Ecotopia

April 17, 2012

Tonight we’ll talk with people who are working on production of healthy foods in our area. First we’ll talk with Monica Bell, one of the leaders of Cultivating Community. She’ll tell us about how this new group is working to strengthen the local food network and access for low income people. In the second half of the show, we’ll talk with Dave Miller. Dave as just been designated a local hero by Edible Shasta-Butte for his work as a food artisan, in his bakery, Miller’s Bakehouse.

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Our Questions for Monica Bell

You are listening to Ecotopia and with us in the studio now is Monica Bell, a major leader of Cultivating Community. Welcome, Monica.

1. Monica, can you tell us what “Cultivating Community” is?  What are its goals?
2. How long has it been functioning? How did it get formed? How are you funded? Who’s involved?
3. How are you working toward fulfilling those goals of:

–Strengthening Local Food Security
–Supporting Community Gardens
–Supporting Small Farmers
–Providing Workshops
–Promoting Local, Healthy Use of Nutritional Assistance Funds
–Supporting Lower-Income Residents

4.  Tell us about some of the workshops and activities you’ve sponsored so far

5. You have a workshop coming soon on drip irrigation. Could you tell us when and where that will be?

6.  What are some of your hopes and dreams for the future of this project?

7.  Who do you hope will be involved in Cultivating Community? How can people become involved?

Thank you, Monica Bell. Monica is a leader of Cultivating Community. Check out their website cultivatingcommunitynv.org

Our Conversation with Dave Miller

You’re listening to Ecotopia on KZFR 90.1, and with us in the studio now is Dave Miller. Dave has just been designated a local hero by Edible Butte Shasta. Dave is the owner and baker of Miller’s Bakehouse, and sells his bread at the Saturday morning Chico Farmer’s market. Welcome, Dave.

1. In Edible Shasta-Butte, you are designated as a food artisan, but the article goes on to say that you don’t like the word “artisan.” Isn’t that a fair description of your kind of baking?
2. Tell us a little about your history as a baker. How did you get interested in baking? How did you learn to bake? (Edinburgh, Scotland; baking in college)
3. You had an important mentor in St. Paul. What did you learn there?
4. How did you get to Chico?
5. What makes your bread so great? Tell us about what’s in your bread and your process of baking? What does your week look like?

Playlist for Eco 185

1. Dirt Made My Lunch 2:25 Banana Slug String Band Dirt Made My Lunch

2. Back To The Garden 4:03 Jason Webley Against The Night

3. Real Food 2:58 Jerry Engler Very Jerry

4. Food Food Food (Oh How I Love my Food) 2:10 The Wiggles Toot Toot

5. Weave Me the Sunshine 4:28 Peter, Paul And Mary The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary

6. Blinuet 4:35 Zoot Sims Rushmore

7. Working On A Dream 3:30 Bruce Springsteen Working On A Dream

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10 April 2012

Diane Suzuki-Brobeck and Cheetah Tchudi guest host the show with famed farmer/farm advocate Joel Salatan.

Listen to the Interview

For full info on Joel go to his website:

Polyface, Inc. www.polyfacefarms.com/

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Date: April 3, 2012

In late March, a week before this broadcast, leaders from fifty nations , including President Obama, gathered in Seoul, Korea for a summit on Nuclear Terrorism, ways of reducing the threat of terrorism given the amount of fissile material that resides around the globe.

Tonight we’ll assess the results of that summit, including the implications for the environment. Our first guest will be Alexandra Toma, who is the Executive Director of the Connect US Fund in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit working to reduce the possible nuclear terrorism and war.

Then we’ll talk with Paul Walker International Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability Program for Green Cross International (GCI) and its US national affiliate, Global Green USA, in Washington. He is interested in the nuclear terrorism issue and is also concerned with the destruction and of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

Listen to the Program

Our Discussion with Alexandra Toma

Our guest on the phone from Washington is Alexandara Toma, Executive Director of the Connect U.S. Fund, which has a mission of “advancing a vision for responsible U.S. engagement.” She is also founder and cochair of the Fissile Materials Working Group, a non-governmental coalition of more than 60 U.S. and international organizations working to provide action-oriented policy solutions to keep the world safe from nuclear terrorism.

—In the first part of our discussion, we’d like to focus on the Nuclear Summit held in Korea last week. The press issuing from this summit was lukewarm at best. Could you please give us your appraisal:
…What were the initial aims of and hopes for the summit?
…Were there modest or major achievements?
…What were the disappointments?

