Quest For Zero Waste

We have very little to attribute our current reckless direction to, other than the predominant view of our world a series of expediencies. As I have finished many blogs, If not us, who? If not now, when? I'm going to switch that up a bit and start off with these questions. Fallout be damned is the sort of internal monologue that got us into so many past errors of judgement. Literally, Fukushima is the perfect example. Just because it falls from the headlines does not mean that the background radiation exposure of all life on Earth goes back to pre-disaster levels. In many sci-fi novels, they speak of terra-forming, but the only skill modern culture seems to exhibit is terra-deformation. Our wanton creation of waste has led to constraints on our health and welfare, the economy, the viability of our species and that of other organisms on the planet. Many cities today have no more room for the waste that they generate and continue to spend billions, hauling it "somewhere else". we all know that one of the first rule in ECO-logical thought is that there is no "away".

A brilliant source for information on the quest for zero waste is trashisfortossers.com, When we look into our use characteristics, distinguishing the difference between wants and needs often liberates us from trash generating activities. I am currently building a replicable business plan for anyone in a wood products region. If there is waste wood that is untreated in your region, contact me with assistance on building a business plan for your area. One of the most basic elements of our life process is that we humans "create" un-natural concentrations of even natural products that have far more damage than they ever could under natural conditions.

I used to love being in nature when I was a child. The first time I went exploring around my grandfather's house, I could tell that something very bad was going on. The wetlands complex behind his place had virtually no life in it. Occasionally, a deer would wander through, but there were no pollywogs in spring, no fish, other than a few tiny, seemingly stunted, minnows. Salamanders and frogs were strangely absent, but far off on the far side of the marsh a few spring peepers could be heard, and at the neighbor's, who had a fully developed forest cover had a solitary bullfrog that you could hear in fall, when the water was warmest. As was my pattern back then, I explored in ever larger circles. Late the first year I was nearly a mile away from the house, when I saw the source of the disturbance. The excelsior factory, where giant logs were whittled down to make the curlicues that were used as packing material for fragile items. Before plastic made itself the predominant packing material, we humans still shipped fragile material and although the product of choice was 100% "natural" having acres of logs piled up and more acres covered with the sawdust that resulted, the acrid stench of rotting sawdust and the leachate that flowed through this waste material all combined to have an ecological disturbance far greater than the limited property boundary.

We could return to using excelsior, but reduce the ecological consequences by using just in time supply chain efficiencies, perhaps a covered holding and processing area, to reduce water contamination and if we got truly serious, have the wherewithal to either take back used material or direct end users to places that turn said "waste" into biochar. This potentially completes the eco-cycle. When we expend energy to change materials into other products, we need to figure in the ecological damage the occurs to produce the energy we use to accomplish the transformation as well as the ecological liabilities of those product becoming part of the waste stream.

On my Great Lakes Awareness Ride, I created virtually no trash, not by choice as much as how unwieldy superfluous stuff is when living on two wheels. Days after taking this picture, my kickstand went to someone who needed it more than I. I discarded a tire (due to sabotage) and two tubes (one, part of the sabotage incident).  Clothes discarded, as summer approached, were given to Goodwill.

zerowastehome.com is another route to look more deeply into this aspect of our lifestyle. We have begun to ask the right questions and how other people answer the questions that we are learning to ask can help us to redefine the world around us in new ways. I still own and use most of the items that I took on this trip 27 years ago. The bike has gotten new pedals in that time, and I have gone through a couple more tires. I replaced the chain and have nearly worn out the front chain wheel as well although I have not replaced it yet. The saddle broke on the trip, and had to be discarded as well, but my current saddle, a brooks was purchased at a rummage sale for fifteen dollars.

I calculated the amount of oil that I used on the chain, during my 4,280 mile trip at somewhere near two tablespoons, all of it residual from oil containers left at gas stations  and already "disposed of", I guess most of that had been waste, but I liberated it from most often closed containers. Although some of that was "disposed of properly", some washed off during rain events. I still feel a little bad about spewing oil into relatively pristine environs. My hope was that even in polluted ones, my passing was teaching enough about ecological integrity that the tiny bits of oil would be offset by changes in human activities by those who heard my message. Ultimately, the life style that we choose will always have some detrimental ecological consequences, but in my experience, the lower the negative impacts, the greater the rewards, so let me know what changes you are willing to try and some of the unimagined benefits that come from that change.

