MOVE OVER THANKSGIVING, HELLO CHRISTMAS

The man across the road has replaced his giant inflatable turkey with an equally giant Santa Claus. The house next door to him has been busy rigging up fairy lights all weekend. The leftover turkey has all been eaten and all of a sudden Christmas is in the air. It seems that the last weekend of November is when the festive season truly begins here.

I visited The National Geographic Headquarters briefly yesterday and then spent most of the morning in Lafayette Park across from the White House talking with "Connie". William Thomas and Conception (Connie) Picciotto have been holding a 24hr anti-nuclear peace vigil across from the White House since 3rd June 1981. They sit all day, every day, homeless, surrounded with placards, posters and news articles. Even tireless work by the National Park Service police to make life as miserable as possible for them has not broken their vigil. Connie has been arrested countless times, strip searched, physically beaten, and often has abuse hurled at her. Still the vigil remains. I will be posting an article on the website about my talk with Connie once I return home. Since arriving in Washington D.C. I have also witnessed three separate demonstrations regarding labour disputes, often workers calling for better wages. It is good to see that public protest is still very much alive in a city renowned throughout history for it's voice and people power.

You can read about the vigil at http://prop1.org/

PRODUCTS
I was impressed to see a general purpose store here called "Target", (the same as those in Australia) had an end of aisle display featuring Seventh Generation products. They produce a range of non-toxic products for the household including toilet paper and kitchen towels: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/. For ecological detergents and cleansing agents try http://www.ecover.com.

FOOD & DRINK
Fair trade coffee is available in Starbucks although not in espresso form. I guess the idea of paying coffee farmers a decent fixed amount for their coffee might affect Starbuck's profits and ruthless expansion! I had to wait whilst they brewed a pot of their featured fair trade coffee.

Following Jamie Oliver's quest to make school dinnners healthy in the UK, a similar mission is underway in the USA with one of their celebrity chefs taking the reins. It seems that as well as dumping excess produce from their subsidised crops on poorer nations, the USA also find a home for it in their schools across the country. Excess corn is converted into corn syrup which then goes into soft drinks and canned fruits that are given to the schools by the government.