randomlyplanned:

twinz.

Happy Oceans Day everyone!

Awesome rhythm!

Huuuummmm…..

The scientific name for the genus of the bananas and plantains is Musa, which in many Romantic Languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian means “muse”.  Isn’t it poetic?

While there’s no evidence for a historical connection between the scientific nomenclature for bananas and these fruits’ inspirational nature, I would like to use the coincidence to share this amazing bread recipe with you.

It’s a real ode to our muse of the week: The Banana.

[caption id=”attachment_1250” align=”aligncenter” width=”300” caption=” Banana Bunches, Laos by robjwood at http://blog.travellerspoint.com/190/”][/caption]

Crunchy Whole Grain Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup packed natural brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe bananas (preferably organic; although the eatable part of the bananas do not absorb as much pesticides as other fruits like strawberries and peaches do, the toxic products used to grow and ripen bananas in tropical areas of the world are very harmful to the environment and to workers in the banana industry; you can learn more about that by reading the section “Know your food”, below)

1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (preferably 60% cocoa) or carob chips

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Lighly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.

3. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

4. In another large bowl, mix the butter, honey, and sugar and beat for two minutes. Add the eggs and lightly beat until just combined. Mix in bananas and vanilla and gradually beat in the flour mixture in thirds.

5. Dilute baking soda in ¼ cup of lukewarm water, then beat into batter.

6. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 325 for 52 minutes (careful not to overbake as it may dry out the bread)

8. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.  Huuummmm…..

[caption id=”attachment_1248” align=”aligncenter” width=”300” caption=”Image from http://cherryhillcottage.typepad.com”][/caption]

Know your food:

• Bananas are native to tropical Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea
• Bananas are grown throughout the humid tropics and subtropics, where they are of great importance both as subsistence crops and as sources of domestic and international trade
• Edible bananas have an extremely complicated origin involving hybridization, mutation and finally selection by humans
• Most edible bananas are seedless and hence sterile, so they are propagated vegetatively (i.e. removing and transplanting part of the underground stem)
• India, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and Equator are the top 5 producers in the world
• The United States is the world’s largest importer of bananas, bringing more than 4 million tonnes of bananas into the country each year
• Bananas are typically grown with one of the highest pesticide loads of any tropical crop. Although bananas present little risk of pesticide ingestion to the consumer, the environment where they are grown is heavily contaminated.  So, whenever you can, buy organic bananas and support pesticide-free production of food!

[caption id=”attachment_1252” align=”aligncenter” width=”300” caption=”Banana Bikers in Kenya by willgrahamphotography.com”][/caption]

You can learn more about the complex international banana trade by reading Anup Shah’s article entitled  The Banana Trade War

Original Article

Want to change things in your life but having a hard time getting started?  Need some help getting psyched up?

Well, you’ve come to the right place!

If you watched The Pursuit of Happiness and felt you had to go fight for your own success; if Pay Forward inspired you to help somebody, Office Space encouraged you to challenge “the man” and Endless Summer was just the push you needed to take up surfing, then these next five non-blockbuster-but-awesome films ought to stimulate you to live your life to its full potential!

1) 180° South: “Get out and reconnect with nature!”

Do you think you know what an old winning businessman looks like? Chances are this movie will change your mental picture of what a successful businessman is and maybe your concept of success all together.

Travel with adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to climb Cerro Corcovado, in the Chilean Patagonia.  Yvon and Doug are the founders of Patagonia, Inc. and the North Face, respectively. Seeing how these two extremely successful entrepreneurs have lived their lives may change the way you want to live yours.

Directed by surfer and filmmaker Chris Malloy, this documentary is a visually striking tale of people committed to never losing their connection with the beauty of the real world. It combines exhilarating adventure with a solid environmental message, by gently whispering to us that the surest way to feel fulfilled in life is to keep reinventing ways to go back to nature.

