Hornblower Hybrid, the first hybrid ferry boat in the United States

Tomorrow is an exciting day for those of us who are interested in ways to honor the environment and apply ingenuity to the colossal task at conservation. The Hornblower Hybrid, the first hybrid ferry boat in the United States, sails its maiden voyage to Alcatraz and Angel Islands in San Francisco Bay tomorrow. Alcatraz Cruises, the company that took over ferry services to Alcatraz Island in 2006, tackled the retrofitting of the Hornblower and in essence recycled the 64-foot long catamaran, both in furnishing and function. Two years and $4 million later, the hybrid vessel redefines ocean travel in ways that could revolutionize fleets around the world.

Given that it utilizes energy from solar, wind, grid electric and Tier 2 diesel generators, the vessel runs on an estimated 75 percent less fuel than any other craft of its kind. While at dock—which constitutes both the majority of a vessel’s run-time, as well as when most of its diesel fumes are emitted—the Hornblower idles much like a Prius would, providing for untold savings in fuel costs and pollution emissions. Read the rest of this entry >>

(Charlie Brewer Flickr Photostream/Creative Commons)

In an environmentally-inspired word association game involving the City of Los Angeles, the first words that come to mind most likely range from cars to traffic to smog to Brad Pitt (what?) to fumes and back to cars again. After five years of living here in the City of Angels, and following the most frustrating experience of my life getting from Point A to Point B, I decided to take the Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica last week.

To all seasoned bus-riders: I know this sounds silly…but it was a big deal for me. Given that I did not grow up in a metropolitan setting and haven’t taken a bus since middle school, I had a bit of prep to do beforehand: I mapped out the routes days ahead of time, set aside the exact change needed for the toll, and solicited a seasoned bus-riding co-worker to walk me to the bus stop (and no, he did not hold my hand…or my lunchbox). Read the rest of this entry >>

Despite its being a part of my every-minute, the World-Wide-Web can still, at times, take my breath away with its ability to facilitate interconnectedness.

I wrote a post last week on PimpThisBum.com, a nonprofit website geared toward customizing assistance for the homeless of a Houston suburb, and CNN just covered the same story. Turns out, the plot has thickened in such a mind-blowing, satisfying way with promise of so much more to come.

Tim Edwards, the courageous soul who is right in the thick of kicking the habit at Sunray Treatment and Recovery, was able to locate his father, who he was lead to believe had abandoned him almost 35 years ago. And this is just the beginning for him.

How amazing is that. Though I’m loathe to come off as saccharine, I must confess the article brought tears to my eyes. And not just because the story is sweet but also because I’m a part of it, and victory in another’s life means victory for me on a Thursday morning.

The etymology of “bum” dates back to the turn of last century, from the German slang “bummeln” or “go slowly, waste time.”

These days, encountering a homeless person is simply a part of the collective human experience. It’s a day-to-day encounter (for some of us) that ignites deep-seeded feelings of hopelessness, anger, disgust, horror, fear, sympathy, I could go on… And as many emotions as there are involved with this issue, there are an equal range of responses.

We’ve all been in that position of deciding whether or not to drop a few coins in a soiled coffee cup, mouth ‘sorry’ at a red light to someone with a cardboard sign, or walk past a body splayed in slumber, drunkenness or worse. Though my heart always breaks and I sporadically do what I can, I always walk away thinking that there has got to be a better way…

Kevin Dolan, 55, a marketing specialist from the suburbs of Houston, along with his wife and 24-year-old son Sean, may have found one. And the reactions to their initiative have been interesting, to say the least. Together the Dolans started Pimp This Bum, a website campaign that personalizes homelessness, beginning with the story of Tim Edwards. Read the rest of this entry >>

Citizen Kane

Until recently, I was one of those *adults* who still hadn’t seen Citizen Kane. Shame be mine. I suppose I felt dwarfed by its colossal reputation, having topped the list of the 100 greatest U.S. movies of all time two polls in a row. It was as if some authority was telling me how to think and feel anew and I just wouldn’t have it. Change is not the difficulty, but rather the resistance to it…

I believe the first hinting at the film’s genius starts with its playful trailer, narrated by its star, co-writer, and director, Orson Welles aka “Boy Genius.” It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In 1941, the year of the film’s release, Welles broke all the molds of his time…at 25 years of age (whaaa!?). By incorporating his radio (and theater) experience into that of film, he showcased a talent as unique and vital as his legacy.

