Michael Jackson's album Off the Wall came out 21 days after my 17th birthday, and at the time thanks to ABBA, I really did think I was a Dancing Queen. (lol) My 8-track of Off the Wall was played and danced to over and over and over again. That album and Michael Jackson have made an ever lasting impression on me. Music, art, and film always have the greatest impact on you when you are open to receiving the message.

Michael Jackson's Earth Song which came out in 1995 was his first single that overtly dealt with the environment and animal welfare. I was not completely surprised when I read this past week how Earth Song was a top five hit in most European countries, and in the UK, it remains Jackson's best-selling single. Sadly, Earth Song was not even released as a single in the United States. I wonder why? Maybe the reason was the US was not open to receiving this message at the time.

Earth Song was accompanied by a lavish music video which had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and war. Jackson and the world's people unite in a spiritual chant Earth Song which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends and the forests regrow.

The video was filmed in four geographic regions. The first location was the Amazon Rainforest, where a large part was destroyed a week after the video's completion. Natives of the region appeared in the video and were not actors. The second scene was a war zone in Croatia, with residents of the area. The third location was Tanzania, which incorporated scenes of illegal poaching and hunting into the video. No animals were harmed in the making of the Earth Song, as the footage came from documentary archives. However, a poacher killed an elephant within a mile of the shot. The final location was in Warwick, New York, where a safe forest fire was simulated in a corn field.

Michael said this about Earth Song:

"I remember writing Earth Song when I was in Austria, in a hotel. And I was feeling so much pain and so much suffering of the plight of the Planet Earth. And for me, this is Earth's Song, because I think nature is trying so hard to compensate for man's mismanagement of the Earth. And with the ecological unbalance going on, and a lot of the problems in the environment, I think earth feels the pain, and she has wounds, and it's about some of the joys of the planet as well. But this is my chance to pretty much let people hear the voice of the planet. And this is "Earth Song." And that's what inspired it."

I was happy I came across so many eco-bloggers like Treehugger, Ecorazzie and many others blogging about this song since Michael Jackson's transition last week. I hope this music video gets shown all over the world and especially here in the United States.  Here's wishing that we are now more open to receiving this message and the wonderful gift of music and video from a true genius.

You can view Michael Jackson's Earth Song video HERE.

Contemporary economic models present the typical consumer as deliberative and highly forward-looking, not subject to impulsive behavior. Shopping for a product or a service is seen as an information-gathering exercise in which the buyers look for the best possible deal for products and/or services they have decided to purchase. Consumption choices represent optimizing within an environment of deliberation, control, and long-term planning. Whether such a picture is accurate it would be news (and news of a very bad sort) to a whole industry of advertisers, marketers, and consultants whose research on consumer behavior tells a very different story. Indeed, their findings are difficult to reconcile with the picture of the consumer as highly deliberative and purposive.

Serious empirical investigations suggest that these assumptions do not adequately describe a wide range of consumer behaviors. The simple rational-economic model is reasonable for predicting some fraction of choice behavior for some class of goods -apples versus oranges, milk versus orange juice- but it is inadequate when we are led to more consequential issues like consumption versus leisure, technological products with high symbolic content, fashion, consumer credit, and so on. In particular, it exaggerates how rational, informed, and consistent people are; it overstates their independence. Moreover it fails to address the pressures that consumerism imposes on individuals with respect to available choices and the consequences of various consumption decisions. By researching and understanding those pressures, one may well arrive at very different conclusions about politics and policy.

Corporations know that having a product available where target customers can buy it is essential to their business success. From the introduction of commerce to today's immense information exchange, markets have always been the primary focus of any sound business plan. That is because markets provide the necessary fuels for any industry to evolve. By consuming a variety of resources and products and having moved beyond basic needs to include luxury items and technological innovations to try to improve efficiency, today's consumers have created another type of consumer trend; consuming for the sake of consumption.

Such consumption beyond minimal and basic needs is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, as throughout history we have always sought to find ways to make our lives a bit easier to live. However, increasingly, there are important issues around consumerism and consumption that need to be understood as they are at the core of many, if not most societies. The impacts of current consumption, positive and negative are very significant to all aspects of our lives, as well as our planet. But equally important to bear in mind in discussing consumption patterns is the underlying system that promotes certain types of consumption and not other types. 

For those of you who don’t know, WCLG published a book on how to save green while going green entitled, We Can (All) Live Green: Simple Steps to Save Money, Stay Healthy and Support the Planet. If you follow one tip per section of the book, we estimate a savings of $5,000. This is a very, very conservative estimate. By the way, anyone out there need an extra $5,000?

1. Buy produce in season. Have you ever seen how much a wintertime basket of berries costs? Ouch. Off-season produce usually requires much more energy and resources to produce and transport, and it often retains less nutritional value too. Buying in-season produce only can skim $250 or more off your yearly grocery bill.

