Path Dependency

When we talk about alternative energy I always reflect on path dependency, the idea what where we are today and the steps we make in the future are all dependent on decisions we made in the past.

I think we are right in pushing for renewable energy. It has to be better for the planet than what we currently use, right? But I am also aware of the fact that it will not be a fast switch. We have structures in place for fossil fuels and facilities that exist to provide the amount of energy we demand in a certain way. It's not as simple as saying "well, today, we're going to start using solar for everything!" It takes time, and while I think more needs to be done to get us moving in that direction, I also think we need to lower our unrealistic expectations a bit.

I had a conversation with Luke about this the other day. We eco-minded people tend to see in black and white when it comes to energy and I don't think that this is realistic. We need to recognize that there are small steps that can be taken to make things better. Small steps that lead us toward a more sustainable future. And this is why I support fracking, and why Luke's friend supports nuclear. I see us investing more money in natural gas and less in coal and I see that as progress. I know how destructive coal is. No matter what, people, mountains, landscapes, animals, entire ecosystems, and water will all be hurt by coal. In the last few years our CO2 emissions have dropped some, and I think this is due to fracking. Fracking is not always destructive. It doesn't require massive amounts of land. It can be done in such a way that significantly reduces the risk of water contamination. If it's a decision between coal and fracking, I choose fracking. I pick the lesser of two evils and see this as a sign of "progress" (whatever that means) in recognizing that we need to be better stewards of the environment. It's a small step in the right direction.

Hope? I hope that everyone's holiday is as happy and exciting as this dog's:

Economics, Detroit, and a lot of thinking

I know we have to write a reflective paper about our trip to Detroit, but I'll briefly talk about some things that are on my mind here, anyway.

I really enjoyed meeting with the individuals we had a chance to meet. I really enjoyed Charles from Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. His passion and concern for the issues that matter the most to me when it comes to EJ was wonderful to see. I protested the proposal of a trash incinerator just outside of Philadelphia, in an African American community with high rates of cancer. It's difficult to fight something when the community fighting it does not have the money to do so.
The tires-to-energy facility that is being built near Allegheny was supposed to be built in Erie, but because Erie had the money to fight it they moved 30 minutes south to the low income community that my school was located in.

I would also be interested to talk more with the folks from D-Town farms because I do tend to focus on racial inequities/injustices. I think there is a lot to be said about focusing on empowering racial "minorities" and placing less emphasis on empowering the already empowered (whites). White people are born into privilege in this nation based solely on the color of their skin, I think. "Color blindness" is an attractive idea to many people with good intentions, but I think that it is more problematic than it is helpful. In a philosophy class on racism, after reading Mills' "The Racial Contract", my Muslim friend cried in front of a room full of people who all suggested that we ought to be colorblind. Colorblindness makes racism a non-issue. Colorblind ideology is a form of racism. There is nothing wrong with wanting justice for all people. Who doesn't want that? But racism is important and I think we need to be working hard to make sure that non-whites have the same rights as whites in this nation. I think this should be a priority.
See:
http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-36-fall-2009/feature/colorblindness-new-racism
http://www.policymic.com/articles/55867/colorblindness-is-the-new-racism
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/16/america-isn-t-colorblind-we-need-to-talk-about-racism.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism

Classes this week were great. It's great to see Christians working to create a better world (GO GREEN DRAGON!). I loved hearing about the things Jabin is doing, though I do plan to start a conversation with him about taking his students swimming with dolphins. It was a bit disheartening to hear about the school grading systems. It's another case of helping the privileged while failing those in need.

The economics discussion was great, but how do you influence the public to pay more? How do you get people to support paying higher prices associated with externalities? I'm going to be thinking about the implications of the Republican president comment for quite some time.

HOPE: States in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic uniting to demand that the federal government take action for the planet and for people.

"Maryland joined seven other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states Monday in asking for federal help to curb air pollution from beyond their borders, saying their residents' health and their economies are being hurt by smog-forming emissions from the Midwest and South.

They petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to require nine "upwind" states — Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — to join a commission that would require those states to curb pollution from their coal-burning power plants, motor vehicles and industries, which can foul air hundreds of miles away.

"For the sake of our state and our people, we need upwind states to act more aggressively to reduce the pollutants that they put in the air from their own states," Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement taped before he left last week for a trade trip to Latin and South America.

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Also petitioning the EPA are Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont."

Read more: 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bs-gr-upwind-air-pollution-20131209,0,6362881.story

Thought provoking week

Once again, I am sorry for a late submission. But here goes in any case. I have to say that last week's readings, guests and field trips had my head spinning. I enjoyed the conversation and discussion with Goshen's Mayor Allan Kaufmann and Elkhart County Commissioner, Mike Yoder. I thought it was interesting that they have so many similar views, yet are from different political backgrounds. That is one thing that gives me hope.

I was glad to hear both gentlemen speak about making decisions for the future and not for the bowing to some of the public's demand for instant gratification in terms of answers or decisions for the now. It gets back to one of my previous questions, "is it all about greed?" I believe that Americans, as a whole, have gotten too used to getting everything instantly, being satisfied immediately, that we are too spoiled to stop. To think. To act in ways that are best for the future and for more than just ourselves. I am impressed with Goshen's progress as a green community and as somewhat of a model for what can and should be done (i.e., alternative energy, bikeable/walkable, local food, etc.). I am not so impressed with Elkhart county's zoning laws, but hope that clear visions will prevail based on what has happened in other places similar in size and scope in other parts of the States or world! I think that the Elkhart River should be the pride and joy of the community and would be the perfect focal point for cleanup and care. Otherwise, how do people survive without clean, safe water? Is that too simple a question?

