Notes From the Road

From left to right: Karta Kaur, Harimander Kaur with her baby Sarb Jot Kaur, me, GuruGanesha, Jennifer with Ella (GuruGanesha's daughter in law and grandaughter, Akal Sahai (GuruGanesha's son and our tour manager), Krishan Prakash in true form, and Jesse who produced a very successful concert for us in Encinitas.
GuruGanesha and Krishan Prakash... Peace Warriors. Here is a picture of one of the Boutique Apartment buildings. This is one of the most environmentally aware companies that I've come across... and they are really successful.
Here's a picture of my husband Sopurkh in our garden at home.

This last weekend we had a number of events in the Denver/Boulder area all of which were sponsored by a progressive company called Boutique Apartments. This company creates chique apartments with artistic themes that range from fun to sacred. One building was called "H20" and had a huge water faucet sticking out of the side of it. Another building had beautiful sacred artwork from Tibet in the hallways. We got a tour of their apartment buildings. I was so impressed by the beauty of design, and by the steps they had taken to be environmentally responsible. Here's what they do for the environment. All of the appliances (refrigerator, stove, etc.) are energy efficient which cuts way back on the use of electricity. The electricity comes from wind power, and not from coal. The cabinets come from pressed wheat. The floors are made of bamboo which is much more sustainable. The carpets come from recycled bottles! It was so inspiring to me. Check out http://www.boutiqueapartments.com/ if you'd like to see more information. They are one of the fastest growing businesses in the Denver area.

I've grown up on the west coast. In high school I was in the social action club and we organized recycling. Living in Oregon for the last nine years, our local government and industry was very supportive of recycling. In fact, it is a big business there as it can be in many places if people just change their perspective. Recently my family and I saw the movie Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. I have always been very aware of the environment, but this movie has changed my whole perspective on things. I suppose the major fact that alarms me is that if we don't reduce our current use of CO2's within the next fifty years then the ocean's water will spill over onto all of our coastal lands and cities. All of Manhattan will be under water! Cities all along our coast and in countries all over the world will be under water! This is a huge problem to me!!! Is anyone else out there concerned??? If we don't do anything at all, then our children and the generations to follow will inherit a devastating environmental calamity. I would have left the theatre feeling completely helpless, however the movie put a large emphasis on what we can do. There are some very simple steps that each of us can do. You can see http://www.climatecrisis.org/ for more information. Basically, we still can reverse the situation... but we've got to act now. We've got to change our personal habits, and we've got to talk to our friends, family, and neighbors to bring awareness to this issue. Here are some basic things that my husband and I have come up with that we are incorporating into our lives.

1. Recycling. (I live in an area of New Mexico that does not have a good recycling program yet. I just found out after researching it that the regular drop off site, bins at Walmart, gets so contaminated with waste and other non recyclable materials that most of the material doesn't make it to an actual recycling facility. The best option for us is to drive to Santa Fe which is about a 25 minute drive and drop our materials there).

2. Unplug appliances if you are not using them.

3. Driving a hybrid car; we have a Prius.

4. We're hanging our clothes to dry instead of using the drier. (This was my husband's idea, which I thought was over the top at first... but it's actually kind of nice... especially out here in New Mexico.) 5. Our house is heated by solar energy. We intend to convert all of our energy use to the solar panels eventually. 6. We're going to carry mugs with us, and instead of getting our drinks in paper or plastic cups.

5. We're going to talk to our friends and family and try to inspire them to make some of these simple changes.

May Peace Prevail On Earth.

Over and Out.

# posted by Snatam Kaur Khalsa @ 1:59 PM