Shameless Plea

We are getting ready to preserve nearly two acres and transform it, like we did our last two properties, into a permacultural wonderland of native, edible and medicinal perennials, pollenator gardens and habitat for a variety of creatures. On our second walk-through at the property, we frightened a muskrat who looked fat and happy but for the fact that he was awakened and had to run a long way for cover. We would definitely improve that critter's habitat! Our earlier goal of saving 80 acres remains our ultimate goal, but this property has an established caretakers home and two greenhouses. We would have to raise four times as much money to build in all those improvements on 80 acres. Not to mention the infrastructure needed to even set up such a facility. As an added bonus, instead of being 3-5 hours from major population centers, there will be a million people within bicycling distance! Talk about offsetting carbon footprints!Even more interestingly, we will be just of fth eIce Age Trail and will be able to offer no trace camping to through hikers!
Trouble is, I'm not going to sugar coat it, money. Due to covid-19, it has been two full years of less than half my normal professional gig that allows me to fund the work that ECO-Tours has done. We are adept at soil restoration and teaching about how to make and use biochar. Spreading seed and re-establishing native cover. There have been many events where contributions have covered gas or lunch, but often not both. We can afford to operate on exremely small budgets, whether we are tree planting, seed collecting and dispersing, teaching classes or doing intrerpretive programs because our labor and management have always been 100% volunteer. It took us our first ten years to do, but we planted 60,000 tree seedlings across Northeast Wisconsin and we raised less than six thousand dollars a year during those years.
We were able to do it because we got creative. One of us would wait around, until after pick-up hours at the annual Department of Natural Resources tree seedling distribution event, many years hundreds of trees came home with us that otherwise would have been thrown into the compost. In fact, the year before the first year we put in our order, I had been walking past the greenhouses at the County Extension Offices. Out back I found over 2,000 tree seedlings in their compost. We took them home. potted them up and it took a while, but we got nearly all of them set out into permanent and appropriate places, their forever homes, within that first spring and fall. After I found that treasure, I went and asked why they had thrown them out and they said that every year, when they did the DNR tree seedling sale, some live plants would not get picked up and they didn't have any way to store them or hold them for later pick up, so they just put them in the compost pile.
I made sure after that to always show up at the beginning of the day to help set up, then to fill my order as late in the day as possible, so I could help after they shut down. After two or three days of getting people paired with their orders for pick up, everyone woul dbe pretty tired and the idea of taking a hundred or a thousand trees home ot plant is too much for anyone to think about, unless you are someone with friends who will help pot them up and eventuqally come help plant them out on another day, which we did. Inevitably there would be at least a few dozen left over seedlings. Most times there were many hundreds and once or twice over a thousand free trees to help keep our costs down. The real value was in all the loving hands that helped pot them all up and those loving hands that came later and lovingly placed them in the ground. Indeed, the loving hands of those who pulled competing weeds were also necessary to have the thousands of sucessful trees, spread across many hundreds of acres that would have never grown without the participation of many hundreds of people who care.
The reason that I mention this is to point out that rather than contributions being eaten up by administrative or fund-raising costs, our dollars flow with power and immediacy to what needs funding, not advertizing and gala events for megadonors. Give what you can. If you would like to stay in the loop about our events, which are mostly centered around Wisconsin let us know at: biocharmaster@gmail.com or if you would lik eot purchase a class, We can teach you everything you need to know to make top quality biochar in just a few hours by phone or online through zoom or fblive. Any contribution of fifty or more gets you a class if you would like to start sequestering carbon forever. If you are having trouble with our paypal link, you can go there directly and use our account number, tnsaladino42@hotmail.com or, you can go to our gofundme page and contribute to "Save 80 acres of Wisconsin for outdoor school".

These trees were some of the first we planted and this image is from ten years ago. The last time I was past the farm, they were taller than the house! They are also large enough now to shade the west side of the house from summer sun and winter wind. The energy savings alone is like offsetting carbon use that is now unnecessary. In very real ways, we continue to prove that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the second best time is today!
Again, please contribute what you can.