How To Engage

There seems to be a disconnect between the tiny fraction of a percent of our population who nominate our candidates for office and the desires and wishes of those who get to vote for them. In Taiwan, this has led to continuing protests because in their country, at least, they still believe in democracy. In our attempts to move public discussion forward, we need to grapple with the fact that smaller and smaller numbers of people are guiding the earliest steps in the process of elections and constraining the debate about issues that have very real impacts on our lives. Much time and effort has been focused on cultivating the idea that voting for the lesser of two evils is a valid approach to elections. A closer look at many of our current representatives proves that even a lesser evil is still evil. The phrase, "They are all crooks.", nearly forms itself in our minds, because the ground work for that concept has been so successfully laid in our minds. But this is not true. We still have a choice between betting on candidates that are well-funded enough to "win" and those who some say have no chance at all. This issue has come up more since the recent elections in my country than it did before them, but when the discussion occurs is not as important as the fact that it does. We have allowed our system of government to be hijacked by the slimmest 1% of 1% who have the least interest in the daily life of "We the People" and a pathological preoccupation with what they believe is "good for us". These idiosyncratic ideas are frequently based on what has worked in the past. As the rest of us see daily, things that were serviceable in the past are typically either woefully inadequate to deal with our current situation or create bigger problems in the future.

We often feel the need to grapple with dozens of issues that are fallout from failed ideas and policies, however, what is really needed is to find ways to clarify the fact that we are really only talking about one issue. The planet, which we inhabit, is sacred. The human beings and creatures that we share the planet with are sacred as well. The Mother Earth rapists, bigots, fascists, nationalists, oppressors, extractors, food and water poisoners and air polluters are criminals. Those who burn thousands of gallons of diesel to plow the fields of our nation are out of touch with the land, those who commute an hour each way to work burning thousands of gallons of fuel each year are driving us literally to a dismal future and guaranteeing that sickness and death will be stalking future generations. This is truly only one issue, but the media will never allow us to be told so. Inspiring as discussions about sustainability can be, many cannot hear them, because the terrain of public discussion has been hammered out so thinly and annealed by the false discussions of things like "environment versus jobs". I have worked for decades to change the fallacies behind this lie, but big money interests cannot allow the truth to be known about this issue. Every single time that we enact laws which protect the environment, jobs are created. We do not lack for inspired ideas, technologies or the ability to make positive change in the world, what we are lacking is the will to do what is necessary.

This is why so many billionaires are beginning to come around to doing positive things for the environment rather than destructive ones. However, they are still operating at the margins. This year, 1,645 people made it into the Billionaire class worldwide. Less than twenty of them have made a serious commitment to work toward ecological integrity. It is notable that this tiny fraction of the one percent are not the ones nominating our candidates either. What is truly needed is a method of getting the oligarchs to understand that the future necessarily has to look different than the past. The millions who stood in support of the workers this black Friday are part of the wake up call that has gone out to them and the millions who are standing against police brutality are also helping to start real discussions. The #occupy movement has been trying to get these ideas addressed for several years now, but the media has turned a blind eye to them, telling us that they are just spoiled rich kids or that their aims are anarchistic. As long as the vast majority of the population is bearing the brunt of the fallout from the frivolity of the billionaires, our climate will continue to become even more destabilized than it is today. A current interactive wind map, detailing high level flows of the jet stream will put to rest the idea that human beings are not having an effect on climate. It took all of us working together, guided by the uberwealthy to bifurcate the polar vortex, but we have done it. We have done it by burning about half of the fossil energy laid down over billions of years within a brief hundred and fifty. The writing is on the wall and we need to aggressively demonstrate to those who do make the decisions about which way our culture will take into the future, that we want to be on the side of cleaner air, fresh water, climate stabilization and healthy food for all of the inhabitants of the planet.

A single stitch, in time, saves nine. Bringing healthy soil into a neighborhood that is sick can be a first step in reclaiming the lives of those who live there. Heling the millions of "busts" that have come down to us through the "boom times" of the past will take time, but without a great deal of love and concerted efforts to unmask the big lie, nothing will change. Power to the people! Right on!

