Art & Culture Being Green Mountain Living Telluride Travel: Art & Culture Being Green Mountain Living Telluride Telluride Festivals Travel
by maribeth
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Brand New Me
Plastic Mania at MountainFilm
My life is forever changed. From now on I will live every day in a more conscious manner in an effort to break myself of the plastic addiction that I have clearly been suffering from for the better part of my life. I will approach every aspect of my life—from a beauty product purchase to how I deal with recyclables—with a new awareness about how my actions effect the world, my health and the health and well being of those around me. I embrace this brand new me and hope you’ll come along with me on this journey.
I’ve considered myself a green person for quite some time. I think I first began to recycle when I moved to Paris in 1984. There was a glass recycling receptacle on every street corner which made it easy to adopt good practices of sorting garbage. When I moved back to the States over ten years later, recycling was in full swing yet I still had to make the effort to load up my car to drop off my recyclables at a recycling center a few miles away. In the beginning I thought my other environmentally aware efforts bordered on compulsive or at the very least quirky: rinsing Saran wrap, Ziploc bags and foil and then hanging them out to dry a gazillion times over, cutting open tubes of cream and the like to scrape out the last remaining bit of product, you get the idea. Other habits such as covering a dish with a plate in the fridge (instead of plastic wrap) just seemed to implement a dose of common sense. And in the past couple of years in addition to living a very simple life that involves limited travel (yes, it’s true, especially in cars) and minimal waste of any kind, I’ve been careful to cart my own water bottle along with my personal supply of shopping bags whenever I leave my home. At least most of the time.
After having seen the movie “Bag It” this past weekend at MountainFilm here in Telluride, I realized that none of the above has been nearly good enough. It answered the question that most of us dare not think about: Where does all this plastic go anyway? It does not just go away. It is polluting ourselves and our world in more ways than you could imagine. Filmmaker and Telluride local Suzan Beraza takes us on a marvelous journey from our pristine mountain town to the floating “island” of plastic and other debris swirling around in the north Pacific gyre, estimated to be more than twice the size of Texas. The story is told through another Tellurider, Jeb Berrier, our resident thespian and funnyman, who relates this grim tale with well-proportioned doses of humor, wit and intelligence. The human factor rises exponentially when a major event in Jeb’s personal life forces him to look even more closely at the effects of plastic in our world. “Bag It” is indisputably the most entertaining and moving documentary I’ve ever seen. It has informed and motivated me enough to want to really make a difference in my life and hopefully to spread that message to others through this blog, my own example and my Travel Fun radio show. (I’ll be having Suzan on as a guest sometime soon—she has some great green travel tips as well!)
This is the kind of information, inspiration and yes, hope you get at MountainFilm. It’s more than a film festival. It’s an extraordinary four-day happening also filled with art exhibits, book signings, student workshops, social gatherings and presentations by outstanding adventurers, leaders and keen observers from a variety of realms. It’s about celebrating the indomitable spirit of all while calling attention to what is possible in the world. I was blown away by the opening day symposium that tackled extinction, a problem we now face at an alarming rate. The biosphere is hanging in a delicate balance and only we can bring about that change. (Consuming less energy would certainly help to create that shift for example. Did you know that plastic bags and bottles are made of fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural gas?)
Stimulating Conversations Galore at MountainFilm
Since it’s MountainFilm, I was also awed by movies of great mountain adventure such as “The Wildest Dream,” the tale of George Mallory’s obsession with Mt. Everest and Conrad Anker’s obsession with Mallory. Another outdoor exploit took me to the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East in the film “Eastern Rises,” an entertaining documentary about the fly fishing trip-of-a-lifetime for a group of funny dudes.
Conrad Anker (rt) and His Climbing Partner, Leo, on the Summit of Everest
“I am,” the film by Hollywood heavyweight Tom Shadyac, also greatly moved me. As with many of the other films in the festival it provided insight into how one can truly achieve happiness in our culture of consumption and how we can be more connected to the world we live in. Both “I am” and “Bag It” received the Audience Choice Award for Favorite Film at MountainFilm 2010. Click on the above links to see trailers of these memorable films, many of which may be purchased on DVD and/or viewed in a theater near you in the upcoming months. Note that “I am” is so hot-off-the-press that there’s not yet a Web site for it.
