Fools rush in

Skyrocketing fuel prices? Dig up the oil sands in Canada! Skyrocketing food prices? Tear out the Amazon rainforest for agricultural use!

Seemingly easy solutions like these are awful tempting when we're faced with ever increasingly daunting challenges in the world. A global food crisis is at hand (or already in progress, depending on how you look at it), and we're all feeling the pinch at the gas pumps. But is more really the answer? And more important, is easy really better?

An argument can be made for the former question--increased efficiency, better technology and new sources may help us increase food and fuel production without overwhelmingly negative consequences--but as for the latter, it's not likely.

Dan Gunderson, in an editorial for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, argues that we need to up production in places like Alberta, Canada where vast oil sand reserves live:

While "renewability" is an important factor in our future energy choices, reliability is also essential. Contrary to popular perception, world oil and gas reserves remain abundant. But the lack of access to these reserves is a primary limiting factor in our domestic energy supply.

More than 20 years of ill-considered public policy that restricted access to government lands or prohibited exploration activities has led to higher prices and a significant tightening in current global energy supplies.

...

Not everyone understands that the oil sands and other petroleum resources found in places like Canada increase U.S. energy reliability and security. Some people even suggest that we can simply eliminate petroleum from the American way of life and the economy will continue to grow and create jobs and the promise of a better quality of life for future generations. These folks, it seems, would simply turn 300 million automobiles into so many lawn ornaments, eliminate millions of jobs, do without valuable products, and use the bicycles that the Chinese and Indian people are so eager to abandon.

While I agree that we can't afford to simply and immediately eliminate all petroleum from our lives, to reach the important long-term goal of at least mostly phasing out its use we must think long-term.

Oil sands production and refining is extremely energy intensive, requiring a great deal of natural gas and water. Natural gas production in Alberta has apparently already peaked, and any increase in oil sands production is likely to accompany a reduction in natural gas imports to the United States. Not a great outcome. Plus, oil sands extraction is "generally held to be more environmentally damaging than conventional crude oil - carbon dioxide emissions, for example, are roughly three to five times greater with tar sands extraction." Plus, digging up huge swaths of land, in this case Boreal Forest, is very likely to cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem.

What's important is that we increase the efficiency and safety standards for current production sites while also working hard to create and improve more sustainable, renewable sources of energy. These new sources, like any new market, will help to create a great number of new jobs, many of which aren't likely to require a great deal of retraining for workers already skilled at jobs in existing energy fields. The trick in all of this, of course, is doing our best to make the transition as smooth as possible. Kinks will be inevitable, but certainly human ingenuity can help to minimize their impact and maximize the positive results.

Plowing ahead with the same old methods without thinking through their long-term effects and consequences is what got us into our current mess. Why repeat the same old mistakes?

Under the guise of growing a more en vogue crop, that's exactly what Blairo Maggi, the governor of Brazil's chief soy-producing state, would have us do. Now, I'm a huge fan of soy--as a vegetarian, it's probably my largest food group. But we don't need to plow under the Amazon rainforest to grow it. Maggi, however, seems to think otherwise:

"With the worsening of the global food crisis, the time is coming when it will be inevitable to discuss whether we preserve the environment or produce more food. There is no way to produce more food without occupying more land and taking down more trees," Maggi told Folha de Sao Paulo. "In this moment of crisis, the world needs to understand that the country has space to raise its production."

He's right on the last count, but the country has space outside of the rainforest to raise its production. This according to their own government officials:

Still, Brazilian government officials maintain that agricultural expansion need not come at the expense of the Amazon rainforest. In January Brazilian Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes told Reuters that outside the Amazon, Brazil has 100 million hectares of land available for cultivation, including 50 million hectares of degraded pasture land and 50 million hectares of cerrado, a grassland ecosystem bordering the Amazon rainforest.

So why on Earth would you choose to destroy one of the world's most valuable and fragile resources instead? The soil in the rainforest is extremely bad for agricultural uses. "The soil in the rainforest is very fertile but only the top few inches and only while the rainforest itself is left in place. If you take away the rainforest, the soil itself is not very good at all. The soil's fertility derives from the intense biological activity in the rainforest. This activity is so rapid that biomass from dead plants is recycled and the nutrients made again available in a matter of weeks." Once you clear all of the flora that sustains this cycle, the land begins to erode and degrade at a rapid pace.

Plus, undisturbed rainforests (of which there are few, if any, left) help maintain a worldwide balance between oxygen output and carbon dioxide intake. Greater rates of tree felling and organic decomposition lead to far greater amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the air, as does burning large swaths of the forest. And the repercussions wouldn't end there.

Fact is, we need to apply our vast cerebral and monetary resources to developing and improving more sustainable, more long-term productive methods of fuel and food production. This is possible. It already exists. All that seems to be lacking is education and willpower.


