STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
April, 2003
Living Lightly
Earth Day is our reminder to Reduce then Reuse then
Recycle
By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL
Poor "Mama Earth" has a preventable disease - and the root of that disease is every one of us! We pock her with waste products of every sort, cause festering infections upon her surface and in her arteries with chemical and biological toxins, and clog her air with noxious emissions. We top all this off by affecting her mental health with the attitude that technology or the street sweeper or the grownups or someone else will clean up after us. And smokers rarely think twice about using her as their ashtray!
It's April, when Earth Day (see ad page 5 ) reminds us once yearly that it is your job and mine and everyone else's worldwide to keep our "Mother" healthy to maintain her ability to sustain us. It's not about being too busy, but about opening our eyes to the simplicity of doing our small part to keep ourselves healthy by caring for our "Mother."
First, REDUCE the use of consumables. Buy bulk when available to avoid over packaged "stuff." Try to simplify your needs for toxic chemicals. Buy a large (5 gallon) water dispenser or get a tap water purifying pitcher, rather than purchasing cases of little bottles of water (refill the little bottles you use away from home). Teach the kitty to use the outdoor facilities, rather than buying huge bags of litter. Sweep the sidewalks and driveway rather than using precious water and sending contaminants into the sewer system. Did you know that egg yolks or the liquid from steamed or boiled veggies mixed with water make great plant fertilizers?
Second on the list of very easy things to do is REUSE - canvas and other reusable bags at the grocery store, junk mail for scratch paper, newspapers for lining cages and washing windows, containers and packaging materials of all sorts. During picnic and barbecue season freeze water in empty milk cartons to use in ice chests, use reusable plastic or other plates and put those over sturdy plastic utensils in the dishwater to be used again and again. Use cut up pantyhose with runs to hold the charcoal in fish tank filters. The opportunities for reusing all that "junk" goes on and on…here's your chance to be creative!
And Last But Not Least, RECYCLE. The City of Modesto and Stanislaus County cities provide numerous options:
Beginning in 2002, Modesto's new kids on the block are food waste and CRT (cathode ray tube) recycling programs.
If you don't feed your leftovers to Fido, contact your garbage company for a free food waste bin or use your own small container to scrape the dishes, clean out the refrigerator, or toss in the used tea bags, peelings, bones, fat, greasy paper plates, napkins and paper towels (just about anything organic). Dump all this into your green can along with garden and grass clippings. The green can waste is co-composted and later sold at the 7007 Jennings Road composting site or in smaller quantities at Hischier, Scenic and West Turf Nurseries. To learn how to do your own backyard composting, call 575-6063 and sign up for free workshops.
Make arrangements with your garbage collection company to pick up two CRT's per year per customer. CRT's include such items as old televisions, computer monitors and camcorders.
The Blue Bag recycling program continues in Modesto for the recycling of paper (newspapers, magazines, telephone books, junk mail, mixed paper and computer paper), cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jars with a "neck" (marked #1-7), cardboard boxes and chipboard. Obtain free blue bags from several local sites. Use the carry out blue bags available at O'Brien's, Richland and Save Mart Super Markets. All blue bags are for recycling and residents should not use them for garbage. Other county cities have a 3rd toter just for recyclables. (If we want to stop the plastic blue bags from adding to the waste stream, enough of us will have to come together to persuade Modesto City Council to accept a less polluting alternative).
The City of Modesto Solid Waste Management has stepped up its efforts to connect with more than 8300 businesses in a 50 mile radius and locally coordinate the CALMAX statewide materials exchange. The Solid Waste Management staff has observed a sizable increase in business recycling since it initiated its Modesto networking program. Some business's leftover wood pallets just might be the construction treasure needed by a small business or local non-profit group. The possibilities are endless.
Stanislaus County businesses and individuals can benefit from the collection of office paper, packaging materials, CRT's, and hazardous materials remnants (leftover paint, cleaning supplies, etc.) by picking up free recyclables at the Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, 1716 Morgan Rd., North Gate, Modesto/Ceres during its one-time monthly give away. Disposal of hazardous wastes is also free any Friday or Saturday other than major holidays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Acceptable items include automobile chemicals and car batteries; household and garage items (strong cleaners, kerosene/gas, roof tar/cement, aerosol products, batteries, paint and paint thinners; and backyard items (garden sprays, fertilizers, pool/spa chemicals, charcoal lighter fluid. Buy back programs also are available for waste oils.
