PBS Newshour: Congress Returns as Obama Lobbies for Syria Strikes

Congress Returns as President Mounts Major Syria Lobbying Effort (via PBS News Hour)

By: Christina Bellantoni and Terence Burlij Protesters march in Los Angeles Saturday to urge Congress to vote against a military strike on Syria (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)Editor's note: There was a technical issue with today's Morning Line.…

---

Just Back from the Big Sur Coast

Just got back from the Big Sur Coast, California at its finest! My parents-in-law are in town, and we always take an opportunity to explore the area a little better than the last time. This trip, it was the California coast, starting with San Luis Obispo and running all the way north to San Francisco. We took 101 south through the Salinas valley to begin at San Luis, and decamped at the Montana de Oro state park on the Pacific coast. The little one spent most of the vacation parked next to the beach, digging through sand and getting her toes wet, and the rest of us spent our time trying to guard our food from raccoons and predatory owls! Then, we made our way north, where our parents took some time to see Hearst Castle (once is enough for me) and we spent some time at Hearst Memorial Beach, hanging with harbor seals and such. From there, we headed north, where we hit Limekiln State Park for a quick hike and a swim, and then further north to Pfeiffer Burns State Park. One more night of camping, and a drive home, and our Big Sur Vacation is over! Great trip, but looking forward to real life resuming once more!

Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

Recently on Dude, Sustainable!

Hi Everyone! From time to time, I like to talk about what we've been doing at Dude, Sustainable! Lots of good stuff, including Green Living Thursdays! Linky Party. This, our 17th edition, features a quick and easy guide to roasting garlic as well as great posts from across the blogosphere. If you'd like to stop by and share your favorite posts, we'd love to have you!

On Facebook, we asked bloggers to weigh-in on what their favorite Reddit "subreddit" for the environment was. The answer, at least according to me, was the /r/environment page for its scope and diversity.

Post by Dude, Sustainable.

Today's a good day, and with a visit from the family this weekend, we'll be busy. Hope you have a great weekend and if you're reading this from the Bay Area, avoid your car at all costs!


Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

Sustainability Degrees at Harvard Online College

Harvard Extension School - Online Degrees in Sustainability (via Online Degrees in Sustainability)

As part of our ongoing effort to identify, evaluate and publicize online degree programs in sustainability, today we will be looking at the Harvard Extension School Sustainability and Environmental Management Graduate Degree Programs. The Harvard Extension…

---

Is Dentistry a Medieval Practice?

I've often wondered why, in the age of flouride-enriched water, people still go to the dentist. In my case, it's because my wife said "We have dental coverage and you need to go." Case closed, I suppose. Anyway, I've always equated dentistry with medieval style torture chambers, replete with metal instruments of varying size intended to poke and prod some of the more sensitive areas of the body in a successful effort to shame you into submission. I always come back swearing that this time, I'll brush three times every day and floss twice.

At the very least, the dentist who saw me this morning was a young person who didn't try to talk to me about some TV show in which vampires and zombies travel through time fighting crime. She actually asked me about my daughter while she attacked my gums with a metal hook. But the good news...great teeth. Again. Any thoughts, let me know!

Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

Catching Up On Last Season of "The West Wing"

One of the perks of being a stay-at-home Dad, Graduate Student and Blogger is that, from time to time, when you're just hanging around and trying to get things done around the house is that you can catch up on old TV shows you never watched through the first time. Used to be, daytime TV was a wasteland of soap operas and talk shows. Didn't have much choice. Nowadays, you can skip network and cable tv and head straight for the good stuff on Netflix!

That's right...every season of Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing is up on Netflix to be browsed at your leisure. Currently, I'm on the final season, Season 7, watching the "live" debate between Congressman Matt Santos and Senator Arnold Vinick. It's odd, because the issues they raise (healthcare, gun control, tax policy) are spoken about in terms that are still very much relevant today. It's only been six or so years since this season was released, but seriously, how many bigger issues do we have facing us today? Climate Change, to be sure, has grown leaps and bounds in the consciousness of mankind, but we're still rehearsing the same debates they were presenting so many years ago. One, it's a testament to how good of a show it was, but on the other hand, it's a little sad that we couldn't come to more definitive conclusions on the issues important during the waning years of Bush II.

About the Sustainable Dude

Hi, I'm Robert, the editor-in-chief, blogger-in-chief, and really, the main guy behind the curtain at dudesustainable.com. I decided, as a diversion (and because I love blogging so much) that I would start my own personal blog. Hence, sustainable dude. Because it's different from Dude, Sustainable! Or is it?

Anyway, I like to blog about the environment, sustainability, global warming, alternative energy, gardening, and new, Online Colleges! Why? Because these things all have something in common...they are part and parcel of the most important issue of our day. 

We're not going to hell in a handbasket, and we're not going to make the world implode, but we have made quite a mess of it so far. The industrial revolution has done two things to our world (if you're going to boil it down). It's brought us unimaginable wealth, prosperity and material comfort, the likes of which were totally unforseen even 213 years ago, with the publication of Thomas Malthus An Essay on the Principles of Population. And while that may be the case, it's also created the present unsustainable situation; human beings are outgrowing their ability to live in their environment the way it existed in the pre-industrial era. We need solutions if we are to maintain our current standard of living, because if we allow climate change to disrupt our plantet's economic, social and political orders, then we are in trouble. 

So I have chosen my contribution to the debate. I'm going to talk about it, and I'm going to talk about it publicly (or at least as public as this blog becomes). I've been doing it for six months over at our other site, and here's what we've covered so far:

Come visit our parent site, Dude, Sustainable! We blog about green issues and topics in sustainability. The environment, global warming and online colleges who offer degrees in sustainability! Here's what's trending now!

Green living and green blogging. This is the most important thing we do! We specialize in bringing together environmentalists and social network users to share their message and network with their friends, family and colleagues on important issues! Why? Because the green movement was born of organization, and the internet has a capacity to dramatically amplify our message, but it's also atomized us to an extent. Name one environmental site with the reach of a CNN or Fox News. You can't. You can only name the thousands to hundreds of thousands of independent bloggers plugging away. Let's take a page from someone who once said, "Workers of the World Unite!" and become "Environmentalists of the World Wide Web, Unite!"

Build Your Own Greenhouse! We love to blog about gardening. We have a very special post, my own personal experience with building my own greenhouse. Helps you garden year-round, and best of all, live a sustainable life! Why? Because you should care about where your food comes from, and if it comes from your back yard, then you know exactly where it came from, how it was grown, and significantly, what's in it!

Strawberry - Inspired by an NPR story, we'd like to start hunting down heirloom fruits, starting with the little-known heirloom strawberry! Why the strawberry? Because it's delicious, that's why!

Go Green at home, on the road and everywhere you go! Use this guide to going green, our "Easy steps to go green" resource page to structure your life around sustainable practices. We're going to transform those articles into e-books within a matter of a few weeks, so stay tuned and open your wallets a little to support our cause!

Be Green with our sustainable living resources page. So my site isn't for you? These ones certainly will be! The best environmental blogs and news sites out there, green living blogs, government resources and fun things to do! Come check it out!

We'd love to have you visit Dude, Sustainable! Just one click away!