Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[paul@oneseedling.com]

I agree, there is no way to predict the future, especially when it comes to 
weather.
This is why I like permaculture, using plants and animals that don't require 
a lot of maintenance.
This year we had a bumper crop of hay. Everybody is bailing like crazy and 
hay is only going for $4.50 a bale. Now when you figure in fuel costs, twine, 
parts and help,'well that is around -$1.50 for each bale.
Since we do around 8,000 bales, my fields are going to just get a break this 
year.
Guess the rest of them will just show up at the bank with their hands out as 
usual. My daddy did not raise such a foolish child.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 13, 2010, at 1:24 PM, "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:

> 
> [ This isn't to debate global warming or predict the future but rather to 
> understand the links between the perfect storm headed our way and how we 
> live on the land and use it or abuse it  - paul tradingpost@lobo.net ]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Global Warming: How do we move forward?
> by Joanne Poyourow Aug 10 2010 by Transition US
> http://www.energybulletin.net/node/53738
> 
> To the 1Sky board of directors:
> 
> In your open letter to all people and organizations working to combat 
> global warming, you ask how to move forward with urgency and clarity of 
> purpose.
> 
> 1)  Understand the full scope of the problem.
> 
> Global warming is not a standalone issue.  At the same time as we are 
> trying to decarbonize our entire society and cope with the erratic weather 
> events of early climate change, we are simultaneously being hit with peak 
> oil and economic contraction.
> 
> Peak oil is the understanding that our planet contains a finite supply of 
> oil and we are currently burning our way into the second half of that 
> supply.  (ref ASPO and the Department of Energy's EIA).  We’ve already used 
> up the easy-to-get-to stuff; thus the second half will be much more 
> expensive to produce, will disappear faster, and will come with shortages, 
> competition and conflict.
> 
> All of the growth in our economy since the turn of the last century has 
> been built upon cheap, abundant, supposedly inexhaustible oil -- something 
> we no longer have.  The astounding recent growth has been compounded by 
> leveraging with easy credit -- another thing we no longer have.  Our 
> growth-paradigm economy is crumbling and indeed, that very presumption is 
> flawed, that we could have an eternally growing economy upon a finite 
> planet. 
> 
> In short, we are facing change on a scale and magnitude which is almost 
> unimaginable to most of the American public.
> 
> 2)  Confront the full panorama of challenges.
> 
> Any solutions posted at this point in time must work for the full panorama 
> of crises:  global warming + peak oil + economic contraction.  Solutions 
> which work for one and not for the trio will not be viable.  Thus ideas 
> such as the 1Sky "investment in a clean-energy infrastructure" are 
> unlikely-to-impossible; while it works for global warming, it doesn't work 
> in an environment of economic collapse.  (Your Lesson #3 was telling you 
> this.)
> 
> 3) Get real about the science.
> 
> The Hansen report gave us the 350 number; we cannot fold on that.  
> "Negotiations" will not change basic physics.  We cannot negotiate with 
> molecules.  We're above 392ppm and we need to return to 350.  (Your lesson 
> #4)
> 
> Get real about the magnitude of energy we’re talking about.  Renewables 
> won't replace fossils, not even close.  Because we do not already have 
> renewable energy infrastructure geared up and in place, and the declining 
> side of planetary oil supply is already here (ref), and because renewable 
> energy technologies cannot possibly replace the magnitude of energy to 
> which we have become accustomed (ref), our future will inevitably be one of 
> POWERDOWN -- changing to lifestyles which use less energy overall.  (why 
> not nuclear?  ref , ref and ref)
> 
> As part of moving forward with urgency and clarity of purpose, we need to 
> be honest with the American people that decarbonizing and simultaneously 
> coping with peak oil means POWERDOWN.
> 
> 4) Be honest about the economy.
> 
> People are hurting.  They are afraid.  They sense that worse is coming (and 
> I believe it is. ref )
> 
> More expensive renewable technologies won't be welcomed.  But clean tech is 
> inevitable (because of global warming) and higher cost is inevitable 
> (because of peak oil).
> 
> Be careful about your language regarding the economy.  Understand that the 
> underlying presumption of economic-growth-at-all-costs is what got us into 
> a lot of this mess.  Substituting a "clean energy economy" and "green jobs" 
> isn't the right tack because it retains that growth presumption.  As part 
> of moving forward with urgency and clarity of purpose, we must educate 
> people that the new economic horizons are more likely to look radically 
> different than the old.  (How might they look?  more 
> http://transitionla.org/Resources.htm#econ )
> 
> 5) Get real about the "How To" plan.
