Tag Archives: agriculture

Empowerment

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Not much is said about ’empowerment’. Why is that? What is ’empowerment’?

Webster says Empowerment is

1: the act or action of empowering someone or something : the granting of the power, right, or authority to perform various acts or duties
 
Isn’t this something we all want? I can definitely say yes. I want empowerment. There is so much I want to do. There is something missing though. Unless we can empower with love, then we miss the most important part of the equation. Empowerment through love is the greatest gift of all. 
In many regards, I’m like like everyone else, I let my ego show. It’s human nature to do so. However, my passion for the change I want to see has never wavered. It remains the same as it was in the 80s while working in Washington, D.C….I’ve a much smaller platform here in Colorado Springs, CO. Few know me or the work I’ve done.  However, my passion remains the same, I keep doing what I’ve always done. My passion for being the best steward of our planet I can be lives deep inside my heart. Acknowledgement or not.
 
Recently I ‘Commented’ within a post responding to Richard Kirby (http://agrinomics.com/) and his feelings about not receiving ‘credit’ for the incredible work he is doing with Biodynamic and organic agriculture. He feels farmers are duplicating his work without mentioning how they come to do so.
 
Duplication is the highest form of praise. However, acknowledgment is ‘Empowerment’. When you acknowledge someone for the work they have done and continue to do it broadens their platform enabling them to have greater impact. Which is a great benefit to the changes we so want, everything benefits.
 
Of course I want acknowledgement. Don’t we all. I want to be empowered. I want people to know what I have done and continue to do. We all need to empower one another as much as possible.
There is so much work to be done. I want the broadest forum I can get. I want people who are of like nature to support each other. By empowering each other we can go forth and multiply our efforts. We can see the change we want to see happen at a more rapid pace.
Happy Empowerment Trails

Wild Horses of the Calico Mountains

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Wild horses of Nevada’s Calico Mountains

The  Calico Mountain Wild Horses. Beautiful. Perfect. Look more closely.  Can you see the terror in their eyes?  Can you see the frozen sweat on their bodies? The hot breath bursting from their lungs? They have been running to stay free and wild. They can not escape the helicopters which track them down and corral them. I can almost hear them say, Where do I go? Why is this thing chasing me? Terrified, screaming and running as fast as they can; their families scattered like the wind.

One hundred years ago an estimated two million mustangs roamed the Western range. Now there are under 35,000. Most ranchers want our Public Lands for their Livestock and want the Government to Stick It to Wild Horses and Taxpayers. Ranchers who graze their cows on federal lands are hellbent on taking wildlife and the public along with them for the ride. The Livestock Industry require more food, water, land, and energy than plants to raise and transport livestock. Cornell University ecologist says the U.S. could feed 800 million people with the grain that livestock eat. Never mind that a single cow, on average, releases 70 to 120 kgs of methane per year. Now, it is important to remember that we’re talking about a single cow. Worldwide, there are approximately 1.5 billion cows and bulls, each emitting that much methane. Where does the methane go? Into our Planetary home’s atmosphere!

“Every time you or I take a bite of beef we are saying, ‘it’s okay to run off these once free wild horses off there land and separate you from your family’.  You don’t matter! It’s okay for us to terrorize you and run you from your home…think about this the next time you order up a Quarter Pounder!”

Un-Choking the Planet, Reading labels, and Ditching the Dryer Sheet!

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Who the heck has time to know about this stuff? Right. Well, there are a few of us out there. If you are reading this, you’re probably someone who reads labels. However, If you’re like most, you’re cramming as much as you can into your day, don’t like shopping and do it as quickly as possible

Think about it for a minute. If 7.4 billion people, give or take a billion here or there, are using Dryer Sheets, what are those sweet smelling toxic chemicals doing to those we hold dear…and life as we know it?

This thought about dryer sheets came to mind after reading about Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change agreement. His decision angered me. Then, while I was separating clothes into what I could dry quickly outside and what I would throw in the dryer, I reached for a half a dryer sheet, which I seldom use. Bounce was on the shelf. Concerned sustainability advocate that I am, I wondered why I had Bounce, and what the heck is in it? I’m sure this would be the last thing Trump would ever think about!

Bounce label reads,

“Safe for all washables, but is not safe for use on children’s sleepwear or other garments labeled as flame resistant as it may reduce flame resistance. Keep out of the reach of toddlers and pets to avoid accidental ingestion.Bounce contains Cationic softeners and perfume.

A variety of toxic chemicals found in fabric softeners, including chloroform, benzyl acetate, and ethanol (currently on the EPA’s hazardous waste list). In a study performed by Anderson Laboratories, and published in PubMed, mice were exposed to air containing the fumes released by several types of fabric softener pads. The mice exposed to these fumes showed irritation of eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, and some developed severe asthma-like attacks. The results provide a toxicological basis to explain some of the human complaints of adverse reactions to fabric softener emissions.

