1) Lessen humanity's negative impact on the environment: mitigate global warming, reduce our use of chemicals and toxic/non-biodegradable products, recycle everything possible, consume fewer natural resources, work on increasingly efficient and sustainable energy sources...etc.

2) Build eco-friendly, self-sustaining communities: grow/tend organic community gardens so that more food is locally grown; support the growth of downtown living, communities, and local businesses to reduce the need to drive everywhere (walk to work, to school and to the grocery store, etc); support business and organizations that employ fair-trade and eco-friendly practices; improve public transportation (that is not carbon-fuel based); fund local educational centers

3) Help everyone to learn at least one foreign language (and ideally to live in a foreign country for at least 3 months)

4) Put pressure on all governments in the world to finally get rid of nuclear weapons once and for all!! And work for world peace.

5) Put limitations on how corporations function, particularly abroad (e.g., force corporations to pay decent wages to workers, no matter where they are, and to respect the basic human rights of their employees and of the local communities). Also make environmental impact regulations for corporations more strict, and don't allow them to negatively impact other countries by building dams, claiming natural resources for themselves, polluting, etc.

6) Improve health care for everyone by making it a *Non-Profit* industry: one major and necessary change is to stop allowing pharmaceutical companies to have so much power and influence in drug/treatment research, and to stop allowing drug manufacturing/marketing to be such a profitable industry -- until we make these changes, health treatments will never be focused on cures, but rather on how to keep sick people (only those who can afford medication) alive longer and requiring increasingly more drugs!

7) In the U.S., tax the richest people (upper 2%) more heavily, and with the proceeds, fund education in the U.S. as well as the development of educational centers in impoverished areas throughout the world.

Other members of Razoo...people interested in environmental protection/preservation, and in promoting peace, education and tolerant communities in the world. Also, people who have had (or who plan on having) interesting journeys.

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves." (Thomas Edison)

"If you hear a voice within you that says 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." (Vincent Van Gogh)

Lived in Oregon and in Washington, D.C., U.S.
Lived in Angers and Metz, France.

Travels: Canada, Mexico, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, and all over France and the United States.

Want to go to: the Maghreb (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria), Tibet, Haiti, Jamaica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, Mali, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Thailand, India -- okay, I want to go everywhere!

Learning and Teaching
Reading (everything from newspapers to classic literature to fantasy novels).
Yoga
Listening to music, attending concerts (particularly reggae and world music)
Painting and drawing, as well as other art forms.
Traveling!
Building sustainable living communities
Supporting locally-grown/made organic food and other products
Walking wherever and whenever possible

English (native speaker)
French (fluent)
Spanish (intermediate)
Italian (basic)
Arabic (novice)