 

 

The photo above is from one of the many sites transformed this past Spring, in and around the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Garden Blitz established over one hundred garden beds for local citizens. In very real ways, this has changed the community for the better and for good. The discussions and relationships built by this and other processes is palpable, but it cannot heal our culture overnight. Grassroots change can only occur with the continuing efforts of a few who start the discussion. The idea of each one teaching one takes time to gain momentum, but we are at or near the tipping point that will exponentially change the debate for ever. Dig in wherever you are, be willing to get your hands dirty and to share these ideas with others, it may be our only hope to save lives and the ability of our species to thrive. There was an attempt to get the photo of the Earth from the Moon into every classroom in the state of Wisconsin. For a time, it looked like that would come to pass, but sadly, we have fallen short and although the image forces all of humanity to see proof that we are all inhabiting a sacred blue bauble floating in space, the insidious "business as usual", aided by the "just business", crowd has subverted even this image to sell us more products that we do not need and whose production taints the very oceans and land that make our planet capable of supporting life. Making real, and lasting, change is not for the faint of heart. ECO-Tours of Wisconsin has helped continue this discussion through educational tours, ECO-education and the reclaiming of many hundreds of acres. If not us, who? If not now, when? Donations of time, seeds, trees and money are always graciously accepted and deeply appreciated. We will never give up, the sanctity of our planet and all her creatures are too important to allow the insanity to continue. We will talk to out neighbors, build awareness with each human contact we find and demonstrate ways to heal the threadbare fabric of life.

I Love My Readers

It may sound odd, because the majority of you I have never met, but without being read, an author is just masturbating in the dark. I have tried to edit my words just enough to take off the sharp edges, but still allow my true self to come through. I wrote for many years, pieces that were intended to be letters, reams and reams of philosophical prose and missals on the scientific aspects of ecology and natural phenomena, but until i found ways to share that work, I felt like a solitary scream in the vastness of space. You have helped me to gain traction in the "real" world and begin to find my voice in the realm of others.

This beautiful clay art was done by Nina, one of my best friends, who has remained far off for far too long. I like to believe that the photograph was taken in the side yard where morels used to grow. Nina influenced me in so many positive ways that I hope to help influence others to the same sorts of "greatness" that she inspired me to.

When I see readers from Romania, or Russia, Paraguay or Burkina-Faso, my heart leaps just a little bit higher. Knowing that my words have been read in France or the U.K., Sweden or Italy, where my ancestors came from allows me to complete a circle that had only been a vast and incomplete arc previously. When I was in college, I did a worldwide art piece that involved cutting my hair after fourteen years, and sending bits around the world to be spread on the Earth by helpful postmasters in twelve locations around the globe. My art has always been about reaching out, teaching about the cycles of life, learning about the regions of the planet and their unique relationship with the cultures that survive and thrive there. Each specific location has unique and specific things to teach humanity, if we can only learn to listen. In my part of the world, there are cultural relevancies that exist nowhere on the planet, unless I, or some other messenger from our region, share the nature of them with strangers to this place.

My own cultural history, the one I grew up with, was to spend Thanksgiving driving up to deer camp with all the trimmings. The hunters were responsible for firing up the Nesco roaster, and making the turkey (it was safely at home while they were hunting) and if we were lucky, they would already have deer hanging, that we could cut fresh steaks from. Venison and turkey remain my two favorite meats. I could give up all other meats, but those two would be hard to pass up if I ever got the chance to eat them. Perhaps the family ties at this particular time of the year influences my tastes year-round, or perhaps the unique nutrient content of the two foods is specific to my body in this environment. In either case, where I came from has inoculated me with specific visions of and desires for the future of this place we currently call Wisconsin. I would not want to share these parts of my own nature with just anybody, but those who are willing to read what I write are no ordinary people.

I know that it can be a struggle to put your perceptions on hold long enough to "get" where others are coming from and I am sure that I ask my readers to wait a little longer to get some of my points. I am truly sorry for that. Most of my readers must be at least partially aware that we are essentially back door friends across the many miles that separate us. If there were dirty dishes in the sink, and you came to visit, I would put you first. I seek to have no pretense and humbly submit my stories and observations for the betterment of us both. I have given, from my heart 437 posts to date. Each one a unique story or perspective upon which a relationship can be formed. When I began this blog, I considered it as a discipline, whose practice could only be rewarded by becoming a better writer. I never imagined that the process would be as difficult as it truly is, but neither did I guess that after five years I would have 20K views, or that so many folks from around the world would reach out to me and thank me for the writing.

I am blessed by so many things and my readers often brighten my days more than I can express. I am because you are. Ubuntu, as some Africans say it. When we confront the often hostile or cold hard world, it is well to remember that we are loved, we are valid as individuals and as members of a world-wide family. You, by reading my writing are helping me to face undue hardships in real time, as they occur. I remember When I got my first comment, all through the years and each one has been a window into a little more loving place, a place with slightly cleaner air, one where I feel that I can express myself more fully and more importantly share some of what makes my life more liveable, so that it might also do that for you.

