Sustainable agriculture Part 1

The beauty of living in North Carolina is that eventually you'll meet someone who has a farm. A woman who works in my department has a small chicken farm, which she runs with sustainable agriculture practices, and she knows other people in the sustainable agriculture community. The thing about a farm is that there is ALWAYS work to be done. So a bunch of us students have started volunteering on Saturdays so that we could learn more, help out, and of course, procrastinate on our school work. Yesterday was the first farmhand day, and we went to help out our chicken farming friend.

Some more details about the farm: they have about 100 chickens who lay eggs year-round and three roosters, and in the spring and summer, they have more chickens which they sell for meat. They take the meat birds to a small processing plant nearby--none of the slaughtering is done on-site. They also have a pony and a horse that they rescued, and they donate a parcel of their land to a pot-bellied pig rescue. All of the animals are completely free-range. The chickens eat natural grains fed to them, plus they wander around all day eating bugs, worms, and other seeds. At night, they naturally come home to roost, which means they wander into the big caged area and sit down and hang out for the night. The cages are there only to protect them from raccoons and oppossums, which get in anyway. This year, they're getting a guard dog to protect the roost at night.

If you think chicken farming is easy, think again. The owners are up early in the morning to feed and let out the chickens, collect eggs to sell, and feed and take care of the horse and pony. They then take their kids to school and go to work. At night, they have to feed and secure the roosts, take care of the horse and pony, make dinner, help kids with homework, and get ready to repeat again the next day. Any chickens that are injured by predators need to be cared for, and when they have chicks, they have to make sure the heat lamp is on and that they're safe. They also have to move the meat bird roosts each day on top of fresh grass, fix anything that has broken, and attend to regular life. If there's bad weather, something will surely be flooded or frozen or broken. If predators attack, the battlefield must be cleaned up. And those things don't stop or go away just because work is stressful or there's a death in the family or it's a holiday. Farming is a life that goes on every single day, no matter what.

Chickens are funny animals, with the energy of dogs and the curiosity of cats. One chicken even jumped up into the car to get a better look. At the end of the day, we all sat around on the porch, drinking beer and watching the chicken-and-children antics unfold. Then we drove to a local dairy farm and had fresh ice cream. Then we went home and the reality of our schoolwork, so insignificant compared to the real world of farming and family, hit like a brick.

In two weeks, we plan to visit another sustainable farm, something different, where the tasks will be all new. But at the end of the day, we'll know we contributed to something important. It's an experience everyone should have.

*By the way, yes, I am still, and will continue to be, vegetarian. My biggest issue with meat is the giant factory farms that have atrocious animal treatment practices. It's important to me to support sustainable agriculture, plus I enjoy helping people out with this kind of work, and I learned a whole lot. *

Adieu Molly

Molly Ivins passed away today. She was a strong lady, but unfortunately cancer was stronger. Adieu, dear Molly. Here's to hoping someone else with the cajones to continually call out the Bush administration and other ridiculous human tricks will emerge and pick up where you left off.
(click on the post title to read about Molly in the Texas Observer)

Snow in the South

It snowed in Durham on Thursday. This is a photo of the trees across the street. We got about an inch total between 5 am and 9 am. An inch. In Chicago, an inch is barely noticeable. Here, it means the world is ending. The morning shows were preempted by the local news on every station, in order to report the chaos. Schools were closed. Businesses were closed. The news reported more than 100 car accidents before 8 am. All that everyone talked about was the snow.

By noon, the snow was gone. It melted into puddles, and the snow turned to misty rain. Friday was warmer and sunny, and no one would ever know that there had been snow just two days ago.

Do your research, folks

Dark Cloud Over Good Works of Gates Foundation
I knew it was too good to be true--Bill Gates leaving Microsoft to devote his time to the foundation that raises and donates more money than exists in some small countries? Stephen Colbert often refers to the foundation as the 'Stephen and Melinda Gates Foundation'. Wonder if he'll still want to be a part of it? Maybe more so, since his tongue-in-cheek character on his show would love such investments in things like large oil companies.

This is proof that you should always look into the organizations to which you donate money, because they're not always forthcoming about what happens behind the scenes.