“Lots of young people ask me what books to read and what movies to watch”, says Yvon, “I think that’s a good start, but there is no substitute for just going there”.

Available for rental on Netflix, iTunes and for purchase at Amazon.com.

2) Surfing Favela : “Overcome obstacles and pursue your goals!”

Need help to keep up with your exercise plan? Let’s put it this way: find a way to watch this independent documentary, and I guarantee you will see the obstacles you face in your everyday life in a very different way.

“Surfing Favela” invites you into the daily routines of a group of surfers who live in two of the largest slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Surfing is their way to decompress from all the violence that permeates their lives and their slim chance to challenge poverty and social stagnation. Keeping the sport alive in a drug-dominated community, however, is no easy task, and our heroes must find creative ways to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that could stop youngsters from riding waves.

“Surfing Favela” was selected as a finalist for the THE FUEL EXPERIMENT, an international contest sponsored by Fuel TV(USA), and was the only Latin American Project to reach the Top Ten.

Unfortunately, “Surfing Favela” is not available for rental, but can be downloaded from iTunes (U$ 4.99) or ordered from Amazon.com (starting at U$14.99, new).

3) Man on wire : “Be bold and take risks!”

Philippe Petit is a character! He is indubitably big-headed.   But if anyone in this world’s excessive pride in themselves is merited, that person is Petit!

This Oscar winner for Best Documentary is about Petit’s walk across a high wire between the now gone Twin Towers in New Your City, back in 1974. Yep, you read it right. The man walked on a wire, between what used to be the two tallest buildings on the planet- no safety nets, no security systems.  And it gets better — his impressive deed was totally unauthorized, which means that in order to pull it together, Petit had to create a remarkable plan to sneak into the buildings several times, first to determine the equipment he needed, and finally to carry out the stunt.

Petit’s enthusiasm and determination are contagious. If what you need to transform your plan into action is courage, this story will empower you to go out there and make it happen- no matter how insanely difficult or risky “it” may be!

Available on Netflix, iTunes and most video stores.

4) Water : “Help somebody else!”

The only non-documentary in our list, Water was directed and written by Deepa Mehta and was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Foreign Language Film, 2007).

The film is set in 1938 India and tells the heartrending story of Chuyia a child bride whose husband dies before their union is consummated.  According to the tradition, widows are relegated to a life of seclusion and poverty in special houses on the outskirts of the city.  Chuyia is shipped to one of these houses that is ruled over by an old woman who pimps the young women out- Chuyia included.

The story is definitely distressing, but the film is beautifully made and it’s after taste is of hope and optimism. Hopefully, it will also make you feel like getting out of your way to help somebody.

Available on Netflix.

5) The Age of Stupid : “Face reality and act upon it!”

This film is a hybrid that mixes fiction and reality. The year is 2055, and we are in the company of the last living man on the planet. We watch him in archive footage from the mid-to-late 2000’s.

The question this man from the future asks is simple — “Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?” — and all the answers to his question pretty much converge to one unbelievably unsatisfying reason in our present time: because we don’t want to face climate change with the seriousness it requires!   We deny it until we can’t anymore, and even after we accept it as a fact, we find it difficult to make the life adjustments and sacrifices that are so necessary and pressing.

The movie, written and directed by British zoologist turned environmental documentarist, Franny Armstrong, is a great source of information about climate change and hopefully that wake-up call we could all use to finally get rid of the Hummers and SUVs, downsize our homes, and push our governments to immediately switch from oil to wind and solar power.  Check it out!

Available on Netflix.

Original Article

This is Part 3 of a 3 part series on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by Joana Tavares-Reager, oceanographer and marine policy expert.  As with all things we classify as disasters, it is sometimes hard to find the silver lining.  The aim of the series is to discuss the broader impacts of the spill and make a connection to each of our daily lives.

Crying over spilled oil

Like if wasn’t heartbreaking enough to have to deal with the horrendous short and long-term effects of this oil spill, we also have to watch political parties trying to use it to push their agendas, which mind you are often far from being environmental ones.