How Do We Celebrate

This is the time of year we call Thanksgiving. To my way of thinking, I choose to give thanks each and every day. It has helped me immensely to realize that each breath is a miracle. I celebrate the entire moon of October, and the better parts of November, December and about half of January as well. when spring begins to reawaken, I celebrate the return of the Sun. In the season of prolific growth, I celebrate the vines and stalks, tiny tendrils of plants some of which will add their energy to my larder. When the three harvests occur, I celebrate them as well and all down in-between, I celebrate quiet moments by the river, a canoe trip or bike ride, every morsel of food, warm sun on my skin and eventually it comes round to October again and I get even more serious about my celebrating. Some think that I am innocent or naive, but in point of fact I am the opposite. I know the grim truth that I might die tonight, my soul felt it when I first heard Cat Stevens sing it, for me to neglect the celebration of a single second would handicap the rest of my life. 

I got to celebrate four or five times on a simple drive to the carpooling parking lot because I survived near crashes with a variety of idiot and seemingly blind drivers. Then when we got to our destination we missed another accident by mere feet, again because of the snow and undue speed. Why limit the celebratory glow of this holy-day throughout the moments of our lives. The biggest celebration came, not from seeing the three or four cars in the ditch, I actually felt a little bad for them, but from the four wheel drive truck upside down on the verge just before a merge lane was coming in, it was like seeing instant karma. Immediately after passing that guy, a person came on the highway, again in a big truck. (she could not have missed the upside down guy or the emergency vehicles that were there and the female driver immediately started weaving in and out on the ice covered road. We continued to celebrate the fact that we were alive!

ECO-Tours of Wisconsin is our outreach not for profit. We share through our resort/school the principles and techniques that we have discovered that have allowed us to integrate solar energy, biochar, organic gardening, water conservation and composting into our daily lives. We have classes and tours to plant trees, enjoy nature and share information is clear hands-on ways. We believe that each of us has the power to change the world around us for the better. Often times the impetus needed can come from unexpected places, new ideas or ancient practices.

Like cracking an egg, if we open up to the reality that we are all one large family, great things can happen. The "trick" or key to abundance is that by constantly giving away, the things that we have, there is always more. In the belief system that I utilize for my decision-making, there is a far greater good that can only be achieved through the practice of intense agape love for all beings. I do not believe that most people even have the resources or experiences to understand what this would be like and I cannot fathom how profound the changes would be if somehow we taught our children not to ever lose their innate ability to exhibit compassion and to have empathy. In all of the cases, all of the near misses, yielding to others, giving away my right of way is a few cases, saved me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had I momentarily stopped celebrating life, and let the past or future take me over, things could have ended quite differently.

I am often asked if I believe in "God". I am perplexed by the question. Two main reasons occupy my mind nearly simultaneously. No one has ever described this "God", of which many love to speak, adequately for me to think that what I believe in is the same as what they are speaking of. Then, if they believe in the same Great, compassionate, loving Mother/father god, that I refer to, why would they even ask or care? Those of us who understand this, my friends, are getting more than a little tired of always being asked and accosted by those who do not yet get it.

For some, giving something, time, money or food is part of their celebration. Usually all of these things come into play and the art of the give away need not be limited to the holiday season. All seasons are the seasons of giving and learning the ropes in the new abundance economy requires re-thinking nearly everything we thought we knew. I usually drive my fifty mile per gallon car, to save fuel. Frequently I carpool with one other rider, making trips that transport two people to work and back on about a gallon and a half of fuel. This week I took six people the same distance using my van and did it for less than double the fuel. Three times as many peoples transported per mile for less than twice the cost. now I have to re-think my carpooling strategies. but I will enjoy the extra work if it can get more people to their jobs cheaply and without all the needless spewing of carbon into the atmosphere!

When one finds oneself in rapture from all of this celebrating, there are only two paths. One has a payment plan with interest full of distraction, discord, insatiable desire and preoccupation with past and future. The road less traveled is frequently where the most growth occurs and it is the fecund soil reflected in the phrase, "Have another brewski braugh!" Crank up the amperes on the celebrations that you get to revel in moment to moment until the old ticker stops, or you become worm food or whatever you like to call taking the long sleep. In our culture, we are so averse to accepting the inevitable passing that we don't like to say dead, therefore we have dozens of names to say it without actually having to confront our mortality. As if I have not been clear enough. Stop reading this right now, and start celebrating! If giving something, time money or food is something you would like to share, please send it to us at ECO-Tours of Wisconsin 1445 Porlier street Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301 USA

