Category: Sustainability

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Agriculture Environmentalism Self-Reliability Sustainability

Farmland as a Commodity

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     Farmland being treated like a stock-market bid, on which savvy businessmen hope to make as much money as possible.

     I am often inspired by my local paper, but this article has been haunting me ever since I read it a week ago. To me, it represents so much of what has gone wrong in our agricultural system. Farmland being treated like a stock-market bid, on which savvy businessmen hope to make as much money as possible, just strikes me as fundamentally screwed up. We are talking about land, of which the planet only has so much, that has the power to grow food and feed everyone. This land is being regarded as a means to an end–profit, and profit only. This disturbing article fits into the bigger picture of our farmland being used to grow primarily corn and soybeans–which in turn fits into the whole industrialized food system. Perhaps, as the article states, the idea of businessmen–often with absolutely no knowledge or interest in actually tending the land and growing food–coming in to take over farmland is nothing new. But, I am seeing these kinds of stories with new eyes, and a new discomfort.

 

 

 

Investors up on the farm as property values soar

 

Bernard Condon | Associated Press

 

Braden Janowski has never planted seeds or brought in a harvest. Yet when 430 acres of Michigan cornfields were auctioned last summer, it was Janowski, a brash, 33-year-old software executive, who made the winning bid.

 

It was so high – $4 million, 25 percent above the next-highest – that some farmers stood, shook their heads and walked out. But Janowski figures he got the land cheap.

 

“Corn back then was around $4,” he says from his office in Tulsa, Okla., stealing a glance at prices per bushel on his computer.

 

Prices rose to almost $8 a bushel in June but are now closer to $7.

 

The return of the gentleman farmer is shaking up the American heartland. In the past, investors with few or no ties to farming have been called sidewalk farmers, suitcase farmers or absentee landlords.

 

Lured by high crop prices, they wager big on a patch of earth – betting that it’s a smart investment because food will only get more expensive around the world.

 

They’re buying wheat fields in Kansas, rows of Iowa corn and acres of soybeans in Indiana. And though farmers still fill most of the seats at auctions, the newcomers are growing in number and variety – a Seattle computer executive, a Kansas City lawyer, a publishing executive from Chicago, a Boston money manager.

 

The value of Iowa farmland has almost doubled in six years. In Nebraska and Kansas, it’s up more than 50 percent.

 

“I never thought prices would get this high,” says Robert Huber, 73, who just sold his 500-acre corn and soybean farm in Carmel for $3.8 million, or $7,600 an acre, triple what he paid for it a decade ago.

 

“At the price we got, it’s going to take a long time for him to pay it off – and that’s if crop prices stay high.”

 

Buyers say soaring farm values simply reflect fundamentals. Crop prices have risen because demand for food is growing around the world while the supply of arable land is shrinking.

 

At the same time, farmers are shifting more of their land to the crops with the fastest-rising prices, which could cause those prices to fall – and take the value of farms with them.

 

And even if crop prices hold up, land values could fall if another key prop disappears: low interest rates.

 

When the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to a record low in December 2008, yields on CDs and money market funds and other conservative investments plunged, too. To many Wall Street experts, the hunt for alternatives explains the rapid rise in gold, art, oil – and farms.

 

Those who favor farms point out that, unlike gold, art and oil, you can collect income while you own a farm. You can sell what you grow or hand the fields over to a farmer and collect rent.

 

In Iowa, investors pocket annual rent equivalent to 4 percent of the price of land. That’s a 60-year low but almost 2.5 percentage points more than average yield on five-year CDs at banks.

 

But that advantage could disappear quickly. If the Fed starts raising rates, farmland won’t look nearly as appealing.

 

As with stocks, U.S. farms can swing wildly in value along with the economy. Despite the fragile recovery, though, farm prices are nearing records now, capping a decade of some of the fastest annual price jumps in 40 years. In Iowa, farm prices rose 160 percent in the decade through last year to an average $5,064 per acre, according to Iowa State University.

 

Thomas Hoenig, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, oversaw dozens of bank failures when a farm boom turned bust 30 years ago. Today, he suggests prices may be in an “unsustainable bubble.”