As far as the field trips on Wednesday, obviously, the most disturbing was Culvers. I couldn't sleep the other night just thinking of those newborn ducklings "living" their first few days (not hours or minutes) stacked a dozen or more trays high with no food, water, or cleanliness around them. The farm that gave me the most hope was Clay Bottom Farm. What an operation! What a talented young owner and farmer! Kudos to Ben for all he's doing and how much he cares. Actually, at all three places we met people who really seemed to care. They all were quite passionate about their work and proud of their accomplishments. And that is always nice to witness. Mr. Gunthorp exhibited that passion the most vocally. I am glad I got to see his operation, although it felt very cramped to me. If the inspector hadn't have been there, I would be dubious about the safety and health standards inside the "factory".  On the other hand, I thought the pigs actually seemed healthy and happy.

The awareness that I have gained about food and where it all comes from since starting this program is most welcomed and eye-opening. I find myself eating less meat, definitely buying less, and making different choices all the time. So that should give hope to everyone who might think that we only have to educate youngsters about this issue. In fact, I almost think that if we educated more adults about where their food comes from, we would see major results. We could start just by using films such as "What's on Your Plate?", in which those two young girls so eloquently present the food issues in their neighborhood. Yes, we can and yes, there is hope all around us.

Thoughts

Sorry this post is late. My internet has not been working until today! :\

So, I already said this in class, but I very much enjoyed our discussion with our guests this week. It gives me hope that there are RINOs out there that can be great allies for many environmental issues. I found many of his views to give me hope. Even his view on organic agriculture was great to hear because after questioning him on this belief it seemed as though it stemmed from the concept that Americans do not want to pay more for their food. We can't feed the world cheap food without GMOs. I agree with this statement, so from that perspective I think he is correct. He did not say that organic food is bad or undesirable, but simply that we can't feed the world on it because we simply aren't willing to pay more for it. This, for me, demonstrates the problem we need to work on. We need to rethink spending and consumerism. If people are willing to pay for local, organic, and/or healthy food then we can feed them with local, organic, and/or healthy food.

I was happy to see the pigs in such a great place. Clay Bottom Farm is a wonderful and inspirational operation. Culver Duck was not. I cried, as I expected, and I could not stop thinking about it. I get really depressed thinking about the suffering humans bring about to millions/billions of animals every single day. I left Culver Duck feeling helpless and defeated, to be honest. I don't know how you educate the public on animal welfare issues. I think the best route may be through the mainstream media, as you'll see in my hope paragraph below. Gunthorp Farms was much better than Culver. I didn't feel the bad energy, the pigs were happy, and the kill floor was tiny. I wish they sold to your everyday consumer, and not the high-end market, but I think this goes back to our discussion on the previous day. We don't want to pay a lot for food.

As for hope on the animal welfare front, since it's always on my mind and there were clear violations of animal welfare at Culver, I thought I'd share a success story that's important to me and one that I've been actively involved in for years now, though it's unrelated to food.

A documentary called "Blackfish" was released recently. It is a documentary about orcas in captivity and the horrors of SeaWorld (and other dolphinariums). CNN aired this documentary during their busiest hours for several days in a row! And it was also aired in a similar fashion in other countries. This powerful documentary sparked a conversation, which has since resulted in the chairman of SeaWorld selling off millions in company shares, protests, boycotts, and Willie Nelson, The Barenaked Ladies, and Heart have all cancelled their concerts at SeaWorld parks in response. The public is learning and they are acting!

I've ordered the documentary, by the way. It will be delivered on Wednesday when we're in Detroit, so if you want to watch it after that we can.

What is Right?

In reflecting on this week and the discussions that were had during class, on our field trip to the various farms, and afterwards with several classmates the one common theme I seem to be stuck on is this idea of what is right.  In our meeting with the county commissioner and the mayor this is something that came up several times was that in politics sometimes you just have to do what is “right” even if it is not going to be the thing that will get you the most popularity.  I thought it was interesting that this is the perspective that seemed to come up when talking about environmental issues and the general public.  It seems that there was a general perception that the better decision had to be made for the people instead of trusting them to come up with the solution.  The epitome of this is the idea of regulation as education. 

I would like to think that if exposed to all of the information that the general public would be able to come to the decisions just as well as anyone else.   I have no evidence that this is the case, but when I think about our trip to the three farms I can’t help but feel that it is true.  When exposed to various situations it was amazing how without having a report of facts it was easy to just “feel” what was right in terms of producing food.  I have no other hope than that this week.  I am incredibly optimistic in the power of education and exposure in the effect it can have on individuals to make better choices.  

What Was Tuesday All About??

Tuesday - in my opinion - was great to see 1) where your food comes from, 2) meet the people who care for the food, 3) know that each one of them think they are doing great things ethically, and 4) (hopefully this was talked about on your ride back to Merry Lea) think about how we can educate the public about our eating practices.  How can we? Documentaries, YouTube, Facebook, editorials, etc.  But how do we get to the proletariat that doesn't want to think about that aspect?

As Mike Yoder said on Monday - is it our job to educate the powerful, the owners, the Drew's - so then they can pasture raise their ducks?  So they can think about their impact?

Sunday curriculum?  Like the one Jennifer Schrock created called Just Eating

How do touch the hearts/souls/minds of the masses?  20,000 birds a day!

First and Third stop were very hopeful.  Second one not so much....  Except the Methane Digester - just made for the wrong reasons.

I guess Rise & Roll Bakery was hope producing too!