How about this ‘science’ President Trump? Does it matter? What do you think? Is it okay? Do you need to have your own ‘study’? I’m still pissed off with you about your denial about the human race having anything to do with climate change. Do you even know what our climate is made up of?

As an asthmatic from childhood (I ran behind trucks spraying DDT through alleyways), this doesn’t sound good. Researching further, I found my way to Alex Scranton’s ‘Women’s Voices for the Earth’. Nice website. Alex is looking into lots of cleaning products and gives detailed reasons why using some dryer sheets is not a good idea. Thank you, Alex, for doing the research and putting such a great post and website together. Alex says,

“Ditch the Dryer Sheet. Some contain harmful chemicals – including hidden fragrance chemicals that lots of people are sensitive to – that vent off into the air we breath and rub off on our clothes and then onto our skin. Yikes! And the kicker is that dryer sheets aren’t even necessary to our laundry – so they’re just an extra source of exposure to toxic chemicals”

So, if you take the time to read the label you’ll find out most of those dryer sheets going into 7.4 billion peoples, give or take a billion here or there, dryers is poisoning all the air you suck in, the water quenching your thirst, and the land growing your food. Despite what Trump says, the planet is gasping! Isn’t this behavior like ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’?

Serious choices require slowing down long enough to read a label. Doing so is essential to changing the fate of life as we know it. It’s serious business. Despite what Trump says, the planet is gasping! Isn’t this behavior like ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’?

I’m fairly sure that slowing down is not what the government, industry and corporate power have in mind for us. But, slow down we must. I know, I know, many of you want the glitz and glimmer that all the magazines, radio and television ads say you need more and more of while going as fast as you can and that you like how soft those dryer sheets make your clothes.

Okay, I’m ranting. The problem being is that tiny dryer sheet used by 7.4 billion people, give or take a billion here or there, is choking me, you, your kids, your furry friends, and our home. We can no longer rely on government or industry to get rid of all the poisons in our food, water, air, and land? We have to do the work.

Vote with your dollar! If you must have a ‘dryer sheet’ buy an alternative one. They’re out there. They don’t contain noxious chemicals! They don’t poison you, me, kids, furry friends and they do not choke our planet! And let’s face it…industry only listens to the microchip in your debit or credit card and the cash in your wallet!

Happy ‘Ditch the Dryer Sheet’ trails!

 

 

My Dream

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Once upon a time we reproduced to shun extinction. Now we must stop reproduction for the same reason.My Dream

is that we be more realistic about how many humans our world can sustain. Do we need to continually manipulate nature to support a population who seem to believe there is no boundaries to how many people our world can sustain?  Are the consequences we are witnessing not enough evidence of our mis-guided nature? Introducing poisons’ into the world to manipulate agriculture and feed an over-populated world; when you think about it, it’s a craziness.

My dream is that we are more thoughtful in our approach to bringing more and more humans to the the planet.

Is sex a form of entertainment? Is your only claim to fame having a baby…then our world is doomed! The challenges our children face are greater than what we adults in our mis-guided actions can presently correct. It’s appalling that we would bring more children here; believing life will be better for them and they can correct our mistakes. Is it fair to bring children into a world which is bursting at the seam and scrambling to sustain an already over-populated world which is continually at war, with systems of government who work for the rich? Governments who view it’s population as mere resources and pawns and care so little that every society has poverty and suffering…and its’ citizens say, ‘It’s okay that we have poverty and suffering, it’s always been this way’!

is that our development stops creeping in on wildlife habitat; that we continually expand spaces which acknowledge our inter-connectedness with nature and wildlife. My dream is for spaces that celebrate this connectedness; exciting and joyful places; places where bird songs, babbling brooks and the wind through the trees supply much of the entertainment we crave. Am I delusional?

My dream is that Offices’ of Economic Development and Public Finance around the world offer environmental incentives which have an extremely high tax break for people and business who want to move here and NOT drain or poison our resources, employee locally; and not destroy wildlife and natural habitats. Wildlife does not understand the ‘concrete jungle’ that keeps crumbling the land.

My dream is that all governments make education (free for everyone) and infrastructure (including agriculture) their priorities.

My dream is that everyone accepts their responsibility as a steward to our planet and understands what being a steward means: Setting aside our ‘wanting’ to look at what is ‘needed’.

 

Is this a crazy dream?

 

Americans Just Wanta Have Fun!

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“The American public does not want to be uplifted, ennobled–it wants to be amused.”

–Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935). novelist. social worker. and teacher

Alice was a poet, journalist and political activist. And, some sort of visionary, from where I stand. She was among the first generation born free in the south after the Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved in the artistic flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. Alice and I have much in common. She knew what many of us are aware of…I wonder what she would think if she were here today?

