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Join Our List
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Vol.
II, Issue 1
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Jan. 8, 2008
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Welcome to our fourth "News Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow"
newsletter. We strive to bring you important, timely information about
urban agriculture, energy issues, sustainable practices, and more.
In this issue, you will find articles on tracking your carbon footprint
through your cell phone, utilities soon to be shutting off your
appliances by remote control, harnessing sun-heated asphalt for
renewable energy, a future U.S. farmer shortage, China's farmland
challenge, and a developer creating community gardens in the city of
Vancouver.
The beauty of Troy Gardens, and our organization called Friends of Troy
Gardens, is that we not only provide an opportunity for people to grow
their own food locally in our community gardens or purchase locally
produced food from our organic farm, but we also educate children and
adults about how to grow food and eat nutritionally.
Finally, our first article is again a request for your financial
support of our programs. As of today, we have reached $12,001, or
48%, of our $25,000 winter fundraising goal. Your gift in
support of us reaching that goal is greatly appreciated. We depend upon
you for our success.
Please consider a membership or an individual or continuous monthly gift. Our programs only
exist, because of your generosity. So please give generously.
For Our Future,
Bob Gragson, Editor
Executive Director
Friends of Troy Gardens
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MAKE A
DIFFERENCE
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 Your Support Is Important
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, 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 and forest, further develop and increase
production at our organic farm and CSA with 110 household-members, and
more.
- $50
provides a low-income gardener a garden plot for a season,
- $100
provides a service-learning opportunity for an at-risk youth,
- $150
provides a low-income child hands-on participation in our Kids
Gardening Program,
- $250
provides a free workshop for 25 community members in our Natural
Areas Restoration Program,
- $430
provides a low-income household a CSA share from our farm for a
season, and
- $1,000
provides a low-income teen participation in our eight-week Farm
and Field Program or a 150-hour educational training opportunity
for a college student.
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. You will be helping educate thousands of
people each year with the skills necessary to make a sustainable future
a reality.
To date, we have reached $12,001, or 48%, of our $25,000 winter goal.
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.
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.
Please don't delay. Send your contribution TODAY.
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DIAL
"F" FOR FOOTPRINT
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 Carbon
Footprints by Cell Phone
"The
European Commission has come up with something for the eco-warrior on
the go: a cell phone application that tracks one's own carbon
footprint. After downloading the free program (at mobgas.jrc.it), consumers can use their mobiles as
an eco-diary, recording, say, the time spent driving and watching TV.
The program calculates how much greenhouse gas their activities are
creating. If they upload the data to the site, users can see their
footprints ranked against national and global averages. The mobGAS
software was launched to coincide with the round of U.N.-led climate
talks that just concluded in Bali. It's available in 21 languages and
is accessible to anyone with cell-phone Internet access" (Scott,
2008).
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REMOTE
CONTROL ENERGY
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 Utilities:
Controlling Your Appliances
"Just over a year ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
started a sweeping, $1.7 billion effort to install new, high-tech
meters on every home and business served by California's largest
utility. . . .
"In return, customers would get an electricity
meter than can be switched on or off remotely, without a visit from one
of PG&E's customer service trucks. During a power emergency, the
devices also could ration electricity to a home rather than blacking it
out entirely. . . .
"The SmartMeters - both the old and the new - can
track energy usage house by house, hour by hour. As a result, utility
customers in the future will probably pay different prices for power
used at different times of day, saving cash if they use less electricity
during the afternoon and more at night.
"The meters PG&E has installed in the past year
can be read remotely, without sending a PG&E employee to every
customer's home. The new ones can do that too, as well as start or stop
power via remote control. They also can be programmed with software
that, in the future, could allow them to control home appliances,
turning off air conditioners and washing machines or changing their
power levels as needed" (Baker, 2007).
Read the entire SF
Chronicle (Dec. 13) article . . .
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ASPHALT
AS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
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 Dutch Tap
Sun-Heated Asphalt
"Hot
asphalt is getting harnessed as an alternative energy source at several
commercial and military sites in the Netherlands. As the sun heats an
asphalt road or parking lot, it also warms water in plastic pipes that
are embedded in the blacktop. that water is then stored and takes less
energy from a conventional heat pump to reach the desired temperature.
Installation costs are high, but the pipes-in-asphalt system leads to
lower energy bills" ("System," 2008).
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NEW TROY
GARDENS CD
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 Be
Inspired, Support Our Programs
Troy Gardens
inspires us. If we are writers, the gardens become our muse. If we are
musicians, the land brings us new songs. The newly released CD, Troy Gardens Journal,
contains spoken excerpts from our board member Marge Pitts' collection
of essays by the same name, enhanced by six original songs written and
performed by Maury Smith, who also produced the project.
