blog action day 2009: climate change

social conscience, social consciousness, and sports are not often associated with one another. for whatever reason (and i admit, there are many), people just don't generally associate athletes and athleticism with concerns for the larger world.

which i think is unfortunate, and one that i think should be dispelled.

as part of this, i am writing this post. some of you may have noticed the presence of the following badge on this blog:

this is the badge for Blog Action Day, an international effort to coordinate blogs from around the world on behalf of various causes, with blogs being asked to raise awareness by posting entries on October 15 of every year on specific themes. for 2009, the theme is climate change, with the goal of helping educate internet users on the issues of climate change. you can learn more at their website (http://www.blogactionday.org/), and also check out their video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CnIJ19EVMo

i've been remiss about Blog Action Day. i participated in it in 2007 (reference: Blog Action Day 2007), but missed it in 2008 (no excuses, i just let it slip, and it was entirely my own fault).

this year's theme is close to my heart. the bulk of my research and classes relate to international environmental and human rights issues. i deal with climate change--and its political and legal ramifications--quite extensively.

i'm not going to be so conceited as to bore you with details of what i've found in my work, but i will support the cause by providing everyone with information about climate change that i think they can stand to learn, particularly in terms of athletics.

believe it or not, there's been a fair amount of stuff written about the connection between sports and climate change, with articles and reports in the mainstream media, private sources, and even governments. i've selected an assortment of the more comprehensive ones that discuss how sports contributes to climate change and climate change impacts sports:

• http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/06/eco0312/
• http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2006-05-30-sports-globalwarming_x.htm
• http://www.davidsuzuki.org/latestnews/dsfnews03300901.asp
• http://www.celsias.com/article/climate-change-and-the-future-of-sport/
• http://www.dsr.wa.gov.au/dsrwr/_assets/main/lib50010/climate%20change%20-%20online.pdf
  

there's also been efforts by athletes to support climate change as a cause, and i've found some pretty notable examples of Olympic and professional athletes calling for more awareness of climate change:

• http://www.grist.org/article/Not-going-carbon-neutral-eh
• http://www.greenopia.com/USA/news/15175/3-3-2009/Sustainable-Sports-Stars:-Athletes-That-Kick,-Dunk-and-Race-for-the-Planet
• http://www.sustainabilitysymbol.com/olympic-athletes-stop-global-warming-and-promote-green-olympics/
• http://thegreenpages.ca/portal/ca/2009/02/athletes_call_for_carbon_neutr.html
• http://www.middlebury.edu/about/pubaff/news_releases/2009/pubaff_633735915397665350.htm
• http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5969/ETV-News--Ethiopian-Athletes-working-to-educate-about-climate-change
• http://www.350.org/
• http://beingabetterathlete.blogspot.com/
  

and of course, if you want to familiarize yourself with the current efforts to deal with climate change, i offer links that i use on a regular basis:

• the December 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen (meant to address what happens after the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2010): http://en.cop15.dk/
• United Nations Environmental Programme: http://www.unep.org/climatechange/
• United Nations: http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/gateway
• International Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/
• World Bank: http://beta.worldbank.org/climatechange/
• Food and Agriculture Organization: http://www.fao.org/climatechange/en/
• World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/en/
• International Energy Agency: http://www.iea.org/Textbase/subjectqueries/keyresult.asp?KEYWORD_ID=4106
• World Wildlife Fund: http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/
  
• Royal Society: http://royalsociety.org/landing.asp?id=1278
• Pew Center: http://www.pewclimate.org/
• Nature magazine: http://www.nature.com/climate/index.html
  

hope that helps. if you have any questions, feel free to write. otherwise, contribute to the cause!

what if

we make choices in life. choices we don't like. choices difficult. choices uncertain. choices with consequences that reverberate throughout our lives with the whispers of what we did, and leave us to wonder forever what if.

what if we had thought what should have been thought?

what if we had said what should have been said?

what if we had done what should have been done?