There's Something for Everyone at MountainFilm
I must wrap this up now since I have much work to do. In addition to the usual, I now have to do things such as figure out how I can dispose of my garbage without using plastic bags and yes, even whip up a batch of yogurt since none of the ones available to me are sold in recyclable containers. (Apparently making yogurt at home is super easy.) Plus it appears that not everything is being recycled the way it should be, so it’s just better to try to wean myself off of plastic as much as possible. I have renewed hope though. I perused the What You Can Do list at the “Bag It” Web site which provides many answers and resources for creating a life less plastic. Most of all I’m buoyed up by the great wave of energy that rolled through this past weekend’s MountainFilm. Suddenly I don’t feel quite so ill about the oil spill in the Gulf. Maybe it’s a huge wake up call for us all. No one need feel totally disempowered, we can each begin to turn things around in our own way.
Check out more of what I’ve written on MountainFilm here and in my Ken Burns posting.
Know that MountainFilm goes on tour, so keep your eye out for it in case it comes to a city or town near you.
Thank you to MountainFilm and Melissa Plantz, Merrick Chase and Jennifer Koskinen for the above images.
Art & Culture Being Green Four Corners Podcasts Telluride The Rockies Travel: Art & Culture Being Green Four Corners Podcasts Telluride The Rockies Travel
by maribeth
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The National Trust and Us
Richard Moe: Our Nation's Top Preservationist Enjoying the Great American West
People don’t want to go to a place that has lost its soul.
—Arthur Frommer
Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, shared the above quote with me in a recent Travel Fun interview. As our nation’s leading historic preservation organization, the Trust has saved the soul and character of countless places in its sixty years of existence. From main streets to historic sites, this bipartisan organization works tirelessly toward preserving our country’s heritage.
As a part-time resident of Telluride, I’ve had the privilege of chatting with Dick Moe about historic preservation and some of his favorite destinations several times. He loves his time in the West and makes Telluride his base every summer for visiting some of the most significant cultural sites in the United States including Canyon of the Ancients in southwestern Colorado. In our interview, he also talks about other exciting locales in the region such as Durango, Silverton, Chimney Rock and the Rio Grande Gorge in Del Norte.
As for Telluride, it’s clear that it stands a cut above all other Rocky Mountain destinations. “Telluride has done a better job of preserving its historic character than any other mountain town,” says Dick. He also shares his thoughts on the Telluride Valley Floor, a 500-acre parcel of open space that he fought hard to preserve.
The Trust’s programs on sustainability and historic preservation are also discussed in our interview. Currently the organization is committed to a sustainability program that focuses on the environmental value of “recylcing” older buildings for new uses and retrofitting them for greater energy efficiency.
Heritage tourism is the fastest growing part of tourism, already a huge industry in our country. The National Trust has offered tours all over the world for quite some time but they’re expanding their reach with Gozaic, a one-stop shopping portal for heritage travel. You can hear what Dick has to say about this in our chat as well.
Listen to the entire half-hour interview I conducted with Richard Moe by clicking on the play button here:
People want to experience what’s real and genuine in communities.
—Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Note that at the same time of this story posting, Richard Moe announced his retirement from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He has been the longest serving president in the sixty-year history of the Trust. He plans to continue to hold that position until a replacement is found, likely in the spring of 2010.
National Trust for Historic Preservation, 202-588-6000 and 800-944-6847, www.preservationnation.org; you may become a member of the Trust and receive their award-winning magazine six times a year for as little as $20.
Art & Culture Being Green Food & Wine Mountain Living Telluride: Art & Culture Being Green Food & Wine Ken Burns Mountain Living Nature Telluride Telluride Festivals
by maribeth
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Mountainfilm Mania
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Banner Over T-ride
Festival season has arrived here in Telluride and it kicks off today with Mountainfilm. “It’s a weird mix of film fest, think tank and jamboree,” says Mountainfilm Director, David Holbrooke. “It’s both low key and intense, loose, yet focused,” he continues. Indeed Mountainfilm is where some of the best minds in the country come to share their ideas through art, film, presentations and books. David discussed the essence of this Memorial Day weekend tradition in Telluride and its 2009 lineup during a recent Travel Fun interview. This year’s theme is food, so, of course, there will be a lot to whet your appetite—for your body, mind and soul.
For me, one of the main attractions this year includes the premiere of “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” by master documentarian Ken Burns. “I think he’s taught more people about the history of America than anyone else,” David says about Ken Burns referring to his documentaries on the Civil War, World War II, jazz, baseball and more. You can tune in to PBS this fall to view this six-part series about the history of our national parks.