Who doesn’t want to escape? You work hard all day, at a job you’re not crazy about; for a boss who doesn’t appreciate how brilliant you are; then you come home too exhausted to cook; so you through an empty of anything nutritious excuse for food into a microwave; which kills any remaining nutrition; or you open up a carton of ice cream hoping to stop that ineffable hunger you just can’t seem to reach!

Even when you are aware of the diabolical account of how four Anglo-American agribusiness giants plan world domination by patenting life forms to gain worldwide control of our food supply and our lives; remnants of how we controlled the Indians’ comes to mind, ‘destroy their food and you control their destiny’! Dealing with all this reality is just too darn daunting! Isn’t it?

A recent New York Times article reports; “The average American spends more on entertainment than on gasoline, household furnishings and clothing and nearly the same amount as spent on dining out, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” It’s been estimated by the Twentieth Century Fund that Americans spend 40 billion dollars per year for total recreation expenditures in the United States.  Personally, I believe that’s a conservative figure and agree with Alice; we’re on an ‘amusement ride and we don’t want to get off’‘. I also believe that keeping the population entertained is high on the list for those few men who control all our lives. Contemplating this, I tear myself away from a recorded segment of  ‘American Idol’!  Me, I’m just another would be victim. But I will not go quietly!

William Engdahl’s book ‘Seeds of Destruction’  is a diabolical account of how four Anglo-American agribusiness giants plan world domination by patenting life forms (GMOs) to gain worldwide control of our food supply and our lives. This review is in three in-depth parts. Part I was published and is available on this web site.

Today, government subsidies for agriculture in the industrialized nations of North America, Western Europe and East Asia (Japan and South Korea) is over a Billion Dollars a Day! Did I mention this is just the subsidies. Oh, and I’m pretty sure that the organic farmer is not the recipient of any of these dollars. You might ask why; inquiring minds want to know…including mine.

I’ve just ordered the ‘Seeds of Destruction’ and am excited to get it in my hands. It will be interesting to see if the book reveals some correlation between what I discovered during my 10 years in Washington.

I’m interested in what our great leaders and writers in the past thought about our country and the direction we took and are taking. President Woodrow Wilson made a disturbing statement; what’s more disturbing is knowing what to do with the knowledge that “The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men”. President Woodrow Wilson said upon reflecting on the passage of the Federal Reserve Act.

“I am a most unhappy man, I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominate men”

And then President Thomas Jefferson said:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

Sometimes I feel like drowning myself in ‘fun’. I don’t want to face the realities I dig up. But then the fun gets to feel so shallow and empty. What should I be doing with my time? What do I have the energy to do with my time? The majority of us are under paid and work long hours just to barely get by. The majority of us are so under-nourished we don’t have the energy to complain, much less the fortitude to make a change. And then there’s this emptiness inside, and no entertainment and nothing we eat seems to satisfy it!

Entertainment sometimes gives a true picture of what is really going on in government and what some of our politicians think about those of us who voice our opinions and disagreements. For instance:

Francis steps onto the street and encounters an irate screaming citizen the police have handcuffed to a light pole and says; “Nobody can hear you, nobody cares about you, nothing will come of your screaming, why don’t you let these nice gentlemen take you home.” 

House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2 at 4:29 minutes

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Ineffible Hunger II: Ted’s Grill For Lunch

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Save me! Every time I  take a bite of anything these days, I wonder about the resources that went into it.

I normally don’t eat beef. I did recently. A burger and fries at Ted’s Grill. Did you know Ted Turner owns Ted’s Grill? Did you know Ted Turner owns 80% of all the Bison? As we walk into Ted’s Grill, I notice a huge Bison head mounted on the wall. It looked like a giant. There must have been 10 feet from one tip of it’s horns to the other. Impressive! It was huge! Needless to say, I set with my back to that wall and didn’t order bison from the menu…remembering the glass glare from the bison held on the wall.

When Ted Turner was asked what is it that you like about bison?

“I just, I really love them. I’m a naturalist and an environmentalist, and I was touched by the tragedy that occurred with the bison. There were 30 million of ’em on the Great Plains when the white man landed in North America. In the 1880s, there were only about 200 of ’em. I wanted to do everything I could during my life to bring them back. In order to do that you have to be able to monetize the surplus.”

What I didn’t know

about Ted Turner was that he is a huge experimentalist! In 1997 Ted Turner and his family established the Turner Endangered Species Fund as a response to the mass extinction of the world’s plants and animals. Thanks Ted.

Anyway, when the server brought my plate, I commented that the food on the plate could feed three people; and asked for a take-home-box at the beginning of my meal. I cut my burger in half and put half the burger and 3/4 of my fries in the box. Continue reading Ineffible Hunger II: Ted’s Grill For Lunch →