|
|
Join Our List
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vol.
I, Issue 2
|
Dec. 8, 2007
|
|
|
Welcome to the second issue of our newsletter
-- "News Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow." We
strive to bring you important, timely information about urban
agriculture, sustainability, and sustainable practices.
Every time I write and edit a newsletter -- and I wrote
many during my four-plus years as Executive Director with the
Solar Living Institute in Mendocino County, California -- I think
about the planet's human population having increased from 2.5 billion
to 6.6 billion people in my lifetime. It's obvious that we cannot
sustain this. Our planet's resources are finite, and we are using them
up at an alarming rate. Learning to change our consumption
habits may perhaps be the greatest challenge in all of human history.
If we don't change now, many will suffer. It's up to us to be
responsible.
In this issue of our newsletter, among the articles you
will find a request for support. We depend upon you for our success.
Our programs only exist, because of your generosity. Please give
generously this holiday season.
For Our Future,
Bob Gragson, Editor
Executive Director
Friends of Troy Gardens
|
|
BURNING
BURIED SUNSHINE
|
|
|
 98 Tons
of Plants per Gallon
"A staggering 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant
material - that's 196,000 pounds - is required to produce each gallon
of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles,
according to a study conducted at the University of Utah.
"'Can you imagine loading 40 acres worth of wheat -
stalks, roots and all - into the tank of your car or SUV every 20
miles?' asks ecologist Jeff Dukes, [author of a recent study about the
amount of ancient plant matter in fossil fuels we consume today].
"But that's how much ancient plant matter had to be
buried millions of years ago and converted by pressure, heat and time
into oil to produce one gallon of gas, Dukes concluded.
"Dukes also calculated that the amount of fossil
fuel burned in a single year - 1997 was used in the study - totals 97
million billion pounds of carbon, which is equivalent to more than 400
times "all the plant matter that grows in the world in a
year," including vast amounts of microscopic plant life in the
oceans.
"Every day, people are using the fossil fuel
equivalent of all the plant matter that grows on land and in the oceans
over the course of a whole year," he adds.
"In another calculation, Dukes determined that
"the amount of plants that went into the fossil fuels we burned
since the Industrial Revolution began [in 1751] is equal to all the
plants grown on Earth over 13,300 years." . . .
"[Duke's] study is titled "Burning Buried
Sunshine: Human Consumption of Ancient Solar Energy." In it, Dukes
conducted numerous calculations to determine how much plant matter
buried millions of years ago was required to produce the oil, natural
gas and coal consumed by modern society, which obtains 83 percent of
its energy needs from fossil fuels.
"'Fossil fuels developed from ancient deposits of
organic material, and thus can be thought of as a vast store of solar
energy' that was converted into plant matter by photosynthesis, he
explains. 'Using published biological, geochemical and industrial data,
I estimated the amount of photosynthetically fixed and stored [by
ancient plants] carbon that was required to form the coal, oil and gas
that we are burning today.'
"Dukes conducted the study while working as a
postdoctoral fellow in biology at the University of Utah. He now works
for the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Global
Ecology on the campus of Stanford University in California"
(Newswise, 2003).
Dukes, J. (2003). Burning Buried Sunshine: Human
Consumption of Ancient Solar Energy [Electronic version]. Climatic Change,
61, 31-44. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from
http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/Dukes/Dukes_ClimChange1.pdf.
Newswise. (2003). Bad Mileage: 98 Tons of Plants Per
Gallon [Electronic version]. Newswise,
October 27, 2003. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/501641/.
|
|
TOMORROW'S
FOOD
|
|
|
 Agriculture
in a Post-Oil Economy
"The decline in the world's oil supply offers no
sudden dramatic event that would appeal to the writer of 'apocalyptic'
science fiction: no mushroom clouds, no flying saucers, no giant
meteorites.
"The future will be just like today, only tougher.
Oil depletion is basically just a matter of overpopulation - too many
people and not enough resources.
"The most serious consequence will be a lack of
food. The problem of oil therefore leads, in an apparently mundane
fashion, to the problem of farming.
