Slogans, Definitions and Games

2011 is almost at an end! I thought I’d borrow a catchy slogan about going green that would define the ideas this blog has tried to impart this past year.



There is the very simple - “Recycling works!”,

the polished - “Recycle today for a better tomorrow”,

the overly-rhyming - “When you refuse to reuse it’s the Earth you abuse”,

and the almost-rhyming -  “Paper, bottles, cans, plastic…recycle them all, it's fantastic!”.

There is the lazy slogan - “Eat, sleep, recycle”,

the reproachful -  “Don't trash our future: Recycle”,

the smug -  “It's easy being green”,
and  the silly.

“I pity the fool who don't recycle”

There is the trying-too-hard-to-be-clever “Waste is a terrible thing to mind-recycle“.  And the hoarder’s mantra -  “When there is doubt, don't throw it out!”

My personal favorite is  - “Recyclers do it over and over again”, but that’s kind of crass.  So is my second choice -  “Once is not enough, recycle”. 

I’m afraid to examine what that says about me! So, let’s just forget the slogan and wipe out waste by following the four R’s as below:

•Reduce - Decrease the amount of waste you produce by purchasing fewer products and making sure that those you do buy are long-lasting and have merit.

•Reuse – Donate or sell items you no longer need or use and re-purpose stuff you already have on hand to eliminate waste.
•Recycle - Plastic, paper, glass and metal materials can be separated and processed to be used again.
•Repair – Fix broken items instead of purchasing replacements.

If you still have stuff leftover, then you can do what I like to do:

Make Art (or something useful) from Recycled Materials

PAPER
magazines

                                               from http://greenupgrader.com

newspapers

 from www.bluecricketdesign.net

PLASTIC
soda bottles

                                          from  www.dollarstorecrafts.com

credit cards

                                          from www.recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com

GLASS

 pickle jars

                                          from www.housetohome.co.uk

  broken glass earrings

                                                  from www.marthastewart.com

METAL

 globes

           from http://consignmentphinds.blogspot.com

spoons

                                          from http://storageandglee.blogspot.com

TEXTILES

zipper

into a beautiful brooch

fabric scraps

                                             from http://kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

OTHER

Truely bizarre

                                                        Recycled "Art"

 Why would you?

                                          something "useful" ?

RECYCLING GAMES

 DUMP TOWN GAME 

This is an online game from the EPA where you are city manager of "Dump Town" and you have to solve the city's pollution problems.

Energy Quest Booklet
This is a 26-page PDF printable booklet from California's "Energy Quest" with puzzles, word games, and crafts.

National Geographic Recycle Roundup
Online game where you have to help "Gus, the gorilla" clean up the park.

Action for Nature
Two online flash games called "Clean Up" and "Recycle".

Recycle Guys

This website offers an online quiz, PDF coloring book, Activity Book and Bingo game.

Ollie's World

From Australia’s Sustain Ability International Party

 

Have fun exploring the crafts links and playing the games! 

RECYCLE (over and over because once is not enough)

Don’t Play with Your Food

Before I even open up this topic, I have to admit that I am prejudiced.
I DO NOT accept that technology always equals progress. If you think it does, then I'm asking you,“WHAT exactly are we progressing toward?”

JUST BECAUSE WE CAN…SHOULD WE?

By 2050, we will need to have figured out a way to feed nine billion people, found a solution to protect our drinking water from pollution, and -almost certainly- adjust to some kind of drastic climate change. All this at the same time, and in less than 40 years!

Given this alarming set of problems, let’s just limit ourselves to the first challenge and ask “What is the quickest, least expensive way to develop higher yields of drought-, flood- and pest-resistant crops?” How are we going to feed that many people?

Some people think that genetically engineered (GE) crops are the answer. However, classical breeding programs (the system that has supported mankind since we began growing our own food) introduce new varieties just as fast as genetic engineering, and use ecologically sound methods.  GE foods are not better. Why? Because genetically engineered seeds do not increase overall crop production. Most of the “genetic engineering” that is done is just to help the seed survive being drenched with chemicals. That’s all.

