Early Planning for Father's Day 2011: Capital City Garden and Coop Tour

Image via Wikipedia

The great non-profit group, Friends of Salem Saturday Market, is partnering with Chickens in the Yard, another Salem non-profit group, to present the first

Capital City Coop & Garden Tour

in June. This will be a self-guided tour of both chicken coops and fabulous gardens.

Would you like to be a participating garden in this year's tour and show off some of your hard work? Or, perhaps you know someone else who might be willing to open their garden, as well. We are looking for gardens that can act as inspiration for other gardeners - they're big, beautiful, diverse, unusual, efficient, or just really well done.

To participate, you would need to be willing to open your garden on Sunday, June 19 (Father's Day), from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There should be two people available: one to greet visitors and show them where to go (outside the house only -- you do not have to open their house as well), and one to be at the garden giving a tour.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward C.I.T.Y.'s "Habitat for Hens" program to assist low-income families in setting up a coop and keeping chickens at their home.

To nominate your own or someone else's garden or coop as a tour stop, email Friends of Salem Saturday Market soon!

Does auto exhaust cause brain damage? Study suggests it might

Image by Simone Ramella via FlickrThis is an example of where the precautionary principle would be helpful -- there's some evidence of the possibility of serious harm from an industrial activity, but what will happen now is that it will take a long time for the evidence to solidify, particularly in light of the typical denial-evasion-obfuscation-retaliation cycle from the affected intere$t$.

What ought to happen, in these legacy cases where the activity got underway well before the science of risk assessment developed, is that the developing mosaic of suggestive studies should cause the onus to shift onto the activity ... in other words, instead of having to prove to the satisfaction of the affected industry that there is a sufficient quantum of proof to justify a serious response (which typically only happens after decades of the profit-making companies fighting against science like trapped rats), the industry ought to now have the burden of producing, within say five years, solid and valid disconfirming evidence or face a regulatory action aimed at eliminating the chance that the hazard is there.

Donate your books now, get great bargains soon

The Friends of Salem Public Library Spring Book Sale is back, and better than ever, because every year there are more and more of us who have spent a year buying and enjoying good books that now need to go to a good home -- and provide itemizers with a tax deduction on the way, while raising money for an outstanding cause, the programs of the Salem Public Library.

So schedule your spring cleaning now -- go through all your shelves and find those great books that you enjoyed but won't read again, and send them on their way to someone else's shelves by bringing them to the Friends Bookstore inside the main library. You can get a tax receipt, and you'll be helping the Friends raise money to support key programs at the most important but underbudgeted resource in Salem -- our library.

Fun with brain wiring

Fukashima got you down? The best remedy is to learn to prepare

Image via WikipediaSalem has a pretty active CERT program: Community Emergency Response Teams. This training is worthwhile for anyone who is concerned that between nature and human error, there's just no kind of disaster that we can't experience. Heck, we're even starting to see funnel clouds here in the Valley, so we're not even safe from tornadoes. And you know, I hope, that we will definitely be in the zone of effects from the huge offshore earthquake that's due anytime . . .

As long as you don't go all survivalist, there's simply no downside to learning about emergency preparedness, which is necessarily a community function.

Tonight: Learning the "reuse" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle"

Image via WikipediaThe great folks at Straub Environmental Learning Center are offering a helpful class, the kind that is much better done in a group than from solo research:

Monday, April 4, 2011, 6:30-8:00pm
Sustainability Workshop
Getting the Most of Your Household Wares
Straub Environmental Learning Center

This workshop will provide attendees with easy access to resources that make it easy to reduce, re-purpose, and recycle items in their homes. By reusing materials already in the home instead of throwing them out, people can have a large impact on improving environmental sustainability and reducing risks to public health, all while saving money and resources.

Workshops are free, but registration is required due to limited space. RSVP to Alexandra at 503-391-4145 or email fselc@fselc.org.

All workshops will be held at Straub Environmental Learning Center from 6:30-8:00 pm, unless otherwise noted. For a schedule of the entire series, click here.

Absurd expenditure of time & talent -- but totally awesome

Just unreal.

Homemade B-29 Bomber.

This is amazing...! The aircraft runs on four chainsaw engines. You can just imagine how much love, effort, skill, time and money these guys had to have to put into this project....!

The best part is that they launch a Bell X-1 rocket plane that it carries aloft with it.

"Starts" tomorrow (ho ho!): Get your starts at Pringle to benefit Leslie Middle School!

Click on the photo for the complete shot.

The Leslie Middle School gardening class will be selling plant starts all next week in the Pringle Creek Community greenhouse starting next Monday, April 4th from 10am to 12pm.

They are selling lettuce, cilantro, and other varieties.

Each 4" pot is only $.50 and contains several organic seed starts! All proceeds go toward their gardening classes and will help pay for raised beds at their school garden.

Please pass along this wonderful opportunity to support our local middle school gardening program!
--
Pringle Creek Community
3911 Village Center Dr SE, Salem, Oregon 97302
503-315-1055 office

Plan a visit on First Wednesday, April 6 and meet the new store manager

One Fair World, Salem's best shop for unique gifts, sadly said goodbye to past manager Linda Bruce and welcomed a new manager just the other day, a woman with deep retail experience who is well poised to continue and build on Linda's work to make this Salem treasure a thriving concern for years to come.

