Sustainability
Arab Spring of organic cuisine
This past Spring, I was great fortune of visiting Beirut, Lebanon. I was on a 2-week USAID-funded volunteer assignment, to evaluate the emerging organic food and farming sector, and to develop a communications strategy to help take them to the next level. I met with the country’s pioneers of organic agriculture, dined with forward-thinking restauranteurs … Continue reading
Why vote “YES” on Prop 37
How many of you look at labels on packaged foods — Ingredients? Nutritional content? Calories? When it comes to genetically modified foods (GMOs), I don’t trust the health and safety claims of the industry, and I want to be able to choose whether or not to eat them. But, unlike in dozens of other countries, … Continue reading
Green in Dubai’s Desert
A weekend in Dubai – Part 2 — the Al Maha Desert Resort, the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and an antelope’s quiet disdain. Excerpt below, and click here for the full article. +++ The towering skyscrapers of Dubai disappear behind me in a haze. The air smells and tastes of sand, even as the taxi whisks past a … Continue reading
Electrifying Eco-Resort
As some of you may have already gathered, my journey here in Asia has increasingly focused on what is called ‘mysticism’ by some, and quantum physics by others. Chi, prana, kundalini, chakras, universal energy, zero-point energy, etc. The words (and the traditions from which they derive) are less important to me than the underlying phenomena … Continue reading
One week in Indonesia
A taste of my past week here in Indonesia: Research: Digging in deeper into my research about profound manifestations of ‘energy’ (chi, kundalini, prana, mystical – the names matter much less than the phenomena themselves and related implications), developing a database of people around the world with X-Men type abilities, and exploring similarities and dissimilarities from … Continue reading
Psychedelic media relations
Reading the following press release *almost* makes me want to get back into the PR biz myself … Props to Widness & Wiggins for promoting Ayuhuasca journeys in Peru. The Ayahuasca (Banisteropsis caapi), or ‘rope of the spirits’ in Quechua, is the master plant of the Amazonian rainforest that is combined with Chacruna (Psicotria viridis) into a … Continue reading
Dubai’s green dust storm
On a recent flight to the Middle East (including a 2-week volunteer gig in Lebanon developing the organic food and agriculture sector), I squeezed in a quick, 3-day layover in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The trip started with grabbing a drink with my friend Ivan (whose parents own the wonderful Chileno Valley Bed … Continue reading
Death of a friend in Burma
Writing this blog, like talking to a friend after a long silence, is a little awkward knowing where to start, because so much has transpired since our last meeting. Unfortunately, I have to start by telling you about the death of a friend. None of you knew Paul, at least not directly. But if you remember … Continue reading
Old Man Marshall
I’m in Bali, Indonesia but, this morning, I’ve got my home town of Marshall, California on my mind. Marshall, nestled on the shores of Tomales Bay, was founded by Irish immigrant Hugh Marshall, who sailed from Ireland around Cape Horn to California in 1852. The next year, Marshall and his four brothers drove milking shorthorn cattle … Continue reading
The Chair in the Middle of the Road
Despite repeated visits to the chiropractor, hot packs, cold packs and a random assortment of medications, nothing seemed to help Nigel’s back. Quite the opposite, in fact, and the pain continued to worsen. Then, on December 24, while cruising home to Dixon on Interstate 80 from the SF Ferry Plaza farmers market, a wooden chair … Continue reading
