TODAY'S TOPIC = GLOBAL WARMING
questions for consideration:
1. Does global warming exist?
2. Is it possible to practice yoga without Yama and Niyama?
3. If the yogic idea of ahimsa (non-harming, the first of the Yamas) applies to all living beings, does that include the Earth?
4. Are yogis (Ashtangis, Hatha-heads, hot yogaists, Forresters, Friendlies, etc) who practice in a space where the temperature is heated above 72 degrees practicing ahimsa? Or are they contributing needlessly to global warming just so they can have a more intense practice (which tends to feed, rather than diminish, the ego)?
5. Are these things (ahmisa, yoga in a warmed-up room) mutually exclusive? Is it OK to practice in a warm room if one rides a bike or walks or carpools to class instead of driving an SUV?
Discuss.
Venice Beach Surf by Caca (c) 2005
The people that think Al Gore walks on water better wake up to a few FACTS>
ReplyDeleteThe following surprised me, and should come as a real shock to all the people that think Al Gore walks on water>
"LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST
HOUSE # 1:
A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas.
In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt," either. It's in the South.
HOUSE # 2:
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American Southwest.
A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing groundwater through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system.
Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.
HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.
HOUSE # 2 (4 BR 4000 sq.ft.model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas, also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
So whose house is gentler on the environment?
And no, you don't see this kind of thing showing up on mainstream corpmedia for the simple reason that there are some in the military-industrial-medical complex (MIMC) that have figured out a way to skin some bucks off the issue. Studies, grants, retrofits - yup, gotta whip up support. Off-planet causes? Can we get back to you later (after we get our slice of the big $$$ involved)?
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The emerging "duality" running rampant right now is that people are self-sorting into easily handled 'thought groups" and from each, profits can be made. In the cold cruel world of real-life economics, cooperation is not as profitable as division and conflict. Thus, we need to continuous growing the threats and divisions to keep people/society operation at a cohesive level. Dr. Joseph Tainter's work here is most instructive.
For the naysayers, according to a Snopes "Urban Legend" report, this one is true.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp
You're so right: if someone has a green house it COMPLETELY CANCELS OUT their godawful environmental policy and the effects it's had (and will have, for generations) on public health, the environment, global warming, endangered species, etc. Yes, I'm sure it does.
ReplyDeleteWriting is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money
ReplyDeleteJules Renard
What about Al Gore being an
ReplyDeleteoverfed/stuffed know it all who talks the talk but can't walk the walk?
I don't want a guy like that telling me to use less electricity and drive a hybrid car, as he obviously doesn't.
You see, you fell for the scam.
The emerging "duality" running rampant right now is that people are self-sorting into easily handled 'thought groups" and from each, profits can be made. In the cold cruel world of real-life economics, cooperation is not as profitable as division and conflict. Thus, we need to continuous growing the threats and divisions to keep people/society operation at a cohesive level. Dr. Joseph Tainter's work here is most instructive.
1. That person's writing is incoherent (it IS a person, right?).
ReplyDelete2. I find it laughable that so many people in this country are "for" using up every fossil fuel they can find, living in the biggest house they can't afford, driving their giant cars faster than the speed limit and buying all the latest electronics and other hyper-packaged plasticky crap they can consume -- all the while denying that there's a problem and they're part of it. Talk about duped.
Al Gore lives in a giant sized house, and travels around on private jets burning untold thousands of gallons of fuel monthly.
ReplyDeleteTalk about an inefficient truth.
I have a lot of friends who are researchers in environmental science and climate control. Their biggest gripe seems to be with airlines. They feel that you should travel by train etc...when possible instead of flying up to another city. Ok, another country is a different matter.
ReplyDeleteWhat about chopping down the amazon forest to grow soybeans? Brazil is the 2nd largest global producer of them after the united states. A lot of yogis eat those, do you know if your soy comes from the amazon or not?
But there is some effort here: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2007/2007-03-29-02.asp
Is the planetary system also responsible for this problem? Solar output has been studied for over 30 years at least. A university research project found that 30 odd percent of global warming could indeed be due to solar output. I'm not really well versed on this topic to say much else though.
1. Ahimsa concerns everything imho.
2. I don't think you can practice yoga without yama and niyama. Otherwise it just becomes another way of disciplining an unruly body.
3. Yes
4. I guess the answer if I go with my gut instinct is yes, practicing global warming. But I am guilty of this as well. What to do, what to do...ask the studio to turn the heating down?
5. I think that we should do what we can. None of us are perfect in every sense. But trying and being mindful of these things is important.
When you think about it we are all somehow contributing to the problem, be it flying or driving, or using up heat and so on or consuming soy. I think that the important thing is to recognise that there is a problem and then to do the best we can. None of us are prefect but we owe it to ourselves and everyone else, including the other non-human inhabitants of this planet and the planet itself to participate.
Wow - officially my longest comment ever on a blog!
The "Soy fields taking over the amazon rain forests" is one of the most abused statistics used against soy milk drinkers/vegetarian-types.
ReplyDeleteMost of the soy produced in the amazons, and elsewhere, is for cattlefeed. In fact, if the entire world turned vegetarian, the farmlands of USA alone can feed the whole world.
Factory farming of animals and the associated industries are as big a contributor to the environmental troubles as automobiles are.
So, don't hesistate to add an extra shot of soy milk to your (organically grown and fair-traded coffee, of course) latte tomorrow!!
Dreyfus is correct, Al Gore is as much a big business-Washington insider as Bush is, but you (Caca) miss his point.
ReplyDeleteAl Gore is part of the problem.
A person who believes passionately
in his-her cause will make sacrifices, and Al Gore isnt sacrificing a thing, and is two face, he is responsible for a giant
carbon footprint.
Wake up you sheeple-lemmings.
There is no doubt the climate is changing, this is true. But is this really a man made thing, or a normal earth cycle?
I have conferred with Dr. Dreyfuss about his power usage, and he tells me his super efficient house in the boonies uses on average 950 kWh per month.
ReplyDeleteNow that is walking the walk!
Al Gore average per month use is
18,414 kWh.
And Gore owns more than 1 house.
Dr. Dreyfuss has also bought an older Mercedes diesel 4 door
sedan and and burns
B100 biodiesel in it, so he also drives the drive.
He does report he uses a
anti-gel additive in the winter.
He describes the sickenly sweet odor of the bio diesel as very much like the smell of a McDonalds or Burger King.
How is your cynicism beneficial to the world and our environment?
ReplyDeleteIt really doesn't matter how Al Gore lives his personal life. What's important is how we each live our own personal lives. If you dismiss the message merely because you see no one else around you making needed changes, then you are DOUBLY guilty. Let Gore work out his own shortcomings. They are not for you to correct. If you need a saint to revere, pick someone dead. Once a legend is born,
I didn't undertake yoga with yamas and niyamas in mind. But I do progress, both in asana practice and all that comes along with it. It's a package deal no matter how some might rationally reject parts of it. I'm still new but I progress steadily in more ways than just physically. According to myriad sources, Jois said: "Practice and all is coming." I wonder if people realize how loaded with meaning that little gem is. Once you get started, you can't outrun or sidestep ANY part of your growth.