Green Options

Bikini season is fast approaching, and we’ve got plenty of sexy options to share. Aaron Chang is one of our favorites as he is the pioneer of eco beachwear. Chang is not only a green swimsuit designer, he is also a talented surf photographer. His suits are reversible and as colorful as his photos, and the best part is that they’re made from recycled plastic bottle fiber.

Wildlife authorities are battling to get a hippo to leave the Cape Flats Sewage Plant and move back to the more natural environment of the Zeekoevlei Nature Reserve in which he was born.

While this is a lighthearted post, its worth noting that many believe the hippo and not the lion or the crocodile is the animal responsible for most human deaths in Africa.

The young four year old hippo left the reserve several days ago and moved into the sewage works at Zandvlei, where he has been resisting all attempts to send him home. Its not a simple matter to move a hippo which weighs 800 kg and spends most of the day in the water. Conservation workers have been erecting fences and gates to restrict his movements and guide him home.

Perhaps best known for its wetsuits, the water sports company Body Glove has partnered with Reef Check and surfline.com to help rally support for the protection of coral reefs.

The three organizations want you to sign a largely symbolic online pledge that serves as an “International Declaration of Reef Rights.” Body Glove is throwing in some prizes such as a wet suit as an additional incentive for us to take a few minutes to sign the pledge.

Due to its southern location, Australia has experienced the effects of climate change more rapidly than other parts of the world—harsh storms and severe droughts have become more and more frequent over recent years. But one side-effect has some heading towards the beach: bigger and better waves.

CouchSurfing saved my life.

Well, possibly.  No one yet knows what role quality sleep plays in one’s life, or whether one could die from sleep deprivation.

But if it weren’t for the Couchsurfing.com network, I would be–more or less–homeless.

Since I gleefully waved goodbye to my soggy, moldy tent in mid-July, I’ve been faced with the dilemma of… well, now where do I sleep?  For a week or so, I was wearing out my welcome at my friend’s houses and at my boyfriend’s place (whose sleep schedule is around 5 hours off of mine).  Realizing that this was causing inordinate stress, both on me and on the parties involved, I knew I had to find a semi-permanent solution.

With no cash and no lease, where would I stay?  Enter: Couchsurfing.

When I first heard about CouchSurfing, I had the same instant, emotional reaction I had when I heard about Free Ride: the oh, this is way too cool to be true! feeling.  Of course, as with the other projects that I have blissfully filled my life with, it was true… and so cool I felt compelled to participate.

CouchSurfing is a website that connects travellers who need shelter for a brief stay, with hosts who wish to welcome them.  It is rare that someone will CouchSurf within their own city–yet that was exactly my situation after my grimy tent became more like a prison sentence than a home.  

I’ve always dreamed of being a surfer. I’ve tried to ride the waves, but I don’t like saltwater in my eyes. I’ve even tried dating a surfer. When I heard of the movie Surfwise about the infamous Poskowitz family, I was excited to watch it and thought it might be fun to view with my daughter, until I noticed the R-rating. I wanted her perspective on what it would be like to not go to school and live in a camper, but there’s a lot of talk about sex in the movie.

Surfwise is the story of legendary surfer Dr. Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children. Doc is a Stanford educated doctor who left his successful medical practice to chase the waves, towing along his 9 children (8 boys, 1 girl) in a 24 foot camper. The children slept like “puppies”, were raised on a strict natural diet of seven grain cereal, and surfed almost every day. As one of the children described, their life was like being on vacation all the time. Most children’s parents felt it was dangerous to swim with sharks and safer to go to school, but Doc felt the opposite about education. He felt that school was dangerous, and the sharks safe.

It all sounds rather idyllic, other than the crowded camper; however, Doc is a dictator jerk. He insisted on having sex every night in the camper with his children present, he beat his son for not surfing, and he demanded his wife breastfeed each child until they were two years old. I agree with long term breastfeeding, but instead of supporting his wife’s decision, Doc insisted this was how his children would be raised if that was how primates did it. There are some redeeming qualities about Doc, such as going to towns that hadn’t had a doctor in years for a job when money was needed and starting a surf school, but he left his children unprepared for the world and resentful of his domination.