Shadow Government 101

I have been appointed as a cabinet member of Wisconsin's shadow government. Before you get thinking too far down the track that the term shadow conveys something nefarious or underhanded, let me just say that those who profess to run the show today are the ones who are operating from dark and dismal motives, perpetrating a litany of evil deeds upon the populace and operating in closed door sessions (out of the light of day) to subvert our democracy. I have not even had a chance to meet all of the other representatives of our shadow leadership, however, the fact that they are willing to serve without pay, work for the betterment of all the citizens of our state and to do it with compassion, insight and integrity is enough for me to know that when we actually meet in person, the others will be friends that I have not met yet. The only reason that the term shadow government has meaning is when we understand that the glaring inequality of the current system necessitates stark shadows exist as well. My own approach to perception of the term is that most of us cannot look directly at the lights that illuminate our current state of affairs, nor would we want to blind ourselves in that way. When we attend to the shadow side of the searing lights, we find operators that are most often hidden, behind the glare, who only guide the eyes of those who most often let themselves be led by "Oooh, shiny."

The photo below represents the urge to sanitize and distract us from our own history. It is a bronze-clean version of a coal miner, forged for the sole purpose of trying to make wage slaves into heroes. The anonymous "workers" who sacrifice their lives for our consumerist society deserve more than a sculpture to tell their sad story. Early death, families without fathers and poisoned rivers, contaminated by acid mine drainage are much more telling aspects of our/their servitude. The mall has now closed, the mountaintop left abandoned because the poverty in the coal region did not allow enough wealth to be siphoned off for the power and control freaks making the decisions as well as the money from the "development". Local citizens sacrificed another mountain to feed the beast, but the hunger was too great and the oligarchs walked away, unsatisfied, leaving destruction, and even greater poverty in their wake. The uberwealthy have made sure that they will never be held responsible for their folly, nor will we be allowed to know the true costs of their parasitic ways until it is too late and they have moved on to their next host.

I took this photo in a brand-new mall in the coal region of PA. The mall had not been opened yet, but the mountain which it capped with concrete, steel and blacktop had been pulverized and lowered several dozen feet to get enough fill to level the parking lot, build the entrance and exit ramps for easy access from the interstate and for the enrichment of "developers" who only had one thought in mind, extraction.

The eye is drawn to the light, as surely as the insect is drawn to fire. We use our eyes, most frequently, to make sense of our world. Members of the shadow government of Wisconsin will have to understand that much of what we cannot see has more power to change our lives than most people can imagine. Not seeing things cannot make them go away and not looking at the writing on the wall only assures that our decision-makers are operating our economy, the environment and the future blind. In a strange turn of events, they have begun to believe their own lies. Trickle-down theory was mentioned just this morning in a "news" broadcast. The wealthiest among us have a vested interest in telling us that it is a real and beneficial thing but what the lie truly exhibits for we, who look deeply into the shadow side, is that our rulers still have not come to terms with the ultimate outcome of letting the rich have their way with everything.

Instead of corporate shills, willing to pander to our wealthy lords, the shadow government is made up of individuals who have kept their moral footing amongst immoral choices and actions of the media, our judiciary, the constabulary, the billionaire class, those who advocate for dumbing down our population and those who have our economy in a stranglehold. We will be researching a better way forward, we will be continuing to expose the Chinese finger trap that is the "consumerist society" which we have been presented and we will be unleashing, to the greatest extent possible, the truth behind the lies of the oligarchs through press releases, documentary evidence and sculpting, for the general public, a creative tableau that will make clear what has been going on in the dimly lit corridors of power that have taken the will of the people out of the hands of government and placed it squarely in the hands of the unimaginably wealthy.

Over the next two years, we will be seeing far more willful groundwater contamination, at the hands of the extractors, who have no regard for our ecology or the results of their actions. We will be seeing more train derailments and pipeline ruptures, unleashing oil spills along the path of least resistance for dirtier oil. The fabric of our economy will continue to fray and the shadow government will continue to research not only the continued state of decay, but advocate policies that can stem the flow of toxic chemicals into the environment. We will attempt to move public opinion in ways that help us recover from the spiraling death throes of our military industrial complex and with skill and a bit of luck, we will help guide the conversation toward the knowledge that our debates, even the terms of our debates have been driven by those who abhor change, reap the benefits of inaction and sap the vitality of workers for their own benefit. We all are coming to understand that even the most free amongst the 99% are wage slaves. The vast majority of us are given untenable choices and there are ways to move the discussion away from merely "us" vs. "them".

