We’ve been talking for months on our GreenJoyment site about the dangers of fracking.

This is an oil industry practice where they pump water, arsenic (AS IN POISON), sand and other toxic substances deep into the earth.

This creates pockets under the ground, where natural gas and oil fills in and can be sucked out/retrieved.

In other words, fracking sucks.

In many peer-reviewed studies, fracking has been shown to poison water supplies and damage/destroy plant life growing above ground.

There has also been much speculation that fracking is related to much of the increase of seismic activity on the planet.

Today I learn, (while we are in Verdello, Italy), that Colorado, (where Carrie and I are from,) has experienced it’s biggest earthquake since 1967.

Not coincidentally, Colorado has not had this kind of earthquake activity since the late 60′s and early 70′s.

Not coincidentally, oil companies have recently drastically increased fracking practices all over Colorado, but particularly in Southern Colorado

Colorado actually had quite a few earthquakes in the 60′s.  Several studies were published which demonstrated that the government’s pumping of nuclear waste deep underground at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (and places like it) were causing these shifts.

What can Colorado do about it?

• Buy electric. Build solar. Colorado experiences 300 days of sunshine a year.
• Change buying habits to buy and use less stuff built on the premise that oil will always be available and unlimited.
• Vote for people who will move to actually prevent this kind of practice.

I usually reserve this kind of commentary for our GreenJoyment site.

But this is an environmental issue which is (potentially human-caused) earthquakes hit the state where Carrie and I are from.

In studies which (not coincidentally) are sponsored by the oil/natural gas industry, fracking has been shown to be safe.

The industry has moved to discredit groups of people who are making documentaries about what is going on.

In fact, the EPA released a study in 2004 which showed that fracking was a safe practice and wouldn’t harm drinking water supplies.

research the agency published in 2004, which concluded that the process of hydraulic fracturing did not pose a threat to drinking water. The 2004 report has been widely criticized, in part because the agency didn’t conduct any water tests in reaching that conclusion…

The 2004 report was used by the Bush administration and Congress to justify legislation exempting hydraulic fracturing from oversight under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption came to be known in some quarters as the “Halliburton loophole” and has inhibited federal regulators ever since.

If fracking actually is safe, why does the industry (as well as the big companies behind this) fight actual independent studies every time someone tries to get one commissioned?

Why do they work to discredit anyone who questions the practice of fracking?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/fracking-study-denied-in-_n_820242.html

http://durangoherald.com/article/20110208/NEWS01/702089938/-1/s

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/energy-depth-says-gaslands-star-lied-about-colorado-fracking

http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/214995/188/Windsor-residents-worried-about-fracking-near-their-homeshttp://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110424/NEWS/704249995

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_18661141

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.—U.S. Senator Mark Udall says there is no reason to worry about the use of hydraulic fracturing to free up oil and gas deposits if it’s done properly. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves injecting vast amounts of water and chemicals to open deeply buried gas formations.
People living near drilling areas have complained about water and air quality.  According to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent ( http://bit.ly/n7X4uN), Udall says it’s a safe technology that has resulted in a lot of home-grown energy being produced.

“Home-grown energy”? That’s political jargon for “Stuff that was here long before we were that we’re not able to easily remove without sand, water, and poison blasting our way into the earth”.

“Home-grown jobs” might also come into play on this as political jargon.  There are so many more jobs to be had if the same kind of interest and investment is generated around solar and wind energy.

