Welcome Campground

Resources

2008-11-08T04:48:00.000-08:00

Is there such a thing as resources? I studied in Resource Conservation in Montana and the resources we talked about were timber, water, energy and things of that sort. The comment someone made the other day here at Sterling College that made me question this more was "You should really talk to him, He's a great resource."

He's a resource? I didn't think so. Why not say that he's a great person?

I think that labeling something as a resource is inviting its consumption by people. The fish, and the trees, and the knowledge in someone's head.

A couple of Fish and Wildlife people came to talk to my wildlife management class yesterday. We went out electroshock fishing. Judd, wore his waders, baseball cap, rain coat with the USFW patch on the arm and polarized shades.

North woods

2008-11-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

A meteorite leveled the land.
leaving a great moose track where now the mountains lie flat.
Covered with poor sandy outwash from ice rivers,
the crater, like the colloseum sits telling stories just with its hands.

But the moose with their heads low, walk like icebergs
down old logging roads in the North woods, long abandoned.
With their racks all draped in velvet and their eyes half peeled,
they gather in the crater's low point. Drops of mercury forming a collective.
Droplets of the collective moose joining to prove wildness lives.

Some mineral trick or deep down magnetic quirk of the stardust
has aligned with the galaxy to be its equal in shape and beauty
Each chip of crystaline bedrock is tilted under the soil,
asking the moose herd to gather, and once gathered to sing.
And the call rises best when rebounded off moose bone
which in its metaphysical reaction to the sound,
draws up the flecks of light from under ground and projects them into the sky.

Follow

2008-10-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

I
Seasons turn, but don't wait for nobody.
's long and dark, them hard ol' winters.
but long's you got fire, and a couple of hairs left on your bow,
you last.

Dave Brown makes bowls 'round here.
Don't earn much, but happy, makes everything.
Banjo, chair, house, meat, bread, makes it all.
Banjo's got a piece of birds eye maple right there,
down where his wrist sits on the drum part.
's prettier'n he is, sure, but without Dave, just sits around
quiet.

That's why you got to get up and DO.
Get up and make somethin' and stop eatin' up
what's made for you.
Stop waitin' to play, 'cause if y'ain't got no banjo,
you could make one yet, and follow its strings like a
shortcut.

Goin' somewhere, maybe.
Stoppin' the world from fallin' apart and
forgetting how to drop seasons down,
maybe.

Jenny makes sugar with her family.
Jenny saw me lickin' the maple gunk off my plate after flapjacks,
and asked me if I wanted a gallon.
I don't know if my face lit up, but hers did just watchin' me smile.
I told her "I'd work." Told her "I'd help." Told her "I'd
drive yer horses all through the woods so you could leave that
gassy old 4-wheeler in the shed where it belongs and leave me
behind a team, where I belong." Laughin' in the snow.

But then again, she got more excited thinkin' about
my fiddle music than my work.
Just my tunes bumpin' around with the steam in the sugarhouse.
Just tappin' my toe on the one inch o' floor board
not already stepped on by somebody in the crowded shack,
all the diffused lamplight through the steam leavin' shadows
on my corner spot, on my fiddle, on my bow.

That's all? Doin' nothin'? Fiddlin' around and settin' there
smellin' the good steam comin' up and borrowing a few whiffs
just to remember the old times by? That ain't work where
I come from. That's a musician's dream. Dreams can be fun for a while,
but sometimes you start to feel like you're cheatin' somebody-
yourself maybe, gettin' fat in the sugarhouse.

But not Ol' Brown. He works hard. He picks a claw hammer tune
with his beard a-pricklin' out and his one eye squinted down like.
Prettier'n he is, but like I say that's why you got to
GET. UP.

II
Haven't written back to Montana.
People miss me, people hate me.
Gone. Never see my friend no more.

I got a dog, did anyway.
I swear I love her, took good care of her, too.
Never trained her good, but walked her so long
she limped on her bad leg and went to sleep.
Ain't my dog no more. No place for her with me.

Left my rosin home again.

Ol' Brown pickin' away, and dark, raspy

gasps comin' off my bow like a kid whinin'.

Not like Kitchen Girls, or Julia Delaney, or Soldier's Joy,

a kid whinin'.

oh well.

Ain't a kid no more. World's duller, now.
Full o' stuff I already know, don't know yet,
hain't gonna know and don't WANNA.
Lookin' more for reasons, than answers.
Sometimes shocked that this is it.

DRUNK and waiting for my girl. She ain't.
She works, not me. Well, not true, the government
pays me to vaccuum and mop. Why?
Likes clean floors I guess.
oh well.

I know somewhere in that mirror sits
the whole life I've got behind me.
I try so hard to see myself sometimes but I can't.
Beard, tired eyes, hurt back, dirty.
Smile? Still works, every time.

Across the hall's my Mando.
Outta tune, A-string buzzes a bit.
Every time I play, sounds a little better.
Every time I seem to listen less and feel more.
Don't think I need my ears no more
cause the bones in my palm resonate,
each of my fingers feels a different string's noise.
My pinky hums all the stuff I sound on the E up there,
my pointer is the G-string singin' bass.
Even deaf I'd play, just to feel it.
And even out like a dog and buzzing-like,
I play it very fast. And every time I say,
OH! WELL!

Okay, I'm back

2008-10-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

I finally made it back to the old Campground. I thought I was done with it, but my dad told me someone asked him about it recently and that made me check up on it. It had just started to become the forum discussion I wanted it to be when I quit! And I think some of my best writing exists on this web page. If through my squinting tearing eyes looking at this Library computer screen and aching (not really) fingertips on the keyboard I can do some good in this world then I'll keep working on it.

I think I'll freshen things up with a new look for the page to let everyone know that I'm back at least for now. Perhaps a seasonal theme, winter's on its way i suppose.

This blog is my art, such as it is. It isn't a medium I've ever before admired, but in this age, the keyboard is as good as a quill. Most of my writing sits bound in a homemade notebook of recycled cardboard, paper, and chord. But lit from the burning tons of age-old sunlight, my words escape their books, and jump into people's minds-miles and miles away.

And what is ART? What good is it? I've often thought that I wanted nothing to do with it. I've always brushed it aside as extra, or luxurious and something to be done only by people with nothing better to do. Sometimes there really is nothing better. I find that about half the time I'm asked for a favor its to do work: to teach ax skill, to carry, to fell trees. And the other half of the time I'm asked to do art. To pull out my instrument and make music, to keep writing.

And I think I'm finally coming to a point when I'll admit the good in art. So, to kick things off extra artistically, I'll try another poetic endeavor before lunch here and see how she turns out. See the above post if you're interested!

Response to Comments

2008-05-04T22:31:00.001-07:00

Friends, Family, Countrymen,

I thank you all for your readership. And I'm excited about how active the comments have been for the past few posts. I notice no one commented on my poetry... figures.

Anyway I don't get many comments on this blog, but the ones I do get are usually considerate and well thought out, and it is a signal to me that the Campground is blossoming into what I hoped, a discussion place or free speech zone. So thanks again.

Uncle Tom,
I've often wrestled with this economic issue. Deprive sweat shops and you deprive sweat shop workers. I cannot truly suggest that I know what will happen when you boycott sweat shops. Perhaps I can find a case study to enlighten myself. Anyway, my argument in this post will not hinge on how we deal with sweatshops, but rather, my point is a message of hope regarding sustainable living. You expressed doubt about the capability of a local economy to provide for the people. To try and address this doubt I want to take the question out of the ethereal realm of this human invention called money, and bring it back to a basis in land.

For your consideration:
If you want to fight poverty, you must also fight wealth.

I'm certain this isn't an original thought and It might even be a direct quote from someone far smarter than myself, but the way I'm figuring things, it makes perfect sense. The way these people became impoverished and forced to work in sweat shops was that a colonial power took proprietary control of their land. All that we own comes from the land. Aldo Leopold said, "Heat doesn't come from the furnace and Pork doesn't come from the supermarket."

Microsoft computers don't come from the mailman, they come from the land. The problem isn't that the people who lose sweat shop jobs will be unable to buy their commodities, it is that they have no land from which to produce these commodities. Why? Free trade took their land away. All the humanitarian laws, the environmental regulations, the equal opportunity laws, work against free trade. They assert social values onto a system that profits the obliteration of those values. This is what approaches europe's system of a social democracy or a social capitalism. Free trade must become wise trade. Subsistence economy.

Liberte se trouve, en effet, completement dans l'imagination de la gouvernement, et les gens qui ne lisent jamais un journal quotidien.

Poems, anthems, odes

2008-05-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

I
It'll be night time when the apocalypse hits.
The TV will be cranking away and its flickering light will be
what we see the end of the world by.

II
The stone possesses symmetrical indifference,
Equally unstirred by direction as by sound, impact or ice.
To be stone is to practice indifference toward all forces,
thereby a force become.

III
The virus, in a race to destroy its host,
A race to kill its home
will die deadly.
The common cold lives on,
A nuisance eternal.

IV
Evolution was no eternal tree,
Slow-growing, expandable, seed-started, fat,
But a bolt of branched lightning!
Life struck in an unprecedented Virginia tempest.
Cracked contra crust then vanished eternal.
Life left a calm moist smell haunting the surface
of sun-soaked rocks, which rolled backwards,
away from the light.

V
Worship and Fear. My touch burns unrivaled.
Wherever I ride it is midsummer's noon.
My Chariot the throne and the center, of day's kingdom
its border a circle, half dawn and half moon.
I am Apollo.
The seasons: my wake, my wingtips, my robe.
Fringe frosted, dragging, wrapping the poles.

By my diligence alone is life itself lifted out of fantasy.

When I drop my reins, on the ultimate day,
sunset on all things.
What is earthly eternal finds limits, crumbles when I rest.
I will snore smiling as your tears freeze,
weeping for sun.
All that is eternal ends with Apollo.

And Another thing!

2008-05-01T16:10:00.001-07:00

Obama supports clean coal. Get with it man! I wonder if he's just another politician. I'm also amazed at how bombarded I am by his advertising, i mean campaigning. When he said clean coal at the rally in missoula the life just got absolutely sucked out of the gym. "what did he just say?" people gasped. He changed the subject real quick. I'll write him a letter if he gets elected. I'll write letters to whoever gets elected.

Be strong in the environmental realm, people. Stronger than any president.

Kick the Bottle

2008-04-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yet another example of why Free Trade doesn't work. Free trade is bullshit. I will never let anyone tell me its good. I cringed like mad when I heard Barack Obama say, "I believe in Free Trade, I believe in capitalism."

WHY?! Why believe in it? Is it only because we're on the winning end? Bottled water is a perfectly good example of why corporations should not be allowed to make money in whatever way they see fit. Stealing water out from underneath the people who need it in order to put it in expensive bottles is NOT in the interest of the people. Tap water is practically free, and its just as good. If water quality in your town is an issue, then the answer is NOT to steal someone else's water.

Profit on the scale of Nestle and Coke always comes with loss of human liberty, enviornmental degradation, and a departure from thrifty, practical living. How have Nestle and Coke managed to sell something to us that we could get for free from a tap? I'll never know.

The argument in favor of advertising is that it keeps consumers informed about products, therefore making markets more competetive. Competetive markets maximize welfare. The argument against advertising is that it creates a demand for a product that is unnatural, or irrational.

I really wish I didn't have to fight this battle. Bottled water should be outlawed.

Get your own town, school, office or what have you, to kick the bottle and you'll do a big favor for the environment and human rights at the same time.

This reminds me. on Saturday Baba Ganoush played a show at a diabetes walk. We just played barefoot in the grass with no microphones, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think we played angeline the baker five times. Anyway, the radio announcer who oversaw the event said that one of the corporate sponsors was Coca-Cola!

If you didn't know, Type 2 Diabetes is a preventable disease caused by too much sugar intake. Coke spends 99.9% of its time trying to make everyone buy their pure corn syrup liquid, and .1% trying to cure diabetes?

All this corporate greed is tearing me apart inside.

Montana

2008-04-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

What makes this country great? The freedom to go camping on a Tuesday. My friend Sky and I met each other last friday on campus. We had agreed to go camping together at some point, but neve made definite plans. He suggested we go out this week. I don't have a phone, so we could'nt micromanage ourselves on the fly, and so we agreed to meet at the trailhead of the Rattlesnake at 5:00pm the following tuesday, which turned out to be Earth Day...

I rode my bike up the miles of hill to get to the trailhead with a light pack. The sun was shining and even though I was slower than the cars, i think they could probably see my happiness shining through the wool and plaid; much brighter than that shining through their car windows.

I laid down under some Ponderosas at the trail head, without a timepiece, I had no idea if I was early or late. So I just waited. Sure enough Sky rolled in on his bike, it was the first time I had seen him since we decided to do this. It really pays off to be old fashioned sometimes. We marvelled together in the instant relief of the forest. No stress at all. Then we locked our bikes and hiked up the creek.

We joked and joked and joked. We imagined if there was no civilzation at all. The only food I had was quinoa and lentils with no flavoring, he had stale bread and cheese with some hard nutella. We had a camp fire, which I lounged next to with my wool blanket. I went to get water to boil and I stepped in the creek, which made me laugh very hard. Sky made straws out of snake grass for us to drink hot water with. We watched the stars. We spoke french at length. We ate very slowly since our food was nothing to get excited about. As I was drifting off I saw the clouds start to roll in. We had no tent.

I woke up in a snow flurry. The clouds had closed up but it wasn't very cold or windy. We just packed up and hiked out. Scattering and disguising the remains of the fire. We decided to jump in the creek. As we approached the water, stepping over hard patches of dirty persistent snow, I saw a bald eagle soar downstream just thirty feet away. That kind of thing happens in Montana. We stripped and dunked. The water was so cold that I felt I was being reborn as a fish. We then proceeded to bike to campus for our classes. I had missed my first two, but I reckon if a man worries about missing class when he's out camping, he's gone soft. The blizzard picked up during the bike ride. I'm snow soaked even as I write this, sitting in the first building since leaving home yesterday, the UC. Now I'm off to microeconomics, Maybe I'll give those business majors a whiff of Eagles, grass, and smoke as I sit next to them in the dark lecture hall.

This is why I came out here. I can't wait for eight weeks of camping this summer.

Correction:

2008-04-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have said that the only technology we need to save the world is the off switch. In fact this is not the case. We need the will, to use the off switch.

This requires a cultural change much like Micheal Pollan speaks of in his piece "why bother" in the Times which I have linked to below. Pollan suggests the change will spread virally if enough of us bother to bother about our climate crisis.

Even Garrett Hardin said our environmental crisis was one that we cannot overcome with a technological solution. I challenge this by challenging the very definition of technology.

In John Young's tape series, "Seeing through Native Eyes" he begins with the thanksgiving adress. It is an old Haudenosaunee tradition, but apparently important to the mohawk tribe as well. Your own research may yield more information on the thanksgiving address, but here I'd like to comment on its content, purpose, and its role as technology rather than its specific tribal roots.

If you are interested in reading the address, I have copied it below from http://www.peace4turtleisland.org/pages/Thanks.htm

It is recited at sunrise, and at the beginning and closing of legal/spiritual gatherings. It takes time to thank all the forces that sustain life and all the forms of life that sustain people. It is a humbling recitation and greeting of all things to remember that we are all connected. It serves to center and unite people as in the meetings, and to bring peoples minds together into a group context rather than self centered thoughts that may have been there before. It has survived for a very long time. Its persistence proves its utility. It is a form of technology because it is a human invention that humans have found continually useful.

The only technology we need to solve our environmental crisis, is a culture of using the off switch. Perhaps that is a little bit better of a statement. I'll keep trying.

~*~ The People ~*~
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.
Now our minds are one.
~*~ The Earth Mother ~*~
We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one

***
~*~ The Waters ~*~
We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms-- waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit Water.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Fish ~*~
We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the fish and send our greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
~*~ The Plants ~*~
Now we turn towards the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Food Plants ~*~
With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Medicine Herbs ~*~
Now we turn to all the Medicine Herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines
Now our minds are one.

~*~ The Animals ~*~
We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.
Now our minds are one
*****
~*~ The Trees ~*~
We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, other with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the tree of life.
Now our minds are one

~*~ The Birds ~*~
We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-- from the smallest to the largest--we send our joyful greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one
*****
~*~ The Four Winds ~*~
We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messengers and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.
Now our minds are one
*****
~*~ The Thunders ~*~
Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightening and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunders.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Sun ~*~
We now send the greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.
Now our minds are one.
~*~ Grandmother Moon ~*~
We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the nighttime sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Stars ~*~
We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.
Now our minds are one.

~*~ The Enlightened Teachers ~*~
We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ The Creator ~*~
We turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.
Now our minds are one.
*****
~*~ Closing Words ~*~
We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intent to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.
Now our minds are one.
**************

Only a FOOL stands between me and the blood wine!

2008-04-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Evan,

Yesterday's blizzard was a time machine back to February and today was earth day with everyone in parkas at Caras Park. I volunteered for the Global Warming Solutions.org table. I talked to a lot of people very intelligently (in English) and felt like I was on wild civ field trips again grilling people at their booths about the one thing they know the best. It was empowering, in a totally non-fossil fuel sense of the word.

Except the people are still weak. They need to drink blood wine and turn Environmentalism into something to be proud of. I would not mind suffering. I think I'm going to try and save the earth. Oh wait you already knew that. But how... Well I'll need your help. Next year, when you and I live together in the perfect little cottage in the Rattlesnake, we'll organize our community until it sings with the joy of the earth. There will be pot lucks and hot ducks. There will be sustainable entertainment every night and there will be GOATS to trim the grass. We can do it. It'll be a good time. I want systems that are indestructible. If all the trucks stopped driving, the supermarkets would be empty in three days. three days after that the warehouses would be empty. Then what? We gotta be ready. Ready for peak oil, ready for hollywood to wash away and ready for the ice age to rise. I'll drink blood wine and sharpen my shovel. Gardening shovel.

Go Micheal Pollan!

2008-04-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

This is a real good article that really addresses my brother's questions. Micheal Pollan is a very smart guy, very famous and very influential. He is the author Omnivore's Dilemma, Botany of Desire, and his newest one is the Eaters Manifesto, or something like that.

Not to brag, but I believe that Pollan is saying a lot of the same stuff I have been on this blog. His comments about Adam Smith, his comments about the significance of small changes like switching light bulbs, were reminiscent of my own views, if better written. Its a little long, but go ahead and read it. What You're afraid of a little reading?

Dear University of Montana

2008-04-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Above: the nine students who were arrested for sitting in Dennison's office. They look pretty dangerous, no? The real fun was going on outside, where my band, Babaganoush played in support of the Designated Suppliers Program, or DSP that ensures University apparel is made in fair working conditions. The university didn't sign on to the program.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am writing to urge you to drop the charges against the nine students who sat in President Dennison's office this Wednesday. Yet again, the university has been given the opportunity to fight sweat shops by signing the DSP, but it has chosen to react to this peaceful and organized protest with police involvement. Was the intention of the arrests to allow University business to proceed as usual by removing the protest from the work place? If so, then that end has been achieved and Main Hall is quiet again, quiet enough for you to rethink what you have done and what these actions imply for UM's image and for workers' rights. I do not want to attend a school that punishes honor; that would rather arrest its own students than do its moral duty. If you believe in what these students stand for, it is not too late to release them from the charges.