My own special interest is in "sustainability" and as such, my work will be in the area of sustainable development, agriculture and broadening the discussion on the issue of education. Instead of stealing elections and making excuses for the schism between public opinion and the outcomes of stolen elections, our shadow government will continue to focus on what works. The sham system that has been created to keep us in servitude is no longer working and instead of the subversion of democratic processes, your shadow government will act as both pressure relief valve, for those who have reached the end of their desire to participate and healing salve for those who know that there exists a far better way to meet the needs of greater numbers through love, the sharing economy, abundance theory and equitable distribution of the fruits of our labor. We welcome questions, participation and information designed to further this discussion.

Fast And Furious

The recent moon has been filled with firming up relationships with abundant forces that permeate the universe. Stocking up on rich nuggets, just like the squirrels. I have to laugh, because once you make the break from "civilization" and join the sharing economy, nearly too much of everything just follows. I suppose the one thing limiting how much abundance I can harvest is a function of time. I can follow the hoarding mentality of storing up only so much, before "things" bog me down. The "unbearable lightness of being" that comes from perfecting the art/science of the give-away transforms life into a mosaic of nuggets, too many to carry.

Another blessing bestowed upon me...One of ten queen-size batts of wool, perfect for insulated window quilts, or comforter. 

I was informed at work just yesterday that there is a place, I know it well for being on the way to the closest National forest Campground to Green Bay. I frequently went there in my early adulthood. The muck farms have been on my radar since I was a wee thing, because they signaled that soon, after crossing what had once been an enormous peat bog, drained to get access to timber, and called by the locals the Muck Farm, we would begin to climb the Canadian shield and see the rock outcrops that signaled to my young mind, we're halfway there when we went to the cabin. The two hour drive seemed interminable when I was a child, but when the very rock upon which we lived "up north" seemed to make itself known where the highway cuts and curves would funnel us ever upward in elevation as well as toward the North Pole, the stars and Lake Superior. Anyway, the Muck Farm has many amazing deals on root crops. Potatoes, onions, beets, etc. Literally hundreds of pounds of food can be had there for dozens of dollars. It is quite amazing that buying relatively local produce can come at such a great value.

You can plainly see and understand how easily changing our perspective changes the world around us. I have been sharing my knowledge about biochar and people are rewarding me with travel options and per diem that allows me to see things that were obscured from me before and my knowledge gained has translated into helping dozens of others! Yesterday, I was just picking up trash, because my stagehand job was paying me and I didn't even have to be physically on-site. The give back "harvested" dozens of fish tags that will add data points to fish population surveys. Others will benefit from my "sacrifice", yet I got to breathe some of the freshest air in Green Bay, watch the seagulls wheel overhead and be outdoors as the weather changed from biting and rude to all the phases of beautiful sunset and the dying of the (somewhat) wind. The faster I get things to cycle in, and out, the richer and more rewarding my moment to moment state of be-ing. things come to you without effort when you shift your vision to accept what the world brings you. One other thing I found were about fifty aluminum cans. When recycled they will save more energy than twenty-five third world inhabitants would use in a whole day!

Now, we have a proliferation of ecologically-minded organizations, some are willing to adapt their messages to met the "needs" of the people who desire change. Sometimes they guide the direction of debate, other times they just cater to public opinion and tell folks what they want to hear. Each has a thread of one of many strands of the string holding ecologic fabric together. However, the Cornucopia is the horn of plenty that organic advocates, those who practice bio-dynamic and the biochar folks are ranting about. As the connections within the web of life interweave, the whole strengthens. I offer biochar seminars and educational workshops that can double your agricultural output, or slash fertilizer bills by half. I am interested in education of all ages in the path toward sustainability. This is what ECO-Tours of Wisconsin was founded to do. It seems that the most natural thing in the world is to continue to grow organically, fulfilling more and more needs as our resources blossom. Like a beehive in the fall, every last bit of our activity is focused on getting to as many flowers as possible.

Where Am I?

Sometimes, and most acutely this week, because of the recent elections, I have been overwhelmed by the fact that the Wisconsin I know and love seems to be slipping needlessly from my grasp. This is a state where we have cities like Green Bay. It has been said that Green Bay is a drinking town with a football problem and although I rarely drink any more, it still holds quite a bit of truth for me. Children in my part of the world often learn to drink before they learn to drive and parents routinely host their children's drinking parties so that there is less chance of losing them to drunken driving. We have a long history of taking care of ourselves and helping neighbors, but those "good old" days are slipping from the face of cities across our great state. Time honored traditions, like Deer Camp, the mystique of going "Up North", tailgating at Packer Games and learning to bait a hook from your grandfather have nearly disappeared from our culture.