Flourishing

Ah, what a wonderful, oft overlooked quality and yet one that holds so much [promise for the future of humankind. So many conditions can hem in this state of natural abundance, we forget that it is achievable, sustainable and that exponential growth and abundance are actually a rule in natural systems, rather than an exception. Imagine, if you will, a forest. To make it a bit easier to fathom, try imagining a single acre (.6ha). In my part of the world, the temperate region, a common estimate for trees per acre is between three hundred and three hundred and fifty mature trees in a climax forest. To the average casual observer, it would appear to be in a relatively steady state. However, if each tree is growing a ring of new tissue each year, the number of board feet of wood in that acre would be increasing perhaps only by what seems like a small percentage, but multiplied by several hundred trees, it is quite a large amount.
Healthy ecosystems always have a certain rate of death and destruction as well, but in each and every case, the death of one organism provides habitat for hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of other organisms. There is no trash in the woods, unless humans put it there. Each bit of living tissue becomes food or shelter for other living creatures upon death, sometimes in epiphytic relationships, the habitat that is provided by living organisms is mutually beneficial, or at least the death of the host organism is not necessary. There are thousands of mutually beneficial associations in nature and both creatures can flourish in the presence of one another. Forests are again a ready example of how this can work. billions of spores waft on the wind, in search of just the right moisture, temperature and conditions to make their life process possible. A single spore can ultimately become a non-plant, non-animal organism that stretches miles, if given optimal conditions. Fungi produce food for creatures, are primary decomposers and are often completely forgotten by casual observers because they spend the majority of their life cycle hidden amongst leaf litter and forest soils. the actual fruiting body is just a temporary phenomenon, peculiar in that it only lasts for time periods on the order of days, whilst the mycelium that the fruiting body (the part we see) grows from can live hundreds of years.
I know that many of us are anthropocentric, so finding ways to help our children flourish, as well as ourselves is perhaps slightly more important to most people than helping the creatures who also live in our environment to do well. One of my recent lessons came from an educational researcher who reminded me of the need to switch up a bit in child rearing. for decades, people have taught their children that they are smart, often repeating that mantra tens of thousands of times over the child's lifetime. This can actually handicap the child later in life because when they run up against challenges that do not fit into their skill set, they wonder why, if they are so smart, they are haviung a hard time solving the problem. Instead, we should take the time to use phrases like, "I like the way you approached the problem in a creative way." or "I think it was good to ask for help before you got frustrated.", phrases that instill a sense of curiosity in the face of adversity, adaptability over mastery. I used to tell my children frequently that they had good ideas, but that often the best ideas come from just taking a break, doing something different and coming back later so that they would have a fresh eyes to view the problem at hand.
Part of flourishing is to adapt, change and grow into new situations and that is something that natural systems excel at. Some things that we can all do to enhance the ability of one another to flourish is to stop consuming rampantly, step back from all that is sold to us, on every level. The only thing that flourishes under the current power and control structures are the wealth of the ruling class. We can see this at work in virtually every aspect of our "modern" life. NASCAR for instance encourages us to put the pedal to the metal when what is needed is a featherweight foot on the accelerator. millions are spent telling our daughters that they are overweight and unattractive when what they desperately need is self confidence. Politicians tell us that there is a one size fits all educational scheme that can be imposed on our children when individualized instruction has been proven to be superior on every level, save cost. There are even those (and you know who they are in your area) telling the fiction that government needs to be run like a business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Flourishing requires access to healthy food, water and shelter. Beyond these things, our species, as well as many others, require love and affection, the understanding and meaningful communication of other beings.
I have often said that I speak for the trees, but they are dependent on pure, clean water so I find myself speaking for the water as well. As we adapt and change in ways that help us in a single area, we find proficiencies in other areas as well, as long as we continue to pay attention and integrate new knowledge. Human beings are meaning making machines and we can do nothing else. If we accept what we are told, it will lead to the demise of not only our own selves, but the entire species. Well-funded interests are fighting to stay in charge, wrest the last of everything out of the Earth to make a profit for themselves. nothing will flourish under these conditions but the proliferation of lies that they will concoct to keep us out of their hair while the dirty work is done.
The Earth is in the balance and if we are to flourish as a species we must make peace with the natural systems upon which we depend.

