MLT NEWSLETTER

Fall 2011

Cultivating Resilient Communities

Reflections On Earth and Its Day

By Ken Dahlberg

We celebrate Earth Day each year to help us remember that each day we live and depend upon the Earth.

This year there are three images that haunted me.  First, that of the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig blowout into the Gulf - which highlights (again) the damage we inflict upon nature in our search for ever-scarcer fossil fuels. Second, that of the Japanese tsunami overwhelming and devastating a whole region with its force, again demonstrating  nature’s much greater power - in this case to destroy people and the built environment.  The third is a mental image of a very slow motion and ever increasing climate tsunami killing more and more people and extinguishing many species

What are the lessons here?  Clearly, while we Homo sapiens have an increasing power to exploit environments and other species for our short-term benefit, our species now risks huge damages and losses - dwarfing those in Japan - if we don’t take immediate and vigorous action to reduce green house gas emissions.  Also, these actions need to be based on a clear and deep recognition that: 1) the earth’s natural processes are vastly more powerful than any species, even our self-named “thinking” one;  2) all human social, economic, and technological systems are but small and dependent sub-elements of the Earth and its larger processes.

Governments, corporations, and citizens are debating and making crucial choices which will affect our future survival.  Two very different paths are visible.  The first follows current industrial assumptions and practices - with slight modifications here and there - of extracting and exploiting earth’s resources, all abetted by unthinking beliefs in “progress” and “economic growth.”

This path is being pursued vigorously by many in Congress from both parties.  Particularly visible - given full page supporting newspaper ads - is the new Chairman (“king”) of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. Fred Upton.  His approach to energy and global warming is rather like the real King Cnut, whom, it is said, in an effort to impress his followers, moved and sat on his throne in a low tide area and then ordered the tides to stop.  It’s not clear, however, whether Rep. Upton is leading or following the powerful vested interests of our obsolete big coal, big oil, and big nuclear industries in their denials of the reality of human-caused climate change.

The second path is based on the above lessons - where exploitation of natural resources and extraction of minerals are dramatic-ally reduced and restructured to fit and operate sustainable within larger natural systems.  Especially important are efforts to reduce losses of our biodiversity in natural forests, fisheries, and soils - which are among our best defenses against global warming.  We must move away from monoculture agriculture, forestry, and industrial-scale fishing fleets and “farms” and all their toxic inputs.  We must also quit poisoning our air, rivers, lakes, forests, and fields with toxic “wastes” from a wide range of industries.  Lots of rethinking, reform, and restructuring is required.

A key aspect of all of this will be to develop comparable assessments of the full life cycle costs and benefits of each energy option.  The costs must include typically ignored “externalities” - real social and environmental costs which are real, but difficult to count.  These “invisible to economists” costs are not paid by the utilities or the rate payers, but are rather paid for by the public at large in poorer health and environmental losses. When included, they give us a very different picture of what’s best.  For coal, a recent study showed that such externalities were at least equal to, and likely twice, the current dollar cost of coal.    The full costs of the Deepwater Horizon oil blowout will take decades to determine.   Leaving aside its significant externalities, U.S. government subsidies for the full nuclear fuel cycle - uranium mining, enrichment, government insurance, and the construction of yet-to-be built waste repositories - are in the hundreds of billions of dollars, making it the most costly energy investment by taxpayers per job created.  In contrast, energy efficiency programs and investments in renewable sources like wind and solar provide new energy sources and more jobs quicker, cheaper, and with far fewer health and environmental risks and costs.

Clearly, the latter path is better in terms of reducing costs, while also getting us started on reducing - rather than increasing - the size and depth of the climate tsunami and chaos we face.  It is also based on the underlying reality of the slogan from early Earth Days: “Mother Nature Bats Last.”

Goldenrod

By Rita Bober

This is the time of year when our fields or around the edges of our land are covered with yellow goldenrod. There are more than 20 species (Solidago spp) that are widespread across North America, so we could have a variety hanging around together. Our field guide on Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers names at least six goldenrods that are native to the Midwest. They are in the Sunflower family. Goldenrod is quite tall and has many narrow lanceolate leaves that may or may not have serrated edges. The blossoms are made up of yellow, triangular panicles. Some species are very fragrant and this is the one that is collected for Native tobacco or kinnikinnick (much mixed herbs). Collecting the leaves early in the growing season is best as the leaves get a blight that is not good for medicine.

 Many people believe that goldenrod is the cause of our fall allergies but this is not true in most cases as ragweed is the culprit. One shouldn’t have any problem propagating this plant. They are perennials that reproduce from rhizomes or seeds. The chicken yard at our place is full of goldenrod. I guess the chickens don’t like to eat it, but it does give them a goodly amount of shade. Not many people know that goldenrod has medicinal uses. It is not often listed in herb books, but I found several that do list its medicinal properties. Herbalist David Hoffmann indicates that goldenrod could be the first plant to think of for upper respiratory catarrh (excessive secretion of thick phlegm or mucus from inflamed mucous membranes.), whether acute or chronic. Meister suggests that a tea of goldenrod leaves and dry elder blossoms can work as a cold preventive as well as helping with a stubborn cough. Tilford recommends that you can use dried goldenrod in powdered form topically for stopping the bleeding of minor cuts and scratches. It can also be useful in the treatment of urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and arthritis. Some herbalists also suggest that it effectively treats urinary incontinence by tonifying tissues of the bladder and lower urinary tract.

There is some discrepancy as to when the best time is to harvest this plant. Tilford recommends using all of the aboveground parts of the flowering plant while Hoffmann suggests gathering the top parts of the stalks preferably from plants not yet blooming. Whichever time you decide to collect the plant, be sure it does not have blight on its leaves. Also be sure to pick only in untreated areas and away from heavily traveled roads. The leaves and flowers need to be dried out of the sun. You can place them if a paper bag, just be sure to shake the bag every day to keep the plant from molding. To make a tea, pour a cup of boiling water onto 2-3 teaspoons of the dried herb and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day.

