Resistance Is Fertile

This link is to an earlier post, but it remains relevant.
When we talk about a revolution, it is going to happen in our mind. when we change our minds, abundance becomes possible, IF...
We reestablish the active cultural reward system based on mutual benefit, the give-away or give back as I have said so many times is what leads to abundance. Whether in Potlach ceremonies like those of native people of the Pacific Northwest or the spreading of compost, reciprocity makes all things possible.

ECO-Tours

My other blog, ECO-Tours of Wisconsin(ecotoursofwisconsin.blogspot.com) has surpassed eleven thousand views. Although it is still far less than this blog has had, those views represent eleven thousand chances to reach out to others and teach them about a new way of looking at the world, a new way of valuing things around them, a new way to step into the world as an active agent of positive change. In many ways, I try to stretch and massage the limits of how we take stock of the world around us, so that we can see more clearly how we fit in. Like a poorly placed bumpersticker, there will always be air bubbles to work out, tiny wrinkles that could use a little more attention. The same thing happens in our building mental maps that help us take on the daily challenges in life. I want to help everyone to understand, we may not be able to get to perfection, but we can ge to much better places using the tools we have available. When there are uncomfortable situations or daunting challenges, I try to help people to understand; is it us? or is it the workings of a highly mal-adaptive environment that we find ourselves in?
Discovering what is at the source of our discomfort often leads us to start finding solutions (soulutions). Determining where our heart is, with regard to the matter at hand, where we would like to end up and what kind of legacy we want to leave behind are all part of reckoning with the environment we find ourselves in and where we would prefer to go with all that we have learned and accumulated so far. It is...can be...hard to meet every challenge with our best foot forward, especially the past two years. I'm sure we have all been caught out of stride more often than not by changing conditions and new awarenesses. If my words can help just one person think more quickly on their feet or more deeply about issues in each moment, these words will not have been for nothing. Sometimes, just the calm that comes over us when we understand that we are not alone helps us to make better choices or attend to impotant details that lead to better outcomes. One of my associates chided me today, he asked, "But how many of those readers put your words into action?" So, I posted this response.
Education cannot be concerned with follow through. That is the student's personal responsibility. What knowledge and information do is to move your base of operations to new territory. Often, it takes several doses of information, for some several hundred, but when there are multiple points of contact with the world that reinforce the learning, it changes us. Occasionally just one teachable moment changes us for good.

How we think, how we interact with the world and what information we can see and understand changes over time. The goal of ECO-Tours of Wisconsin has been to help heal the rift between human-kind and nature. You cannot do that with a single application of fact. Recovering our relationship with the natural world is a daunting task, but being reminded that there are still reasons to prioritize that, above all else, that there are still people who are making it a priority and that one is not alone in the struggle to create positive change can heal people mentally, spiritually and physically. Some teachers never get 11,000 chances to make a difference. This one has.
Not every teacher can have tens of thousands of teachable moments. I am honored to have had many more than that. People are coming to the understanding that all of the things we have do not make us valuable. Nothing that we own or desire makes us who we are. Not one thing we have invested in or devised can keep us alive beyond our expiration date. Not one of our commodities can be as valuable as the accepting look of a trusted friend. I know that it is difficult to understand, but I love all of you. That is why I write. The ideas I try to share have all helped me to overcome challenges, informed positive actions and led to an amazing abundance in my life. This is just a tiny part of how I give back. The thousands of hours I have put into research alone has led me to grow and understand far more than I ever thought possible, but offering those insights to others feels like the responsible thing to do, not just for me, but for everyone. I would never lie to my readers because that's not who I am. I would never try to shame anyone but if they enguage in shameful behavior, I won't ignore that either. I think that in all the years of writing and even in my fanzines dating all the way back to the Eighties, I have only had to retract two or three statements. I have met my pledge to be truthful, continued to care and always tried to offer options when I come across something that is out of balance or not working.
If you have any specific questions or issues that you would like me to include in any of my posts, feel free to contact me. If you appreciate my writng and want ot support it, please share my blogs with others or send me some "coin of the realm". My paypal account is the same as my e-mail, tnsaladino42@hotmail.com
If you would rather use Zelle, you can use the email: biocharmaster@gmail.com that will send money directly to ECO-Tours of Wisconsin, Inc.

