By Lauren Selman |
Bio
Do you want to get lean while
staying green? Whether you're a runner, a competitive cyclist, a
recreational yogi or a vacation skier, there might be a more
sustainable way for you to exercise.
Recently, I was inspired by LuluLemon’s blog posts considering not only what we wear on our bodies but also
how
we wear our clothing. The author of the blog, challenged herself to
dress for both work and for working out with only two bottoms to choose
from for the entire month. The message was clear: you can minimize your
impact by altering your habits. In short, it got me thinking, well, how
sustainable are we when we work out?
Hi, I’m Lauren Selman and
starting today, February 1, 2010, Tracy Hepler of Your Daily Thread and
I are challenging ourselves to train for the LA Marathon as sustainably
as possible. From what we put on our feet to what we eat for breakfast,
we are going to be reviewing, researching and reporting back to you on
how to train and sustain the planet.
We want to know, with all of
the cute eco-outfits out there, what are the best sustainable apparel
alternatives to wear while we sweat? What are the best organic bars and
energy sources? Are there good green shoes that are performance-ready?
What's the optimum way to hydrate without using water stations? And
with the Vancouver Olympics just a breath away, what are Olympians
doing to care for the environment?
For the next two months, we
will sweat for sustainability to find out what we can do while we work
out to do our part. Keep up with us here on Mondays for the latest from
the training room. We Run Green. Do you?
©
2010 Lauren Selman. All rights reserved.
Written by eldering at Health
Tagged with:
cycling
environment
exercise
olympics
run
sustainable
yoga
By Lauren Selman |
Bio
“Sarah…just saw Avatar, it was great!” “Mark…wants you to see Avatar!”
The facebook status updates of my friends keep pouring in. Not
interested in another blockbuster blow-em-up movie, I looked to my
various communities to see what people think and sure enough the
reviews are there too. Young and old, Democrat or Republican,
Eco-Conscious and Eco-Hating, the status updates had a clear message,
to see Avatar.
Okay, fine! I’ll see it. I had been told
it was an “environmental justice” movie while other friends described
the movie as a work of “art,” so I didn’t know what I was in for. But
per the recommendations of my trusted network, I finally made my way to
the movie theater and sure enough it was so sold out. No hope lost, the
next week, I tried again. And again. And after three sold out shows and
no theater ticket in hand, I was getting the hint that perhaps I wasn’t
suppose to see the magnanimous movie. However, I am thankful, because
in leu of the other missed performances I was able to see other films
that were not in my line up, including the memorable Invictus (not to be missed!).
Sure
enough, however, with a little planning and buying tickets three days
before the show (so much for spontaneity) I was finally sitting in the
plush velvet chairs at the legendary ArchLight Dome cinema in Hollywood
with my high-tech glasses wrapped around my face.
Now there are
many reasons to go to the movie. Whether the girls invited you out for
a night on the town or you are seeking a distraction from a tough day
at work, a couple hours in the dark with strangers can sometimes be
exactly what the doctor ordered. In this case, going to see Avatar
was unlike most movie experiences. For starters, even before the movie
began, the theater buzzed with anticipation and eyes were fixed with
intent on the screen. “Ooos” and “Aaas” sprinkled across the audience
as shapes darted at them through their 3-D glasses.
The movie
itself was truly beautiful. James Cameron and his team mastered the art
form and it was, not to be clique, an out of this world experience. So
much so, I left the theater exhausted, with a killer migraine, but that
is minor compared to having your entire civilization blown into
smitherings. As many critics have said, however, seeing Avatar is like Fern Gully
on steroids... an outsider comes into a community that then falls in
love with the adventurous female and together they strive to save their
civilization and environment with big bad machines that blow things up
and in this case come at you. Avatar also has hints of The Matrix and meets the beauty and deep connectedness we see in a film like Baraka. The movie highlights the drama, horror and pain of environmental damage while tuning into a sense of inner connectivity.
The
most powerful element of this film, however, was seeing, once again,
the power of activism through storytelling. Fiction in particular
allows us to escape the trials and tribulations of our lives and be
immersed in someone else’s lives for a couple hours. We then can travel
on a journey with the characters and begin to see ourselves in their
struggles. Where Avatar succeeded as an environmental film is
that it carried a message of environmental awareness without being
preachy or “knock-you-over-the-head-fear-factor.” Audiences are then
able to get that what happens in the movie is a travesty but they also
are not starved of being entertained. There were aspects of the film
where there was a strong sense of good guy versus bad guy and it is
important when looking at environmental concerns in our modern world
that we notice the complexities of the situation. Furthermore, critics
have said that there should have been a "call to action" at the end of
film like in An Inconvenient Truth, but alas ( maybe they'll put it in the DVD).
Overall,
there are some strong reactions to this film out there which should be
considered, but the best review is the one you, the viewer, give the
film. We all see it through different filters, so whether you see Avatar
through the lens of an artist, an academic, or an environmentalist, the
film will heighten your interest and do what the most powerful films in
history do: make you think.
© 2010 Lauren Selman. All rights reserved.
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
Tagged with:
activism
avatar
environment
fiction
movie
storytelling
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