Self-destruction and the Biosphere

Many times, we find that there are those who love themselves less than others love them. When people are comfortable in a healthy and relatively happy place, they often try to reach out to others, accommodating them, helping to enrich their lives and easing the pain that seems to be inevitable in the process of living. Those who have a relationship with pure abundance often exude a level of compassion that the self-destructive cannot fathom. Such is the way of the world, is seems, and no matter what we might wish to do to solve difficulties created by those with unhealthy relationships with themselves, with others and with society, there seems to be little we can do for them if they do not realize that they need help.

In the news this week, we heard of a person or persons who lopped off over six thousand cherry trees recently planted in a local orchard. anyone who has used a lopper knows that although the tool is relatively silent and unobtrusive, cutting your way through thousands of broomstick sized tree trunks is no easy task. Cultivating enough hatred to sustain such a destructive act must require a substantial amount of self-loathing.

What many do not understand is that the way we treat one another is often a direct result of how we are treating the planet. The rapist mentality that allows us to take whatever we want, no matter the cost easily translates to abusing the planet, but her creatures and people. As long as we buy into the concept of abuse being acceptable, any action can be defended. Here at our office, we have planted over a dozen trees. If one were to include the property across the street that is a living Permaculture demonstration facility, perhaps a dozen or more trees have been planted to demonstrate long-term management goals as well as our commitment to sustainability. Several of these trees have been attacked over the years. It is completely senseless and wasteful, but those who perpetrate violence against, of all things, trees are exhibiting a certain kind of loathing, one that makes no sense and leaves everyone a little worse off.

Unlike the psychopath(s), who destroyed thousands of trees that would eventually bear fruit, the trees that came under attack on our property were simply meant to provide shelter, food and nesting areas for our native neighbors. In addition, they screened our yard from passing pedestrians, kept the noise down a bit and allowed us to define the "edge" of our facility. The latest tree to come under attack was a serviceberry. It is no more or less important than any of the other trees that we have planted over the years, but this one in a million was put in just such a place as to screen the view of our back porch, creating a fragrant perfume in the spring as well as providing highly nutrient dense berries in the fall. After ten years, it was coming into it's own and was a wonderfully shaped specimen capable of providing fruits and viable seed for decades. Now, it is only good for kindling wood.

Perhaps we cannot stop the hurt from happening, but if we are to change our almost certain course toward self-destruction, what we need to do is find out why so many are bent on bringing their anger to bear on innocent life. When we hear of millions of acres being lost to climate change, perhaps a single tree seems not to matter, but I am here to tell you that each of us and every tree have the power to make a difference, not just in one life but in the entire biosphere. Before we utilize the hatchet, fire or the loppers, perhaps we should ask our selves, "Are we just trying to mask our own pain?" Taking our self-loathing out on others is never a good idea and just because the trees cannot scream out in a language that most of us understand, should not mean that we are deaf to their plight. Nor should we turn our backs on those who are hurting around us.

Memorial Forests

Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for what our ancestors fought and died for. Our Land, Our Country, Our way of life, all depend on the lives sent to fight, in our names. Like it or not, and I definitely do not, innocent blood has been spilled over arbitrary lines, drawn in the sand, global economic empire and even to simply divide the people and wishes of entire regions amongst competitive factions who may have otherwise become friends. On this day, my own memorial observances involve not only the loss of those who died needlessly in war, but to their families who endured an even longer sacrifice, bearing testament to the frivolity of political antics that benefit no one more than the one percent (1%) We the People was never meant to include corporate entities or the money they spend on tailoring the arguments that get made politically. The generations of souls, who gave all, as well as the ones who gave some would spin in their graves if they saw the erosion of freedom that has gone on during the last ten years.

In America, terrorists could have never have guessed how lasting the homage we pay them, gyrating as if the whole social structure was a whirling dervish of police and police-like entities, people watchers have multiplied, while threats remain infinitesimally small. We are each far more likely to encounter a drunken driver and die at his/her hands than to be threatened by terrorists. The biggest threat in America today is, by far, the texting driver. They have the power to kill and it is set to randomly strike. In many ways, much more difficult to stop than someone who has a plan and is working out how to make it happen. Sadly, the events that took place in Colorado this past week prove the inability of big government to stop individual psychopaths from creating mayhem in our midst. There was no treatise or diatribe offered, no outcome desired other than to create pain and suffering for as many innocent victims as possible.