Where the Woodbine Twines

We have a habit of not liking to use the right words for things, especially if they are unpleasant or deemed disgusting. Instead of backhouse, toilet or outhouse,people used to say out where the woodbine twines. Frequently woodbine was planted near the outhouse to partially cover the odor, at least during flowering. We know woodbine as honeysuckle and it is a very strongly perfumed flower. We hide the necessity for saying things like sex and fornication with such a wide variety of words that it can literally make your head spin from the beast with two backs to skroggin', bumping uglies to simply, doing it. Some prefer the horizontal bop or rolling in the hay; shagging or making babies. Of course, I could go on, and on and on... no pun intended. It seems as if language is more than happy to morph if speaking plainly could get us into trouble. Sadly, there are few other words for racist and misogynistic attittudes. Other than calling the person exhibiting such beliefs an a-hole, we need to have specific words to speak of specific horrors. But love-making gets a pass I guess, because there are so many ways to partake of the "original sin", it probably helps to have many names for one thing, coitus. The problems associated with racism and misogyny is that they are often tied up with sex and sexuality, feelings of being threatened, being out of control and/or feeling inadequate have provided the foundation of all sorts of rage and hate. Sadly, more than fifty percent of the population are womyn and people of color. Simply said racism and misogyny are only weilded by a slim minority and their wrath is exerted against quite a bit more than half of society. For instance, the typical racist believes that because he has one black friend, he's not a racist, but that leaves 42 million (just in the U.S.A.) that he does not act friendly toward. Similarly, many men say, "I can't be a mysogynist because I love womyn." but in reality, they love trying to get as much sex as possible from as many womyn as they can and sometimes whether or not the feeling is mutual. When men are brought up seeing people operating from somewhere on the power and control wheel, they learn the power dynamics of abuse early. They may not even realize that the behaviors they label "love" as just shorthand for exploitation and abuse. As much as we need pressure relief valves like swear words for when we hurt ourselves or experience great pain, blanket words to cover a lot of territory fast and avoid the distain of people who think normal human interactions and processes are dirty, we will continue to have a need for euphemisms. Without these words that don't exactly mean what they say, the double entendre would simply not exist, trying to get away with talking about things in front of the kids would be much more dificult and likely some issues would get talked abotu even less. However, I would like to make a case for speaking plainly and using terms which leave as little room for misunderstanding as possible. Back in Victorian times, where the woodbine twines was a vaguely peotic way of saying shitter. Today, we want less sylables, perhaps even a toilet emogi or acronym would work, like the British W.C. which stands for Water Closet. It is ironic that some bathrooms are now bigger than bedrooms of a century ago. Times change and so does language, but unless we speak clearly and in ways that others comprehend, our ability to communicate will suffer. Some today oppose the very pairing of words that speak volumes about the specific subject matter of racism. You probably already redneckonize where I'm headed with this, CRT (Critical Race Theory)the whipping boy du jour of every right wing apologist for our racist element. Not a theory at all, but a perspective, that blacks and other races were always human beings and both in the past and today, their lives are circumscribed by hate. It certainly is not diabolical to speak truth to power and it certainly does not make the power balance change one iota. Perhaps if we all understood it there would be less hatred and fewer people maimed and killed simply because of the color of skin they were born with. There really isn't a very eloquent pseudonym because fascists and nazis are factually immoral, not just "dirty" like sex or defecating.

Powerful Male Senators

SPEAK MORE! The Female Supreme Court Justices get interrupted 1/3 more often than men. This number actually increases as the numbers of womyn increase. Our democratic system depends on all voices being equal. This is just one case where there is a vast discrepency between those who have always held power and those who are new to the game. It can be enlightening to look at the details, look hard at what is going on. In the best case, patriarchy is taking it's last gasp. We are experiencing the death rattle of cultural systems of oppression that do not work. Just like how the racists put all their eggs in the deceitful traitor basket. Finding the micropauses, to jump in, and speaking just a little louder and a little longer than your opposition, don't let the misogynists dominate the conversation! Talking over, can be taken to an offensive level and still sound "more civil", hey, Bob, I wasn't done making my point... thus cock blocking him while making him look like the "bad guy." Those who fill the space with their ideas are most often obstacles to consensus, not helpful in any way. Changing our culture can be done in as little as twenty years, but it requires concerted efforts on the part of all of us. We are frequently distracted by bluster, misdirection, self-serving blather and opinions attempting to hold dominion over fact ad nauseum. Holding the public discussion to higher standards would require us to more highly value facts, call people out on their lies and to be heard, we would have to shout a little bit louder fo ra little bit longer than anyone who sought to shout us down. That, in fact, is why bullies win out so often. It is the same reason that culturally insensitivity seems to be peddled as the "norm", when it is obviously the opposite of that. Talking over someone does not mean that you are right or that your ideas are inherently valuable. Often, quite the opposite is true.

