnya. “Everywhere I met courageous and resolute women who perform reconstruction and peace work in extremely dangerous circumstances,” she recalled. “Yet their work leaves scarcely any trace. I wanted to render visible the work of these women.” (Since the first Peace Prize was announced in 1901, all but 12 of the winners have been men.)

Vermot-Mangold organized a $3.8 million project to identify “1,000 exemplary women to collectively receive the Nobel Peace Prize” on behalf of the “millions of nameless women all over the world who work for justice, education, political rights and security.”

The worldwide search, which collected candidates from more than 150 countries, took more than a year. According to US Coordinator Margo Okazawa-Rey, “We tried very hard to get candidates from most regions of the U.S., but none were as active as in the Bay Area.”

Our local Nobel nominees included: US Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Singer/songwriter Holly Near, feminist pioneer Aileen C. Hernandez, Code Pink Founder Medea Benjamin, Global Fund for Women Founder Anne Firth Murray, civil rights activist Elizabeth “Bettita” Martinez, health activist Roma Pauline Guy, peace activist Marta Drury, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Founder Ellen Barry, Jerusalem Link Founder Terry Greenblatt, civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, fair-trade activist Candi Smucker, Linda Burnham of the Women of Color Resource Center, and Jane Roberts of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund.

A book, 1000 Women for Peace, profiles each of the nominees. For more information: 1000peacewomen.org — Gar Smith

Enough Is Enough: The Work Of Jane Straus

Sometimes it takes a life-threatening illness to force us to sit still and take notice. In life-coach Jane Straus’ case, the wake-up call came in January 2003, when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Upon reflection, Straus acknowledged that, despite a thriving, 20-year practice coaching individuals, couples and families to live extraordinary lives, she had continued to avoid her commitment to writing a book about living our spirit’s deepest truths. The Marin resident had instead filled much of her life with busyness, commitments and chores she used to distract her from her fears about writing.

“I found that I was enduring in an area of my life where I could instead be feeling excited and challenged,” Straus writes in her recently released book, Enough is Enough!: Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life (Jossey-Bass).

“Endurance is what we experience when you think we don’t have the right to whatever we feel or the right to choose an extraordinary life…. If we wake up most mornings feeling anxious, bored, or numb, looking toward some imagined future when we will feel happier… then we are enduring.”

Straus believes that fear, self-judgment, and limiting beliefs are the three elements that keep us in a state of enduring. Although all three are usually present, we tend to use one that has been with us for a very long time as our favorite way of remaining stuck.

“We have so much to offer the world when we stop enduring and start thriving,” Straus says .

“The way you get out is by looking at the fear/self-judgment/limiting belief and naming it for what it is. Once you examine it, you have a choice. Do you stay in a rut (which has a safety of its own) or do you break out and say, ‘My life is meant to be more’? Do you listen to your Guardian Self that wants to protect you from real and imagined harm, or do you listen to your Spirit and take risks?”

This may sound pretty basic, but Straus’ mastery and commitment to truth can lead to vital breakthroughs. After reading just 25 pages and following a few exercises, this writer not only quit a job he was enduring but also finally contacted a publisher. Straus’ teachings may do the same for you.

For information on Jane Strauss and Enough is Enough!, see stopenduring.com or call 800-644-3222. —Jason Victor Serinus

Human Guinea Pigs

Reversing a moratorium established under President Clinton, the Bush Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering permitting experiments that expose humans to toxic pesticides. Public health advocates are in an uproar over the proposal, which they say would make the government complicit in undermining medical ethics and would lead to a loosening of pesticide standards.

“Unconscionable,” is how Dr. Margarate Reeves, a senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network of North America, describes it. “The idea of taking a poison and deliberately exposing someone to it is absolutely unacceptable.”