(photo credits here and here, h/t John A. for the subject)

Victoria

In what has sadly become an ever more rare instance of good judgment by a school board*, Edgerton will continue to allow students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish a few times a year, despite some protest from the community. I wrote about this a few days ago, when the controversy first bubbled to the surface. I was heartened to read this article in todays' Capital Times (still publishing online, though now defunct in print):

After an emotional meeting of the Edgerton School Board, which attracted a crowd so large that the session had to be moved from the usual meeting room to the school cafeteria, board members voted unanimously to support the administration's experiment in bilingual patriotism.

...

The pledge is recited daily over the Edgerton High School's public address system, as is required by state law. Most days, the recitation is in English. But, at the request of students in a foreign-language class, a determination was made to allow an occasional repetition of the patriotic statement in Spanish.

That brought objections from some parents and from some older veterans in the community, who claimed that reciting the pledge in any language other than English was disrespectful of those who had served in the military in the past and are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As it turned out, not all veterans agreed.

One of the first speakers of the evening was Jennifer Malinski, an Edgerton High School Class of 1991 graduate who served eight years in the U.S. Army. Recalling that "every day I put on my uniform I worked shoulder to shoulder with dozens of Spanish-speaking soldiers," Malinski told the board, "I would not refuse these Spanish-speaking soldiers the right to say the pledge in whatever language came to their lips, and I hope to God that we don't do that here."

*This isn't an entirely fair statement. I suspect that the majority of school boards around the nation do good, solid, reasonable work. The ones that make it into the news, however, seem to be up to as much no good as they can muster, and it tends to taint my overall view of them.

What a tool

'nuff said. Comments? Questions?

Instead of a latte

Jen over at the Daily Mitzvah posted a link to a great site (My Bednet) where you can donate just $5 to buy a bednet for someone in a malaria-stricken region of the world. I checked it out, and from what I can tell, every last cent of your five bucks goes directly toward the purchase of one of these nets, with distribution and other administrative costs being covered by private donors.

It's a great cause, and extremely easy to contribute to. I strongly encourage you to head on over, take a look around, and donate $5 to help save someone's life.

P.S. In the comments section of the DM, the author mentions perhaps trying to organize a day for several bloggers to mention this cause/site (called "Instead of a Latte"), so I apologize for jumping the gun. It's a great cause, though, and I wanted to jump on this particular bandwagon right away!

Sunday Brunch: "The Machine Girl" trailer

This has the potential to be either the most awesome movie ever, or the worst. Possibly both, I can't decide.

(Parental discretion advised for completely unrealistic jets of blood, a drill bra, and general mayhem)

Esta tierra es tuya

It is strange to me that the Pledge of Allegiance can stir up so much controversy. Yet time and time again, both nationally and in my own personal life, it does just that, causing passions to run high on both sides of the debate.

There have been arguments about whether or not the recitation of said pledge should be compulsory for public school children (in 1943 the Supreme Court ruled that it cannot, as that would be a violation of the First Amendment), whether the late addition of "under God" is constitutional (the issue has so far been dodged by the Supreme Court), and now, most recently, whether or not the pledge must be recited in English only.

Edgerton High School, in Edgerton, Wisconsin, has been facing that last issue head-on.

For many years now, Edgerton High School in Wisconsin has allowed students in its Spanish class to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish over the Intercom one day of the school year. It also invites foreign exchange students (the school now has three) to say it in their own language.

This year, when Spanish students recited the Pledge on March 11, it caused a ruckus.

Parents complained. They demanded that the Spanish teacher, the principal, and the superintendent be fired. And they intend to press the issue at the school board meeting on April 28.

The superintendent, Dr. Norman Fjelstad, has even been physically threatened.

I am, quite honestly, appalled by the reaction of parents and members of the community to this. First and foremost, the pledge is something people can choose to say or not, and if they do, what does it matter what language it's said in? We are a free country, made up of people from all walks of life and hundreds of different ethnic and national backgrounds. English, by dint of chance, has become the most dominant language in the country, but we've kept it from being designated the "official" language for good reason.

What makes us American is not so much what language we speak but what ideals we hold dear. One of those ideals is that the diversity of humanity is a strength, not a weakness.

Sadly, there are those who believe that somehow, just by saying the Pledge in a different language, it dishonors the men and women who've fought to make this country what it is. Frankly, I think it honors them. After all, haven't we been struggling to become and continue to be a free and inclusive society?

Too, shouldn't we be encouraging our children (and adults) to branch out and learn other languages? Bilingual education is especially important in our increasingly global community. Having even a basic understanding of another language (and, by proxy, another culture) does wonders in helping to bridge cultural gaps, make us savvier in the business world, and generally increase our ability to get along with different people from different places. We should be encouraging exercises like those at Edgerton High School, not calling for the teachers' heads on pikes.