Monsanto and DuPont, the two largest chemical companies in the world, are also the two largest seed companies in the world. What a coincidence! The main source of seeds for all our major crops are being patented by these two corporations. Instead of being an answer to world hunger, genetic engineering could actually be a major contributor to starvation! How?

READ THIS PART TWICE

There are now patents on genetically engineered 'terminator' seeds. These seeds are designed by biotech companies to produce a sterile seed after a single growing season! This is done to make sure that farmers cannot save the seeds to use the next planting period, but will have to buy them from corporations every season instead. Does anyone believe that the solution to world hunger is to make the crops of the world sterile?

 Seeds of Change              Terminator Seeds            Ban This Technology

JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN…SHOULD WE LET THEM?

Can you picture the starvation that would occur should these “sterility genes” escape from the engineered crops and contaminate other local crops, unintentionally sterilizing them? It would be catastrophic, since most of the world's farmers DO rely on seeds saved from one season to use in planting the next years' crop.

Facts regarding Natural Food Vs. Genetically Engineered Foods:
1. EXPENSE - Genetically engineered crops are significantly more expensive to develop.

2. CONTROL -The world's food supply will be in the hands of a few large companies.
Self-sufficient farmers will be driven off their land. (Monopolies are never good.)

3. TESTING TIME IS THE SAME - Just as in classical breeding, new GE varieties must be tested in the field for several years to ensure they perform as expected.

4. FOOD SECURITY -Will we know what we are eating?

5. POLLINATION – GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) can’t control honey bees! Insect pollination is the main way plants are propagated. Insects will move genetically modified material around, spreading it in unexpected ways and to unwanted places. The insects themselves may also be affected by the differing qualities/quantities of nectar from these plants – and in the case of honey bees – it may be passed on to us when we eat their honey!

6. DECREASED NUTRITIONAL VALUE - Brightly colored, fresh looking GE foods may actually be weeks old, with poorer nutritional value.

7. INFERIOR PROPERTIES- Plant breeders have already produced drought tolerant varieties of sorghum, corn, rice, cassava and pearl millet - all critical for poor farmers in developing countries. Meanwhile, Genetic engineering has yet to commercialize its first drought-tolerant crop.

8. BIODIVERSITY - Biotechnology will destroy biodiversity by limiting the types of foods grown – we need more kinds NOT LESS!

9. NO RECALL - Once genetically modified organisms have been introduced into the environment, they can't be called back. It’s permanent.

For Example: Researchers at Purdue University found out that the release of only a few genetically engineered fish into a large native fish population could make the original species extinct in only a few generations. Scientists at Cornell University discovered that the pollen from Bt corn could be fatal to the monarch butterfly and other beneficial insects.

10. GENE TRANSFER- Is it possible that human genes could be introduced into the food supply? ABSOLUTELY!!!!



Gene Transfer


11. HEALTH CONCERNS -Researchers at the USDA are currently experimenting with inserting human growth genes into pigs, in a Maryland project at the Belchville Agricultural Research Center. The problem? If you introduce human genes into pigs, viruses that only affect pigs could adapt to affect humans! If viruses are able to cross the species barrier, then we could have devastating worldwide epidemics in the human population!

Our ability to play with genetics gives us the power to alter our biology and radically change our environment. Forever. This kind of power should not be given to -or wielded by- those seeking profits. That we allow this power to be unregulated is unbelievable, but true.

If we don't take a stand now, our future is already set.

Check these links for library books available

Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth’s recipe for Food by Peterson, Cris 

Uncertain Peril: genetic engineering and the future of seeds by Cummings, Claire 

A seed is sleepy by Aston, Dianna Hutts 

Plant (DVD) by Mortimore, Morton

Seeds of Change: the living treasure: the passionate story of the growing movement to restore biodiversity and revolutionize the way we think about food by Ausubel, Ken  

Growing plants from seed by Abraham, George 

Starved for science: how biotechnology is being kept out of Africa by Paarlberg, Robert L.