Every day on campus I see hundreds of people sporting UM's colors with pride. The football games paint the streets maroon and silver for blocks in all directions of the stadium. The economic weight of this apparel is considerable. Why not place that weight squarely on the side of the scale that stands for justice? Use it to crush unethical, exploitative manufacturers. Use it to pressure them toward standards you would demand for your own workers. Why not join the 42 other schools that have adopted the DSP in an organized boycott of injustice?

On the basis that it is an institution of higher learning that stands for world awareness, personal enrichment of students and equal opportunity, I whole-heartedly believe that UM's administration is by default opposed to worker exploitation and should be required to combat this exploitation within its power. Failure to sign the DSP demonstrates conscious endorsement of sweatshops and studied non-observance of the university's moral obligation to put these hurtful systems to their end.

Your decision to involve the police to end a peaceful, organized protest was a political one that definitively categorizes UM as an enemy of workers' rights. These nine students, after two years of work, saw no alternative to their action. They are tired of waiting, and so are the workers of the third world. These nine have engaged in "disorderly conduct" and "criminal trespassing" in order to prevent the far greater crimes of social injustice in Asian and South American sweat shops. This necessity justifies their crimes. What justifies yours?

Like the heads of the Hydra, those who were arrested will be replaced.

Put your Senators on SPeed Dial

2008-04-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

My brother, John wrote,"Hey, Adam. I really like reading your blog, and getting some ideas of what our economy and environment might look like far in the future. I'm wondering what we might be looking at as intermediate steps to help us get there, and what information sources you would recommend for individuals hoping to tread a responsible path."

I gave this a lot of thought. And I think I'll answer these questions with poetry and rants... like always.

#1, The intermediary step is starting at home. I recommend finding out if your neighborhood, school, or job has an action group of some kind, whether environmental or community building, or what have you. One need never work alone on these kinds of things. If you need to, though you can start an action group. When I was pondering this, I came up with the following dialog, like a poem.

"Good thing I've got this shovel!
And what a shovel it is!
It shines as bright as acorn shells and glistens in the sun,
I got it cause I wanted holes, it hasn't dug me one!"

"Good thing we've got democracy!
And what a system, oh boy!
We got it for to garner peace and bring self determination,
ol' democracy just sits there, though, I thought it ran the nation?"

Asking a Shovel to dig a hole for you is like asking Democracy to represent you. The government only asks you what you think a couple of times a year. I believe that voting is necessary, but it is possibly the weakest form of democracy there is.

"Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence."
-Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

No one who works at the grocery store is going to knock on my door and ask me if its okay that they import all of their food from an average distance of 1800 miles away. That item will not appear on the ballot any time soon either. But its something I care about, so how can I be heard? Well, just speak your mind. Join a group. Talk to them, ask if there is anything they want to do with regards to your issues. Organize fasts, boycotts, sit ins, put up posters, call your senators, go door to door. Don't wait for democracy to ask you what you want, It's a tool that only works once you pick it up and use it. In my brother's case. I encourage you, John to chase that dream of a sustainable theater. Make it work, make it appealing, and sell it to every theater in the world.

#2 In terms of Treading a more sustainable path, I recommend deciding what you need for your lifestyle, rather than what you are accustomed to.

To nurture hearts, make songs and arts,
to keep us fed, farms and bread.
To give us heat, tend woods and sheep,
with Thrift and Peace to safely sleep.

That can be my epitaph if I die before coming up with anything better. I think that your question John, would be likely to direct you to a book called "Tips and Tricks for Sustainable Living." By Papa Greenbeard. This book is hypothetical, but it exists in various forms throughout the environmental movement. The real answer to your question isn't to explain methods of reducing your footprint, its to recognize that rather than using your foot to make a print, you can use it to kick things.

Kick things onto the floor of congress for example. Put your Congressional delegation on Speed Dial! Don't just save oil by insulating your windows, save oil by fighting for a green building code in your state. Don't just carpool, make an oath to never fly in an airplane again. Do huge things that matter, rather than small things that don't.

Most of the tips and tricks out there only end up providing self satisfaction, self motivation's worst enemy.

I've said it before. The only technology we need to save the world is the off switch.

Coal Train!

2008-04-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Cars and cars on hard, thin rails.
Heat and smoke fill heavy sails.
What's creaking by is blood-black coal,
taken direct to Santa's pole.
Thousands of decades of moving tons,
just to punish the naughty ones.
As fast as they can dig the stuff,
use it to fill their stockings up.

Coal Train is a dragon's name,
With spray paint scales, headlight flame.
Like the wyrm, coal made no friends,
and like the wyrm, coal must end.
Shot by Bard, through one weak scale,
or creaking, die upon the rails.
With no one left, not a soul,
just ever-belching, blood-black coal.

We played a show today! Babaganoush was supposed to have a show at a bar tonight, but instead it was cancelled so we played at an ANTI-COAL rally! Right by the train tracks. We turned what would have been just a bunch of cold people holding stark signs, into Bluegrass, party with a small crowd of people. It was great! I adjusted some of our lyrics on the fly to apply to the protest:

Let me tell you where I am.
I'm right next to a Railroad!
Let me tell you what I can
I don't want no more Coal!

It worked better in lyrical form. Anyway we had a blast. 32-96000 TONS of coal go through Missoula every single day. For each pound of coal, there is an output of 2 pounds of atmospheric Carbon. I don't know how... I'm no chem wiz. Well, Then the band just went and had a slice of pie. It was delightful. Our fingers froze off, but we sure were smiling.

Realistic Portrait of Subsistence Economy

2008-03-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

I imagine this taking place at a meeting house downtown. Much like town meetings in Vermont, or City council meetings across the country. People would propose things they'd like to see in the community and then there would be discussion. This discussion would result in an organized boycott by a whole community on some products while welcoming other products.

Someone would look down through their bifocals and see that the next item on the list is "halloween decorations." The discussion that ensues always asks the following questions.

To what level will consuming this way make us happy?
To what level will it make us healthy?
Is there anything else we can use instead for the same purpose?
Is this product sustainable?
Where is this product from?
What are the social costs or benefits of the product?
Can we afford to purchase and maintain the good?

The discussion on Halloween decorations yields the following conclusions in Montpelier VT. (numbers don't coincide with questions above)

1 Most of these products are highly disposable, unsustainable, and look phony.
2 The plastics and rubbers of the kids costumes contribute to toxicity at the point of production.
3 The festive look of the town when decorated makes us kind of happy, especially the kids.
4 The decorations do not contribute to our health much at all.
5 Carving pumpkins is a wonderful tradition that contributes to local farmers, gives us time with kids, and makes the town look great. There is nothing stopping us from making the pumpkins into pies afterwards, or composting them. The candles however produce toxic outputs and are made from unrenewable petroleum resources. Maybe they could be replaced with beeswax candles, or efficient light bulbs.
6 We can use durable, reusable products instead of disposable ones. Like cloth streamers that we can store in a box somewhere, or sheets for a ghost costume, or whatever else.
7 halloween lights, like christmas lights are nice looking, but use electricity.
8 the electricity comes from hydroQuebec which displaced native peoples, drowned Elk herds, and toxified the ecosystem with mercury. Supporting them is not in the interest of health and happiness. We can use more efficient halloween lights, leave them on for less time, and do without them.
9 Halloween candy is always individually wrapped, is there anything we can do...

Then the list of conclusions would be brought to the costume shop in advance so they could prepare to provide that which the consumers demanded. The request for beeswax candles would be brought to the candle shop, the request for pumpkins to the farmers who might grow pumpkins that you could eat as well as carve, and storage space would be arranged for the city's own Halloween decorations. Group Thrift meetings across the country.

Another example could be if a neighborhood composed a list of all their tools, and instead of each person buying the tools individually which they would only use once, the tools would be shared freely in a library system.

Another example could be if a city had a vacant store front, there could be a meeting to decide what sort of business would be supported there. Another restaurant? A boutique? A laundramat? Once a conclusion is reached which might include a list of different options, applicants would vie for the spot in the city. Based on the above principles, the city (an official or a committee) would choose one of the candidates and Voila! People decide rather than react.

Fallacy of Profit

2008-03-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

"To a point, the lives of the people may be improved by the additional consumption of resources such as food, shelter, clothing, education, and entertainment. We recognize, however, that the benefits of continuously increased rates of consumption are rendered asymptotically toward zero when evaluated at the current scale."

I would like to reiterate this paragraph from the post below entitled "Revolution Time." The subsistence Economy argument is based on four pillars. Each is a recognition of our current flawed system and is a strong criticism of same.
The four pillars are:
Free trade is controlled by producers.
Free trade exploits the land.
Free trade causes social inequity.
Free trade produces useless goods and services that do not contribute to health or happiness.

Allow my to explain the quote above. I didn't say that consumption is a bad thing. All I said was that there is an inflection point beyond which additional consumption does not yield a benefit. I would never seek to deny additional consumption to someone who is going hungry or to someone who is cold. In math, an asymptote is a line which a graph never crosses, but comes infinitely closer to by infinite divisions of the distance between the graph and the asymptote. What I meant by the benefits of additional consumption being "rendered asymptotically toward zero when evaluated at the current scale," was that consuming one more bag of doritos makes so little of a difference in welfare of a person who is already fed, that the benefit is very nearly zero.

The logical next question is, "then how do we justify additional consumption? Do the benefits to one consumer outweigh the social and environmental costs of the good?" The answer is no, the benefit to the consumer does not justify the degradation of land and people. This is why I believe that free trade is not as much of an interaction between consumers and producers as it is a tool used by producers to make profit while hiding the true costs from consumers.

The joke is on the CEO's as well as all of us though, because making another five thousand bucks a year doesn't make them any happier or healthier. You might ask why my emphasis is on Health and happiness. This is because those are the only two things in life that actually matter. And I don't mean that the only thing worth pursuing is one's own health and happiness, I mean that the only thing that matters is working towards health and happiness for all, including the land.

Profit, to a point contributes to health and happiness. The food, health care, shelter, education you can buy with increased money is a boon, but there is a point where even buying these necessities becomes asymptotic. My friend Jeremy's mom has an internship in California where she is given sixty dollars a day for food alone. If she doesn't spend it all it just goes back to the company. She could be eating lobster, steak and dinosaur eggs for every meal with that much money. Does it benefit her? Is she inclined to eat an unhealthy amount? Is she stressed out by all the options? Does she feel guilty and spoiled? What does she think when she sees panhandlers on the street? She has to tell them she has no cash, but she then walks into a store and uses her magical charge card to eat a pound of moon chocolate.

So the fallacy of profit is that profit does not buy happiness. It can't really buy health either. Fancy gym memberships, personal trainers, diet books, organic food, they all cost money, but what really makes you healthy is self respect, self control, and self motivation. Those things are free.

100 Years...

2008-03-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Anaconda Mining company made a big mess with their copper mine in Butte, Montana. The open pit mine that exists today under the name "Berkeley Pit" is deeper than you can imagine. The toxic water in it is deep enough to cover the empire state building, and toxic enough to kill a flock of geese that landed on it years ago.

The city of Butte no longer fetches its pails of water from its own aquifer, the water is too toxic, since the water in the Pit is actually the Aquifer exposed like blood welling up in a wound. The copper operation was enough to provide the bulk of the copper our nation used to fight WWII and the wire produced from it helped enable the electrification of the country. The process caused the highest priority Superfund Site in the country. The stretch of river from Butte to Missoula is obstructed by only one flimsy dam at Milltown, not far upstream from Missoula.

The Milltown dam was engineered with logs and not very strong. Years ago it ceased to produce a useful amount of power and its turbines barely cranked out enough to keep the booth on the dam lit up at night. This dam, like all dams, was destined to break in a flood event releasing all the water backed up in the reservoir and all the sediment stored up behind the dam. The difference with the Milltown dam, was that the sediment behind the dam was filled with heavy metals, copper, and arsenic that had made its way downstream from Butte. A flood that bashed all of this directly into Missoula would have contaminated our aquifer as well.

Instead, the Dam was removed today! It's been an ongoing process that has taken years, to dredge the poisons out, store them, pile them or otherwise dispose of them, and to divert the water, and who knows what else.

The Backhoes broke open a channel alongside the remaining portion of the dam and the waters flowed free for the first time in 100 years.

"100 years" an old man said to himself as he watched from the crumbly bank. He then turned around and mysteriously turned away.

"People in future generations will never know this dam was here." Ashley said and mysteriously walked away.

1, 2, Tie My Shoe?

2008-03-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

I sat downtown today with my faithful hound, Lyra and read Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. It was very satisfying and well written. It made me laugh and it reaffirmed my own Luddite point of view. It was forty one degrees outside and windy. My kept warm enough and got to talk to lots of folks.

Eventually Lyra howled at me, "Thomas Abraham Peppergrass, it is time for us to go!" So we walked East on Main street back towards Mount Jumbo and home. It was very sunny and excellent to be outside. Finally walking with the wind gave some relief from the hours, of hand biting breezes.

Lyra and I passed by the Missoula Children's Theater, and who should be coming out of it, but a real live child! She said to her pop, "One, Two, tie my shoe..."

"What happened to buckle my shoe?" I wondered aloud. I felt like something would be lost from this fine nation if, like record players, shoe buckles were completely forgotten. I didn't correct the lassie, but I did ponder what I had witnessed. I decided that the only course of action was to acquire some buckled shoes, and wear them around. Maybe a tricorn' hat. As I mused about my possible costume, another visitor to the theater left the parking lot.

This visitor was a red behemoth, with the capacity to haul an entire swing ensemble on its vast platform. The band composed of dandy-shirted, arm-banded old fashioned horn players would have had to update their style in order to match the vintage of the vehicle they rode in. Perhaps if they all had chrome instruments, black plastic jackets with fireball music notes shooting up the sleeves, mirror shades, and rocket boots would have sufficed to blend the appearence of the band with racing striped, molded, tasteless body of the beast in front of me. The truck was so tall, that the sunshine ricocheting off the roof would blind only the birds. It was red, the coolest color by all accounts, except for its sweet gray stripes like those on an electric badger's armored futuristic coat. It was so bulky that the little old lady inside appeared to be at its mercy as it rolled out through the narrow gap onto the one way street. Towering above its hood, were two gaping air intakes, presumably necessary for the jet engine which powered the thing at a whopping fourteen gallons to the mile, but what a mile.

I couldn't believe that the lady driving it looked perfectly serious! It wasn't like a group of highschoolers riding a limousine for the prom, that shout out the windows and laugh at themselves for the sheer novelty of it. Calmly as a Hell's Angel on a hog, she managed the machine with her sunglasses and hairdo adorning her like two parts of a puzzle, the only part of which that was missing, being a similarly dressed man to clutch onto from behind. But no wind touched her except that being spewed over the famously wasteful engine to warm her, without direct input from the actual sun.

As amazed as I was by this lumbering shit-car, I had to laugh out loud! It was almost like laughing at a funeral, I think, like how did this happen? How did someone come up with that thing and why did someone buy it? But then I got a hold of myself and looked around, a line of vehicles had formed behind the first as it pulled away. Pickup truck, after pickup truck, after pickup truck. Some were as big as the first. I watched one of them reverse out of a parking spot,and nearly get stuck like a couch in a stairwell because the parking lot wasn't designed to accomadate these things. It was designed to allow people to come see the theater, riding in vehicles, not on the backs of the usual suspects from the line-up in the police station after the leveling of Tokyo.

Here I was wishing I had buckles on my shoes and I stumbled on a Missoula Pickup Truck Society meeting.

"One person per truck, people. That's right. That's the way we like it. Keep it moving, now. Thats it."

Talk about tragedy of the commons. Why is it that even though I try so hard, everyone else is attempting to destroy what I work and live for? C'est la Vie.

Article I

2008-03-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Economists would argue that our economic system is already functional. It is allegedly guided by Adam Smith's invisible hand, to maximize welfare for all. It is nearer the truth to say that market forces resemble Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons," where a shepherd increasing his flock by one animal reaps the benefit of +1 and all other shepherds using the same pasture suffer a grass shortage of only -1/total number of shepherds. Rational shepherds will all increase their flocks, until there is no recourse for the environmental degradation.

To remedy this inequity, Hardin recommended mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon. If society agrees that exploitation of a certain common resource is a problem, then the democratic method can yield an agreeable punitive solution. A threatened population of Elephants for example becomes protected by law, and then arise the poachers, members of society who never agreed to the coercion. The mutual nature of Hardin's coercion will never be palatable for one and all. While this concept works to limit access to resources that are indeed limited, i.e. parking permits for a parking lot with limited parking spaces, it does not limit the desire to exploit these resources that is inherent in people's rational minds. Only those who do not profit from access to a resource will forgo their right to it.

Under Subsistence Economy, there must be new ethics to replace this "rationality".

(1) Dessert.
It is imperative that the ideal economic system be built on the belief that all those participating in or affected by that economy deserve a subsistence level of wealth and no more. There should be consequences for those who rise above the subsistence level, and help for those who fall below.

(2)Recognition of All Things as Common Resources.
All things are connected. All people own an equal share of the earth. All species have a right to continued existence. All natural processes have a right to continued existence. This includes but is not limited to the singularly human ecosystems such as cities, as well as the wilder examples, if any exist that are indeed wilder. The negative effects of resource extraction are spread across all people and all points on the globe. The positive effects of said extraction should be distributed similarly.

(3)Replacement Ethic.
It follows from the belief in all things as common resources that no single member of a subsistence economy has the luxury of consumption without bearing the responsibility of equal contribution.

(4) Price Reflects Cost.
Money itself is only the tool to relate the value of all goods and services to each other. It follows from the replacement ethic, that when money is exchanged for a good or service, the consumer absorbs the responsibility for all the costs of its production by way of replacing what was lost. An item that harms livelihoods should cost enough to compensate those who lost their livelihoods. One that harms forests should contain the cost of rehabilitating that forest.

(5) Thrift.
There remains a distinction between consumption and subsistence. Subsistence is the acquisition of enough material wealth to be happy and healthy. Consumption is the use of resources above and beyond a subsistence level. In an ideal economy, each member would exercise thrift, a rate of consumption that maintains satisfaction, health, and happiness and no more.

(6)Technology
Technological advances have long claimed to be for the benefit of all, but it is clear that those who profit from technology, develop it, and then create a demand for it rather than technological innovation springing from public demand. In a subsistence economy, technology will be developed in response to public demand.

(7) Trade
The purpose of trade will be to enable subsistence in places where local production does not suffice, not to make a profit. There will never be a bottle of Vermont maple syrup in New York because this inane trade contributes neither to the health, nor the happiness of the people. Much like with the development of new technology, it is often the case that trade is the impetus for consumer demand. For example, before coffee was shipped all over the world and no one knew about it, there was no demand for it and now it is a highly competetive market built on the exploitation of people and land.

Revolution Time

2008-03-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm tempted to shave my mohawk to look like one of the soldiers in Viet-Nam who refused to fight, or to grow out a revolutionary war era pony tail- either way, a style that was popular during an epoc of this country's history in which I can actually maintain some pride.