Retail's a tough business, especially in tough times, but One Fair World offers truly exceptional items, all certified fair-trade goods, which means that you not only get great goods for your money, but you can feel good about what your money is doing in the world.

Come meet the new manager, check out the expanded clearance area, enjoy a tasty treat, and get ready to greet spring at this wonderful shop.

US policy makes biofools of us all

UPDATE: No surprise, Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack wins it going away.

As food prices rise in America and around the world, Secretary Vilsack does not seem to think it matters that almost 40 percent of U.S. corn production goes to manufacture ethanol for guzzling cars.¹ U.S. and EU biofuels policies contribute to food price volatility. By supporting these policies, Secretary Vilsack is helping industrial farmers make a few extra bucks per bushel.

Secretary Vilsack says his support for ethanol subsidies is justified by his concern that farmers are under-appreciated.³ However, ethanol subsidies go to refiners, not farmers, and less than 20 percent of America’s ethanol is produced in farmer-owned refineries.³ The other 80 percent is produced by conglomerates like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Big Oil companies. Secretary Vilsack could advocate for changes to our agricultural policies that help small, sustainable family farms grow healthy and nutritious food, but instead he supports Band-Aid policies that ultimately serve the interests of corporations.

Tell Secretary Vilsack just how much the industrial biofuels manufacturers appreciate his support… and just how much his shilling hurts our climate and the push for truly clean energy.

And we won’t even get into the fact that biofuels do nothing to reduce America’s dependence on oil. Converting all American corn acreage to ethanol production would only produce enough fuel to displace 12 percent of gasoline consumption -- and by even less if production costs are included.⁴ We may never know why Secretary Vilsack loves the ethanol industry so much, but we do know that he is a Biofool!

1. Kripke, Gawain. Defiant ethanol support weakens US case on food. Financial Times. 3/25/2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c7637d0-566d-11e0-84e9-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ICiDB9YL

2. Klein, Ezra. Vilsack: “I took it as a slam on rural America.” 3/8/2011. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/03/vilsack_i_took_it_as_a_slam_on.html

3. “ACE Commends Farmer-Owned Ethanol Plants for Contributions to U.S. Ethanol Industry.” 3/18/2010. http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/ACE_commends_farmer_plants_Natl_Ag_Week_31810.pdf

4. Meyer, Patrick E. Biofuel Review Part 3: Land Availablity, Conversion and Deforestation. 1/2010. http://www.todaysengineer.org/2010/Jan/Biofuels-pt3.asp

Finally! A dawning recognition that the biofuels subsidy system is simply driving up hunger in America and around the world, while making climate destabilization worse.

The only thing we do by making hungry people compete with gas tanks for the energy content is to prop up the liquid-fueled vehicle paradigm a tiny bit longer, at an extraordinary cost.

Dear Friend,

Who wil be the 2011 Biofool of the Year? Cast your vote now!

It’s almost that time of year again: Biofools Day!

For the last two years, we have asked you to vote for the biggest Biofool to be announced on Biofools Day, April 1. A Biofool is a person who has bought the biofuel industry’s corny story, ignoring the growing evidence that biofuels are not-so-awesome after all.

Last year, thousands of you selected Representative Colin Peterson (D-Minn.) as 2010 Biofool of the Year. Rep. Peterson won for holding the Waxman-Markey climate bill hostage until he could get a provision inserted to repeal a law that directed the EPA to account for all greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of biofuels. In the contest's inaugural year, activists voted for Chairman Hugh Grant of Monsanto. He won because by supporting the biofuel boon, Monsanto stood to rake in billions from its genetically engineered products.

This year, we're calling out five major biofuel proponents, including government representatives and industry spokespeople, as this year's top Biofools.

Take a look and see who made the grade. Then vote to select this year’s biggest Biofool.

Contrary to what the industry says, the production of industrial biofuels releases significant amounts of carbon and greenhouse gases into the air. The majority of biofuel used in the United States today is corn ethanol, which produces more global warming pollution than gasoline. Like other industrial agricultural products, biofuel production is harmful to the land, water, and wildlife. To make matters worse, biofuel subsidies and handouts hinder food security and cost taxpayers billions.

Who will be this year's biofool? Vote now and have your say.

Despite huge environmental, social and economic concerns, biofuels still enjoy the fierce backing of industries -- like agribusiness, biotech, and oil -- that make billions by selling the myth that biofuels are clean, efficient, and reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Somehow, these powerful corporations are able hoodwink influential people to support their dirty industry – and these Biofools then use their different soap boxes to promote policies that in turn support dirty biofuels.

By voting today, you are sending the message that you are not fooled by the industry's propaganda.

Once the votes are in, we'll send you the results and announce this year’s winning Biofool to the public on April 1, Biofools Day.

But we won't stop there. We'll continue to put pressure on the biggest Biofools and we'll need your help to do this. We want you to be part of our work to end subsidies for Biofools -- ahem, biofuels --and ensure these subsidies expire like they should have done last year.

Click here to see the nominees and vote. Then get your friends to vote too.

Sincerely,
Kate McMahon
Biofuels Campaign Coordinator, Friends of the Earth

Note: Our neighbor blog to the south, "Goal One Coalition," has a great post on this subject.