2. If you can’t afford fresh fruits and veggies, try frozen or canned. It’s usually cheaper to buy frozen or canned fruits and veggies, rather than fresh produce at the chain markets. Nutritionally, fresh is best, but frozen is a close second. Canned is fine too, if price is an issue; just make sure you’re always getting organic, and not a lot of added sugar or sodium. Depending on where you live, if you buy frozen or canned, you can save $200 a year and up on your grocery bill.

3. Try at least one vegetarian meal a week. You will save money on your weekly grocery bill! And it’s easier to cook a delicious vegetarian meal than you might imagine. When you’ve mastered one veggie meal a week, try to increase to two, and so on. It will add up: Having just one veggie meal a week can save you $200 a year; five meals a week saves $1000 a year! 

4. Embrace hand-me-downs – from friends, family members and fashionable neighbors. Participate in giving hand-me-downs too! Be creative – organize a “swap till you drop” party. There are lots of ways to save money and share your clothing with others, all while getting a few new duds of your own. An especially good option if you have children, since they often outgrow their clothing before our pocketbooks are ready for another trip to the store. Depending on your usual clothing expenses, you can save $200 to $400 a year and more.

5. Rideshare. The National Safety Council projects a $3000 yearly saving for commuters who rideshare. I want to be as conservative as possible in my promises, so I can assure you of savings above $2,000 a year, and hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much more you will actually save! Anyone out there who can use an extra $2,000 or more right now? Coordinate a commuting strategy with coworkers or neighbors and start saving now: at least $2,000 a year.

6. Consider making your own household cleaning products. For a small investment of time and effort you will be supporting your health and the planet, while putting some cash in your pocketbook. You can save $200 or more a year.

7. Reduce your energy consumption. If you utilize any combination of suggestions from the Energy Vampire section, you can save up to 50% off of your energy bill. Cost savings: a minimum of $600 a year.

8. Stop buying bottled water. Purify your tap instead. There are a few exceptions to this, but if you purify your tap, you are getting equally pure if not purer water than most bottled water – all for a fraction of the cost. For a family of four, bottled water costs about $10 a week, minimum. Over the course of a year, you can save a minimum of $400 – and you are reducing plastics in our landfills as well!

9. Recycle…and get paid. Through a little organization, planning and time commitment, you can actually make money by doing the right thing. Depending on recycling options in your community – and your family’s commitment level – you can actually make (at the very least!) $300-plus a year. Look into it!

10. Take the “One Tank of Gas Challenge.” We Can Live Green issues a friendly challenge to you and your family to find a suitable vacation spot that you can travel to on…you guessed it…one tank of gas. Get the whole family involved and see what destinations your family or friends come up with. When you agree on a choice, take the plunge and take your trip. Happy trails to all of you!

Buy the book to get more great tips – you can find it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Tower and much more! Check it out!

By Chase – Die Hard Greenie

We Can Live Green

I am passionate about one day owning a camper van that gets at least 60mpg.  Raser Technologies has a batter power converter... a new moter and battery system that allows you to drive 40 miles on just electricity!  But like most new things you can't buy it yourself and do the conversion... and it's astronomically expensive. You can read more about it here http://www.rasertech.com/  and I posted a blurb about it on my site http://www.convsersion-vans.net  or search it online.

The new downside is now that GMC has sold Hummer to a Chinese Company you once again can't get an American Car that is full electric.

I am passionate about one day owning a camper van that gets at least 60mpg.  Raser Technologies has a batter power converter... a new moter and battery system that allows you to drive 40 miles on just electricity!  But like most new things you can't buy it yourself and do the conversion... and it's astronomically expensive. You can read more about it here http://www.rasertech.com/  and I posted a blurb about it on my site http://www.convsersion vans.net  

The new downside is now that GMC has sold Hummer to a Chinese Company you once again can't get an American Car that is full electric.

The housefly is one of the most common and widely dispersed nonbiting insects in the world.Houseflies multiply at a staggering rate. In only approximately two weeks from egg to adult, a female will be ready to lay eggs — almost 500 of them.  Appearing close to human populations, the housefly is a major factor in the transmission of several serious diseases. Editor's note - some of them bloody well do bite!!!!!!!!!!

CBC Newworld

"We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in which our children and our children's children are the experimental subjects. Dr. Herbert Needleman".

"The Disappearing Male is about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system.

The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer. "

"At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia."

"The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world.

Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called "hormone mimicking" or "endocrine disrupting" chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development. "

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2008/disappearingmale/

 The Disappearing Male: Doc Zone - view the entire documentary

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/docplayer2.html?playlistId=f21067aaabfdece3076458e7e035e69febe7cfe7&id=911913844