Living Lightly
By
LILLIAN VALLEE
16. Keeper of the
Backwater
Come with me this winter morning to share a small adventure. Rouse your sluggish body before daybreak, haul it into the nearest vehicle, and head north on Highway 99 until you reach the Cosumnes River. Leave the rushing traffic by easing onto a side road. Unlock the gate, drag the green canoe into the pond, put on your life jacket, and grab a paddle. You can still hear the white noise of the freeway, but the sight of the trestle bridge and drowsy barn owl under it, the blurred fringe of cattails and bulrushes, begins to obliterate your everyday world. As the canoe parts the shallow water, you forget the bone-piercing cold and fog and concentrate on getting the craft through the dense waterweed. Veiled valley oaks move in and out of the mist, in and out of a deep silence broken only by bittern or crane. Except by canoe, this place is inaccessible. You have crossed the border into the Commonwealth of Beavers.
Suddenly you hear rushing water. You have to stifle a little flutter of panic because you have fallen out of too many canoes to ignore that sound. Then you see it: a beaver lodge constructed of tree branches, tules, and lots of mud, flanked by two small dams. The dams are artfully constructed to slow down but also to release a certain amount of water, until the level is right. Tinker with the dam and the beaver’s keen ears will note the difference and the animal will come to fix the irregularity, a fact noted by trappers who set their traps in the breaches. You register sections of dead or dying oak woodland as a result of the beaver’s expansion of the pond, which does not just capture water but also intensifies the nutrient load.
Beaver ponds are marvels of biological productivity and diversity: they create what is sometimes described as “boundary complexity,” that is, they increase the edge between waterways and dry land which results in a denser food web and varied ecological niches. In beaver-made wetlands you will find broad communities of microorganisms feeding on the impurities in the water, thereby cleaning it. In their turn, the bacteria, fungi and plankton make the backwater a cafeteria for countless insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals. Walking the tussocky understory of small islands of oak, sedge and soaproot, you see evidence of great feasting: acorn parts, crayfish remains, coyote scat, feathers and bones, the spent shells of poachers. Thousands of spider webs in beaded necklaces help the oaks draw moisture from the air, and lichens and mosses on tree trunks dazzle with outrageous color combinations: burgundy, lime green, apricot. Shelf fungi are a rich, buttery yellow while mushrooms hiding in the sedges have bright mustard yellow caps.
There were once about two hundred million beavers in North America, and now they number from seven to twelve million, mainly in the Great Lakes and Mississippi areas. These large rodents, a keystone species with a genius for obstruction and impoundment of water, were responsible for the pristine water and species diversity of wetland environments exploited by Europeans during the era of the lucrative fur trade. In her stunning book, Water: A Natural History, Alice Outwater describes a time when Castor canadensis, the North American beaver, lived from the Arctic tundra to the deserts of northern Mexico. There could be “as many as three hundred dams per square mile, each with its own ring of wetlands.” Unfortunately for beavers and wetlands, waterproof beaver felt could be shaped into Wellingtons, D’Orsays, Continentals or something called “The Paris Beau,” cocked and top hats used by royalty, the upper crust, military officers, and clerics throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The market demand for beaver hats, collars, capes and coats appeared insatiable.
Outwater argues for a return of beavers to public lands as part of reconstructing a (dismantled) natural water system that cleaned itself because it consisted of complex pathways for water to travel through the landscape. The stringent discharge controls we have imposed “have not been enough to restore the nation’s waterways,” she writes; “for each day water spends in pipes, it spends perhaps a decade in the natural world.” Yet, in many contemporary settings, the return of beavers is as problematic as their absence.
With the exception of human developers, no one can redesign a landscape in shorter time than a beaver. They are busy because they fell trees and move things; build dams, lodges, food caches; make trails or “runs,” slides, canals; and even dredge channels in pond bottoms for times of drought. Those like Canadian Audrey Tournay who have worked with injured or orphaned beavers and have become parental surrogates tell amazing stories about these playful vegetarians with profound family loyalties. Outwater offers this charming description:
“Good natured, gentle, and clean, [a beaver] makes a friendly pet that follows its owner around much like a dog, scrambling up onto a lap to be rubbed on the belly whenever it’s invited. Beavers were commonly kept as pets around Indian encampments, but they do have a fatal flaw in a modern household: they never stop building. When kept indoors, they will cut down the legs of tables and chairs and build little dams between pieces of furniture. Left on their own, they will rearrange waterways.”
In Tournay’s house-sanctuary beavers would gnaw arches in her doors and build dams in her bathroom with whatever material was available; she describes how, in one night, “Swampy digested large portions of the Holy Bible; the I Hate to Cook book and The Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson.” Often the power struggles are not as benign. Orchard saplings can be decimated by a small community of beavers, and refuge managers in charge of waterworks mimicking a natural wetland system can be driven to distraction by persistent beavers stopping up refuge inlets and weirs. In one story, beavers reintroduced to a high elevation forest drag picnic tables to plug a nearby stream. Forest Service employees, refusing to believe beavers can pull something so heavy, blame vandals. They change their minds when the new (and chained) picnic table legs are gnawed off above the chains and hauled to the same spot. The replacement tables are concrete.
