Panacea for the Poison

carrieoz:

infinitelycurious:

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? Its the too huge world vaulting us, and its good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

-Jack Kerouac (On the Road) 

Today I finished reading On the Road. It left me feeling unsatisfied, but in a good way. I liked whatever mood it is that I’m in because of reading it, and the lack of finality, the lack of satisfaction in some sort of clean conclusion is making me thirsty to dive back into Kerouac’s winding story telling again. I’m thinking of reading The Dharma Bums next… And what makes this even more perfect is the fact that I’m planning a very exciting summer road trip of my own with one of my closest friends. We’ll drive the length of the West Coast, stopping to spend time in San Francisco, Portland, & Seattle and go as far North as Victoria, Canada. I’m so inspired and so excited for my own journey on the road!

socialuprooting:

The Kulluk, seen in Seattle, is one of two Shell drilling ships in the city undergoing final preparations before going to the Arctic. (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)

Ignoring Protest and Warnings, Obama Ushers in Era of Unprecedented Arctic Drilling:

President Barack Obama, who once elevated the hopes of many US environmentalists by promising to be a ‘transformative’ president — one whose term, as he said, would mark “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal” — may yet be the president remembered for passing on a potentially historic opportunity to end, or at least curb, the practice of dangerous offshore drilling.

A frontpage report in today’s New York Times paints the picture of a president eager to open a gateway to arctic drilling that members of his own energy and climate change advisory panel thought was both surprising and “improbable”.

Even as the full impact of the BP spill was still being determined in the Gulf, according to the Times, Obama took the initiative in clearing a regulatory pathway that would allow oil companies — specifically a proposal by oil giant Shell — to start drilling test wells off the Alaskan coast. “The president,” write John Broder and Clifford Krauss for the Times, was “writing a new chapter in the nation’s unfolding energy transformation, in this case to the benefit of fossil fuel producers.”

Environmentalists were shocked by the report. “We never would have expected a Democratic president — let alone one seeking to be ‘transformative’ — to open up the Arctic Ocean for drilling,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, told theTimes.

Last week, more than 1 million people called on Obama to save the Arctic from oil drilling, by delivering a million signatures to the White House, and gathering outside to ask the president to stop Shell Oil from drilling this summer.

“Shell’s ships are already on the way to drill in the icy Arctic waters, putting human life, polar bears and whales at risk in harsh, stormy conditions,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), which has worked for many years to keep offshore drilling out of the Arctic Ocean. “President Obama has a small window to stop Shell from spoiling the Arctic, and that’s exactly what people across the country are asking him to do.”

“The Obama administration has been rubber-stamping Shell’s drill permits one after another,” Subhankar Banerjee, photojournalist and editor of the soon to be released Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point, said in response to the Times article. “By approving these operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas of Alaska, the administration is about to commit a major crime. No one knows how to clean up oil from underneath the ice or in the extremely harsh weather of the Arctic. If Shell is allowed to drill there come July, they will kill the Arctic Ocean, and along the way destroy the traditional culture of the Iñupiat communities.”

transient-high:

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, comformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. 

-CHRISTOPHER MCCANDLESS

the man

(Source: theb-sideofthings)

astrotastic:

ikenbot:

SpaceX Launches Private Capsule on Historic Trip to Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private space capsule called Dragon soared into the predawn sky Tuesday, riding a pillar of flame like its beastly namesake on a history-making trip to the International Space Station.

The unmanned capsule, built by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), is the first non-governmental spacecraft to launch to the space station, ushering in a new era of partnership between the public and private spaceflight programs.

“I think this is an example of American entrepreneurship at its best,” said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA’s commercial crew and cargo program, in a briefing before the launch. About 100 VIP guests were on hand to witness the launch, NASA officials said.

I’m so happy about this! Good job SpaceX!

(Source: undeadlife)