 

Veteran bond trader Perry Vieth doesn’t think so. Vieth, formerly with Pan Agora Asset Management in Boston, started buying farms with his own money five years ago, when buyers with no farming experience were rare.

 

Now he’s buying for 71 wealthy investors. Ceres Partners, his private investment fund, owns 65 farms, almost half bought since November. He says he’s returned 15 percent annually to his investors overall.

 

Though Vieth says prices in some places have climbed too high – he won’t buy in Iowa, for instance – he says the price of farms elsewhere will rise as big money managers start seeing them as just another tradable asset like stocks or bonds and start buying.

 

“When Goldman Sachs shows up to an auction, then I’ll know it’s time to get out,” he says.

 

 

Locally

Outsiders’ interest in farms nothing new

Ritter Cox, an agent with Schrader Real Estate & Auction Co., said last October his Columbia City company sold a 5,000-acre Kansas farm to a Wall Street hedge fund.

“They turn around and rent it out and get the income from it,” Cox said. “It’s an excellent investment and better return than a lot of other” ways.

Randy Hardy grows corn, soybeans and wheat in Allen and Huntington counties. He and his brother work four farms. Hardy said city slickers scooping up farmland is nothing new.

“In the ’70s, you had quite a few doctors that were buying farmland,” Hardy said. “We are aware of it, but it’s hard for us to do anything about it. It’s been going on for quite a while.”

– Paul Wyche, The Journal Gazette

 

link to original article

 

 

Categories
Activism Agriculture Sustainability

Feeding People is Easy- A Book Review

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Colin Tudge’s Book  lays out a plan for ‘fixing’ our current food economy. 

 

  • This is a quick read (maybe a few hours), but it is pretty packed with ideas. In some ways, Colin Tudge seemed to oversimplify some political and social issues, but in all, this is a valuable book if you want to start thinking about how it’s possible to make changes in our current agricultural system.

 

 

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

     Colin Tudge, a British scientist, lays out a plan for ‘fixing’ our current food economy. He explores the question “WHY? Why are we failing so miserably at feeding ourselves properly?” In a world of extremes, where millions of children go blind from, and die of, starvation–and millions more children are obese and developing diseases related to that obesity–how do we go about fixing the problems we face? Not only that, how do we develop an agricultural system that will sustain our species not only for our children, but indefinitely?

 

     He puts to paper some key ideas that make absolute sense. He emphasizes more than once that ‘taking on’ the power structure simply won’t work. A couple of chapters are devoted to the history of the corporation and why our global economy currently runs on the wheels of governments and corporations whose prime goal is to keep the cash flowing. Reform simply will not work, he claims, when there is so much to change and when the ‘powers-that-be’ perceive there is too much to lose. Flabbergasted by the apparent lack of concern for our obviously faulty agricultural system, and realizing that many of the world’s injustices are tied to this failing system, he says that if we can get agriculture right, everything else will start to fall into place.

 

     He eschews the idea of a revolution on the principle that the outcome can be totally unpredictable. Instead of reform or revolution, he describes a renaissance. In this renaissance of “Enlightened Agriculture”, many groups with like minded ideas of preserving the planet, avoiding cruelty to humans and animals, and creating a sustainable life for everyone on the planet will come together and just start LIVING that life. They will be part of a “Worldwide Food Club” of growers, bakers, cooks, craftspeople, and consumers, all who ‘give a damn’ about quality food and life. If enough people catch on and opt out of mass merchandising and junk food, the status quo may be forced to adjust accordingly.

 

     Tudge spends some time describing what constitutes nutrition for human beings, and how we have plenty of farmland to keep everyone in the world fed according to those basic nutritional tenets. He goes further than just making sure we are ‘efficiently’ and ‘adequately’ fed. He admits that for humans, nutrition is about much more than just being sustained–we love our food, we care about variety and texture and taste. He claims that part of the beauty of his plan is that we can get back to traditional cooking, and real food, and that we will never feel deprived. Everyone needs to know how to cook, at least in the most basic ways. Every country needs to get back to having a food culture that revolves around what can be grown, what is in season. Self-reliance is the most important thing for each country of the world if we are to fix our food problems(not necessarily self-sufficience, because some trading, within the guidelines of common sense, will go a long way to enhance life).

