Whom Do We Serve? (part two)

Years ago, my sister came up with the idea of a bumper sticker that would say just those four words. I wish that I had begun printing them then. Some ideas are so valuable that they need to be put into public consciousness and action immediately. The very act of asking this question brings far more to the table than many are willing to bring up, think about and share with others. These are the sorts of questions that are [pure gold in the realm of human evolution. If we refuse to think about these concepts, then we must be willing to relinquish the very freedoms that our founding fathers worked so hard to secure. The servitude that I am  bound to is due to my "business" with Wells Fargo Bank. Their recent re-finance of our debt will "save" two hundred dollars per month, but the time cost of that relief means that I will be paying Wells Fargo Bank an extra 10 thousand dollars, nearly half a year of the salary I collect for doing my job. I was so naive when the banks got their bailout after crashing the economy, I thought the gravy train was a one time thing. Sorry! The bank bail out continues and their freight is being paid by the few who were doing everything possible to stay afloat on the world-wide economic collapse that followed. In essence I was one of their "best customers". I have never been late on a single payment and whatever I had to do to meet my obligations, I did. It is a lasting sting, like an un-scratchable  itch, that I voluntarily entered into a social contract, I would domicile within the city limits of Green Bay, Wisconsin, serve my community, commit to a long-term relationship with neighbors, etc. I am but one of about 100 thousand people who are willing to live under the coal dust that blows through our neighborhoods, in an area where the fish can't be eaten safely, alongside petroleum tank farms and pipelines, coal piles and fly ash, we are actually paying the very real costs of all the toxic compounds in our environment, while faraway billionaires reap the benefits of our out-dated fossil energy system.

This view of the back of our rental shows another project in process. First I had to build a frame for the sun shade, next we are going to mount it over the upper porch which gets searing hot. My original plan was to utilize the solar collector behind the sun screen as an awning for the second floor, but it is way too heavy to lift up there with just a handful of friends. The solar panel was built in 1974 and has been providing 1/3 of the heat for the building for nearly ten years. This one piece of equipment has allowed me to pass fossil fuel savings on to dozens of renters who just want to feel warm in the winter. Some don't care if the heat comes directly from the Sun or from fossil energy. Those who do, like me, really love it.

On the bumper of a car, it relates directly to the fossil fuel addiction that requires us to serve people who frack, explore and "drill baby drill"! Not to mention the toxic emissions from refineries, waste land that is created, or the boom/bust economic effects of the fossil fuel industry. I have to state plainly that I have a problem with the word industry. Industry in my mind creates, fossil fuel exploitation can only, by its very nature, destroy. The only sensible possible future will use electric vehicles that are solar rechargeable.

I serve humanity generally by my teaching about biochar. When soils become healthier, so do the people who feed on the products of that soil. I once thought that buying an old quarry would be the best way to do organic agriculture, because all the soil in your beds would have to be created, so you would know the source of your compost, so you could keep it relatively clean. My soils, here in town contain lead, from the years that we were first using the automobile. Even after the petroleum distillers knew that the lead was poisonous, they fought to keep lead in gasoline un-regulated for several generations. I have to be aware of how much parent soil I add to my compost pile and the quality of the soil before I add it to food/flower beds. I do not want to introduce lead into the places I grow food and as long as I have control over what soil goes where, I can be especially careful not to add contaminated soils to my beds. Generations to come will benefit because I take the time to heal the soil, build it and enrich the native creatures who call the soil home. Serving these creatures pays back dividends that are undeniable, but hard for some to fathom. When the soil is healthier, the air is fresher, as the soil gets healthier, it holds more water, moderating temperature changes. The cascading feedback loops that are created between the soil and the organisms who inhabit it, create waste products that are literally food for plants. Serving the bottom of the food chain influences the health of the higher organisms who live around them.

If I had a dollar from every one of my pageviews, I could purchase a twenty acre parcel and begin to restore virtually all of it! Serving the future is the only hope we have. Those who claim that it is "too late" are just looking for an excuse to not put our money where our mouths are. Whom do you serve?