Where's Ethan Allen when you need him to wittily say whatever it was he said when he captured Ticonderoga without firing a single shot? This time however, Allen would mumble some brilliance while wielding his saber on Wall Street. Me and the other Green Mountain Boys, would cluck to each other like turkeys from the rooftops and phone booths, glaring around with muskets glinting dully in the hazy New York street lights.

When the offices are deftly seized and the CEO's hog tied, and hoisted into trees in central park, we'd read them the following letter:

Dispell your spiderweb of tyranny over the third world, and over the livelihoods thereon depending. We the people find the current economic system to be guilty of the atrocities of: lack of transparency, criminal exploitation of people and land to externalize costs, excessive production of disposable, unsustainable, useless, or otherwise despicable consumer goods, promoting the erosion of the American character, and the organization of a united front to keep people dissatisfied with their lives through the use of advertisement and manipulation. We the people hold this system culpable for these evils and as such we find it unconstitutional.

To a point, the lives of the people may be improved by the additional consumption of resources such as food, shelter, clothing, education, and entertainment. We recognize, however, that the benefits of continuously increased rates of consumption are rendered asymptotically toward zero when evaluated at the current scale. A decline in happiness since the mid 20th century coincides with the beginning of the current consumer explosion. We hold this decline to be evident of a flawed and exploitative consumer cycle that harms all involved, including those responsible for its intentional and conspiratory perpetuation.

The current system is a linear material path from resource extraction to production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. A Firm is an entity whose sole purpose is the maximization of profit. Firms exist at the producer end of the linear material path, and consumers exist on the other. Since consumers contrast from firms in that consumers as a whole have no unified objectives. This leads to a definitive action driven by the firms, to which consumers can only react on the other end of the linear material path like holding onto a cracking whip. This paradigm must be changed, both ends of the path must have a purpose. A firm will from here on be defined as an entity whose purpose is to produce goods and services with equity, for the benefit of all. Consumers will be defined as unified participants in an economic system who trade consciensciously to meet the needs for which their own production does not suffice.

The purpose of any economic system should be to allocate resources in a way benefitting all the people dependent on it or affected by it. In this moral requirement, our economy has miserably failed. Communities should produce what they can for themselves and trade for the rest. The ideal system is one in which a partnership of producers and consumers works to meet the material needs of the people while observing high standards of equity, sustainability and thrift.

This system will be called a Subsistence Economy, built on increased equity, sustainability, and emphasis on deconstruction of the differences between producers and consumers in recognition of interdependence. Whereas our current system is controlled primarily by the producers, a subsistence economy will also include additional control points of equal power: (1) an organised and deliberate consumer force to make informed decisions about what will benefit them the best, (2) a representative force from the sector of people who live upon the land whereon resource extraction takes place, and (3) a representative group of workers from each stage of production (4) experts in natural science, (5) all others who care to speak. These people will meet in a regulated method wherein each person has equal sway.

Adam McCullough

Trash

2008-03-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm

Above is a link. You should use it. Then read. Then... cry?

A Disturbance in the Force

2008-03-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

I was walking my dog today on Mount Jumbo. I looked up the hill, over the tops of the yellow grass flowers and saw a line of deer bounding across a draw with great speed. The animals were spooked, not looking back and urgently jumping like gazelles in a game of follow the leader. As far as I know deer don't run recreationally, especially in the winter, when energy is low, food is scarce and in high demand. A deer running in winter probably has a good reason.

I thought that if I kept watching I'd see the culprit that scared them.

Sure enough, an sixteen legged beast trundled into view a few seconds later. It was composed of a canine, and four hikers way up in the distance above me. They had hiked up to the crown of mount Jumbo even though its closed in the winter.

Why is it closed in the winter? So hikers don't disturb ungulates that overwinter there.
I guess these folks didn't get the memo. They probably never even saw the deer that they frightened.

I walk my dog on Mount Jumbo every day, and I see the deer most every time. They spend a lot of the time grazing on the snowless South facing slope of the small mountain, so whenever I see them I take Lyra and turn back, for fear of disturbing them. I do it out of respect and out of a sense of duty. I think Lyra would chase the deer if she got the chance.

When I saw the deer running they were leaving their favored grazing spot. These careless hikers had scared them away from it. I hope they find enough food elsewhere, or wait until the hikers leave then go back.

Tonight the Bus, Tomorrow the World

2008-03-03T15:38:00.001-08:00

My band, Babaganoush, is going to play tonight on the U-dash bus. It leaves from campus at 7:00 and on board will be Drew the banjoist, Doug the guitarist, Erin the fiddle player and yours truly. Our good friend Courtney will be driving the bus, maybe she'll try to pump the brakes in time with the music.

We play all traditionals and originals except for a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's Wagon Wheel. All the songs I've written for the band are supposed to make some sort of point about the world. Much like this blog, they revolve around environmentalism, but they are still fun. What better place to play than on one of the great solutions to climate change: public transportation!

Garrett Hardin said in Tragedy of the Commons, that the Tragedy is a problem to which there is no technological solution, but will rather be solved by cultural change. I hope for Babaganoush to be a part of that change. Is there a bicycling W. MT tour in our future? I hope so.

Also introducing my friend, Kindra's blog. Kindra is studying Anthropology and Spanish with a minor in Native American Studies at UM, but she's spending the semester in Valparaiso, Chile, a beautiful city by the sea, but if you want to hear more about it check Kindra out at

www.ungulatedreams.blogspot.com

Quakers

2008-02-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

I feel I need to complete this thought. Explaining an entire society of people in one blog post is certainly impossible, but maybe in two I can get a little closer. The post below explains some of the basics of Quakerism, but now I want to explicitly describe how my dad who is probably one of God's toughest mortal enemies, can't disagree with it. Below is a link to my dad's blog.

http://www.rationalresistance.blogspot.com

Jack McCullough, my dad, opposes religion because it is based on belief in a fictitious character or characters that have supernatural powers.

Most quakers do believe in God, but you don't really need to in order to be a quaker, like I said in the post below Quakers don't focus on the naming of God. I find it frustrating that when I read Quaker books I can't go very far without seeing the word God in there. I don't believe in God, so this is a barrier for me. But I do believe that existence, nature, the universe, creation, call it what you will, is so elegant and complex that a three letter place holder to refer to this vastly wonderful gift that we all share is not completely disagreeable. I feel more comfortable with calling it nature though, so when I read the word God I just replace it with Nature.

The limitation there however is that I don't believe that nature as a whole can want anything the way God is supposed to want things, He wants us all to behave and stuff. Nature isn't petty like that, it simply is, as far as I can tell. No matter what lens you use, Nature can never be seen in full. Like a telescope that can't see the far side of the moon, or a microscope under which tiny green blobs appear discrete, but when the lens is gone, we see a leaf indivisible.

As we cannot see nature, so we can't describe it. When Nature is described as a line from point A to point B, the model breaks upon realizing the line is a circle. When Nature is a circle, it describes the seasons, and it describes the tides, the populations of the animals and many things, but over time, this too breaks down because you see that this circle was only a coil of a longer line, marching through time.

For some the very existence of the universe somehow proves God. To me, existence only proves existence. Why separate the creator from the creation? "Create" is a transitive verb, which implies intention, or one party acting on another. Become is a better word.
God created the world?
The world became?
Nature Is.

I think my dad also disagrees with religion because of it's hierarchy and its brainwashing qualities. Well, Quakers are very forward thinking people. They have no hierarchy. There is no written creed. Quakers publish periodical books like Faith and Practice which constantly revise Quaker beliefs.

Quakers make decisions based on consensus. The testimonies of the Quaker belief are fluid, and new ones can be made if all Quakers agree. And how do they reach agreement? Its just like a regular silent meeting except everyone tries to focus on a certain topic. So it takes a long time. This consensus process is something like a Jedi council mixed with an Entmoot, except everyone's invited and you eat soup afterwards in the basement. This is democracy at its finest. Everyone's concerns are met, everyone's points are heard, everyone's feelings and inhibitions are out in the open with each good Quaker searching for truth within, in other words thinking critically. It isn't politics in other words. It's group collaboration and it takes many years to decide important or controversial things.

When consensus is reached in the weekly meeting, they send a message to other meetings in the area to consider the same topic. There is a monthly meeting and a yearly meeting as well, each one bigger than the last.

I heard the story from a local Friend who was at the Yearly meeting where gay marriage and homosexuality were decided by Consensus to be OK after years of "debate". People were crying and who knows what else.

There is no voting required, just talking out differences and listening to each other. I wish everyone was a quaker. We'd all live simply and pursue peace, justice, equity, sustainability and we'd have kickass soup every week. What do you think, Pop?

A religion not even my dad can disagree with

2008-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

At eleven o'clock on Sunday, the Friends gather in a square room with wooden pews. There is no alter, no podium, and no stained glass. Instead the pews are arranged in a square, such that everyone is facing everyone else. Around the edge of the room there are many large plants and two bookshelves in the corner serve as a library.

When everyone is seated, the Friends proceed to shut up and sit around for an hour in silence. During this hour, anyone who is moved to do so may rise and speak from their heart about whatever they feel. When they have said their piece, they sit down and no one responds. I think I can remember everything I've heard someone say in that room, because the less you say, the more people listen.

A martial artist spoke about perceiving herself as bigger in order to overcome an obstacle in her Aikido practice. She also suggested applying that bigness of self to other obstacles.

A Friend once talked about the trials and dangers of World War II and how Friends dealt with them, while heroically harboring Jews and "speaking truth to power." Which is to say, giving a message of peace to Hitler himself.

The Religious Society of Friends may be better known as Quakers. Confused with Shakers, Amish, the "oat-guy" and who knows what else. But perceptions of Quakers are usually uninformed and foggy.

Quakerism is rooted in Christianity, and could be considered either its own individual branch or a branch of protestantism. There is no explicit creed or written, or spoken affirmation of a specific faith. The Quakers have instead opted to place the responsibility of defining ones faith through all their actions and their own mental elbow grease.

In Faith and Practice, a book explaining the Quakers of the Northern Pacific Yearly Meeting, it says, "we do not place emhasis on the naming of God, instead we encourage eachother in John Woolman's phrase, "to distinguish the language of the pure Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart."

More explicitly: they believe in Peace, Equality of all people, Sustainability, Living Simply, Doing one's duty and rebellion.

on rebellion:

"Throughout our history friends have testified that our lives are not meant to conform to the ways of the world but that we are meant to contribute to the transformation of the world through the light of truth."

Faith and Practice

Now you know how I feel, ALL THE TIME. This blog is about trying to speak truth to power. The earth needs all of us to sit down, face each other, and shut up.

The Guardian of the Serengeti

2008-02-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

The haze dissipates to reveal the Serengeti. A massive heard of Wildebeests, millions strong, moves west, leaving behind a criss crossing system of dry hoofprinted ruts, like streams of rain moving across the outside of a car window. The landscape is shaped by these creatures, the water, the billions of dung beetles behind the herd. There are no cities in the Serengeti.

Though humans have an influence on the desert, it is extremely minor, because we can't get past the guardian. It lurks in the sky and breeds in the muck. It is a festering infection that turns your insides to fluid. It sinks its claws into you like a night lion, and doesn't give in without digging out all of your guts and leaving you to the flies.

It's name is Malaria. Fear it like Cerberus, for it holds its own council regarding who may enter
and who is damned.

A Gorilla?

2008-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

I'm a gorilla riding a bicycle. A gorilla riding a bike. A gorilla riding a bicycle. a gorilla riding a bike.

I weigh five hundred pounds but I can lift a thousand,
I rip up the guitar just like Peter Townshend.

If you drive a car I will knock you asunder,
you'll drop your bananas
and these fruits I will plunder.

I was born in the mountains of Australia
If you hit me with your car,
handlebars will impale ya.

Give up, chumps! cause I'm a
Gorilla riding a bicycle, a gorilla riding a bike. I'm a gorilla riding a bicycle. A gorilla riding a bike.

I'll tear down the bridges, I'll tear down the roads,
you'll learn to swim and walk or you'll stare at your toes.
I'll break all the walls with my big hairy arm
So animals can travel free, from farm to farm.

I'm slow and cautious and I look side to side,
the cars don't faze me, they just graze me,
But if you hit me too hard then I might go crazy.
You only need your mirrors if you are too lazy,
to turn around and use your eyes, your eyes get all glazy,
I peacefully tear them off and eat them one by one,
and hurl your ill begotten shit-car straight to the sun cause I'M A

Gorilla OOH! Riding a bicycle. A gorilla AH! Riding a bike.

My bike squeaks down the road cause no frame can hold me,
carbon, steel, aluminum they all get real foldy,
but Just cause biking's hard doesn't mean that I stop.
I'll be bringing up the rear with the triceratops.

I'm polite, and sweet, but I'm also a beast.
I'll put my paws to the pedals from the west to the East.
I signal when I turn so you'll know what I'm up to,
But I don't stop for cars, so keep your head up, fool.
If a hair on my hide contacts your door,
I will calmly and collectedly devour all four,

I'm a Gorilla riding a bicycle a Gorilla, RIDING A BIKE.

Then I'll move on to your engine block,
mmmm that's yummy, like dining with Spock,
He might not approve of what I do next,
It's illogical to imbibe a full tank of gas.

The look in your eyes as I metabolize your valuable investment that has terrorized the countryside and all the people who there reside with noise, and filth and terrible pollution, I'm the solution: GORETRIBUTION.

If you want to you can vote for me, I'm extra hungry, got a boat for me? This is an uprising of primatology, a branch of zoology focused primarily on apes, who are angry.

AN OATH to the ancients AN OATH to tomorrow, AN OATH in the Congo full of chimps and full of sorrow.

We'll burn the human cities, and pity the witty man-poet who smokes to look pretty while we, swinging in the trees, eat bananas in our dreams and by the daylight, we're keeping it tight we're outa sight, and don't look now, but we're WINNING the fight.

Cause we're
Gorillas riding bicycles, Gorillas riding bikes. Gorillas, riding bicycles, Gorillas riding bikes.

Is my poetry bad just because its easy to understand?

2008-02-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

Don't sit there pickin' grass all day long,
that would be treating the landscape wrong,
If you pick a little now, you can pick a little then,
But don't pick it all like a big fat hen.

Don't sit there pickin' the grass all night,
That wouldn't be treating the landscape right,
pick your share, pick your due,
in another life that grass will be pickin' you!

Sustainable Development

2008-02-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or is this an oxymoron?

When development is needed, it should be done sustainably, which is why I advocate for a GREEN BUILDING CODE in Vermont, (if you like the sound of this please leave a comment below) Montana, the United States, and Tout le Monde! But Sustainability doesn't come from development. It takes wisdom, humility, commitment and an opposition to the culture of "progress" to move towards sustainable un-development.

Historically, ecomomic growth has been the backbone of our country. It has made us what we are today from our meager, domestic beginnings before WWII into an aggressive, world dominating empire. This model of growth has provided Americans with a seemingly never ending time of plenty. This too, this too shall pass.

We are in the middle of the tragedy of the commons, Shakespeare style. Everyone's gonna kill everyone else and anyone left standing's holding a goblet of poison. Garrett Hardin's worst nightmare is coming true. It is a problem to which there is no technological solution.

Here we go, I'll provide one problem followed by two solutions. One of them will be the technological one, the other cultural.

CO2 outputs of transportation:
Hybrid cars OR Bikes, urban planning, mass transit, etc.

Food shortage:
GMO's OR supporting farmers who grow real food (NOT CORN) all over the country.

Attention Deficit Disorder:
Ridalin OR taking the kid into the woods every single day.

Communication:
Blogs : ) OR Just talk to each other.

I'm not saying there are no technologies out there that can help us. The acid rain problem was solved technologically for instance, but it wasn't the development of the technology that solved the problem, it was the cultural decision to use it on a large scale. The Ozone problem is over with, because people as a whole decided to do something about it. Peregrine Falcon's have returned to most of their range because DDT was banned and rehabilitation programs were employed.

Why is it that cultural solutions (that work!) to environmental problems seem to involve cessation of some practice, or the cessation of some chemical? We do better for ourselves when we simply stop.

This is why I think that the technology we need to use is actually one of the most commonplace devices of all. All cars have them, all computers, all furnaces, and all machines that use gasoline or electricity. I'm talking about an on/off switch. Let's get together and form a group of Sustainability Bandits that run around turning shit off all the time.

One Point for the Little GUY!

2008-02-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

Lately I've felt that every time I get on my bike to travel the winter streets of Missoula, I am taking my life in my hands. I've never had that kind of mortal fear in everyday life before, so needless to say I'm very cautious. I haven't fallen yet, knock on wood, but cars and the people who drive them can be REALLY SCARY!

This is why I have a "Fuck Cars" sticker on my water bottle and my mandolin case. If you saw where the sticker is on the case, you might think it was upside down and in a weird place at the bottom of the case, well this is because when I strap the mando to my back and ride my bike, the sticker will be right side up so the cars can all read it and know just what I'm talking about.

Well, there are some places Cars can't go! And the beautiful bike path by the river is one of them. The path is home to joggers, bikers, dog walkers, and the like. From it you can see ducks, great blue herons, beavers, water, sunshine, all kinds of trees and plants and the faces of people that slowly cross by you without a metal box surrounding them and protecting them from the harmful rays of the sun, or the sound and smell of the water, or the gaze of neighbors.

That's right, the river trail system of Missoula is great, and there are NO CARS ALLOWED! I guess the people of Missoula made their choice. Roads are to be ugly, but bikes get to meander with the rolling river. Thank you Missoula tax payers.

EXPLOITATION

2008-01-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

"I will not rest until every last predator in New Mexico is dead." -Aldo Leopold as a Young Man

I just got out from my Wildlife Conservation class. The lecture was about the history of wildlife conservation. Conservation since white settlers came to America has been non-existent.

If you never said your goodbyes to the estimated 631 North American species that have gone extinct since 1641, here are some of the big ones you might want to lament.

Passenger Pigeon: This bird had the largest flocks of any bird, of all time. Now it is extinct, the last one died in captivity in 1914. The loss of this billions strong population had tremendous ecological impacts. Nutrient cycling, seed dispersal and predator influences must have changed dramatically. It is because they were hunted for food. In 1850, one New York merchant was selling 18,000 pigeons a day. Yum!

Bison: No one even wanted to use them for anything. They were killed and then left on the plains, sometimes their skulls were piled thirty feet high. In wildlife conservation there are two knids of control over populations, direct and indirect. Direct control is shooting animals. Indirect control is changing their habitat. While the extermination of the bison was in fact direct control of the animal itself, it was really indirect control of the population of Native Americans who depended on them.

Cod: When the first ships sailed to Newfoundland, they were rocked by the battering of millions of Cod. Now the fishing season on them has been closed since 1994 and they are slated for extinction. In Cape Cod, it was said you could walk across the water on the heads of the fish. No more. All the fisheries of Earth are decaying. I mean that in a mathematical sense. Exponential decay. Which means its slowing down now that most of the damage is done.

Whales: The main pattern of exploitation in Human history has been that big tasty animals are the first to die. This was certainly the case with whales. But as each whale died out, the next largest became the most profitable. So they killed that one too. Poor whales.

Predators: Grizzly Bears and wolves were ravaged and that story has been told many times. They have dissappeared from most of their range. Where ever there are people, predators die.