People in this part of the state have been fighting fracking for months.

http://www.huerfanojournal.com/node/3230

http://www.shelltosea.com/content/colorado-shell-gets-ok-fracking-spanish-peaks

The approval process was fraught with controversy, as the planning and zoning commission refused to let members of the public speak at preliminary meetings on the approval. Scott King, chair of the commission, threatened to forcibly remove citizens from meetings, according to Ceal Smith, of the San Luis Valley Renewable Communities Alliance.
When audience members protested this action, King responded with, “So sue us,” according to Smith.
The group, Citizens for Huerfano County, requested a public hearing with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, but was turned down because the request did not come from a local government body.

http://www.realaspen.com/article/685/EPA-selects-Colorado-site-as-part-of-ongoing-study-of-fracking-impacts-on-drinking-water

Oil and gas industry officials maintain that fracking, in which water, sand and undisclosed chemicals are injected deep into gas wells to force open tight sand and rock formations and free up more gas, has been going on for decades without a documented case of groundwater contamination. Critics charge that’s because the industry has been allowed to keep the chemicals used in the process secret for proprietary reasons there’s no way of knowing for sure.

Let’s say I’m just a planet loving greenie. Fine.

But do you think it’s good to be pumping arsenic into the ground and releasing methane and natural gas into man-made underground pockets in an effort to extract natural gas from under the space where people live?

I would love to find out who funds this publication, and if the lines match up with fracking practices in the map on page 3.

Do you think it’s good to leave poisoned “recovered” water sitting on the surface while it waits to be taken away for treatment?

And do you think it’s good to do so with potential water contamination risks, in particular in an area of the state where water is already scarce?

The groups in support of fracking are large, have big money, and are well-connected.  They say that the “technology” to do this is more than 65 years old.

I’m suggesting that it’s time for this “technology” to be retired.

Fracking sucks.

My brother Adam has really been making some incredible videos over the past few years.

Adam, with another friend of ours named Patrick Shaw, just launched the first in a series of three full-length videos.

You can access them at Bridge The Gap

These videos will ultimately promote a system for accomplishing everything you want in life.

But for a short time, they’re freely available online.

The system is one that Carrie and I first learned from Mr. Shaw over 6 years ago.

In the past 4 years, we’ve
- Traveled to 6 continents
- Lived on 5 continents
- Built a successful business
- Deepened our relationship with eachother… and
- Maintained great personal and business relationships around the world.

Our massive sinkhole of debt now looks like a gopher hole…

(The gopher has moved out, and we’re happily planting seeds for fruit trees.)

In short, this system works.

You CAN get everything you want from your life.

It takes time and effort, but less time than you might imagine.

5 years passes quickly.

As a result, I’m giving these videos and this system my highest recommendation.

If there’s a “secret” to how we do what we do, this system is a big part of it.

Open disclosure: Patrick’s a friend, and a valuable mentor.

Even if you decide not to get the system they are ultimately going to talk to you about, make sure you watch the free videos while they are available.

(They will be taken down at some point in the not too distant future.)

The production quality on the videos is Hollywood quality, and you’ll learn a lot about what it takes to get the life you want to live.

Bridge The Gap

This will be the second State of the Union speech Carrie and I have watched from another country.

Last year, we watched the speech from Panama.

This year, we will watch the speech from New Zealand.

The beauty of the State of the Union Speech is that it reflects on the challenges and opportunities America faced during the previous year.

The State of the Union also gives a chance to say what America has done well and what can be improved upon.

A few quick facts about The State Of The Union

• George Washington gave the first State of the Union address on January 8, 1790 in New York City, then the provisional U.S. capital.
• In 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchical.
  Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk.
• This changed in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice of giving the address as a speech.
• Modeled after the monarch’s Speech from the Throne during the State Opening of Parliament in the United Kingdom, The State of the Union is required by the United States Constitution.
  The Constitution does not require that the report take the form of a speech, although virtually every president since Woodrow Wilson has made the State of the Union report in the form of a speech delivered personally before a joint session of Congress.
  By tradition, the President makes this report annually, even though the clause “from time to time” leaves the matter open to interpretation.
• The actual term “State of the Union” first emerged in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase, becoming its generally accepted name since 1947.
• Since the address is made in the Capitol and during a joint session of Congress, the President must first be invited by Congress to both enter the House of Representatives Chamber and then actually address the joint session.
  This invitation is customary in form as the speech is now a traditional part of the American political and national schedule.
• During the latter half of the 20th century, just a few presidents have sent written State of the Union addresses.
  The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter (in 1981).

