HCWH co-executive director Gary Cohen
with Robert Redford
May 2006 | Dock of the Bay
Local Green Healthcare Group Honored in Oxford
The Skoll Foundation has honored Oakland-based Health Care Without Harm with a $765,000, three-year award in recognition of HCWH’s “innovative and effective approaches to making social change.” (See “The Godmother of Green Health Care,” December 2004 CG.) HCWH campaigns to clean up the dirty habits of the health care industry by closing medical waste incinerators, eliminating hospital plastics, and encouraging the use of less-toxic materials.
The Skoll Foundation was created by Jeff Skoll, eBay’s first president, to promote his vision for a more peaceful and prosperous world. More than 400 international organizations vied for the 16 coveted Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. HCWH’s selection was announced as the group celebrated the tenth anniversary of its founding.
“HCWH’s goal is to ensure that healthcare professionals worldwide understand the links between toxic chemicals and human health, and become leaders … in creating a toxic-free future,” says HCWH co-executive director Gary Cohen. “Imagine if doctors and nurses around the world joined the race for prevention, rather than just the race for the cure.” HCWH will use the award to mount a global campaign to remove mercury from medical devices and to expand its outreach to Europe, South America and Asia.
For more about Health Care Without Harm: NoHarm.org. For more about the Skoll Foundation, visit: skollfoundation.org — Gar Smith
Can Pot Help Heal Hips?
It may turn out that the hip way to save your hips from slips is to sit down and roll a reefer. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found substances in the body that help preserve bone density. They are called endocannabinoids and they act just like the active components in the hashish and marijuana produced from the cannabis plant.
According to research published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the human body produces endocannabinoids composed mainly of fatty acids. These materials, discovered during the last 15 years, are produced in the brain and are present in bone and other body tissues.
Hebrew University researchers discovered a high level of CB2 receptors in bone and demonstrated that CB2 helps preserve normal bone density by stimulating bone building and reducing bone loss. The researchers developed a synthetic compound — a cannabinoid-based drug called HU-308 — that activates CB2 and slows the development of osteoporosis in mice.
Alas, the new drug is not perfect: the researchers report that it appears to be completely “free of any psychoactive side effects.”
The Israel Science Foundation and the US National Institutes of Health funded the research. At last, Washington seems to have found an opportunity to support medical marijuana.
Roomba Robots Ready to Rumble
For anyone who grew up reading Isaac Asimov’s I Robot (or threw up watching the movie version), it’s been a bit unsettling watching the new spate of TV ads for the Roomba, a robotic floor-cleaner that whirs across kitchen linoleum like an oversized hockey puck. Even more unsettling is the sight of average Joes and Janes in the commercial gushing: “I love robots!” Naturally, the company that makes these high-tech floor mops has shamelessly expropriated the name “IRobot.”
A backlash may already have begun. The Geek Underground has found a way to hack into the Roomba’s command interface and re-jigger the system to pursue intriguing new goals. Like combat.
Roomba Battles are becoming the biggest subterranean urban vice since cockfights as the nerdy little floor-sweepers, equipped with bristling coats of scissors and knives, are sent out to battle other up-armored Roombas. The objective: To mop up the floor with your opponent. These owners use Bluetooth to control every thrust, feint and spin via the keyboards of their laptops. In October, iRobot started including its own $30 Hacking tool and now a growing number of tinkerers are rebooting their Roombas — one chap hopes to add a digital camera and extendible arm so his robot can whiz to the kitchen fridge and bring back brewskis. — GS
CITGO from the Git-go!
In ever-increasing numbers, Bay Area progressives are following a politically correct migration route to the nearest CITGO gas station. What’s prompting folks to go out of their way to tank up their hybrids, motorbikes and scooters at this little-known franchise? CITGO is the national oil company of Venezuela, home of the feisty populist leader, Hugo Chavez, one of the few democratically elected leftists in history ever to survive a US-backed coup. Chavez was propelled back into power by a popular uprising of millions of Venezuelans who believe in the promise of Chavez’ “Bolivarian Revolution.” Chavez has made history by spending petrol-profits on social needs — free universal healthcare, schools, hospitals, increased pay for doctors, teachers and workers. No stranger to tilting-at-windmills, Chavez recently handed out a million free copies of Cervantes’ Don Quixote to his fellow citizens.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who had an oil tanker named after her when she served on Chevron’s board of directors) has called Chavez the “greatest danger in Latin America.” Rice’s comments notwithstanding, Chavez remains wildly popular across Latin America, both for his social programs and for standing up to Dubya, the man Chavez has dubbed “Mr. Danger.”
Chavez has become a folk hero in the US as well. After FEMA flunked its first heavy-weather test, it was Chavez (not Chevron) who came to the rescue, offering hurricane relief and cheap heating oil for poor US residents. Chavez once joked that he would not visit the US “until the American people are free,” but last year he attended the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. Instead of holing up in a posh downtown hotel, Hugo headed to Harlem where local reports said he was “greeted like a rock star.”
In 1986, “People Power” toppled Philippine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In 2005, People Power restored Hugo Chavez to the presidential palace. Today, Left-minded individuals are “pumping the revolution” by gassing up at the Bay Area’s two CITGO stations. They can be found in SF (U&I Auto Safety Center, 205 Franklin) and Oakland (7-11, 4193 Piedmont Ave.). — GS
State Stomps Salamanders
Scientists were delighted last May when the journal Herpetologica revealed that California was home to a previously unknown species of amphibian — the petite and perky Scott Bar salamander, a creature with the smallest range of any known salamander.