I'm glad Aldo Leopold changed his tune, and became the father of conservation. Hopefully one day his writings on the land ethic will be codified in law.

"Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land. By land is meant all of the things on, over, or in the earth. Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators; you cannot conserve the waters and waste the ranges; you cannot build the forest and mine the farm. The land is one organism. Its parts, like our own parts, compete with each other and co-operate with each other. The competitions are as much a part of the inner workings as the co-operations. You can regulate them--cautiously--but not abolish them." -Aldo Leoplold 1993

-ATION NATION

2008-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

This is my brilliant idea for a book. It's called -Ation Nation. Since I don't really want to write a whole book, It'll just be a series of posts. I'd love as many comments as you can muster, folks, so I'll try to keep it interesting.

GLOBALIZATION

My Microeconomics class used the model of a farmer and a rancher. This suggests that both producers can benefit from specializing in one crop and then trading it with the other. This simple model used only time as the input for their products. And the conclusion was of course: TRADE IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE! Yeah right. Here's an email I wrote to my prof. this morning.

John,

I am worried about the farmer and the rancher. I know that it is a model to explain comparative advantage and absolute advantage, but I can't help realize that it does not make sense for two reasons.

1. It assumes that maximum production is ideal.
2. It is so simple that when applied to the real world it suggests specialization and trade are good in every situation when in fact they can lead to pollution, waste, and exploitation of people and the land.

1.Your slide suggested two options: to trade or not to trade. Most of the following lecture was focused on trading, and only two graphs were devoted to the non-trade model. These graphs didn't make a pretty picture. The bottom line was that if they both worked alone there were fewer potatoes and less meat to be had by either. This made the lack of trade seem inferior to the more productive model, in which each producer specialized in one crop and traded.

What these slides didn't take into account was the fact that maybe the farmer doesn't need all the meat and potatoes she can get. And the same for the rancher. I think that providing goods that are above and beyond peoples needs by too much can lead to health problems. They would be making so much meat and potatoes that they'd be the fattest people in the world. Sustaining oneself does not always mean maximum production, It more often means meeting your needs (and hopefully a few of your wants) using what you have. More is not always better, especially when externalities of maximum production include soil erosion, water pollution, and other agricultural environmental costs. And where does it stop? What if we introduce pesticides into the equation, and if these toxic products help increase production, does that automatically mean that their use is "better" because it produces more? When does it stop?

2. It is too simple because trade does not occur like this on the global scale.

What if the two producers live fifty miles apart, like I asked in class? What about one thousand? What if the rancher lives in California and the farmer lives in Mexico and they are both shipping their goods to centralized processing plants in Nevada to make cheap hamburgers and fries which are then sent to Williston, Vermont? Is that really more efficient than if the trade were eliminated and the rancher ate his own meat and the farmer ate her own potatoes?
And what about the factory in china that makes halloween spider rings? I hate those things. They use scarce resources, pollute, and the worst thing is that they are useless trash before they are ever thrown away, even before they are ever sold.

It is a matter of scale. I certainly don't believe that everyone needs to fend for themselves, I do however believe we can work together on smaller scales, using what we have to meet our needs rather than using such despicable means to achieve unfavorable ends.

We don't need every commodity in every part of the world. Let there be differences in the distribution of resources based on, well, the distribution of resources! Rather than based on the distribution of wealth. Why does Pheonix Arizona exist? Why does Las Vegas exist? There is not enough water for the people to drink, and yet there are golf courses with green grass and fountains that shoot fifty feet into the air, and the Colorado River no longer reaches the Mexican border. That is not a wise use of resources and it hurts everyone to be so irresponsible.

Adam McCullough
Resource Conservation: Ecology
Junior

Leave me There

2008-01-29T11:39:00.001-08:00

Any set of tracks when watched with care appears to grow upward like a single fox sprouting simultaneously from four seeds. The paws form first and then the furry legs on top of them. Soon they join together in a sculpted image with tail and ears. Then the whiskers roll out like time lapse fiddle heads. This is a ghost. It walks in and out of view. It leaves tracks, and it leaves smells, and its story plays out on the snow. You cringe while watching its foot sink uncomfortably through the crust. You lose site of it under a low tree, but it is not enough to find the trail on the other side. You watch the fox ghost circle under the tree and sniff the bark, it licks its paws and peers around, hunting.

You can see the deer trail so clearly that the ghost dissapears and is replaced with the the animal itself. A sense of urgency and alertness descends on you and you can't help but sneak everywhere you go, with your tongue hanging out as you smile. The trail extends in front of you and the deer is standing behind every tree. Its hidden under every rise of ground, and its munching on every frigid leaf. You find where it bedded down the night before, its smell still strong and sweet. Its body heat left you a small bed of ice to slip on, but you step beyond it and the trail is fresher. The deer is watching you. Now the deer is inside of you. The ghost is gone, and the animal itself is just out of reach, but you know where it's been and how it went you know what it thinks.

Now you are the deer, you no longer look at the trail. You track by letting the broken snow pull your feet down and forward following the arch of the deer before you. DEER!

THE WORLD IS LOUD ON ALL SIDES BUT HERE THE HEAVY QUIET SINKS LIKE YOUR FEET IN THE SNOW AND ALERTNESS FLOWS FROM CARELESSNESS. CARELESSNESS THE SOURCE OF CARE. WALKING TOWARDS SHELTER DISTILLS LIFE.

But you only sometimes find the deer, and never the fox. And soon your tracks are the ghost seeds. Someone watches you form and feels your excitement when you ran, your anguish when you fell. Someone tracks you. Someone submits to you. Someone becomes you and you haunt them. Who tracks trackers? Who walks with ghosts? Trackers track themselves and walk with ghosts.

And you enter into the wind when you come over the ridge. There is no snow here, only ice. But still there are tracks. In the west there is a new mountain range. It is a billowing cloud bank, opaque and dark and ominous. It is behind this dark horizon that the sun sets. And now the cold hits even harder. You succumb to the bitter touch of icy wind.

And it is amongst the coyote tracks that you die. Your body crumples and you watch it for a time. It is still vibrantly colored like in life, but it is frozen. You walk away. You are a set of senses now, a set of instincts. Troubles of life are frozen next to coyote tracks and you walk along the mountain in cold pain, but with no self. Not even the bridge of your nose or the brim of your hat to block your circular view of the world. Senses only. Opinions are gone. A ghost like the rest. And you leave yourself there. Among the tracks. And you take yourself away to follow new ones unimpeded.

The art of invisibilty

2008-01-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

I live at the base of a prairie covered mountain called Mount Jumbo. Have you ever seen the prairie? The range? Oh you Easterners don't know what you're missing! The colors are what get me. Throw green out the window. Ash gray of sage, dark red of dried forbs, shocking yellow of dry grass, blue shadows on the white snow and ice, and all the lichens on the rocks. And of course the blue sky. How complicated the sky is! And I'll need a picture.

I took my dog, Lyra up the mountain today in the cold. There is a large letter "L" on the side of mount Jumbo which stands for Loyolla high school. It is a common thing out here to put big letters on hills. When I saw They Might Be Giants play at UM they commented that in Missoula we have an "L" right next to an "M" and wondered if we just went ahead and alphebatized all the mountains in the area.

Well mount jumbo is an open prairie, but its more complicated than that. There are huge blocky, argillite boulders jutting out of the soil. Wetter spots that caused by topography of the mountain result in trees and shrubs that need more water than the drought adapted grass that covers the exposed, dry areas. There are also long draws, like creases in the very rock, extending from the bottom to the top of the mountain. These may be categorized as 'effervescent streams' by a hydrologists survey, but they haven't had an actual streamflow in a very very long time. Though water doesn't flow through these channels, trees seem to. The discharge of any stream is a combination of sediment and water (and fish), but these streams' discharges are dry, spidery trees floating atop the bedload of dark soil. These tree streams in the range also convey something miraculously against the force of gravity. Trackers.

I wanted to make it up to the L completely unseen. I am in fact the subject of the above photo. You wouldn't know it though because I was practicing the art of invisibility at the time. Just kidding, I don't know WHO took that. How long can I keep pirating photos for my blog before the MAN gets me?

Anyway my point is that the art of invisibility is a combination of other arts.

AWARENESS: This is paramount. you can't hide from everything at once, so you need to choose when to hide and when to move, especially in the prairie. Most of the time when I mess up and become visible, it is when someone I didn't notice walks up behind me. Thats why John Young promotes the Leopard method. Walking smoothly and using lots of peripheral vision. Stopping to look in all directions while sniffing and listening at all times. It engages a lot of your brain at once. People with Attention deficit disorder are supposedly uncanny at this skill.

MAKE BELIEVE: pretend to be a mouse when hiding in the grass. think mousy thoughts not thoughts of weird tracker things and hiding practice. Think about how tasty the grass looks. Eat some.

PATIENCE: don't try to sneak by people all the time, just wait till they aren't looking! This can take a while. Oh well. My pants froze solid while practicing the art of patience today.

I made it to the L. Joggers are really easy to avoid. They stare at their feet on the uneven ground. People on first dates are harder to avoid. They look around awkwardly. I want to put on funny makeup and hide all over the place.

Trade Offs

2008-01-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

"Education is one of the things you will pay for and not get." - Jon Aliri, economics professor at UM.

I believe that this is true. So many students blow off their classes and homework even though they pay through the nose for them. I did it as a freshman, but now I've seen the light. Who wants to waste all that money and time?

I had my first Micro economics class today. It was very exciting and I'm sure the teacher will provide many insights for me. He is dedicated to the socratic method which is an exciting change from my lecture classes. Aliri said that everything is a trade off, but there is one fundamental trade off that all countries face today: Efficiency and Equity within a capitalist system. I am glad that he brought this up on the first day because its exciting when I get to speak my mind, especially in a class packed full of business majors who have devoted their lives to efficiency, and I have devoted mine to something else. I know that what I really want is a balance between the two with environmental conservation determining where that balance point lies. This is why when Aliri asked, "which side do you lean towards?" I suppressed the urge to yell "EQUITY!" from the back of the room.

I feel like I'm secretly taking this class in order to figure out the weaknesses in our current system and throw a monkey wrench in its gears. But What's more likely is I'll gain an appreciation for economic functions and allow the new knowledge to gently guide me in whatever way.

The world has chosen Efficiency. Which do you choose? Where is that balance?
Ad-man

Green Christmas!

2008-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

This picture demonstrates the ways we did christmas this year. What a great success! I feel proud that my badgering the family about it has yielded a more sustainable use of resources to celebrate the holiday!

There are:
wood items that my brother and I made,
a book by a local author, and CD's of local musicians (an interesting twist on buying local),
an organic T-shirt,
cloth bags that gifts were wrapped in to save on paper waste,
Vermont socks (darn tough brand),
local fudge,
a plate made of sugar maple in Vermont,
a set of reusable bags that replace the plastic bags, for grocery shopping, but they are also good for buying bulk because they function similar to plastic, and become air tight when wet.
and a few other wonderful items.

The majority of the gifts were in this vein and I'm proud of my family for that. I think it'll only get better with time.

This holiday was a great source of satisfaction for me, but it also taught me an important lesson about local economy. The paradigm that the Green Christmas is based on is that as consumers we can vote at the cash register. The things we pay for are sustained while the things we don't buy will dwindle or disappear. It's boycott theory I guess.

The idea of buying local makes a leap from this basic premise to say that supporting a local economy is good for the environment. I am not going to question that too much, but it's worth noting that these things aren't absolute, sometimes a centralized system is better environmentally than many smaller systems.

Overall though, small local systems are far more sustainable than a global economy. That being said, what part of the local economy are we supporting when we buy lots of gift type items around the holidays? So who are we voting for at the cash register now? GIFT MAKERS! musicians, soap people, scarf weavers, and the like. How far does that really go to promote sustainability? It's a start. And even just thinking about it is a start, but if you care enough about it to make it a green christmas, you should keep your pantry and your fridge green too! If Vermont is ever going to secede from the union we'll need grains, meats, and fruit a lot more than we'll need silk scarves. A local economy needs all levels, just like the global economy, the people who often win in Montpelier are the artisans, because there is a lot of money in Montpelier and a lot of tourism. And that's fine, because artisans are great, but don't forget about farmers. NEVER forget about farmers!

Been a while

2007-12-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah. I should probably answer Evan's question about hunting,

"So did you go yet or what?"

I've been holding off answering because I believe that hunting stories fall under the category of don't kiss and tell.

Yes I went hunting. No I didn't kill anything. I might be able to tell the tale of hunting, I might even be able to make you understand what it meant to me, but I don't think I will.
I'll tell you though that I didn't carry a gun, my friend did, and she didn't shoot anything. I could tell you about our strategy, my feelings, my sensations, but not on a computer screen. Find me and ask me. I'll sit under a tree and tell you all about it.

My roommate killed a three point buck this fall. It was the last day of hunting season and she was very affected by it. She's been hunting her whole life, but never killed an animal before. This time, she did, and hit him right in the heart. I helped her scrape the hide yesterday, but the snow was falling down and freezing the fat. We needed to dip it in hot water to soften it as we went along. The hide was draped on an angled post and then scraped with a draw knife in a downward pulling motion to get the fat and flesh off like the woman in the picture above. There are so many colors on the inside of a deer hide! Red, blue, white, and they mix together like fingerpaints. It took longer draws with the knife to start out, but at the end of the process when the fat chunks were smaller, shorter faster draws were required. The water we used to keep it warm and workable formed a slippery sheet of ice under the hide that made it very hard to get any purchase or leverage so I found myself bracing myself against the post with my thighs. When I scraped, blood and water ran down the post and onto my legs.

Didn't bother me though. I've changed a lot since the adamant vegetarian days. I have been enjoying Laura's venison for a couple of weeks now. Some of it has been very tender and good. You know, my blood type is O negative (or positive, can't remember) and that means I'm supposed to eat meat and fish to be healthy according to this nutritional theory that the different blood types are indicative of your ancient ancestors who were either hunter/gatherers (O blood types) farmers (A blood types) or dairy-ists...(B blood types) And AB blood types are sort of a hybridization of the rest... Don't quote me on any of this. All I know is I feel strong when I eat meat. I feel satisfied after eating relatively little of it, and there are other feelings too. Reverance during the eating is a big one, but bodily, I feel like i'm the perfect size when I eat meat. My insides feel settled, and I'm not too big or too small. I feel able and appropriate.

Where will I get meat in VT this winter? Oh yeah I'm going to VT in two days. I cannot even contain myself.

Ad-man

I love my readers

2007-11-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

Ha ha! It's great to always find your comments, Matt! You ask about a hunting story?

I suppose I should spill the beans about it. A friend of mine who has known me since my childhood read my post about hunting and said essentially.

"Adam, you're a vegetarian, and you always have been. Why the sudden change? If you want low impact food you can eat beans and rice! Say it ain't so!" This happened to be the mayor of Montpelier Mary Hooper.

The mayor reads my blog. It's no big deal.

Anyway, here's my reasoning for hunting, followed by my story about it.

(1) RESPONSIBILITY
I demand to interact with my food. Aldo leopold said "Heat doesn't come from the furnace and pork doesn't come from the supermarket." People who don't realize that should forego their right to vote and speak. It is essential for a citizen to appreciate and understand food production.

(2)ENVIRONMENTAL
The production of any food can be calculated in units of food per unit of human effort. It's often done in terms of pounds per man hour or the like. Well, think of the inputs into hunting as opposed to farmed meat. The game just farm themselves so to speak, so the human inputs are much much lower (factor in the administration of the fish and game department, gasoline, the hours of work you did to afford the seven dollar orange vest...) Also the herd needs to be controlled for the good of the deer who survive, and thus the herd as a whole.

(3)CHALLENGE
I am an aspiring naturalist/ecologist. I need to learn constantly about nature. Hunting adds an element of success and failure to the outdoor experience. Stumbling on some deer is very different than finding them or tracking them down intentionally through reasoning, skill, and humility. This added challenge increases my learning curve for the woods. Sure you can identify a flower, but what if it's not around? Can you find it? Two very different skills, one is hunting, the other is observing. Hunting leads to great knowledge about the connections of the forest.

(4)INDIGENY
Can I ever become indigenous to this land or any other? This is my best chance. Search around through it. Suffer in it. Get lost in it and start to develop beliefs about it. Ill never be an Indian, but I can stubbornly be myself until I somehow fit in better.

It's late and I'm... not doing french homework.

Green Christmas

2007-11-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Let's make it happen people.

In the comments section below, I challenge you to come up with gift ideas that promote sustainability. With black friday gone, it might be late to start talking about this.

My aunt Pat, years ago ran a workshop called green christmas and her suggestions were great. A pyramid of snowballs with a candle inside for a luminarie, reusable festive bags rather than wrapping paper, and other trash reducing ideas.

my personal favorite of hers was this:

"Share traditions rather than gifts." It's simple and beautiful. A tradition I started almost four years ago now is a candle ceremony at Christmas dinner. Everyone eating dinner with you gets a candle and one person has a match. The person who has the match lights someone else's candle and tells them why they are lighting their candle. It is very memorable. I lit my older brother's candle and said,

"I'm going to light your candle because your my brother and you've taught me so much. You've influenced me more than you know and every time I meet someone, they end up knowing about you within three days because I want to tell them about you."

My uncle Chris said to me, something like, "Adam it has been great to watch you grow up and what you've accomplished and I'm sure you'll continue to accomplish great things and make us all proud."

It doesn't have to be completely serious either. We have fun with it and we joke around, so it's just kind of a nice thing. And then you can either let the candles light your meal or blow them out and save them for the next year, or whatever you want.

Spread the Cheer, not the Gear.

Bluegrass

2007-11-26T11:27:00.001-08:00

There is an actual species of grass called Kentucky Bluegrass latin name: Poa pratensis. I always thought it would be cool to have a bluegrass band named Poa Pratensis, Or just Poa. Only other botany nerds would get it. The plant is the dominant lawn grass in America so why aren't our lawns blue all the time? According to Dag Ryen, who wrote a letter to the editor of the Washington Post in 1993, the leaves of kentucky bluegrass are completely green. The seed heads on the other hand are blue, but only develop when the grass is allowed to grow to its full height of two to three feet. Maybe practicing a little backyard conservation would reveal what type of grass is in YOUR lawn!

Anyway, I made thirty buxx and scored a free dinner playing bluegrass mandolin in a coffee shop/art gallery in Arlee, MT. My friend, Erin plays fiddle in a bluegrass ensemble called the Gravely Mountain Boys. She's a girl, so I don't know why they're called that. I think the group has been around since long before Erin was part of it. Possibly before she was born. The group consists of Dick, an old guitar player/singer, Ron, a younger guitarist/singer, Dick's son, a banjo player, and Ron's daughter, a fiddle player. It's a family affair you might say!

Well, they were missing their banjoist so Erin offered me a spot on stage for the night. It was a beautiful Montana night. Cold and crisp with good sunlight shining on the staggering mission mountains. We practiced before hand at Ron's house where I got to sit in an official bluegrass rocking chair! It was perfect for picking, armless so I had all the elbow room I needed, and it allowed the perfect amount of slouch. We warmed up on a few tunes and then went to the coffee shop.