“The people that come to Mountainfilm are leaders of a paradigm we need to head to whether culturally or environmentally,” David emphasizes. Such people include renowned chef Ming Tsai, mountain adventurer Conrad Anker, animal activist Paul Watson and reporter Nicholas Kristof, to name a few. David’s dad, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, will participate via a tele conference since world affairs prevent him from being at the festival in person.
Be sure to visit the MF Store to purchase DVDs highlights from the festival and definitely take in some of the events if you’re in Telluride this weekend.
Book Picks
“Deep Economy,” by Bill McKibben
“Edge of Never,” by Bill Kerig
Both authors and many others will be present at this year’s Mountainfilm.
Beauty Being Green Shopping: Beauty Being Green Shopping
by maribeth
Comments Off on Beauty Products Roundup for the Holidays and 2009
Beauty Products Roundup for the Holidays and 2009
Some of Booth's Bootiful Booty
My Clarins obsession (see my Clarins posting) spurred a whole series of discoveries and contemplations of many other wonderful potions, lotions and beauty enhancers that I thought I’d share with you. Best of all many of the goods on my current wish list offer great value and are readily available at totally affordable prices. Most can also be purchased online, so there’s still time for last-minute holiday shopping.
Booth’s skin care products will keep your skin satiny soft and smelling luscious well into the new year. Their Tahitian Monoi Body Soufflé seems good enough to eat and as the label says, you can apply it all over your body in the morning. Or evening. Or morning and evening. Or morning, noon and evening. Well, you get the idea. You’ll likely even want to share it with a loved one!
CARGO'S PlantLove Lipstick
Looking for a gift idea that won’t impact your wallet? How about a tube of lipstick, a small yet always much appreciated mini luxury item? CARGO, the innovative cosmetic line that was launched nearly ten years ago and that also ranks as a favorite among the stars, has come out with PlantLove lipsticks, luscious tubes of color that are exciting both for their environmentally-friendly packaging and the precious cargo inside. No mineral oils or petroleum are contained within the botanical formula of their lipsticks yet they glide on to your lips like soft butter on bread. Made entirely of corn, the tube is also covered with flower paper embedded with real seeds that you supposedly just have to moisten and plant. Not sure how well that works but they do look pretty.
Why not consider a bottle of quality shampoo for you or the last few on your list? Only if it’s one of Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree blends. Specially infused with Australian Tea Tree Oil, these formulas care for your hair and scalp with the help of many moisturizing and invigorating properties. The Tea Tree Lavender Mint is particularly good for triggering your daily dose of shower-aromatherapy.
Here in the mountains I’ve learned not to mess around with my skin care which is why I’ve started to use Skin Medica TNS Ultimate Daily Moisturizer with an SPF of 20 on a daily basis. I’m sure you’ve all heard that some sunscreens can do more harm than good. You can be ultra safe with this sun protection and all other Skin Medica products since this is a company focused on enhancing skin appearance and reducing the signs of aging.
And here’s the latest update from Bobbi Brown, another of my favorites: You can now buy the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual at booksellers nationwide. Click here to have a sneak-peek at the video. May we all feel beautiful and good in our skin throughout this new year and forever!
Being Green Shopping Telluride Travel: Being Green Shopping Telluride Travel
by maribeth
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Daryl Hannah on Green Living
Daryl on the Mesa Outside of T-ride
The breakdown of Daryl’s biodiesel car left her nearly stranded in Montrose, the largest city in the region situated about an hour and a half from Telluride. Clearly she was not going to make it to the KOTO studios in time to do a Travel Fun interview with me, so we chatted on the phone together instead. (Daryl was actually holed up inside one of the teepees at the Ute Indian Museum, an interesting place that I have yet to visit.)
A few technical difficulties challenged me back at the studio. I was pulling together a live program—a rarity in the almost five years I’ve been doing radio—and my button pushing faltered somewhat, particularly at one point when I forgot to turn off the DJ mike during the musical break. Half of my phone conversation with another caller was broadcasted on the airwaves. Fortunately I wasn’t chatting about anything too private! I continued with more music from the “Kill Bill,” soundtrack for the second musical break, overlooking a cut that requires keen censorship. A few F-words later, I said a big “ooops” and hoped that the FCC wasn’t tuned in. Daryl was more than gracious throughout the whole interview, particularly during my assorted goof ups. Thankfully, she clearly has a tender attachment to KOTO, Telluride’s own community radio station.
