An Ordinary Man, an excerpt

So it did not stop.

The guards opened the gate for me at my house, and I walked through my front door to the sound of a ringing telephone. It was Bik Cornelis, the general manager of the Hotel Mille Collines -- my counterpart at Sabena's other luxury hotel. He was a colleague and a friend, and not one to waste time when something was pressing.

"Paul," he said, "your president and the president of Burundi have been murdered!

"What?"

"Their plane was shot down with a rocket just a few minutes ago and they are both dead!"

My wife and I stared at one another from across the living room while I tried to digest the meaning of these words. The only clear thought I could manage was that Tatiana must have heard the sounds of a plane exploding. I had no idea what that must have sounded like.

"All right," I said to Bik. "What does this mean?"

"I don't know;' he said. "We don't know what is going to happen. But I think you'd better go back to the Diplomates. We don't know what will follow this:"

"All right," I said. "But I don't think I should go alone. I'm going to call for a UN escort."

"Whatever you think is best," he said. "I will be in touch."

We hung up and I told my wife the news while I dug in my pants pocket for a phone number. Tatiana looked as if she might faint. There was no need for us to discuss the gravity of the situation. We both knew Rwanda's history. Murders at the top are usually followed by slaughters of everyday people. And since I was such a political moderate and she was a Tutsi we were both in trouble. How much time would we have before-there was a knock at the door?

I picked up the phone. The leaders of the UN troops had always been cordial to me on their frequent visits to the hotel, and they often said things like, "If there's anything you need, please call the compound and we'll see what we can do for you." This seemed like a good time to play that card. I was put on the line with the commander of the Bangladeshi troops that made up the largest contingent of the United Nations' mission in Rwanda. I had heard rumors about their poor training and lack of equipment, but they were wearing the uniform of the UN, which carried a kind of magical protection for them. Unlike nearly everybody else, they could pass roadblocks without harassment by the militia.

"I need a military escort to the Diplomates Hotel," I told him. "Can you help me?"

His voice sounded very far away, as if he was speaking from down a long hallway.

"People have already started killing other people," the major told me. "They are stopping people at roadblocks and asking them for identification. Tutsis and those in the opposition are being killed with knives. It is very dangerous to go outside. I don't think I can help you."

"Well, what am I supposed to do if they come here looking for me?" I asked.

"Does your house have two doors?"

"Pardon me?"

"Does your house have more than one way to get inside?"

"Yes, of course. There is a front door and a backdoor. Why?"

"It is very simple. If the killers come looking for you through the front door, just leave through the backdoor."

I thanked him for this advice and hung up.

It seemed that this was going to be all the help we would get from the United Nations tonight. I resigned myself to staying at home that night and hoping that nobody would come through either door.

Excerpted from An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina, Penguin USA, 2004

Global warming as asset

The Corner has a post on a dust-up between Nature magazine ("the once respected science magazine") and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Apparently, Nature published a news feature that claimed that Wikipedia was just as accurate, if not more so, than the venerated volume. This bit in The Register, commenting on the whole thing, is the most interesting to me [emphasis mine]:

• Perhaps the clue lies not in the news report, but in the evangelism of the accompanying editorial. Nature's news and features editor Jim Giles, who was responsible for the Wikipedia story, has a fondness for "collective intelligence", one critical web site suggests.

• "As long as enough scientists with relevant knowledge played the market, the price should reflect the latest developments in climate research," Giles concluded of one market experiment in 2002.

Lots of evangelism going on over global warming, eh? And their point on science being scientific is smack-on. More also here.

I attended a meeting last week to review a draft hydrogeological (i.e. groundwater) study that San Diego County is doing for arid East County. The study was commissioned to make sure the development plan for that area is supported by the amount of groundwater available. I thought the geologist's study was technically very sound, and his model did a great job describing the actual water use/storage/availability conditions.

I asked him what has lately become the most important question for guys like him: How does he present this information to his bosses and the public that ensures it isn't used as political football? His deer-in-the-headlights initial response said a lot. After blinking for a second, he replied that he hoped the model would stand on it's own merit.

Unfortunately, I think that approach has become a tad naive these days; advocacy for your data has become a necessity now (assuming it hasn't always been the case that you had to defend your thesis through the peer review process), but historically this has always been scientific advocacy, not political advocacy.

Using data from sources on the Internet further complicates matters, especially when it's difficult to decide whether that information is authoritative or not.

Not really offering a solution here, just an observation. But clearly it's an issue that won't go away.

by Don Bosch :: Evaneco.com

reprinted with permission db
guest contributing writer Greener Magazine

Book Review: Veggie Revolution

Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet

Vegetarians often will tell you that they have chosen a vegetarian diet for health reasons, or over concerns for animal welfare, that the decision was personal or influenced by a loved one, or they may tell you their vegetarian lifestyle is a by-product of their faith. People make decisions about their lives often unilaterally but never in a vacuum because what each of us chooses ultimately impacts society and the world as a whole.

Veggie Revolution, Fulcrum Publishing, by authors Sally Kneidel, Ph.D., and Sara Kate Kneidel, activist, vegetarian cook is a new book about a very old subject, one ignored by most other books on the subject: the connection between vegetarianism, social activism and the environment. Like Pierre-François Bouchard’s Rosetta Stone, which revealed to scholars the connection between two ancient languages, Veggie Revolution illustrates, in one volume, the two languages of vegetarianism and socio-economics revealing at once their interconnected meaning; that to preserve the natural environment man and animal have to return to the principles of good animal husbandry and sensible farming practices.

The authors visit factory farms and small family operated organic farms to witness for themselves the evolution of today’s giant corporate farming machines. The comparison is a stunning revelation about modern farming technology, corporate indifference to anything but profit and the revolution of organic farming.

Veggie Revolution is also a cookbook, or perhaps that should be 'book that cooks.' The lessons revealed about the nature of man and his food to the natural order of things are practical nourishment for the soul. There is more here to digest than just some wonderful vegetarian recipes interwoven with social commentary. The book can, and ought to be, read and reread as a manifesto for eco-environmental preservation. Whether you are a vegetarian, meat eater, organic or non this book in simple terms and with great honesty provides you with informed observation and lets you come away with your own personal solution to environmental stewardship and the Veggie Revolution.

About the authors:

Sally Kneidel, Ph.D., is a biologist, journalist, photographer, and parent of two college-age young adults. She has taught biology and writing in colleges and public schools for more than 15 years, and with her husband teaches tropical ecology on student trips to the rainforests of Costa Rica. She is particularly interested in issues related to the impact of our growing population on wildlife and habitat. While her first nine books deal strictly with zoology and botany, Veggie Revolution is her first examination of how human behavior and social responsibility affect the natural environment.


Sara Kate Kneidel, an activist, feminist, and Quaker, earned a B.A. in Spanish and women’s studies from Guilford College in 2005, with a minor in field biology. She worked as a vegetarian cook for three years, then planned and pulled together a communal vegetarian household for herself and friends, centered around a “food ethics” theme. After a stint as coordinator for a community-development program in Mexico, she recently returned from traveling in Spain and West Africa. Writing, she believes, is an effective means of raising public awareness of political issues and social concerns. Veggie Revolution is her first book.

by Harlan Weikle
Greener Magazine

editor's note: Read an excerpt from the book Veggie Revolution.
Get a copy of one of the book's recipes, "Greek Tofu Salad."