It was a fun show and I played bones for them, a traditional Irish percussion instrument. I had to use all my musical knowledge to keep up with these boys! They weren't telling me what chords to play, I had to figure it out by looking at their guitar playing hands. But then again, they were using capos so I had to transpose as I went along, while trying to look natural and lively on stage. It was hard. I only jumped in to take the lead a couple times at the end. And with the stress of being on stage I totally biffed the ONE song that I already knew! Red haired boy is a tune that I play constantly, but I messed it up. Oh well. Everyone knew I was an outsider anyway so I think they cut me some slack. My friends Courtney and Dan came to watch, Courtney came later because she was in a hottub looking at the mountains under the moonlight while the Mountain Boys and I ate soup and shmoozed with the locals.

Fun night.

Too much of a good thing

2007-11-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Corn was one of the three sisters. Corn Beans and Squash, the staple vegetables of native agriculture in the Eastern U.S. Back then it's storability and high caloric density made it an essential crop for life in the rugged American landscape. Now we see it as an enemy.

Its all a matter of scale. Why are there huge tragedies? Because there are huge countries. Why are there huge environmental problems? Because we have huge economies. Why were there huge 4and a half billion ears of corn harvested in Iowa this year? Because there are huge subsidies that make this unfeasible crop into the best case scenario.

Reasons I'm opposed to Corn:
(1) Corn is being grown mainly for cattle feed and it's unhealthy for the cattle and those who eat the meat
(2) Corn is being grown in a big way to produce ethanol, an alternative energy that is extremely unsustainable
(3) Corn is not eaten whole. It is eaten at the molecular level.
(4) Corn takes a ton of fertilizer which contributes to global warming.

Explanations:
(1) Again, its a matter of scale.
Feeding grains to cows is pretty standard, at the rate of one or two scoops a day. That's why we have silos, I guess. But it's well known that if a cow gets into the silo, it will gladly eat itself to death! That's too much grain. Turn a cow out onto the pasture and it can't eat itself to death. Grass fed beef and bison are the way to go. That or wild game.

(2) Ethanol production is a bad idea. Growing forests sequesters more carbon than Corn fields do. If they could make ethanol from cellulose it would be worth it. Until then, leave ethanol alone. The equation doesn't balance.

(3) Corn products are lame. Aren't Americans sweet enough without them? I can't wait until the days when most foods have a list of actual ingredients on the label rather than a list of chemicals.

(4) Corn requires MASSIVE inputs of fertilizer from year to year. Nitrogen is the plant's limiting nutrient. This element is a very mobile element though, since it has several gaseous phases that it can transform between by means of microbial processes. Nitrous Oxide, NO2 is a biproduct of fertilizing with Nitrogen. NO2 is released in significant quantities to the atmosphere during ethanol production. Each molecule of NO2 is 25 times more effective a greenhouse gas than a CO2 molecule. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Actually don't smoke, you're hurting the environment.

"But Adam!" you say. "80% of the Atmosphere is already Nitrogen! What difference does it make to add more?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked." I reply. "Most atmospheric Nitrogen is N2 which is an extremely stable molecule with a triple bond. NO2 is a different molecule with different properties." for example it has the capacity to FRY THE EARTH."

But it's still a matter of scale. Corn can be grown sustainably through crop rotation or fertilization on a smaller scale. Is the world's population at fault here? No. The earth can sustain this many people I believe. But not these people.

Tracking

2007-11-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

I can't wait. I'm going hunting for the first time this weekend. I refuse to let the deer be my adversary in this endeavor. I don't know if I will kill anything, one never does. Talk about low impact food production! Wild game is a great food source.

I just treed a raccoon in Greenough park with Kane (wolf, see earlier posts)! I thought this was pretty cool. I saw his wet footprints on the river rocks, and followed them, followed the little guy right to a cottonwood that he was climbing. He clumb the thing like a rock climber moreso than a squirrel: using his fingers, rather than claws. He was wet and bedraggled, climbing slow. I didn't stop to watch him, didn't stop to bother him you know? Well it sure was exciting. Especially since he could have been a river otter since the tracks are very similar between the two animals.
Similarities:
five toes, size, area found.

Differences are:
Raccoon Otter

walks on tippy toes Has webbed feet with a larger hind foot
visible tail drag that swooshes between feet

Dear Readers.... Both of you. (a response to comments from the last post)

2007-11-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

Good points Matthew, and very thoughtful. I think you are correct about our government subsidizing corn and soy and I think that oughta be a crime. I saw the author of Omnivore's Dilemma, Micheal Pollan speak at the Bioneers conference last year. I really enjoyed him and he brought up a lot of the points that you cited from his book. Including an incredible grass farmer who could sustainably produce astronomical quantities of meat by managing the grazing regimes of his animals. I call him a grass farmer because of something a Montana Rancher once said.

"Ranchers are grass farmers. Cows are just the vehicle of turning that grass into a profit. We could be grazing Giraffes out here if we wanted, but I think they'd have pretty sore necks."
Jim Stone.

Your main points,
1.) Cessation of local food production does not necessarily displace food production farther away.
- corn and soy prices are managed by manipulation of production rates
2.) Grass may sequester more carbon if it is cut periodically
- it has a faster growth rate before it reaches the stage of woody stems
- grass evolved with herbivory and fire, and has special adaptations to these disturbances
- self pruning of grass roots in response to loss of above ground mass helps soil

My responses
1.) I think your point here was that the Government's purpose of paying farmers to let their fields be fallow was not a soil conservation reason, but rather a control of commodity prices. Be that as it may, corn and soy as Michael Pollan agrees, are not foods. They are exactly what you said. The process of manufacturing high fructose corn syrup is very inefficient and is only possible due to government subsidies. These subsidies make it cheap to purchase so it is a cost effective sweetener for food processors. Lame. Local food production is depedent on high quality soil and heads up soil management, if the government paid organic farmers in the middle of Vermont's woods to let their fields be fallow, then we'd be in trouble, huh? Do I have a point? not really. Is this example applicable to my backyard in the first place? No. But it is always a pertinent question that any conservationist or citizen should ask. "If we preserve this piece of land, are we exporting those environmental impacts to farther away where we have no control over how the land is managed?"

2.)
- I agree, Cut the grass when it is growing at its optimum and you have yourself a little carbon farm!
- Yeah grass is sweet. It doesn't mind getting walked on and eaten, it doesn't mind droughts and it doesn't really mind fires. It stores most of its life force under ground where it is safe from these petty things that kill foolish trees.
- Here we both assumed that by not cutting the grass, self pruning rates will slow down. This assumption led me to write that the soil would be further stabilized, and it led you to write that lack of root decay will be detrimental to soil formation. I believe we were both wrong. Thinking more closely I believe that the disturbances that cause root decay in a yard are not limited to the lawn mower. Insects, deer, and other biota will munch on the grass.

Also, in order to balance the equation, there are functions that release carbon to the atmosphere as well that need to be considered. I mean decomposition. Microbial respiration in the process of decomposition releases CO2 to the atmosphere. Grass clippings decompose relatively quickly. As do root trimmings underground. The more complex the chemistry of the plant body in decomposition, (i.e. wood more complex than leaves) the slower the release of CO2. If the grass stays whole, bends over under snow, then revives in the spring, its possible the decomposition rates will be enough slower that the slower rate of photosynthesis (or Carbon fixation) is offset. I don't know. Another interesting point: a grassy land will spend part of the year in its dry, light colored state. This color will reflect light and taller grass makes more shade. These factors may reduce soil temperature, to below the soil temperature under a dark green bed of grass. Microbial chemical processes, such as decomposition, are slowed down in lower temperatures. Could this also be an important factor in Carbon cycling?

Dad, It is hard to say about the source of the water, but Isn't there a storm drain right above our driveway? I think that the dye would be a good experiment, or just pouring water on the ground on a dry day. Certainly I think the pavement is the main problem because it is impermeable to water. The cool bricks sound really awesome, I think the less pavement we have the better!

The swale will probably work, but the carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat and other benefits make the grow zone more appealing to me. The Swale essentially increases soil infiltration rates, wich is exactly the purpose of the grow zone, except the grow zone does not require any work to construct, either human respiration, nor vehicular respiration to convey the gravel or what have you.

As far as the bad effects of the soil erosion, they are very small scale. A few understory plants like mosses and stuff will probably get covered up and killed, but then again a seed might fall on that freshly deposited soil and thrive there. This is more of an exercise in soil retention than an urgent solution to Earth's problems. Over a large scale, say an entire town, or the entire united states, if we all stopped mowing the grass... I wonder what would happen. What about that spot between the highways? Why do they mow that? Maybe they oughta stop.

Backyard Conservation

2007-11-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've taken the time to sit under a tree at the campground, but its good to be back. I was moved to post today because I was reading my soils textbook, The Nature and Properties of Soils by Nyle C. Brady and Ray R. Weil. It is a thick book and about as dry as an Aridisol, but I read the section about soil conservation and the section about soil chemical pollution.

Well, soil erosion is a huge problem in our country. Not only is it a bummer because we're losing precious soil, but also because it affects water quality. There are many factors that affect rates of soil loss and just as many ways to fix it, but why don't I give you an example of what it looks like in my own backyard in Montpelier.

There is a rill forming on the slope at the bottom of out driveway. The rill starts at a sudden drop off at the end of our mowed yard. The sudden drop off here has created an increase in the velocity of the water and thus increases the ability of the water to pick up and hold sediment. The kinetic energy of the water has torn apart this hill in several rills that expand from year to year, depositing bare mineral soil on top of the leaf litter in the forest below and exposing rock that was previously hidden inside the soil.

My brother and I filled the slope with debris from the forest to try and slow the water down. When the water in the rill slows down, it loses its ability to hold sediment so it deposits sediment on the sides of the sticks and stones we used as debris. At least that is the idea. We also constructed little temporary dams out of grass and sticks, that should allow water to flow through but stop some sediment. Also our treatment may be flawed simply because when an equal volume of water is forced through a smaller opening it actually speeds up. Oh well, we'll see if it hurts or helps.

Now I have a new plan to stop this erosion. And it is a really good idea if I do say so myself. My textbook said that 60% of soil loss prevention has been due to government plans of letting agricultural land be fallow rather than farmed. If land grew back into grassland it was worth a certain amount to the farmers and if it grew into forest it was worth even more. People were paid to NOT work! Well this leasing system may still be going on today, but I have doubts about its effectiveness on a global scale, If we aren't growing crops in our own country, they are being grown somewhere else, and what regulations on soil losses do they have in Mexico, the Carribean? Anyway, on the backyard scale it makes perfect sense, because the yard isn't used for production. If it is allowed to grow into a grassland or even a forest, the benefits could be amazing.

Benefits:
1. Global warming
2. Biodiversity
3. soil loss reduction

Letting the yard grow saves lawnmower gasoline while sequestering carbon in plant biomass to fight global warming. As plants photosynthesize, they take CO2 from the atmosphere and use it to maintain their metabolism as well as to build their physical structures, forests sequester much more biomass than grassland, but either one is better than a mowed lawn. The reason why tall grass or wild grass sequesters more carbon than a mowed lawn is because grasses maintain a balance between their leaves and their roots. Say you've let your grass grown to be six inches tall and then mow it, the grasses new leaf length of 2 inches cannot sustain the mass of roots that it did at six inches because its photosynthesis potential was cut down to one third. The grass will self-prune its roots under the soil, almost like a root mower is following behind your real lawnmower. If the leaves are allowed to grow, so are the roots which also stabilize soil.

I propose to let two areas of the yard grow wild. The first is the area directly above the rills, it is a shallow slope, maybe 5% and it is already covered in short grass. If it was allowed to grow, the grass would create a heavier root mass due to greater biomass above ground. It would have biodiversity increases as well, with wildflowers and insects having more prevalence there. The hardy stems of tall grass would slow the velocity of water even more than the flimsy short leaves that are there currently. The area would have improved cover for rodents, who need to stay hidden in order to not get et up by big ol' birds. When the insects and rodents dig holes in the soil, it increases water infiltration rates, so less water will actually reach the rill.

Furthermore, more leaf area over the soil in this spot will increase the interception of precipitation as it is falling, this means that the water slows down on its descent to earth, giving it more time to evaporate before hitting soil. This interception has been shown to reduce inputs of water into a system, which is just what we want here.

The other part of the yard that I propose be left uncut is what I believe to be a significant source of water collection contributing to the problem. Uphill from the driveway there is a strip of very steep terrain, maybe 50% slope. It is mowed every month or so by a special lawn mower guy named Jackson who specializes in steep slope mowing, good conversation, and wearing shorts all the time. This slope is a strip between the road and our driveway that covers perhaps a half acre. A quarter of this area is probably contributing water to this rill problem that we have. If this wedge of land were left unmowed, it would have all the same effects as above, but rather than trying to slow water down after it is already moving fast, it will attempt to reduce water inputs in terms of quantity and velocity.

Again more grass will promote soil infiltration capacity, and the interception will decrease overland flow in general. Because even during a rainstorm, the rain drops are evaporating as they fall and while they sit on the ground or on leaves.

The other important way this treatment will help is that in the spring when there are seasonal flows of water from melting snow, there will still be the dead stalks of tall grasses and wildflowers to promote evaporation and sublimation and reduce water velocity.

Perhaps you should consider a treatment like this in your own yard. Consider the carbon sequestration along with the reduction of gasoline consumption. That alone could make a big difference. I think it is a very reasonable thing to let part of your lawn go wild and see how you like it. Heck, maybe next year you'll sell your lawnmower. And if enough people do what i suggest, maybe it will offset the electricity consumption of the computers we used to talk about it.

What are we giving Thanks for

2007-10-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Some givens about Thanksgiving are:
1. it is the number one travel holiday in the year,
2. it is centered around food,
3. it is a celebration of working together with people who may have very different ideas

First I'll address number three. I don't know if the story of thanksgiving they taught me in kindergarten is actually true, but it is a nice story. I'd like to give it a little context however. This information is coming from personal research that I did when I was studying for an ecology paper last year, and I won't be quoting directly, but the info is out there. Changes in the Land by William Cronon is one of my sources as well as multiple papers about settlement, and land use practices of settlers and natives on the East Coast. Also my brilliant professors, Clow and Moore.

When the white people came, they had a totally different world view from the natives. They differed especially on their views of ownership and property, in other words they had conflicting territorial customs. To the whites, the natives appeared to have no sense of ownership. They traveled great distances, moved their homes, and they were often absent from a plot of land that they considered to be theirs. You can understand how this observable behavior would appear to the whites as a lack of ownership, but in fact the natives had a very specific system of territoriality. It was more common for natives to percieve their ownership as a right to specific activities in specific areas, rather than complete dominion over specific areas. This meant that when a native sold hunting land in exchange for guns, maybe the deal was meant to be the sale of hunting rights on that area, and then the white guy cleared a field and built a house there. Not to say that's wrong, but the christian view of land ownership at the time and especially among settlers is that "thou hast no right to land lest it be duly improved by works of man." or however they said it. In other words it was the settler's duty to work hard, clear fields, build fences and raise cows. It was the honorable and christian thing to do.

This is because europeans seem to have a strange and relatively unique idea of a binary world. "It's mine completely or it's not at all". This is what gives western culture the idea of epics and tragedies because there is good versus evil, but in a native culture you see more trickster stories. Our tragedy as opposed to their comedy. The creator is the trickster is the fool is the bringer of fire is the animal is the spirit and so on. This worldview is more of a network than a binary. Perhaps the network is made of many binaries, but it is still very different. For the natives, the gift of food and the knowledge of how to grow it could have had a very different meaning than it did for the settlers who recieved it.

In the light of this interesting difference in worldview, it is possible that at that time, the natives were trying to figure out how these new bearded men and cloth covered women would fit into their network of spiritual and physical relationships, while the white people were trying to figure out how to defeat the savages. I like the idea of the first thanksgiving. Because that was before American civilization really screwed up.

It is highly possible that the white people could at that point have simply become another tribe in the network of American tribes. making treaties, owning land, fighting wars like all the rest. Instead we have conquered the continent and subjugated the people who owned it. I believe that it is pertinent to be thankful for the gift of survival in this new world. And it should certainly not be forgotten that this gift was in part given willingly by the natives and in part taken from them by force. I wonder if there was ever a wigwam on the spot where my house is now standing...

OK, now as for travel, I don't know what the grand solution to this is. Well, you'll probably save money if you ride the bus. I rode it from Vermont to Montana. 3920 miles all told and it was about 109 bucks. I packed my food in advance and only spent my first dollar on the road on day three when I wanted some nachos or something. But also I got to speak spanish on the bus and met great people, so consider it. It really wasn't that inconvenient either. You don't have to drive, its comfortable and that's all I have to say about that. Other than that the best alternative is staying home. Trains too, I guess. that sounds like fun.

Further more, when you eat on the road you often end up with no option but fast food that's unhealthy for you and the environment. Fast food is usually so cheap because it gets its ingredients from the lowest bidder and therefore lowest quality and farthest distances. Bringing your own food from home will be even cheaper and then you can choose what you really want, and that choice can include local food and low packaging and other good things like that.

This is amazing

2007-10-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071023/NEWS01/710230355

This is a link to an article about Will Forest and his Ebay stunt to show his dissapproval of the way The Yanks treated Joe Torre. I think its awesome. Will is my friend Spencer's Dad who lives in Montpelier where I grew up. I have always known him as a yankees fan and a great guy in general, he owned and operated a batting cage house in Vermont for a couple of years and we used to love going there and hitting balls and practicing pitching. Once my friend John threw a pitch that was so far off it went past all the idiot proof panelling around the pitching mound and punctured the insulation of the wall and got lodged inside the building! But Will's batting cage is only further proof of his devotion to baseball.

Well, Will decided to sell his loyalty to the team on Ebay and the winning bidder will choose his new favorite team. I love it. I like the way it demonstrates critical thinking rather than blind trust. He questions his favorite team just like its okay to question your government or your teachers, or your parents if they do things you don't agree with.

No New Coal

2007-10-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

James Hansen is a scientist of great merit who has worked for NASA for a long time. He is considered the top climate change scientist in the country and he first started making waves about it in the early 80's when he testified before congress about the problem of anthropogenic climate change.

But on Monday night, he was clear that he wasn't speaking as a government employee, but as a private citizen.

New things you'll learn from him that were NOT in the Inconvenient Truth

Hansen said the beginning of our current glacial cycle was fifty million years ago when India collided with Asia, causing the formation of the Himalayas. As the weathering of this newly exposed and uplifted rock occured at an alarming (geologic scale) rate, it quickly drained CO2 from the atmosphere and put it into solid forms that were deposited in stream channels and in the ocean.
At right around the same time, the swiss Alps were forming. The added weight of these mountains on the tectonic plate reduced the rate of subduction of the oceanic plate under the continental one. Imagine trying to slide one piece of paper under the other. It's pretty easy, until you push down on the top sheet with your hand. This pressure was the equivalent of the mountains (that's my interpretation, don't take my word for it.)

Prior to these tectonic events the CO2 concentrations were so high that the well known Milankovich cycles could not sway the earth far enough to cool its surface to below freezing temperatures, even at the poles. Which means there was no ice.

Thanks to the Himalayas and the Alps, that blanket of CO2 was reduced and the Milankovich cycles reached a new center point that was much colder. This allowed the formation of ice caps, as well as the periodic glacial advance/retreat.