 

     He discusses the current organic movement and says that many of its practices can be a model for how we need to farm. However, the monocultures that exist today, even in organic farming, need to be replaced with many mini-farms, similar to the family farms thatexisted in our past; farms run by good farmers and that produce a huge variety of foods and a small amount of livestock. He welcomes technology to the extent that it enhances agriculture without overtaking it or without harming the environment.

 

     Tudge imagines an agrarian economy, where 20 to 50 percent of the population are farmers. These farmers will help ensure that our food supply is stable, and the rest of the population will have various livelihoods much like they already do, while supporting the farms. Just this ‘simple’ idea, to me, brings up a host of challenges and problems, for it would force a lot of our current economy to restructure. Tudge admits this is true and discusses some of those challenges. He suggests the idea of The College for Enlightened Agriculture, filled with sociologists, scientists, moral philosophers, and yes, politicians, who will work through the issues and find ways to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future. He claims that his ideas follow capitalism in its purest form, and he believes that capitalism could have worked beautifully if corporations had been kept in check, but I admit I was a little unclear on how everything could fit together when so much of the world still firmly believes in the ‘bottom line’ and making as much cash as possible. His vision is somewhat utopian in that he believes so many people will appreciate getting by comfortably without needing to get filthy rich. I personally feel this way–I’ve never been driven by greed or money–but I am skeptical when I’m surrounded by so many who are. Still, the idea that a new agrarian society could work, and that we could just ease right into it with enough people wanting that change, is extremely appealing.

 

     It sounds like a revolutionary new world order to me, but Tudge seems certain that it’s attainable with few ‘growing pains’. In fact, he says that not only is this new approach to agriculture possible, it’s absolutely necessary, or we are all dead. Most people today are becoming very aware that the way we currently approach agriculture is completely unsustainable. He welcomes technology to the extent that it enhances agriculture without overtaking it or without harming the environment.

 

     What things can each person do right now? Find those farmer’s markets and support them. Learn the lost art of cooking. Treat food like it’s important. Start learning about groups that, in Tudge’s words “give a damn”, like those who support fair trade, organic farming, non-cruelty to livestock. Live life happily and as an example, and spread the word that we don’t have to continue eating junk and perpetuating a world of injustice. If enough people make their own changes, and start networking together, we can make the necessary changes without an uproarious revolution. Possible? Maybe. Reading books like this one is a start.

 

 

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Activism Sustainability

Congress Attempts To Kill Clean Water

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New Legislation Aims To Destroy The Long Standing Clean Water Act. 

 

 

     So while everyone is watching Casey Anthony, Rupert Murdoch and the debt ceiling fight, the Congress has passed a nasty little piece of legislation, or rather gutted an old one with a new one.

     The Clean Water Act of 1972 has greatly improved our rivers and streams. Rivers used to catch on fire, and many are still unusable, or have restricted uses (i.e. you cannot eat fish you catch) but they have greatly improved in the last 30 years. The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, House Resolution 2018, proposes to kill, or at least maim the Clean Water Act. It’s already been passed in the Congress, and soon goes to the Senate.

Under this new legislation individual states would be free to abuse rivers and lakes based on their perception of what is good for their state. This means fracking or coal mining would be more likely to be approved in areas where the polluted water just runs over some arbitrary man-made boundary. They could choose to ignore the needs of those downstream and in neighboring states despite the consequences in favor of jobs and money for their own state.

 

Can you imagine the countdown to destruction that will happen as states agree to lower their water quality standards to attract new industries? Each state trying to outdo the others as they have in the financial world. This bill is cronyism at its worst. The environment, the wildlife and we the people are going to lose, while corporations make millions abusing the waterways of America. This bill must be stopped!

 You can Email your Senator here

Or you may phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Bicycling Environmentalism Green Energy Sustainability

Bicycle Programs Could Help The Economy And Create Jobs

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The Future

Investment in bike paths and infrastructure will not only improve our economy, and take our country in the right direction for our future; it is precisely the kind of investment the American people want and need.

So here are a few stimulating ways to fit bikes into the future.

