Action Items

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
- Leo Tolstoy

We frequently heard "action speaks louder than words" words though words are not always less important than word-less...

Looking at the mind map in the previous post, alot of things can actually be done to make the global warming cooler. So, see what have been doing. Let's start with the easiest and easier things: using energy saver light bulbs, optimizing natural lightings, buying LCD screen to replace the tube monitor, planting trees, constructing absorption well in the yard, working out 3x a week in the gym, etc.

It looks easy to practice all of the those acts, doesn't it? Any 'regular' persons can do it and even there are several other things every of us able to do. Seem as easy as any action listed above, I consider the followings as the major ones (but we may have different opinion or priority):

1. Converted car into water fueled. It is not literally a water powered car that I built. I only planted a device that produces hydrogen from water by electrolisys. This is not a new thin by the way. Many people may have developed this since years ago. Daniel Dingel did it in Filipina and many others in the US and perhaps all over the world. But not many have the courage to bring it in public. The inventor, Stanley Meyer, was reported as poisoned at a restaurant in 1998. Conspiracy theories persist that oil companies and the government were involved in the death (wow!).

Mine is not as sophisticated as those people have developed. It is a very simple, yet very cheap, device could be made by any junior high school (not the lazy ones for sure). And you could find the secret or the diagram by googling it with key words: water fuel, hydrogen, etc. I would not make a claim that the device I bult works successfully as I haven't made empirical obervation and measurement of the performance improvement. To minimize any possible risk, this prototype is installed in a 1975's Volkwagen as an experiment car. I am not confident enough to implant it in my SUV's ignition engine at this moment. However, for the sake of going green, contributing in pollution reduction, developing clean-renewable energy, it will be part of the SUV's fueling system very soon... once it's noticed that there is nothing wrong with the VW and it is positive result with having it installed, at least on the reduced emission and fuel saving (yes, gasoline is needed still, but hopefully at a lower amount)...

2. Stop eating meat !!! This is the hardest part. I was raised in a carnivorous family, omnivorous community. Being a vegetarian (not yet a vegan) in a non-vegan world is not easy. In the past, I ridiculed those who not eating what the Nature had provided. I told one who practiced it as an oxymoron.

There are Lacto-vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, the combination of those types and vegan. I consider my self as Seafo-vegetarian. I am eating sea food still, but I quit eating meat, especially of animals "possessing self awareness of life-conscience". First, I dropped beef from my diets since last year and later on chicken is also absent from my dish and plate. It's really a big challenge. One who said that he could resist of not choosing "rendang" and "ayam bakar" in Padangese restaurants or tenderloin steak in Outback's, most likely he/she was lying. Replacing steak with tempe and fried chicken with tofu, would it work for me? That's a big question mark?

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It was very difficult in the beginning or even to got it started, but after we accustomed we can just do it so joyously. It's a matter of the ability to control the will-power in a one square-inch spot in the head. The reason behind this decision is a combination of several factors, that I may want to explain in the upcoming post(s). I did not say that this was a victory of the brain over the belly, not at all. It's just a matter of choice. Btw, I have made a life changing decision in the past, far greater than this. I have changed the way I live... now I want to change the way I eat - no matter what. I would not be able to change others, families, communities, the world, ... if I could not change my self. "No matter what" is strong words to bear in mind for moving forward with rational things we strongly believe, especially if we did not follow the crowds.

I am not accussing any one, but I just recall PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) argue that being a 'meat-eating environmentalist' is an oxymoron. I am not sure, to me it just like 'deafening silence', 'a mournful optimist', 'cruel kindness', 'brutally honest', 'marijuana medicine', 'smoking doctor' or 'buncit indah' words.

I noted that Fuel and Food are notorious topics most widely discussed in the mainstream media these days (besides the 'never-ending' competition between Obama and Omama v. Ograndpa...) Then, taking those two subjects for discussion is necessarily appropriate as an effort to improve our planet earth and its inhibitants' life, if followed with adequate actions. Let's check the week's breaking news:

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On "Earth Day" Tuesday, the price of a barrel of crude hit a record $119.90, a fivefold increase since the beginning of 2002!
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Today, rice prices hit record. This week's 5 percent jump in Thailand rice takes prices to $1,000 a ton, nearly triple their level at the start of the year, intensifying fears of social unrest in Asia. This week, even the United States felt the reverberations, as major retailers started to notice signs of panic buying. Sam's Club, a unit of retail giant Wal-Mart, said on Wednesday it was capping sales of rice at four bulk bags per customer per visit!

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Serious issues we are all facing...