–Perhaps the greatest concern with fissile materials at the moment is their falling into the hands of “terrorists.” Could you please explain what this risk is? Where is this material now? Who are the terrorists and what would it take for them to make use of it?

–There is equal concern about nations (rather than terrorists) developing and employing nuclear weapons, in particular, North Korea and Iran. What’s your perspective on those countries’ nuclear efforts and their long-range missile development?

–Both of your organizations, the Connect U.S. Fund and the Fissile Materials Working Group (as well as Ploughshare, for which you have also worked), have long recommended that the U.S. reduce is nuclear stockpiles. START calls for a reduction of nuclear warheads from 2200 to 1600 by 2018. Is that anywhere near enough? What are the loopholes in START? Does START address “rogue” uses of fissile materials?

–Please tell us more about your work with the Connect U.S. Fund. You seek “responsible U.S. global engagement.” What is that engagement? Is it principally military? economic? social? How do you hope to bring it about?

–And where does your work with the Fissile Materials Working Group fit in?

–How can our listeners learn more about your work in particular, and more generally, about ways of getting nuclear materials under sensible control?

FMWG www.fmwg.org

Connect U.S. Fund, http://www.connectusfund.org

Guest Part 2:

Our Conversation with Paul Walker

Our guest on the phone now is Paul Walker, who is the International Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability Program for Green Cross International (GCI) and its US national affiliate, Global Green USA, located in Washington. He’s part of an international effort to facilitate and advocate the safe and sound demilitarization, nonproliferation, and remediation of nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons stockpiles. He is also a U.S. Army veteran from the Vietnam era.

—In the first part of the program, we spoke with Alex Toma of the Connect US Fund about the recent Nuclear Security Summit. A couple of weeks ago you wrote: “The Seoul Nuclear Security Summit must provide real progress in eliminating high-level nuclear materials, and the major nuclear weapons states, including Russia and the United States, must lead the way.” How well did our leaders do?

–Please tell us a little about Green Cross International and Global Green. You are “Director of Security and Sustainability”. One doesn’t often see “security” and “sustainability” linked together. What is your view of a secure and sustainable world? How can this come about? What sorts of attitude, economic, political, or military changes would be necessary to bring this about? [Impossibly broad questions, we realize.]

–We recently watched two classic antinuke films on late night TV–Dr. Strangelove and War Games–where military and political arrogance and bumbling nearly bring about the end of the world. Are such scenarios just relics of the cold war?

–We tend to think of nuclear bombs as the greatest threat to civilization, but you have long been concerned about other weapons of mass destruction and about non-bomb dangers of nuclear materials. Could we talk about (your choice of topics as time permits):

…The Chemical Weapons Convention and the destruction of chemical weapons supplies. [We’ve recently interviewed a guest on the destruction of chemical weapons at Umatilla, Oregon.] Is the world safer because of efforts to control and destroy chemical weapons? Are chemical weapons a terrorist threat?

…Biological Weapons. Officially, they have been banned since 1972, yet some countries maintain biological weapons programs. What are your concerns about bioterrorism? How are these being addressed by Global Green and Green Cross?

…Disposing of radioactive materials. There is reportedly enough nuclear material lying around to build 100,000 bombs. Can we possibly dispose of it in environmentally sound ways? Thoughts on Yucca Mountain

–Global Green has a much larger agenda than just weapons of mass destruction. Please tell us about some of its other projects and how they mesh with your immediate concerns with WMD?

We’ve been talking with Paul Walker, Directory of Security and Sustainability with Global Green USA. You can learn more about their work at www.globalgreen.org, where they have a number of excellent articles and blogs on the kinds of issues we discuss on this program.

Playlist:

1. Nuclear 3:25 Ryan Adams Demolition

2. Masters Of War 4:36 Bob Dylan The Freewheellin’ Bob Dylan

3. Nuclear Infected (Album Version) 2:16 Alice Cooper Flush The Fashion

4. The Great Mandella (The Wheel of Life) 4:45 Peter, Paul And Mary The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary

5. Weave Me the Sunshine 4:28 Peter, Paul And Mary The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary

6. The Invention of Nuclear Power 2:46 Peter Adams The Spiral Eyes

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EcoStoryKids-N-Creeks-O-Topia
Spring Has Sprung
March 27, 2012

You are listening to KZFR 90.1 community radio for the Sacramento Valley, the Foothills, and Beyond. I’m Stephen Tchudi. Usually in this time slot we bring you Ecotopia, exploring ecosystems: environmental, technological, and social. But tonight we are bringing you a ninety minute special that we call Eco-Storyteller-Kids-N-Creeks-O-Topia.

