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 On the wall at the Second Annual Congress on Urban Cycling, Guadalajara, Mexico, Sept. 19, 2009. I will put up a real report tomorrow or the day after. Had a great time at the 2nd annual Congress on Urban Cycling here in Guadalajara the past 3 days. Much to report on, including posting my talk that I managed to deliver in Spanish! All to come…. for now, I just wanted to put up these great stencils and save the rest for later… These images were painted by the great folks from CACITA (Centro Autonomo para la Creacion Intercultural de Tecnologias Apropriadas) who are from Oaxaca, where they’ve developed a whole range of amazing pedal-powered machines.
 A bicycle-powered food processor!  Bici Licuadora (blender) for raffle at the Congress.  Bici Licuadora in Stencil... Continue reading Bike Stencils, BiciMakinas (Pedal-Powered Tools) in Guadalajara
That’s what we called our rolling, 4-stop, 4-course picnic last Wednesday. We were only 13 folks since we held it at 3 pm on a Wednesday, but we figured it was a trial-run of a (hopefully) good idea, and that it will be easier to replicate with more people later.
 LisaRuth cuts her ever-more famous and always astonishingly delicious bread! Carin McKay, my erstwhile flatmate, and former collaborator on our Slow Food Feasts at CounterPULSE, was my co-conspirator in setting this one in motion. We started from home, our bicycles laden with good food and drink, utensils, tablecloths, etc., and rode to the bayshore at 24th, known to the City’s Rec and Park Dept. as “Warm Water Cove” but to many locals as “Toxic Beach” or “Toxic Golf course” (back in the day, people went there to get drunk, bbq, play music, and yes, hit golf balls into the bay). It’s next to the Mirant power plant which will be shut down next year, ending a decades-long history of heavy polluting power plants along the southeastern bayshore of San Francisco.
 Oh, the bread, the bread! After scrumptious gazpacho, along with the bread and a great olive tapenade, fresh sweet butter, and a couple of bottles of red wine to get us going, we headed north along Illinois Street, past the stump of Irish Hill, and through the bizarre suburban landscape of the new UCSF Campus at Mission Bay. On the north side of that blight on the city we stopped at the edge of Mission Creek under a tree filled with defecating birds (one of our friends was nailed as we pulled up). Once we settled in, the second course proceeded with several bottles of Prosecco, Tuna Carpaccio, and a vegetarian analogue, a zucchini marinade with mint and cilantro, lemon and peppers.
Continue reading Biking and Biting by the Bay
Since I’m planning to go to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December, it seems only appropriate that I should show up to local efforts to address the topic. After an intense flurry of dozens of messages sent via Facebook (and Twitter, were I using it, which I won’t) I thought the “Mobilization for Climate Justice” yesterday in Richmond would attract a couple of thousand people or so… But no, there weren’t even 300 people at the rally near the end of the BART line in Richmond. It wasn’t entirely the same old people, but it was one of those political experiences that reward the patient and frustrate anyone who thinks something as difficult as this is easy.
 The march starts, led by Henry Clark of the West County Toxics Coalition (in the black hat). I have friends who have doggedly organized against Chevron for years now, trying their best to connect to the local efforts against toxic emissions and pollution and for environmental justice, so I was surprised at how few locals attended the rally. I joked with Robert as we got back to SF that at least we felt better for having gone, and had to acknowledge that it wasn’t much different than the people who feel better for having gone to church. Leftist demonstrations seem to have fully collapsed as meaningful political forms now, and only the true believers can maintain any sense of efficacy in participation in them.
 Richmond elected a Green mayor last time around, and there's definitely a growing vision of a new life growing here. Continue reading Needed: Climate Change!
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