Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, on her bike in her hemp thong and pasties. Click to enlarge

Let's say something about the way this world works really bothers you. Something like, oh, the way we treat our planet. You can complain about it and to be proactive you change your own habits, but that's just not enough because it's not drawing attention to the problem. But what do you do?

Well, if you're Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, you take off your clothes and start riding your bike around town.

Cars were whizzing past one of Ojai's busiest corners when Jennifer Moss decided to do a headstand, clad in only a G-string and flower-shaped pasties.

Why?

"Headstands are good for you!" she said, beaming, as she pulled a yellow smiley-face pillow out of her bicycle's small trailer. With athletic grace, Ojai's "Pastie Lady," a self-described social artist and environmental activist, quickly pulled her legs up to salute her adopted hometown.

There's a couple places near where I live where I can imagine somebody doing something like this, although we don't exactly have the weather for it year 'round like Southern California does. But even in Ojai, a self-professed liberal, artsy town, people can get a little uptight when it comes to anything resembling nudity.

Jen has unfortunately been arrested twice, in spite of the fact that her nipples are covered with pasties and she's wearing a thong (albeit with fake pubic hair poking through).

Here's a short video of what Jen thinks about her most recent arrest.

I've got admit, I like her spirit, and think she's found a great way to draw people's attention to a huge problem. And all those people that think she's a nutter? Perhaps if they could stop worrying about a little skin for a few minutes they might have time to think about the problems she's trying to point out.

Here's another video of Jen being arrested by L.A. police, but since it could be considered not safe for work, click here to view it.

Back before I hosed the site and lost everything, I had a post up about shopping for coffees that talk about what to buy and who to buy it from. I'm not going to take all the time to redo all of the research I did for that post, but browsing through Hippyshopper last night I was reminded of why it's important to get to know the folks who bring you your coffee.

Coffee is a unique product in that large numbers of people have been making social responsibility in the industry for a number of years now. When you consider that even here in the Midwest, coffee roasters are jumping on the fair-trade and organic coffee bandwagon, you know it's a good thing.

But you should get to know your coffee roaster and find out exactly where your beans are coming from. While it helps to look for the labels on the packages, you should ask what's happening with the people who are growing and picking the beans. While a product may be labeled fair-trade, that doesn't mean the money used to buy the coffee is being put to good use for the growers themselves.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters does a very good job of letting you know exactly what's happening in the areas where they purchase their beans. They make sure they're informed about the coops they work with and pass that information on at the bottom of each product page.

Starbucks, on the other hand, doesn't do such a good job. They mention where the coffee is grown, but don't necessarily tell you how their business is affecting the people who grow it.