what if we had taken

the different direction
the other way
the separate path
and gone

what if we had opened that door and proceeded outside and breathed a deep breath and stepped the first step of the only journey that ever really mattered

but we didn't. for lack of knowledge, for lack of diligence, for lack of effort, for lack of resolve, for lack of courage. for whatever myriad reasons that never really matter other than that they remind us of what we missed and call to us of what we lost and tell us that it was ourselves and then leave us to wonder what if

and nothing more.

which is dangerous. it's not good. it's not right. it's not healthy.

because, you see, the danger with what if is that it often means we spend so much of our now looking at our past that we miss the arrival of our future...and its departure with the rest of our lives.

wondering about what might have been means forgetting about what might be--and leaving it forever as exactly that:

might

ought could should would

of unrealized dreams
of unmet expectations
of unfulfilled hopes
of unlived lives of

ought could should would

might

when it must need have will

be

of dreams made real
of expectations exceeded
of hopes surpassed
of lives lived

be

there's nothing that we can do about what we did. nothing that we can do to change our choices. nothing that we can do about the consequences. what is what was now history.

we can't control the past. all we can do is to endeavor to see it not become our future. and that means we proceed with our now.

and that means we take whatever knowledge diligence effort resolve courage myriad reasons that gives us ourselves and open that door and proceed outside and breathe a deep breath and step the first step of the only journey that ever really matters and

go
path
way
direction

and make of it our life beyond any imagination.

playlist: oldies and newbies

we live with a sense of ingrained nostalgia, reaching instinctively for things gone past, reacting by reflex for the idyllic memories of the way things were anytime we are confronted by the shock of something new.

we do not like the new. we do not like its imposition of change. we do not like its demands to break with calcified tradition and fossilized custom and hardened formula. we hold to the habits of the old. cling to the comforts of conformity. reach for the slumber of habits and memories. and turn away from awakening in the disdain of another day.

we want one but not the other. we want nothing with the either. we want to see never of both.

auld lang syne
unknown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu8hwvvmEhc

die toten hosen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxELGnGiGM

but it doesn't have to be this way.

there does not need to be a shock with the new.

there does not need to be the slumber of habits and memories.

there does not need to be never of both.

love will tear us apart again
joy division: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yTIpcwBTTs

nerina pallot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ega_kJQF0GY

sometimes, the new is not a demand to break.

sometimes, the new is a memory. an attempt to remember. and reach out from a place unknown to a place familiar. and realize that change came from and change is going to the same place: somewhere.

and somewhere can be someplace very special.

just can't get enough
depeche mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NuvwTuHV0

the saturdays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9hq0ODBIII


there she goes
the las: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVd2x0EpnYA

sixpence none the richer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvuD7HII1b0


rocket man
elton john: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrKlEtxTx4

me first and the gimme gimmes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KPcjdvdD9k


let your love flow
bellamy brothers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dft63gHqqKo

petra haden and the sell-outs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHnpwAJ02E

and so the new can be every bit the same as the old. with the same feelings. with the same emotions. with the same stories with the same messages told the same way for the same reasons to the same people with the same hopes and dreams and aspirations and ideals and imaginations and visions of what once was and what now is and what will be.

regardless of time. regardless of space. regardless of who or when or what or why or how.

it's all the same.

it's a hard knock life
annie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR80EEsWauU

jayzee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekomM8aobQo


tears of a clown
smokey robinson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2kxlZDOHeQ

the english beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0zBXpWMJOY


i fought the law
bobby fuller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPXnoLAEUSQ

the clash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16u0wwCfoJ4

stray cats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfzVDZWV4mw

green day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TOVkiBE2r4

because we are one and the other. we are all things with the either. we are always of both. old and new. in the connection most profound and eternal:

the race, the journey, the path that is the singing of the song called life.

and that is what we make of it.