While a good portion of the State of the Union Speech is about America and what is going internally, much of it also deals with America’s connections with every country on earth.

As America remains the dominant world superpower, the state of the union is a talk about connection between nations, and how America is dealing with the privileges and responsibilities which come with being at the top.

For me, it is very important for me to see that I am actively working to be the change I want to see in the world.

I’m taking time today to ask what is the state of my unions.

And I evaluate what is the state of my connection with:

• Finances
• Relationships
• Work
• Spiritual development (and purpose on earth – includes connection with a higher power)
• Mental development
• Physicality (health)

If you are interested, and have not taken time to look into these things for yourself, an easy way to get started is to simply rate each area on a scale of 1-10.

I rate these not on how I’m actually doing in that area, but how I feel about how I’m doing in that area.

It’s different for a country, where everyone’s opinion matters, but because I’m constantly analyzing actual numbers and experiences and results I’m getting, my feelings are based on what I perceive to be reality. 

And my opinion is the great barometer in my own life.

You can do this activity in 10 minutes, though it really warrants an hour or two, or even better a day or two away to really reflect.

This can get intensely personal, and it should. It is, after all, your life.

If you’re curious, here is how I rate these areas of my life for 2010.

Finances – 6
I really thought that by the age 31, I’d have a great deal of confidence in my personal financial position.  While I’m okay with where we are at, there is definitely room for improvement.

At the same time, we’ve re-invested heavily back into our businesses and our own personal growth through all the travel we’re doing.  We’re also taking risks and paying to have experiences today. In the final 3 months of 2010, Carrie and I have made some great progress towards what we really want to accomplish in this area.

Relationships – 7
This is really a mixed bag. On the one hand, I feel like I need to do a better job strengthening relationships with the people we know all around the world. On the other hand, I feel like we do a great job meeting new people and building relationships all over the world. I really enjoy experiencing feelings of excitement about the contributions I make to other people’s lives, and want to improve and deepen relationships. As far as my relationship with Carrie, I’m so excited to have a friend and partner who I feel closer to the more time we spend together.

Work – 6
Because I got sidetracked in the middle of the year, certain projects I wanted to develop and grow in 2010 have gotten pushed into 2011. I’m not proud of getting sidetracked. However, I’m glad that I got some things figured out in October of this year (about myself mostly), and really have developed some excellent momentum within GreenJoyment (a few different projects and opportunities to help people save money through sourcing connections), IdentityTheftSecrets (connecting with people and helping companies market more products and services), and a couple of other projects. The business relationships I’ve built with the people we’ve hired to help us in 2010 have been exciting and are really growing and developing. At the same time, I want to do more to work with the talented people who work with us.

Spiritual Development – 5
I haven’t spent much time in 2010 growing my connection with higher power. For me, connection comes in spaces of quietness and solitude, either out in nature or at least in a quiet space while listening to meditative music. While I have been open to growth here, we’ve spent a lot of time in big cities and I haven’t found/made much time or space to be growing in my spiritual development. At the same time, I have found allies (and adversaries to help me) with similar thoughts about spiritual ideas in many of the connections we have made with others.

Mental Development – 9
12 months ago, I spoke practically no Spanish.
Today I can hold a pretty decent conversation in Spanish. With another month of classes, I will be proficient.

12 months ago, I didn’t understand anything about the “global economic meltdown” even mocking it as something fabricated by the media and the Federal Reserve. Today, I have a much better understanding of why inflation is going to pose some large challenges not only for the United States, but for the world at large. I’m working every day to better understand and take action on this information.

My Physicality
8: from January-May
3: from May until Mid-November
7: Mid-November through end of 2010

In Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru we walked. A lot.
We walked over a mile every day in Ecuador just to get to and from our classes, before sight-seeing and just going about our daily lives.

