You want your 15 minutes of "real" fame? You want to say something about sustainability and the environment--or perhaps show people a project you have? Yert (Your Environmental Road Trip) is wandering through the U.S. with a video camera. Go to Yert. If you have an environmental project let us know.

The rich ride bicycles. The poor don't ride bicycles. Actually there's more to it than that.

The Daily Mail of London reported recently on a Department of Transport National Travel Survey. London residents, the wealthier ones, apparently have decided that the preferred choice for getting around is the bicycle. Some of the reasons include healthy living, climate change, and green options.

On the other hand the poorer one is, according to the survey, the less likely a person will ride a bicycle. Again the reasons are many, but the "stigma" of riding a bicycle appears to be a significant factor. As well, the poor are less concerned about "green" options than about making a living.

The rot seems to keep on giving in much of our farm policy. Congress tinkers with the system periodically but not a great deal changes.

Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group, said a few months ago, "America’s farm subsidy system is broken." This has been stated before but up until recently the average person would have had difficulty gathering information on America’s farm subsidy programs. It was shrouded in mystery and unclear as to what the rationale might be for passing out taxpayer money.

Something like two-thirds of US farmers do not receive any subsidy payments. Farm program benefits have been highly concentrated and have often not rewarded land stewardship nor encouraged improving the environment. But now there is a web site called MULCH.

It's about thinking outside the proverbial box. It's learning from the natural world.

It sounds like the Kansas City region is creating its own "perfect" sustainability storm, based on some of the articles I've read lately in the Kansas City Star.

Fecal pollution in our streams, and downstream officials say Kansas City must take care of this problem. Of course Kansas City says it's difficult because the upstream folks in Johnson County have pollution runoffs that pollute the downstream streams in Kansas City. It's very confusing.

And there's that irritating sewer problem. Supposedly even if Kansas City spent $3 billion to stop sewer overflows, sections of KC streams would still violate state standards. But as one astute politician pointed out we can simply lower the standards--so we'd be in compliance. It's a little like the "surge" reports from Iraq.

Did you know that Oklahoma has the highest density of indigenous languages in the United States? What about the Kallawaya people in South America? Their language has information on thousands of medicinal plants. Today fewer than 100 people speak this language. But what does this have to do with sustainability and the environment?

Language tells us something about other people. Words may be unique to a particular culture. People that have spoken their language for thousands of years may know a great deal about local ecosystems. It's quite possible these people could have something to teach us in the developed world about conservation, preservation and, yes, how to respect the land we live on.

A couple of months back I'd heard that narco-traffickers from Mexico had decided to set up marijuana plantations in some of our national parks, particularly in California. Why worry about crossing the border or building tunnels? (Is it really that easy?)

Heavily armed guards from the assorted cartels supposedly protect these agricultural endeavors. Apparently the U.S. Forest Service has issued warning to hikers and campers about the possible danger!

A problem is that after the "harvest" there is a fair amount of environmental destruction because of various chemicals used along with the necessary irrigation systems and overall forest destruction.

"Jane Goodall: What separates us from the apes?"

What are we prepared to admit? This is a moving presentation about sustainability, especially valid for those of us living in the "developed" world.

It's a multi-million dollar industry, which has clearly stepped out of the shadows. Housewives, 20-something single women, and men purchase the products. Need some help? Consultants are available. Not around to catch a movie on Sunday afternoon because you and your friend are going to attend a "passion" party down the street? Last but not least, all this can be environmentally friendly as well.

If you don't like toxic sex toys that may be bad for the environment and possibly harmful to you, you might want to check out a Portland, Oregon online retailer that offers products for adults that are PCV-free and phthlate-free.

There's good news, not so good news, but maybe no terrible news, at least not at the moment.

This past Friday some 500 people from energy companies, advocacy organizations, regulatory agencies, activists and ordinary citizens came to Bartle Hall for the Kansas City Energy Forum. This forum belies the cliche about nothing happening between the east coast and the west coast except smug, know-nothing indifference.

The forum concerned itself with how we go about creating energy efficiencies from both a national and regional perspective. What kind of business models do we need to create? How do we insure that individuals on fixed incomes are not penalized when we implement various energy efficiencies? How do we reward conservation? How do we stabilize electricity demand? What kind of tax and regulatory structures will be required?