Thanksgiving

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts." I came across this quotation when reading an article from a British politician talking about the survival of humanity being at stake as it relates to global warming. Interesting perspective... it seems as if politicians in the UK are as apt as those in the US to disregard... and when disregarding doesn't work, to ignore... facts about climate change. It really is too bad.

I've noticed something in my class of late that may be a small example of what's going on in the world. As a class, we have a broad range of knowledge with experts from many different areas. And yet somehow, as a group, we aren't all that productive... we certainly don't act as an intelligent group when it comes to getting things accomplished. It's a bit frustrating and very ironic considering that the first week of lectures emphasized the need for groups of people to have a framework -- for a way to frame our thoughts -- so that the group isn't stupid, but rather can draw upon each individual's wisdom to enhance the group.

Instead of realizing this, however, we use 20 of our 30 minutes set aside for a class meeting to debate the merits of having a world map on our classroom wall... and after figuring out that no one is really against such a map, though only a few people are strongly in favor of one... we launch into a discussion about whether to buy the map or rely on the talents of those in the class to draw a map.

Alas, much like the world today is drowning in facts about climate change... not to mention war, terrorism, and avian flu... our class debate about the world map ended with no clear conclusion, though I think we did delegate to a few people who were most interested in putting up a map.

So what's my point? I'm not even sure... it got lost somewhere along the way. But the next time you're working on something as part of a large group, take time to observe what's happening -- whether the group on a whole acts smarter or dumber than the individuals in the group. Chances are... that unless there is a framework -- a shared way of thinking about the topic at hand... the group will be dumb.

All was not lost during that class meeting, however... because I've walked away with one particularly interesting factoid: during the week leading up to the US's Thanksgiving holiday 45,000,000 turkeys were prepared to serve as dinner. That's one for (about) every 6.5 people in the US. Speaking of Thanksgiving, turkeys are apparently hard to come by here in Sweden... so we ate chicken... on Saturday (we were in class all day on Thursday).

Tonight our class is putting on a dinner: "World On A Plate" -- we will have representatives from 16 countries preparing dishes that are representative of their country, and then are selling tickets to other students across campus to come and receive a small portion from each of the countries. It will be interesting to see how many people come -- we'll have food for about 200, so hopefully it will be close to that!

Vertical farming

Vertical farming is an idea that my "Engineering for a Sustainable Technosphere" class is looking into over the next month. Lots of info available at www.verticalfarm.com. The idea is basically that multi-story buildings can be used in urban areas to grow food -- perhaps enough to feed 50,000 people 2,000 calories/day… in a building with a footprint the size of one city block. From a sustainability perspective, if this is possible it could be a phenomonal step toward reducing transportation costs (dollars and environment-related) of food. Somewhere I was reading that the cost of transporting lettuce from California (where over 80% of the US's lettuce is grown) to New York is about $.43 per pound. But if a pound of lettuce can be grown in a hydroponics greenhouse in New York for $.27 (vs. .$20/lb in CA) -- then there's a huge net savings. Here's a story about a non-profit in Winnipeg, Canada -- http://www.maximumyield.com/article171.htm -- it started when a high school teacher was disappointed in the quality of food available to students and decided to start growing food. It's interesting to think about the potential implications to Iowa farmers who rely on big equipment and massive inputs of fossil fuels -- both for machinery, and also for fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. My assumption has been that any method for growing food that relied less on fossil fuels would necessarily have to be more reliant upon human labor… but this company http://www.organitech.com/index.php?page_id=1 seems to be doing massive automation of the farming… so of like the assembly process I saw at the Volvo truck plant two weeks ago. Certainly there are many issues and considerations to be worked out with such a massive transition in agricultural process, but it's something to keep an eye on.

My own hydroponics experiment has not been faring so well… my water got a little acidic last week and caused my best plants to die. I'd added nutrient solution to the water and didn't check the ph immediately afterwards… within 4 hours of the water cycling to the plants, it was clear that something was not right… and before I could find baking soda to add to the water to bring the ph back up… my best pepper and two best tomato plants crashed… and they haven't come back yet. So. Oops. I'm a bit frustrated with the whole process, in part because of my lack of space… "the garden" takes up 1/3 of my bedroom… with another third going to my desk and the final third to my bed… there just isn't my space for experimentation. I'll look forward to relocation in the future to a place that is my suitable to such experiments. I do have a (yes, one) spinach plant that is starting to show some potential… as in there are new leaves in the last two days… so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it picks up the growth pace a little and provides me some inspiration to continue.

Two Americas

Last week's mid-term elections in the US deserves a few comments... largely because it coincides with my reading of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" written John Perkins. He talks about how the US has, over the last several decades, cheated poor countries out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could ever pay back... and how a handful of very large consulting companies collaborate with the government to do so. Read the transcript of an interview with John Perkins at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251

I also seem to be coming across more and more articles like this one: http://www.hnn.us/articles/1244.html that discuss the ultra-conservative collaboration of a few people that are working to influence public opinion in the US, which as we've seen over the last several years, can widely influence the world.

These things are important because the information that the American public receives is being hijacked. How many people believe that the US is sincerely trying to make the world a better place by 'giving' aid to 'developing' countries? Sadly, most believe this... and dismiss the instances during the 1950's - 1980's in Guatemala, Panama, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and so on - as situations in which the US rode in on the white horse.