Many, many times, I have met folks just moving here from other parts of the country (or indeed the world) who were curious about how to make a go of it in a place where winter begins early and typically over-stays it's welcome. I often tell them two things that make Wisconsin-life better than many other places. I say, "Make friends with your jumper cables. If you do not have any, get some, spend the extra money, to get good ones, and know how to use them. Never pass up a chance to help someone else who needs a jump. That way when your battery dies (and it will) there will be someone to jump your battery." Regarding vehicles, I also urge folks to get good tires before the snow flies and each time it snows, test the limits of the road surface before you get off the block. If you have never driven in snow, make a special trip to a large un-plowed parking lot and play around a bit to see what it feels like to drive on a giant ice rink. Test how long it takes to get going, how to recover from a skid and how long it takes to stop. With regard to snow generally, I encourage them to shovel their neighbor's sidewalk from time to time, or help them dig out the giant pile that the plows throw up when they go by so that if you are ever gone or unable to do it, one of those neighbors you helped might come to your aid as well.

In the old days, we used to carry logging chain as well as jumper cables and frequently good neighbors would help pull one another out of the ditch if a car ever slid off the road. In our state today, it is illegal to pull stuck cars out of mud or snow. Only state-licensed and specially insured tow trucks are allowed to do that now. Having been pulled back on to the road a few times myself, I can attest to the fact that having to be pulled out of the ditch is never fun, but having to pay a tow truck to do it is even less fun and typically takes a lot longer. Those of us who grew up here still carry a full winter kit, including car blankets, candles, non-perishable food, water, first aid kit, flashlight, flares, tow chain, etc. but if we are in the process of pulling someone out of the ditch, we are hyper vigilant for rollers (emergency vehicle lights) I was with a fellow two winters ago who had stopped to pull a stuck vehicle out of the ditch and just as we got the chain hooked up, a "good Samaritan" stopped and said, "I just called 911 to report that you are in the ditch." We were literally moments away from having the car back on the road and good to go, but my friend bent back down and unhooked the chain. The fine for breaking this particular new law is nearly a thousand dollars. We had been willing to take our chances with the possibility of a random cop driving by, but now that we were a destination, the possibility of a fine skyrocketed. We got back in our car and left the scene.

We constantly hear the beating of an ugly drum by right-leaning politicians, they tell us that left-leaning people want to live in a "nanny state" where we are cared for cradle to grave by a gigantic government social system and it is bullshit. There are things that government can and should do for people, but the law regarding towing folks out of the ditch is just a form of corporate welfare, not only for tow truck drivers and the companies they work for but a way to subsidize the use of even more fuel to accomplish the same effect. In the Wisconsin that I learned to know and love, we the people learned to share what we have, care for one another and get along without the intrusive government oversight that has been mandated by those same politicians who say we want a welfare state.

My head often spins as I learn more and more ways that we are having our state and the unique culture that thrives here, undermined, dismantled and outright stolen from right under our noses. This year, the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) has chosen to allow anyone with $1,000 or more to buy and use a crossbow for hunting deer in the state. In the old days, you had to be handicapped or frail in some way to get a special permit for taking deer with one. This was for two reasons. First, the discharge of a firearm, especially out of season, was a dead give away to game wardens that you were killing deer without a permit. The archery season was also for honing tactics, stalking and practicing the finer arts of tracking, getting to know your prey and still hunting in places where you knew deer would be. Fewer hunters are willing to go those extra miles and so, there were still plenty of deer to be taken during the gun hunting season. Increasing the firepower and effective kill range with the nearly silent crossbow has allowed a massive increase in poaching while simultaneously virtually eliminating the chance of being caught at it. I know people who have bragged that they have already bagged five deer, but at the end of this moon, when gun season finally opens, the deer camps will be lucky to have any deer left to shoot at.

As we shift our awareness from what is best, right and good, to "What can I get away with?", many of the things that made our state wonderful disappear from our consciousness. As we wonder and worry about whether we will be "caught" doing the right things for our neighbors, children, wildlife and resources, it unleashes a great sense of useless stress and fear that we may be found out. In many ways, the "nanny state" argument is a better fit for the corporate welfare elites who capitalize on the support offered them by new laws. When doing the wrong thing has more benefits than doing the right thing, many will be tempted to work against the best interest of all for the short term benefits that they can get for themselves. Those of us who have seen the slow demise of many of the things we hold dear will never forget what we had to give up to get what we have now, but for those who have never experienced the Wisconsin that I have come to know and love, it will remain hard to put into words.