 

clip_image001 Rental/Free Use Program – Some cities have a bike rental or free bike program. You drop a dollar in a slot, use the bike as long as you need, and then return it to any station for your money back, similar to a shopping cart in many major grocery chains. The bikes are seldom stolen, and the program pays for itself with saved money from street repairs, traffic signals and traffic enforcement, or rental fees if it is a rental program. This type of program decreases traffic congestion and increases air quality as well.

clip_image001[1] Bike Infrastructure– Where I live there are no bicycle lanes, it is nearly impossible to get anywhere on bike. Some cities have signals and lanes just for the bicyclists, in exchange the bicyclists have to add things such as pedal powered turn signals and headlights to their bikes. The shared safety makes it better for the bike rider and the car driver and adds jobs in the implementation and support function. And again let’s not forget the reduction in street maintenance needed, less costly repairs, less often!

clip_image001[2] Bicycle Production – My bike was made overseas, it was a gift some time ago before I had the conscious I do today. But when I do get a new bike someday, I will buy an American made bike (or locally made, if you live in another country). There is a great company right here in New York called Worksman Cycles, quality is important, but so is proximity to your home, if you live in NY Worksman Cycles has both.

clip_image001[3] Transportation Sustainability Research – What if no one drove their cars for one day a year? or Two? How much pollution and congestion could we save? more research is needed for better bike designs and ideas. What about a 4 seater that can go 35 or 40 miles an hour with electric assist? Add a solar panel and four commuters with a conscience and BAM you have year round safe and clean solution!

clip_image001[4] Cottage Industry – As bicycle repairs, production and customization increase, so will the industries that fulfill those needs. Jobs are mostly created by small businesses, and what better small business than a bike shop? There is little waste and we can improve it as it grows.

So there you go, some ideas to improve the economy and think ahead.

We need to prepare our economy and way of life for a sustainable future!

Categories
Agriculture Self-Reliability Sustainability Urban Gardening

Rain Barrels Rule – A How To Guide.

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  • Rain Barrels Rule!

    Once again, the local newspaper’s Home and Garden section has come through for me! I have a barrel that I scored for FREE (which is another story to be told soon), and I am planning to make a rainwater barrel out of it. I can’t think of a more sustainable way to keep the Little Hands Garden happy and thriving.

    Here is the article posted last Sunday that will be a great help as I set out to turn my free empty barrel into a rain barrel.  

    Samuel Hoffman | The Journal Gazette – Fort Wayne Indiana

    Gardeners can customize their rain barrel setups as needed, such as with a diverter assembly.

    Published: June 12, 2011 3:00 a.m.

    Build your own rain barrel

    Tap downspouts for free source of water for yard with master gardener’s advice

    Rosa Salter Rodriguez | The Journal Gazette

    Photos by Samuel Hoffman | The Journal Gazette

    Rain barrels can help gardeners save money on watering, and they don’t have to be expensive. Kyle McDermott demonstrates how to make one from an old rolling trash bin at the local Purdue Extension office, which offers advice on building and using rain barrels.

    Parts for making a homemade rain barrel should cost about $20.

    The Journal Gazette

    For gardeners, the concept of a rain barrel isn’t too hard to grasp.

    You just catch the free water that flows off a roof now and use that instead of expensive tap water later to refresh vegetables, shrubs and flowers.

    The mechanics of actually setting up a functioning rain barrel? Now there’s a problem. But it’s one that Lyle McDermott of Fort Wayne is trying to help solve.

    McDermott, a master gardener, has been teaching area residents how to assemble rain barrel systems. And you don’t have to be a mechanical or botanical genius to get them working for you, he says. You just need to be willing to do a little math and have some rudimentary assembly skills.

    “I’m a simple guy, so I believe in simple,” says McDermott, 68. “I show the easy and inexpensive way. For something like $20, not including the barrel, they can have one put together.”

    McDermott says there are three major issues to consider in setting up a rain barrel system.

    The first is figuring out how much storage capacity is optimal. Many gardeners, he says, drastically underestimate both how much rain will run off a given roof and how much water it will take to quench the thirst of a drought-stricken garden.

    “A 1,000-square-foot roof – that’s only 50 by 20 feet – will produce about 500 gallons with an inch of rain. That’s 10 of these (typical) rain barrels,” McDermott says.

    While 500 gallons may sound like a lot of water, it probably can be used up in a couple of days in a proper deep watering of a 10-by-16-foot vegetable garden, he notes.

