Section 2

There’s more than one way to be an environmental warrior. And some approaches work better than others.'Elemental' documentary humanizes the eco-warrior. Elemental follows the stories of three environmental advocates united by their deep connection with nature and driven to confront some of the most dire ecological issues affecting their respective communities. This isn’t only a story about plight and pollution, however. Rather, Gayatri Roshan’s and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s documentary works best as a character-driven study of eco-activism’s do’s and don’ts.

Minneapolis-based Voyageur Press, a publisher of quality books on subjects of rural living and self-sufficiency is planning for 2014 publication a book tentatively titled Extraordinary Goats. This book will be chock full of historical illustrations and modern photos of goats doing what goats do — riding motorcycles, surfing, climbing trees, headbutting, and strutting their stuff in barnyards and on city promenades. The text is a lighthearted history of goats, their behavior and personality, and their symbolism in pop culture.

In the ‘60s, I built a house in Big Sur, developed a water supply, and terraced a hillside for farming. I was intrigued with the idea of self-sufficiency, and along with all of the changes going on in the ‘60s, the back-to-the-land movement was a powerful force.

One more daily object has joined the typewriter, jukebox and phone as an improved electric commodity: cars. Propelled by a soundless electric motor, these vehicles are able to convert about 60 percent of the electrical domestic energy from the grid to power at the wheels, whereas conventional gasoline vehicles usually can only convert 20 percent of the energy. Its tailpipes also do not produce polluting emissions.