ecology

Everything useful, two phone calls away

by Doug LeMoine on 2 June 2010

When the Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) was published in late 60s and early 70s, the idea was to create a finely curated list of everything “useful, relevant to independent education, high quality or low cost, not already common knowledge, and easily available by mail.” The Dymaxion World of Buckminster Fuller, Fall 1968. From Arts & Ecology. [...]

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For the record, this is my favorite

by Doug LeMoine on 28 May 2010

From the outstanding satirical Twitter feed, @BPGlobalPR. T-shirts here; book deal to follow, I assume.

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Mommy, where does Capilene come from?

by Doug LeMoine on 26 September 2009

I tend to obsess over outdoors gear. The pinnacle (or nadir, as the case may be) of this obsession was the spring/summer of 2001, when I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Over four months, I sampled a ton of gear  —  six pairs of shoes, a few different shirts, jackets, socks, shelters, cookware. I had dozens (maybe [...]

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Origins & etymologies / Yosemite

by Doug LeMoine on 20 January 2009

Last Friday, we improvised a parlor game during a visit to Sarah’s parents’ East Bay homestead. They’ve got tons of books on California history, including a gem called California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names by one Erwin Gudde, a Cal professor and friend of Sarah’s fam. There wasn’t much “game” [...]

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Summertime / Camping in the Winds

by Doug LeMoine on 24 August 2007

When I start a camping trip, the Van Halen song “Panama” [Video on YouTube] often pops into my head  —   I wish I could represent Eddie Van Halen’s reverby guitar opening in words, but I was humming it and singing the chorus  —  Pa-neh-ma ... Pa-neh-ma-ha  —  as this picture was taken. That’s the Wind River Range coming into view [...]

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Worms ate my garbage

by Doug LeMoine on 9 July 2007

Mary Appelhof’s Worms Eat My Garbage is one of my all-time favorite gardening books. Not only does it contain the first principles of worm composting; not only is written in an engaging, warm and yet practical voice; it’s one of those special books that says a lot about the person who displays it on his [...]

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Yosemite rules

by Doug LeMoine on 21 June 2007

I’m usually the person who recommends going anywhere but Yosemite in the Sierras because it’s expensive and tends to be over-run with people even in the high country, whereas the Emigrant Wilderness, for instance, tends to be pretty sparsely visited, even on the busiest of weekends. But let’s keep that on the shhhh. Anyway, I [...]

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Architecture / Teddy Cruz’s urban acupuncture

by Doug LeMoine on 17 April 2007

Last night, I saw architect Teddy Cruz deliver a fast-paced, idea-rich presentation at the San Francisco Art Institute. In a little over an hour, he tore through a slide show covering his recent work on the social, cultural, political, and economic forces at work in communities along the US-Mexico border. The slide show itself was [...]

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Food / Lakes and cheeseburgers along the PCT

by Doug LeMoine on 13 August 2006

During my hike on the PCT in 2001, my two favorite pastimes were swimming and eating. When I was walking  —  which was most of the time  —  cool swimming holes and sizzling cheeseburgers filled my daydreams. When my hiking partner, Nick, and I talked, it was more often than not about swimming and eating cheeseburgers: How far to [...]

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Five years ago today, I was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail. I spent the summer of 2001 hiking through California, Oregon, and Washington; on the 12th of August, I was chilling out at Crater Lake, Oregon. Crater Lake had been a really major destination for me, not because of its legendary, otherworldly beauty or [...]

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