Those who have died on the battlefield and those who have served often have the most lucid comments about why war needs to be abolished. Just last week, My wife Nancy and I were reminded again of the long hand of war on our society. We were parking the car in Madison, Wisconsin and were approached by a man who  had been a Lieutenant in, I believe, the Marines. He saw in our eyes compassion and support for him, not an image of a warrior tacked up on a wall at a recruitment office. A real human being worthy of love. This man's Vietnam era question remains, Why? He cried with us, and we cried a bit with him. There are no parades that make up for the daily assault we feel from our government, our "leaders" or the media outlets that skew the numbers and spin every issue in terms of maligned hatred with undertones of psycho-sexual dysfunction. This man still carries an unbearable burden, having held brothers in arms as they bled out and having seen the eyes of the innocent young men whose lives he snuffed our for no good reason. Why?

When one takes the time to slow down enough to talk about issues, virtually everyone is in agreement. The giant chasm between the Left and Right is completely made up and although there are a few single issue voters, the vast majority are trying to vote for the lesser of two evils. There is probably not a voter in America who has not wondered why there is no one in politics who wants to tell us the truth about the issues that we face, because the stark reality is far more untenable than the public has been led to believe. When there is a pragmatic candidate, interests far more powerful than the voting box are threatened and the corporate machine grinds that poor fellow into a moderate mix of mush and pablum. The few candidates who cling to their foundational beliefs are ground to dust beneath the wheel of our military industrial complex. This train is so massive and powerful that even when it goes off the tracks, it continues to bulldoze through anything in it's way.

We need to demand the chance to get what we want. Representation free from the contamination and slant of big money campaigns, free from corporate influence, corporate welfare and free from the repression of the public will for change. Those who lost their lives, the majority of whom perished in far off lands, would not consent to have died for EXXON or GM, WELLS FARGO or Monsanto. they took an oath to our country, not the way of life of the 1%. Our way of life is far more than the sum total of our economic activity just as the lives of those touched by war will never be the same again. To the walking wounded, the mothers who lost sons, or daughters, to the families forever broken because of war, single mothers whose children are fatherless because of our rush to war, my hat goes off to you. I bow low to honor your service. I will continue to fight for the land that we come from, the earth on which we were born and the same sacred soil that we have laid to rest countless thousands in service to a dream. The American Dream that I believe in is not possible as long as people are sent around the world to kill in my name. My relationship with the planet demands that I respect all organisms, to be a true patriot in my eyes is to honor Mother Earth and work toward equitable distribution of resources worldwide, at lowest possible cost. Peace has never flowed from the end of a gun and it never will.

One facet of our approach to ecotours is that, the way we present our ECO-Tours, they reflect more about where we are spiritually than where we are geographically. Like the walkabout or pilgrimage that we may know of from practices of Aborigines or Catholics, breaking from routine, accepting the challenge, being willing to be humble amongst our fellow beings, all have their own rewards, if we are willing to listen. Quiet awake phase is when young mothers are encouraged to teach their new-borne babies to nurse. So too, our most open moments are in the quiet awake phase as well. Stillness, rhythm, repetitive ritualized motion, awareness, all enhance the trans-formative power of the environment. Our ECO-Tours have always sought to sanctify the landscape of which we are a part. Healing the scars made by "modern" man and his destructive ways unleashes a powerful sense of purpose in other areas of our lives. It is patriotic to plant a tree for a service person that you know. The powerful statement of hope that planting a tree is may be but a mere shadow of the sacrifice our service members have endured for us, but there have been whole forests of men cut down in the prime of their lives to give us this land. The least we can do for them is to recognize them with a memorial tree. Make it so!

