2005.3.24=4[#83]:4703.2.15[#44/60]: [url] [[ diary ]] Cascadia: 1.G Kennan. 2.Ecotopia.

[Gallery] "IGI has procured the exclusive rights to selected works of numerous up and coming artists...": http://tinyurl.com/4lp8d [IRT] Global Voices Online: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/ "" Global Voices is an international effort to diversify the conversation taking place online by involving speakers from around the world, and developing tools, institutions and relationships to help make these voices heard. "" [Photos Sharing] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4374971.stm http://www.flickr.com/tools/ http://www.flickr.com/profile_mailconf.gne?tags=1 http://www.flickr.com/profile_mailconf_blog.gne [Taiwan] "BBC News Online looks at the issues behind what some analysts see as one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints": http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=newsukfs&tab=news&q=Taiwan [UN] Members & Dates: http://www.un.org/Overview/unmember.html [[ Fine sun then cloudy cool: up 8:10? Now 10:52am starting topic. Lung home around noon then off 2:50pm. 1st finishing of emails at 2pm, for lunch. Got into "flickr" of [Photo Sharing] above. Also started IRT's Babbel, from Global Voices Online, but knew not how so far. Now only 10:56pm, and finishing here! But, then joined a bit with Mei's piano playing, then her bed tv, bed still 12:55. ]] TOPIC: Cascadia: (1) G Kennan: "Fond family memories of an extraordinary man", By Blair Butterworth; Special to The Seattle Times: Guest columnist; Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m.: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002214889_kennan22.html "" AP: George Kennan, left, U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia, jokes with President Josip Broz Tito in this 1961 file photo. George Kennan and my father were classmates at Princeton University, graduating together in 1925 and then entering the Foreign Service. Their careers were both distinguished and the lives of our two families were and continue to be intertwined. "" "" The last time George and I really talked was on Annelise's and his 75th wedding anniversary. I was visiting Chris and called the Kennans to see if I could drop by. George was resting in bed in advance of the festivities, but he heard me come in and shouted for me to come up, as he wanted to talk to me. He told me that he was working on a new book about how the political boundaries of North America needed to be redrawn over the next decades to conform to the realities of the 21st century. In particular, he wanted to talk with me about Cascadia — the concept of British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Montana, Oregon and Idaho coming together in an economic, educational, cultural and, in time, possibly a political union — because that was a perfect example of what he was thinking. So here was this extraordinary man, close to a century old, thinking about how to make the future a more rational place. As luck would have it, just as George and my father were friends, so are both families' next generation, and there is hope that the one after will be as well. Goodbye, George, and thank you. Blair Butterworth heads Blair Butterworth & Associates, a political consulting firm based in Seattle. Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company "" (2) Ecotopia: "The Man Who Invented Ecotopia: Author Ernest Callenbach talks about localism, the future, and the state of Ecotopian ideals", Geov Parrish; One of "Turf: The Green Dream", Seattle Weekly, March 23-29, 2005: http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0512/050323_news_callenbach.php "" Green Dream The quest for a sustainable, ecologically sane society in the Pacific Northwest. • Introduction: Ecotopia, circa 2005. • Three hours south in Oregon, the dream is at risk. By Randy Gragg MORE • Is this a populist paradise? By Knute Berger MORE The following is an extended, edited version of Geov Parrish's interview with Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach on the 30th anniversary of his futuristic novel about Pacific Northwest secession. The story is told from the perspective of an American reporter, William Weston, who is one of the first outsiders allowed into Ecotopia some 20 years after Washington, Oregon, and Northern California have successfully separated themselves from the rest of America to form a new country. What he finds is an alternative universe, a place that is socially progressive, hardworking, and connected to nature. It is a society without the internal combustion engine but with maglev trains. It is, in many respects, the first picture of how a modern society could be restructured around environmental principles, and in that, was both reflective of its era and a road map for future ecologically aware development. Ecotopia proved to be a seminal book. Not only did it sell nearly 1 million copies in nine languages and generate a sequel, it became something of a utopian manifesto for the green movement, including the German Green Party. Today, at age 75, Callenbach is retired from his day job at University of California Press, where he was founder and editor of Film Quarterly. He lives and writes in Berkeley, Calif., where Geov Parrish talked with him by phone. He, like his fictional character William Weston, offers his observations on the Ecotopian phenomenon, how far it's come, and where it is likely to go in the years ahead.–The Editors ""