The CD's 12 tracks mark the passage of the seasons at Troy Gardens, and
cast a glance back to the project's organizational beginning. These
stories and songs offer a nourishing taste of hope. In these times when
"the big garden" that is our world seems to be bleak and
getting bleaker, we celebrate the solace and strength found in
relationships, in community, and in our "little gardens" at
Troy.
The Troy Gardens Journal CD is available now.
Proceeds will help support the work of Friends of Troy Gardens.
Note: Join Marge Pitts and Maury Smith on Sat., Jan. 12 for an
evening of readings and musical performances from Troy Gardens
Journal.The CD release celebration will take place at Cafe
Zoma, 2326 Atwood Ave., Madison, Wisconsin, from 6-8 PM. CDs will
be available for sale at the event.
Purchase your copy
online today!
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OUR
INTERNET STORE
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 Books,
DVDs, & CDs - Memberships
& Gifts
- Buy
from Us
- Support
Our Programs
Our Internet store makes 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.
For a limited time, our newsletter readers can receive a
20% discount on all books in our bookstore. Simply enter the word BOOKS
for the coupon code at checkout.
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!
Be sure to visit our Internet store. . . .
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DEVELOPER'S
COMMUNITY GARDEN
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 A 4-Minute YouTube Video
"Mike Clark of Onni called [Michael Levenston of CityFarmer.org] a [few months] ago looking for a
group to manage a new community garden his company had built on their
property in downtown Vancouver [British Columbia]. Now, this is a one
of a kind story -- a developer makes available gardens on vacant land
until such time as that land is ready for building construction to
begin. How often have we seen empty lots sit vacant for years while
nothing happens" (Levenston, 2007).
Watch the YouTube video . . . .
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CHINA'S
FARMLAND STRUGGLE
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 25
Million Acres of Farmland Lost Annually
"Urbanisation
and the creeping desert in the north mean that China is losing 25
million acres . . . of farmland a year. And just as the amount of
land is shrinking, the demand for food is getting greater. . . . Over
the next 12 years, an estimated 320 million people will move to cities.
As one analyst put it, a country larger than the United States will be
created by new urban Chinese by 2020.
"And when they come to the cities, these new arrivals - almost
instantly - start eating more protein. Now that they no longer grown
their own food, and with more wages in their pocket, their diet
changes. So Chinese people are eating less wheat and fewer grains in
general because they are upgrading to meats, especially pork. But that
pork comes from hungry pigs who consume a lot more grain.
"Of course, yields are getting better, so the same patch of land
is growing more corn (maize), rice and soya bean than it once did. But
there is another problem - in China, farms are still just patches of
land. Farmers do not own the land they work - and they cannot sell it -
so larger, more efficient farms have not been created.
"Acutely aware of the political consequences of landless farmers,
rural land reform seems to be one step too far for the leaders in
Beijing. Already, the country that discovered the soya bean has to
import most of its needs. And other crops will follow. The days of food
self-sufficiency in China are numbered. . . . So, like the rest of us,
China will turn to Australia, Africa and South America to fill its
belly.
"It is small wonder that food prices are climbing everywhere, not
just here in China. There just is not enough of it to go around, so
prices are rising - and will keep going up - until farmers plant more.
. . .
"[As people move to the city,] their connection with the land will
be broken. . . . [T]hey will move to the city and to a wealthier life -
a life with more meat, more fruit and more vegetables.
"The transformation in China is not just taking place in the
factories of Guangdong or the streets of Shanghai. Changes are taking
place here in the very bones of the people and in every last atom of
Chinese soil" (Sommerville, 2008).
Read the complete BBC News article . . .
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FIFTY
MILLION FARMERS
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 Chapter 2
of Peak
Everything
Renowned
author and lecturer Richard Heinberg outlines his take on the situation
we face with our food supply as we enter an economic transition with
less oil and natural gas.
The following is an excerpt from his MuseLetter of Nov. 2006 which
later became Chapter 2 in his new book, Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of
Declines:
"There was a time not so long ago when famine was an expected, if
not accepted, part of life. Until the 19th century-whether
in China, France, India or Britain-food came almost entirely from local
sources and harvests were variable. In good years, there was
plenty-enough for seasonal feasts and for storage in anticipation of
winter and hard times to come; in bad years, starvation cut down the
poorest and the weakest-the very young, the old, and the sickly.
Sometimes bad years followed one upon another, reducing the size of the
population by several percent. This was the normal condition of life in
pre-industrial societies, and it persisted for thousands of years.
"Today, in America, such a state of affairs is hard to imagine.
