It's Banned Books Week. Take a look at the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 while you're there. See a few you've read? Now try to imagine growing up without those books existing in your world.

Here in the Bay Area it is common to hear that artists, musicians and dancers are losing the leases to their practice spaces so that high-paying dot commers can move in. Last weekend musicians all over San Francisco participated in Rock Out SF to raise awareness of the loss of Downtown Rehearsal Space which was home to hundreds of local bands. It's too soon to tell if the effort will have any affect, but it was wonderful to see so many come together to fight for a common cause.

At Opensewer, we're always ranting about the problems we see in the world. However, we realize that in all of our ranting, we must act as well. Acting toward a sustainable future can be personal, or collective. ISEE, ISF, CSE, and CEB are some organizations that are encouraging a balance between traditional business capitalism and an improved economic paradigm for growth. These organizations focus on sustainability, ethics and new ways of attaching value to both the things we produce and the elements of the natural world.

Encouraging - Excess Access matches the computer and furniture needs of non-profits with the donations of corporations and households.

Is it just a knee-jerk reaction, by people who are against progress? Or are these protests a reflection of a true danger- the danger that we're fooling around with things that we don't understand.

Fascinating state of affairs.

Small factoid: One rainforest tree soaks up about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. This is the same amount of exhaust your car releases in one hour. Have a nice drive!

A good discussion about the role of environmental issues in contemporary politics can be found here. (Or maybe we should talk about the lack of discussion about the environment in politics.)

We must keep pounding these fat cats until they give in. The issue: exemption from the "gas-guzzler" tax that lets automakers avoid paying the penalty for manufacturing low-milage SUVs. Read the original report.

Isn't it sad when someone who knows they're wrong tries to defend their stance on an issue? The big machine is trying to maintain the status quo, and they'll probably succeed for quite a while. But the big machine's worst enemy is an educated public.

Stories like this one reinforce my disappointment with how our political system works. Does this give me information that will help decide my vote? Nope - it just makes me want to vote for the party which does less finger pointing.

Ha! Wal-Mart, you fools. You can't keeping tricking everyone into believing that your "always lower prices" are for the good of the people. We're on to you... we know that you're just trying to put all of your competition out of business- at the cost of society. In the end, your selfish ways will not prevail. Bad things happen to bad people.

The Long Now Foundation seeks to promote "slower/better" thinking and to focus our collective creativity on the next 10,000 years. I had the opportunity to hear Stewart Brand speak about this foundation and it's goals, the site is worth checking out. Read about the 10,000 Year Clock and the Library (look for the Rosetta Disk).

A follow-up to Megan's blog yesterday... here is yet another sad situation in the local news, giving us more and more reason to work toward ending the era of the automobile.

Critical Mass is bringing "various populations together in a festive re-claiming of public space" - a group of bicyclists traveling together which ultimately make a statement about our auto-centric use of urban space. Learn how to form your own Critical Mass here, or look up events happening in your city at their unofficial site. Also, take a look at the Bicycle Civil Liberties Union is up to.

Well, I suppose this helps point to where we're heading as a society. No judgements here... it's really just supply and demand. If there's a real market need, why not fill it? Right?

They make $15,000 profit on every one. Of course they're going to keep making them.

So much for "it can't happen in my neighborhood..." Suburbanites, you can't hide from the world's problems forever!