Unfortunately, the white horse was actually a black horse (maybe it walked through some chemical hastily approved by the EPA that turned it white??) that brought little positive benefit to these countries... while they may have an infrastructure for power now, any and all income they have goes to pay debt occurred to finance the installation of that infrastructure.

This is a problem to America because -- well, basically "what goes around comes around." Somewhere along the way, America quit following the golden rule. While the majority of Americans may (or may not) still live by this basic rule -- the country itself does not. America's greed is eroding the world from the inside out. Our founding fathers fought against the very tyranny that we now impose upon the world… oh, how short our memories. Are we so stuck upon ourselves? So limited in our perspective? So incapable of taking a step back to see the world in its entirety?

I titled this entry "Two Americas" because I believe that is what we have. We have one America that is driven by corporate profit -- greed -- that lives under the premise that more is better. This America is blinded by power and money -- and never has enough of either. This America is ignorant of the rest of the world's power and influence; this world sits at the pinnacle of an empire.

The other America is slowly growing in number. Comprising curious people who take time to learn about all that is done in the name of freedom and goodwill, this America understands the longer-term effects of current actions -- both lifestyle and political action. This America cares deeply about everyone's future -- certainly themselves and their offspring, but also that people around the world are given an equitable opportunity to live a joy-filled life. This America is reaching a tipping point... and I look forward to the day when this America rises up, collectively, to lead the world forward.

Which America do you support?

I'm cautiously optimistic that the tipping point is soon coming -- certainly last week's elections support that. I hope it's the case. And I hope the democrats will lead over the next two years... something they haven't known how to do in recent history.

So that's the political commentary for the week. On the home front... our class visited Volvo Group headquarters last week. Volvo group makes basically everything Volvo except cars -- they sold the car piece to Ford several years ago. It's quite a fascinating facility, as is their plan to have a CO2 neutral plant in the next few years. We rode through the 90,000 square meter (nearly 1 million square feet) facility in Gothanburg on a little train... it was the only way to see so much of a facility that is so large. The technology that allows so much to happen -- electric carts that haul pallets of parts to self-operated forklifts... quite amazing, really.

I'm working on a project with the Madison Children's Museum (Madison, Wisconsin) -- a truly fascinating organization that is working to ensure that all of their operations, including exhibits, are fully sustainable.

I continue to tinker with the garden... I think I'm going to try and start some more seeds in a mini-greenhouse that I picked up over the weekend in hopes that leaving seeds in the greenhouse a little longer than I left them in their germinating box last time will make them stronger... most of the carrots, lettuce, dill, and spinach didn't make it to their new home.

Now - it's time for class.

Garden Photos!

I've posted a couple of photos of my hydroponics garden on my flickr photos page -- check them out at: http://flickr.com/photoPublishs/98399319@N00/

It's all about food

Food seems to be the theme in my life right now... from trying to grow it (the garden now has ginger and green onions that can be harvested, thanks to a contribution of sprouting ginger from Katie and a few extra onions from the grocery store)... to cooking it -- I experimented with Chinese dumplings last night after having watched them be made at a friend's last week... to understanding where it comes from and how it gets to us.

Being the "country kid" that I am, you'd think that I would have a good understanding of where food comes from, right? Well... kind of. But from a broader perspective, I really feel like I'm pretty clueless. I'm considering for a thesis topic (along with approximately 146 other ideas) something along the lines of "Grow it Here or Grow it There: Energy Use in the Production and Transportation of Food." The point would be to understand how energy flows through our food, where it's wasted (like in transporting foods around the globe), and perhaps even to have a better idea of how food grows... as in where the basic elements that plants need to grow come from. In the monoculture that Iowa tends to be... farmers alternate soybeans and corn. Soybeans are nitrogen fixers... they take nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil (is this done through their roots, or by holding the N in mass until the plant is plowed under as with carbon?)... whereas corn uses that nitrogen.

Obviously there is a lot of research in various aspects of how food gets to us... but as far as I know -- though I've only just begun to explore -- there is not any whole system view of food -- or a food cycle -- that could help to understand what research does exist and what areas need to be further explored.

Oh - and the Chinese dumplings turned out to be quite good. They take a while to make... so it's a fun group project for 6-8 people! Basically the shell is a flour-water-egg mix, and the inside is some combination of cabbage, carrot, onion, meat, soy sauce, and ginger... then after cooking (boiling or frying) dipping in soy/garlic mixture. Very tasty!

Time for class... we have a pretty intense Mon-Wed this week, and then a day trip to Goteburg to visit Volvo!

Two quick notes

First- I briefly mentioned the Stern Report yesterday, so now I should provide links for mor information. One link is to a short overview of the report : http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/10/stern_review_la.html and another is to the index page to access the report itself (as well as some comments about the report): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Independent_Reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/sternreview_index.cfm

Is this report getting any time in the US media?

The second quick note for the day is only to say that I've found a bit of mold in my plants... I'd used some burlap to keep the coconut coir in the plastic baskets that hold the plants in the water... so the burlap was constantly being flooded. Anyway... there was an emergency removal of the burlap last night. Now I'm not sure what happens -- the plants seem to be ok, I'm just not sure that I'll be able to keep the growing medium in the baskets -- it seems likely to wash away each time the pump runs. I know, I know... pictures would help... :)

Oh - and I've taken a liking to the greeting 'namaste' -- essentially it means "I admire the divine in you." I do.

Namaste