Food is so cheap and plentiful that obesity is a far more widespread
concern than hunger. The average mega-supermarket stocks an impressive
array of exotic foods from across the globe, and even staples are
typically trucked from hundreds of miles away. Many people in America
did go hungry during the Great Depression, but those were times that
only the elderly can recall. In the current regime, the desperately
poor may experience chronic malnutrition and may miss meals, but for
most the dilemma is finding time in the day's hectic schedule to go to
the grocery store or to cook. As a result, fast-food restaurants
proliferate: the fare may not be particularly nutritious, but even an
hour's earnings at minimum wage will buy a meal or two. The average
American family spent 20 percent of its income on food in 1950; today
the figure is 10 percent.
"This is an extraordinary situation; but because it is the only
one that most Americans alive today have ever experienced, we tend to
assume that it will continue indefinitely. However there are reasons to
think that our current anomalous abundance of inexpensive food may be
only temporary; if so, present and future generations may become
acquainted with that old, formerly familiar but unwelcome
houseguest-famine. The following are four principal bases (there are
others) for this gloomy forecast.
"The first has to with looming fuel shortages. . . . Suffice
it to say that the era of cheap oil and natural gas is coming to a
crashing end, with global oil production projected to peak in 2010 and
North American natural gas extraction rates already in decline. These
events will have enormous implications for America's
petroleum-dependent food system. . . .
"The second factor potentially leading to famine is a shortage of
farmers. Much of the success of industrial agriculture lies in its
labor efficiency: far less human work is required to produce a given
amount of food today than was the case decades ago (the actual
fraction, comparing the year 2000 with 1900, is about one seventh). But
that very success implies a growing vulnerability. We don't need as
many farmers, as a percentage of the population, as we used to; so,
throughout the past century, most farming families-including hundreds
of thousands and perhaps millions that would have preferred to maintain
their rural, self-sufficient way of life-were economically forced to
move to cities and find jobs. Today so few people farm that vital
knowledge of how to farm is disappearing. The average age of American
farmers is over 55 and approaching 60. The proportion of principal farm
operators younger than 35 has dropped from 15.9 percent in 1982 to 5.8
percent in 2002. Of all the dismal statistics I know, these are surely
among the most frightening. Who will be growing our food twenty years
from now? With less oil and gas available, we will need far more
knowledge and muscle power devoted to food production, and thus far
more people on the farm, than we have currently.
"The third worrisome trend is an increasing scarcity of fresh
water. Sixty percent of water used nationally goes toward agriculture.
California's Central Valley, which produces the substantial bulk of the
nation's fruits, nuts, and vegetables, receives virtually no rainfall
during summer months and relies overwhelmingly on irrigation. But the
snowpack on the Sierras, which provides much of that irrigation water,
is declining, and the aquifer that supplies much of the rest is being
drawn down at many times its recharge rate. If these trends continue,
the Central Valley may be incapable of producing food in any
substantial quantities within two or three decades. Other parts of the
country are similarly overspending their water budgets, and very little
is being done to deal with this looming catastrophe.
"Fourth and finally, there is the problem of global climate
change. . . . The . . . problem for farmers is destabilization of
weather patterns. We face not just a warmer climate, but climate chaos:
droughts, floods, and stronger storms in general . . . -- in short,
unpredictable weather of all kinds. Farmers depend on relatively
consistent seasonal patterns of rain and sun, cold and heat; a climate
shift can spell the end of farmers' ability to grow a crop in a given
region, and even a single freak storm can destroy an entire year's
production. Given the fact that modern American agriculture has become
highly centralized due to cheap transport and economies of scale
(almost the entire national spinach crop, for example, comes from a
single valley in California), the damage from that freak storm is today
potentially continental or even global in scale. We have embarked on a
century in which, increasingly, freakish weather is normal"
(Heinberg, 2006).
Read the entire "Fifty Million Farmers" article in MuseLetter
#175 or in Richard's new book, Peak Everything. . . .
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GOODSEARCH
& GOODSHOP
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 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.
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PIERCE'S
MARKET CARD
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 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!
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GREEN
JOBS
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 Job
Search Sites for You
For
environmental positions throughout the world, the following are some
good websites for your review:
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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.
References:
Baker, D. R. (2007). PG&E wants public to pay for newest, smartest
electrical meters. San Francisco Chronicle (December 13, 2007).
Retrieved January 7, 2008, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/13/BUUMTT33H.DTL&feed=rss.technology.
Heinberg, R. (2006). Fifty Million Farmers. MuseLetter (175).
Retrieved January 7, 2008, from http://www.richardheinberg.com/museletter/175.
Levenston, M. (2007). CityFarmer email newsletter (Nov. 18, 2007).
Scott, M. (2008). Dial "F" for footprint. Business Week. January
14, 2008), 18.
Sommerville, Q. (2008). China's farms struggle to meet growing demand.
BBC News (January 5, 2008). Retrieved January 8, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7171625.stm
System taps sun-heated asphalt. (2008). Investor's Business Daily,
24(188), 2.
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