What to do with that 20 year old abandoned refrigerator, washing machine, large furniture item or other discards too large to place in the black toter? Not a problem for Modesto residents, who may make up to two appointments per year with their garbage collection company under the On-Call Bulky Item Collection Program.
ACTION: Modesto garbage collection company numbers: Gilton Solid Waste, 527-3781; Modesto Disposal, 538-2210; Bertolotti Disposal, 537-8000. The Hazardous Waste Facility information hotline, 525-4123 or call 525-6700. Reach the Modesto Solid Waste Management at www.modestogov.com/etd/recycling or call 577-5494. Modesto residents can pick up free blue bags at City Hall at the Mall, Tenth Street Place, King-Kennedy Memorial Center, Senior Citizen's Center, New Deal Market (utility pay station) or at one of four Modesto Police Area Command Centers.
A perspective on Earth Day from South America
By TIRZA HOLLENHORST and CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON
In the US we celebrate Earth Day as part of an environmental movement that has achieved broad awareness in the population, conservation of wild spaces and reduction of air and water pollution. Yet the event goes largely unnoticed in the rest of the world.
Perhaps it is because we celebrate Earth Day alone instead of on the international earth day in June, or perhaps because our environmental consciousness is isolated from the reality of the people around the world. With over six billion people on the planet - three-quarters of them living in poverty - we cannot forget to include the human environment as key to a healthy ecosystem. US society is each day more dependent on the exploitation and destruction of ecosystems and human habitats around the world. The direct impacts of our consumption, foreign policy, financial institutions and even our culture often run contradictory to domestic environmental values and threaten the well-being of communities. Can we advocate protection in the US while undermining that possibility in other areas of the world?
Global surveys point to a disparity of priorities: in the North, a vision of social well-being prioritizes the environment, while in the South, priority is on alleviating social problems. Neither vision is complete, nor can be completed by tacking on another element. In both cases, what is lacking is a holistic vision of development.
Recently, one hundred thousand people gathered at the World Social Forum (WSF) to propose alternatives for a better world. Prominent social and political leaders from all parts of the world participated. Speakers such as Noam Chomsky and author Eduardo Galleano drew crowds of over twenty thousand people. The WSF was conceived in Porto Alegre, Brazil as a counter forum to the exclusive World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. In just three years, the World Social Forum has earned a central position in the global movement for an alternative to neo-liberal economic globalization.
At last year's WSF, the environment was addressed directly at a prominent seminar as part of activities surrounding the upcoming UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. This year, the environment was not clearly visible as a central theme, but instead folded into categories such as "democratic and sustainable development." This was no accident but rather reflects the different perspective of Latin American social movements with regard to the environment. A healthy environment is a basic human right, a necessary condition for a just society. Rarely is the environment an isolated rallying point, nor seen as having value beyond extracted resources, whether for its services or for intrinsic worth.
Ecosystems in Central and South America - the rainforests and wetlands of Brazil, for example - are crucial globally as well as locally. Ecosystem preservation and ecological literacy, however, are not prominent issues in Latin America. Awareness is slowly spreading, but the lack of understanding about the importance of the ecosystem and its valuable services (water and air purification, soil production, climate stabilization, habitat) is systemic. This translates into a weak social and political will to protect natural capital. The unnecessary destruction that results from undervaluing a healthy ecosystem in human development jeopardizes opportunities for present and future generations.
A systemic perspective of development must enable viable solutions based on meeting basic needs, economic opportunity and a healthy environment for all. Just as environmental protection cannot be separated from the social situation, social and economic development cannot ignore the physical constraints of the environment. Earth Day is an opportunity to reaffirm our interrelations with the world and to deepen our understanding of the global village through international dialogue. A truly sustainable society is only possible if we open our vision to new perspectives and act while considering diverse values as complementary and necessary.
ACTION: Tirza and Chris work in Argentina to promote sustainable business practices and support environmentally friendly projects. You can help them in their efforts by contacting them at tirzalyn@animail.net
Agricultural
industrialization
By CAROLINE MITTON
The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Ann Veneman, has invited Ministers
of Trade, Agriculture and Environment from 180 countries around the world to
come to Sacramento from June 23 -25, 2003 for a "Ministerial Conference and
Expo on Agriculture and Technology". She wants to showcase our industrial
technologies and create a consensus among the ministers for new rules that will
globalize the U.S. model of industrial agriculture, including chemicals,
irradiation and biotechnology. These rules will be adopted at the meeting of the
World Trade Organization in Cancun, Mexico this September.
