ECO-Tours only purchases trees and dirt to plant them in...

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

This Past Moon

We have had both round one and round two with the Polar Vortex. The Jet stream has gone haywire and routinely, temperatures in Anchorage and even Barrow, above the arctic circle, have been warmer than Green Bay, Wisconsin. I remember one day reading that it would still be two weeks before sunrise in Barrow and they were twenty degrees warmer than us.

PEOPLE! Please try to understand that the radiation from Fukushima seems minute when imagined relative to the entire Pacific Ocean, but wafting ribbons of fallout are vast and dilute, that certainly can't eliminate their energy footprint. That will literally take forever. With the huge amount of radiation that has been released, it is hard to convey the worldwide effects. The particular isotopes that are from the immediate area around the disaster, especially the heaviest, settle onto plant life and are consumed, putting them on their way to the top of the food chain. The vast dust bowl, or dry lake bed (playa) that is Burning Man, black Rock City, NV. is slightly radioactive from nuclear testing during early days of the cold war. Some of this stuff never goes away. Imagine half a million years to cut the hazard in half and you have an idea of what we are up against.

Background radiation has climbed ever since Madam Curie made her discoveries and they were put to "use" through the E=mc2 enlightenment. The only reason that nuclear energy was ever made to sound appealing to the public was because they needed enriched material for bomb making. Even today, we are spreading the risk. Depleted uranium is used to make the projectile tips of armor piercing bullets and anti-tank weapons. They begin this pernicious concentration through the food chain as well, leaving a legacy of radioactive contamination wherever they fall. For peace or destructive ends, splitting the atom has grave consequences that are only beginning to be understood. If you think that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrific, the next few years we are going to see a continuing release of long-lived radiation whose impacts will be felt for millennea.

In spite of the immense sadness and hopelessness that has been engendered by this fiasco, we must go on and making plans for the coming growing season has commanded the lion's share of our time. We are still actively fund raising for some important projects, presentations and tools. First and foremost, we are working to raise money for our school/retreat center. We are ready to begin introductory bio-char classes and are working toward having a traveling show that can showcase the material and bring the knowledge about it to a wider audience. finally, we are seeking funds for a broad fork or three so that when we do get into areas that need to be reforested, we can jump start the recreation of soils that will ultimately support the trees we bring to them.

Beyond trying to stay warm and alive, there was little forward progress, although I have been working on designs for pedal power devices to help with making char powder quickly and easily, our designs for a sustainable resort/retreat center that operates as a living laboratory of sustainability continue. Whatever green energy you can share is greatly appreciated.


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