Genetically engineered food:  a self-defense guide for consumers  by Cummins, Ronnie  

From the good earth: a celebration of growing food around the world by Ableman, Michael

The everything guide to foraging: identifying, harvesting and cooking nature’s wild fruits and vegetables by Shufer, Vickie 

The dirty life: on farming, food and love by Kimball, Kristin

Four Fish: the future of the last wild food by Greenberg, Paul

 

Can We Recycle Energy?



Nikola Tesla

 Thomas Edison gets the credit for discovering the light bulb, but it was his former assistant, Nikola Tesla, who made the breakthrough in alternating-current technology that now provides electrical power to us.

When Tesla began working for him, Edison had just invented the electric light bulb, but he needed a system to distribute the electricity. Edison had designed a DC (direct current) system, but he couldn't make it work right and offered $50,000.00 to anyone could fix the machine! When Tesla solved the problem, Edison took back the offer saying that “it was just a joke.” So,Tesla quit. Edison immediately took out the patent for the (now working) direct current motor in his own name!

In school, we were taught that Edison was some kind of genius, but from what I’ve been reading, it seems to me that Edison was really a greedy, opportunist who became rich by claiming the inventions of his employees, cheating them out of the profits due them, and then vindictively smearing those who stood up to him.

Since Tesla knew about the problems with DC electrical power, after he left Edison he came up with a better idea – Alternating Current or AC.  Today, everything runs on the A/C system.

Did Tesla get rich off this idea and get his revenge on Edison? Nope. Unfortunately, Tesla was working for George Westinghouse when he came up with this invention. Just as Edison had done, Mr. Westinghouse provided the funding for the inventor’s research and then stole the patent for himself.

Men like Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse have always been around to interfere with the development of something new or something better. Why? If someone is financially invested in the status quo, there is no incentive for them to embrace any kind of change. It’s all about politics and money. That’s why the use of solar power still hasn’t kicked in.

Big Fossil Fuel Industries lobby to stop any subsidies for alternate energy because they are making huge profits from coal and oil. They’d rather drill in Alaska, run pipelines under the river in Yellowstone and spill oil in the Gulf of Mexico,even though the most abundant resource available to us is the Sun – because sunlight is free! The cost is in manufacturing the solar cells.

Without the government subsidies available to fund the production of solar cells, we are forced to depend upon coal and oil. Legislation follows the money. Most people can figure costs, but few can measure values.

After Tesla left Westinghouse he came up with a lot of other great ideas. He solved problems in engineering, physics, steam turbines, magnetism and robotics. He used the power from Niagara Falls to make the first hydroelectric power plant!  He created a 130-foot long bolt of lightning in his lab and wirelessly lit 200 light bulbs from a power source 26 miles away. He even came up with a way to clean the human body of germs using electricity!  But, unfortunately, he kept most of the designs for his inventions in his head. After his earlier experiences with sponsors do you blame him?

One of his ideas was for something he called “Free Energy”. He thought that a generator could pull electrostatic energy from the Earth’s atmosphere, which could then be broadcast to other locations through the ground.

“We are whirling through endless space, with an inconceivable speed, all around everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere there is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly. Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store forever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides. The mere contemplation of these magnificent possibilities expand our minds, strengthens our hopes and fills our hearts with supreme delight.”

- Nikola Tesla

If true, this invention could have produced a never-ending supply of power for the entire planet! However, when he died in 1943, the FBI confiscated all of Tesla’s paperwork. I guess we may never know, but the idea and the possibility is still ...exciting.

“When the great truth accidentally revealed and experimentally confirmed is fully recognized, that this planet, with all its appalling immensity, is to electric currents virtually no more than a small metal ball and that by this fact many possibilities, each baffling imagination and of incalculable consequence, are rendered absolutely sure of accomplishment; when the first plant is inaugurated and it is shown that a telegraphic message, almost as secret and non-interferable as a thought, can be transmitted to any terrestrial distance, the sound of the human voice, with all its intonations and inflections, faithfully and instantly reproduced at any other point of the globe, the energy of a waterfall made available for supplying light, heat or motive power, anywhere — on sea, or land, or high in the air — humanity will be like an ant heap stirred up with a stick: See the excitement coming!”