A coalition of area
grassroots organizations has begun meeting to explore ways of countering the
position of agribusiness and the USDA during the conference. There will be a
rally on one of the days. California Alliance with Family Farmers in Watsonville
will send a delegation, some in costume. Buying a booth inside the Exposition is
also being considered. Other activities will be explored in future meetings.
The coalition includes,
among others, Food First, Public Citizen, the International Forum on
Globalization, the Pesticide Action Network and the Alliance for Democracy.
Heartland-Healthy
Kids, Communities and Farms
By JESSICA MILLER
The Ecological Farming Association invites you to the Heartland Conference for fun filled weekend for the whole family. Saturday, May 3, 2003, the activities are at the Double T Acres Ranch & Museum in Stevinson (near Turlock), on the Valley's first organic dairy. On Sunday, May 4th, enjoy a rafting trip on the Merced River, the lifeblood of the valley and mainstay of agriculture.
Starting at 9 a.m. workshops will include Organic Vegetable Gardening with Ray Laclergue of Intermountain Nursery, the Language of Flavor with Mark Mulcahy, Water Efficiency in the Garden, Beneficial Hedgerows Planting, and Fresh Cooking Demo with Terese Hollander and Dionisio Esperas of A Healthy Kitchen (as seen on TV).
Come see Laura Parker's Soil Art ( as displayed in San Francisco), Soil Profiling, an unusual Petting Zoo, with llamas, sheep and goats, a chicken tractor at work, and a Historical Ag museum. Learn the art and science of Composting and Vermicomposting, watch a mechanical hoof trimmer at work, and see how beekeeping happens in the Arena of Success.
Kids, come to The Heartland Adventure and milk a goat, dissect owl pellets, take a hayride around the dairy, learn how to rope a cow, visit an old fashioned ghost town, throw some horseshoes, and more. Win a compost bin, a bike helmet, t-shirts.
Food includes a delicious, organic midday country style dinner with all the trimmings (meat or vegetarian), and a Slow Food Grazing Supper with Chris Bonora of Oceana in Modesto. The evening includes live music, a campfire, and bring your musical instruments for a sing along! Camping is available and includes breakfast.
Saturday admission (includes midday meal) s $20, Saturday evening $25, and children under 12 are half price! Camping is $10 per car, and rafting is $20 with registration. Join in all or part of the weekend.
Landscaping with Nature workshop, back by popular demand
The Ecological Farming Association is also presenting a workshop in our area on Monday, April 28th, Landscape with Nature, Part II. Professionals from business, government, and colleges will provide cutting-edge information on sustainable landscaping, irrigation and water conservation, permaculture, backyard orcharding, and creating edible gardens.
The workshop will be held at the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Modesto from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The $30 pre-registration includes workshops, packet materials, and a catered lunch.
ACTION: Contact the Ecological Farming Association, 406 Main Street, Watsonville, CA 95076; phone, 831-763-2111; email, info@eco-farm.org; or visit www.eco-farm.org.
Sam
Tyson Grove established by Waterford
City Council
The Waterford City Council
recently adopted a resolution designating a grove of trees as the Sam Tyson
Grove. The trees have been planted in the initial stage of a city restoration
project to re-vegetate the Tuolumne River Corridor. Sam, a Waterford-area
farmer, member of the Governing Board of the Friends of the Tuolumne, and peace
activist, died last June.
“The Friends of the
Tuolumne, a non-profit environmental group, has done much of the work in raising
the funds and coordinating the activities necessary regarding the restoration of
a designated portion of the City owned Percolation Pond Parcel,” read the
resolution. “Sam..., working with
the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District raised of a significant
amount of the resources devoted to this restoration project,” including an
appeal to Stanislaus Connections
readers. The Friends of the Tuolumne requested the grove be named in memory of
Sam.
In 1987 Sam felt honored to introduce David Brower, the eminent environmentalist ,as guest speaker at Peace Camp. That weekend David linked bridged the peace and environmental as he spoke of environmental effects of war and preparation for war. He also announced it was time to go beyond conserving the environment to restoring the environment
Sam was traveling in the
midwest at the time of the Mississippi flood a decade ago. That flood was a
turning point in federal and local governments agencies’ attempts to control
rivers. The new philosophy has become to work with rivers and the restoration of
riparian corridors with native trees and vegetation is slowly beginning.
Sam, a USC trained botanist
and historian, loved watching growth - children, minds, plants, and particularly
the young peach tress on our farm on the secondary river bluff high above the
Tuolumne River.
As for the wags who
question the dubious of honor of a grove at a percolation pond, Gandhi would
have approved.
--Indira Clark
