7,000 Oaks

One of my heroes has always been Joseph Beuys This fall, ECO-tours of Wisconsin will be planting seven thousand acorns in Fonferek Glen County Park, in the headwaters of the East River Watershed. This area in turn feeds the Fox River near the mouth and Green Bay, Lake Michigan and points east including Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway downstream to the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than planting each one in relationship to stellae, as Joseph Beuys did, ours will just be planted in an appropriate soil and microclimate that favors oaks.

We ask that people who read this, appreciate our work and wish for it to continue help fund us either by sending donations to our ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. Paypal account: tnsaladino42@hotmail.com
or by snail mail to 1445 Porlier street, Green Bay, WI 54301 U.S.A. We are a small local not-for profit, and the work we do has worldwide implications, as we offer classes in making and using biochar, reforestation, habitat restoration, composting and water conservation measures.

Joseph Beuys has helped re-define our relationship to the planet, Eco-Tours continues to do the same.

Trophic Law

I believe that there are certain laws that govern the natural world. Darwin, bless him, was onto something, but missed the boat rather grandly. I will explain later, but he could not help the way the world had been sliced, diced and parceled out before him. Suffice it to say, he did what any of us would do if confronted with the same problem, the best he could with what he had. Human beings who have studied Mother Earth and her rock, soil, water features,  lifeforms, etc. often overlook some of the most intrinsic qualities of the planet as a whole by simply choosing a discipline. Taking the planet as a whole one can see, hear, smell, touch and taste a vibratory crescendo of activity. The Gaiia concept is more than an idea, it is a real thing. This actual factual, living, breathing, be-ing has an integrity that can be described by definite laws. Trophic law is just one of them.

Those who are savvy about ecology know, there are trophic levels that exist in nature. Cow eats grass, man eats cow. One is the primary producer of "food" and the other occupies a place on the food chain whereby they consume or prey on the lower trophic level. The grass that the cow feeds upon is technically a sort of prey or "lower" trophic level. This theory is great in some senses, but the totality of the cyclic nature of the food chain can elude us. there is no "higher" life form...some may differ in complexity, but no part of the cycle can be made inferior, no part really occupies the base. Microbes can, and often do, have more validity or beneficial affect on the environment than do the larger organisms, like mammals. The primary decomposers, who science deems the "lowest" forms of life are in many ways the pinnacle of importance, without them, all other trophic levels are forced to live out of balance.

People who have studied the environment speak of the Tragedy of the Commons, it has been recognized since the first herdsmen found their territories overlapping. Anytime everyone gets to use the same resource, no matter what that resource is, the majority of the benefits go to the people who have the most access to that resource (largest herds) and the majority of the costs fall upon everyone else (those who have smaller herds). This fact has existed for so long that the people who have the most access to all resources have a get big or get out philosophy. Resource extraction is cutthroat. The truth exists in our blind spot. We have known the way of the world long enough that those who choose to abuse and enslave us have developed whole tapestries of ;lies to obscure the truth. We now have a condition on earth that exponentially increases the disparity of wealth between the oligarchs and their slave class. Bernie Sanders, a democratic candidate for President of the United States of America recently outed the ten worst companies as far as taking massive government tax refunds on top of obscene earnings. Keep in mind, many of these corporations have been receiving tax subsidies, welfare, for decades. GE General Electric, the same folks who built most of the nuclear electric generating stations across our nation (which saddles U.S. taxpayers with the burden of 10K years of "safe storage" of millions of tons of hazardous waste) Over the most recent five years we have data for, they paid -9% tax.  Boeing 2% tax rate, Verizon -2% and the list goes on. Bank o' America, Citigroup, Pfizer, Fed Ex, Honeywell, Merk, Corning. we all subsidize their activities directly, simply by allowing our government to carry them to even greater heights in their pursuit of wealth. Have they not ravaged our world enough? We are making it lucrative to do so?