    Given that a house could have 5,000 square feet of roof, it might take 50 barrels to catch all that rain.

    “So you have to be realistic in your expectations and not expect to collect every drop,” McDermott says.

    Still, the problem of a lot of water is not insurmountable. McDermott has devised a way to link several rain barrels together with inexpensive hosing to fill them successively. An ideal system, he says, places two or three connected barrels under the gutter downspout at each of the four corners of a basic roof, hiding them behind shrubs, he says.

    If they still can’t catch all the rain, a hose connected to the third barrel can direct water to a rain garden, a garden filled with water-loving plants, he says.

    Or during heavy rainstorms, gardeners can always disconnect the downspout from the barrel and allow the water to go where it would if there was no barrel. McDermott stresses that it’s important to divert overflow water away from the home’s foundation if large amounts of overflow are anticipated.

    The second issue, he says, is that standing water, especially if there’s any organic debris in it, can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which can carry West Nile virus.

    So, McDermott says, any barrel should be tightly closed with even small openings screened. Ideally, its top should not be flat so as not to gather standing water, as mosquitoes can breed in just a couple tablespoonfuls of water.

    McDermott likes to use barrels from Sechler’s Pickles in St. Joe, which are slightly domed. Barrels are available to the public for $10 to $20, says Max Troyer, Sechler’s owner. He advises an advance call to 260-337-5461 to check availability.

    Pest-control devices called mosquito dunks and mosquito bits are another way to prevent breeding, says Ricky Kemery, horticulture educator with the Allen County branch of Purdue Extension at IPFW.

    The dunks and bits contain harmless bacteria that kill mosquito larvae, he says. Dunks are put in the barrels, and bits can be sprinkled on top.

    “They won’t hurt the plants,” he says. “You above all don’t want the barrel to be a mosquito breeding pit.”

    The third issue is water transport. Yes, water is heavy – it weighs more than 8 pounds a gallon. That means in most cases, there should be a way of connecting a hose near the bottom of the barrel, although a simple spigot works for those willing to carry water to their plants.

    McDermott says the pressure of the water above the hose connection is usually enough to get liquid through a length of hose or to a soaker hose.

    The need to get a hose or container easily under the spigot makes him advise gardeners to place a rain barrel or barrels on top of sturdy, stacked concrete blocks or bricks or a platform made from treated lumber.

    If multiple barrels are linked, the barrel connected directly to the roof gutter should be the highest, to allow gravity to assist in getting the water to subsequent barrels, he says.

    The weight of the water in the barrels also leads some gardeners to affix them to the side of the house with metal strapping to keep them upright and avoid a safety hazard, Kemery notes.

    McDermott says his system uses simple-to-find plumbing fixtures and standard hoses and nylon screening. The only tools required are a drill or knife and a screwdriver.

    McDermott says that with an investment of less than $40, a gardener can save $200 to $400 or more in the cost of water over a single growing season if he or she is a city tap-water user. For a well user, the benefit is conserving water for household use at a time when wells might dip low because of drought, he says.

    Another benefit of a rain barrel, Kemery says, is that research suggests plants prefer rain water to treated water. While tap water tends to be on the alkaline side, rain water tends to be slightly acidic, he says. That aids plants in absorbing nutrients, he says.

    Kemery has a linked rain barrel system at his own home that incorporates about a half-dozen barrels and a kiddie pool outfitted with a small pump to help transport water to nearby gardens.

    Although he doesn’t know how many Fort Wayne- area residents use rain barrels, he says more seem to be thinking about doing so.

    “We do know calls (to the extension service) from people who ask about them seem to be increasing. We’ve had more than 20 so far (this year), whereas five years ago it would have been zero,” he says.

    He adds that kits are now available at area home stores and garden centers for those who don’t want to go the home-made route.

    “Five years ago, would you have seen anybody offering a rain barrel kit? No,” McDermott says.

    “But,” Kemery adds, “water is a precious resource, and more people are seeing you need to start using it more effectively.”

    Get a barrel

    A limited number of rain barrels put together by master gardener Lyle McDermott are for sale at the Purdue Extension Service office for $35, with proceeds benefiting the master gardeners program. There also are instruction sheets available from the office; call 481-6826.