Headline from the future: "Whirrled peas not just for babies and hippies anymore"

Here are the first and last paragraphs from the account of what one Alternet.com writer imagines what life could be like between now and 2026:

"The other day, I borrowed some kids to go gawk with me at the one thing that we can always count on in an ever-more unstable world: age-of-dinosaur dioramas in science museums. This one had the usual dramatic clash between a tyrannosaurus and a triceratops; pterodactyls soaring through the air, one with a small reptile in its toothy maw; and some oblivious grazing by what, when I was young in another millennium, we would have called a brontosaurus. Easy to overlook in all that drama was the shrew-like mammal perched on a reed or thick blade of grass, too small to serve even as an enticing pterodactyl snack. The next thing coming down the line always looks like that mammal at the beginning -- that's what I told the kids -- inconsequential, beside the point; the official point usually being the clash of the titans."

"The future, of course, is not something you predict and wait for. It is something you invent daily through your actions. As Mas Kodani, a Buddhist in Los Angeles, said in the early twenty-first century: "One does not stand still looking for a path. One walks; and as one walks, a path comes into being." We make it up as we go, and we make it up by going, or as the Zapatistas more elegantly put it, "Walking we ask questions." What else can you do?

Perhaps respect the power of the small and the mystery of the future to which we all belong."

It's rather true, and rather encouraging. More and more people are getting fed up with the incompetency of those we rely on to do our bidding, so we're starting to take action on our own to affect change. (Perhaps it also signals an end to our general laziness that has created the obesity and ADD epidemics of late). Read the whole article here: Looking back at history from 2026

Amusing? Idealistic? Naive? Maybe, but ultimately it's one version of what needs to happen if there's any hope for a positive future. There's still time to ask Santa for world peace (or whirrled peas, if you prefer).

El Capitol

Raleigh is a real town. Kind of. The downtown is bigger than Durham and has a fair amount going on, considering it's a state capital. There are tall office buildings (both existing and being constructed) and government office buildings and local restaurants and stores, and a surprisingly large number of architecture firms. It's a growing Southern city, and it's pretty exciting to see this region expand. Chicago is cool, but there are few new challenges there. Population density is still low here, and there's lots of open space awaiting construction. And that construction is often green--I have seen lots of ads in the independent paper about green homes and apartments. The campus buses run on biodiesel. The energy companies are very visible, and people are working had to preserve the open spaces in the region. The city planning department holds charrettes to give residents a chance to participate in neighborhood development.

Maybe these things happen in other places too, they're just more visible here because there's less of everything. The history museum in Raleigh was closed, so there is probably a lot of interesting here. But for a region that once thrived on the tobacco industry, then crashed when smoking became a bad word, there's a lot of potential yet.

The things you learn on a play day

Today I rented a car and ran some errands, mostly as a celebration for finishing my first semester of grad school. First, I found out from the Enterprise guy that they used to get hybrid cars to rent out (and sell--Enterprise sells their cars too) but since the hybrids have been such a hot commodity, the car companies took away the hybrids to put directly on the market. Then, I was listening to talk radio (not the wacky conservative kind, just some guys talking on the radio) and they did a story about a lawmaker in Texas who is trying to bring equality to the sport (?!) of hunting. Apparently, in Texas (and probably other places too--I've heard this before) it is illegal to use laser spotters while hunting. But this lawmaker is trying to pass a law allowing legally blind people to use spotters, as long as a fully sighted person is supervising. As the talk show guy pointed out, why don't they go all the way and allow legally blind people to drive cars too, as long as a fully sighted person is supervising.

Huh.

Humorous interlude that's somewhat relevant

Pastafarianism and a correlation between pirates and global warming

The Electric (car) Slide

Maybe the backlash following the death of the electric car has had a bigger impact than previously thought. GM has announced that they are beginning redevelopment of a new electric version of the Saturn Vue, though they can't say right now when it will be ready. Check out this article for more info, and note that includes a mention that all Hummers will soon be converted to run on E85 fuel (which is only kind of better than gasoline) Perhaps we should all write a thank-you letter to GM for their renewed commitment to fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility .

"When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, 'Let's debate the science'?"

That quote is from John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co. He agrees that we need to do something to deal with increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and in this article it looks like that will soon be happening. It's amazing how much has changed in only the few weeks since the Democrats gained control of the House and Senate. Maybe things will actually get done now.

Travelling green (or not)

To be...
Expedia.com now offers the option of purchasing TerraPass for all flights booked through the site, ranging from $5.99 each for a short flight to $29.99 for international flights. This is the cost Expedia pays, so all of the money goes directly to TerraPass to offset the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere during the flight. Check out the TerraPass option on Expedia here or learn more about TerraPass here.