- Nikola Tesla

Links to Library Books Available on This Subject:

The Five Fists of Science by Matt Fraction

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the race to electrify the world by Jill Jonnes

The Tesla Papers by Nikola Tesla

Wizard: the life and times of Nikola Tesla:biography of a genius by Marc J. Seifer

Pandora's Box

I was recently lured into watching the latest disaster movie "Contagion" because Matt Damon was starring in it. This is a story about a future global pandemic. As these types of movies go, it was well done,entertaining and fairly accurate. However, even cute Matt Damon won't tempt me into seeing it twice. I mean, what would be the point? I figure that ( just like the movie) by the time the World Health Organization issues a statement about an upcoming plague, it will be too late. Nobody opens an umbrella until after it has begun to rain. If you are already wet, what good is the umbrella?

We have had enough stuff happening locally lately - fires, earthquakes and hurricanes - to deal with.  I  know that the possibility of widespread infectious disease is certainly real, but we shouldn't waste our time worrying about it. When they tell you a hurricane is coming, you stock up on supplies and prepare yourself as best you can. You won't get a warning before an earthquake strikes. The only thing you have any real control over is yourself. (And sometimes, even that is questionable!)

It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. But, I'm not going to fret about possible future events that I have no control over. Neither should you! Besides, most of the disasters predicted have never actually happened.  Or, if they did, things didn't turn out like they said it would. Remember these?

CLICK ON THE LINKS

Killer Bees

Y2K

Mad Cow Disease

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

AH1N1 Swine Flu

Avian (Bird) Flu

West Nile Virus

Anthrax

MRSA (Flesh Eating Bacteria)

While all these are of some concern, I think a greater immediate danger to us is global terrorism and an unstable world economy.   These are things that we can solve.

While I can't pretend to be an expert in politics, my view of terrorism is that it exists simply because people are trying to fix something that they perceive to be an injustice, and they can't see any other way to bring that change about except by violent actions.  

Al Qaeda - wants to remove current leadership and foreign influence in Arab countries in order to promote their version of Islam.

IRA - wants to create a unified Ireland under Irish rule, not British.

Animal  Liberation Front  (Associated with PETA) - wants to end animal abuse.

All these groups have what they think are legitimate causes. The methods they use to promote those causes is what determines how legitimate the rest of the world feels their claims to be.  Their success utimately depends upon support from others, and you can't gain sympathy for your cause by following a negative path.  As Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." 

We have an unstable economy because humans are basically greedy.  We take what we want/do what we want, with no thought of the consequences. We pollute the air, poison the land and the water, and treat each other with disdain. We want wealth without work, we practice commerce without morality, science without humanity, and politics without principles.

The difference between what we do, and what we are able to do would be enough to solve most problems. We have to be that change we want to see in the world.  Peace, to have meaning, can't just be a word.  It must be translated into food, shelter, health care, education, freedom and human dignity. If you want peace, you must work for justice. 

There is no way to peace, peace is the way.

---
Check out these links:  BOOKS AVAILABLE AT OUR LIBRARY
The Agricultural Link: how environmental deterioration could disrupt economic progress   by Lester R. Brown

Deep Economy: the wealth of communities and the durable future by Bill McKibben

100 Ways to Save the World by Johan Tell

The End of Nature by Bill McKibben

One With Nineveh by Paul Ehrlich

Enough: staying human in an engineered age by Bill McKibben

Wild Solutions: how biodiversity is money in the bank by Andrew Beattie

Doh! RE: me

Doh!

While browsing through one of our “New Books” displays at the library, a title caught my eye. It was called “Don’t Throw It Out.” I quickly scanned my eyes across it to see if my husband was listed there as author, but it was Lori Baird.