    McDermott and fellow gardener Larry Bracht of Fort Wayne are available to speak to groups about rain barrels. McDermott can be reached at 402-5779.

    rsalter@jg.net

    Link to original article: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110612/FEAT07/306129937/1031/BIZ

    Here’s another helpful link from fortwaynehomepage.com that includes a video:

    http://fortwaynehomepage.net/rsh-fulltext?nxd_id=2565

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Environmentalism Green Energy Self-Reliability Sustainability

Five Ways To Save Money AND The Planet

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Times are hard, and sometimes so is household  budgeting. So here are some tips to save you money AND save the planet!

 

This vampire had a lot of power...over "tweens"
This vampire had a lot of power…over “tweens”

 

  5) Fight “vampire power”– Vampire power is also known as standby power and phantom load. Many gadgets and appliances waste energy  just by being plugged in (even if they’re switched off). According to the Energy Information Administration  vampire power costs consumers up to $10 Billion a year in the United States alone!  So how do you fight vampires? Here are a few suggestions: Unplug things you do not use often, such as the microwave or DVD player, if thats not really an option, go to plan B. Below are some “Smart Strip” power sources, for about $30 or $40 once, you can save possibly hundreds per year. (the average is $200 per year wasted). Here’s a good place to get an estimate with a web app at Vampire Power Sucks.

 

 

   

 

 

4) Recycle bottles, cans, newspapers, etc. – This seems like a no brainer, and recyling is up roughly 16% since 1990, but since that last big jump it has stayed at a pretty steady 30%. If your broke most metals will bring a small but welcome extra income.

 

 

 

  

  

  

                                                                               3) Reduce your food waste/intake – The New York Times reports that the average American wastes 1400 calories of food per day! The daily caloric intake of most people should be about 2000 calories, but often we exceed this, this is especially true for men. In America alone there are over 50 million hungry people. So the math seems easy, 300 million Americans – 50 million hungry = 250 million, if each of these 250 million saves their 1400 calories of wasted food, that leaves  7000 calories per hungry person. That is so much food that we could feed parts of Mexico, which would help end the horrors taking place down there, and the illegal immigration problem would be eased as well, all by reducing food waste. So how do we do this, well first, eat less, especially meat as it is resource intensive. Second use all of what you buy, eat leftovers, shop carefully, control your food more carefully overall from store/garden to plate. And lastly eat out less, restaurants waste TONS of food, so though it may not be what consumer society would suggest, it is the better choice for the Earth, your bank account,  and those who are hungry.

 

 

 

 

2) Drive less – This is a simple one, walk, take a bike, take the bus, carpool or even take a scooter. Gas is expensive, cars are tough to maintain and kill the planet, ’nuff said.

 
 

   

 

 

1)  Grow your own food – This is habitually my number one tip! Raised beds, bay window spice garden, greenhouses or even just a “hoop house” can produce a significant amount of food and spices for your family. If you find that you cannot do this, try finding a Community Supported Agriculture club in your area, you can usually get a lot of fresh, organic food at a good price.

 
 

 

 
 

 

Categories
Fracking Green Energy Sustainability

Top Ten Reasons Not To Frack Up America

Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial drilling technique that injects millions of tons of highly toxic chemical fluids into the ground to break apart shale and release natural gas. Even while scientists believe these chemicals may already be poisoning America’s drinking water, the natural gas industry has unleashed a massive 34-state drilling campaign. So here are the top ten reasons why NOT to frack in New York, or anywhere.

10. The Old Paradigm

If we just drill for more fossil fuels, we are only putting off the inevitable, and destroying the environment for short-term gains and profits. We need to develop affordable and sustainable forms of energy; simply finding another finite substitute for oil will only continue the old paradigm and drill us deeper into this insane hole of unsustainability. “Clean” natural gas, during harvesting or use, is a lie!

9. Experts Say Beware

Ronald E. Bishop, Ph.D., CHO who is part of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta wrote:

“Over the last decade, operators in the natural gas industry have developed highly sophisticated methods and materials for the exploration and production of methane from unconventional reservoirs. In spite of the technological advances made to date, these activities pose significant chemical and biological hazards to human health and ecosystem stability.”