My first law of Trophic interaction states that when we de-stabilize any natural system, the biomass filling each and every niche of each and every trophic level will remain the same. The biomass may seem to be displaced, but the niche will be filled with equivalent biomass, perhaps by another species. In cities we often see people who some call wolves and sheep. This may be a reaction to a very hard and real law of nature. I saw this when I was first beginning to understand dumpster diving. I was filling a niche in my efforts to reduce the waste stream while simultaneously gleaning my living. It seemed parasitic at first, until I realized that for every ton of waste that I diverted, it saved the dumpster owner disposal costs. I lost track, but when I was following the cost per ton for tipping fees closeley, the last number I heard was eighty dollars per ton. I was actually symbiotically existing as part of a mutually beneficial interaction/relationship with the wasters. The recent upgrades that we have done to our physical plant were accomplished with over 80% salvaged, reused, repurposed and ecologically the most benign materials. The other 20% were locally sourced as much as possible, high efficiency appliances, or the result of the need for having contractors do parts of the job we could not get done by our own hand. We have filled niches of primary decomposers, salvaging material from the "waste stream" (even hundreds of pounds of fasteners got recycled from this one project) this is like creating a negative ecologic impact at a mine somewhere on the planet. We used far less metal in the new configuration of resources than the old facility, opened up the space so more air and light make it into the space, plus by eliminating several walls and poorly laid out closets and halls, we gained over 100 square feet (9.3 square meters)! We were primary producers and primary decomposers when we used waste wood that was unsuitable for building, but safe to burn to make biochar. Some of the wood used to construct our facility in the 1920s was used to build and enrich soil of today, rather than getting buried in a landfill. I tried to consume everything as efficiently as possible, create the least waste and create a far more efficient living condition for occupants of this property for decades into the future. In many ways, my activities have emulated soil organisms, insects, grass, the cow and indeed, I do like a good steak from time to time, so part of me filled the niche of top predator.

As we wipe out entire populations of microbes, somehow the work that they would have done will be done somewhere else, or by something else. The cannibalism of small farms by bigger ones over the past five decades resulted in huge acreages being abused and neglected. In some countries, like New Zealand, if you own more than a certain number of acres, you must hire a land manager who has devoted their life to understanding natural cycles and management strategies for large acreages that protect the environment so that we might all benefit from the resources. Healthy relationships between the organisms that exist around us are essential to our own health and welfare.

I started by mentioning how Darwin got it wrong and those who read my writing a lot should scroll though this paragraph quickly, I've said this before. It is survival of the luckiest, not the fittest. Darwin was absolutely living the most privileged life imaginable. He only thought he was among "the fittest". We must understand that the most fit antelope or gazelle can be crushed in a landslide, or have a tree fall on them. When the fittest person alive lives downstream of a facility that spills toxic chemicals, poisoning the water, you die. It is by sheer luck that some species are allowed to continue evolution unmolested by human activity, however across the entire surface of the planet, the effects of human activity have changed forever the entire ecosystem. 400 new, never before existing compounds are released into the environment each year. Corporate welfare whores have made sure that the innocent until proven guilty rule applies to these new compounds. After all, without proof that they harm the environment, they must certainly all be considered benign until proven dangerous.

We may want to slow our headlong run into riskier and riskier behavior, our luck may be running out.

Seeking Input

I am currently working on a support statement that introduces people to ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc.
It needs to be brief, but clear, invitingly rational and still convey our creativity and the important work that our tours get done. This message will be the header of our sign up sheet for those who want either more information, to join us on a tour or who just want to donate to the cause. This idea is modeled after the one that we circulated with Citizens for a Better Environment decades ago, but the idea is the same. It works as both an introduction to who we are and a starting point for asking people to join us in the revolution that is not being televised. ECO-Tours has never advertised, other than putting signs out on the days of our tours and classes, but the time has come to pursue spreading the message that we are all needed to make the necessary changes to stop climate change, protect our watersheds and to produce more food closer to where people live. These necessary changes bring with them challenges, but all of us here at ECO-Tours believe that each challenge is really an opportunity.

