The Earth Savers Blog

The Lorax

The Lorax is a children's book, written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax (a mossy, bossy man-like creature), who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. As in most of Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book, and have a wonderful rhythm and rhyme. The story is wonderful, and its a great read with kids ages 3 and up. I learned a lot - and I loved it. 

An Eye Opening Read: Part One

When I was 23ish I moved out to Colorado. It was the year after college, I knew what I wanted to do but also knew that I was not ready to do it yet. I had lots of budding (get it) ideas about the environment, activism, staying out of the crazy corporate world of debt and busy... but I was missing some basic understandings about myself and the world. I could not put my finger on just what bothered me or just what I wanted to separate myself from, I could not put a finger on it.

I spent a lot of time, like lots of 20 somethings with a little cash, a couple friends and long days to kill when there was no fresh snow, in a coffee shop. It was a book store as well and there was a book I kept seeing in that shop that was calling me. I mean that in a literal sense, no matter when I went to the shop, no matter what I was doing, no matter who was there with me... my eyes would always, always end up focused on that book. Initially the book was just on the shelf, binding out, nothing special; eventually it was one of the titles out and featured in the display, then it was back on the shelf and I found it again. It was not random but was not totally methodical either. The fact is that my eyes always, without looking for it, found this book on a shelf in a book store / coffee shop full of books. The funniest part is that I would only realize that it was the same book after I had landed on it and become conscious of the fact. I never looked for it, intentionally or otherwise. I found it, or, rather it found me, at those times when I would be daydreaming, looking around searching for the next sentence to put in the letter I was writing or the next line to add to the conversation I was having. Eventually I bought it.

The book was Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. The book changed my life and my thinking on a number of levels. I am reading the book again because I just spent about 700 tax payer dollers to buy a set of 60 for my class. I am going to see to it that each one of my students find a way to access this book and its message. Go get yourself a copy. I am going to milk the message of this book to help me become a more regular contributer on this site that my sister so diligently created and continues to create each day. Just start at the beginning, more later.

The Darling of Conservation

During his lifetime and career, "Ding" Darling was most widely known for his editorial cartoons, which appeared in nearly 150 newspapers nationwide and earned him two Pulitzer Prizes. All of his cartoons were created and illustrated before the introduction of T.V. and many before even radio. In those days  newspapers were the primary source of information and commentary, and were published frequently on the front page, having enormous impact on public opinion.

Ding's passion was teaching the wise use of the world's natural resources and advocating for environmental awareness.  He was skilled in speaking, articulate in writing, and devoted his talents to the higher cause of conservation education and to developing programs and institutions which would benefit wildlife.

"The prize-winning biography, Ding: The Life of Jay Norwood Darling, by David L. Lendt, is a must-read for all who are engaged in the on-going battle to conserve our nation's precious natural resources. While by definition the story of one individual, it is at the same time a fascinating history of the early conservation movement in the United States.

The Papers of Jay N. Darling is an extraordinary archive maintained by Special Collections at the University of Iowa. It consists of over 60 lineal feet of materials including letters, manuscripts, and speeches.   Additionally, Special Collections maintains a searchable archive of nearly 9,000 of "Ding" Darling's original editorial cartoons that are viewable online."

How Rich Will We BeWhen We Have Converted All Our Forest, All Our Soil,All Our Water Resources and Minerals to Cash?

This question, "How Rich Will We Be . . ." seemed heretical when "Ding" asked it in 1938. Today we not only recognize the wisdom of the question, we shudder when we consider the answer.

Soil Not Oil

From Media Mouse: 

With all the trendy "green consumerism" and corporate green-washing that dictates so much of current discourse around environmentalism, it is important that we examine independent perspectives on the severity of the world's ecological crisis.

Author Vandana Shiva has provided a fresh and independent perspective for more than two decades now as she has confronted how we think about environmentalism by writing books about water, seeds, global trade policies, and patriarchy's relationship to the natural world. In her most recent book Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, the Indian activist provides needed analysis for those of us who might be duped by the market approach to environmental justice.