Now here is a man understood the power of his own voice.

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Gandhi

What more can be said about Oscar® winning Gandhi, the sweeping biographical exposé of one of the world’s most beloved and celebrated peacemakers?

He offered the world a way out of madness.

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Erin Brockovich

This movie highlights one of my all time favorite heroines, one who—without the last minute reprieve of Prince-Charming-on-a-White-Steed—pulls herself through the muck of life’s mess by being herself…and being curious.

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Short films have a history of both fostering experimentation and serving as a springboard for eventual giants (Chaplin, Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas, et al).

Here’s one I thought was particularly mindful:

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Jim Stark (James Dean) is new in town and already in trouble with the cops. While at the police station, he encounters Judy (Natalie Wood), a rather distraught girl who is desperate for her father’s love, and Plato (Sal Mineo), a gay youth abandoned by his wealthy, divorced parents, brought in for shooting puppies.

Jim then tumbles headlong into the social schematics of high school. As a troubled teen who moved perpetually throughout his life, he has something to prove–to his quarrelsome parents, his bully-peers, and himself. Call it honor or foolhardiness, he’s dead set on figuring it out what it means to be a man. He engages in a knife fight and a challenge to the game of chicken, which results in the death of a gang leader (Judy’s boyfriend).

In trying to own up to his complicity, Jim’s fate, it would seem, is intertwined with those of the opening scene. In their angst, they cling to each other—as evident in Judy and Jim’s budding romance and Plato’s growing obsession with Jim as a leading male figure in his life—and form a surrogate family and learn for a brief glimpse of what the carefree happiness of youth can look like. But it isn’t to be and all goes awry again.

This film, directed by Nicholas Ray, is a brave and bold commentary on the dysfunctional middle-class family in the mid-1950s, just as the well-established “causes” for rebellion were no longer understood. Other taboo themes of the post-war years is that of the closeted homosexual, the violence of the frustrated youth subculture, and the never-before-seen challenge of the “chickie run,” all adding up to a radical film that was even banned in some cities for “promoting juvenile delinquency.”

This film, released in 1955, dares to expose the decay of American youth, highlighting an either absent or impotent father figure as the source of their brokenness, who are faced with the question of their generation’s purpose (no doubt less apparent than the generation prior) and the pressures of conformity. The response is summed up in the film’s most famous line:

You got to do something.

In 1961, psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote, “A youth expected to create a new but not yet delineated society finds himself a rebel without a cause.”

I recently watched a test screen of James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo shooting the only light and happy moment in Rebel Without a Cause. Beyond the special talent of all three stars was the sick-to-my-stomach eeriness of knowing each would die a tragic, untimely death.

James Dean was killed in a car accident in 1955, abruptly ending his promising career. He was just 24. At age 37, Sal Mineo was stabbed in the heart in 1976 under mysterious circumstances possibly involving his sexual orientation. Natalie Wood drowned in 1981, at 43 years of age, off the coast of Catalina Island.

In 1990, the United States Library of Congress’s National Film Registry added Rebel to the list, deeming it as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” takepart and support films that change the way we think about ourselves and the way we view our world.

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Slumdog Millionaire

On its surface, we have a lanky teen from Mumbai who scores the opportunity of a lifetime when he becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” What lurks behind the flashiness of his new found TV stardom is his real-time interrogation, having been accused of cheating. Apparently, no illiterate “slumdog” could (or should?) be on the brink of winning 20 million rupees. To prove his innocence, this street kid recounts a truly heart-breaking narrative about his life in the slums, each harrowing experience revealing how it is he knew the answers to impossible questions. And if that’s not enough to get you going, we learn he’s doing it all for love.

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