In addition to her memorable performances in the original “Blade Runner,” “Splash,” “Wall Street,” and more recently the “Kill Bill” series, Daryl has been busy championing causes and spreading the word about green living. She is a keen environmentalist. And this is not so new because Daryl has been a vegetarian since the age of eleven.
Actually Daryl is turned off by the green word. Just like with organic and sustainable, she thinks those words are overused. “They really don’t take into account the social connectedness of things,” Daryl emphasizes. “You need to consider the social aspect of everything.”
Daryl practices what she preaches when she can. “I’m trying to get off of fossil fuels and the grid as much as possible,” she says. In addition to zipping around the mountains in her not-so new—but souped up—biodiesel car, Daryl lives in a one-bedroom home out here on a mesa, a simple house built from an old barn that was going to be torn down. “It’s solar powered, nontoxic and as sustainable as possible,” she says. Many organic elements have been incorporated into the interior and exterior design including a “couch” made from locally gathered, moss-covered rocks. “I just pull off the cushions and spray wash it down every once in a while,” Daryl chuckles.
Blonde Beauty Modeling a Chain Mail Purse Made from Soda Pop Pull Tab Tops by a Womens' Artisan Co-Op in Brazil
I imagine Daryl’s Telluride home to be fairly minimalist. “I subscribe to the church of stop shopping,” she revealed. She thinks people are better off wearing old clothes and making them cool by stenciling them. She’s also an advocate of consignment stores. “Growing cotton for one T-shirt requires much too much water for that to be a sustainable product,” she explains. I unfortunately didn’t have a chance to tell her that I believe in buying quality products that you treasure forever. That’s the French way. Buying in quantity is more of an American addiction.
Daryl Chillin' with DHLoveLife.com
Daryl’s Web site is a good place to go to inform yourself about living less conspicuously on this planet. It’s also fun and the best way to get to know the real Daryl Hannah. You can shop there for some of her hand-chosen products such as an aluminum water bottle and a travel essential bag filled with most of her favorite travel must-haves including a safe sunscreen (most are carcinogenic), arnica (good for sore muscles), Super Salve, an ultra-rich balm that’s great for lubricating nostrils and such before, during and after airplane travel and more along with other terrific products. (Daryl also likes to bring sage from the mesa with her on her travels, but you’ll have to round up some of that on your own.)
Ecotourism is a term that Daryl feels is getting overused as well. She encourages people to look closely at places that promise to be green. For her, it’s important that ecoresorts exhibit a real connectedness with the local community. Hotelito Desconocido in Mexico and Al Karm and Babata, two ecolodges in Egypt, all destinations that Daryl features on her video blogs, are resorts committed to fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with their environs.
Daryl also encourages people to go to our National Parks more “cause nobody uses them.” She cited the Channel Islands, off the coast of California, as an example of a rare site little known to people. Her “Natural Wonder” video blog on her Web site documents this unique place and its habitat.
She’s also done a number of video blogs on people that have inspired her, people that she considers to be her heroes. In one of the video blogs, Daryl visits with Richard Branson, a well-known English business magnate, but also one of the world’s leading investors in renewable energy and resource efficiency technology.
At this year’s Telluride Film Festival, Daryl met Paul Watson, a tireless environmentalist dedicated to the protection of animal rights. He was here showing his film, “Pirates of the Sea.” Daryl plans to join up with Paul soon on his ship, and from the way she talked, I suspect he’ll soon be featured as one of her “heroes,” too.
For now, however, Daryl is in London filming “Blind Man’s Bluff” with the English actor Tom Conti.
Ute Indian Museum, Montrose, Colorado, 970-249-3098, www.coloradohistory.org/hist_sites/UteIndian/Ute_indian
Daryl’s Web site is www.dhlovelife.com
Al Karm Ecolodge, Mount Sinai, Egypt, www.awayaway-sinai.net/main/st.%20katherine_sub/al_karm
Babata Ecolodge; I’m working on finding a link!
Hotelito Desconocido, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 800-013-1313, www.hotelito.com
National Park Service, Channel Islands, www.nps.gov/chis
Daryl’s Book Picks
Anything by Michael Pollan. “I think they should be mandatory reading for everyone,” Daryl says. She particularly recommends “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” and his recent book, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”
Daryl also enjoys reading books that tell the story of the people and the place she’s visiting. “Love in the Time of Cholera,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example, is her suggestion for travels to South America.