The right accuses the current President of being complacent. The left reacts by blaming the problem on the “cozy relationship” oil companies have in fact enjoyed with our precedent Administrations, while most of us just watch it from the middle, puzzled.  Who’s to blame?

I would agree with some claims that the Federal Administration has not reacted to the disaster promptly enough. There was no substantial, efficient plan of action to deal with an oil spill of such magnitude, and the EPA and the Coast Guard were forced to just sit and watch BP to carry out whatever best management practices they could come up with on the spot. Some say that is due to the fact that an event of such magnitude has never happen before, but that’s no excuse.

If a government authorizes a company to drill for oil in their jurisdiction, that government should be fully aware of all the risks associated with that activity, including the very unlikely but potentially disastrous ones. An efficient emergency response plan for any outcome should have been developed beforehand and if some of the possible outcomes turned out to be unmanageable, like the one we are witnessing now, then the project should not have been approved. The reality is that the governmental agencies did not know what to do. It seems like they let the BP deal with the problem and by the time they decided to call some shots the situation was already out of control

That been said, we should understand that blaming this entire mess on the current Federal Administration is a mistake and one with serious consequences for the future, because it exempts us, citizens driving around our illuminated cities, from the many public decisions that we have been making for decades and that have led us to a calamity like this.

Russian roulette

The bottom line is the following: as a society, we took way too many risks and totally missed the boat on this one.  It is very much like many other lessons we had to learn the hard way in the past. Smoking cigarettes increase one’s chance of developing cancers. Driving drunk increases the chances of car accidents. Playing Russian roulette increases one’s chances of dying.  And sadly for all of us, humans who depend on oil to power their homes, industries and cars, extracting this toxic substance from the bottom of ocean increases the risk of killing a lot of sea animals, disrupting natural ecosystems and screwing up local economies for a long, long time.

The jury is still out on who the immediate culprits are, but in the big picture we, as a society, are still taking the risks that these preventive steps may go wrong. And that is in spite of the fact that perfect substitutes for the whole oil exploration process already exist.

The technology to power our existence through non-polluting, lower environmental impact means, such as solar and wind power, has been developed and can be economically accessible if it receives the economic incentives that are still diverted to the oil industry in the form of subsides.  And let’s not forget that the prevention of oil spills is only one reason to invest in solar and wind power.  We are the mist of a climate crisis and can’t afford burning anymore oil anyways.

University of Delaware Marine Policy Professor James Corbett, an expert in shipping-related policies and environmental issues, has launched a website that reports the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in terms of the lost uses and lost fuel on a daily basis. Even more importantly for our discussion here, Corbett attests to how risky the decision of investing and approving offshore drilling for oil is.  In straight forward terms, Corbett explains how individuals and society evaluate risk when making choices and poses some important questions, such as:

• Should the government require a lower risk of failure for future permits?
• Should the public expect industry and government to be more “risk-averse” than an “expected-value” decision maker?
• Can we pursue conservation measures that will help reduce the demand for new petroleum sources so we can choose to drill in risky places less often?

The take home lesson

It is time we think carefully about how our everyday choices about what we consume, drive and support affect the world around us.

Support alternative sources of energy and reduce your oil consumption. In the next elections, let’s try to think about our candidates from a different perspective, one that takes into consideration their level of commitment to the immediate development of alternatives to oil.  Look for candidates talking about serious, large- scale wind farm projects and support programs for the development of electric automobiles that can replace our current fleet within 10 to 15 years.

There are lots of candidates out there talking about our current environmental problems but very few are actually pinpointing solutions. So maybe we should start laying them out for them. Lets’ educate ourselves about alternative sources of energy, and then inform our communities and our politicians as well.

Let’s learn real lessons from this oil spill; lessons that we can in fact, take to our homes and into our lives.

Original Article