"To what extent could food be produced in a world
without fossil fuels? In the year 2000, humanity consumed about 30
billion barrels of oil, but the supply is starting to run out; without
oil and natural gas, there will be no fuel, no asphalt, no plastics, no
chemical fertilizer. Most people in modern industrial civilization live
on food that was bought from a local supermarket, but such food will
not always be available. Agriculture in the future will be largely a
"family affair": without motorized vehicles, food will have
to be produced not far from where it was consumed. But what crops
should be grown? How much land would be needed? Where could people be
supported by such methods of agriculture?
"The most practical diet would be largely
vegetarian, for several reasons. In the first place, vegetable
production requires far less land than animal production. Even the
pasture land for a cow is about one hectare, and more land is needed to
produce hay, grain, and other foods for that animal. One could supply
the same amount of useable protein from vegetable sources on a fraction
of a hectare, as Frances Moore Lappé pointed out in 1971 in Diet for a Small Planet.
Secondly, vegetable production is less complicated. The raising of
animals is not easy, and one of the principles to work with is, 'The
more parts there are to a machine, the more things there are that can
go wrong.' The third problem is that of cost: animals get sick, animals
need to be fed, animals need to be enclosed, and the bills add up
quickly. Finally, vegetable food requires less labor than animal food
to produce; less labor, in turn, means more time to spend on other
things. A largely vegetarian diet is also the most healthful, but that
is a separate issue. . . .
"The amount of land needed for farming with manual
labor would depend on several factors: the type of soil, the climate,
the kinds of crops to be grown. The highest-yielding varieties are not
necessarily the most disease-resistant, or the most suitable for the climate
or the soil, or the easiest to store. The weather also makes a big
difference: too little rain can damage a crop, and too much rain can do
the same. Unusually cold weather can damage some crops, and unusually
hot weather can damage others. Without irrigation - relying solely on
rain - the yield is less than if the crops were watered"
(Goodchild, 2007).
Use this link to read the rest of this excellent, very
important article...
Goodchild, P. (2007). Agriculture in a post-oil economy.
[Electronic version]. Energy
Bulletin, September 22, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2007,
from http://www.energybulletin.net/34991.html.]
|
|
SUPPORT
OUR PROGRAMS
|
|
|
 Your Gift Is Important
While you are checking out our new ecommerce website, please support our work
and our vast array of programs with a one-time or monthly donation, a gift to our endowment fund, or by becoming a member. We continue to strive to provide an
exemplary learning experience for you and others promoting sustainable
multi-purpose land use with a focus on local food production and food
security in an urban environment.
Make a gift to Friends of Troy Gardens - an independent,
educational tax-exempt nonprofit organization - and you help educate
thousands of people each year with the skills necessary to make a
sustainable future a reality.
It is your generosity that makes Friends of Troy Gardens
work for all of us. Your gift will enable us to add more educational
offerings, produce Savor the Summer in 2008, educate 600 school
children at Troy Gardens and in public and private schools and expand
our children's education program, provide sponsorships to low-income
individuals and general support to our gardeners in our 330 community
garden plots, continue restoration of five acres of prairie, further
develop and increase production at our organic farm and CSA with 110
household-members, and more.
Please give generously. Your gift is so very important
for us to continue making more people aware of the critical importance
of sustainable living, local community food production and security,
and ecoagriculture for our survival and the health of our planet.
Please don't delay. Send your end-of-year contribution TODAY. You can
make your contribution online, or mail it to Friends of Troy Gardens, 3601
Memorial Dr., Bldg. 14, Rm. 171, Madison, WI 53704. Thank you for your
support.
|
|
NEW URBAN
AG ALLIANCE
|
|
|
 The North American Urban and
Peri-Urban Agriculture Alliance (NAUPAA)
Friends of Troy Gardens Board Member Martin Bailkey
along with Joe Nasr and James Kuhns have founded The North American
Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Alliance. They recently received a
$90,000 grant from the Cedar Tree Foundation in Boston to help support
startup costs of the organization.