I’m Susan Tchudi. We’ll joining forces with Adrienne Scott and Kathryn Robinson of the StoryTeller, usually on at 7 pm, and a bit later, we’ll be joined by Marcie Holmes and other members of the Kids-and-Creeks show that is featured on the third Tuesday of the month.

I’m Adrienne Scott, and in the next hour and a half you’ll hear stories, poems, music, and nonfiction for ecologically minded kids of all ages as we talk about seeds and sprouts and frogs and ladybugs and water and a bunch of other critters and events taking place in the Northstate and beyond in these spring months.

And I’m Kathryn Robinson. We’re doing this program as a special part of KZFR’s pledge week. We hope you’ll call in during this hour–the number is: 895-0131

Listen to the Show

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March 13, 2012

Our topic tonight is–optimisim–what we can do to build a better world. Our guest will be Bryan Welch, author of a book called Beautiful and Abundant, which is not only optimistic about the human future, but also outlines some strategies for imagining and implementing the world we want to live in.

Listen to the Program

Our Discussion with Bryan Welch

As listeners know, one of the questions we often ask on the program is about optimism. We want to know the level of hope our guests have about solving the monumental environmental and social problems that the planet faces.

Our guest tonight, Bryan Welch, definitely logs in on the optimistic side. He’s the author of a book with the title Beautiful and Abundant, and he argues that we can create the kind of world we want.

Bryan comes to this conclusion through two avenues: He’s the publisher of Ogden Publications, which owns Mother Earth News, Home and Garden, Natural Home, and Utne Reader. But he’s also a small farmer and rancher: His family’s 50-acre Rancho Cappuccino homestead sits a few miles outside of Lawrence, Kansas

–Let’s start with the ranch, where you practice what you preach. How long have you been a farmer/rancher? At what point in your life did you and your wife begin Rancho Cappuccino? What do you grow and raise? Is this for personal use or for sale or perhaps both? [One of your meditations in the book describes The Farm as Mandala. Please explain that metaphor.]

–In Chapter 8 [we’ll get to earlier chapters shortly], you quote pessimist/activist Derrick Jensen, who has said that it’s basically all over for the planet: “We’re [and here we’ll substitute the FCC acceptable word] screwed.” However, you argue, “pessimism seldom motivates change” (168). Please tell us about the source of your optimism. How do we know you’re not just falsely, polly-anna-ish optimistic?

–You also say, “We don’t need a disaster to motivate change” (5). What combination of circumstances prior to disaster might bring about change? government mandates? the economic engine? people’s good will or common sense? [You argue persuasively for human imagination and inventiveness.]

–Your book offers both a process for change and a set of criteria to create and evaluate that change. Two of the criteria are in your title: “Is it beautiful?” “Does it create abundance?”

…Let’s start with beauty. Tell us why/how you think that functions as a criterion (including the role of art and beauty in people’s lives). And who gets to decide what’s beautiful, us or our neighbor? [Please give us an example of changes that are both functional and lovely.]

…And then there is abundance. Doesn’t much of the planet already have abundance? two cars in every garage? a choice of dozens of cereals–sweet or healthy–at the supermarket? plenty of oil and coal and uranium to get us through the energy crisis?

–Could tell us about the process of change. You begin with the recommendation that we “idealize the destination” and you urge us “don’t be realistic.” How “realistic” is that? Please explain how this relates to step two, “acknowledge the challenges.” How does this lead to first steps?

–We’ve been a little abstract so far. Could you give us an example or two of change that you see as positive? Maybe the Prius or the Pickens Plan or (what?!) Google?

–In your chapter on Acknowledging Challenges, you describe three mountains that we’ll need to cross to create a better, even livable world, and you rank them in order of difficulty:

…Conservation (“least imposing”)

…Population control (“perfectly unavoidable”)

…Economics dependent on growth (“brand new economic tools”).

Let’s talk about any/all–you choose: highest mountain? lower?

–Please explain your idea that population and the economy are “a Ponzi scheme.” How do you answer your own counter-argument that “Bluntly, we have no examples of economic growth occurring in the absence of population growth” (159).