Those who have spent many hours planting trees also have to admit some dismay when those same trees, healthy cottonwoods, for instance, are downed by hungry beavers caching a favorite food. Beavers “condition” young branches in water until they become gelatinous, creating a kind of cottonwood candy. As you paddle out of beaver territory, however, turkey vultures, in the tips of tall dead oaks, open their wings to collect the first warm rays of sun breaking through the fog and remind you that nothing is wasted in the backwater and no labor there is ever in vain.
Sources: Dietland Muller-Schwarze and Lixing Sun, The Beaver: Natural History of a Wetlands Engineer; Alice Outwater, Water; and Audrey Tournay, Beaver Tales.
Lillian Vallee is a Professor of Literature and Language Arts at Modesto Junior College.
Something
Wonderful Happens When You Plant a Seed
A Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai, wins the nobel Peace prize. by Mia Macdonald, from Sierra
Excerpts from
Dr. Wangari Maathai’s speech when she was notified of winning the 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize:
“Wars are
fought over limited natural resources, such as oil, land, coal or diamonds. I
call for an end to corporate greed, and for leaders to build more just
societies.”
“Our recent
experience in Kenya gives hope to all who have been struggling for a better
future. It shows it is possible to bring about positive change, and still do it
peacefully. All it takes is courage and perseverance, and a belief that positive
change is possible. That is why the slogan for our campaign was “It is
possible!”
“On behalf of
all African women, I want to express my profound appreciation for this honor,
which will serve to encourage women in Kenya, in Africa, and around the world to
raise their voices and not to be deterred. When we plant trees, we plant the
seeds of peace and hope. We also secure the future for our children. I call on
those around the world to celebrate by planting a tree wherever you are.”
“Today we are
faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity
stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to
heal her wounds and in the process heal our own.”
By ED BEARDEN
“It’s my greatest achievement,” says Don Kiger. Kiger is a man who deals with hundreds of small decisions every day, small decisions that enable him to complete big dreams. He is the Business Manager for the Empire School District, a district of 4000 students housed in seven schools on the eastside of Modesto. He has had primary responsibility for building three of them from the ground up, from planning to completion. He has installed safer playground equipment, repaired roads and basketball courts, created a track field for sporting events and upgraded electrical systems in order to handle hundreds of new computers with miles of cable. It’s a job he’s had for nearly 20 years. So what’s this thing a man who has done so much is so proud of? It’s solar energy.
When it came time to build Glick Middle School, the Empire Districts newest school, Kiger found a way to make solar electricity an integral part of the school. While the sun’s energy may be free the process of converting it into electricity is not. Working with RWE Schott Solar and assisted by a Pacific Gas and Electric Company rebate he installed a photovoltaic power generation system. Money to help pay for such projects was available through a self-generation incentive program for those who install certain kinds and sizes of clean on-site distributed power generators.
The solar generation plant at Glick Middle School consists
of a 15kW system built on the roof of one building and a 30kW system built on a
shade structure. The latter protects an outdoor gathering place and a shaded
area for eating lunch on warm days. Thus, the photovoltaic structure itself
serves both form and function. The system works in parallel with the electric
grid and conforms to other criteria established by the California Public
Utilities Commission. It has resulted in the presentation to the Empire School
District of a rebate incentive check in the amount of $172,647.00 for a system
that converts the sun’s energy to electricity. The 45kW system is the first
and largest photovoltaic installation in the Central Valley that is served by
the Modesto Irrigation District. It can generate enough electricity to power 15
to 30 average homes or, provide the major source of electricity for an entire
school.
Photovoltaic solar cells, which directly convert sunlight into electricity, are made of semi-conducting materials. They are used to operate watches or pocket calculators. They can be found in remote areas providing electricity for ranger stations in national forests. More complex systems, such as the one found at Glick Middle School, can be used to light houses and provide power directly to the electrical grid.
It is estimated the photovoltaic system at Glick will generate electricity 162 days a year. That’s the average number of days of sunshine. It will generate power when school is in session and when it is not. It will generate power during summer months when school is closed. The monetary savings to the school district is not wasted during these times when the school is not open and the buildings and grounds not being used. The school is able to bank the power generated during weekends and summer months. In doing so they are able to reduce overall energy costs for the school and save taxpayer money.
As a solar energy source photovoltaic is important for many reasons. Primarily these are environmental. Photovoltaics is a young industry and very high-tech. It can help create jobs and boost the economy. Importantly, as the technology improves, the cost of building the sun-converting electrical panels is decreasing. One of the reasons the system worked in the Empire School District was a PG&E rebate reducing the initial cost. Few power-generation technologies have as little impact on the environment as photovoltaics. It is quiet, does not pollute the air or create hazardous water. It doesn’t require the burning of liquid or gaseous fuels. It is estimated the cost to the district will be completely re-paid in 10-12 years. Higher energy costs could of course reduce the payback period.