stand by me
ben e king: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg7YoXiKn0

playing for change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

videos: strength training (part 3)

note: this is the 3rd in an ongoing, non-regular, non-periodic series on strength training in terms of endurance sports. you can see parts 1 and 2 here:

• strength training, part 1
• strength training, part 2

i found some more Youtube videos regarding strength training. you can add these to the library of videos. these are a little different, but i consider that useful in the sense that it provides some new ideas to help mix up workouts and keep things from becoming monotonous.

there's 2 series of videos from Canada, courtesy of the Ottawa Triathlon Club (i love the way the guy pronounces "about" as "aboooooooooot"!), with 1 for basic and another for advanced strength training. the basic weight training series has 4 parts:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmMSHlMiZ7Q
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dug0sky-bOQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5C40jr9JfA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymGvpTgKYvk
  

the advanced weight training has 3 parts (although, the video info says it's part of a 4-part series--i couldn't find the 4th, so i'm guessing it was just mislabeling?):

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-QrrERqIk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDjaTbXTgDo
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EyM87CW7Xg
  

i also noticed that Triathlete magazine is now making Youtube videos, and they have a good one for strength training (and they should make more):

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LxQdEeQU9s

in addition, i came across this one, which i found to contain some of the same exercises that i use:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIIiEmqOHsk

i should point out that all of the videos here involve exercises that seem to have come from Pilates (or Pilates-type workouts), which focuses more on the core and joints with the development of supporting and stabilizing muscles. as a result, i'll venture to argue that these exercises are NOT meant to develop overall muscle mass (i.e., bulk) or even raw strength, but instead more to help balance the overall musculature and thereby prevent injury. so take them for what it's worth.

but as i mentioned at the start, they still provide some alternative exercises to help mix up the routine. especially as we head into the winter months and the looooooooooong interminable (some say agonizing) season (some say purgatory) of indoor (some say claustrophobic) workouts.

enjoy!

international talk like a pirate day 2009 (channeling captain jack sparrow)

ok. it's time for a day off. i'm not doing or talking or thinking about anything related to sports today. i'm sore. i'm tired. i'm hungry. and i'm really interested in nothing other than going back to sleep. and the only reason i don't is this:

today, Saturday, September 19, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

i've written about this before:

• http://jonathaninthedistance.blogspot.com/2007/09/international-talk-like-pirate-day.html

i'd forgotten about it, but then i saw the CNN news report on it (see below), and was reminded about it once again. ahhhhhhhhhh. yes.

one of the dreams in my life has always been race in pirate gear, dressed up like my hero, Captain Jack Sparrow. i haven't had such blessing to do so, but this day lets me ponder the possibilities. and it will come. yes, it will come. by the doors of Davy Jones' locker and the beatin' heart of a dead man's chest, i'll represent the pirate's code and make for a race day yet!

yes!

YES!!

YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

ahoy! avast ye scurvy dogs!!! prepare to be boarded and thrown to the mast!

arrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

and just what be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, you ask? ye can learn more here:

• http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/18/talk.like.a.pirate/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

celebrate this day with me, my hearties. and know we be not alone, for their be proof that thar be others like ourselves makin' merry on here day:

• http://www.piratesmagazine.com/

and no, we be not bad. why even yon magazine New Yorker espied our trade, and offered up compliments:

• http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/09/07/090907crbo_books_crain?currentPage=all

and just so you know me hero, Captain Jack Sparrow, i'll leave you with this tale:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeCr1UUb-UQ
  

so celebrate! tell all the mateys. and tell 'em i sent ya! and remember: this is the day you will always remember as the day you met...Captain...Jack...Sparrow!

arrrrrrrrrrrr!

vancouver 2010: green olympic village

hmmmmmmm...

the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada are supposed to continue the trend towards more eco-friendly sports events, with the Olympic-related construction in Whistler and Vancouver aimed at fulfilling the goals of sustainable development. as part of this, the Olympic village in Vancouver is intended to be a model of sustainability, and has been touted as an example of what will eventually become mixed-use mixed-residence green urban living, accommodating businesses and residences spanning low-to-high-income populations.

