Winona LaDuke, a White Earth activist, was the keynote speaker at the Back to Basics conference last weekend. On White Earth reservation, they are gaining local control of two-thirds of their economy by developing local food production and wind power. With local control over our economy, they will no be longer at the mercy of Wall Street and the global economy.
How can we gain local control of food? We can buy our food from members of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota; we can send our children to the Moorhead State University Sustainable Food Production Program (which has an online component). We can landscape with native plants, which don't require lots of commercial fertilizer and other resources to be successful. There are cottage industries producing local clothing, such as the Alpacas of Whistling Wind Farm, and Courtyard Boutique in Nisswa.
How can we gain local control of energy? By investing in geothermal, solar, hydroelectric, and wind energy, and by reducing our use of petroleum with more energy-efficient forms of transportation, heating, and lighting.
We can even go further and share skills with our neighbors, thus reducing outsourcing of other services. The more self-sufficient our community, the less we will be affected by economic recessions.
Patricia Scott
Brainerd
Food costs lead to revolution
We watch as the winds of freedom seek to blow down a long standing Egyptian dictator. I suggest that it is not a yearning for freedom but Egypt’s rising price for food and fuel which is toppling President Mubarek.
Throughout history, rulers have maintained power by subsidizing the masses. Roman rulers held power with bread and circuses. In Central America, when rains failed and the corn withered, Mayan kings were exposed as mortals who could not control the weather, and that civilization perished. French bread prices soared as crops failed in 1788 and 1789. That sent Parisiens to the streets to topple the French monarchy. Today, in the Middle East and Venezuela, long standing regimes use oil revenues to content their people.
In Egypt, declining oil production and rising domestic demand will turn the country into an oil importer in 2011. Since the mid 1990s, Egypt’s annual oil exports have declined from well over 100 million barrels to near zero. In the same period domestic food and energy consumption rose sharply as the population grew from 60 million to 80 million. Arid Egypt imports 40 percent of its food and is one of the world’s largest importers of wheat, paid for in the past by oil exports. World food prices are near record levels, driven in part by a new demand, as hundreds of millions of motor vehicles edge in at the dinner table for their diet of biofuels.
President Chavez of Venezuela has drained his country’s oil industry to support aggressive welfare programs. High oil prices are propping him up for the moment.
Differences about political philosophy usually don’t send men to the streets to confront guns and tear gas. But when they can’t afford to feed their children, they are in the front ranks of the marchers.
Rolf Westgard
Deerwood
Comments (36)
Add commentGood letter, Rolf.
I suggest cucumbers. We can feed the kids and keep the streets clear of ice in winter.
How to bankrupt the White Earth Indians
Supporting the purchase of local food from members of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota is a good idea for all of us.
But having the White Earth indians invest in money losers like wind and solar is not a winner - unless they can get access to the billions in subsidies now going to those programs.
The first thing is to
The first thing is to insulate. Once your home is well insulated solar heating can supply most of your heating needs. It can even be used to heat your water.
A well designed system will pay for itself before it needs to be replaced and save the homeowner money over the life of the system.
That requires very little oil or coal based electricity.
Rolf touched on one important
Rolf touched on one important point that is usually overlooked or minimized. That is population growth. Egypts population experienced a 33% increase in less than 20 years.
Our global population shot past 6,000,000,000 and is now almost 7,000,000,000. We'll reach 8,000,000,000 in about 12 years.
Because we have failed to stabilize our population we have only bad choices left for sustaining our population. If we allow our population to continue growing soon all we will have left are really bad choices.
Our food supply is very fragile. The drought in Russia last year destroyed 1/3 of their wheat crop. Now the drought in China is destroying their winter wheat production and forcing China to take emergency measures. Unusual widespread frost is also killing much of their vegetable production. If we had stabilized our population at 3 or 4 billion we when we had large food surpluses each year that wouldn't have caused more than a ripple. At 7 billion there are no surpluses left to absorb that crop loss. It's only going to get worse as our population grows.
home energy audit
I had an energy audit done last year and my heating bill is way down this year. Everyone can do it. Cost me $ 100. and a few more bucks to plug the leaks that it showed.
whatever
"friends" do not have infrared cameras and they can't pressure seal your house...duh !.... a total home inspection by a trained person who knows what they are doing is well worth it.