According to a background paper prepared by the
Alliance:
"Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) refers to
the production, distribution and marketing of food and other products
within the cores of metropolitan areas (comprising community and school
gardens; backyard and rooftop horticulture; and innovative
food-production methods, such as aquaponics, that maximize production
in a small area), and at their edges (including farms supplying urban
farmers markets, community supported agriculture, and family farms
located in metropolitan greenbelts). Looked at broadly, UPA is a
complex activity, addressing issues central to community food security,
neighborhood development, environmental sustainability, land use
planning, agricultural and food systems, farmland preservation and
other concerns.
"UPA in Canada and the US is emerging as an
alternative to the processed, calorie-rich food products offered
consumers through the global food industry. Because large-scale
corporate agriculture and the general availability of food is so
entrenched in North America, UPA proponents must work hard to get their
message across to specific constituencies. In the US, one critical
constituency is the federal government. There is no federal program
dedicated specifically to urban food production, despite the
substantial activity found within metropolitan areas and
metropolitan-adjacent counties - now estimated at over 40 percent of
all agricultural production by value. The share of food production
coming from metropolitan agriculture is comparable in Canada. The
future of UPA in North America will be characterized in large part by
the incorporation of immigrants and refugees into local agriculture,
complementing the many farming projects based in urban communities of
color. Together, these activities portray the high level of cultural
diversity that characterizes UPA.
"Reflecting the demographic shifts towards greater
urbanization in the US and Canada, the UPA landscape in North America
is changing rapidly. Thus an alliance of organizations and individuals
directing this change is needed to monitor the dimensions of UPA,
disseminate information on its methods and benefits to a wider
audience, and engage key actors who may currently lack awareness of how
UPA operates at many different levels. Ultimately, the intention of
such an alliance is to enable UPA in North America to reach the
potential that today's signs only hint at."
Read more about the NAUPAA and its future plans (273KB, pdf).
|
|
WISCONSIN
LEADS
|
|
|
 University
Continues Leadership
in Alternative Energy Use
The University
of Wisconsin-Madison News reported Nov. 26 that the
university has made a commitment to reduce coal use at its Charter
Street Heating Plant by 15%. The University also agreed to reevaluate
alternative energy sources and to promote energy conservation.
Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: "Along with our
partners at the state level, we have made an immediate commitment to reduce
coal use at the Charter Street facility by 15% and cap usage while we
identify ways to move forward with efficient and cleaner options.
"Because we're reducing coal use, we can achieve
our goal of reducing coal-generated emissions through energy conservation,
purchasing or generating energy from renewable resources and changing
the way we use our fuels and facilities. . . . This agreement puts
in place a workable, responsible way to help the state and the campus
find answers for the future and a cleaner environment for today."
The university continues to be a national leader in
sustainability. The University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, Oshkosh,
River Falls, and Stevens Point are making their campuses completely
energy independent within the next four years. In 2012, the schools
will be the first state-owned facilities capable of acquiring or
producing renewable energy equivalent to their consumption. The
campuses will work with the Department of Administration's Division of
State Facilities to identify and implement technologies capable of
replacing external power supplies currently serving their locations.
Possible replacements include the use of solar or wind power, fuel
cells, a greater emphasis on renewable fuels, and a switch to biomass.
The project will also emphasize energy conservation strategies to
curtail overall energy demand. Currently all four campuses produce
their own heating and cooling by burning fossil fuels.
By conservative estimates, converting the four campuses
to renewable fuels will save 260,000 tons of coal over a decade -
equivalent to a train loaded with coal 30 miles long. It will also
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 676,000 tons and improve the energy
efficiency of campuses - saving taxpayers money.
For more information:
|
|
OUR
INTERNET STORE
|
|
 Books,
DVDs, & CDs - Memberships
& Gifts
- Buy
from Us
- Support
Our Programs
In October, we launched an Internet store to make it easier for you to support
our programs. Whether you are near or far, buying from our Internet
store makes sense. With your purchases and donations, you help support
a nationally-recognized model for local multi-use sustainable land
development.