Working With Smart People

Today I had a great discussion with a businessman from my town. He pays attention to the claims people make and understands how to decipher fraudulent claims. In addition he knows where to look for the best and most accurate information, which leads to great conversations if you can engage him on that level. Today he mused at how wrong Republicans have gotten things. He started out by repeating back some very interesting details about our unemployment numbers. There are just under six million people in Wisconsin. There are just under four million that are working age, 15-65. Just 130,000 are unemployed. Businesses claim they have 150,000 jobs to fill, so that sounds like we need at least 20,000 more people after we get everyone unemployed to work. Expecting further reductions in unemployment without making significant changes to the availability and affordability of childcare, healthcare and education, getting to complete employment is utter fantasy. I worked for just one week with a whole crew of people who make up that last few percent, those chronically unemployed, and they have good reason for not having found a place to fit in. A short list of issues tha tthey bring are racist, sexist, jokes, comments and attitudes, professing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, neglecting safety protocols, claiming either ignorantly or deceitfully false information is true and outright dangerous behavior. Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that most people probably don't want full employment as they have not been trained to deal effectively with sociopaths and psychopaths. Just excluding those two personality types from employment would keep unemployment at five percent! We can't just will something to happen and as much as Republicans like to claim that their policies will help create the most jobs, we have often seen the opposite to be true. Obama for instance, took office with the economy in shambles with over 10% unemployment and during his two terms cut unemployment by more than half! Clinton too, inherited an economy with near seven percent unemployment and during his time in office brought it down to just four percent. Similarly, President Carter received the economy in the worst ever postwar unemployment at 9% and reduced it slowly and steadily to under six percent, until the very end of his term when it rose to slightly above six percent. Kennedy and Johnson both had Adminstrations that presided over lowering of unemployment, Kennedy hammered it down fron over 7%, down to fiv and Johnson continued, first pretty stteply, but the trend continued until unemployment was about two points lower than he had inherited it. Even Truman had averaged under four percent unemployment through his term, although in 1949, there was a spike to nearly double that. His average unemployment rate was the lowest of all Post War Administrations. I am always honored when people that have been paying attention share with me the things they are most concerned about. I hope they feel the same way when I speak from my heart about matters that concern me. I hope that everyone develops working relationships with those who pay attention, those who can sift and winnow facts from fiction. Especially in an age of digital communication and the power of the internet, there is no excuse for not learning how to determine fact from fiction, yet millions seem to be comfortable with perpetrating delusions and flights of fancy on the public at large. Whether we care to hear them or not, they seem bent on screaming about how they have the right to their alternative facts or thinly veiled opinions baqsed on hate. When we were taught about what democracy means, they forgot to tell us that in the Revolutionary War, the majority wanted to stay with Britain. The loud-mouthed bullies have been getting their way ever since. My theory is that we no longer have a world in which we can tell people, "Leave the tribe", because wherever they go pretty much across the whole face of the earth, they will then be perpetrated upon another tribe. We have run out of islands that can be turned into penal colonies. There are too few waste lands to send these people to. I recently had to leave an employer because of dumb. All of the claims they made of professionalism were dwarfed by their real world actions, those of amateurs. Sadly, they were even amateur thinkers. I will gladly return to work with the thoughtful boss, he honors me with honestly derived information, the dolts want me to believe their delusions or at least not expose their logical fallacies. Life is too short and I have too much at risk to let that slide. Seek and don't settle for less than we all deserve! Just imagine, how well things might go if we could all agree that business thinking they can fill twenty thousand more jobs than if every single unemployed person showed up ready to work for them is simply goofy! The imaginary twenty-thousand are hard to square. If a human being was claiming to envision a cadre of twenty-thousand, where they did not exist, there would be good reason to get their mental health checked. In Wisconsin, extrapolating last month's lost jobs, we are losing about 150,000 jobs per year. It takes us more than two years to graduate that many new young people through High School into the job market. The sooner we admit that the only Post War Republican President to reduce unemployment during their term was Reagan, the sooner we can forget all the other economic gimmics they profess. The greatest irony is that before Reagan go tthe unemployment rate down, it first had to spike to a Post War high of over 10.8% he then slowly brought it down to just below six percent by the time he left office. The right wing has never been against spending, as long as it benefits the ultrawealthy, or extracts more money from the rest of us that goes right into corporate profits, not laborers pockets, not into the hands of those who need it most, never to those who have been disenfranchised or marginalized, but those who pay for campaigns. The donor class. We all see it, we are all tired of it, we must cultivate realtionships with others who see what has been done and vote to fix it! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

My America?

We had just under 2,200 new covid-19 cases in my county last week. Brown County, Wisconsin has less than 265,000 people, so nearly two in a hundred got a completely controlable illness last week. Some of them will die. Even at only 1% death rate, 22 people will lose their lives to covid-19 simply because they got infected in the past week. Remember, the case fatality rate is closer to two percent across the entire U.S. I have so much shame and heartache about how stupid we are acting, but that will need to be worked out elsewhere. This blog is supposed to focus on positive steps we can take to chage things for the better. I know that after more than a year, we should be past this point. I'll go over it again just in case you have forgotten.DO NOT SHARE AIR! JUST DON'T DO IT! When you must be near others, mask, wash your hands frequently, do not touch your face, maintain social distance. Also, use your brain. All of our lives we have been taught that uncovered coughs and sneezes can jettison sputum up to thirty feet or more. Increase social distance around those who cough and/or sneeze that choose to remain unmasked. I would love to go into more detail about how to re-allocate the money we wasted in Afghanistan...