When we got to New Zealand in May, it was winter. It was cold. We only went outside when necessary. Because we were working on a variety of projects, going out was pretty much only to eat (more than we needed to because we were cold), drink (because we were back in a country with good beer), and visit friends (where we would eat and drink).

Then we drove all around New Zealand in a campervan. I loved it.

So did Carrie. And we did walk at Fox Glacier and Franz Josef glacier and go to see forests and lakes. But as far as having a regular workout, that just didn’t happen while spending 6-9 hours/day driving around.

But in Auckland in November, Carrie and decided to start getting up every day to go walking. And we did this very consistently every weekday for 30-45 minutes. Working at night until 1AM or 2AM and getting up at 6AM to go walking everyday was some days a real struggle. But we did it, and I’m proud of that effort and the results it’s created.

So there you go:

Areas for improvement, to be sure.  Overall, I’m pleased with what we’ve accomplished in 2010 and believe 2011 will blow 2010 out of the water.

So how about you?

How do you rate the state of your union for what you’ve done in 2010?

2010 has been a wonderful and incredible year.

Thank-you to all of you who we’ve encountered in the past year who have made this year truly incredible.

We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

Andy from Sharing Travel Experiences interviewed us for his site this week.  I enjoyed answering his questions as it was clear he had taken time to look through our site before sending me a list.

If you would like to read the interview, it’s on this page of the Sharing Travel Experiences website.

Picture this:

There’s a sink-hole in front of you. It is bigger than you… in fact, it’s bigger than the house you live in.

This hole is roughly the size of:

• your house
• + your university
• + your car
• + anything unrelated those above items that  you walked by and thought “I have to have that… now”

You know that you need to fill this hole up as fast as you can.

And, you also know that it’s still sinking.

You may think it has stopped, but it hasn’t.  It may have stopped widening, but it’s still sinking.

To fill up this wide and gaping hole in front of you, you have a shovel. Now.

But, for years you’ve had only your hands and feet. You tried to kick and throw in as much dirt as you could to try and fill this hole, but it was widening and sinking faster than you could throw a handful of rocks in.

Now, though, since you’ve found that shovel, you can see that you’re making progress. There’s this bit at the bottom that appears to be filling. Finally.

What is that sink-hole? Debt.

Debt to the tune of: a mortgage, student loans, car loan, and unpaid credit card balances.

What causes it to continue sinking?
Interest on all of those loans.

What caused it to widen?
Your own spending…spending more on credit, or taking out another loan (car, school, etc.).

Nearly everyone has one of these sink-holes.

Jonathan and I do too.

And here’s the good news: We’re paying it off.

Two years ago, Jonathan and I canceled all our credit cards, choosing instead to live a cash-only lifestyle.

This means that if we don’t have the cash to buy something, we have to wait until we do.

We do this by asking ourselves “How can we afford this?”

Then we build businesses and income streams to afford whatever “this” is.

Two years ago, Jonathan and I had the following debt:

• $205,000 Home Mortgage
• $18,000 Car loan
• $40,000 Student loans (darn grad school)
• $22,000 Credit Card balances (from our Kilimanjaro 2006 trip, our wedding, and some from our honeymoon)

That gave us a total of $284,000 that we owed to other people…PLUS interest.

We were paying it, every month, but never felt like we were getting ahead.

So, our first order of business was to cancel our credit cards.

At least that way, we couldn’t spend anything more on them.

Then, we signed up for a program that would work with creditors on our credit card balances.

With their help, our interest rate dropped from an average of 22% to 6%. That’s a huge difference! (Contact us if you’d like to know more about this.)

Next, we took every spare penny we had, and put it towards paying off debt: credit cards first.

I’m proud to say, that after only 2 years, we have less than $6,000 left on our credit card balances.

And we sold the car that had the car payment.