Our program was recently presented as a model program at
Green Festivals - Washington, DC. For more information about our
program, be sure to read the end of this newsletter. Also, be sure to visit our informational website that describes our
programs in detail and our Internet store which boasts an extensive
list of resources for local community food production and food
security.
Thanks for your interest, and thanks for your support!
|
|
NATURE
DEFICIT DISORDER
|
|
|
 "More
Green, Less Screen"
Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods (2005)
coined the phrase "nature deficit disorder" referring to his
perceived trend of children spending less time outdoors resulting in a
range of behavioral issues. He claimed that causes for the
"disorder" are a result of parental fears, restricted access
to natural areas, and the pull that television and computers have on
today's youth. Interestingly, there is some recent research that
indicates a declining number of National Park visits in the U.S. may be
linked to the increase in electronic media and its effect on children.
For more information:
|
|
GLOBAL
WARMING
|
|
|
 Poor to
Be Most Affected
The world's poorest people will be the most affected by
climate change and its ill effects, including drought, agricultural
failures, water shortages, disease, flooding, and all the rest,
according to a new report from the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP). "For millions of people, these are events that offer a
one-way ticket to poverty and long-run cycles of disadvantage,"
the report says. The report cautions that inequalities in the ability
to cope with climate change have been emerging as an increasingly
powerful driver of even wider inequalities between and within
countries. And while the poor will undoubtedly get sqeezed by other
economic and social factors, it's not yet too late to mitigate the
worst effects of climate change. UNDP has called for all developed
nations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990
levels by 2050, and for developing nations to cut their emissions 20%
by 2050. "Ultimately, climate change is a threat to humanity as a
whole. But it is the poor, a constituency with no responsibility for
the ecological debt we are running up, who face the immediate and most
severe human costs," said UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis. (Grist, Nov. 27,
2007)
For more information see the UNDP's "Climate Change Threatens Unprecedented Human
Development Reversals."
|
|
PEAK
EVERYTHING
|
|
|
 New Book
by Richard Heinberg
Make a gift of $100 or more at our web store and receive this book FREE as our way
of saying, "Thanks!"
Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines
by Richard Heinberg (2007)
The 20th century saw unprecedented growth in population,
energy consumption and food production. As the population shifted from
rural to urban, the impact of humans on the environment increased
dramatically.
The 21st century ushered in an era of declines, in a
number of crucial parameters:
- global
oil, natural gas and coal extraction,
- annual
grain harvests,
- climate
stability,
- population,
- economic
growth,
- fresh
water, and
- minerals
and ores, such as copper and platinum
To adapt to this profoundly different world, we must
begin now to make radical changes to our attitudes, behaviors and
expectations.
Peak Everything addresses
many of the cultural, psychological and practical changes we will have
to make as nature rapidly dictates our new limits. This latest book
from Richard Heinberg, author of three of the most important books on
Peak Oil, touches on the most important aspects of the human condition
at this unique moment in time.
A combination of wry commentary and sober forecasting on
subjects as diverse as farming and industrial design, this book tells
how we might make the transition from The Age of Excess to the Era of
Modesty with grace and satisfaction, while preserving the best of our
collective achievements. A must-read for individuals, business leaders
and policy makers who are serious about affecting real change.
Listen to an interview with Richard Heinberg from
WRPI.
About the Author
Richard Heinberg, the best-selling author of three of
the most important books on Peak Oil, is an essayist of uncommon
breadth. His scores of published articles touch on the most important
aspects of the human condition, always with a view to the historical
and cultural context of our unique moment in time. A recipient of the
M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education, Heinberg
lectures widely on oil depletion and its implications for agriculture,
urban planning, and daily life. Previous titles on the subject include The
Party's Over, Powerdown, and The Oil Depletion Protocol,
which won Foreward
Magazine's 2006 Gold book of the Year for Environment.
