It’s been more than a week since I’ve written here. It kind-of feels like this fast is becoming almost a way of life, not a new thing anymore, a marathon and not a sprint, to use a cliche.

Drinking fruit and vegetable juices and miso broth is the totality of my culinary experiences these days. In some ways I’m very accepting of this limited diet and appreciative of both the tastes of these liquids and of the fact that they give me energy I did not have while on water-only.

But when I leave my office to go off on the local Metro subway line to a meeting or work which involves some walking, I do notice a difference. Just this morning I had to go somewhere and ended up walking perhaps a mile altogether over the course of an hour, and I definitely felt it on the way back to my office. Getting a bottle of juice at a store did help.

I had my first-ever experience talking to 150 or so students at the University of Wisconsin via the internet this afternoon. A professor teaching an environmental-related class who heard about my fast proposed this and we set it up. Although I wasn’t able to see the students, I was glad to be able to answer their questions for 20 or so minutes.

One question came from a junior or senior asking for my advice for those about to graduate who will go out into the world looking for a job (and maybe to pay off college debts); what did I have to say about their making a living as it relates to changing a world in need of major change?

The main thing I said was, “follow your heart. . . Don’t get caught up in pursuit of material goods and power. . . Live in a way that builds community with others and for a better future.”

I’ve learned this in my 58 years (58 as of yesterday). It’s very internalized. I keep trying to stay true to this objective myself. I work to be a better person so I can do so. And this fast is helping.

I may be lacking in food, but the expressions of concern and the positive things people have said and keep saying to me over the course of this action are very nourishing spiritually.

Meanwhile, Congress plods along with its subcommittees working to come up with global warming legislation while efforts to reconcile the energy bills passed this summer creep along. They need a jolt! It’s like the mule needing a kick to get going. People need to flood them with calls demanding that they act with the urgency needed–no new coal, $25 billion for 2008 for conservation, efficiency and renewables, freeze and start reducing carbon emissions!

In 12 days many hundreds of us, hopefully more than that, will be descending on Congress as part of the No War, No Warming action (www.nowarnowarming.org) to nonviolently disrupt their business as usual. I’m looking forward to a day of action with all the young people and the young people at heart who will be part of this up-to-the-challenge event.