So ice ages have only been going on for fifty million years.

So that was the scientific side of the post which I find obligatory and awesome, but notice that I saved the best for last which is to say, the social and political aspect of Hansen's talk.

The Global Warming movement has now focused in on the reduction of COAL fired power plants. Preceding the lecture by Hansen, there was a rally outside called No New Coal which was organized by David Merrill and friends to bring awareness to possible coal developments in Montana and the states in general and why they are a TERRIBLE idea that don't benefit the country.

According to my Tree Bio teacher, who is also a climate scientist who has been devoted to disseminating information on climate change science for the last five years, When COAL is burned it is about 30% efficient, meaning we get about a third of the energy that is stored in the coal, it also emits tons more CO2 than burning liquid fuel which yields 90% of its energy storage.

Coal is really bad. I am relieved that now the global warming effort has achieved a focus. No coal. Coal sucks. Also, research has been done to show that those employed by nonsustainable energy industries can be rapidly retrained and offered jobs in sustainable energy. This is something that is instrumental to David Merrill's vision.

Merrill is a local Missoulian who has worked tirelessly on the issue of global warming and he suggests in his "Rosie Revisited" presentation that if America mobilizes to solve Global warming like we mobilized to fight WWII, then "we can do it!" In those days, kids were bringing bacon grease to school so the army could make bombs, farmers were growing hemp to make parachutes, and people were scrapping their bumpers to make guns and ammo and airplanes.

And they were damn proud of it! If we had a leader that could mobilize the people like that We'd be in real good shape. It is NOT TOO LATE to solve global warming.

But we only have about Ten Years. SO it's crucial to communicate to leaders and let them know you want strong global warming legislation now.

Figures

2007-10-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

The U.S. government spent 50,000 dollars to invent a pen that could write in zero gravity.

The Russians used pencils.

Check it out.

2007-10-21T13:45:00.001-07:00

I'm down with this guys opinion. He challenges the whole notion of voting at the cash register. The theory there is that if enough people support sustainable products then industry will wise up and start producing sustainable products. Well, this is in fact a very indirect way to get your point accross to companies.

This guy suggests the following alternative:
Vote with your damn Vote!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/opinion/21friedman.html?ex=1350619200&en=bb2f71f77b00632f&ei=5090&partner=

Select leaders based on good environmental views. His point is good and its a good story about large scale changes occuring due to political will. That doesn't mean you should give up on those swirly light bulbs and all that good stuff. At least not in my opinion. REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE still applies, but electing leaders who aren't evil, blood-sucking, anti-earth, manipulative, lilly-livered, yellow-bellied, tie-your-damsel- to-the-train-tracks, kind of guys then we'll have a better chance of getting somewhere.

VOTE DEMOCRAT in '08!

Vote Democrat, act Progressive. That's my policy.

Missoula Climate Change talk

2007-10-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well I wanted to spread the word in case anyone from Missoula reads this blog. There will be a talk by Jim Hansen on Monday night at 8:00pm in the UC ballroom.

He is the premiere climate change scientist for NASA. so it oughta be a good time.

Biodiversity and the Rare

2007-10-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

Why are rare life forms important? Because they make up more of the biodiversity than common life forms. In fact most species are rare.

Shaking a tree in the amazon knocks hundreds of beetle species into a net. Some of them will be new, previously undiscovered species. Shake the next tree and you'll keep getting undiscovered species. There's more hidden in the next tree too.

Each beetle holds a secret and unique life cycle with subtle differences from the rest, perhaps one of them synthesizes a molecule that cures cancer. Or it could be interesting enough to inspire great art that addresses the human condition. Or it could be so shiny that they'll crush it to make lip gloss... but even if this beetle has no value to humans at all it still has a right to exist doesn't it?

Well let's think about human diversity. Humans don't have true races so I'm not talking about racial diversity. We also don't have very much genetic variation, so I'm not talking about a vast store of DNA that needs to be preserved. What we have is language and culture. But those can go extinct too.

Roughly 42% of people speak the top twelve major languages as their first language. This is equivalent to 42% of a lawn being covered in dandelions. According to Ethnologue there are 6,912 living languages in the world. Ethnologue is a christian linguistic organization that has the mission of providing bibles in the native tongue of indigenous people.

Even if each language was spoken equally by the remaining 58% of the population that means each one is spoken by just over 500 people. But the truth is that some are only spoken by one. Dead languages walking, just like dead species walking.

Like the unique beetle, each of these languages and cultures is a different way to see the world. Maybe a chance for Human culture to reinvent itself.

Biodiversity in our hands

2007-10-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

I am not talking about the parasites that might be in our hands, cause that's wierd and gross.

No I'm talking about human influence on biodiversity. Notice I said influence NOT impact. Because saying that humans reduce biodiversity, human presence is bad for the environment, or the world would be better without humans are all TOTAL MYTHS!

Take Crete.
Indigenous people there practicing agrarian livelihoods like goat, chestnut, and olive production in complex systems that they have mastered over hundreds if not thousands of generations, actually increase the biodiversity of the areas where they practice (Sievert, 2006) Two contrasting examples from the traditional land use of Crete are a Cretian National Park, and industrial olive plantations in Crete.

The traditional ag. of Crete can be considered a specialized regime of disturbances of various types, intensities, periodicities and scales. There are many species in Crete that are adapted to this regime, and without it they are incapable of living in their usual way. The grazing of goats and the picking of fruits and planting and burning that the Cretians practice are in fact a sort of ecological garden that they can subsist on, using most of its parts in some way. The goats grazing has caused adaptations in plants to grow low, to be thorny, or poisonous. In the shade of the chestnut trees there grow the medicinal and food plants that the Cretians use. And birds inhabit and pollinate the trees as well. Its a complex heterogenous system. Heterogeneity being a key factor for biodiversity it isn't surprising that this system leads to high diversity.

If this regime of disturbances is removed we see immediate changes. The park was made. The people were kicked out. Part of Crete grew into a forest. The plants that were suppressed by goat grazing could now reach the canopy and this shade resulted in the doom of many plants used to the exposed sun of the island. In this scenario the seed sources were vastly changed as not oaks have a much greater ability to reproduce for example. Now the park is subject to forest fires and the Greeks need to send their park managers to America to learn how to fight fires because they were not a typical disturbance present on the island before.

The other example is industrial olive production. Again the traditional means of living were disrupted, and everything changed. Pesticides and herbicides caused there to be straight rows of trees with bare soil between them. birds steer clear, insects are less common. Forget about those cool medicinal plants. Biodiversity goes down.

I guess it isn't people that reduce biodiversity... Its stupid greedy people who insist on living outside their means.

There are other examples of this in Africa, with the Bushmen, (San? Xan?) the people of mozambique who live in an interesting place with unique conditions. These indigenous people only know how to live in this one area and no where else, and similarly there is no one else who knows how to live in this area. The women can find mud fish, hibernating under solid clay, just by walking on the clay! (Laurie Ashley, 2006) look into it. the facts are out there.

Indigenous people need to be left alone and allowed to practice their traditional ways. So Hydro Quebec can go to hell and so can Yellowstone National Park, Devil's Tower rec area, and the whole damn nation. Canada too! We're all invasive exotics in America! And our effect isn't caused by our species, but our imported culture.

Biodiversity in flux

2007-10-18T11:49:00.001-07:00

OK so what makes for low biodiversity?

EXTINCTIONS

what causes extinctions?

in order
1. habitat destruction
2. habitat fragmentation
3. invasive exotic species
5. over exploitation

Look at extinction rates like a river. The river is fed primarily by ground water, and it generally has a certain stage that it doesn't fall below even if it hasn't rained in a long time. This is called baseflow. Paleo-ecologists have discovered that over the course of life on earth, there is a constant "baseflow" of extinctions. A steady rate that can be considered natural as the world changes. Now there are other events that cause the discharge of the river to increase such as a rainstorm or spring melting in our analogy that temporarily increase the flow, and give it all its variation. These events could be the ebb and flow in the extinction rate over time. But over life's history there have been five floods. in other words mass extinctions.

In nature, floods are inevitable. They are statistically destined to return to any given stream. Just as mass extinctions are destined to return at certain intervals to Earth. But the interesting thing is that after a mass extinction, biodiversity has the tendency to climb to a higher point than its pre-extinction peak.
(Again don't take my word for it, check out Wilson's Diversity of Life)

The most recent mass extinction was the end of the Dino-days caused by a massive collision with the earth's surface. Boy, they must have been surprised! Well, its always possible that another such event will occur and wipe out tons of species. And maybe we'll call that Big Mama of an asteroid Homo sapiens sapiens. If we're still around to call it anything!

In all seriousness we are in the sixth mass extinction. (David Quammen planet of weeds) weep about it if you want. Did you notice that those four things above all seem pretty human caused? Yep. Its our fault. We don't really know what this means for humanity yet, or for Earth. what have we ever realy known? But realistically life is still worth living, right?! Guys?

guys?

Biodiversity Revisited

2007-10-17T10:45:00.001-07:00

Now in that last post, there was a description of biodiversity, but so what? I recommend you read the comments to that one because they were really interesting. In fact the more comments you post the better. I find them fascinating.

What leads to high biodiversity? (courtesy of notes from a lecture by the brilliant Paul Alaback)
1. competition
2. resource availability
3. disturbance
4. time, history
5. equitability of climate
6. heterogeneity of habitats
7. population interactions.

How bout that another list of SEVEN items. Well, I talked about one of these things in my previous post: population interactions and how they can be threatened by development, i.e. bears that can't get past the highway. This concept specifically refers to members of different populations breeding together.

The other ones however I didn't really talk about, providing instead a rather static view of biodiversity, though I illustrated an idea about biodiversity helping Earth reinvent for the future, I will now discuss the way the past influences present biodiversity.

1. competition is the result of two species inhabiting the same niche in an ecosystem. This is not good for either species, so they become more specialized, one species keying into some habitat element that the other cannot, usually rather than changing its niche entirely, a species will become more common in what was once an extreme edge of its range.

2. resource availability, namely high resource availability causes high biodiversity. Jungle has more diversity than desert because there is more water for example.

3.Disturbances such as fire result in higher biodiversity over time because there are species dependant on disturbances that you will not see without disturbance. Disturbances increase nutrient availability in soil, and just give new life forms a chance to colonize an area that was previously too shady to inhabit for example. Disturbance changes the playing field so new organisms have a chance.

4.time, history. Evolution takes time. All other factors being equal, the longer there has been life somewhere the more diversity you can expect.

5. equitability of climate. Think North Pole versus Vermont. VT has way more diversity, because our land is hospitable to a wider range of species.

6. heterogeneity of habitats. Every species has its own niche that it lives in (very simplified) and the more variation in a site, the more niches there are. For example if there is a flat plain and a rolling rumbling, rocky plain, you'll see more diversity in the latter because of small microsites that occur. Differences in shade, effective precipitation (see Soils Lab is Fun! post), soil qualities, sun angle and so on.

7. population interactions. Interbreeding between distinct populations of organisms that creates a larger gene pool.

I think that if you took all these factors and somehow tried to mix them all together and find the perfect ecosystem for biodiversity, you'd describe a landscape with varied topography, long growing seasons, lots of water, lots of nutrients, large tracts of land where populations can interact without boundaries, and a place that has been inhabited by life for a very long time and is affected by various disturbances that keep refreshing the system.

Does it make sense that people are worried about saving the rainforest? The Amazon meets all these characteristics. The North pole does not.

Let's think about this critically though. Because the North pole doesn't have even a fraction of a percent of the diversity that the Amazon has does that mean it isn't valuable for Earth's diversity? NON, MES AMIS!

It is very important, if Biodiversity really is "the ability of the Earth to reinvent itself" then think of that storage of beneficial genes that are adapted to eternal ice age, dwelling at the Earth's top. If there is another ice age, it will not be the jungle butterflies that repopulate the earth, it will be the polar bears.

more on diversity to come, keep the comments rollin' in that's what the campground's for.

Visual concept of genetic diversity

2007-10-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Life has been given seven biological characteristics, lets see if I can remember them.

Growth.
response to stimuli.
reproduction.
metabolism.
organization. (being composed of one or more cells)
adaptation.
homeostasis. (internal changes maintain state in spite of external forces.)

These were taught to me in Biology class in high school by Mr. Tom Sabo. He was a great teacher with a sturdy mind and a great sense of humor, but not even he could truly define life. Sure an organism has all of these characteristics, but what is life itself?

In Neal Stephenson's book Cryptonomicon, he describes any life form as a "stupendous badass" descended from millions generations of stupendous badasses that went before. Stephenson is not a biologist, but he is right on the money. Life aint easy. It's full of struggle as we all know, and simply carrying viable DNA against all the odds is a tremendous honor and an incomprehensible privilege.

My ecology professor, Paul Alaback brought up the mind boggling topic of genetic ecology. From this discussion, I thought of the question.

"Can we think of the conservation of biodiversity to be the conservation of all the individual genetic combinations that occur?"

The answer without hesitation was yes. This is exactly how we can think about biodiversity.

Take away all the landforms and all the life forms in your favorite wild place, park, natural area, backyard, whatever. Replace the spatial dimensions with a three dimensional grid. Now in place of all the life, imagine the unique double helices present at every point on the grid. There will be trillions in the soil, billions floating in the air, one for each tree, rodent or bird. Each one is like a spiraling computer generated image that was designed in the late nineties to illustrate DNA to school kids, and they are all different colors. If you zoom in on one it will dissolve into GATC patterns linked together with supple ladder rungs. If you analyze this image you will come up with the figure: number of DNA combinations/unit volume. Or you could lay all the molecules end to end and simply calculate: length of DNA/unit volume.

Now we have a relatively static view that encompasses the three dimensions of space plus the quantity of DNA. What if we watch this figure for a longer time?

For one year. Even watching just one strand of DNA that exists in a flower at the edge of a stream. Most of the year it stays constant, contorting slightly under stress of mutation, perhaps only momentarily, but when it starts its cycle of reproduction in the spring, hundreds of new combinations of DNA appear near the plants top. They form delicately and abundantly, each pollen grain and ovum with half the DNA of the parent plant.

When these pollen grains combine with the ova of another flower, there is suddenly a new combination of genes with new properties and new adaptations. This offspring may grant the the chance to reinvent its species, perchance to carry it through the apocalypse.

A man who did extensive biodiversity studies in some tropical islands spoke at my school. If only I could remember his name. He said, "Biodiversity is the Earth's ability to reinvent itself."

How true it is, and the idea is completely dependent on this flow, and exchange, the process of combinations and recombinations, mistakes and opportunities. Imagine however that our reproducing flower is part of an isolated population of its species it is still trying as hard as it can to recombine its genes for its survival, but it is like trying to multiply without using the numbers 4,5, and 6, there are many fewer combinations and therefore less potential to overcome a change in its environment.

This is what happens when populations are cut off from each other. Highways that inhibit animal migration can cut a gene pool in half for example. Even mountains that rise up over time can separate populations and cause new species to develop on either side like immigrants to America forced into changing their names and identities.

Soils lab is fun!

2007-10-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I took of someone testing a soil sample with hydrochloric acid to see if there is a fizzing reaction. If there was we would note it as a presence of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3).

CaCO3 is important in a soils profile. This compound's source of Calcium comes from the parent material of the soil, the bedrock so to speak. As it weathers as a result of chemical or physical processes, the calcium rock can be broken down into minerals or even elements. And Calcium is one of them.

The Carbonate in the compound comes from the respiration of plant roots, which are exhaling CO2 just like you and I. The carbonate mixes with the calcium to create CaCO3.

Now this compound is in fact produced close to the surface of the soil, where the roots are right? But it doesn't always stay at the surface. The compound can be carried down through the soil profile by water in a process called illuviation. This simply means the CaCO3 is getting carried in the water, by force of gravity, lower into the soil.

You test for presence of CaCO3 at different depths in the soil (using the acid test). The closer to the surface the CaCO3 is found, the less effective precipitation the soil experiences. I've seen soil with no CaCO3 in it and I've seen soil where the CaCO3 is at the very surface. Can you guess what the different soils were like?

The first one was a grassland soil with sparse, small vegetation on a south facing slope in Montana. It gets 11-13 inches of precip. per year, but since it is angled, the water runs off before it soaks into the soil, furthermore south facing slopes get more solar radiation than other aspects due to our northern latitude so the water not only runs off, but also evaporates before going into the soil.

The second soil without CaCO3 was in fact less than 100 feet from the very dry soil. It has the same amount of annual precipitation, but it is low in a gully where water collects and where it is shaded. The dominant vegetation here was snowberry, a shrub, rather than the drought tolerant species of the south facing slope. This change in topography resulted in leaching the Calcium Carbonate not only to lower depths in the soil, but lower down the slope, and eventually perhaps into a stream or groundwater system. All things are connected: topography, solar radiation, water, plant life.

Lightning rods

2007-10-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

The point of the story is this. Plants never give up. If a tree is girdled it will die because the cambium, (tissue below the bark that conducts sugar down from the leaves) is made discontinuous so that the roots can't get any of the food that the leaves make. The leaves may be able to live for a season because they'll get water from the roots through the sapwood.

But what if a tree was, as Miracle Max might say, "only mostly girdled?" It doesn't give up, it continues to grow however it can. Laura and I used a ponderosa pine that had been struck by lightning as a marvelous landmark. We could tell it was lightning because of the spiral pattern of the exposed and damaged wood. Lightning struck timber poses a hearty challenge to any carpenter who wants to use it! They'd tie themselves in knots just trying remember, "sand with the grain. sand with the grain."
It looks just like the grain is spiraling, but I believe it has to do with the heat of the lightning bursting the water in the tree's wood. Now, you may be surprised by this, but Lightning has a tendency to kill the tree it strikes. But not this one.

Allow me to build the picture of this tree for you piece by piece.

step 1) Imagine a dead log standing. The entire trunk of the tree is bare wood, where the bark has been stripped off by the lightning, the subsequent fire, the wind or the animals and beetles that took advantage of it afterward.

step 2) Except there is a boa constrictor of flaky, red bark that coiled halfway up the tree. The snake's tail is forked and pierces the soil, its mouth devours a single fat branch 20 feet off the ground and 15 feet below the pointy gray top of dry wood.

step 3) This branch that marks the highest point of the living bark-snake, is in fact, the beefy arm of your testosterone laden lacrosse coach waiting by the sidelines to give you a high five. The branch is short, strong, and extremely thick, perhaps two feet in diameter. It juts from the bole of the tree at a ninety degree angle and then abruptly turns upward at a ninety degree angle. From this branch is the epicenter of a vegetative explosion. Branches grow in all directions from all parts of this sole, central branch.

step 4) Now imagine your coach isn't slapping you five at all, he's got his arm in a puppet of himself, but since it is his hand and not his head that is the top of the figure, it is significantly lower. This tree held up a puppet of its former, (pre-lightning) self. The canopy looked just like the canopy of any ponderosa pine, but instead of being centered on the tree, it was lower, and to the side, held up by this ridiculous branch.

Have you ever seen a tree wound that's healed over? Exposed wood can't grow anymore, can't create new bark, only the cambium can do that, so instead of creating a new layer of skin like a person does, the tree swells its bark on either side of the wound until the bulging woody membrane is pushing against itself to create a seal.

