Does life get any better than the Twin Cities?

The Twin Cities' Fourth of July celebration once again filled me with gratitude.  How amazing is the beauty and charm of life in Corte Madera and Larkspur?  Even though the parade clearly needs fixing, so that long gaps won't make people think the parade is over and leave, it was still perfect in its own small town imperfections.  Stellar weather helped.  Mt. Tamalpias reigning over all of us is the icing on the cake.  How lucky are we to actually live here?

This beautiful land makes me remember to reccomend a great movie about how Marin became Marin, called Rebels with a Cause.  And that makes me think of Buckminster Fuller, and how he would hate to see such climate denial continuing even after extreme weather events and rising temperatures have become the new normal.  

We do seem to be waking up to the idea that we must fully harness the sun, the wind and the waves soon, so that we can leave two thirds of all fossil fuels in the ground, just as the United Nations says we must.  This, as Bucky said, is our "energy savings account."  

Having clean, free energy will change the way we live in so many ways.  Just imagine, if we don't have to labor so long for our daily energy supply (driving our car to a job so that we can afford to drive a car to our job) we'd have more time to read, to think, to understand, and maybe even plant a garden.

We've got to get back to the garden...  Have you seen the "foodscaping" programs in Switzerland, where neighbors get together to plan their gardens so they can trade with each other? Even their front lawns are planted with healthy food. Maybe this will come to the Twin Cities soon.  

On a related subject, Bucky said it was time for women to take over the world.  I think he's right, or at the very least we should accept that first and foremost, "governance is nurturance".  Helping those in need is government's top responsibility. If we focus on "providing for the needs of 100% of humanity without ecological damage to anyone", we might actually accomplish this.  And we won't know if we don't try.

if you're looking for more green fun this summer, ride your bike around this great town.  I was on bike this weekend, and I beat people who were driving in cars, since our small town traffic can be maddening.  The free concerts in Menke Park have been awesome. This Sunday's jazz band was terrific, and they played for a long time.  The Corte Madera Community Foundation's Mark Goldrosen and Cynthia Trutner are doing a great job organizing these Sunday concerts. People bring their picnics and listen to music while watching the children and dogs play. 

Is Corte Madera not dog friendly enough?  We heard yesterday that someone's friend was not going to move here because of our strict dog laws.  We need to fix that. We need a dog park.  How about right behind Town Park Plaza?  It's an underused section of Town Park, and it would be nice to have it so close to a place to get coffee.  There is a Facebook Page called "Corte Madera Dog Park".  Join it to get more info and help support this. We should get a group together to show up at a Council meeting and request it.

One last idea for enjoying summer, do stop and enjoy the rare White Pelicans at Shorebird Marsh, next to Nordstrom.  Their migration is early this year.  If you ever see a large flock take off, you'll never forget it. They shoot off like canons and spiral into the sky.  With my daughters when they were ages 2 and 4, we witnessed as  the pelicans' streamlined white bodies created a perfect corkscrew against the blue, winding straight out and up into the jet stream.  

So take time this summer to stop and see the pelicans!  And smell the flowers, if you can find the ones that still smell.  (GMOs have taken away the scents in many flowers, in favor of brighter blossoms instead, but let's not get started on GMOs!) 

As more and more of us are realizing, Bucky was right. He said we had a choice between utopian and oblivion. It's Bucky World or bust!

I hope you will follow my Bucky World blog at www.buckyworld.me.