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.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
North woods
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Follow
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.
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!
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
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!
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!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Response to Comments
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.
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.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Poems, anthems, odes
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.
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!
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.
Be strong in the environmental realm, people. Stronger than any president.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Kick the Bottle
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Montana
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.
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.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Correction:
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.
**************
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.
**************
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Only a FOOL stands between me and the blood wine!
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.
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!
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?
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?
Friday, April 18, 2008
Dear University of Montana
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.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Put your Senators on SPeed Dial
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Coal Train!
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.
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.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Realistic Portrait of Subsistence Economy
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.
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
"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.
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.
Friday, March 28, 2008
100 Years...
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.
Monday, March 24, 2008
1, 2, Tie My Shoe?
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.
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.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Article I
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.
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.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Revolution Time
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.
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
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Trash
http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
Above is a link. You should use it. Then read. Then... cry?
Above is a link. You should use it. Then read. Then... cry?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
A Disturbance in the Force
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.
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.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Tonight the Bus, Tomorrow the World
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
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
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Quakers
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?
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?
Monday, February 25, 2008
A religion not even my dad can disagree with
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The Guardian of the Serengeti
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.
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.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Gorilla?
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Is my poetry bad just because its easy to understand?
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!
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!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Sustainable Development
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.
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.
Monday, February 4, 2008
One Point for the Little GUY!
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.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
EXPLOITATION
"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
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
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
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
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Leave me There
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.
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.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The art of invisibilty
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.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Trade Offs
"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
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
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