Those familiar with the Trickster myths of native cultures will understand that although crisis usually results from every action taken by Trickster, humanity is always better off or receives some important benefits from having to deal with his shenanigans. In our culture today, asserting that individuals matter, that they have the power to change the world around them and that their efforts are worth expending in activities that they feel are "worth" doing can be a challenge, but this statement needs to be an invitation to participate in our efforts to share the work involved in building stronger communities, a more stable environment and improving environmental quality for future generations. Conveying the fact that this work is important and worthy of support is probably the most crucial part of the message, but the wording also needs to make it clear that their signature represents agreement with our goals and mission, to leave a better world in the wake of our passing. This is a first draft, but I have been thinking about how to say what needs to be said for far too long. I'm not sure what to think about the following or if it even does the things we need it to.

"We the undersigned support ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. and their ongoing program of research, education and outreach. We support their ongoing efforts to create healthy soil, plant trees, improve water quality and to encourage diverse communities where none existed before. I wish to add my name to the list of state residents who understand the need to stabilize climate, provide habitat for wildlife, plant trees, restore healthy soils and protect water quality."

If you are interested in either helping to wordsmith this statement or join us on a tour, please contact us by e-mail at tnsaladino42@ hotmail.com, write us at 1445 Porlier street, Green Bay, WI 54301 or call at (nine twenty) double eight four-triple two, four.


 

Char Update

Burning waste gas from our char retort. We are heating the organic material inside the retort to glowing hot. Pyrolysis changes the carbon like firing clay. It fixes carbon into tube- like structures that exponentially increase the surface area in soil. Microbes flourish in this matrix when it is nutrient dense and inoculated with healthy soil organisms.

For those who are new to this site, ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc.  began many, many years before we incorporated. we were an informal gathering of like-minded individuals who mostly worked at citizens for a Better Environment, a now defunct not-for-profit that educated the public and represented the public's right to clean air, pure water and protection from hazardous substances that corporate welfare recipients (polluters) unleash on us in the process of making their living. This informal group of friends would meet up and take tree seedlings into denuded areas, corridors along parkways, publicly held land and parks. We also reforested private property if the owners would understand that we were not a landscaping concern, we used expert understanding of habitat, soil type degree of slope & aspect, moisture,and a range of conditions to guide our planting. Some lanowners were surprised when we told them that we could not plant climax species trees until there were thriving communities of pioneer species to provide cover so that the mature forest trees would have a fighting chance.

We treat our non-profit as a business, but the usual modus operandi by which businesses are run are not something we expect to work in a sustainable system. We model what we do on the way nature has always worked. We build relationship through the process of finding our way in the world. If there were to be a single moment or two that exemplify our work, it would be the moment of realization that came about, speaking with a developmentally disabled friend who said, "I love trees. They make oxygen that we need to live!", or perhaps the times that birds have come to alight on tiny seedlings, just planted moments earlier. The bird, seemingly curious about the new addition to their neighborhood, performs their pre-flight checklist before flying off and drops a bit of fertilizer on the ground beneath the tree. We teach a different kind of logic about ecological reality. Our methods put people, profit and the planet on the same scale of importance. A three-legged stool of economic relevance. Our tours are always fun and educational, but with a more important twist, their benefits last for generations. We create relationships which have the power to outlive us.

This is our 55 gallon retort. It was created with over 80% salvaged materials. The char we produce has at least fourteen acres of surface area per handful. This drum, once fired, yields nearly 1,000 acres of surface area.

