May 5, 2012
TED Talk is LIVE
My TEDx talk on "Ecological Handprints: Lifting Humanity While Lowering Our Footprint" has just hit YouTube.
You can access it via Facebook at the Ecological Handprints site
No notes, bullet points, 3X5 cards, or teleprompter. True to the TED style, it's just me, a stage, and 17 minutes to tell the story of this idea worth spreading.
I hope you'll give it a watch and share it with others.
February 25, 2012
TED Talk: Ecological Handprints
I'm pleased to share that I will be giving a TEDx talk on Saturday, March 3 on "Ecological Handprints: Lifting Humanity While Lowering Our Footprint." TED talks are "a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other." I will be the opening speaker for these TEDx talks which are being hosted by the University of California, Irvine. Stay tuned, I'll post a link to the YouTube video when it's ready. Meanwhile, here is a short video about TED to get you excited ! TED = Ideas Worth Spreading.
June 28, 2011
Amazon and Beyond Over Winter Break
I'm delighted to share that I've been hired again by Semester at Sea, this time as a lecturer on their winter Enrichment Voyage up the Amazon. I will be joining civil rights leader Julian Bond and a wonderful collection of scholars from around the world. This will be the fourth time in the last five years that my family and I will have jumped on the MV Explorer to be part of this fantastic program. Aboard ship I will be giving lectures on sustainable development in the Amazon basin and the Caribbean islands. In the field I will be leading trips and continuing my research on Ecological Handprints (see entry below). Here are links to the Amazon Enrichment Voyage as well as the Academic Voyages offered by Semester at Sea. I'll be blogging again at this site once we set sail in December. Meanwhile, here's a link to a recent article from the SSU NewsCenter highlighting my work with Semester at Sea entitled "The Inner Voyage is Often the Most Challenging."
March 2, 2011
Ecological Handprints on Facebook
Over the past few months I've been gathering numerous current examples of Ecological Handprints from around the world, many with short video clips. If you'd like to check out a few, just drop by the Ecological Handprints Facebook Page
January 23, 2011
We're "home"
We landed in San Diego to a large and enthusiastic crowd of family and friends who were all so excited that their sons and daughters were home -- safe and sound. The energy of the return, while not quite as profound as the departure, is still an emotional beast.
We're all about to leave some of the best friends we will ever make. The days ahead will bring some profound sadness and withdrawal symptoms. We all couldn't believe we were getting on the ship and now we can't believe we are getting off. While we've been here before (physically and emotionally), dry land brings with it some serious uncharted emotional waters. Fortunately the promise of good Mexican food, a local IPA, and even the thought of mowing the front lawn seems to help deaden the anxiety of departure. So, without magic ruby slippers, but with great gratitude for all that we have experienced and all whom we have met ---- we're home.
BACK IN THE USA
After a long and ROCKIN Pacific crossing, we hit the shores of the USA as we arrived in Honolulu, Oahu and then Hilo, Hawaii. It's funny how your own country, and all that it represents, seems so different when you are away from it for a few months. Coming home always makes me feel proud and embarrassed to be an American. Basic civil liberties as well as access to healthy food and water are appreciated unlike ever before. Big box stores, unbridled consumerism, and massive freeways are even more offensive. In each country, sorting out what you love vs. what you are not so enamored with has been a big lesson in (re)learning what I value (and why). But enough inner analysis! Here are a few photos to capture some views of our short but renewing time in Hawaii.
Two dudes totally soaking in the beach scene
And learning (or relearning) how to surf
Then we headed to the Big Island to hang out with some old friends, soak in more December sunshine, check out the volcano action, and the impact of lava on the local island real estate market.
Location, location, location
Shawn and Ryder and one hot spot
January 19, 2011
Konnichiwa Japan
Japan always delights us. We find the Japanese to be fun-loving, gentle and kind. Both squeeky fresh and deeply traditional.
But first, let's talk food. OK, yes we had sushi, but what was most impressive on this trip were the supermarkets below the train terminals. It was a culinary Disneyland with food barkers and uber packaged food creations. It all smelled and looked delightful. Yes, we devoured it.
And then every once in a while you just have to try something different ...
... especially when it comes on a stick!
We got kicked out of the crazy, insainely loud pachinko ball parlor and returned to
the tranquility of our guest house in Kyoto.
Did you know that the average Japanese uses half as much energy as the average American?
And finally a photo of Hachiko Square near Shibuya Station in Tokyo. Can you find Shawn and Ryder?
January 17, 2011
Shanghai, Oh My
This was the first time I have been to Shanghai. I've read fascinating facts and figures on the web, but when we awoke to find ourselves parked on the Yangtze River in the center of Shanghai, with our room over-looking the famous Pudong district, those digital trend lines and data points suddenly bring the scale and pace of it all down to Earth. First of all, any city over 20 million is mind-blowing. This place of course has been riding a rocket ship of economic growth and the recent World Expo added an extra boost (China spent far more money on the Expo than they did on the Olympics). The country has been experiencing GDP growth around 9%/yr (doubling every 8 years!). Shanghai is no doubt developing faster than the country as a whole. So folks, fasten your seat belts, China and India are now in the driver's seat, and their goal is to GROW FAST. It's going to be a wild ride!
Photo taken from our balcony. Great people and vessel watching!
I did some field research while in Shanghai on what will be the world's largest and tallest green building. Click on this Wiki link to the Shanghai Tower (currently under construction) to learn about all of the green design features of this massive undertaking. As part of my research, I took a group of students and some faculty to the offices of the firm designing and managing the construction. We toured the design studios and learned a lot thanks to great presentations and lively discussions. When completed in a few years, the Shanghai Tower will be one of the five tallest buildings in the world (128 stories).
Goofy professor in front of what will be the skyline of Shanghai (tallest is the Shanghai Tower)
We had a good time in Shanghai, even though they blocked our access to Facebook.
Hong Kong, Not So Long
This is the part of the voyage where the ports come fast and furious. We have just a few days in each port and then just a day or two between one port and the next. And it keeps going like that for a few weeks.
First up on the Asian express was Hong Kong. We loved visiting here a few years ago with Semester at Sea. It was great to check out some different markets (including the gold fish market in the photos below), experience various forms of transit (they have a great ferry, bus and subway system), and immerse ourselves in the local cuisine.
Personally, I love Hong Kong. It's a great example of lots of people enjoying a relative high standard of living with a relatively low ecological footprint. Hong Kong teaches us that a high degree of urban density means access to speedy and affordable transit, a vibrant urban experience, and the preservation of parks and open space. A strictly visual framing of the urban landscape feels constraining (like the photos below), yet the access and richness of that density makes it liberating. It's complicated of course, yet from what I've seen around the world, Hong Kong has a lot to teach us. Here's a great little video on urban sustainability and Hong Kong, produced by Semester at Sea and featuring my colleague Rick Barnes and students from the Fall 2010 voyage.
High density housing near the entrance to Hong Kong harbor
View from the ship
Every night the lightshow begins again!
Don't worry about wasted energy. They are probably LEDs!
Elevated sidewalks, above the traffic, took you to and from stairs to the subway. Sweet!
This is one of maybe 100 goldfish stores all within a few blocks.
Hanging out with my new little pal in HK
Rocky Rohwedder, Ph.D.,
is a Professor and former Chair of the 