If you lived at my house, you’d know why I might have thought this. “Don’t Throw It Out!” is my husband’s mantra. When I first met him I thought it was “cute” that he had a cardboard box full of old doorknobs under his bed. It was “amusing” that he belonged to a Bottle Collector’s Club and dug for these glass treasures at dump sites with other quirky people. I was “impressed” that he built a fireplace from recovered cobblestones. The carved wooden figurehead of a mermaid that stood in his living room was “artistic”.



How many doors?



Fast forward 30 years later….

We have a garage, a workshop and a barn - all completely full of stuff. And I do mean full! (And I'm paraphrasing the word "stuff"!) We have a wooden church pew, a dentist chair, 2 jukeboxes, a 1947 Farmall tractor, a baby crib, a unicycle, several wall-mount bull horns, a giant plastic Corona beer bottle, bunkbeds, a rocking horse, 45 Westinghouse oscillating fans (I counted them), a rowing machine, a drill press, 4 lawnmowers , and a huge red neon sign that says “Ruby’s Barbershop”. All are in excellent condition and just waiting for a day in the distant future when we might have need of them.

I am all for re-purposing, re-using, and recycling things. That’s what this blog is about. I hate waste. But, one thing I hate worse than waste is clutter. But, you’d never know that if you saw my house. Clutter starts innocently enough. No one intends for it to happen. It just comes about gradually. Then one day you look around and you realize that you can’t find your dining room table!

This is why "open storage" is a bad idea!

I have books. BOOKS! Lots of books. OMG BOOKS! I just love books. I have craft projects. EVERYWHERE! Most are unfinished …and most likely they will remain unfinished. If you ask me why, I will probably tell you it is because I don’t have the time, but that’s not true. The real reason is:

     A. I have lost interest because it takes too long and/or is too difficult

     B. I have run out of or don’t have enough of a key ingredient

     C. I have lost the instructions and/or screwed it up somehow

     D. I’m reading. Go away.

I should just throw everything out! Yet, I keep telling myself that “I’ll finish it later” and I hang on to it. Yeah, right! I’m going to finish sewing that size 8 skirt that no-way-in-hell I’ll ever be able to squeeze into now? Do I even want a latch hook rug of a tiger if I complete it? (Did I ever?) I’m going to finish that baby quilt with the hand embroidered panels that I started for my daughter? She is 19 years old. Give it up!

My husband has a wide variety of interests. That’s one of the things that make him so appealing. In addition to the antique bottles, he has a 3-shelf barrister’s bookcase filled with toy tractors, one corner of the den floor is crowded with old flat irons and the living room mantle and adjacent area is stacked with clay pots.

A place to hang your hat?

I also have a few collections – like cookbooks, (Hey, they’re BOOKS!) Alright? I have a ceramic frog collection too. Can I just stop and point out that even though they take up more space than my husband’s stamp hobby, they take up a lot LESS space than the Westinghouse oscillating fans! I’m just saying.

One of my dear co-workers, when visiting my house for the first time, said "Wow, you could have a great yard sale!"  Well, we could if we could agree on what to get rid of!

The last yard sale we had was over 20 years ago (just before we bought our current property). I am still hearing complaints about the Hawaiian grass skirt I inadvertently sold along with a ostrich-feathered Shriner’s hat. Though both were “obviously” priceless items that we somehow have managed to stumble along without, I have never been able to drive past a yard sale with my husband in the car since, without him mentioning this blunder.  Apparently, there is no statute of limitations on the mishandling of such revered objets d’art!

There comes a point where you need to eliminate non-essentials. Simplify! If you don’t use it, you don’t need it. If you don’t love it, why have it around? I know this.

     “I’ll do it later.”
     “I might need it one day.”
     “It was given to me by someone. -or- It belonged to someone.”
     “It cost a lot of money. –or- It’s worth a lot of money.”
     “It brings back memories”.

