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Tracy Stokes

Tracy Stokes is a mixed media artist living & working on the slopes of Devil's Peak in Cape Town. She likes to paint on re-purposed surfaces and recycle creatively in all aspects of her life.

One child, 39 toxic chemicals

Ten-year old Kyle Counts has at least 39 toxic chemicals in his body. His sixteen-year old sister Kimbra has at least 37. And their parents have no less than 47 each.

The Counts family are part of a Star-Telegram research project testing for man-made chemicals found in homes and offices in members of the Tarrant County population. The study revealed that each one of the 12 test subjects was found to have traces of dozens of potentially harmful chemicals in their blood. The chemicals they are testing for include flame retardants in many car seat cushions and computer wires, pesticides in fruits and vegetables, and coatings often found in microwave popcorn bags and fast-food packaging, and stain-resistant fibres in carpets.

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Rethinking solar power

citizenre.jpgThe initial cost of installing solar power can make the technology prohibitive for some, so it’s very exciting to see what US corporation Citizenrē is doing for those who would like to install solar panels on their homes, but can’t afford the big outlay. The REnU 25-year fixed rate residential solar electric system rental program is the first to allow homeowners in forty US states to choose green energy while eliminating the large upfront investment costs and premiums over power purchased from electric utilities. The REnU program appears to offer the most attractive terms in the solar industry in the US.

Citizenrē manufactures, pays for, installs, permits, owns, maintains, and operates the solar photovoltaic system installation. All homeowners are required to do is to pay for the electricity generated from these panels, at a fixed rate that is at or below their current electricity price, for up to twenty-five years.

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Livelihood, freedom & community through co-operation

yesmag.jpgEthan Miller writes an inspiring article for Yes Magazine entitled: Independence from the Corporate Global Economy. In it, he confirms that we don’t have to depend on big corporations to survive, we can take back the economy and create community. Ethan highlights the alternatives available to us:

Suppose we try a different story: instead of defining the economy as a market system, let’s define it as the diverse array of activities by which humans generate livelihoods in relation to each other and to the Earth. Extending far beyond the workings of the capitalist market, economic activity includes all of the ways we sustain and support ourselves, our families, and our communities. Peeling away the dominant economic story of competition and accumulation, we see that other economies are alive below the surface, nourishing us like roots. These are not the economies of the stock-brokers and the economists. They are the economies of mutual care and cooperation—community economies, local economies.

Many are familiar to us, though rarely acknowledged. They include:

Household Economies—meeting our needs with our own skills and work: raising children, offering advice or comfort, teaching life skills, cooking, cleaning, building, balancing the checkbook, fixing the car, growing food and medicine, raising animals. Much of this work has been rendered invisible or devalued as “women’s work.”

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Caroling for the planet

“White Christmas?” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICl1Tmd4Jkw]The staff of Environmental Defense have recorded their own version of “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”, with a global warming twist. They are inviting other aspiring eco-carolers to join them on YouTube.

Zoe’s gone green

Zoe Ball is going to be presenting an environmental television series. The prime-time week long series entitled Extinct will be aired on ITV in December, and will be co-presented by Zoe and Sir Trevor McDonald. It is thought that Extinct… Read More »Zoe’s gone green