That means that in 2 years, we’ve paid off over $47,000.

We have also had renters in our house for the last year, so for a year, our mortgage payment has been (mostly) paid for by someone else. (We still have some that we pay every month towards it (renters don’t cover the whole mortgage), but what we pay monthly is 1/14th (7% or so) of what we paid when we lived there.)

Still, today, we are putting every spare penny we have towards paying down debt.

In fact, all loans and everything else included we are currently putting 49% of our income towards debt repayment.  Hard to believe, right? (I couldn’t believe it myself until yesterday.)

When we started, about 25% of our income was going to debt repayment, and we weren’t getting ahead of it.

The good news is that in 10 months or less, we will be completely free of consumer debt / credit card balances, which will leave us with student loans and our mortgage.

Then, our sink-hole will start to fill up even faster, because for us, being debt-free (filling that sink-hole) is the most important way to spend our money right now.

So how can we afford to travel?

Hard work.  Really. Most people think we’re on vacation just because we’re traveling.  But the answer to how we afford to travel is that we work really hard.

We’re not working hard in the sense that “working hard” means to many people (being out digging ditches or doing manual labor), but figuring out all the moving pieces and the mental work required takes:

• Time
• Energy
• Willingness to be flexible
• Willingness to learn

Just to reiterate: we’re still working while we’re on our world travel.

That’s why being settled somewhere for a longer amount of time (here in New Zealand) has been so important to us. It allows us more time to work, and get set up to work a bit less for three months… then we’ll settle somewhere again and work really hard.

You may remember that we have about $1,830 / month to spend differently now that we’re traveling than we did when we lived in our home in Colorado. (We save that money on: transportation, phones, and housing.)

That amount is actually less now that we’re living in New Zealand and things here are more expensive than in Central / South America.

As much of that $1,830/month as possibly can is going to paying back our debts.

(Some times it feels like too much is going towards debt repayment. Because we do have to make choices and limit the tourist activities we do, because paying down our debt is more important to us right now.)

And now you know… the rest of the story.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we recently moved our whole site over to WordPress from Movable Type.

Why this might be important to you?

The non-geeky explanation is that this will allow us to do more stuff with our web site more easily.

However, there may be some pages or links on our site in the next week or so which might not work as effectively as they should.  If you find things that aren’t working, please drop us a line and let us know.

Also, please be patient as we get things working 100% again.

Growth of WordPress through 2007

Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo in Panama City, Panama are not the same thing…

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I thought that Panama Viejo (old town Panama City) was Casco Viejo. I was wrong.
This morning, Jonathan and I decided to go see Panama Viejo and then have lunch at one of the many new and fun places in Casco Viejo.
Casco Viejo is also called Antiguo Viejo, as you’ll see in the video below.
We grabbed a taxi right out front of our hotel (Hotel Santana), and were taken to Panama Viejo. Our driver also told us where it was safe and where it wasn’t if we wanted to walk around the old city.

Panama Viejo is the ruins of the original Spanish settlement in Panama City. It was abandoned in 1671 after pirate attacks and fires destroyed it.
They are currently working on restoring the ruins, and there are some pretty amazing places to see.

We saw the ruins of an old convent that was newly built when the city was destroyed. It also looked like they were setting up for a wedding reception. What a cool place!
Then we walked to the tower. But, unlike London, city’s tower was used primarily as a church tower, with the added benefit of serving as a lookout for pirates.
During the restoration process, they put a roof over the tower. But they wanted to make in invisible from the outside. So, the water drains go down through the staircase to the top.

It was really amazing to get to look out the same windows, and see all the ships waiting to go through the canal and pretend they were pirates. Hello Pirates!
From there we realized that Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo were not the same thing. So, we asked a woman who was working at Panama Viejo for a good lunch recommendation.
She suggested Restaurante Jimmy. So, all 3 of us grabbed a taxi together, and we went for lunch (dropping her at her destination along the way).

