Floating Lantern Ceremony

The ancient custom of floating lighted lanterns in waterways symbolizes respect for the lives of people who have gone before us, the lit lanterns are meant to guide our lost loved ones along their spiritual journeys. It also represents a light of hope for peace and harmony that we send over the waters of transmigration. This very colorful, but quiet and serene ceremony provides a place to reaffirm our commitment to building a peaceful future and to pay respect to the lost lives at the World Trade Center.

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One Year Countdown to Beijing Olympic Games

The Chinese capital of Beijing is adopting eco-friendly technologies in transportation, power supply, water and waste management to ensure a “green” Olympic Games, according to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

Beijing plans to use 100 hybrid-electric vehicles as public buses at all venues and several hundred electric vehicles will serve in the logistics departments of the Olympic Village and all stadiums while electric bicycles will be provided in the main Olympic area, according to the press release.

But the project doesn’t stop there; [Read more →]

From the acclaimed author of The Epicure’s Lament, comes a grand new novel of literary contention in which two competing biographers collide in their quest for the truth about a great artist.

Oscar Feldman, the “Great Man,” is a New York city painter of the heroic generation of the 40s and 50s. Rather than focusing on abstract canvases like Pollock and Rothko, he stubbornly holds to painting one subject alone—the female nude. Upon his passing in 2001, he leaves behind a wife, Abigail, an autistic son, and a sister, Maxine, herself a notable abstract painter. [Read more →]

His Holiness, The Dalai Lama

I wanted to share with you a great passage from a recent interview his Holiness, the Dalai Lama conducted with Deutsche Welle, (the German international broadcaster).

In the interview, the Dalai Lama stated that his main purpose is not the issue of Tibet, “…but rather the promotion of human values in order to have happier individuals, families and communities — and, in that way, a happier humanity. I consider that to be my contribution. I think every human being has a responsibility to better the world. That’s my conviction, and I always try to promote that. My second goal is the promotion of religious harmony. When I teach in India, more and more Chinese come. Sometimes, the Chinese government puts up restrictions to prevent Chinese from coming to India. But despite that, some Chinese always come. Many of them say that, after seeing the Tibetan community, they found big differences to what they had heard in China. Eventually there’s some positive impact.” [Read more →]

Since the start of 2001, Paris has seen an increase in bicycle use of over 48%. July 15th, 2007 marked the starting point of a major transformation in the way people will travel around the French capital. With the setting up of Vélib, the world’s most ambitious program aimed at facilitating bicycle access — now thousands of bicycles are available from hundreds of stations close to major public transport hubs spread out across the city.

The membership fees of 29 euros/per year increase with each 1/2 hour added, the first one being free, rendering the ride virtually free if you consider a report from”L’observatoire des déplacements dans la capitale” dated from 2005 estimating the average ride to last for 25 minutes .

The system is accessible to ages 14 and up. At the stations, the computer terminals enable you to:
- obtain one-day and seven-day subscriptions
- recharge your account (long duration)
- obtain information ( particularly which other stations are nearby and whether they are available).

Once you have finished your journey, all you have to do is deposit the bicycle back at any Vélib station.

Enjoy the ride!

Russell Simmons, the godfather of hip-hop at the helm of Rush Communications, a $300+ million conglomerate reaching beyond music to include clothing companies, arts, nonprofit organizations, and diamonds, who in the past has used street smarts and a bling bling Rolodex to achieve social and political goals ranging from overturning certain restrictive New York State drug laws to encouraging voter registration, has published a new self-help book, Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success. In it, he explains how readers can use yoga and Buddhism to find what he calls the “sweet spot”: one’s life’s work and mission. Simmons preaches about the practice of love and encourages readers to listen to their inner voice.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, left, shakes hands with former Vice President Al Gore at a ceremony to sign the Global Warming Response Act at Giants Stadium Friday, July 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

On the eve of Live Earth (a series of concerts around the world drawing attention to global warming, including one at The Meadowlands), Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed the “Global Warming Response Act” into law.

On Friday, New Jersey became the third state in the nation to enact a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction law Requiring the Garden State to significantly cut emissions of global-warming gases. California and Hawaii have adopted similar laws, and eight other states are considering them.

Passage of these laws can “inspire hope and build the enthusiasm necessary to get this crisis solved,” Al Gore, the former vice president turned environmental activist told an enthusiastic crowd of lawmakers and environmentalists who witnessed the bill signing. Under the new law, the Department of Environmental Protection will conduct an emissions inventory, and based on the results, devise a plan to monitor and reduce harmful emissions. The law mirrors an executive order Corzine issued in January. Emissions from fossil fuels, such as coal and gasoline, are believed by many scientists to be a leading cause of global warming.

The Live Earth concerts scheduled for Saturday were inspired and backed by Gore’s campaign to force global warming onto the international political agenda by generating a groundswell of public concern.

GRAIN a 16th year hold international non-governmental organization (NGO) which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge, has just published a special issue of Seedling which focuses on biofuels, or as they like to call them, agrofuels.
In this special edition, Seedling argues that the wide-scale cultivation of agrofuels will actually make things worse in many parts of the world, notably South-east Asia and the Amazon basin where the drying of peat lands and the felling of tropical forest will release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than will be saved by using agrofuels.

More than 30 groups from around the world are calling for a Moratorium to stop the EU rush for biofuels (or agrofuels). They warn that agrofuel production for EU markets will accelerate climate change, destroy biodiversity and uproot local communities.
2007-06-27 | Joint Press Release by EcoNexus, Biofuelwatch, Corporate Europe Observatory.

By allowing people around the world to literally “watch over” and protect twelve intact, but highly vulnerable, villages in Darfur region of Sudan, Eyes On Darfur breaks new ground in protecting human rights. Using commercially available satellite imagery and posting them online to enlist help in preventing violence.

It also includes archive images showing villages destroyed since the conflict began and a petition urging Bush to stand with other world leaders to actively work to protect human rights .

For years computer users have accessed remote images from their desktops to monitor hot spots such as crime-ridden streets or rush-hour bottlenecks. “Now this is being tied to political, economic and social activism in really interesting ways” said Lars Bromley of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an international nonprofit group that publishes the journal Science and provided technical assistance for the project launched today in conjunction with a conference at the University of California, Berkeley by the Crisis Prevention and Response Center for Amnesty International whose hope is that the pictures will increase pressure for change.