I Love All Of You!

I would like to send out a warm greeting to all of my readers, without your attention and kind comments, I would feel odd putting this much time into such a labor of love. Writing is not like the trees I plant, or the seeds. I can go back a year or two after a plant-in and see first-hand what miraculous changes are afoot in the forests that I am helping to re-create. When I return after five years, I can enjoy stretching out under the shade of a small tree, or watch as the creatures enjoy the new habitat, but when you read my words in Romania, Slovenia or Sierra Leon, how can I wrap my head around the changes that makes possible? I can see birds lading on the branches of trees that I have planted, but the supportive words of my posts are invisible, except for the structures in your life that make sense and give support to you. Perhaps my words rustle in your mind like leaves shifted by wind or perhaps they wake you up like the call of the jay-bird. Because we are separated by space, even when my words try to convey a hug to you, your ears may hear it like a bubbling brook or a torrent of snow, sliding down a mountain.

Leonardo Da Vinci gave us wings to soar! It just took a while to make his "dream" reality.

I have been deeply involved with the pagan holiday, sharing greetings and giving thanks for all the disembodied spirits who find their way to my consciousness during this time of year. Those who have come before and paved the way for my life, the human ancestors as well as the animals and microbes that make my world lush and beautiful. I have also been forgiving and laying to rest hostilities that I have felt toward people who left nothing but a raw deal and desolation in their wake. You know, without the removal of forest cover over such a vast area, I might not even have the opportunity to plant trees like I do now. One of my greatest joys is to make right some of the damage that they have done, so for giving me that opportunity, I wish them well on whatever journey they are on now. I forgive them for their lack of knowledge, their limited perspective and for the results of their ignorance. I'm sure that I have mine as well and one day, perhaps only after my own passing of the veil, I would like to be remembered and forgiven for my shortcomings.

There is nothing we can do to undo the pain that has come before our time, but from this day forward, we can learn to live in new ways that will first do no harm, strengthen the fabric of life and in time, perhaps, we will learn to speak truth to power in new ways that liberate others from the oppression of old ways. In the pagan calendar, this is the time for starting anew. The seeds of who we want to become are planted in the fertile soil of our sub-conscious and will have the winter to begin to swell and take root. This moon will take this blog over twenty-thousand views. That is nearly 1/5 as many contacts as I had during my ten year career of going door to door, raising money and awareness of issues for Citizens for a Better Environment. (CBE) Instead of only talking about ecology and environmental issues, I get to stretch my legs a little with this blog. It soothes my own soul to know that it is so well received. As my journey continues on this Earth, I hope that my readers will visit the "donate" site at Paypal or use snail mail to send a little green energy my way. I have spent my lifetime trying to pay close enough attention to be able to teach important information and ways of knowing that are hard to place economic value upon. Paying it forward, as some people call it, enriches us in so many ways, I hope that one day it will be something we all do as a matter of course. If we all give what we can, the sharing economy will take care of us all. As I write, it is a bit like a world-wide trust game.

You may have had an opportunity to do trust falls at summer camp, perhaps a leadership training course or other personal development workshop. When I first learned to spot people, they showed us how to not exactly "catch" a person who is in danger, but to protect their head and make sure that if they do fall, (which is inevitable when taking risks) it would be as gently as possible. Once we learned to break a person's fall, we graduated to a point that was quite empowering. We would line up in two lines facing one another, (using six or eight people) the person doing what we called the trust fall would stand on top of a four foot tall post or tree stump, crossing their arms across their chest. The people who were to "catch" them would prepare by holding their arms out and let the person up top (who stood looking away from us) know when we were ready, then the person on the stump would lean back and fall down into our arms. Life is a lot like a trust fall. Knowing that there are people ready to catch us when we fall is critically important to doing what needs to be done. There are no Lone Rangers, we are all part of a worldwide family, put here to love and support one another. With a bit of luck and a whole lot of blessings, my words will fall on ears that need to "hear" what I say. Making the world better one tiny act at a time, is perhaps the only way to tackle the multi-faceted problems that we face today.

Occasionally it may feel like one is falling backward into an abyss, but rest assured, there are those who have spent their lives training to "catch" us and protect our vital organs. We may end up bruised and battered along our unique paths, but someone will always be there to bind up our woulds, spread the healing salve of compassion on our scratches, scrapes and even our broken hearts and sometimes all it takes to find those folks is to trust. Blessings on your journey and may all good things find you!