These are just excuses for not taking action. Reduce! If you can’t bear to throw it away – donate it! I guarantee that no matter what it is, someone somewhere will want it. I just hope it won’t be my husband!

Start small - clean out that junk drawer!

Interesting Links:
http://www.baabaazuzu.com/
http://www.homemoviedept.com/
http://www.couchsurfing.com/



Girl Gone Wild

One of the most common themes in the Science Fiction genre is that of a future remnant of Mankind struggling to survive after a cataclysmic disaster. Countless books and movies have used this storyline.

Books

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – Humanity becomes infertile due to pollution

Fallen Angels by Larry Niven – Mankind causes an Ice Age

The Other Eden by Ben Elton – Earth’s residents must live under domes

Dust by Charles Pellegrino – Every insect on Earth dies

Film

LOGAN’S RUN – overpopulation forces governments to kill citizens once they reach the age of 30

WATERWORLD – Global warming has caused the land to disappear as oceans rise

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW – A superstorm covers the Earth with snow

2012 - Solar flares cause the temperature of the Earth to increase

There is even a Disney animated film for children called WALL-E about a future Earth that is abandoned by mankind and left in the care of robots. For teens, there is the anime film series COWBOY BEBOP which recounts the man-made disaster that causes the Earth’s moon to break apart. And, for everyone’s enjoyment (?), there is a video game called THE FALL: LAST DAYS OF GAIA, which chronicles the end of humanity.

Does it really have to be this way? Is this our true destiny? Has mankind accepted this scenario as inevitable? If you are reading this and nodding your head “Yes”, then SHAME ON YOU!!! If you want to just lay down and die, then go ahead. Good riddance! But, you are not taking me with you! I’m not going down without a fight!

A Better Philosophy

There is a movement afoot called “Re-wilding” which urges us to return to a more natural state of being. The idea is - that if we could adopt and maintain a sustainable way of life as hunters, gatherers and gardeners - we could unfasten the chains that bind us to a fate no one wants. This “Restoration Ecology “ calls for us to undo our domestication and become the creatures we were originally intended to be. Yes, it’s true, we WERE …Born to be Wild.
 

YES

NO

Most people think of humanity’s evolution as a straight line of steady progression and increasing complexity. They see Man as the ultimate goal. But, evolution doesn’t really work that way. From any starting point, variation moves in all directions. There is no straight line. Evolution drives diversity.

Think about it -If evolution forced complexity, then (by now) all life on Earth would be multi-celled organisms much more complicated than us! Instead, the most abundant life on Earth consists of one-celled bacteria; and there are many, many different kinds of them. The number of species actually lessens as it becomes more elaborate. There is more plankton than there are whales.

We humans are the product of evolution, just like every other organism on Earth. Nature does not exist to serve us. We are not the objective. We are only part of this world. We are bound to nature as it is bound to us. Did you know that the substance that human blood resembles most closely in terms of chemical composition is salt water?

If we foul our air and water with pollution, cut down our forests, hunt animals to extinction or destroy their habitat, consume more than we produce, then we are ultimately destroying ourselves. We depend upon the Earth to live, but it could very easily get along without us. In fact, Earth would probably be better off if we disappeared entirely!

But, let’s not go just yet!

Different World - Same Idea

Look at some of these links below and think about what you could do to help save species by restoring their habitats, what you could do to support legislation to revive migration corridors, stop soil erosion, participate in re-forestation efforts, undam natural waterways or even little things like re-introducing native plant species in your yard. Join or support a group that promotes restoration ecology. Maybe a person’s time would be as well spent raising food as making money to buy food?


Rewilding

Urban Restoration

Society for Ecological Restoration

World Wildlife

Let’s change the world back to the way it works best. Let’s act as good stewards, guarding our planet from the things that would do it (and us) harm. We must stop the insanity that permits bad decisions to go unchecked.

  Another Oil Spill  

Like allowing Exxon to run underground oil pipelines through Yellowstone!