Altruism

We are raised with a series of underlying assumptions. I cannot count the number of times that I have heard such nonsense as "nice guys finish last", "boys will be boys" and "children should be seen and not heard". Each of these, in their own way are an assault on humanity. Even so, experience and insight has taught me that being compassionate, helpful and kind has benefits beyond what most folks who are not "nice" will never be able to understand. The excuses we make for our young men only allow continued violence and subjugation of women. This, in turn, suppresses discussion about the way we want people to behave. Anyone who has ever put the time required to raise thoughtful and educated children knows that they are more likely to teach us important things about being human than most adults are able to. Selfless giving and true concern for the welfare of others seems to be socialized out of most of us before we graduate high school. Not that it matters, but each and every negative aspect of my own socialization came from interaction with damaged individuals and when I tried to help them to heal, I was more often than not penalized or held out for ridicule as my "reward" for the effort. somewhere deep in the dark ages of human "development" scars that were poorly healed continue to rear their heads in our "modern" world.

Many wonder why so many "cultures" have found so little of merit in altruistic behavior. I cannot claim to know, but I have my theories. The underlying assumptions that have been handed down to us from Calvinists and racists that certain groups are sub-human or that they are guilty of creating their own difficulties in life have led to shunning our responsibility as human beings to help one another and lift those with no boot straps out of difficult situations. Selfless giving is actually scientifically proven to be human nature. Science is shedding light on this truth, however, the coverage of this important point is sadly lacking. It is part of the ego defense system to put others down in an attempt to lift ourselves up, but as many are beginning to learn, the ego is only capable of lying to us about the nature of things that go on in our environment.

We seem to have bred a generation of "victims" who delight in decrying how bad they have it instead of sharing what they do have to make the lives of others better. Even the self-avowed Progressives that I know have a hard time with sharing resources. The value of sharing and caring for fellow human beings is known well by those who are true to their nature. When we act badly, it reflects that in our own development, there was one person who took more from us than they were willing to give back. These events, somewhere back in the distant past, results in no longer opening themselves up to "that kind of abuse" or neglect. I'm here to tell you that abuse and neglect are all around us If we do not see our way through to the other side of the pain that it creates in the world around us, we are useless, not only to our fellow human beings, but to ourselves as well. When we began to plant trees as a rag tag group of friends and co-workers back in the Eighties, there was no intention to reap a great harvest or get ahead by the actions that we undertook. There is no attempt to enrich ourselves by planting trees today. What we do is plant trees appropriate to the sites that we reforest to make the world better for everyone.

To plant enough trees to reduce the likelihood of flooding occurring at our house would take a legion of people the better part of a century, but do we use this as an excuse to stop planting trees? No. To plant enough trees to significantly reduce global warming might take millions of people thousands of years. Do we use this as an excuse to stop doing what we know to be the right thing to do? No! Even when others look at you as a fool for doing what you believe in, that is not a signal to change and submit to their short sighted version of what makes sense. This is the time to redouble your efforts to make positive change occur in the world around us, reach out and make the changes that you feel are necessary to create the kind of world that we wish that we all lived in. This is the essence of how the true heroes in this world operate. Instead of blaming others for our own shortcomings or looking for excuses for our own substandard behavior, it has become necessary that we all make certain sacrifices for the good of one another, the planet and future generations. Supporting one another in becoming all that we can be, following our dreams and keeping our responsibility to one another in mind seems to me to be a good place to start.

Here at ECO-Tours, we will continue to plant trees, not so that we become wealthy, not even to eventually relax in our retirement, but instead to continue an unbroken tradition of doing what is best for the most people, for the planet and for the generations that come after us. We plant trees so that they (who we will most likely never meet, may enjoy the blessing of trees for shade, for flood control for the integrity of the climate as well as our their supply of oxygen. We encourage those who think about these issues to send money that we will convert into trees, humbly plant, and ask for nothing in return but the honor to serve others in our quest for a better planet. If we are able to share a little environmental wisdom, or craft some beautiful artifacts with our guests, if we share a bit of fun around the campfire in the evening or begin a process that grows within our visitors, that is always a welcome result. We put our efforts into the mix solely for the trees and all that comes about because of it is a beautiful bonus. Please come join us for a potting up party, a canoe ride to a plant-in, a bike tour to an eco-friendly home or garden or just come for a walkabout. We do ask our guests and visitors to give us advance warning of your availability and tell us what your interests and intentions are. We often learn as much from you as we can teach and as we learn to heal others we also heal ourselves. As a beautiful friend used to delight in saying, give until it hurts, but prepare to be rewarded more than you can imagine!
Altruism 

Taking the Long Way Home

How I have come to see my region. This is the part of the planet that I know best. What I do here affects the entire planet.

