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how often to shower??

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12,167 hours of washing our bodies. That’s how much life you use, if you spend 20 minutes per day washing and moisturizing your skin and hair (and you live to be 100, as we all surely will). That adds up to nearly two entire years of washing every waking hour. Not to mention water usage and the cost of cosmetic products—which we  need , because commercials tell us to remove the oil from our skin with soap, and then to re-moisturize with lotion. Other commercials tell us to remove the oils from our hair, and then re-moisturize with conditioner.  And of course we want to smell a certain way afterwards. That’s four shower products —plus a lot of water and time— we use every day. And few people question whether it’s anything short of necessary. It’s not just the fault of advertising, but it's also our own perception that if we go a few days without showering (even one day!?) we will become oily, smelly beasts. But what if you push through the oiliness + smelliness; embrace it, and go
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Earth overshoot. Day

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Today... July 29 ... Is the date where we have used all the resources the earth can provide for us.  After today we are borrowing from our future generations by exceeding Earth's carrying capacity. ------------------ https://www.overshootday.org/ Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. In 2021, it falls on July 29. We know it can be overwhelming to think about the various impacts of global ecological overshoot such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather events (to name a few). However, thriving lives within the means of our planet are not out of reach.
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staying cool

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Another record setting hot summer is upon us.    There's many ways to stay cool.  We are blessed on the West Coast with ocean breezes - until we're not.  Who would've thought that British Colombia and the Yukon Territory would see consecutive days above 100F!? or Portland at 116F - yikes!  Global weirding indeed.    Keeping our body cool is essential to good health.   You've probably gotten lotsa tips on how to stay cool:  staying indoors, in the shade, resting from noon to 6pm, drinking lotsa water, wet towels on your forehead and neck, on and on... Here's a few suggestions on how to stay cool inside your place:  1) Basic first steps to staying cool indoors:  You best line of defense against having a hot house/room is to prevent warm outside air and sun rays from coming in.        First make your area dark all day.   Get some curtains (ideally thermal) and make sure your windows and doors are closed and weatherized properly (caulking, sealant strips, etc).   One
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reliable home power

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Reliable home power does not start with supply (or installing a legacy fossil fuel pollution belching generator).  Some may find this is counter intuitive and contradicts everything utilities, regulators and contractors (heck - even your friends!) will tell you. Reliable power always, always starts with your usage - the demand side. If you have a lot of high wattage devices (electric clothes dryer, electric ovens and heaters, large fridge, etc) your supply needs will be very high (and expensive), even if you use each of these devices only for a short period of time. Power hook-ups are always designed by connected load (KW) needs, not usage.  It's premise is based on all your devices being turned on at the same time.  When friends ask me how they can incorporate solar PV panels into their homes, i tell them to observe how they use electricity.  what are their daily usage patterns? the easiest way to start with solar PV is to install a separate electrical line just for auxiliary LED
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It's about time!

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 Europe has banned all single use plastic!  When will we do the same?  The city/country of Berkeley needs to start this one off for the USA - if it's woke (yikes! did I just say that?:) https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/plastics/single-use-plastics_en ----------------- We're already following European 'right to repair' law,. We haven't gotten close to Europe's precautionary principle or it's chemical industry regs (REACH). https://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach/legislation
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what's going on...

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  50 years ago, Marvin Gaye's album    'what's going on'  was released.   In 1971,  the Vietnam war was  raging.  Marvin Gaye's album was the most poignant of the times.  It's message hasn't receded a bit in 50 years.  I believe it's more timeless than the Beatles, Jimi H, Rolling Stones, Moody BLues, ++.   We'll be playing this album 50 years from now. https://youtu.be/iyQtUEwRIzQ  The title song 'what's going on'  is about a Viet Vet returning stateside (in 1970) and being totally confused about what was going on with the hippies, the government, our leaders, protests, racial inequities, +++  The song Mercy, Mercy me was about blacks being mistreated by cops - as if mistreatment is a synonym for killing!! ... and here we are 50 years later  Marvin used his soul seduction style and sexuality to persuade us to stop the war, to no escalate, to take care of mother earth and all her creatures - to love each other and to RESPECT each other. 1
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spaceship WinSol - bucky

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I n Bucky Fuller's book 'Operating Manual Spaceship Earth'  he talks about... '    Predict(ing) that soon the great office buildings will be turned into residences and that all the work that had been done in them will be done in the basements of a few buildings. States that we "must operate exclusively on our vast daily energy income from the powers of wind, tide, water, and the direct Sun radiation energy".  '  This was published in 1969 - way before climate change and ecology became a thing.  The timing was in tune with the rising environmental wokeness along with Stewart Brand's  'Whole Earth'  and Donna Meadows' 'Limits to Growth'.  And now as the COVID pandemic end is in sight and remote working is more commonplace, perhaps all those office buildings will be converted to homeless shelters?  ....one can dream! Bucky Fuller was one of my mentors.   But Bucky is a difficult read.  He was quite introspective and had a peculi
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