This different approach can be difficult to understand. In the early days, before we formally organized, I was doing outreach to potential landowners whose land looked perfect for planting, places that would have big impacts downstream. Property that frequently got rained out or always produced marginally, you would think that even the farmer would know that it was not worth their time to pull equipment through it. I had several farmers try to argue, "That's not a creek, that's a ditch." Thirty years later, someone else owns the land and they have started to reforest the places that we would have targeted for recovery all those years earlier. The tide can be turned, but it can only be by a tide of understanding and realization brought about by expanding our horizons, making friends, participating in relationships. Just like nature does it. Treat all those you spend time with as if the moments you share are sacred and you will find infinite blessings about you.


We touch one another and the world in profound ways. Each string in the web of life touches many others. As with most growth processes, ECO-Tours needs to adapt to several challenges that came about upon trying to scale up our char retort. We went from a five gallon (20 liters) retort to a fifty-five gallon (220 liters) one. Our current hearth was only capable of partially charring the material. We need a much larger fire, or an oven large enough to enclose the entire retort to create that much material at one time. The good news is that we now have commercial quantities to sell! Send us your garden dimensions and we can help you to either make your own char or we can mail char to you because it is ultralight and pretty fun to enrich and colonize, you can tailor your char to your location with our unique instruction book. In our passing through the planet, we leave a wake, a trail of gasses and fumes, we consume resources and procreate, seek shelter from storm and strife. The concepts that we have taught from the beginning are all alive within the char. By mimicry of natural processes, we can fix atmospheric carbon directly into soil, creating a diverse mix of organisms invisible to the naked eye, but not insignificant by any measure.

On an acre of typical "healthy" soil today, soil microbes per acre are as much as a full grown cow and her calf. Each handful of char has fourteen acres of surface area. You can do the math. Planes grow not by soaking up chemicals in the soil directly, their preferred foods are the waste products of microbes inhabiting the soil.

$77 K Needed

Now you might think this request is a bit pretentious, but there is good reason for the number. There is a home at the end of our street that would make a perfect Montessori school. Our ECO-conscious curriculum would continue to focus on soil building and responsible food production. In fact, the building we are looking at could also be a great place to have aquaponics because the cistern is still in part of the old basement. Instead of doing multi-million dollar redevelopment, asking the neighbors what they need and basing pour efforts on providing that, is a much more sound business plan. There are developers out there who are not as opposed to debt, but their projects tend to serve mostly out of state interests. I will cherish the people of the neighborhood as sources of both inspiration and lessons, rather than existing apart from the neighborhood.

Tony's Creative School seems like it could be an appropriate name for the institution, but Eco-logically may be the name as well. In any case, since school is starting and some children may find themselves at a loss for how to "fit in" the Eco-school will be a great advantage. I will offer each and every student personalized instruction, and fully expect the parents to be involved in the education of their children as well.

The building and first year equipment costs only total 77K. since I would be teaching, which is one of the things I'm best at, I would have to make a go of things with just the fees that students pay. The costs of a mortgage for the space on top of student fees would make the school unsustainable. The building is in good repair and would only need minor improvements to be used as a teaching facility. Since it is out of the flood zone, there would be no unreasonable insurance costs, nor would there be exorbitant heating bills as it has a second floor tenant and less heat loss because the upper is heated by the renter.

donations can be made through Paypal, account number tnsaladino42@hotmail.com or, for larger contributions, contact us about routing numbers to donate directly through our bank.

Wild Rice Harvest Report

This year we focused our efforts on the area East of Eagle River, Wisconsin The areas we harvested, for the most part have more water than land and the area has distinct weather patterns compared to places just fifty miles in any direction. Harvest times vary, but can start as early as the first week in August and can run as late as the first week of September or so. Generally, mid to late August there will be some rice, but the window for harvest in any one area is about a week to ten days.

We had quite a few conflicts with schedules and only got one serious day in, but we got a reasonable amount of rice. Everyone who participated was happy with the results. We would like to thank the staff and students at Teaching Drum Outdoor School, especially Tamarack song for the loan of a couple paddles because we forgot ours on the way up.