Or not to be...
Just saw "Who Killed the Electric Car?" It made me want to never own a car again, because the car companies are all the same. Maybe Toyota and some of the others have gotten better, but GM is still evil. There are two interesting parts in the movie that have nothing to do with the topic: first of all, Mel Gibson is one of the featured celebrities, and really, the guy gets more nuts by the day; second, two women protesting the transfer of a number of electric cars to the demolition site park their car peacefully in front of the truck. When the cops pull them out of the car and arrest them (the women are peaceful the whole time and don't resist arrest), the cops put the plastic handcuffs (plastic baggie ties, really) on the white woman and real handcuffs on the African-American woman. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I just thought that was interesting.

Weather or not...

I have lived in North Carolina for three months now, and I have two questions:

1. Why would anyone want to live in North Carolina during the summer, when it is completely hot and humid and there is no major body of water in sight? Chicago in the summer is just perfect, and I've had the most fun ever during the two summers I lived in the city of Chicago.

2. Why would anyone want to live in Chicago during the winter, when the cold wind takes your breath away and the sun doesn't come out for weeks? The past month in Durham has felt more like September in Chicago, and locals aren't terribly surprised that it's going to be 78 degrees and sunny tomorrow. It's kind of weird to not feel cold and depressed in November, because that's about all I've ever known. Not that I miss it.

On a completely baffling side note, I just learned today that Time Warner Cable has a monopoly down here (not the baffling part), and that they have decided not to carry the Bravo and LOGO (a network with gay- and lesbian-themed programming) channels because "Time Warner carries only family-friendly programming" and apparently Bravo and LOGO aren't "family-friendly." Also, North Carolina's policy for teaching health in school includes abstinence-only sex education, and rape prevention education in schools suffers because it means people would have to admit that kids actually have sex. So I guess it's too much to ask to have good weather *and* open-minded community members. Not that I'm surprised.

C'mon, ride the train

This weekend, I rode the Amtrak to Charlotte. Loved it! Why don't people take the train more often? Okay, it does take longer than flying if you're travelling long distances, but here's why the train rocks if you have the time to take it:
1. WAY cheaper than flying or renting a car. I paid $60 for a round-trip ticket, and it would have cost more than that just to rent a car, plus gas is expensive.
2. You get to see the scenery as a passive observer. North Carolina is gorgeous, and the trees are just starting to change. Today I saw a goat hanging out on someone's lawn (it was a farm, to be fair). Until now, I don't think I've ever seen a goat anywhere besides the zoo. I also saw cotton growing in a field. That was a first, as well.
3. Train seats are much more comfortable than plane seats, the gentle rumble and rock of the train is soothing, and you don't get that weird "I'm suspended in an air-tight vehicle coasting 30,000 feet in the air and defying the laws of gravity, and yet I can't tell I'm moving" feeling. It also feels much safer when there's no laminated card in the seat pocket telling you how to use your seat bottom as a floatation device.
4. Trains are just cool. They remind you of how quickly (and how slowly) the world is moving around you. Taking the El in Chicago always makes me tingle. The excitement of people coming and going, the rumble of the clacking trains on the tracks, the whoosh of the train passing you by. It's like the videos of city life happening in double-time.
5. Trains are more environmentally conscious than driving or flying. Yes, there is still the issue of the impact the train has on the surrounding rail corridor, not to mention that they use a huge amount of electricity (hmmm...masters project topic floating in my head...) Actually, I'm going to do some research on this, and I'll get back to you...

My SLC friend doesn't know it yet, but I'm now contemplating a cross-country train ride to visit him over spring break. The American West by train. Awesome. In the meantime, I'm going to continue advocating rail travel. Maybe it'll make a comeback.

Girl Power!

Yet another reason I love Joel Achenbach: his latest Washington Post blog post is about Arianna Huffington's latest book, On Becoming Fearless.

I read this post after reading a friend's blog post about his latest ego stroke from a new female friend. And now, all I can think about is the song Female of the Species by Space. But really, I think the key to being a truly powerful woman is to know how to get what you want without being intimidating or sickeningly sweet. Guys don't want to date a bitch, and they don't respect a sap. And it's no fun sitting at the top of the heap, looking at what you stepped on to get there. Even powerful women want to have friends.

Community-owned sports

Maybe I'm the last to know this, but hey, I don't keep up with sports that much. Anyway, I just learned last week that the Green Bay Packers are the only team in the NFL that is owned not by some guy with a big bank account but by community stockholders. The team was incorporated in 1923 as a private, non-profit, tax-exempt organization. According to the New Rules Project, "Article I of their bylaws states, "this association shall be a community project, intended to promote community welfare...its purposes shall be exclusively charitable." The team can move only through dissolution, in which case the shareholders get only the $25 a share they put in. A board of directors, elected by the stockholders, manages the team." No wonder cheeseheads are such crazy fans. What a cool idea. That's the way sports should be, really.