–A great many of the examples in your book come from “developed” countries, and you acknowledge that we in the West have the advantage of sitting in a “luxury box.” How do your recommendations for change operate in “underdeveloped” or “third-world” countries? Do criteria such as “beauty” apply in conditions of poverty?

–You write that you deliberately did not include your own vision of a better possible world in the book because you don’t want to impose that vision. Nevertheless, in the epilogue you do, in fact, hint at some of your own priorities. Please tell us about your own greatest passions for change.

–And finally, since you obviously do practice what you preach on the farm, please tell us: What are your next projects at Rancho Cappuccino, and how will they make it more beautiful and abundant?

Lear more at www.beautifulandabundant.com

And Here’s a Little Info About Optimism

Given our broad topic of optimism tonight, we did some web browsing on the topic and came up with two stories leading to some goodnews/badnews conclusions:

A story by Sara Kliff in the Daily Beast called “This Is Your Brain on Optimism” reportes on research that::

We humans tend to be an optimistic bunch. In fact, it’s long been established by psychologists that most people tend to be irrationally positive. The optimism bias, as it’s called, accounts for the fact that we expect to live longer and be more successful than the average and we tend to underestimate the likelihood of getting a serious disease or a divorce. This tendency is adaptive—many researchers have claimed that a positive outlook motivates us to plan for our future and may even have an effect on our long-term physical health….

Optimism may be so necessary to our survival that it’s hardwired in our brains.  A study published in the journal Nature further confirms the idea that having a rosy outlook is a personality trait with deep, neurological roots. Researchers found that the brains of optimistic people actually light up differently on a scan than those who tend to be more pessimistic when they think about future events.

The disparity between positive and pessimistic minds is especially prominent in areas of the brain that have been linked to depression. ‘The same areas that malfunction in depression are very active when people think about positive events,” says Tali Sharot, a post-doctorate fellow at University College London, who conducted the research at New York University.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/10/23/this-is-your-brain-on-optimism.html

On the Bad News Side, this optimism can also get us into trouble.  Also in the Daily Beast. Writer Sharon Begley asks, “Are Optimists Dumber?” She cites a study by the same researcher, Tali Sharot, suggesting that “unrealistic optimists” shut out information they don’t want to hear.

The teenager who thinks she can have unprotected sex without suffering any consequences. The alcoholic who thinks he can have one little drink without falling off the wagon. The politician who keeps compromising even though his opponents roll him every time. It’s called unrealistic optimism. (President Obama, whose base sometimes cringes at his readiness to compromise with opponents, is on record as an “eternal optimist.”)

In contrast to plain optimism, the unrealistic kind characterizes people who continue to believe there will be a rosy outcome despite clear evidence and even personal experience to the contrary. While reasonable optimism serves us well—it lowers stress and anxiety, and can even reduce the risk of developing various diseases and help us recover faster, according to studies like this one—the unrealistic kind can backfire badly….

The good news is that people were not completely incapable of learning: they revised their estimates of the probability that they would suffer life’s various pitfalls—but only if they had overestimated that probability. In other words, if they had predicted that their likelihood of developing cancer was 40 percent, but learned that the lifetime risk is in fact 30 percent, they adjusted their estimate to a more reasonable 32 percent. But if they had underestimated the chance of falling victim to one of these incidents—saying they had a 10 percent risk of being robbed when in fact the chance is 20 percent—they basically stuck with their original guess. The scientists ruled out the possibility that people simply forgot the probabilities they were shown. “They remembered the data equally well regardless if it was better or worse than expected,” says neuroscientist Tali Sharot of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, who led the study. “The difference was in whether they used the information to update their beliefs regarding their own likelihood of experiencing the negative events.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/09/optimism-science-study-shows-optimists-block-out-information.html

Playlist for Ecotopia #179: Beautiful and Abundant

1. Sacred Breath 5:39 MaMuse All The Way Folk

2. Anthem 6:00 Leonard Cohen The Essential Leonard

3. Life Uncommon 4:57 Jewel Spirit Rock

4. Blinuet 4:35 Zoot Sims

5. Weave Me the Sunshine 4:28 Peter, Paul And Mary The Very Best of Peter, Paul and

6. Talking Optimist Blues (Good Day Today) 2:55 Neil Diamond

7. Can’t Keep It In 3:05 Cat Stevens Greatest Hits Rock

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