The wildlife we saw was amazing, not just because we got so close to so many species, but the numbers and variety was just amazing considering the short time we were in the Northwoods. Before we even crossed Highway 64, we saw a fairly large bear, then we saw cranes, swan, bald eagle, blue jay, hummingbird, toads, loons, woodpeckers, near our campsite, scurrying around the forest floor we saw red, black and ground squirrels and we heard very close to our site, both turkey and owl as we were leaving our camp, we saw a doe and her fawn, very close to the road. All of this withing just over 24 hours!

We got about thirty pounds in about four hours, it was not back breaking work, but you did feel like you had gotten a good work out afterward. Next fall, if you would like to attend the rice harvest encampment, let me know ASAP as I would like to plan ahead and figure out how many campsites to plan to utilize. If we know how many people are coming, we can be sure to have enough canoes, paddles, push poles and knocking sticks and flotation devices for our guests.

Blessed Be and may you find many ways to harmonize with the rhythm of Mother Earth.
 

Free Floating Organisms

In essence, we are all free floating, especially in the digital world. Not on;ly in space, but time. a series of pulsating electrons are all that stand between you and I, yet the universe could come between us and we might not notice.  It is as if we are all adrift in a cyber fluid of extreme viscosity. Some of the most pertinent ideas stick, or we use them as armor against assault, or ammunition for our ideas cannon. some fuel our own growth and development or when shared influence tribes and races. (Although I do not mean to say that races are even a valid thing...) There is institutional racism for there to be a concept of races. We are all one, free floating culture upon this Earth utilizing resources and energy for our devices, our sustenance, and frequently to our own ends in ways that degrade the planet for others and in other parts.

We consume what comes near enough for us to reach and if we do well, our wastes can be utilized for other lives and other life forms downstream.

I remember vividly when I first peered into a microscope at real, healthy pond water. It was confounding, as quickly as something would come into focus, it would "swim" out of focus and away from my view. It took me a while to understand that just like stars and planets seeming to move, either by a tiny jolt to the telescope or the turning or the Earth, the motions of the tiny creatures were seemingly rapid because of the tiny scale I was seeing. Half a drop away might as well have been an Olympic swimming pool at the scale of the tiny creatures who lived there.

It is difficult to understand but these microcosmic/macro-cosmic relationships remain, in many ways constant, however imperceptible to us. Each a fractile of one another and repeating in scales in both directions. The "om" of eastern religion is the residual decay of the sound from the Big Bang and the pulsating flagella that rhythmically sweep the water in a paramecium or rotifer are playing the same tune in their own harmonic. even the single celled organism knows when conditions are getting better or worse, how is it that humans want so desperately deny what they learn from the environment?

This will be the assignment for the day. Look at each relationship that comes your way today. Consider the environmental conditions and how they change throughout the day, even moment to moment, you might be surprised. Think about these three things as you make every decision: Am I bringing resources in, or am I banishing waste? Am I nourishing growth of other organisms, or handicapping them? What is the energy flux within this relationship? How might I become carbon/resource neutral? how might I become emotionally stable enough to exhibit grace at each moment? If you recognize a totem animal or spirit, How might I more purely reflect Deer, or Bear, Owl or Salamander? Of course, fill in your own totem. Ultimately, how does fit my concept/understanding of  seven generations?

When we begin to make these basic assumptions, rather than really studying our relationships with earth and her creatures and bounty, it is easy to feel entitled, or a sense of privilege. Learning and ultimately, understanding flow from a place of humility, where you are willing to question, even the basic assumptions you have made about yourself. It is far more rewarding to meet a future self who has been informed that grow old with the person you always thought you were. enhancing culture means making sure that whatever passes from our hand can be utilized by another trophic level and lead to survival for other forms of life.  Contact me directly for specific ideas for becoming carbon and energy neutral, reducing your ecological footprint or for rites and rituals to assist you along your path.