The Bears will still kick some Packer tail. I'm just sayin'...

By the way, I just came across the New Rules Project ("Designing rules as if community mattered") when I googled for information about the Packers. Encouraging community support is kind of a resurging movement, as outlined in a presentation by Michael Shuman at the Nasher Museum here in Durham last week. His latest book is The Small-Mart Revolution. (I know, the link is to Amazon.com, but only because they have the best synopsis, reader reviews, and links to other similar books. Please buy the book from your local bookstore). He mentioned the tidbit about the Packers, as well as a ton of other reasons why we should support our locally owned businesses and community groups when possible. Shopping at locally owned businesses saves money and energy on transportation and manufacturing costs, puts a higher percentage of money spent back into the local economy, and prevents big companies from pulling out and cutting jobs. There are myriad other reasons. Just read Shuman's book or check out more information online. People complain about rising energy costs, but it means that we'll all start to do more of our business closer to home, and that translates into a healthier and happier community.

Fashion forward (and socially conscious, too!)

I love tee shirts. I've decided that if I'm going to wear tee shirts on a regular basis (and I can, because I'm in grad school), I may as well be original, fashionable, and socially conscious. So I just bought two new tee shirts from Threadless.

Here's the deal: Joe Schmo creates an original tee shirt design and submits it to Threadless (based in Chicago--they have a van that is completely covered in Threadless stickers). If Joe Schmo's original design gets chosen, he gets paid by Threadless with $1,500, a membership to the 12-month club, and a $300 Threadless gift certificate, and Threadless will add tee shirts with Joe Schmo's design to their stock for the public to buy. The designs are printed on tee shirts from American Apparel, which is American-made and sweatshop-free. And the shirts are cheap: $15-25 each.

So yeah, buy Threadless. Support a local Chicago business, independent artists, and socially conscious apparel.

An environmentally responsible alternative to AAA

The cuz posted this information on her blog, and even though there's a link to her blog on this blog, I thought I would mention it because everyone should know about it: the Better World Club. It's a roadside assistance, travel, and insurance club, just like AAA, but it's environmentally conscious. I could list all the benefits, but to quote Levar Burton (remember Reading Rainbow?), don't take my word for it. Go to the Better World Club website and check it out for yourself.
Thanks, K-Dawg, for helping others be better world citizens. I'm still loving my Co-op America membership and I recommend it to people all the time!

And the Big Box debate rages on

Mayor Daley vetoed the Big Box ordinance passed in Chicago that would require stores like Target and Walmart to pay workers a living wage, and today City Council members failed to garner enough votes to override the veto. Alderman Joe Moore (49th) assured the City Council that the issue would not go away and promised to produce a broader ordinance that would apply to workers of companies with at least 1,000 employees. Not sure what this means, but if it leads to fairer wages for all Chicago employees, then let's hope for the best. Stay tuned.

Homecoming

Paul Salopek will be freed on Saturday from Sudan, where he was being held on charges of espionage. Salopek acknowledges that he entered the country without a visa, which is a civil offense in Sudan. Bill Richards, Governor of New Mexico, helped secure his release in a meeting with Sudan's president Al-Bashir. Richardson had worked with al-Bashir in 1996 on the release of three Red Cross workers detained by Marxist rebels in Sudan, and Salopek is a resident of New Mexico. But there's another element to this story:
From the Chicago Tribune: During the meeting, according to Humphrey, al-Bashir said, "When I announce this, the Sudanese people will say, 'What about our people in Guantanamo Bay?'"

Ah yes, what about the people in Guantanamo Bay? Perhaps we should ship them to one of the secret prisons that Bush recently admitted that the U.S. runs after all? Pres. Bush said he would send the message immediately to release the detainees, so we'll see what happens. Isn't this, in effect, similar to negotiating with terrorists? The Sudanese government isn't terrorist per se, but it looks like they agreed to let people go in exchange for the U.S. release of some Sudanese prisoners. Hmmm...

Journalism versus Activism

In high school, I was trying to decide between conservation biology and journalism as a future college major. I chose journalism, with the hopes that I could write about conservation. Then my frustration with my journalistic skills and my burgeoning passion for environmental advocacy collided, and I decided this journalism thing was just a phase. Obviously I have moved on. These journalists have found a way to do what I couldn't figure out: how to balance environmentalism and journalism. Props to them. Keep on fighting the good fight.