Now that you know a little more about goldenrod, I hope you will keep it growing someplace in your yard. It can be healing for us as well as food for our bees.

References:

Hoffmann, David, The New Holistic Herbal: A Herbal celebrating the wholeness of life. Element Books, Limited, Shaftesbury, Dorset, Great Britain, 1990.

Meister, Judith, Osahmin, The Spirit of Healing: A Journal of Plants & Trees. Minaden Books, Wisconsin, 2004.

Tilford, Gregory L., From Earth to Herbalist: An Earth-Conscious Guide to Medicinal Plants. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana, 1998.

Life’s Critical Mass

By Olga Bonfiglio

Life Rules: Why So Much Is Going Wrong Everywhere at Once and How Life Teaches Us to Fix It, by Ellen LaConte - Green Horizon (2011)

Floods, drought, natural fires, hurricanes, violent storms, massive species extinction, infrastructure collapse, terrorist attacks, starvation, economic disaster, climate change, water shortages, food shortages, soil depletion, war, pestilence and a lack of preparedness for geologic events like tsunamis and earthquakes.

What in the world is going on?

“We've lost sight of the fact that the non-living systems we've created and the natural ones we didn't create share the same planet...and on Earth, Life rules, we don't,” says Ellen LaConte, author of Life Rules.

What she is describing is Critical Mass, a term borrowed from nuclear physics, which identifies “a point in time when enough of something has been literally amassed that a spontaneous transformation occurs.”

Already we are seeing five symptoms of Critical Mass occurring in both rich and poor countries, including our own: hyper-urbanization, joblessness, poverty, dislocation and disease.

As we emerge from Critical Mass, says LaConte, we will either be on the path to our own extinction or we will evolve to a new consciousness where we conceive ourselves as a part of Life rather than as separate beings above it.

The culprit in this whole process, she says, is the global economy where humans have “seriously compromised Life’s primary safeguard: the natural communities and ecosystems that comprise Earth's self-protective, self-healing equivalent of an immune system.”

As a result, we have unwittingly imposed a disease-like syndrome on ourselves that she compares to HIV/AIDS where all life on earth has the potential of being extinguished— including our own.

This is sobering stuff to read and it may remind some of James Lovelock's The Revenge of Gaia, one of many authoritative sources LaConte summons in her book.

So, if you are like me, you might be outdoors on a very lovely day enjoying the beauty and wonder of Nature. Suddenly, you feel a great sadness that it could all gradually disappear not just in our grandchildren's lifetime but in ours! Thus arises the question: why do we continue to act so stupidly in the face of impending doom?

LaConte’s answer is that “the Powers” (the top one percent of the economic pyramid) who are directing and making money on the global economy, are enticing the rest of us to enter the rat race, indulge in “conspicuous consumption,” and use every last resource on Earth.

To operate the global economy “the Powers” have devised various “funny-money” tools and schemes that delude us into thinking (through the help of the mass media and advertising) we have a bottomless cornucopia of resources available to us—and no negative consequences. However, in looking at the past 10 years there is enough evidence for us to suspect that this belief is false and misleading: the 2008 financial crash, the fall of Enron, the huckstering of Madoff, food riots, famine in Somalia, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and 9/11 and other terrorist activities.

LaConte’s account reminds me of Dr. Seuss' classic, The Lorax, where Once-ler’s workers cut down every last tree of the Trufulla Forest and used the foliage to knit Thneeds, a garment that, of course, everyone needed. Unfortunately, the forest-dwelling Bar-ba-Loots not only lost their food supply but they contracted a disease called “the Crummies because of gas and no food in their tummies.” The Lorax tried in vain to warn the Once-ler of impending disaster to the community. He showed little remorse and then continued to expand his business until all the trees were gone.

The book, written in 1971—the heyday of the environmental movement—is actually based on the story of the overexploitation of Easter Island where the early Rapanui people cut down all the trees in order to transport 887 moai monuments (roll the monolithic human figures carved from rock on logs), into position. Their small island of Rapa Nui, the easternmost Polynesian island off the coast of Chile, was considered the “end of the world of the living” by the Europeans who discovered it in 1722.

These two stories serve as a metaphor for our use of oil, the non-renewable resource that is central to running the global economy and which provides the modern lifestyles and accoutrements we enjoy today. As the easy-to-get oil depletes, we are faced with exploiting oil that is harder and harder to get and therefore comes out at slower rates. At some point soon, the overall oil production rate will begin to decline.

Contemplating this fact, even for a moment, is just too painful for most people and it’s certainly not politically expedient. Just one lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), speaks about it regularly and only has the luxury of doing so because he is in a safe seat. As a result, Americans either curtly turn up their noses in the fashion of Scarlett O'Hara’s “I’ll think about that tomorrow” or they go on optimistically believing that technology will save us.

LaConte points out that neither our economy nor our technology should be the focus of our attention. Rather, we should concentrate on changing our hearts and minds about the way we live and work on this planet—and more importantly, we must come to a practical understanding about how we are subject to Life's rules such as:

• Life is not wasteful. It does not make things it isn't going to use.

• Resources are finite and if a species lives beyond its means, it eventually dies.

• Life's economies employ several methods of accessing solar energy. The food web is one of them.

• Life treats resources as a common wealth and Earth as a common inheritance. No one “owns” or “commodifies” them to sell to others. Instead, every species prospers in a common trust where all needs are satisfied.

• Life's basic unit of economic activity is the community and not the individual.