The debate began last summer after two Democrats, Senator Barbara Boxer and Congressman Henry Waxman, released a report showing how chemical companies often intentionally dose humans with pesticides to gauge the toxicity of their products. A subsequent Congressional investigation harshly criticized the pesticide manufacturers for their failure to get proper informed consent from the test subjects and insisting that the subjects sign liability waivers — both major violations of standard scientific practice. In several studies, test subjects were told only that they would be taking a “drug.” In a majority of the experiments, there was no follow-up to monitor the long-term effect of the pesticide exposure.

Why would the EPA want to use such suspect science anyway?

“The EPA does not have a lot of funding to do its own research,” says Craig Minowa, a scientist with the Organic Consumers Association. The chemical companies do, he adds. “They can then cherry pick the results, which ends up weakening the standards.”

Testing toxic chemicals on people may be good for the chemical companies’ sales figures, but it violates several international conventions for human studies written by the American judges who tried, Dr. Josef Mengele — the Nazi scientist infamous for gruesome experiments testing chemical poisons on human subjects. — Jason Mark

Anita Roddick Pro Bono

U2 lead singer Bono recently shared the cover of TIME Magazine with Bill and Melinda Gates — an energetic triumvirate that has dared to redefine the responsibilities of the rich and famous. Another celebrity who deserved to share that year-end cover was Body Shop Founder Anita Roddick.

The British-born multi-millionaire and founder of one of the world’s most successful (and eco-aware) cosmetic companies, announced that she’s decided to abandon her business career and give half of her £100 million fortune away to charity. Roddick offered a simple explanation: “I don’t want to die rich.” (But hold off on those funding pleas: Roddick isn’t liquidating her assets immediately.)

Dame Roddick plans to use the proceeds from her 18 percent share in the Body Shop to create a foundation to aid the poor and needy. “The worst thing is greed, the accumulation of money,” Roddick told the BBC. “I don’t know why people who are extraordinarily wealthy are not more generous.”

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, who has pledged $26 billion of his personal fortune to addressing poverty, disease and illiteracy, once asked: “Is the rich world aware of how four billion of the six billion [people on Earth] live? If we were aware, we would want to help out.”

Roddick, who has traveled widely and has witnessed first-hand the problems of poverty and disease, clearly agrees. “I think the rich have to look after the poor,” Roddick argues. “I don’t think in our society we have any understanding of that.” The BBC notes that Roddick’s commitment is somewhat out-of-step with average Britons who “tend to believe it is the government’s job to look after the poor through the welfare state.” That attitude may be changing as Roddick, Bono and Virgin Airlines’ Chief Richard Branson show that, while it makes sense to recycle one’s trash, it makes even more sense to recycle one’s cash. — GS

Cline’s Wine Shines

Everybody knows that growing grapes takes lots of sunshine. Taking a hint from the eco-grapevine, Sonoma County’s Cline Cellars recently capped 34,626 square feet of its winery roof with 2,000 Sharp photovoltaic panels. The new roof will churn out 411 kW — enough juice to power 100% of the company’s electric needs.

“This has been a win-win-win project from the beginning,” says Cline’s Director of Operations Peggy Phelan. In addition to “flat-lining” the winery’s operating costs, Phelan reports that the solar panels are “improving air quality by reducing 690,000 pounds of noxious greenhouse gases per year.”

SolarCraft Services, the Marin County Certified Green Business contracted to design and install the solar-power system, also added a foam-insulated roof that reduces summer cooling costs by nearly a third. The panels come with a 25-year warranty and boast an expected design life of 40-plus years. While state subsidies for renewable energy systems have been reduced, the rising cost of fossil fuel still makes the transition to solar a financial no-brainer.

SolarCraft owners Bill Stewart and Dennis Nuttman also have reason to beam, as well. In the past 20 years, their company has installed more than 3,800 solar energy systems in northern California, saving clients $6.5 million in utility bills and eliminating 24,000 tons of climate-warming gasses.