> 
> Decarbonizing American society -- attaining an eventual 80% decrease in 
> global warming pollution -- is going to take far more than planting a few 
> trees and switching to CFL bulbs.  It demands a fundamental restructuring 
> of everything we do from our food choices to agricultural methods to 
> industry to military to overseas manufacturing and imports to individual 
> cavalier attitudes and wasteful habits.  Fixing global warming means big, 
> big, big change.
> 
> Industry knows this.  That is why they’re so hesitant to get behind any 
> sort of real action.  I think that at some level the American people know 
> it too.
> 
> What they don't know is, the fundamental restructuring is happening anyway. 
>  The collapse of the credit system (ref ) and the end of the oil age are 
> forcing our hands.  Already significant business and government and 
> individual decisions are being made for budgetary reasons.
> 
> We must be candid about the magnitude of change -- AND what changes will 
> need to be made.  For example, we do not have a viable alternative for 
> transportation.  First, the timeline is too short: we aren't going to be 
> able to replace 256 million vehicles with electric cars and trucks in time 
> for the global warming pollution reduction goals.  And when approximately 
> half a vehicle's lifetime consumption of oil is in its manufacturing 
> process, peak oil says we aren't going to be able to replace that fleet.  
> Plus economic woes say that most drivers won't be able to afford the change 
> to cleaner technologies.  Thus peak oil combined with decarbonizing our 
> society dictate the end of the cheap, easy, and effortless transportation 
> to which we have grown accustomed over the past 70 or so years.  Lack of a 
> viable liquid fuel replacement also means the airline industry is dead (ref 
> ).  So is globalization.
> 
> Changing our transportation structure to this magnitude means massive 
> changes in our social structures.  Suddenly everything -- the bulk of our 
> food, clothing, heating fuels, building materials -- will need to come from 
> much more nearby and local sources. 
> 
> Since we've gradually outsourced most of our hard goods manufacturing 
> overseas, and we import our food stuffs based upon global resources, we are 
> going to have to rebuild local tooling and local skill base.  (In this 
> respect, the Global Work Day concept is a phenomenal approach.)  "Jobs" in 
> this post-petroleum, decarbonized future will -- I believe -- look much 
> more like small businesses, local craftsmen, and urban agriculture than 
> like the "green jobs" that 1Sky and others are touting.  (more [pdf])
> 
> Local means customized to the individual area's resources and 
> circumstances.  That’s a polar opposite to the "one size fits all" or "big 
> box" approach which has built the massive corporate system.  The big 
> powerful corporate way won't work in this new low-transportation future.  
> Thus the age of the corporate employer is probably ending as well.
> 
> Thus when we say "decarbonize society" and "reduce global warming pollution 
> at least 80% by 2050" we must be candid that all this restructuring -- in 
> the midst of the early stages of a Depression -- is behind the statement.  
> Yes, it is urgent and we must begin it now.  No, business-as-usual isn't 
> possible (peak oil and the end of easy credit have already wiped that 
> away).  Yes, it is inevitable.  And that inevitability -- together with 
> concrete action steps for building the new decarbonized, post-petroleum 
> society -- must become part of the How To which is broadcast with every 
> 1Sky blast and at every Global Work Party.  (my “How To Get to 350ppm”)
> 
> No, it doesn't need to be grim.  The Transition movement is a grassroots 
> movement (your Lesson #1) which is active and growing in many towns and 
> cities worldwide including an increasing number of U.S. sites.  Transition 
> initiatives are groups of people who are already examining the tri-fold 
> crisis of peak oil + climate change + economic contraction and figuring out 
> what to do about it -- together.  They're raising citizen awareness of all 
> of this stuff I've mentioned.  They're studying what their local community 
> has as far as post-petroleum resource and skills.  They're making plans.  
> They're helping each other learn the skills and put in place the tools of 
> powerdown.  And they're having a lot of fun. 
> 
> The Transition movement asserts that the future with less oil could be 
> better than the present, but only if we engage in designing this transition 
> with creativity and imagination.  And it asserts that this transition time 
> -- the time period of changing over from the mess we have now to those 
> decarbonized post-petroleum ways -- contains the potential for an economic, 
> cultural, and social renaissance the likes of which we have never seen.
> 
> This too -- this exhilaration, this sense of adventure, ingenuity, and 
> exploration -- must also be part of what we deliver as we sell the message 
> of urgency and the need for legislation to the American people and their 
> political representatives.
> 
> Big change is coming, like it or not.  Peak oil and economic collapse are 
> seeing to that.  It's up to us whether we'll postpone proactive response 
> until the only remaining avenue is victimhood, or whether we'll start now 
> to pave the way to a clean, bright, productive future.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Joanne Poyourow
> initiator of Transition Los Angeles
> http://transitionus.org/blog/global-warming-how-do-we-move-forward
> 
> 
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