If you want to understand what's coming

Yes, the future is hard to predict. But that cliched truism doesn't mean that you can't look at the present trends and extrapolate intelligently to set some boundaries on what the future would likely produce. After all, unless the aliens come, we know that we live on a finite planet, we have a fair to good understanding of many important physical laws that will continue to govern how things work on this finite planet, etc.

So read this article. It explains one hell of a lot about what we can expect. And it ends well, pointing out that the future trends need not portend disaster -- it's our choice about how to respond. We can try to cling to business as usual, pouring more and more of our efforts into propping up a society that requires abundant, cheap energy in ever greater quantities, or we can adopt gracefully to the future that is fairly clearly before us:

Despite his gloomy outlook on oil supplies, Brown strikes a hopeful note. He thinks the world can manage the needed downsizing once people abandon their faith in the myth of perpetual economic growth. Having done that, they can band together with their neighbors and fellow citizens and create a new low-energy society that he believes could end up making us healthier--we'll have to walk and bicycle more--and more connected to our neighbors with whom we'll have to work closely to make our communities work.

More STIRring on relocalization

The Salem Transition Initiative for Relocalization (STIR) will hold its second meeting

Date: March 17, 2009 (Tuesday)

Time: 7:00 - 9:00 (can stay later if desired)

Place: Tea Party Bookstore, 420 Ferry St. SE (Corner of Liberty & Ferry) UPSTAIRS meeting room. (The door on Liberty leads to an elevator for those needing to avoid stairs.)

Anyone interested in working to help Salem prepare for the challenges of peak oil, climate change, and the worldwide economic meltdown (and to help draft an Energy Descent Action Plan for Salem) is invited.

If you want to join the STIR discussion list, request an invitation to join the list here.

Speaking of chickens, C.I.T.Y. has a website

It's here. Bookmark it now to stay on top of the action as Salem undertakes a land use change to permit urban chickens.

Would you rather hear chickens or hungry peoples' stomachs?

One of the worst, least-justified phony excuses to continue barring urban chickens is noise.

In a city split by active train tracks, that has allowed a helicopter school to practice right in the city, that allows any number of dogs, roaring motorcycles, and constant sirens, there is simply no reasonable way to compare those aural assaults with the barely-audible sounds of chickens.

And then there's this report from Marion-Polk Food Share:

Number of Families in Need Rises Further into Record Territory

Another quarter has passed, and halfway through our fiscal year, need has climbed yet higher. Currently, an average of 6,294 families a month are seeking the aid of food boxes.

That average is up more than 300 families a month from last quarter’s all-time record levels, and means that there are now 682 more hungry families per month than last year at this same time.

Need is up most sharply in rural Marion and Polk counties, where it is 20.2% higher than at this time last year. Salem-Keizer’s increase stands at 5%, but that number, too, may be about to go higher.

Never-before-helped families are latest sign of troubled economic times

During January, alone, 562 never-before-helped Salem-Keizer families received food boxes. That number is significant because it is the most new families ever recorded in a single month, and because client service records go back to the early 1990’s.

While exact numbers are not currently available for rural areas, representatives from rural Marion and Polk counties charities report seeing many new families as well.

MPFS is buying more food than ever before

In recent years, our largest single source of food has been product donations from the local food industry. These donations have been comprised of various items companies would classify as “waste” and, indeed, before food banks much of this food was discarded in landfills.

More recently, as economic conditions have tightened, businesses—quite understandably—have had to become more efficient in order to stay afloat. That has meant fewer food donations to help struggling families.

In response, like never before, MPFS has made massive food purchases: seven entire semi-truck loads of food in the past eight weeks.

Purchases were made strategically. Six of the seven semi-loads were acquired locally, including three loads of canned vegetables from Norpac and two loads of canned pears from Truitt Bros.

Buying from local companies means we keep people in our community working and, if people are working, they are less likely to have to need the aid of a food box. Additionally, according to Ray Burstedt, President of SEDCOR (Salem Economic Development Corp.), every dollar spent on local salaries cycles back into the local economy at least three times. That helps our community weather these trying times.

Purchases only possible due to generous donors

The combined price tag for the seven semi-loads of food mentioned above was just short of $114,000, but the result of those purchases was 294,000 pounds of much-needed, nutritious food.

“We could not have done this without the help of the community,” said MPFS President Ron Hays. “It was the generosity of local individuals throughout the holidays that got us this food.”

“We also are grateful to Norpac and Truitt Bros., who gave us very good deals on the products we purchased,” said Hays. “There is nothing that gives me hope in these times like the generosity I see in this community.”

More press on C.I.T.Y.

Watch the story here.

A reminder from the Red Cross

1. More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada.
   
   
2. 43,000 pints: amount of donated blood used each day in the U.S. and Canada.
   
   
3. Someone needs blood every two seconds.
   
   
4. Only 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood - less than 10 percent do annually.
   
   
5. About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
   

To schedule an appointment to donate blood, call 1-800 GIVE LIFE or visit us at our website .