The Great Lakes are eutrophying, filling up with sediment, more than ten thousand times faster today than they did before the settlement by whites over two hundred years ago. The soils that took over ten thousand years to develop have been washed away in just the last hundred or so years. If we are to reclaim the planet, not only do we need to stop the abuse of the landscape, the watersheds and our soils, but we need to make positive change in the environment a priority. Living as if the Earth mattered is a sound first step to reclaiming the landscape for life, health and the well-being of the generations that will follow.

Years ago I found the value of the road less traveled. The routes we take through life are much like the paths and trails that we come across in the woods. As we accept the ease with which we can travel, we accept the perspectives shared by each and every other traveler along the way. Even the wayside rest areas begin to look alike as more and more of us stop, stand, hands in pockets, to "see" the unique overlooks and vistas. The routes less traveled can often be glimpsed from the main track, but cannot be understood or experienced in any other way. You have to go there, spend time there, live there for a while, then you begin to know them. ECO-Tours of Wisconsin has been devoted to finding unique ways through the landscapes of life, respecting that we are each in the process of finding our way. We are not in the business of taking everyone down the same road, rather we wish to bring a bit of light to areas that could not be seen otherwise. As we share our own perspectives and our own insights, we share information about routes that are just as valid, perhaps even more rich, and abundant with insight and awareness than would be unavailable on the well worn tracks that most institutions steer us toward. When I learned about deer trails, for a time I would follow them through the fields and forest. Over time I found that much could be understood about the deer themselves by following their traces across the landscape. Even their pace could be inferred by following their route, watching for their sign and hoof prints. When I began to understand just what I was seeing, it was exciting but over time I began to think differently about the process. As much as there was to learn from these trails, there was certainly something more out there beyond finding the easy ways through the brambles and bush.
I followed different routes and learned different things, for years growing up, I kept looking for paths less traveled. During my young teen years I became a huge fan of Louis L'amour, a Western writer who spent long hours researching the landscape and conveying what it had to say to him through words. A recurrent theme in his writing was the fact that far too many human beings, and wild creatures for that matter, follow a specified route day in and day out, not only for the sake of comfort and ease, but out of habit and a sense of efficiency. The dark side of this is that the organism puts itself at risk for being stalked by predators. As one might imagine, an impressionable young teen exposed to this sort of logic found over two dozen ways to get from home to school and back again. Although there were only three bridges across the highway between the two, I found not only a fourth one that was about a half-mile out of the way, but several tunnels that were just a fence hop out of the way leading under the highway as well. I imposed a strict randomized method for getting from one place to another, learning which back yards had dogs (to be avoided) and which back fences were easiest to jump. In my own way, I developed a great variety of paths which all led to the same place. This skill, once developed influences the way we live in other areas, especially if we remain open to it, not just moving about the environment, but tackling problems, riddles and puzzles that some cannot even fathom if they have always remained on the sidewalk.

Suspended particle plume at the mouth of the Mississippi River, courtesy of NASA

This photo shows the loss of topsoil that washes into the Gulf of Mexico day and night, year round. Deforestation, digging ditches and draining wetlands leads to impacts that are not intended but that combine to create massive changes on a global scale. Planting trees is one of the greatest acts of hope that we can participate in. Come, join us for a plant-in and we can begin to set things right between ourselves and the planet.

ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. has led hundreds of individuals on what we call plant-ins. We have developed ecotours that appeal to all ages and as part of our tours we cover such often ignored aspects of the landscape as subsoil characteristics, depth to water table, climax forest species that were on site before human intervention started, native land management techniques, existing species at the time of the first survey, and we also share insight into the natural history of the site in recent times. Intimate knowledge of our place on the planet is both rewarding and costly. We cannot rush through the process of learning about our world, nor do we expect anyone to rely on the information we provide as the last word on any of the subjects we cover, but rather as a springboard to asking deeper questions.