When we “rewild”, we give Earth a chance to recover some of its biological diversity. This will insure that there will be more food (because there will be more varieties), more fuel (if we use renewable sources like sun, air, and water), more timber (because we won’t be cutting down the trees). The air and water will be cleaner. Wastes will decompose naturally without man-made toxins. Soil will be fertile and pollinating insects plentiful. Animal habitats will be restored. Balance will be achieved.

“In wilderness, is the preservation of the world.” --- Henry David Thoreau
----
Library books on this topic:
The Sixth Extinction  by Terry Glavin
Rewilding The World by Caroline Fraser
Chesapeake Bay Blues by Howard Ernst

Wanted: Housekeeper

When I read the paper or watch a news program concerning environmental issues, I sometimes become depressed.  The problems we face - global warming, air and water pollution, hunger, over-population and the energy crunch seem never-ending and unsolvable.

I'm just one person.  You are just one person.  Even if we band together to solve these problems, there are so many more out there that it almost seems hopeless.  Yet, that's what we have to do.  We have to clean "our house" room by room.

Different things matter most to each person.  Take two people who both  like the great outdoors: One of them enjoys hiking and wants to preserve the nature trails by making them off limits to traffic.  The other person enjoys fishing. He wants to be able to use a vehicle in order to bring his boat to the water.

Both of them want to enjoy the same area, but they have different views as to how it should be used.  Because they both enjoy nature, they probably have more in common than they think.  It may be just this one issue they disagree upon. They will have to compromise in order for both of them to get what they want.

The unfortunate fact is that neither of them will probably even realize that this is something they need work on together until something goes wrong.  This is human nature. Until a paper company moves in and begins cutting trees, they will view each other as foes.  And, of course, by that time it may be too late to form a united opposition. 

Once the bigger problem is recognized by all, they will waste time arguing over the cause, who is to blame, who should take responsibility for fixing it, and how it should be addressed. They will form a committee to study the problem, discuss the findings and propose regulations.  Meanwhile, the paper company is steadily chopping trees. 

If only they had recognized their common interests from the first, instead of focusing on their disagreement over one little issue.  As allies, they could have worked together and drawn up a plan to protect that area of wilderness that they both love. Together they could have formed a strong, organized unit capable of taking on any challenge.

This is why we have "renegade" groups such as Greenpeace and PETA.  People get tired of waiting for the regulations to be set in place and/or enforced, and so they take matters into their own hands.

Yet, even just one person can make a difference if it is the RIGHT person!  For example:  Rachel Carson, who wrote Silent Spring back in 1962, realized that the use of pesticides (DDT) was causing the death of non-pest insects and being passed along the food-chain to birds and other animals and also contaminating our water supply.  She carefully documented the evidence and published a book about it.  People in government, industry and even academia told her that she (a non-scientist) could not possibly know what she was talking about!

But, the facts were real and she put them out there for all to see.  Because of her, DDT was banned. It is possible to change things.  You just can't allow yourself to give up or be discouraged by others.  You have to be like the turtle...steadily plodding toward the finish line.  You can't be distracted from your goal.

This morning, my house is a disaster! If I look at it as a whole, I am daunted by the amount of housework I have to do.  The clutter, the laundry, the yardwork are overwhelming!

I'll begin to tackle it room by room, and by suppertime, it will be under control.  Not perfect, you understand, but I will at least be able to imagine again that perfection is attainable.

BOOKS AVAILABLE AT OUR LIBRARY
One with Ninevah: politics, consumption, and the human future   by Ehrlich, Paul R.

Wild solutions: how biodiversity is money in the bank    by Beattie, Andrew J.   

The third chimpanzee: the evolution and future of the human animal Diamond,  Jared M.   

Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed by Diamond, Jared M.    

Something New Under the Sun by McNeill, J. R. 

Silent Spring by Carson, Rachel 

The gentle subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent spring, and the rise of the environmental movement    by Lytle, Mark H.