I am so glad that we asked her where we should go, and that we listed to her!
The food was amazing with lots and lots of options. It was delicious. I highly recommend that you try Restaurante Jimmy in San Francisco district of Panama City, Panama.

Then we caught another taxi and asked to go to Casco Viejo. We stopped outside the National Cathedral. Then we walked along the water.

We saw the ruins of a club that was right on the edge of the ocean. It looked like it was a pretty amazing place (before it was destroyed by the US during the 1989 invasion).
We walked a little further and found a fun path that was covered with vines and flowers. We later learned that this path was built on the remnants of an old city wall.

We did some more walking in the area, and then decided that it was time for ice cream. Panama City is hot. Hot hot hot.

We saw a fun gelato place, so we stopped in there. They didn’t accept cards, and we were out of cash, so Jonathan asked where the nearest ATM was. The woman gave him directions and he was off.
When he came back we enjoyed some lovely ice cream from Granclement. I really liked all the old ice cream scoops on the walls.
Then we decided that we would walk back to our hotel. It didn’t seem too far, so we thought we’d give it a shot.
It turns out that the ATM was further than the hotel! So, we had a nice little walk, even if it was one that I wouldn’t want to do after dark.
They’re really working to get the neighborhood cleaned up. In a few years it is going to be prime tourist area. But right now, it’s a little on the sketchy side.
When we got back to the hotel, we worked in the lobby for a little bit.
We were able to make some new friends that way. We met and chatted quite a bit with Eric Goldschmidt, a pastor from Wisconson, and a Czech couple living in Portland, Or.
Then it was off to bed, since the taxi was coming at 5:30am to take us to the airport.

The Panama Canal at Miraflores

For some reason, whenever I hear of the Panama Canal I think of “Arsenic and Old Lace”.
Teddy says “I’m going to the basement to dig the Panama Canal!”
I love that show…
No trip to Panama, especially Panama City, would be complete without a trip to the canal.
We didn’t really make it work last time we were here (as we just passed through Panama City), but this time we knew we’d go.
Our overnight bus arrived into Panama City from David at 6:00am – exactly on time!
There are some crazy buses in Panama (all over Central America)!

From there we went to our hotel, and they let us check in super early, which was great!
So, we were able to grab a nap.
I read that there is a restaurant in the visitor’s center of the canal, so we decided to go there, have lunch, and watch a few ships pass through.
It was awesome! The food was ok, not the best (and pretty pricey), but good enough.

But it really did have the best view of the canal, which is really what you’re paying for when you go to eat at the visitor’s center.
We got to see a very large cargo ship go through.
It was really fun to see the workers on the ship waving and taking pictures (of us, waving and taking pictures).

It takes about an hour for a ship to go through the canal.
The video below is 1 hour and 15 minutes of our time summed up in 2 minutes.
Press play to see it.

Then we had to basically run through the museum because we waited to long to check out the exhibit.
But, we did get to see some really fun parts. I especially liked the guy dressed in the haz-mat suit. He clearly needed it, what with his hand down at the level of his shin.

Jonathan liked the UPS guy. He decided to shake his hand, but got a little more than he bargained for.

After closing the museum, like we tend to do, we took a taxi out to the Causeway.
The Causeway took dirt from digging the canal and then used it to connect some islands off the cost of the city.

So, we went to the far island and then walked into town. We had dinner at a restaurant that was back on the mainland, and decided that for one of our last meals in Panama, we should try the “Panamanian Touch”.
It was just a collection of local foods, but the name sure was interesting. It wasn’t the best food I’ve ever had, but the experience was really great. It was a fun walk, with plenty to see, and great company.

For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, we hope you will take some extra time today to spend with family members and/or loved ones.

We are enjoying our time back in Colorado… though with the traveling we’re doing around the state to visit family, we’ve been running around like crazy since getting back!
We hope you enjoy this special day!