As we circle around each subject, the heart of the matter slowly becomes more clear. We refrain from speaking as taskmasters in an attempt to fit people into a preexisting mold, but rather as taffy pullers, slowly allowing each person's unique perspectives to be defined in their own minds and elucidated for others to use as touchstones to help everyone find their way. This is the kind of knowledge that sticks. I have learned as much from a beaver lounging in a rain swollen creek, stretched out on a tiny island of grass as I have from the soaring eagle or the foraging mouse. Trying to put some of this information into forms that can be shared has been a life's work. Tree planting is a vehicle to get us into a deeper relationship with the planet. Watching people develop a relationship with the landscape is worth every minute of fundraising, planning and preparing the trails that lead to their individual experience.
ECO-Tours has been developed as a way to create positive change in the environment, but also in people. We take the long way home on purpose, not to keep from becoming prey, but on some level this too is part of the experience. We do it to enhance the relationship and understanding of places that we might otherwise zip past at sixty miles per hour, relegating our experience to a blink and you miss it kind of thing. Landscape as most of us know it, has much more relationship to paintings or pictures. The sort of images that are static and long lasting. What ecotours allow the traveler to experience are the changeable nature of the land, exploration of various levels, understanding of both ecotones and the ecosphere as a whole. Knowing that the trees we are planting will stand for hundreds of years through storm and strife, drought and deluge creates a relationship to time that is hard to get across in any other way. Knowing that our grandchildren will be assured the possibility of sitting in the shade of the trees we might plant today is both hopeful and rewarding in ways that are hard to put into words. Once experienced, it seems simple, but the complexity of integration often eludes our ability to describe in any other way.
Our organization started out as a relatively small group of friends who worked as fundraisers for the environmental group Citizens for a Better Environment by night and occasionally did guerrilla tree planting by day. In our first ten years we planted over sixteen thousand trees and hundreds of thousands of tree seeds. The only funding we had was the tax returns of yours truly, but the desire to make positive change with very little resources carried us along slowly but surely. We organized as a not-for-profit about twenty years ago and began to accept donations to help us increase our effectiveness and in the past over a half a dozen years or so, we more than tripled the number of trees that we planted, we have shared the experience with many dozens, eventually hundreds, more people and we have branched out into areas that we never dreamed of being able to plant in before. One early year for instance, we were able to secure access for teach-ins and planting on over 110 acres of city owned property that needed reforestation. The only requirement to put time in removing exotic species that are encroaching on the parkway. What this allows is for us to drastically slash the transportation budget and focus even more energy on transforming the landscape for the better.
Donations can be made to ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. through Paypal at: tnsaladino42@hotmail.com

For those more comfortable with snail mail, send checks to ECO-Tours at 522 Acreview Drive, DePere, Wisconsin 54115. If you prefer to make arrangements for your own tour, let us know when you expect to be in Green Bay and a bit about what you hope to gain from the experience. We used to have two city lots that were being managed for permaculture and organic food production, energy efficiency and which used some solar energy for both heating and electrical production. Those recently sold and we are raising funds for our next property. Our tours include more than just diversion, they are designed to qualitatively change the areas around us in ways that will last several lifetimes, transform the culture for the next seven generations and perhaps lead us to expand the nature of what we call home. Some of the things that we have available for eco-tourists include bikes, canoes, snowshoes, tents, cook stoves and study guides. Our guides share the overarching goal of living lightly on the Earth as well as teaching our guests how to reap the benefits of a more rewarding and comfortable lifestyle while simultaneously leaving  behind both a smaller carbon footprint and making lasting positive change on our planet Earth. After all, as has been said, "On Spaceship Earth, there are no passengers, we are all crew.-Buckminster Fuller

We also welcome yo uto eithe rcome learn how to make and use biochar or invite us to transform your dry brush piles into sequesterable carbon! Help protect your ground and surface water, double crop production and provide massive habitat fo rthe soil microbiome! Reduce the need for irrigation and fertilization by 50%! For the Earth!