Next time you’re in the Carneros District, drop by Sonoma’s Solar Cellars. You can toast their solar success story with a glass of Zinfandel in a 150-year-old farmhouse, or enjoy a sip of Rhone wine alongside one of six spring-fed ponds. There’s also a California Missions Museum and a Solar Kiosk for the kids to explore. The winery is located 45 minutes north of SF at 24737 Highway 121. Visiting hours and tastings are held daily from 10am to 6pm. Clinecellars.com — GS

Stinson Solar Sunday!

Looking for something different to do this Valentine’s Day weekend? Why not help a small community — located in one of the most beautiful places on earth — launch a solar program?

Stinson Beach might not seem the place to launch a major solar energy program. But this isolated beach resort community’s very existence is threatened due to rising sea levels and increasing probabilities of severe weather associated with global climate change. Fortunately, coastal fog is not a big problem when it comes to solar power. Besides, Stinson Beach faces south, the direction that has the best exposure to the sun.

To date, Marin is the only county in California with a plan to purchase a majority of its electricity from clean, non-polluting renewable energy resources. One prime benefit of switching to renewables is that local power keeps our energy dollars in our own communities. Stinson Beach is the first of many small community-based renewable energy programs to grow in response to Marin County’s proposed “Community Choice Aggregation” program.

Stinson Solar Sunday will feature a host of inspirational speakers, thought-provoking panels, delicious organic food from West Marin Green Cuisine, and music on Sunday, February 12. The speakers include:

• Richard Heinberg, professor at New College of Santa Rosa and author of The Party Is Over , will provide a sobering view of future energy choices;

• Donald Aitken, from the Union of Concerned Scientists, will present an inspiring vision for a solar energy future.

• Dan Pellegrini, from the Cooperative Community Energy, will describe the “Solar Sebastopol” program’s approach to developing a community-wide solar energy program.

Musical entertainment will be provided by LeonVest, a Stinson Beach duo comprised of Sandy and James, a couple both diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, who found salvation in their homegrown music. LeonVest is set to release its second CD — “Alive by Request” — this spring. Also on hand is Space Debris, a band of activists that play old folk songs, wild retro psychedelic music, and new pop (including a few songs about energy). The group’s new double CD debuts this spring.

This free event runs from 9 in the morning to 7 at night at the Stinson Beach Community Center. For more info: [click to e-mail]. — Peter Asmus

Ecology House

Only recently have doctors acknowledged the existence of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), a syndrome that leaves many people bleary-eyed and listless from exposure to pollutants. In the past, the preferred cure was often a safe house in the high desert.

San Rafael’s Ecology House offers a pioneering example of how to make a bungalow or an apartment house a haven in a sea of urban pollution. Ecology House, a HUD-financed building with 11 units for low-income residents, offers the only clean-and-green accommodations in Marin County.

Affordable housing is critical for individuals “who’ve spent much of their personal savings trying to cope with MCS,” says Connie Barker, the VP of the Environmental Health Network of California. Barker, who suffered from MCS for more than ten years, is now a resident at Ecology House. There are 50-60 on waiting list, Barker says. “This is down from a high of 120 as people discovered there’s almost no turnover.”

A long list of items banned from the building’s shared air-space includes: perfumes, plastics, vinyl, formaldehyde, shoe polish, chewing gum, herbal lotions, essential oils, rubber, latex, cardboard boxes, incense and candles (if there’s a blackout, grab a flashlight). And no pets, either, since Fido’s dander can be “life-threatening” for some MCS sufferers. Visitors who show up in clothes reeking of alcohol, cologne or dry-cleaning solvents are required to de-tox in the Ecology House “airing room.”

Despite lobbying by the MCS community, California’s recently enacted Universal Design Code failed to include Indoor Environmental Quality standards that would mandate such improvements as non-toxic fixtures, flooring and fabrics as well as better circulation of clean, filtered air. Barker is hopeful that SF and Marin will incorporate these standards into local building codes.

“Pressure is needed at all levels [of government],” says Barker, “but the best hope for change exists at the local level.”

For more information, call Connie Barker (415) 385-9907 or visit Consultclarity.com/eh — GS

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