This is right on target and critical for the future. Can anyone fill us in on the Coop Ext talk earlier this week about the district biomass system in Denmark? Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message----- From: Margaret McCasland <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:40:00 To: Autumn Stoscheck<[email protected]> Cc: Shale Shock<[email protected]>; Sustainable Tompkins County listserv<[email protected]> Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] [Shaleshock] Dairy Farmers Amen to Autumn's post. On a similar note, at last night at the Split Estate showing in Ithaca, Gay Nicholson reminded us that, if we are going to be NIMBYs (not in my backyard), we'd better find ways to use much less natural gas (which MANY people around here use for heat and cooking). And as Autumn says, if we don't want to live in a sacrifice zone, do we want anyone else to? So we, locally, us, the community coalitions Autumn is referring to, need a two pronged approach: 1) CONSERVE: be much more efficient about our use of natural gas (or coal-fired electricity). And, even if you pay for "green" power, your electricity still comes from a grid full of coal (and some natural gas). So we all need to conserve enough to start shutting down coal plants and save natural gas for co-generation district heating, etc. 2) SUPPORT LOCAL SAFE ENERGY: which gets us back to farmers: non-food bio-mass (woodlots, Danby Land Bank, etc) and appropriate scale (and carefully located) wind farms are two examples of farm-friendly ways to get our own power. Fossil fuel-based, industrial scale agriculture is a lot of what is making it so hard for family farms to break even, let alone earn a living farming. (Michael Pollan spoke to the connections between farming and fossil fuels at Bioneers). We should help farmers understand that UNconventional gas drilling is NOT compatible with farming. But we should also be cutting back our own use of gas (as well as coal-fired electricity). Let's work WITH farmers so they can be part of a clean renewable energy future, rather than part of the "let's heat the globe as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible" future which the oil and gas industry created (most profits to them, all risks to us). Because the only way this fuel is cheap is if it isn't extracted safely or ecologically. Margaret On Nov 19, 2009, at 8:32 AM, Autumn Stoscheck wrote: > > Hooray for all the articulate folks who showed up and got speaking > spots at the Corning hearing last night. Especially the elected > officials who sounded like true public servents, not paid off > polititions. Thank you for thoughtful, sophisticated arguments. > Kudos to Roy Lackner and Mark Dounou who represented framers/ > landowners with grave drilling concerns. Also to Lisa Wright, who > made a phenomenal plea to stop attacking each other, and work > together to address the serious problems we face. > > In that vein, as I listened to the very polarized debate, I took > note of the main themes of the "pro-drilling" speakers. If our > 'movement' is to be legitimate, if it is going to go beyond being > 'obstructionist', if it is going to not allow itself to be > marginalized as 'fringe out of touch environmentalists' we need to > take a hard look at what these people are saying. Not to develop > talking points, (yes, I have an argument or how gas exploitation is > not the answer to any one of these) but to realize how more > fundimental problems are laying the groundwork for exploitation by > big gas. And to incorporate constructive, proactive elements into > our message. > > -Coal and oil are dirty. Gas is cleaner than other hydrocarbons. > > -Not in My Back Yard. It is deeply hypocritical to expend energy > fighting gas development in our region while mindlessly using coal > electricity and gasolene from energy sacrfice zones like West > Virgina and Iraq. > > -Self Suficiency. It is not good to rely on other countries for the > energy that powers our society. > > -Rural New York is economically suffering, ESPECIALLY dairy farmers. > How can you deny somebody, who has worked their butts off their > whole life to put food on your table and is now loosing the farm no > matter how hard they work, a sign up bonus which could save the farm. > > In particular, I was thinking about farmers because I am one, and > because they have become the mascot for the Pass Gas movement. From > the economic forces that determine the price of milk, to a failed > government farm subsidy program, to corporate farming, food inc., > the global food distribution system, and lousey consumer food > choices, the story of New York dairy farmers is heart wrenching, > tragic and a symbol of what is deeply wrong with our food production > system. > > What about working to expand the shaleshock alliance to Dairy > Farmers? It's a lot nicer to have somebody advocating for your cause > than using you as a justification. Any way, it's just a thought, but > it might be worth reaching out to farm advocates, learning more > about the issues that are most affescting farmers today, and > incorporating the advocation of solutions to those problems into our > 'message' and our work. > > >__._,_.___ > Reply to sender | Reply to group > Messages in this topic (1) > RECENT ACTIVITY: New Members 2 > Visit Your Group Start a New Topic > MARKETPLACE > Parenting Zone: Your community resource for family and home > > Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use > . > >__,_._,___ _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
