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Rolla Peace News July 16, 2019 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter071619.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2019 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: THURSDAY, JULY 25, 7:00PM 3. GREAT RIVERS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER TO VISIT ROLLA ON TUESDAY, JULY 30 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Low Tech v. High Tech: Not Even Close. Two Case Studies: Trees and Goats 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2019 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, JULY 18, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 90s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: THURSDAY, JULY 25, 7:00PM The Rolla chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will gather in the meeting room of the Rolla children's library at 7:00pm, Thursday, July 25. Everyone is welcome. 3. GREAT RIVERS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER TO VISIT ROLLA ON TUESDAY, JULY 30 Great Rivers Environmental Law Center will host an informal coffee conversation at Panera in Rolla from 1:30 to 3:00pm on Tuesday, July 30. Everyone is welcome. No fixed agenda. Come share your environmental concerns and hopes for the future of Rolla with Bruce Morrison, incoming President and lead attorney in the 11-year battle that saved Buehler Park; Kathleen Henry, retiring President and member of the Board of Directors; and Linden Mueller, Director of Outreach and Development. Great Rivers has just won an amazing victory without even having to go to court. For years Valley Park Motomart has been dumping e-coli, oil, grease and other pollutants into the Meramec River. Great Rivers gave them a 60-day notice of intent to sue and they cleaned up their act fast. Great Rivers has Missouri's polluters running scared. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Low Tech v. High Tech: Not Even Close. Two Case Studies: Trees and Goats Case 1, Trees: Those of us who have been clamoring for forest protection and regeneration got a big boost last week. Researchers estimated that if all the unused land available in the world were planted with climate-appropriate trees, when they reached maturity in 40 to 100 years they would sequester a whopping 205 gigatons of carbon, which is equivalent to about 2/3 of all the carbon dioxide released by human activity since the industrial revolution. Price-wise and capacity-wise trees are way ahead of high-tech solutions like giant machines that pull carbon out of the atmosphere; and, even better, we can start planting and caring for trees today. Unlike machines, trees run on 100% solar energy and they grow and regenerate their own solar cells! Actually, we could do much better. We could selectively harvest and replant the trees. Harvested trees could be heated in the absence of oxygen to make bio-char which could fertilize depleted soils, so they could grow more trees faster, or simply buried deep beneath the Earth where the carbon would do no harm. Are you convinced? Then be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Plant a tree today! or better yet: Case 2, Goats: Unfortunately, due to climate change and other human activities, many of the Earth's precious trees are going up in smoke. But there is a low-tech solution to this too. Goats are in high demand in fire-prone areas like California. Goats will eat flammable grasses and herbs down to the nub, thereby protecting mature trees, as well as people and buildings, from fire. They are cheaper and more energy-efficiently than the best bulldozers, far more environmentally friendly than herbicides, and while they protect us from fire, they fertilize the soil.“Grow a forest, Protect it from axes that hack, Goats are also lovable companions. Tired of mowing your lawn? Get a goat! Nature has solutions to our problems. All we need do is use them. And if you get a chance, watch Diana Beresford-Kroeger's Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees; and read her book: The Global Forest: 40 Ways Trees Can Save Us. There was other stuff I planned to write about; but that will have to wait until next week. I'll just end here with a link to Joyce Kilmer's famous poem, Trees. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: at the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |