Acting proud of what you should be ashamed of

City of Salem is proud of squandering millions of dollars on the airport, which is essentially a "for wealthy people only" city park, consuming millions and millions of city dollars over the years.

This is same city that has no weekend transit whatsoever and that keeps cutting the hours and the collection budget of the library and that insists that there's no money to operate branch libraries out where children can actually reach them.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

LIGHT THE WAY
The Salem Municipal Airport recently completed a four-month,$3.3 million Airfield Electrical and Runway Safety Improvement Project. The project removed and replaced the entire airfield electrical system, several miles of underground conduit and cabling; replaced more than 600 runway and taxiway lighting fixtures, and more than 100 lighted runway and taxiway guidance signs. 

Naomi Klein: capitalism causes climate change

She's right, but the problem in locating the cause in capitalism rather than in humans is that it invites people to imagine that there is some other way that we could organize a world of 7 billion people, maybe heading for 9 billion (depending on when the collapse becomes dominant) that would not also cause climate disruption.

It's 11:59 p.m. In a world of 7+ billion, everything we do causes climate disruption scheduled for midnight.  If, in the few moments we have left before catastrophe, we squander our attention and energy on trying to first reorder capitalism so we can then try to save humanity as a whole, we are surely dooming ourselves.

Like all other religions, capitalism is a mixture of observed reality and experience mixed with a priori magical thinking that is completely divorced from reality, all in service of justifying the status quo of power and privilege on earth. (Indeed, because of its superior feedback mechanisms, capitalism actually is better than many other economic religions at delivering on its promised miracles. Although yes, it's also the least introspective of the religious systems, the one least likely to tolerate and learn from other religions or to allow for coexistence -- it's a jealous god, in other words.)

If we want to maximize our chances of preserving widespread modern human civilization, getting the prices right within capitalism (taxing bads, not goods; making producers and users of resources internalize all the environmental costs their actions create) will do far more for us than a new Hundred Years War over the right economic theology.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Naomi Klein Breaks a Taboo    Naomi Klein, John Tarleton September 12, 2014 The Indypendent   That global warming is man-made and poses a grave threat to our future is widely accepted by progressives. Yet, the most commonly proposed solutions emphasize either personal responsibility for a global emergency (buy energy-efficient light bulbs, purchase a Prius), or rely on market-based schemes like cap-and-trade. These responses are not only inadequate, says Naomi Klein, but represent a lost opportunity to confront climate change's root cause: capitalism.     Naomi Klein, Lynne Foster/The Indypendent,     This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Klein's much-anticipated new book, is both surprisingly hopeful and deeply personal as she deftly weaves in her story of struggling to conceive her first child while researching the potential collapse of the natural world. In the book, Klein challenges everyone who cares about climate change to strive for a seemingly impossible redistribution of political and economic power. This, she argues, is both necessary and offers the prospect of living in a more just and humane society than the one we know today. John Tarleton: When it comes to the climate crisis, capitalism is often the elephant in the room that goes unacknowledged. Yet you zero in on it, starting with the title of your book. Why? Naomi Klein: I put the connection between capitalism and climate change up front because the fact that the life support systems of the planet are being destabilized is telling us that there is something fundamentally wrong with our economic system. What our economy needs to function in a capitalist system is continuous growth and continuous depletion of resources, including finite resources. What our planet needs in order to avoid catastrophic warming and other dangerous tipping points is for humans to contract our use of material resources. The science of climate change has made this fundamental conflict blindingly obvious. By putting that conflict up front, it breaks a taboo. And sometimes when you break a taboo, there's sort of a relief in just saying it. And that's what I've found so far: This is something that people know. And it's giving permission to just name it. It's a good starting point, so now we can have a real discussion. Why has that taboo of talking about capitalism and climate change in the same breath become so entrenched here in the United States? I think it's primarily because capitalism is a religion in the United States. But also because the Left in the United States is extremely Keynesian... Read the rest of the interview at The Indypendent For more, see thischangeseverything.org.

Isaac's Garden Toolshed

More local talent: Artist Marnie Jeffers painted the amazing undersea creatures adorning the sturdy toolshed that her husband David designed and built. This is all at Isaac's Garden in Northeast Neighborhood.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

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A prophet is without honor in her own land

Angry Letters to the One Member of Congress Who Voted Against the War on Terror -

 The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-vindication-of-barbara-lee/380084/?single_page=true
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"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Tom Toles goes green - The Washington Post [feedly]

The wittiest and most incisive cartoonist going.  A bittersweet collection, proving you can laugh at impending (self-inflicted) doom.

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Tom Toles goes green - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tom-toles-goes-green/2011/03/31/AFD04K0D_gallery.html
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"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Sunday 9/21 2 p.m. - Party at the Eco-Ball

Insightful -- Ferguson Falls Apart

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-09-08/ferguson-falls-apart

An interesting contrast

It's really interesting to see City of Salem kowtow to the "nonprofit" Salem Hospital over the hospital's demand to destroy the last standing piece of the state School for the Blind, the charming Howard Hall.

Compare the city officials' contempt for Salem history (the same contempt that brought us an ugly parking lot where the old city hall was) with the money being spent on a far less historically important structure at the train station.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/Pages/SalemRRBaggageDepot.aspx

This is not criticizing the baggage depot project, which is worthy. This is only to point out that demolishing Howard Hall -- for even more parking -- is a reckless, thoughtless act of official vandalism. Doing so while saving and restoring that baggage depot only underscores the point.

In 2001, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan and the world recoiled.  In Salem, the Sprawl Talibanis are equally zealous and happy to sacrifice our historical treasures for more sprawl furnishings.

Another unsolicited plug

Salem has some amazing artists; here's one of them:

Caren Ann Jackson Photography

presents

New images from around the world

Canvas, photography trivets, and greeting cards

Now showing at Salem Convention Center

Upcoming events

Westminster Presbyterian Fine Art Show

October 10 & 11

Salem Public Library

Month of October

Art Show & Sale Open House Market

Saturday November 8, 1:00-5:00

596 Salem Heights Ave S

503-569-6506

Something great happening in Salem community resiliency & Saving Howard Hall

Some local pioneers are following their dreams to give Salem something wonderful, a skills-building program that at the same time addresses a real need for more quality, inexpensive bikes.

As the new normal continues its rollout, and as car-centric thinking and car-centered society is increasingly shown to be a dead-end leading only to wars and pollution, bikes are going to make a giant leap ahead. The trick will be helping the transition be smooth and comfortable, rather than one that makes people feel loss and impoverishment as the old gives way to the new.

We need places like NW Hub throughout Salem, in every neighborhood really.

Instead of squandering millions planning to waste many times more and on destroying Salem's past, a city that cared about the future would be figuring out how to put a combination community cycling center, library, food bank, extension service, tool bank, public health resource, and meeting hall in every neighborhood, in preparation for the much more local future we will inhabit.

The first one could be in Howard Hall.

Such centers are just another idea among the 

               Billion Better Ways to Budget a Billion Bucks for Salem

(Than a Giant Hunk of Sprawl Propellant called a "Third Bridge")

(Content below lifted from the invaluable "Salem Breakfast on Bikes" blog, a slightly dada name for one of the best Urban-focused blogs in Oregon.)

Northwest Hub

Hopefully the weather will hold, because later in the month there's a new ride in town!

Northwest Hub is working on a project for Salem similar to Portland's Community Cycling Center. The Hub at Evergreen Church and the YMCA/Hillcrest Second Chance Recyclery are joining up and building out.

This is a fund-raiser for them as they seek to secure a storefront and workshop space.

The ride's on Saturday, September 27th at 8am. (The starting point of 400 Capitol St NE looks like the "Red Lot.")

You can register for the ride here. Day of ride registration will also be available starting at 7:30am.

(Look for more as the date approaches!)
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"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."