Heinberg is a member of the core faculty at New
College of California, a Research Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, and an Advisory Board member
of the Solar Living Institute. His award-winning monthly Museletter
has been in publication since 1992.
|
|
GOODSEARCH
& GOODSHOP
|
|
|
 1 Cent to Us for Each Browse
Did you know you can make a donation to Friends of Troy
Gardens every time you browse or buy products online?
You may already be using the exciting new Internet
search engine called GoodSearch. If you do, every time you search the
Internet, Friends of Troy Gardens or other non-profit, school or charity
of your choice earns a penny. Friends of Troy Gardens is already
earning money through this innovative cost-free method of fundraising.
If you are not already using GoodSearch, just go to www.GoodSearch.com to find out how.
And now you can also use GoodShop.com, a new online
shopping mall which donates a percentage of each purchase to your
favorite cause. Although here at Friends of Troy Gardens we don't
recommend shopping as therapy or entertainment, we all need things from
time to time, and often online shopping is more ecological than a trip
to the store. So the next time you need something online, look for it
first through the GoodShop.com mall.
More than 100 great stores offer travel, clothing,
electronics and more through GoodShop, so that every time you place an
order, you'll be supporting us. Target, Macy's, Travelocity, Best Buy,
Nordstrom, Staples and over one hundred other retailers will donate a
percentage of each purchase you make to Friends of Troy Gardens!
Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Friends
of Troy Gardens as the charity you
want to support.
|
|
PIERCE'S
MARKET CARD
|
|
|
 Shop
& Money Comes to Us
Friends of Troy Gardens is now listed as a
charitable organization with the Pierce's
Community Foundation. If you live in an area where
there is a Pierce's
Market, please sign up for a Pierce's Market Card
selecting Friends of Troy Gardens as your "charity of
choice." Use your card each time you visit a Pierce's Market and a
portion of your purchase will come our way at no extra cost to you. In
the third quarter of this year, an organization in Baraboo, Wisconsin,
received about $2,000 from the foundation as a result of its supporters
signing up and using the Pierce's Market Club card.
You can sign up by going to Pierce's
Market Club Card Application page, completing the
form, and selecting Friends of Troy Gardens (Charity Group Code #1275)
in the "Choose a Charitable Group" section.
Pierce's Markets have been a long-time supporter of
Friends of Troy Gardens. In 2005, they donated a large truck to us that
is often used in support of our farm, community gardening, and
education programs.
So if you live in or near Madison, Baraboo, Muscoda, or
Portage, Wisconsin, please sign up for your Pierce's
Market Club Card and designate Friends of Troy
Gardens (Charity Group Code #1275) today!
|
|
GREEN
JOBS
|
|
|
 Job
Search Sites for You
For environmental positions throughout the world, the
following are some good websites for your review:
|
|
PASS US
FORWARD
|
|
|
 Send This
Newsletter to a Friend
Encourage
Them to Sign Up!
If you like our newsletter, please be sure to forward it
far and wide to your friends and acquaintances. You can use the forward
link at the bottom of this page.
Also, encourage those to whom you forward this to
be sure and sign up for their own edition of our newsletter. In each
newsletter is a signup link in the left column. It's quick and easy.
Thanks for spreading the word!
And your comments are always welcome. Send your comments
to director@troygardens.org.
|
|
|
|
|
Friends of Troy Gardens, is a 501(c)(3) charitable
nonprofit organization, in Madison, Wisconsin. On 26-acres of urban
property, we integrate community gardens, an organic farm, and restored
prairie and woodlands. (On an adjacent five acres is mixed-income
green-built co-housing developed by the Madison Area Community Land
Trust.) Altogether, Troy Gardens is a unique, nationally-recognized
model for sustainable multi-purpose land use.
Friends of Troy Gardens' environmental education
programs include a nationally recognized leadership program for
teenagers and an award-winning children's garden. Local residents care
for 330 family garden plots in our Community Gardens. Volunteer
Stewards restore and maintain native tall grass prairie and maple
woodlands in the natural areas. Each growing season, 110 households
pick up weekly bags of fresh organic vegetables from our Community Farm
(CSA).
Be sure to visit the Friends of Troy Gardens Web Store.
|
|
|