you can see Vancouver's plan on their website, as well as on the BBC's video report:

• Vancouver: http://vancouver.ca/olympicvillage/greenbuilding.htm
• BBC (w video): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8246260.stm

there's also 2 excellent websites with computer renderings of the completed project:

• Inhabitant: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/10/2010-winter-olympics-going-green/
• Greensource: http://greensource.construction.com/news/2009/090507vancouverOlympicVillage.asp

the project features the usual assortment of sustainable practices: use of solar energy, energy-efficient construction, catchment of rain water, recycling of human waste, etc. all of it takes advantage of Vancouver's natural environment. it's also serving to replace some of the more decayed parts of the city's waterfront with more attractive cityscape matching the existing urban environment. quite impressive, seeing how Vancouver is already--if you've ever been there, you'll know that it is one of the most beautiful urban areas of the world, with immaculate shorelines, well-laid street grids, abundance of green space, and all of it within minutes of some of the most beautiful sea and mountain terrain you will ever see (at least, it is during the summer...the winter is a bit of a different story).

it's quite commendable. and something i'd like to see more sports venues, especially the mega-events, try to aim for.

however, i'd be remiss if i didn't point out that this kind of construction isn't without some issues. i came across this piece:

• Grist: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-07-15-green-vancouver-olympic-village-problems/
  

it doesn't reveal anything tawdry, like corruption or sleaze or anything of that sort. but it's interesting in that it shows that the Vancouver Winter Olympics are experiencing the same issues as all other Olympic construction: cost over-runs, decreasing profitability, over-optimistic plans, scale-backs in aspirations, etc. which essentially demonstrates that green, eco-friendly sports tied to sustainable development are not immune to the issues typical to other mega-sports events. in other words: it may be a good cause, but it still has the same problems.

i wanted to make this point because a lot of the time we tend to associate good causes with ideal scenarios, with the assumption that because we aim for something noble (e.g., green Olympics) that we will be magically transported to a land where everything is easy.

but life doesn't work that way. and it's dangerous to think so. because things invariably do run into challenges, and any assumptions of easy lead inevitably to disillusionment--and worse--cynicism. and that leads to the most tragic outcome of all: abandonment of a worthy cause.

i think it's important to remember the lessons of our sport...or any sport. things aren't easy. especially if they're good. if anything, one of the reasons some aspirations are good is because they're hard. because this shows what a challenge they pose, and what achievements they are, and just what they can teach you in accomplishing them.

good things are good because you have to be good to deserve them. you have to earn them. you have to change. you have to be better than what you are now.

european runners

for those of you into cross-cultural exchange, ASICS recently published the results of their multi-national study on running habits in Europe. you can access it here:

• http://www.everythingaboutrunning.asics.eu/

don't be fooled by the spare nature of the entry page. click on any one of the countries or the more general "Europe" and you'll find a lot of content regarding the nature of runners and running across the continent. it appears to have been a pretty big project, with the sample size being 3,500 runners from 7 countries ranging in age from 15-65.

i find this fascinating. whether you're European or not, what's clear is that there are very clear differences with respect to running that are identifiable based on culture on a national level. the results of the study show that different nations have different levels of running, with different motivations and different patterns. it makes you wonder what aspects of the culture in each country led to its respective relationship with running.

of course, the differences may be trite, considering that the study points to a single simple result: Europeans run. nothing earth-shattering there. and what you would expect given that ASICS sponsored this study.

but i think there is some insight provided by the study in terms of why Europeans run. and i do think it's important, because it shows that even though many people share a common passion for a common activity, they find very different reasons and very different ways to do so. which suggests that the activity--and by extension any activity (swimming, biking, running, sewing, playing cards, throwing rocks)--can be universal, particularly in the sense of being something that can unite people and societies who are so different. and better yet, it can then thereby indicate how we can seek to do so.

something we can probably use in this world.