Writings and Drawings by Audubon, John James  

Field notes from a catastrophe: man, nature, and climate change   by Kolbert, Elizabeth  

Rewilding the World: dispatches from the conservation revolution  Caroline Frasier       

The Wilder Life

I just finished reading The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure. This author traced the pioneer path the Ingalls family took from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to the plains of Kansas as described in the “Little House” book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Just like me, Wendy McClure read and loved the stories as a child. I, like most readers, identified with the spirited “Laura”.

I admired the way the Ingalls family lived so cleanly with nature. They bravely traveled across the grassy plains in a covered wagon seeking to make a home for themselves somewhere “out west.” They were self-sufficient. Because there were no big trees to build a cabin from on the prairie, Pa built a sod house in the banks of a river, Ma cooked wonderful meals from whatever Pa was able to hunt or she was able to plant. The little girls sewed nine-patch quilts from clothing scraps and played with corncob dolls. The family was close and loving and happy. It was easy to imagine yourself to be inside the book.



Storybook Sod House



 

 


A Real Sod House

The life of the pioneer was “green” because that’s the way people lived back then. All the labor-saving devices the modern world uses weren’t invented yet! They recycled because of necessity. Worn clothing was used to make quilts and “organic” food was grown because there were no pesticides. All livestock were “free-range”. It sounds glorious! 

Little House on the Prairie



Real cabin on the prairie



Ms. McClure thought so too. We have to remember, however, that the Little House books were fiction!  Yes, there was a real Laura Ingalls and she wrote the stories about her family, but they are akin to Norman Rockwell paintings – the gritty realities have been sanitized. In Laura’s real life there was disease [Mary became blind] and death [A baby boy died] due to poor medical care. There was pestilence [grasshoppers] and drought that caused crop failure and starvation [The Long Winter]. We tend to forget those parts.

Sod House

As an adult, I have done some of the things Laura did, but because I wanted to–not because it was a necessity. No matter how much I have gardened, or canned, or cooked or sewed I don’t think I’ve ever been as obsessed about it as Mrs. McClure, who bought a churn and made her own butter. I began to notice her mania early on before she herself recognized it.

churning milk into butter

For throughout her journeys into “Laura’s World” I got the sense that she was searching for something much bigger than insight into Laura. Something was missing from her life and she didn’t know what it was. Like many people, she felt a sadness that could not be named. She thinks she wants to find “Laura”, but it is herself that is lost. She is disconnected from her own life.

Norman Rockwell

She has yet to learn that until you make peace with who you really are, not who you WANT to be, you’ll never be content with what you have or the life you are leading. There is only one journey–going inside yourself. You have to discover yourself first. She has not discovered that there is something inside each of us from which we can extract everything we need to live joyously and abundantly.

If you are unhappy about killing animals for food, then become vegetarian. If you are concerned about chemicals in your food, grow your own. If you are dismayed by waste, then re-cycle. Prices too high? Go without or seek an alternative solution. The only things that are necessary for your life are those that make you happy.

Please listen to Jane!

While reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, I wanted to be a pioneer too. So did Wendy McClure. Neither of us has really ever outgrown that wish. A part of me has often thought that, when I retire, I’ll “go pioneer”. I’ll wear long cotton skirts (with flip-flops), quit wearing make-up and stop dying my hair. I’ll let it grow long again and plait it. I’ll expand my vegetable garden, drink herbal tea and bake bread. I’ll sew. I’ll read more (if that’s possible).

But, another part of me is sensible enough to know that it’s really the SIMPLICITY that I am longing for. And nothing is ever really as simple as you think it is. I already do some of those things and it hasn’t actually made my life any easier. I’ve had fun. I’ve learned a lot. It’s been interesting. But it might be “simpler” to keep my hair cut short, buy my veggies at a farmer’s market and my bread from the bakery.

I’m willing to let go of that life I originally dreamed, so that I can have the life that is waiting for me. Whatever it turns out to be, I’m sure it will be a wilder life than I can imagine right now. I know that because it will be my own story – not Laura’s. And I can live with that.