Bowling 1, Health Care 0

Elizabeth Edwards wrote this wonderful piece (yes, John's wife) in the New York Times today about the election.

A snippet:

Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world.

It seems most people are fed up with the way the press handles itself, yet they continue to focus on the insignificant details.

Of the 3000 questions asked of the remaining three presidential candidates, only 8 had to do with the environment or global warming. Over a dozen were asked about Obama not wearing a flag pin in his lapel. That is the problem.

via New York Times

Bay Area designers have long had green outlook

Last month, I sat on a panel for the Luxury Marketing Council to discuss the issues of sustainability in the luxury market. The packed audience consisted of high end real estate agents, bankers, jewelers, and the like. I always love exposing these ideas to groups who do not normally come into contact with green that often.

They usually become incredibly excited at these ideas, a testament to the logic and need for sustainability.

On the panel with me was Mike Freed, owner of Passport Resorts the company that developed various Eco Resorts: such as Post Ranch Inn and Cavallo Point .


BTW, The Post Ranch Inn was designed by a mentor of mine, and fellow organic architect, Mickey Muennig .

Zahid Sardar, Architecture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote an article today about the success of Passports resorts as luxurious architecture.

Also on the panel with Mike and myself were:
* Kimberley Gardiner
Marketing manager for Lexus Hybrid

* Helge Hellberg
Marketing director of Marin Organic
(who, by the way, charmed everyone with his enthusiasm and personality!)


Full Story via SFGate.com

Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient ‘Toxic’

Interesting news story about the health dangers of plastics in food packaging, specifically containing a chemical called bisphenol-a. Canada is officially labeling this chemical as toxic. The US Government has been absent on this issue. Of course, the plastics industry is a multi-trillion dollar business.

Full Story via New York Times

...bisphenol-a, or B.P.A is widely used to make polycarbonate plastics, which are rigid and transparent like glass. Because animal tests have shown that even small amounts of the chemical may cause changes in the body, however, researchers have focused on food- and drink-related applications of B.P.A.

The most disturbing part of the article:

...Warren G. Foster, director of the center for reproductive care and reproductive biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is more skeptical.

“If I was a fish and there was bisphenol-a in the water, I’d be concerned,” he said.