Nice website: TheCityChicken.com

Nice.

Speaking of food and food security

Good day friends of Food Share Gardens,

Marion Polk Food Share is marching fourth toward a busy spring of garden activity. With a groundswell of sustainable community garden project support, we are deepening the scope of the program to ensure that the health, self-reliance and sustainability of our communities are cultivated through visionary work and concerted action. Below I am including an important update on volunteer needs and garden projects, with highest priorities listed first. Thank you for participating in this deep partnership with our two county community. Together we can imagine no hunger. Together, we can imagine a region that is interconnected and thriving.

Volunteer needs:

Grant-Highland Health Fair – THURSDAY, March 5th from 5:30-8:00

Tomorrow I am setting up a table at the Grant-Highland Health Fair which will be located at Salem Alliance Church (1490 5th St NE, Salem, OR.) I am in need of one or two volunteers to be at the fair while I head over to the Hoover Elementary family night. The main objective for both of these events is to get the word out about the April 4th Spring Garden Fair here at MPFS, as well as to provide information about important Food Share services. Please email or call me if you would like to volunteer for this fair.

NO HUNGRY CHILD Spring Break Lunch Program

We are desperately in need of a few volunteers who can give a couple of hours of time over the lunch hours (approximately 11:30-1:00) over Spring Break, March 23-27. Sites needing staffing include Stephens Middle School in NE Salem, Hayesville ES in NE Salem, Auburn ES in NE Salem, Parkway Village Apartments (3143 7th Place NE), Washington ES in NE Salem, Mary Eyre ES in SE Salem, Washington ES in Woodburn, Henry Hill ES in Independence, and Monmouth ES in Monmouth. Drivers are also needed to pick up left over lunches and deliver them to area pantries or meal sites. If you or any one you know would be willing to help, please contact Kat here at the Food Share as soon as possible.

Kat Daniel 503.581.3855x kdaniel@foodbanksalem.org

Garden Projects:

Seed Starting @ Pringle Creek Greenhouse– Tuesday March 10th from noon to 4pm

Following a lunar gardening calendar, we will be planting a plethora of vegetable and herb seeds just before next weeks’ full moon. The thousands of seeds that we sow will sprout and emerge as vigorous plants that will be planted in the many food share sustainable community gardens in the coming months. Once mature, these vegetable and herbs will be harvested and their nutrition will be made available to the communities that we serve. Come down to the newly refinished Pringle Creek Community Greenhouse for an afternoon of community work and garden learning. (2110 Strong Road SE Salem)

Community Potluck/Garden Planning Session @ MPFS –
Monday, March 16th from 6-8pm

We will be coming together at this potluck to focus on the spring garden fair and youth garden program, as well as to create a time line in connection with resources and volunteer projects.

If you have questions or need information, email or call me. Stay tuned in, for there are many amazing garden project on the horizon!!!

Thanks,
Jordan Blake
Garden Project Manager
Marion-Polk Food Share
(office) 503.581.3855 x 323
(mobile) 503.798.0457
...because no one should be hungry!
...porque nadie debe tener hambre!

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. -Arabian proverb

Corvallis Tour d'Coops: A little inspiration for Salem

Cooped Up in Corvallis

Corvallis's Self-Guided Chicken and Duck Coop Tour

Sunday, March 15th, 12-4pm

Visit 8 chicken and duck coop sites in the Corvallis community and talk with backyard fowl keepers. Get tips for integrating fowl in your backyard! In addition to providing eggs, chickens and ducks eat garden pests and weeds, they help fertilize the soil and chickens can be good rototillers.

Early ticket purchases: $6/person or $10/family

Day of event tickets: $8/person or $14/family

Get your map/ticket starting March 2 at:

First Alternative Co-op (North & South Locations) or
Corvallis Environmental Center

Thank you to our supporters and sponsors:
Robnett's Hardware
Slow Food Corvallis (slowfoodcorvallis@comcast.net)
First Alternative Co-op

Contact: leslie@corvallisenvironmentalcenter.org.

Why would we pour billions into roads and bridges?

(click on graph to see full view)

In a nation just moving from an agrarian society to an industrial one, roads spur wealth.

In a nation that must move from a post-industrial society to a much more agrarian one, pouring money into roads is like burning it in a pit, only with much more environmental harm.

Anyone who proposes to tax you to spend more money on cars and roadways is in deep denial about what this graph shows -- and that denial is going to hurt you.

The era of roadbuilding for endless automobility is over. The only question is how much harm the road lobby, elected officials, and transportation planners will cause before they acknowledge this reality.

After the fall of Louis XVI, people then shook their heads and wondered how anyone could have possibly been so stupid as to bankrupt a wealthy nation like France with obviously pointless and wildly extravagant spending that qualified as little more than vast, costly monuments to the royal ego. Funny, few were making the point while the money was still flowing freely. Well, here we are, an ocean away and hundreds of years later, faced with the same dilemma --- a debased currency, overstretched military commitments, and wildly extravagant spending, only our Versailles palaces are called "highways."