Upon hearing the glad news, the California Department of Forestry (CDF) made haste to amend at least four timber harvest plans to allow logging in the wee salamander’s habitat.
“Rather than heralding the discovery of a new species,” said Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild) campaign director Joseph Vaile, “the California Department of Forestry is rushing to wipe out the rare critters’ habitat.” Moreover, Vaile noted, the way the agencies went about it “left the public in the dark, violating public trust and ignoring their responsibilities to protect California’s natural heritage for future generations.” Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) was also aghast that state agencies would place the newly discovered salamander “on the road to extinction …, doing everything in their power to ensure timber companies are allowed to log this unique species’ habitat.”
Ironically, because of its status as a biological newbie, the Scotts Bar salamander has not yet qualified for protection under California’s Endangered Species Act. Last June, conservationists petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list both the Scotts Bar and Siskiyou Mountains Salamanders under the federal ESA. An initial decision is expected by May.
Meanwhile, State Fish and Game bureaucrats are moving to kick the Siskiyou Mountains salamander off the state ESA list, a move that has been sharply criticized by scientists.
The CBD, KS Wild, and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) have sued the state agencies for approving logging within the salamander’s fragile habitat. The lawsuit is intended to extend additional protections to the Scott Bar salamander by giving the public a voice in critical management decisions and holding the agencies accountable for their actions. For the latest Salamander Status Report, contact EPIC: POB 147 Eureka CA 95502, (707) 476-8340; wildcalifornia.org
Green Business Awards
Not even a monsoon-scale downpour could keep the crowd away from Clif Bar’s Fifth Street auditorium in Berkeley. It was time for the annual Green Business Awards (and an excellent opportunity to pocket free Clif Bars while sampling snacks from Zatar’s Certified Green Restaurant). The Bay Area is now home to more than 600 Certified Green firms and a third of them are in Alameda County. The ceremony was sponsored by the Alameda County Green Business Program and the Sustainable Business Alliance and was hosted by Clif Bar — itself a remarkably Green operation.
Mayor Tom Bates kicked off the proceedings by noting that Berkeley “has doubled goal of the Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse emissions are down 14%.” The next goal, Bates said, is to radically reduce greenhouse emissions in all 14 cities of Alameda County “to show the nation that it can be done.” Agreement on a countrywide plan is expected in May.
The Dock salutes our newest, Greenest companies: In Berkeley : The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce; Grateful Body; Studio Rasa; Vital Vittles Premium Natural Foods. In Oakland : Dave Karoly Printing; Hudson Bay Café; Plywood and Lumber Sales/Earthsource Forest Products. In Emeryville : The Emeryville Chamber of Commerce; Alternative Mortgage Sources. In Fremont : My Thai Restaurant; Blue Star Electronics, Inc. In Livermore : City of Livermore Fleet Services. In San Leandro : Copper Harbor Company. In Hayward : Folger Graphics. In Livermore : Mellow Monk Green Teas. In Dublin : 1-800 DryClean.
Berkeley’s Vital Vittles was touted for using 95 percent organically grown ingredients, offering a “no packaging” option, recycling “just about everything” and donating unsold food to local charities. Earthsource Forest Products won its certificate for offering builders sustainably grown and Forest Service Council certified wood products.
For a directory of Green Businesses, visit www.greenbiz.ca.gov
Wesak: Happy Birthday Buddha
Wesak (from Vaisakha, the second month in the Hindu calendar) is known as the “Buddha’s Birthday,” an occasion to reflect on the Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing of Gautama Buddha.This year, Wesak falls at 6:52 on the morning of May 13. (On leap years, Wesak falls on the first full-moon day in June.)
The date was established in 1950 by the first Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, which called on world leaders “to make the full-moon day in the month of May a Public Holiday in honor of the Buddha, who is universally acclaimed as one of the greatest benefactors of Humanity.” Ever since, Wesak has remained a time for devotees to gather in temples in the pre-dawn hours to sing hymns in praise of the The Buddha, The Dharma, and The Sangha. Monks recite verses first uttered by the Buddha 25 centuries ago, to remind the faithful to live in harmony and to respect the beliefs of others. During Wesak, Buddhists take special care to minister to the unfortunate, the aged, the handicapped, and the sick by distributing gifts to charities.
In some countries, birds are released by the thousands in a symbolic act of liberation. (Releasing birds in cities proved to be a bad idea, since many collided with buildings while others were quickly snared by unscrupulous bird-sellers. It is now recommended that releases only take place “in rural areas where the birds can achieve real freedom.”)
Many Buddhists undertake a pilgrimage to the sacred Wesak Valley, nestled 24,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Tibet. Here, it is believed, a legendary convergence of the Buddha, Christ and other Masters occurs each year as the full moon rises over the hallowed valley. Chinese authorities are aware of the event and, while they have not prevented it, they have reportedly attempted to disrupt it by hauling in large speakers to broadcast Chinese music during the gathering.
California’s Annual Wesak Celebration runs from Friday May 12 to Sunday night May 14. The year’s Wesak honors its founder, Dr. Joshua David Stone, who died last year. The festival continues under the direction of Dawn Fazende, editor of Mount Shasta Magazine. This marks the twelfth year that this “family reunion” has taken place at 14,162-foot-tall Mount Shasta.
Speakers include: Dr. Zhi Gang Sha (author of Power Healing ), Michael Langevin (Publisher of Magical Blend Magazine ), and Jean-Claude Koven (author of Going Deeper ). Music will be provided by Anton Mizerak, Mystic Pulse, Kathy Zavada, Jen Ambrose. Gentle Thunder, Sahavdev and Dawn. Organic food will be available.
For more information: (888) 926-9555; wesak.us
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