That people are threatening superintendent Norm Fjelstad over this is completely unacceptable. While I may firmly disagree with their opinions, it is of course their right to express them. But extending that to verbal and physical threats is inexcusably wrong. It illustrates nothing but ignorance on the part of the perpetrators.

I applaud Fjelstad for standing up against the threats and defending the decision.

“I’ve heard their frustration,” says Superintendent Fjelstad. “I understand what they’re saying. They feel it dishonors our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. My response is this: I know there are 400 Hispanic speaking soldiers that won’t disagree with them. They can’t disagree because they gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there are 110,000 Spanish-speaking Hispanics serving in the military that I believe would agree with me that speaking Spanish does not dishonor the military.”

Fjelstad also points out that George W. Bush had the National Anthem sung in Spanish at his inaugural in 2001.

Fjelstad adds a personal point. “I have a Norwegian heritage,” he says. “My father could not speak English until the third grade, and he was patriotic, and he recited the Pledge in Norwegian.”

Fjelstand also notes that “our Wisconsin Constitution was written in three languages: English, German, and Norwegian. The reason it was written in three languages is because it’s important that people understand the words.”

On top of that, Fjelstad invokes the First Amendment to the Constitution. “Government should never mandate that the Pledge or the National Anthem be said in one language,” he says.

Fjelstad’s conclusion: “I see nothing wrong with what we’ve been doing.”

But he’s not sure the school board will see it that way.

“The school board has the right to overturn my decision,” he says. “If they do, I won’t be insubordinate. I will comply. I won’t be fired. But I’ll be on record as saying I disagree with that decision, and that I believe people are suppressing what is a freedom of our country.”

I wish I'd had this guy as my superintendent back in high school. When I made the decision not to recite the Pledge every morning as classes started, I took a lot of flak. This even though I conceded to standing up during it as a sign of respect to those around me. Still, because I wouldn't actually say it, I was perceived as being unpatriotic. Nothing could be further from the truth, and my decision was not reached lightly. I chose not to recite the Pledge because of the "under God" addition, and because I'm not comfortable pledging my troth to a flag. The people, the ideals, the rights and goals of my country, however, I hold dear.

I can only hope that the school board doesn't overturn the decision. We've had too much in the way of knee-jerk, poorly thought out positions winning the day. Edgerton may just be one small town on the map, but the issues being faced there are universally important.

More people, more problems

Yesterday, I expressed by incredulity at Patrick McIlheran's bizarre claims that greens don't want cheap energy and don't think civil rights are as important as preserving the environment. Not to mention his weird support for DDT.

Well, today he's expounded on his idea, making sure to add that he believes we need to get crackin' with the baby making:

A couple of chaps said -- and I'm quoting the money lines -- "All we have to do is make fewer babies," and "I rarely hear a discussion about how we have too many people!"

Actually, in much of the world, people are making fewer babies. Most of Europe, Japan, China, so on are already lining up for population plunges as fertility rates have fallen far below the replacement rate. Even the United Nations has been predicting a declining world population after 2050. This, by the by, isn't particularly good. Hard to have human societies without humans.

So now, not only do we need to forget about saving the environment, we also need to add more bodies to it. Apparently, six billion strong and growing doesn't cut it.

You may be curious to know that the numbers predicted for the 2050 date he throws out as the falling off point of the world population are around 9 billion. That's 9,000,000,000 people. If we think we're having a hard time keeping everyone fed these days, imagine what it's going to be like if/when we reach those kinds of numbers. Yet despite this looming human catastrophe (the Earth's resources are already at or possibly beyond breaking point), McIlheran wants us to work hard at making more babies. Screw family planning! Get humpin'.

At the core of this view, though, seems to be a creeping (and probably subconscious) fear-of-brown-people dread. Because while a number of western and developed countries are, indeed, facing stagnating or declining birthrates, places like India, China, and many African countries are booming over with people.

The other argument being made here is that to curb population growth, environmentalists want to force abortion, sterilization, and even infanticide onto people. That's quite the claim, and one hell of a straw man.

No sane person is arguing that we should institute any of those things, or that we should suddenly sacrifice already living people in the name of curbing growth. What we are (or should be) arguing is that there are too many people on this Earth, and that we need to find compassionate, sustainable and effective ways of, at the very least, slowing that trend. Happily, this appears to already be the case, but it may be too little too late, meaning that we may well be headed for a massive catastrophe.

The equation is simple. There are only so many resources to go around, and they're not even particularly well distributed. We're talking the miracle of the loaves and fish times 1.2 million, something that would likely exhaust even the best efforts of the messiah himself (no offense, JC).

How someone can argue for the need of more people is beyond me. We're not anywhere near being in danger of extinction or even the downfall of society as we know it. At least, not for the reasons McIlheran and his ilk seem to think.