This tree was making a valiant effort to perform this feat of controlled growth, but being more wounded than not, the result was this appearance of a round woody snake climbing around the tree.

What about the branches? Can the branches live if the cambium underneath them is dead? No they can't, they have been disconnected from the roots. But on this old tree there was one branch left. And HOOOOO BOY was it ever making a go of it!

I wish I could say as much for myself. We have a lot to learn from trees like that, who like war vets bear the wounds of society. The pain and the suffering and the conflict that stem from our daily lives are not enough to harm us much, not us civilians. But when there is a war, these maladies of our culture are concentrated through the funnel of our misrepresentative government. Each little bit of hate, of waste, of ignorance gets thrown into the funnel. And the pissing end of it is centered on our troops and on the countries they occupy like the crosshairs of a speeding stealth bomber.

And sometimes its the same for our trees. Lightning strikes the tallest object, and that means the most dominant tree. This tree must have once been truly grand, towering over the rest on that South facing slope in West Montana. It got plenty of sun, outcompeted the other trees who couldn't handle as much drought, and it probably made hundreds of thousands of seeds. Maybe some of those seeds will grow to be as dominant as their mother once was, but maybe thats a curse, like being an outstanding young man in highschool who is virtually forced to go to Norwich or West-point, or some other institution of the noble, bloodthirsty, professions.

These are the young men I've known who have joined the service. Gavin Wageman, Jake Fangman, John Cody. May you all bend down during thunder storms.

Adventure!

2007-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

What you are seeing here is an extreme close up of tree bark, the kind a Ponderosa Pine grows. If you stick your nose into one of these deep ol' cracks in the bark, you can smell something sweet. The whole debate right now is whether it smells like butterscotch or vanilla. I'd tell you my opinion, but I don't think it would be good for my popularity on the blogs if I chose sides!

Anyway if you can see the real dark color on the outer edges of the picture, you can? Oh good. Well, thats because the bark has been harmed by a fire. Though the tree lives on. Ponderosa's are generally quite fire resistant once they are mature.

My roommate Laura and I went bushwhacking yesterday. It sure was fun and challenging. We parked the car on a paved road in the Garnet Mountains and set out, moving as close to south as we could at eleven in the am. We had no map, compass, flashlight, knife, clock, or matches and we just went by sense of direction courtesy of the bright sun in the blue sky. But as our shiny friend moved it got a little bit tricky sometimes! There are other clues that help you determine the cardinal directions, such as species composition on slopes of different aspects. And careful mental record keeping as you march, always having a little compass arrow in your brain that points to the car.

As we went south, we crossed trails, but rarely followed them. We used X's made of sticks to show where we crossed a trail so that on the way back north we could go up and down a trail we crossed and find an X and then keep going as close to due north from that as we could. We
got utterly turned around once or twice and I was amazed at how my mind was unaccustomed to this kind of navigation. It took a lot of concentration to remember where we had been, think of what landmarks would look like from the other side, and to figure out what order things had happened in. For instance I thought we went under the fence and then watched the leaves fall off of alders in a gully, but Laura thought it was the other way around.

Another time, we hiked along some impressive cliffs, and I was certain that the hill we were going to across the river was in fact the hill we were coming from. Laura had to convince me. I don't know how my mind got totally turned around like that. It's like there was something flipped in my memory, I remembered turning right where she remembered going left. I conceded to her because judging by the sun, I was clearly wrong. Scary to think about what would have happened if I had been alone!

Our trail was a straight line, the northern point was our car, the southern point was a clear cut ridge several miles away. We couldn't see either point from the other. And only decided to try for the ridge after we had already bushwhacked quite a ways. The ridge always seemed so close. It took much longer to get there than we thought and every time we thought about turning around we looked up the slope and decided to push on, because it looked like it was going to be just a short walk. Well that slope kept on climbing and she and I were both taking clothes off and sweating and we didn't talk much because all I wanted to say was "I hate climbing mountains." and I didn't think it would be a positive thing to bring up at the time considering we were climbing a mountain. We were tired and hungry and worried about daylight when we were on the final climb.
"Should we turn around?" Laura asked.
"But we're so close. I bet there's a palace made of golden trees on the other side!" I replied.

and we kept going. Finally we lumbered up onto the top of the ridge. It was bisected by a barbed wire fence that we helped each other through and it was clearcut. There were noxious weeds all over the place. Then trying to be optimistic I said, "Hey, there's the golden palace!"

Indeed there was a cluster of golden larches brilliantly standing among the green of doug fir on the opposite slope to the south. But I was interrupted in my sentence by the loud distant mooing of a cow, among whose shit we were standing. We laughed at ourselves for assuming we'd find something great on that ridge. Laura thought it was a Buddhist story. The journey is the reward after all.

Its true so far it had been pretty rewarding, but what about the return journey. Every step we had taken farther from the car was one more step to get back, and another chance to get lost.

At one point when we were resting on the disappointing ridgetop which was our final destination, Laura asked me what time I thought we'd get back. I said 6:03 she said 7:00. We had no clock with us. Then we started back and struggled through the mental challenges of picking a course and being tired and foodless in an area where neither one of us had been before.

Well we never found out who was right about which came first, the fence or the alders because we accidentally went the wrong way on our return journey! We didn't go over the fence or through the alders at all and we got pretty confused about that, but we just kept going north trusting the sun. Our X's helped immensely and we found them one by one with some effort and searching. The whole time we kept comparing notes, talking about where we thought we were and where we thought each option would take us. Whenever we disagreed, we stopped and conferred and figured it out.

We were right every time, and though we went at least three miles away from the car with no trail, map, or compass, and with a return route that was somewhat different than the way we set out, we made it back exactly to the car. All we had to do was cross the street and hop in.

I opened her cell phone to check the time. It was 6:23 pm. Almost exactly between our two estimates. We're good.

Though to be honest we both talked it over and agreed that we wouldn't have been able to do it alone. We also agreed that we wouldn't have gone as many miles or had as much fun if we were alone! What a great day!

Hope and Hopelessness

2007-10-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took care of kids at an elementary school in Missoula. Kids today aren't all Christopher Robin and Huck Finn you know. Neither was I. They riddle their playground with imaginary bullets, they maim their friends with imaginary stop signs, they fight with their siblings over pointless disputes, they grab you and pull you and have no concept of respect. They tell you about who they killed in a video game, and they cheat against each other in imaginary games. I was killed with grenades, shot with lazers and machine guns, I was thrown out of a "house" a kid made because he didn't like me. But that's just the boys. Girls aren't angels, but at least they don't drink blood with their fruit roll up at snack time.

How can I have any hope when these kids are the building blocks for the future? The school is in the middle of the valley. I pointed to the mountain with an M on it that is visible from everywhere in Missoula and asked them if they knew what it was called. Not one of them could answer me. What are they learning in school if not how to play and live and participate in their environment in a powerful and meaningful way?

I couldn't have named any landforms when I was their age, but now that I'm older, being able to do so is one of my chief joys and it's essential for my concept of life.

I watched a kneeling kid get interrogated for information. When he gave the info, he was shot with a shotgun, the imaginary barrel pointing downward from the standing kids shoulder and aimed right in the kneeling kids face. It looked exactly like the front page of a Newspaper covering a barbaric foreign war.

Does this behavior belie great creativity in the kids? I believe not. Imagination, yes, but creativity is something that requires more than turning the playground into an arena where they are all simulating a video game. Do game developers realize that kids so young are being influenced by their work? These boys idolize strength, invulnerability, deadliness, violence. Where are the tricksters? Where are the stories of adventure and risk? Where are the children? They don't realize what they do, that when you kill someone, they don't stand up again in fifteen seconds.

There were two native boys. They were brothers. I wanted so badly for them to demonstrate what the white kids failed to. At first I was discouraged that they turned sticks into lasers and grenades like the rest, but there was also an element of reluctance in the way they fought. These boys were defending their base, choosing leaders for missions, and throwing bombs away from themselves rather than towards others. They included me, unlike the other kids, and wanted me to be armed so i could defend myself. I could tell from the way they talked that they didn't have the same concept of what bombs and lazers were for that the other kids had.
"That's a big bomb, it can shoot a lot of people."
"No the lazer sounds like, zhooozhoozhooo, and when you shoot someone with it, you both dissappear and then you can fight eachother."

They created spaceships out of leggos and gave me one. It had a chainsaw launching gun that could cut through anything, "Even metal." Though it wasn't a weapon exactly, though they said it could go through another ship, they never said it would hurt anyone.

Then when we played basketball, a younger boy who had bad manners was trying to steal the ball and get attention. The native boy let him play, even handed him the ball after a missed shot and encouraging him to keep trying even though it meant giving up his turn for a while. This native boy also had a football. It was taken away by a bully and then the bully punted it and it wasn't a very good kick. The native boy said, "Oops, nice try. At least it went really far."

I remember being a kid and my friends would want to play violent games where we'd have all sorts of powers and guns and technology and dinosaur pets and everything. I always disliked it. I developed a sense of nostalgia at a very young age. And i wanted out games to have some literary merit, some challenge. I thought it made more sense if my friend and i had different powers, and had to help each other. I don't know. i don't remember it that well, just images and feelings. But they all came rushing back on the playground. Feelings of regret, of just wanting to be left alone, of not belonging with other kids and feeling guilty about playing along with their games.

ZERO WASTE

2007-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

It was started in the 1970's by Paul Palmer. His original company was focused on reusing industrial waste from the production of computers. They were centered in California, but had a large influence in a pretty big area. Zero Waste is now a philosophy where the outputs from every system become the inputs for a different system. As Tom Stoppard would say, "Every exit is an entrance somewhere else."

It is a "theory of universal reuse of all goods." The vision is to turn our linear stream of

production-
consumption-
waste,

into a circle. Huh, kinda sounds like the way nature does it... Waste is not a given! "Waste is a result of bad design." Eric Lambardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle

I find this very exciting (being something of a solid waste nerd) and there have been lots of successes in this regard, the Xerox company reuses 95% of the materials from its old machines, the Toyota company doesn't send ANYTHING to the landfill, the 2012 Olympics in London will have recycling information and tips at every sporting venue! It's out there and in a lot of ways its working.

It's not all doom and gloom on the environmental front! Part of the difference between recycling and zero waste is that recycling is completely oriented toward consumer responsibility, whereas in zero waste systems that function correctly, producers are responsible for designing goods to be reused. "If your product can't be composted, recycled, or reused, you shouldn't be making it!" Professor Paul Connet, SLU.

There are so many ways to make a difference, and personally I'm probably making such things into my life's work, but as for the rest of you there is something you can do in the spirit of Zero Waste. First of all, you should all be composting. You don't need a fancy bin, or a garden, or anything, just a pile will do. Do some research and get it going because food DOES NOT break down and return to the nutrient cycle, when it is land filled.

Well, composting is the biggest one right now because its easy and it reduces land filling by a real drastic amount. Just think about recycling as well for now, metal, plastic, paper, Those are the things that should really be recycled without fail. Anyway I really wanted to tell you all about the evils of Junk Mail. But as levar Burton from Reading Rainbow would say, "you don't have to take my word for it!" Check out these websites PLEASE! You can severely reduce your Junk mail (paper mail) today if you want. https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing.I also suggest you check out www.ecocycle.org to see the environmental reasons for stopping junk mail.

Thanks,
ad-man

From him, to me

2007-10-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

adam,

a chord was struck in the heart of the world and the harmonies which sprang from that divine chamber radiated invisibly out into the aether.
suddenly there were birds.
suddenly there were conflicts.
suddenly there were colors.
suddenly there was.

yet there had always been and it is this supernatural irony which finds no tangible expression, no outlet save for the soul of life.
it`s in the flapping of a bird`s wings.
it`s in the duality of an argument .
it`s in the multitude of the wavelengths.
it`s in the.

in the infinite variety of ways there are many methods to harmonizing life and death and all their permutations.
it takes the form of a bird`s flight path.
it takes the form of a violent stalemate.
it takes the form of solar wind.
it takes the form.

imagine the form of soil trodden by eight hooves and two horses bearing an elf and a wizard, together, back into the heart of the world.
together they see birds jumping bisecting the air about them.
together they see disputes between travelers turn bloody.
together they see every texture and hue that ever graced their brains.
together they see.

evan

My busywork assignment for Tree Biology

2007-10-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

The maple tree reproduces sexually. Using flowers that bloom before the leaves even emerge, probably to key into a source of pollinators at that time. The pollinated flowers grow into winged seeds that can be carried impressive distances by the wind which allows for gene flow over a larger area than for example, the heavy seeded oak. I think one of the key reasons these winged seeds work is because they sprout very readily. In missoula, a related species the norway maple sprouts in the shade of hedges, from between cracks in the pavement, and anywhere else you can imagine. In Vermont however they are not quite as prolific on diverse sites, but rather keying into an understory where it is surrounded by other maples. Maple trees affect the soil that they grow in, like many climax species of hardwoods, to be favorable to their own kind and disfavorable to others.

I would expect that at my site, Hubbard Park, the maples have quite a bit of genetic diversity. this is because in the middle of the state there is plenty of sexual recombination to be had with no barriers between maples, so much so that I might refer to the maples of the entire state as but one population, though there are places where they don't grow, the distances between two maple flowers is never too great a journey for a springtime bee.

Courage

2007-10-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

Stop kidding yourselves! All of you are delusional. You think that because you walk and think that you are more advanced than all other life. Be humbled ye scampering cowards. Behold Kingdom Plantae.

The Moss:
I AM BORN OF WATER.
Your life began inside of your mother, sheltered, in folds of heavy flesh, but like a bird from a high nest I was cast into the torrent, when solitary, minuscule, alone with my senseless brothers and sisters the water crashed down on my mother's bowed head and wrested me from home. Infinitely vulnerable, infinitely inert, I was tumbled through Earth's water, perhaps to be deposited on some hospitable shore, perhaps to be extinguished, metabolized by fierce life.
I DESTROY STONE.
Without true roots that my tall brother's boast, I absorb solid stone and abundant cold water, incorporating elements of the dead world into my living soul.
I HOLD MY CHILDREN.

The Tree:

You who run away from cold. You who build. You who consume flesh. Behold Kingdom Plantae. Strength is not what you can kill, lift or climb. Strength is what you can endure. I freeze, I boil, I consume your very breath as you speak. I turn the world into power. Worship me and fear my leaving.

The Ferns:

Hishawww, I breathe the low air. I drink the low sun, and I kiss the high dirt. Farewell ye brazen woody trees. Farewell ye lofty shrubs that peddle your berries and brandish your thorns. I'll keep the paths hidden. I'll grow fast and cover the turf. I'll tell secrets the dragon's know, I'm as old. I'm as dirt-drunk, I'm as wise.

The flower:

You fall in love. You offer my death. May you perish while my kind thrives. May you fall into our midst and your delicious meat dissolve into our wide open roots. My life is shorter and slower than your oafish, flailing flicker. May your skull hold soil where flowers will grow in ways you never did.

BEHOLD!
The kingdom of plants developed AFTER the kingdom of animals.

BEHOLD!
The kingdom demands homage. Give your compost to the plants of Earth!

BEHOLD!
Without language plants speak,inspiring poets to weep, artists to crumble, science to baffle.

BEHOLD!
Forego your movement and survive! Plants dare you!

BEHOLD!
Generations of our kind will occupy your body when you have gone. May the roots churn you and may Earth FORGET YOU!

The Wonders of Nature

2007-10-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Living Stump

Boy, I'd jump if I saw a living stump! Imagine a stump whose sawn top is completely covered in bark. You can't count its growth rings because it's healed the wound that killed it with growing bark. It looks like a macabre stone or gnarled old tooth, with roots anchoring it against the force of the wind it once felt, but now without branches or leaves to catch the wind, the roots are superfluous...

or are they completely necessary? This organism can only live because before it was cut down, its roots grafted with the roots of another tree. Now, the photosynthate (sugar or food produced by photosynthesis) that is made by the symbiote passes through the roots to the stump, thus giving it enough life to function. The roots of the stump can also provide water and nutrients to the symbiote. WEIRD HUH!

Root grafting happens all the time, though living stumps are quite rare. Check it out at
www.pfranc.com/projects/LSD

to my distant friend

2007-10-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Evan.

In the lord of the rings, one of Gandalf's stately associates is named Radagast the Brown. He only appears in the book for a moment, but you learn that one of his uncanny skills is to speak in the language of birds. He wears an Auburn cloak as his name entails, and he is wrapped in mystery, though from Gandalf's description he is clearly an amazingly genuine and sweet man. He was one of my favorite characters in the books.

You, sir, are Radagast. A wizard from a different time with abilities that separate you from the rest. You are the last pillar in this mortal world of your old order who yet remains honorable and wise, using magic and mystery only for the betterment of the world and never for epic or suspicious ends. Would that I were an elf, who alongside thy cloak-hem trots, to guard thee and keep thee safe from dangers and free from all mortal woes, that I might glean from your mutterings the answers to some of the world's questions. Or at least that I may learn better questions to ask.

My name would be Ruheron Lornythien and I would lightly tread beside you and be your eyes, your ears, your arm, and your friend. Perhaps one evening at the end of a day's travel, in an alehouse we'd take our repose. The stories of the bards and the drama and the fights would seem to us so precious and temporary, us being endless, them being a flicker of the candle light. And we'd sit in our pipe-smoke slowly thinking to ourselves, when suddenly thine eyes would mine meet, and that, my friend, would be the most glorious joke of all.

If only to us. Ha ha ha! Our laughter would bubble out of strong hearts.
If only to us.

"To us!" You'd exclaim and I'd raise raise my cup slightly.
"Are you posing a toast, wizard?"
"Aye." you'd chuckle. "I'm that."
"To us, then," and we'd be gone by morning, the rain never wetting our tunics for it's learned to give us passage. We have many miles ahead, though all must change around our stepping feet as though we walk through time itself. Tree roots rapidly churn and rake the soil as slowly we walk, marveling more and more as we are swallowed in the beauty of the dynamic world.

love,
adam

Local Food Local Dispute

2007-10-08T11:18:00.001-07:00

My da sent me a link to an article from my hometown newspaper The Times Argus. You can read the article here.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710080343

In Montpelier there is a company called Vermont Compost Co. that composts manure and the food residuals from downtown businesses to produce 1500 dozen eggs a year. The business is run by Karl Hammer, and he employs ten people (who are all characters from the stories I've heard.) People complained about Hammer's operation even making legal inquiries to state officials. My initial reaction was that the complaints may be worthwhile and its a good idea to keep Hammer in check so he'll do as good a job as possible to be a good neighbor, but that his services are way too valuable to Montpelier for these people to lay any complaining rights to it.

There are some legitimate complaints and arguments against them and I'm not saying I know the right answers, but there is one comment in the article I'd like to address.

"Blow lives downstream from Hammer's site, and is one of the neighbors who brought his concerns to state officials.

Blow describes the brook as "a nice, clear mountain stream that is no longer a nice, clear mountain stream."

"That gentleman is allowed to put and store a pile of compost right on the brook," he said. "Every time it rains that compost is leeching into the stream. It is impossible for it not to."