Snow
He ll must have froze over. I agree with Minnesnowda on this.
common sense
Thanx Dean, from your other posts it appears you have the virtue of a brain and using it, and plain ole common sense.
You might even listen to both sides of a debate..........
Because we have failed to stabilize our population we have only
By fishhead | 02/08/11 - 07:02 am
"Because we have failed to stabilize our population we have only bad choices left for sustaining our population. If we allow our population to continue growing soon all we will have left are really bad choices."
Correct me if I'm wrong but the US is at nearly zero growth (minus immigration) so we have stabilized our population. What would be your suggestion for what the United States can do to stabilize other countries population?
Stabilizing populations
>>>What would be your suggestion for what the United States can do to stabilize other countries population?<<<<
A few more invasions would help. We've had enough practice, so we should be able to execute.
I don't agree with your solution!!
Rolf,
Really, that would be your suggestion???
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
Soaring grain prices
On the subject of food prices which hurt importing countries like Egypt: Since July 2010, corn has gone from abuot $3.70/bushel to $6.80; wheat form $5 to $8.60; and sybeans from $9 or so to $14. Great for Minnesota farmers; not so great for the much of the third world.
llr, okay you're wrong.
llr, okay you're wrong. :)
The US population is expected to go from the current 300,000,000 to 500,000,000. Much or most of that is from immigration plus the large families they produce.
To help the developing countries of the world stabilize their population and reduce the risk of them joining the list of failed states the US needs to make contraception easily available to women so they can control their reproduction. A new biocide is being developed that will significantly reduce the transmission of aids AND can be combined with a spermicide. The best thing about it is that women can control the use of it unlike condoms.
If we fail to stabilize our population soon I see no reason why food shortages won't lead to widespread war.
Actually I see little reason to be optimistic about the future of the human population because the odds strongly favor a population correction and probably in our lifetime.
Well Fish,
wouldn't it be wise then to control our immigration to actually reduce the population?
llr, I'm all for immigration
llr, I'm all for immigration control but that won't stop the global population from growing. We need to solve that before the environmental refugees start flooding over our border.
Studies have show repeatedly that by putting birth control in the hands of women the birth rate drops. The US needs to do a lot more to make that happen.
It's many times cheaper to keep a country from becoming a failed state by helping them stabilize their population than it is to deal with a country in chaos.
Fish,
No arguement from me, I agree with what you are saying.
Lifelong, did you know...
those two you referred to were drinking beer?
Great idea though!
Vincent
Seems by their criminal records they drink beer ... alot!!
Time to throw away the key
Time to throw away the key for those two.
Rolf...
There shouldn't even be a 'key stage in their case.
An apt punishment may be...
An apt punishment may be to bring them to the "hood" in Detroit or Chicago and explain to the residents what occurred and then say that we will be back in two hours to pick them up.
I predict that the guy who
I predict that the guy who wanted to fight a black guy will get his wish and they won't be twice his age and slowed down by alcohol.
In fact I'll bet he'll get his wish so often that he'll learn to regret it once he spends some time in prison.
Fish,
Spot on!!
My Friends, my friend!
When I read what they was saying about battles between the races and the so forth, I said to myself, "the reason we dont all get along? it is the gun laws!". Time and again it is shown that the more guns we all have in our homes, the safer society is. And the states with the concealed carry law, texas and so forth. the states with the most open gun laws and the fewest restrictions have fewer gun vilence. Because it is guns that do NOT kill people, but people do! If guns are outlawed then only the outlaws will have guns.
This is importent because of the egpyt situation. hugo chavez had to leave because the people were afraid but also because there was ample guns and their is no reason. I know that if thye take away are guns then we have the same slippery slope to slide, with a kenyan/muslim dictator of our own as so-called "president" and tthe govment and it's evil obsession. Socialism, one step from naziism. thank god we still have our weapons in this (still free) land!
Do Not Take My Gun
Aitkin
DNTMG? Again, really?
Please get your facts right. Hugo Chavez isn't even a president on the same continent as Egypt. Please lets learn some geography. We live in a free society where we can learn these facts lets us our rights.