Shiva argues that the world is faced with three fundamental global crises: global warming, energy use/depletion and food. The author believes that these three issues are inter-connected, therefore how we respond as a global community with any of these issues will impact the other two. Soil Not Oil does not just address those three issues, it provides an analysis and challenge to those of us in the US who think we have the best approach to solving the climate, energy and food crises.

For example, the business community has primarily dominated the response to global warming in the US, much of which has been supported by the ideas put forth by Al Gore. Shiva argues that these "solutions" are imperialist in nature since they dictate what the poorer countries of the world should do. This imperialist response by rich countries is best demonstrated by the idea of carbon trading. Carbon trading allows the biggest polluting nations and corporations to transfer their pollution onto other nations and communities by investing in "green" technology abroad. Shiva believes that the market should not be deciding how to deal with something so crucial as climate change and suggests that carbon trading is a false solution since "it does not begin with policies and laws that protect and support the nonpolluting patterns of production, distribution and consumption."

Carbon trading will in effect mean that the big polluters will be subsidized to continue to pollute, because "slightly greener" companies can sell their carbon credits to the worst polluters. This market solution provides no real incentive for developing truly sustainable ways of production, which is why Shiva believes that the nuclear industry has been cashing in on the global warming frenzy. Nuclear power has received the support of politicians and some environmental groups despite the fact that the uranium mining that is done in order for nuclear power to work is highly toxic and unsustainable.

When discussing energy use, Vandana Shiva focuses on the cost of car use in her home country of Indian. With the increase in personal auto transportation on the rise in countries like India, it not only increases the global demands of oil production, it has resulted in increased deaths and road construction. The new road construction throughout India has primarily impacted India's rural farming communities, communities that have lost their land and their livelihood.

This shift to greater car production and use in countries like India has meant less land for food, the third major crisis that Shiva tackles in Soil Not Oil. Not only does road and parking lot construction take away precious land from small farmers, it necessitates that more land is used for bio-fuels to power the machines. This has resulted in less land for food production and high prices for basic food staples. Those of us in the US have experienced increased in the cost of basic grains, but this increase in global food prices has hit people harder in countries like India. So why bio-fuels are presented as a green fuel it has actually caused more environmental destruction and poverty.

Shiva believes that the market-based solutions that the rich nations have adopted in responding to the global climate/energy/food crisis has and will only make things worse. The author believes that the power to make decisions about food and energy should be put in the hands of smaller communities, decisions that she believes would be more sustainable. Shiva cites numerous examples in India where people have created their own seed banks to promote traditional grains like millet, which is more nutritious and sustainable to grow. When local communities have control over the most fundamental resources such as food and energy production there is a greater chance that the issue of how it impact that community will be central to the decision making process, unlike when corporations or nation states impose their decisions on communities.

Soil Not Oil concludes with the author appealing to the idea encompassed in the Indian work Shakti, which means the "capacity to do" or "to have power." When local communities have the capacity and the power to determine the futures, a future that is not driven by external market forces, only then can the world overcome the global climate crisis we are faced with. Soil Not Oil is an excellent resource for those who are serious about not just averting a larger global climate crisis, but for those who want to preserve living communities of bio-diversity.

Vandana Shiva, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis

As The World Burns

Derrick Jensen has been called a radical. He does not take no for an answer, is a warrior for the environment and the many species who are drastically being impacted and eradicated. He is a tireless champion for educating and informing anyone who will listen with an open mind, and most importantly he's simply a guy who never gives up in thinking he can make a difference.

I met Derrick at a University speaking engagement. He's a big guy, and can most likely be found wearing his personal trademark t-shirt with the faces or images of animals (the kind you would never be caught DEAD in - the kind you get from a state parks, or a nature center.) I found myself most engaged by his direct but casual approach to speaking. He sat on on a desk top facing all of us and in conversational tone created a dialog with his audience that would forever change the way I look at and relate to the environment, my own role and responsibility toward this movement, and my own capability to make an impact.

I walked away with a hunger for more and anything Derrick Jensen because he made SENSE to me.
It was the first time i really understood what a mess the human species has created in our utilitarian use of the planet, but more importantly how that same mindset and ignorance is pervasive and affecting every aspect of our lives - how we parent, teach, and relate to our fellow human being.

Please check out his site at http://www.derrickjensen.org/