For The Record

Bush just gave a press conference on the economy. He blamed Congress for not allowing ANWR Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be drilled for oil.

What about the problems already caused by oil?

It is so obvious that he is an "Oil man" and since his arrival oil prices have skyrocketed. He should be arrested and jailed already, not only for killing American soldiers but the people in the mid-east too, and now starving people here and all over the planet.

(click image for more info)

Go to This Restaurant!

What: VEGETARIAN HOUSE
Where: 22 NW Fourth AVE PDX, OR
On 4th tween Burnside and Couch

According to Ping, one of the main characters in the Vegetarian House saga, only one item in the menu is not Vegan: a cheese thing. He said he has been having such a hard time finding an alternative. If you know of an alternative they can use please let them know.

This was meant to be a short post but.... Supreme Master Ching Hai.

She goes around the world saving animals and encouraging others to do the same. She is always telling people to try to be more compassionate and they should not be eating animals. This fits with the principles of sustainability too. Beside the idea that hurting animals and oppressing them is very rude and bully-ish the fact remains it takes immensely more resources to maintain a meat eater (standard american diet) then a vegetarian diet.

VegetarianHouse.com
I've had most of the dishes and they are super delicious. Melinda and I both love the Orange Chikn, you can't possibly go wrong with that. Click the link above and see the menu and then go eat.

The Shop

What a pain in the ass!

Roughly 70 percent of the materials that used to be the shop were non-usable. Bugs and rot had devoured most of the building. I had to fix it cause it was seriously not usable. Three inches of water would well up no matter if it was just sprinkling out.

(Bike leaning against it)


I've been able to recycle most of it but the roof had to go to the landfill. The new roof will last a minimum 50 years and is recyclable- steel. Its not the best one but it is produced locally so the embodied energy is less. When I was researching where to buy the new roof EVERYONE was like: "White?! are you sure you don't want a darker color?" Then I had to explain to every-freaking-one how darker values retain more radiation from the sun and that is a serious component to global warming.



All the streets and black roofs do nothing to help. White has been shown to be the best color (value) to use. A big problem with ice melt (glaciers) is that they are replaced with dark light/heat absorbing matter which then makes the melt even more rapid. Lovely huh?

What really chaps my hide is the lack of RIGHT materials available. I looked everywhere for Wheatboard or similar materials. Made from agricultural waste products wheatboard should be inexpensive and non-voc, water based binders. OSB is like plywood sheets but made from smaller pieces of waste wood chunks- they have damaging amounts of formaldehyde. I found two places that carry non-voc OSB (Oriented Strand Board) one supplier tried to convince me that they were all non-voc now... he did not know what the hell he was talking about.