The Venus Project

I stumbled across this while looking at the Zeitgeist website.

It is a refreshing new vision for the future.  A future not ruled by money, politics or religion.  A future in which clean energy is the only energy used.  A future in which the world's people embrace their symbiotic nature, and work as one to better life as a whole.  A future where every person on Earth can enjoy a high standard of living.

When monetary profit is the main goal, most people get the short end of the stick.  Products diminish in quality and value.  Technology becomes outdated in the blink of an eye.  The wealth is held by a very small minority.  Poverty thrives.  Scarcity thrives.  Debt thrives.  Crime thrives.

Think of how much money a movie star makes.  Millions of dollars.  Millions of dollars that could be better spent:  using agricultural technology to reverse poverty, setting up schools around the world for all of Earth's people, rebuilding third world countries (so that when earth quakes happen, the concrete buildings don't collapse and kill thousands), providing high quality medical care to all, providing housing for all.

But The Venus Project goes much farther than proposing the allocation of money for important solutions.  It proposes to eliminate the root of the problems: money.

The Venus Project proposes a "resource based economy".  Jacque Fresco is the originator of this proposal.

"It is a system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude. All resources become the common heritage of all of the inhabitants, not just a select few. The premise upon which this system is based is that the Earth is abundant with plentiful resource; our practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter productive to our survival." -- quote taken from The Venus Project website.  

If humans no longer had to work to provide their needs, think of the endless untapped potential.  Humans would be free to pursue their passions.  Free to pursue their pleasures.  Free to contribute to society without worrying about how much profit it would make them.   Take a moment to imagine this.  No longer a slave to your job 40+ hours a week.  Resources in abundance.  Meg-lev trains that could take you across the World in a few hours, at no monetary cost.  The possibilities for humankind would be endless.  How many more artists, scientists, doctors, writers, travellers.... would there be?  The bounds of creativity and ingenuity are limitless.

To those that think this is only the dream of visionary idealists, I dare you to think again.

Think about changes society has already made.  Take, for example, the abolition of slavery.  It did not happen overnight.  It did not happen all at once.  But it did happen.  And who made it happen?  People made it happen.  People who helped in the Underground Railroad, and thus opposed slavery.  Social reformers like William Lloyd Garrison.  Writers like Harriet Beecher Stowe.

People once thought the Earth was flat.  People in ancient times probably thought travelling through the air was impossible.  The truth is, "the only limitations are those which we impose upon ourselves", as the Venus Project so aptly puts it.

In the words of Langston Hughes:

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow

I urge all to check out The Venus Project throughly, and to watch Zeitgeist Addendum.

Their proposals will not be easy to accomplish.  Not everyone will agree.  Their visions will not be quick to come to realization.  They may never come to realization.  But think of how wonderful it would be if they did.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Hooray I leave tomorrow at 11am for BC!!

I'm excited to have 2 whole weeks off.  Spend time with my Mom, see Nat and her girls, meet my new baby cousin, do some shopping, go surfing perhaps...  Should be a really great vacay. 

I'm so excited to see Eve's face on Christmas morning!

I've spent the last week trying to wrap up all my Christmas activities...  making cards, cookies, stockings, going to zoolights and Once Upon a Christmas at Heritage Park.  It was a jam packed week. 

I don't remember the last time I had 2 whole weeks off, so I can't wait. 

In case I don't write again until the New Year...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Channeling Blair Waldorf

I really love all of the headbands Blair wears on Gossip Girl.  I've decided I would like to start making headbands.  Actually, I decided this awhile ago, I just haven't gotten around to it.  But, when I do, they will be marvelous :)

I also saw some adorable dressed up beanies at a fair this Summer in Courtenay, BC.  I think these would be a lot of fun to make also...

Dies and Goes to Heaven

What else can I say really?  Is that not a perfect room?  The only thing I would change is that chair.  It doesn't look nearly as comfortable as these couches:

(All couches by Montauk sofa)

Twilight House

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a little obsessed with the house from Twilight.  I just love how open and bright it is, and I love it's location in the forest.

So I thought it deserved a post all to itself.  The house was designed by Jeff Kovel via Skylab Architecture.  They have some very nice work.  All the residences shown on their website are pretty modern, open, and bright looking.  Me likes!

P.S.  If you haven't seen New Moon yet...do it!  It's really good.  And in my opinion, it was better than Twilight.

*dreams of Edward Cullen and Jacob Black*

Winter Blues

The sun setting at 5:00 is really not helping my energy and motivation.

I find that it makes me extremely lazy and tired.  I can get 7-10 hours of sleep and still not feel refreshed.  I get home from work and just want to lay in bed and watch TV.

It's driving me nuts.  I want to be able to wake up early and go to the gym.  Not feel like sleeping at work.  Get home from work and have the energy to read a book or do something more productive than just always watching TV.  I want to want to get out of bed and moving on the weekends.  Take Harlow for a walk...  Go get some fresh air or do something.

I really don't like Winter.  I love the pretty snow, but I wish it would just come in December and leave by January.  Or I at least wish that the sun was up as much as it is in the Summer.  That would help some.

I already struggle with energy and motivation, so Winter just really does not help.

Time to see the doctor again I suppose.  I have a bunch of vitamins and supplements that are supposed to help,  but even if I eat first, I still feel very nauseous if I take them.

Sigh.

Why can't I control the weather?

Some Bathtub Love

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love taking baths.  I like thinking about what my dream bathroom might look like one day...

Ahhh....Now dream of soaking in one of those beauties while listening to some of your favorite tunes, sipping a glass of wine, and perhaps enjoying your ocean view....