This is from Dr. Bishops January 2011 “draft” paper Chemical and Biological Risk Assessment for Natural Gas Extraction in New York. France is on track to ban hydraulic fracturing altogether for reasons just like these.

8. Well Pads of Destruction

When hydrofracked and drilled horizontally, wells require large, industrial pad sites, this includes new roads to each well, compressor, and any other access points (such as water). Depending on how many wellheads it will contain, a pad will need to range from 5-15 acres, and of course anything in the way gets destroyed.

7. Noise Pollution

 

With natural gas production wells have temporary noise pollution from drilling and fracking that will last about a month per well. After the well is set, compressor stations will be needed for every 100 or so wells in order to bring the gas pressure. Compressor stations are permanent, extremely noisy, and run day and night. Not to mention the next category, traffic.

6. Traffic

The considerable amount of trucks needed, 800 to 1500 (avg of 960) loads of water, materials, chemicals, and equipment will ruin small towns and take a huge toll on public roads. The large scale of development planned for the Marcellus, and the fact that it must be fracked, translates to dramatic increases in traffic compared to that generated by drilling conventional wells.

5. Toxic Waste


The “produced water” from the Marcellus Shale is toxic waste. “Produced Water” is the industry term to sanitize this noxious, polluted water. This is a separate category from the fracking fluids because besides the added chemicals, the water picks up hydrocarbons, heavy metals like arsenic, and radioactivity from the shale and becomes even worse than the mix that goes in. In fact a study at the University of Buffalo found hydraulic fracturing causes uranium that is naturally trapped inside Marcellus shale to be released. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, billions of gallons of waste water will be “produced” and will need to be trucked to a disposal site. The most common method of dumping will be Deep Well Injection Disposal, where the waste is forced underground at high pressure into dry gas wells. We take gas out and pump toxic, radioactive waste back in.

4. Air Pollution

Each well site emits constant and signifigant air pollution. Pollution comes from diesel generators, drill rigs, trucks and other equipment, condensate tanks and the flaring of wells. These are all significant sources of VOC’s and nitrogen oxide, which react with sunlight to form ozone. Proposed Marcellus Shale drilling in New York will be high density. In high-density drilling areas in Colorado and Wyoming, rural communities that were once pristine now have ozone levels higher than Los Angeles. Ozone can cause a range of respiratory health problems and lung disease.

3. Danger of Explosions and Spills

A fracking well in Canton, Pennsylvania exploded, spilling thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals over farms, fields and the private property of local families for about 48 hours. The chemicals even flowed into a creek that connects to the Susquehanna River. Unfortunately, because of Dick Cheney’s “Halliburton loophole” for the oil and gas industry, the corporation that runs the well, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is under no legal obligation to pay for their mess or for the medical expenses of the people that may suffer health problems as a result.

2. Fracking Fluids

Fluid technology for shale gas recovery is mostly owned by Halliburton, you know the guys that messed up the concrete on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and helped cause one of the largest environmental disasters in the world.

Halliburton classifies the fracking fluids as proprietary, this means it’s a trade secret, so they cant be disclosed without damaging the company. Except those in Halliburton involved in fracking, nobody knows for sure what is in these chemicals. Just the ones we do know are horrible and possibly catastrophic. Samples from well blowouts and fluids pits in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico found fluids to contain diesel fuel and more than 200 different kinds of chemicals, over 95% of which have adverse side effects including brain damage, birth defects and cancer.

1. Water Usage

Fracking requires extremely large quantities of fresh water, which the world is running out of. It is feasible that son water could be just as valuable as natural gas or oil. Fracking the requires many billions of gallons of water over decades. It takes 2 to 9 MILLION gallons per frack, and each well can be fractured 4 to 10 times (avg. of 6). This water can be withdrawn from lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, ponds, and wells. Because the water becomes contaminated, it may never be returned to the watershed, rain cycle, or the water supply for some of America’s largest population centers. And there is always the chance of water contamination; Halliburton and Trans Ocean said it would not happen in the Gulf of Mexico too. Fracking is exempt from the Clean Water Act, due to the aforementioned “Halliburton loophole”

 

How to help:

We have been on the fracking issue a lot here lately, that is because in our state of New York there has been a temporary ban on horizontal hydrofracking pending an environmental review, that ban is about to either end, or be renewed, so the fight is going strong here. The environmental report does not come out until 2012, so the moratorium is needed until at least then, we hope forever. We are up against millions of dollars in energy company advertisements and bribes, so donations are always welcome.


