Into the Wild

Was listening to Eddie Vedder on the way home from work. "Society!" From the soundtrack of "Into the Wild."

That movie really stuck with me. I'm going into the woods this weekend, for a week-long (nine days, actually) vacation. Don't be worried. I'll have electricity and water and food. But it's nice to get away.

Maybe when I get back I can get a sustainable job. Not just a job that keeps on paying every week, but a job that helps the Earth, that helps turn society around, that makes people care more about the world than they do about drinking a cheap Big Gulp and finding Cheez-Its on sale at Wal-Mart. No offense to Slurpees. I'm talking about our consume-happy "Society!"

Check out this survey done for Dow Corning:

" According to an international study on alternative energy trends conducted by Harris Interactive for Dow Corning Corporation, nearly 40 percent of companies globally have either implemented or are actively investigating alternative energy technology. "

Sounds like a better future is coming. But God, that Eddie Vedder song is depressing. Don't forget, Pearl Jam helped kill 80s metal. Blood is on their hands. Sorry, Eddie.

Let's listen to some Slayer.

Tricky Dubya Gets Stoned

Is this a trick? George W. Bush has endorsed the Great Lakes Compact? The one that protects the lakes against large withdrawals? The one that big business and the West wishes would go away? It seems so.

According to a White House statement: "The Compact will ensure sustainable use and responsible management of waters from the Great Lakes Basin and preserve the Great Lakes for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
I strongly urge Congress to provide rapid approval of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact."

It gives you the shivers. But it's a good sign. Or maybe a ruse to go to war with Canada? Who knows. They could attack us at any minute!

It's as weird as a metal tribute to Depeche Mode or the upcoming new movie, "W," from RNR Director Oliver Stone.

Have you seen the trailer? I still can't believe it's for real, but apparently it is.

Thunder

OK OK OK. If AC/DC can do it, so can I.

I've been busy with summer (beer, sunbathing, bacon) and too busy to actually blog. Although I often blog in my head. Anyway, AC/DC is going back on tour in October. And putting out an album, after eight years. But they've made a deal with the Devil (Wal-Mart). We can't have it all.

But it's time for the Green Mullet to get back in the swing, after a hiatus of, oh, six days.

AC/DC has a section on its site called WWACDCD (What Would AC/DC Do?) Very Christian of them. But I thought it might be a green thing. Maybe those ol' Aussies are getting on the enviro bandwagon, too? Nah, WWACDCD is just a "This Day in AC/DC History."

But it's been a great week of discoveries for GM. Like stumbling across a great Swedish band still stuck happily in the great 1980s, called CrashDiet. Too bad their singer just left the band and their last singer killed himself. We can't have it all.

72 hours to rock!

That's three days, and one day more than Pretty Boy Floyd gave us.

The Environment Report has a story about employers allowing employees to work a four-day work week, to save on gas. It may not actually save on gas, but it makes you feel better, apparently (duh).

A transcript says working 10 hours straight can be tough (depending on your work ethic, I guess). I don't see why the solution is to make people work 10 hours a day for four days. Let me work from home, for God sakes. Or we can all just go on pretending that we all work every second of our shifts. God knows I do. I never get coffee, go to the bathroom, go for a walk, surf the Net. Never.

An economist tells TER that people might not want to stay home for the first day of their 72-hour weekend.

"People are going to say well, I’ve got a third day off, so why don’t I drive around and do some errands and enjoy myself?”

Tell a commute. Telecommute.

Get ready to tip over?

It's bad enough that SUVs, good for pulling trailers, are top heavy. Here comes a fold-out trailer that appears to be worse.

A post on Treehugger touts the upright camper as more fuel-efficient. But why not just lay it on its side and tow it like a pop-up? Weird.

"This design is not without its share of problems, such as the lack of kitchen, washroom or any storage; most pop-out designs for trailers or prefab houses have a core of basic facilities. However I like the way it all folds up into a hard-sided suitcase that is narrow enough to go anywhere."

If you're going to tow this, you might as well just pack a tent. And a radio. Or maybe this camper is cooler than it looks, kind of like Tenacious D? None of the posts seem to address how you keep this thing from tipping over. Damn bloggers!

Camping with the penguins

Camping Rocks. Spend any time here, and you'll find out that The Green Mullet loves camping. Camping camping camping. It took a while to get his wife to go along (tent) but a travel trailer did the trick (bathroom). Sitting by the fire, drinking Coors Light, listening to Skynyrd, there's nothing better.

While reading The Economist today (right), I came across a story about declining attendance at national parks like Yosemite. It seems attendance has been dropping since about 1987. High gas prices. Wildfires. News Kids reunion. You name it.

"Visitors are staying for less time and camping less often, especially in the wilderness. And rangers are hearing less American-accented English. Were it not for British and German tourists enjoying the weak dollar, the parks would be desolate."

Hunting and fish also are dropping off. How sad. The story goes on and on, and eventually you'll lose interest. Go outside. But don't forget your radio. Play it softly, so as not to disturb the animals (furry and otherwise).

If you go camping, you might want to try the camping raft (not). Treehugger has a mention of this thing. Sounds like you'll need to bring lots of OFF. Camping right on the water? What if you drop your radio?

"The camping raft consists of sturdy logs, safely drifting on barrels."

One other thing: This is kind of cold (no pun intended), but wouldn't "Hundreds of Dead Baby Penguins" be a great name for a band?

- GM

The Dark Knight

The Bright Day is tomorrow. Going to a family BBQ, then dropping the kids off at their grandparents (wife's side). Then ... BATMAN!

It turns out bats like renewable energy. Like, they live in the shadows of hydrodams. I'm not a Joker.

Saw an ad for Consumers Energy the other day. It had a bat on it. How timely.

It turns out that 20,000 bats love the spillway at Tippy Hydro on the Manistee River. According to the ad:

"Temperatures a few degrees above freezing and moist walls with small pools of water at the bottom of the spillway chamber make it an ideal location for bats to hibernate. Brown bats, northern bats, a few Eastern pipistrelle bats and Indiana bats, a species listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, spend their winters in the spillway."

It makes me wonder. The dam is manmade. It began operating in 1918. How in the hell did the bats find it in the first place? I can only imagine that one bat wandered over, told his friends, and the rest is history.

In the summer, the bats take to the trees. Man-Bat used to scare the crap out of me as a kid.

See you at the movies.