"I don't care if he is a farmer. The things he is doing he can't do," Blow said. "To pollute the stream is against the law."" (Times Argus)

I am just so biased towards agriculture and composting that I find these complaints lacking in consideration for the service that Hammer is doing for the city. Also, I'm not exactly sure that I know which stream the guy was talking about, but it's total propaganda to call it "A clear mountain stream that isn't a clear mountain stream anymore." If I am thinking of the right stream, the one that runs along main street, then eventually down into Sabin's pasture, that part of the stream is a ditch that was engineered when they built the road, complete with oil dripping into it, salt from the plows, cigarette butts and everything else you can expect for a stream next to a road.

I don't want to sound transcendental about it, but there needs to be some realism here and someone who doesn't know the area will read the article and get the image of Hammer dumping toxic waste in an alpine stream that's fed by glaciers.

I think that the dangers of the runoff coming from a compost place (compostery?) are nutrient deposits. I would estimate a very low risk of heavy metal and other pollutants, but the main things are going to be Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium. These can be a problem in high concentrations, resulting in an excess of nutrients for algae to subsist on which causes harmful algal blooms, such as at the outlet of the Mississippi River into the Gulf. These nutrient overloads can upset ecosystems, but until there is evidence of something like this actually going wrong, I'd rather not have it in the newspaper.

Also no one drinks water from that stream, it just drains into the Winooski which runs along highway 2 thus subjecting the water to all the same impacts of any road: yearly construction pollutants, bank stability loss, weed invasion, litter, and so on and around. The Winooski goes to lake Champlain after pushing its way through a few hydro electric dams which further affect the stream with heat pollution.

Hey, I like the winooski as much as the next guy, but a bit of nutrient pollution from a well meaning composter might be the least of its problems. Especially since the landfill where the compost would have been dumped is in the same watershed as Hammer's Compostery and rain has a tendency to percolate through landfills and make a sort of Trash Tea. Also if the manure he uses was left at the farms where he collects it from, it would be leaching a lot more of these nutrients into the water at those locations than it does at Hammer's site.

That's my two cents. More on Montpelier's waste stream later.

If you're not learning, you're not paying attention.

2007-10-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I haven't been a very good student in French lately. I have just been so darn interested in learning about nature and exploring nature that I haven't had attention for much else. I don't intend to drop French, though, so instead of giving up I took matters into my own hands and found a way to make myself interested.

I picked up a French-English dictionary and looked up words about nature that I wanted to know so perhaps I could start to say things in French that I would want to say in English; maybe so I could start to see nature in a new way. I thought a new language could be the key to a different nature, a new world so to speak with different history and unique undertones.

I brought my dictionary and my text book up on a mountain that is right next to my house. I brought along my trusty plant guide and hiked up and out of the city onto the steep, dry grassland slope of Mount Jumbo. Without stopping I took straight for a less traveled path that traversed into wilder and wilder land.

At first the brown path was well defined and easy going. It went straight accross the range land of the mountainside without going up or down the slope much. The soil was rocky and hard, and there were mounds of rich brown dirt all over the place next to the trail, and some of the mounds even spilled onto the trail. Can you guess what could have made the mounds? Badgers. Lots of Badgers. Taxidea taxus.

In a year's time, the pesky Badgers'll thrash up roughly 3% of the ground in the rangelands. They dig to make their homes which probably made some of the mounds, but most of their hunting is done by digging as well. It's how they catch little critters like rodents and bugs. What does this mean? It means that after a certain amount of time, every square inch of the rangeland in North America will be dug up by Badgers. Truth be told we're not talking about thousands of years here. 50? 100? Hoo boy that's some pretty serious activity. The profile of the grassland soil will be churned and blended by the activity of these large weasels. The organic-matter-rich A horizon will be brought down and mingle with the C and B horizons, water will flow through the open tunnels of the Badgers and this access to water will affect the rates of weathering of the parent materials under the soil. The bedrock will dissolve, break up, fall apart, and the Badgers will laugh.

So as I was in the badger fields, I spied some skat on the ground. I spent a very long time examining the various piles of skat and determined it belonged to coyotes. So much can be learned from skat! It's usually just as exciting to find it as it is to see the actual animal that left it there. In the feces there was hair and claws (mole remains? Small weasel?) there were also berry pits and twigs from the choke cherry plant. Coyotes are predators, but they tend to be fairly omnivorous.

To my right the hard grassy slope extended up hundreds of feet at an angle steeper than 100% and to my left the slope was equivalent, but it shallowed into a valley, I could have rolled a rock down to my street from there. The sounds of traffic were still loud, but as the defining edges of the path became less and less discrete, it was clear that the hillslope still had wild elements. Soon I was on grass, and only the hint of a trail, maintained more by hooves and paws than sneakers. The skat seemed fresher and fresher as I went toward the steeply slanted horizon. The yellow line of the grassy slope in front of me was almost vertical. Beside it was the blue gray sky, behind it was the entire world about to open up to me like looking around the door frame into a crowded party.

There was one piece of skat that didn't look like the rest. I believe this was badger skat. It was much blacker which indicates a diet that's high in meat, and it had a greasy sort of coating which is characteristic of the weasel family. There were also seed heads of spotted knapweed plants which would suggest that it was going HERBIVORE. What? Badger don't eat seeds! But wait! Inside the seedhead of the knapweed, there dwells a small grub from the gall fly, which is high in protein and fat! Furthermore, the knapweed seed heads grow less than 12 inches from the ground, so even a fatty badger could grab them, as opposed to the choke cherries which grow too high for badgers, but not Coyotes.

Well, I wasn't too much more than half a mile from my house. That's pretty close for coyotes, though I have never seen one except in Yellowstone. The Coyotes there had so much character and freedom and aloofness. They didn't mind running right by us Vermont boys as we made flapjacks while sitting on the bumper of the minivan. They loped quickly by us, first one, then another and they swung their low heads from side to side with their tongues out and ears up to survey the land.

Okay, anyway, I studied French under a Douglas fir. I learned so much! I practiced prepositions. L'arbre petit est derriere de l'arbre grand. Le ciel et au-dessus de moi, mais la terre est au-dessous de moi. I said, 'the little tree is behind the big tree' which made much more sense to me than the vocab from my textbook. I thought about how it must be to see a winged creature moving through the air and think oiseau rather than bird. Or nuage, rather than cloud. I didn't really get into the mindset of French, but I thought it was a good mental exercise. I had to learn the words about nature in order to connect the interest in French to my interest in the land.

Les feuilles d'automne
sont loin de moi.
Je recherche mon foyer
qui est derrière de moi.
Je réfléchis mon fleuve
qui est au-dessous de la terre.
Il va comme l'oiseau
entre les montagnes
et la côte.
Je regarde les nuages
Je regarde l'horizon.

I studied for over an hour on a little grassy bench on the slope and looked out over the city of Missoula wishing it would dissappear.

Kane revisited

2007-10-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

I spent some time with the wolf today. Kane seemed to be in the same sort of melancholy mood as me so I lounged with him on a bed for a while. His mind is too sharp to be wasted on domesticity. His body is too big and ungainly to inhabit human walls. His fur is too beautiful to be seen as a nuisance when he sheds. Outside it would blow away. Outside he could hunt and use his mind and senses. Outside he could flow through the forest and choose his own path rather than following the cramped hallways of the built world.

But instead he waits and waits for his owner to come home and stares into my eyes. He is only marginally interested in me, I'm more like a buddy to commiserate with than a true friend to him, but for now he considers me with calmness that implies deep understanding. The luster of his eyes reminds me of my grandmother. She would look at me and tell a story, with all the expression in the world in her voice and hands, but then after she was done laughing about it she would become so calm for a moment and look out the window at the birds. With her profiled like that I could see the white sides of her eyes, the red veins, and the yellow from cigarette tar or age creeping up her stained fingers.

I could still see the brown of her iris as well, and the combination of all those colors, dull, glazed colors, regarding nature out the window while she sat there with me was so memorable. To sit with someone much younger and relate to him on his level must be difficult, perhaps in order to continue she needed to stop, inhale smoke and let the imprinted images of her many years looking out that window compare with what was out there now. To look away from this vibrant youth, so demanding of attention, into something else; the past or another world perhaps. That was the way Kane looked away from me.

I am older than Kane in years, but he inherited many years from his parents. He inherited wisdom and sadness and stories of genocide so I will never question if it is he or I that is older. Nor which one of us is closer to our deaths. There are gray hairs on his chin and he moves slowly. He nuzzled his head into my belly and it was almost the size of my torso. It was humbling to know that I was so close to an animal's mouth that could crush my muscles and bones until I could no longer flee and then roll me over and eat me alive like an elk-but that's something a wolf will do with a pack and Kane has none.

His ears pricked up all of a sudden and his eyes left mine to disappear again into another world. When the noise of traffic outside lulled I could hear what had gotten his attention. A dog howling in the neighborhood across the street. Like my grandma, Kane retired from me for a moment, perhaps intensely remembering or trying to forget. Either way he was entranced and though I petted him I got no response from the focused wolf. Then the washing machine upstairs turned on and drowned out any sound coming from outside. First Kane's ears collapsed then his head fell down onto my leg with a loud sigh.

What is my role in all this? How have I affected wolves in the world? How will I affect them in the future? I can only hope that Kane and his kin will always thrive. 10,000 generations from now, maybe wolves in Montana will howl about Kane. How he was taken away. How he was heard from the city down below, hollaring about a blue eyed boy that sang too much and took up too much space on his bed.

Lichens revisited

2007-10-01T14:15:00.002-07:00

Man this is my second day in a row doing strenuous exercise while collecting lichen samples. Boy did I get some good ones! I hiked up Mount Sentinel this morning in the rain. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but when I got to the top I saw the next peak over called University. I decided to take the trail that goes down along the saddle between the two peaks and climb the other mountain while I was at it. It was on this saddle ridge area where I found the new lichens.

The area was burned not too long ago, with lots of larch regeneration and some ponderosa and doug fir as well. I thought it was interesting to see willow up there because it is normally associated with riparian areas right next to streams, where the relatively frequent flooding provides it a new bed of sediment to grow on. It is good at colonizing these freshly disturbed river soils, but not a great competitor otherwise so it sticks to asexual production, spreading with rhizomes. It makes sense that it would be able to germinate in a burned area because the post fire situation could be somewhat similar to a flood, but where did the seed source come from way up on that ridge? I guess wind can do amazing things.

Anyway the lichens sure were interesting and they even help to tell a little bit of a story. Cladonia cariosa is a species of lichen that is one of the first to show up on the soil after a disturbance. I didn't see it in great numbers, but then again the disturbance was some 10 or fifteen years ago so the species would probably decline as the shade of the kinnikinnik came in. Also Cladonia chlorophaea which is a more common species. Not really good at telling a story because its sort of like finding deer tracks in a forest, it doesn't tell you too much about the forest because deer are everywhere. If you find fisher tracks its a better indicator.

i also found Xanthaparmelia coloradoensis what a cool looking organism. It has parts that look like gray bowls full of black chocolate and grayish leaves that curl up like kale. Also not a great indicator species. But farther north its possible that it could be used to determine an area that doesn't have prolonged snow cover.

Further down the slope I found two more lichens. These were on the North slope of Sentinel where there is much more moisture and it shows in all the plants. There was moss on either side of the trail and just a much denser vegetation cover. On this steep slope I saw freckle pelt Peltigera aphthosa, a large green leaf lichen with black warts on it. The underside is lighter, whitish even, and it feels like the flesh of a mushroom. A very similar lichen grew alongside it, but rather than a bright green color, it was in fact brown. The underside white, but this time not only did it feel like the underside of a mushroom, but looked like it too. They looked like gills under there! I think its another peltigera species, but I can't identify it for sure with the book I've got. So thats pretty exciting stuff!

G.W short for Global Warming

2007-10-01T13:56:00.001-07:00

Recently Bush had some kind of a summit about climate change and he admitted it was a problem. Unfortunately he decided not to do anything about it. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8-HfqSh4OKG8FX97YeBFtGPSFhQD8RUIDC00

you can check that baby out right there.

You see the problem is that EVERY time you hear about the environmental movement, it all comes to the little people making different decisions. We are the ones who have to recycle. We are the ones who are urged to spend money on the environmental choices and We are the ones who are responsible for it if it doesn't happen. Well I don't agree with that one bit. I do a lot to make sure my decisions are green, but that doesn't stop the products I'm not buying from being produced!

I wish they would just make laws about this stuff. I'm sick of the incentives and tax breaks and other measly things like that to urge going green because they don't seem to work. I toured the water treatment plant of Missoula last year and the man giving the tour who was extremely knowledgeable said that the increased standards of water efficiency in household appliances caused the water usage of the city to remain the same even as the population boomed.

They didn't send a memo saying, "could you please use less water?" They made a law and raised the standards and it worked.

Lichens

2007-09-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

This morning I went for a run. I thought my friend would put miles behind him a whole lot faster than I would put them behind me, but we ended up being pretty even. I grabbed some lichen samples along the trails of the Rattlesnake Recreation Area, just North of my house so I could identify them when I got home.

Lichens are a symbiosis between an algae and a fungus. You could even say the algae and the fungus took a likin' to each other! The algae photosynthesizes and provides food that way for the both of them while the fungus provides the support and gathers nutrients in other ways.

Plants of the Rocky Mountains by Kershaw, MacKinnon and Pojar, says "Think of lichens as fungi that have discovered agriculture. Instead of invading or scavenging for a living, like moulds, mildews, mushrooms or other fungi, lichen fungi cultivate algae within themselves."

Along the trail I picked up a stick with two kinds of lichen growing on it, the leafy gray lichen appears to be Ragbag or Platismatia glauca. The other is Common witch's hair Alectoria sarmentosa. I didn't bring a sample home, but I did see that the bright green wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina) was there as well, perched on the twigs, not hanging down like the witch's hair. The wolf lichen is an interesting one, with a couple of different histories depending on who you ask. Plants of the Rocky Mountains says,

"Interior native peoples used wolf lichen to make a yellowish-green dye to colour fur, moccasins, feathers, wood and other articles. It was also used to make face and body paint. Letharia species contain the toxin vulpinic acid. In northern Europe, wolf lichen was formerly used to poison wolves. It was either mixed with ground glass and sprinkled over wolf bait, or it was mixed with animal fat and nails and left for the wolves to eat-apparently with fatal results."

Used pretty differently on the two continents. This isn't to say anything is right or wrong of course.

Bryoria fuscescens was present as well, but more prevalent up in the swan valley where the air is cleaner, the elevation higher and the circle of the seasons more lopsided towards winter than it is here. I don't know what makes this lichen grow there moreso than here. It appears to especially like inhabiting the dead, but still suspended limbs of spruces as well as the narrow Larch boughs. the yellow green larch needles are a beautiful contrast against Bryoria's dark sea green that hangs like a shadow, right there underneath the branches, the darkness of it too viscous to drip all the way to the ground. This lichen can get involved at times with yet another organism, Phacopsis huuskenenii which is another fungus that causes the Bryoria to have "black elbows." This second fungus is taking advantage of the algal photosynthate just like Bryoria is. Its kind of a weird love triangle I guess, or maybe it's more like two farmers sharing a field together.

I wonder if the addition of the second fungus harms the first or if they live together in a three way mutualism.

HOOOOO BOY!

2007-09-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

Now it's at the solstice when the onions turn around.
Leaves taller than your kids is best by solstice.
Then the days get shorter and the onion remembers
"HOO BOY! One o' these days winter's coming!"
And the leaves slow down, but the roots suck up dirt
packing it into that cold spicy gem underground.

Where I went today.

2007-09-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

That's always an interesting topic... where I went today. Well, to be honest I went there yesterday...then I stayed there. But I did get back from the place today.

If storm clouds hadn't rolled in last night around nightfall, I would have seen the sun set over the Mission mountains to the West. If I'd woken up early enough, and those same storm clouds hadn't been there this morning, I would have seen the sun rise over the Swan range to the East.

I guess you've probably figured out I spent last night in the Swan Valley. It sure is gorgeous up there. It's always great to get out of Missoula where I'm always afraid of getting run over on my bike and killed. Out in the Swan all you need to worry about is weather and bears and I guess moose, though they'll usually smell you coming and get on outta there.

I was tagging along with Sarah, the TA from my Forest Ecology class as she did some research for her Masters project. She was studying the difference between old growth stands and clearcut stands in terms of carbon storage, an issue becoming more and more pertinent as climate change progresses.

I learned how to use a clinometer to judge tree height, and the slope of the ground. I'm sure it has other uses too that I could come up with. I got to practice my plant ID which is always a good thing. I learned Onion Grass, and refreshed myself on the difference between service berry and spirea which is always good.

Sarah took us to a Larch tree that was 934 years old. It had been left there though it was worth some money because it was on a relatively steep slope and near a stream, not a place that's very easy to log.

Larch trees lose their needles every year in the fall, and this one had made a collar for itself out of its own needles, a ring around its base made of sticks, needles, moss, the makings of soil! There were some ledges on the bark that also collected needles and moss and lichen thus giving the tree the look of being slowly swallowed.

It's trunk was tall and straight with large plates of bark like armor, but with one weakness where a lightning scar curled around it on one side. The weak, thin limbs sticking out from the bole were so fragile that they seemed to be the very epitome of Larch strategy: every part can go, but I sure won't fall. Just like a lizard that doesn't mind losing its tail. It doesn't keep it's leaves, probably doesn't keep its branches very long. We speculated about how viable its seeds are today given that its genetics allowed it to germinate in the climatic conditions that existed 1000 years ago. Long before white people even laid eyes on the far Eastern edge of the continent where it was gently lifting out of the soil.

I live with a wolf named Kane

2007-09-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well that wolf is howling and barking again! His name is Kane and he lives in my house here in Missoula. Maybe I'll go see what he's up to. ..
I'm back! He just wanted to be let in I guess. I feel bad about that, leaving him outside all the time. Well I guess if he was in the wild there wouldn't be any barking he could do to be let into some place.

I bet Kane was cold out there, at least his thick fur felt cold when I let him in. Though according to Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men a wolf can sleep with its back to the wind in forty degrees below zero. It sure isn't that cold these days in Missoula and it sure won't be. Not with the way the buttercups have been creeping up the mountainsides over the years due to global warming.

I don't know where Kane came from originally. He's not all wolf, three quarters his owner says. The last quarter is malamute, which are supposedly part wolf anyway. He's a large animal and it took some getting used to, sharing a house with him, but now we get along and I don't think he plans on biting my face off even though he easily could.

Wolves don't wag their tales that much at least Kane doesn't. He is old though. He's seen a lot of things. As I understand it, He spent a lot of his days up in Kalispell Montana just sitting on the porch of a house. I wonder what the neighbors thought! I wonder what Kane thought...

I'll sit here, I'll do
I'll wait and sniff
and you'll follow my
windborn hairs
like a trail of my urine,
But I have no
territory not I.

I'll sit here, I'll wait.
I'll look into
human eyes
and they
will look into mine
both of us wondering
why we are
together.

I'll sit here, on the porch
with a good breeze
to carry my
parents breath to me
to carry my
howls like postcards
back in time
and deep through dreams.

I'll sit her, but I
will not miss the
blood and trouble
each moment lived
on moss or snow
too wet for my
carpet polished paws
that no longer feel
the ridges of the tracks of prey
nor dig for mice,
and though I wait and sit
I send my thoughts back
while my body stays.