But even if you have no money, please write to, President Obama, your Governor, Senators, Congresspeople, and even your state Senators and local representatives, and tell them that you aren’t willing to sacrifice Americas water supply for a scant number of temporary jobs, a tiny share of the of money, and a whole lot of hot air from the energy companies. The State Senate and Gov. Cuomo renewing the temporary ban on horizontal hydraulic fracturing in New York is a big chance to deal a gigantic blow to fracking in America, and gain enough time to put a permanent ban in place. It also shows that everyone in any state CAN win.

If you fill out this form, we will print the letter on FSC certified recycled paper and send it to Gov. Cuomo, your Senator, Congressperson, or President Obama, for you, for free.

If you live in New York State:

You may also contact the Governor’s office by phone (518) 474-8390

or mail:

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

State Senators can be contacted here:
http://www.nysenate.gov/contact_form

Please see your states website for more information outside of NY.

Categories
Environmentalism Green Energy Self-Reliability Sustainability

Environmental Ways to Survive the Economic Crash

 

Grain stocks will be at the lowest levels since 2004 this year, and overall food stores are down dramatically, global warming will only worsen this problem. Food prices as a whole are up, there are nearly monthly riots overseas for food. Unemployment is up while overall purchasing power of the dollar is down. What can average citizens do to protect their families and insulate themselves from this economic downturn? Here are a few environmentally friendly ways that you can survive the economic disaster known as “The Great Depression 2”.

 

 

6. Get a Bike – Bikes are  a great way to get around, and if you have saddle bags or a trailer you can haul a significant amount of goods. Travel to work, your local store, or just to your neighbors house up the road, a bike will get you there and back again with very little energy.

 

 

5. Check Your Insulation – Winter or Summer we waste a lot of energy on poorly insulated homes. Even if its a rental, a few dollars can make a huge difference in the right areas.

 

 

 

4. Electrical use – Cutting back is a obviously the first choice, turn off the lights, get LED light bulbs etc. When you have the money to, invest in an off-grid system consisting of wind, solar, water, or any combination of whatever you have available in your area. If you are technically savvy you can even get cheap kits to make your own solar panels or wind generators, if your not so mechanically inclined, maybe someone you know and can barter with is.

 

3. Learn A Craft – Basket weaving, candle making, sewing,  spinning, knitting, crocheting, construction, or even woodworking. The more you can do for yourself the better, and you can trade the baskets and sweaters if you need.

 

 

 

2. Move in With Roommates – Even if your older, even if your have two families, moving in together and sharing expenses, labor, and resources can be beneficial and is better than both families having a lesser quality of life. Two older couples whose children have moved out could be the perfect pairing to live together. Or even two young couples who are just starting out.

 

1. Plant A Garden* – raised beds, bay window spice garden, greenhouses or even just a “hoop house” can produce a significant amount of food and spices for your family. If you find that you cannot do this, try finding a Community Supported Agriculture club in your area, you can usually get a lot of fresh, organic food at a good price.

 

 

 

 

*Many cities will not let you, but if you can,  small livestock are also an excellent way to produce some food at home, a single goat or a few hens can give you lots of food and materials, and take little care and food. (goat hair can be spun, and they can be milked, feathers can be used in pillows and bedding, and of course eggs)

 

These are only a few of the ways you can keep yourself out of the consumer trap and get better quality, ethical, organic products and foods, while surviving the current economic hit that the working class is taking. Think locally, a group of people doing this in a community can easily support each other and make a resilient and diverse economy. Do not wait on the Government to fix the problem, lets roll up our sleeves, get dirty and get it done. Yes you can…do it yourself.

This is a wonderful book that 3 out of the 5 board members of Future Farming own (and other will eventually get a s a gift, but don’t tell them). Its by John Seymour, its titled Self Sufficient Life and how to live it. Check it out, its a great resource.

 

Categories
Self-Reliability

How to Make Seed Starter Cups From Toliet Paper Rolls

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