As we change our focus... The fact that millions of Americans love to shoot off their ignorant pie holes about how we need to love this country or leave it, one would expect them to be true patriots and work conscientiously to make our nation a place worthy of living in. There is nothing patriotic about claiming that your "freedom" is worthy of trampling on the health and safety of others. From a foundation that thinks liberty extends to hurting others, what can you build on a foundation that horrid? We can bear witness to the fact tha tthese same people claim to be victims themselves, justifying running stoplights and spewing toxic chemicals, even into our shared drinking water. This is not the nation I was taught to love. No one has the American Dream of buying a farm in the country only to turn the spigot and get shit out of the faucet, but in millions of american homes, that is what you get. How can degrading my property values by tainting my water source be allowed? Why is it not criminal to do business in ways that kill people? My America, the one I was taught to love and respect has three primary tenets, Justice, based on legislation and rights handed down from our legal cases; freedom to choose our leaders, based on the vote and as so many love to repeat, life, liberty and persuit of happiness. (falsely called "property" by some who fight to retain their greedy self-interest in an environment that requires cooperation and mutualism.) My right to make a living never absolves me of responsibility if I negatively impact my neighbor's ability and right to health, happiness or their ability to thrive. As we look outside our own niche, we need to accept and defend the rights of everyone to find the things we all claim have value. Living life requires us to be healthy. To have ultimate freedom, we must also carry the burden of absolute responsibility. To ultimately seek and have the hope of finiding happiness, we need to know that the basic needs we all have are going to be met. The dwindling but very loud minority who claim that they have the "right" to re-define reality to suit their claims rather than accepting facts and reality doomks all of us to meeting an untimely end. How will we react in the face of lies? We the people must speak truth to these power-hungry people who claim undue influence through the media, use of capital and who cling to their outlandish claims. We have the power to change, too often what we lack is the will.

10% of our goal!

As we continue to teach people how to sequester carbon cheaply, efficiently and forever, we often overlook the fact that many either don't care or are frozen by their fear of the future. I have written often about how the oligarchs seek to turn our heads away from the truth, or perpetrate vast lies to get us to allow them to continue to rule us. Luckily, more and more people are waking up and realizing that it is the vast majority who hold the power to make change come. This has been somthing that has been talked about for decades. when the Hippies said, the people need to lead, then the leaders will have no choice but to follow, that's exactly what they meant. The status quo is struggling, we have them unsteady. Why, just the other day, I saw a sign that said, "Long-haired freaky people, please apply."
Our group just got a contribution from an anonymous donor of over five thousand dolars that will help us to buy land upon which we will continue teaching skills needed to build a sustainable culture. This puts us over 10% of the way toward our funding goals. We are continuing to seek a large enough acreage to hold classes, create demonstration plots for resoration agriculture and to provide a working habitat restoration project where people can come to learn in a hands-on way what they need to know to replicate our success. We have had more than a dozen teachers express a desire to teach at our facility and to share such diverse skills as wildcrafting herbs, foraging for wild edible plants, animal husbandry, building soil carbon, putting up the harvest for lean times natural home building and we will also continue taking people for the annual maple sugar harvest and wild rice encampment. Additionally, we have skilled tradespeople who have been building efficiency into our housing stock, reducing the overall consumption of resources and energy, all of which allow homeowners to live better for less. Even though we are saving up for a large land purchase, we continue to invest in the capabilities of our group to educate more people faster and create bigger impact with what resources we have available. Just last month, we got a larger biochar kiln that exponentially increases the amount of carbon we can sequester, allowing us to create enough biochar to amend larger acreages faster. we have already committed to taking it on the road to several private landholdings,to sequester carbon there, but also to set up at public demonstrations across the state where dozens of individuals can learn about the power of this ancient technology. The faster we grow, the faster we increase our effectiveness. As we continue to reach out, spreading the network of people who are excited about our work, the faster we seem to get invitations to present our work to others for the first time. Those contacts in turn lead to even more people hearing about what we do for the first time. We have also mad einroads with several larger groups and people involved with nation-wide and world-wide efforts to change course. It is not too late, but we must all learn the new rules, the old strategies that worked and renew our commitment to one another and the planet. Sticking our heads in the sane will not inspire or affect change.
https://gofund.me/52fa3b77 joing forces with one another and the natural world will have benefits that out-live us all. For the next seven genereations,Tony C. Saladino-Bioneer