So what’s Kiger's big deal? Clean energy? Saving money? Doing something innovative? Well it’s all of these, but for Kiger, a credentialed teacher before he became business manager, it’s for the kids. The students are curious, he says. They want to know how it works. This is a practical real world example of renewable energy and a great teaching tool.
Why is renewable
energy so important?
By MYRTLE OSNER
Above you will find an article and photo of the solar energy panels on Glick School in Empire. Makes you wonder why we aren’t doing more of this here in the valley where solar energy is so intense.
A brochure from the American Solar Energy Society suggests solutions geared to security, jobs, and health.
Security: Energy is an integral part of the national security equation. Large scale, centrally located energy production plants increase the risk of harm from transmission grid failures and terrorist attack. Importing large amounts of oil and natural gas leave the U.S. vulnerable to international hostilities and other supply disruptions. The continued burning of fossil fuel causes environmental degradation and global warming.
The Renewable Energy Solution: A combination of renewable energy technologies will help to defray those risks. Solar and wind energy, “produced” locally, require no extraction or transport and produce no greenhouse gases. Solar panels, when installed directly on a building, provide uninterrupted service during power outages and form a widely dispersed system that reduces the possibility of disruption due to accident or attack.
Jobs: Many Americans are out of work and many more are under-employed. Other fully employed Americans who were once “middle class” have been downgraded, some all the way to “homeless”.
The Renewable Energy Solution: Recent research done on job creation in the energy sector indicates that expansion and development of the renewable energy industry will produce more jobs in the United States than traditional energy industries. Renewables could generate 240,000 new jobs in comparison to just 75,000 in fossil fuels sector.
Health: According to the American Lung Association millions of Americans are exposed to particulate pollution: “Most at risk are children, the elderly, people with chronic lung and cardiovascular conditions, and, according the mounting evidence, diabetes. At levels in this country today, particle pollution significantly increases the risk of premature death, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and heart attacks.”
The Renewable Energy Solution: While particulates in the air come from many sources, emissions from coal-fired power plants are one of the biggest culprits; people living within 20 miles of such a plant are at highest risk. Increased reliance on renewable energy technologies could significantly reduce the incidence of such maladies with the added bonus of bluer skies.
ACTION: Learn more from American Solar Energy Society, 2400 Central Ave., Suite A, Boulder, Co l. 80301, www.ases.org, and their book, Buildings for a Sustainable American Case Studies.
By
TIRZA HOLLENHORST and CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON
A controversial essay entitled “The Death of Environmentalism” circulating since December has stirred up passionate debate about the current role and future of the environmental movement. Is the movement still relevant, or has it been replaced by more broad-based movements?
“The Death of
Environmentalism” by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus published by the
Breakthrough Institute (www.TheBreakthrough.org),
has sparked heated debates within the environmental movement. Their essay argues
that modern environmentalism is not capable of dealing with ecological crises
such as global warming because the movement itself is a special-interests group
that focuses on technical solutions rather than real change. They additionally
argue for organizing progressive movements and institutions around a broader
vision and a set of common values and call for a collective reflection on the
state of politics and the ways to be effective.
The authors suggest that we must
“let go” of old mental models in order to fully embrace the new vision and
movement. The “environmental movement’s foundational concepts, its methods
for framing legislative proposals, and its very institutions are outmoded.”
Shellenberger and Nordhaus’
paper has caused a strong reaction from many of the more traditional
environmental institutions such as the Sierra
Club. Carl Pope (Sierra Club Executive Director) wrote a 6,000-word response to
the article, in which he acknowledges agreement with several of the authors’
points, but derides the arguments and conclusions of the paper. [Visit
GRIST magazine for Pope’s reply at www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/pope-reprint/]
A former Sierra Club president
Adam Werbach addressed the same issue in his recent speech to the Common Wealth
Club, where he proclaimed the environmental movement dead. He emphasized the
need to recognize the past usefulness of the movement (and affection for it),
but to not become so attached to it that we cannot embrace new tendencies and
realities of our current context. [Vist GRIST magazine for Werbach’ speech at www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/werbach-reprint/]
Whether or not you agree with the
conclusions of the paper, the arguments point to the need for a broader debate
in our communities. How do we shape our strategies, policies, funding, or
actions to contribute the necessary shift in society to ensure a future for
ourselves and future generations that is worth living?
We at ifPeople support an engaged
community that practices respectful conversation. Though it is not our intention
to put forth our views in this article, but instead to inform our community of
the happenings, we welcome your comments and invite a renewed discussion.
IfPeople is a values-driven
business dedicated to delivering pioneering solutions to the responsible
enterprise community.
ACTION:
To download the papers referred to in this article, visit www.ifpeople.net/community/news/20050214_envi.
To contact the authors of this summary, visit www.ifpeople.net
