The Long Hot Summer

Campaigning for the 2016 presidential nomination has already begun. Most of the interest has been directed toward the Republican Party, which is on track to field some three dozen potential candidates. Over on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton looks more inevitable as each day goes by.

It should hardly be necessary to point out that this is an extremely important election for those of us who are concerned about sustainability. Although the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act were championed by Republicans, most of us realize that today's Republican party is a far cry from what it was in the 1970s.

The most distinctive characteristic of the current GOP is its near-total abandonment of respect for science and scientific inquiry. Climate change is the most egregious case, with creepy James Imhofe leading the Senate committte with the greatest power to influence American climate policy. Imhofe is among those who claim climate change is an organized scientific hoax. (He obviously has little acquaintance with actual scientists, who are less easily herded than cats.) No surprise that he represents a state where fossil fuels fuel the economy.

And this is the problem to which I have previously alluded. Taking your own bags to the grocery and recycling your aluminum cans will not save our planet. The real problems are far more fundamental, and are grounded in our resistance to adopt new ways of doing things. It has certainly not helped that vested financial interests have done everything possible to thwart environmental activists, even as many large corporations spend money to preserve wildlife habitat, promote ecological research, and so forth. All the while, fracking wells continue to sprout, research on battery technology limps along with a few hundred millions in private capital, the Antarctic ice sheet continues to melt, and species continue to slip toward extinction at  rate unprecedented across geologic time.

My point is not that we should stop recycling or taking our own bags to the grocery. Rather, we must not allow the "feel good" aspect of these actions to blind us to the real problems: our overconsumption of fossil fuels, our seeming indifference to obvious and growing ecological problems, and the unfortunate willingness on the part of too many Americans to reject the advice of our best scientific minds. And all of this, most unfortunately, is encouraged on a daily basis by conservative politicians and the right wing echo chamber that now passes for "news media."

It is going to be a long, hot summer.

It's About More Than Food

With the arrival of spring, I have decided to take this blog post in a new direction, enlarging our vision of "sustainablility" as it applies to people in their everyday lives. If preserving our planet's ecosystems and biodiversity for future generations is important enough to you that you spend your weekends growing food and you teach your kids how to raise chickens in the backyard, I hope you will join me in a renewed quest to define the goals of a sustainable society and to explore ways to achieve those goals.

Since its inception, I have wanted this blog to be about sustainability and leaving the world a better place than when we found it. Perhaps the most significant way in which one can interact directly with the surrounding environment is through growing some of your own food at home. Home food production is in numerous ways both good for the environment and for the individual, and is fast becoming the number one home-based leisure pursuit. That is good news.

Now for the bad news, growing your own food, riding a bike to work and recycling will not save the planet. While it is better for the earth that you do these things rather than not doing them, the collective effort of even millions of people will not be enough to stop the wanton destruction of our only home.

Our best hope for a better future for our grandchildren and their grandchildren in turn can only be realized through change in our political and social consciousness. The scale of climate change, species loss, pollution, and deforestation are all global. As the citizens of the world's richest and most powerful country, we have an obligation to ourselves and the rest of the biosphere to do everything we can to alter the dangerous course down which many among our politicians and uber-capitalists would have us tread. Corporations and institutions which do not have the best interests of the world and it people in mind when constructing policy are the real power centers in our so-called democracy, and they are presently doing everything possible to reduce the rest of us to minions.

The profound damages resulting from industrial agriculture, resource extraction, and the discharge of waste products into the commons must be eliminated where possible and mitigated otherwise, or else we are headed for a catastrophe that will make World War II look like an across-the-fence spat. But before we can do any of these things, we have to elect leaders who, at the very minimum, look to science and established facts when formulating policy, and not to some arbitrary ideology. To base our national policies on anything other than the best information science can provide is worse than crazy. It is suicidal.

In the coming weeks, I will be offering information and opinions on certain policy issues, in addition to advice on growing and preparing food at home. Please join the conversation. Post your comments and opinions, also.

Support Tennessee Wilderness Act

Today is Earth Day. For me, this is always a time to reflect on the history of the environmental movement in the United States, and especially of those events that touched my life directly. On the day before my 22^nd birthday, August 12, 1973, Dr. David Etnier discovered the snail darter in the Little Tennessee River, near Coytee Springs. In a series of legal battles that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court, the Endangered Species Act was upheld.

Dr. Etnier became my mentor and and a treasured friend, and my colleagues from those days still work to help preserve the aquatic habitats of our region and the life they harbor.

The Endangered Species Act had been signed by President Nixon. Ironically, it was President Jimmy Carter who signed a bill in 1978 that exempted the Tellico Dam project from the Act, and permitted closure of the dam.

Despite the fact that TVA ultimately prevailed in the legal arena, Tellico was the last dam to be built by TVA, and the Little Tennessee became the last free-flowing river to be destroyed by the Federal agency.

Nevertheless, in the 35 years since the “snail darter case” was before the Supreme Court, the remarkable aquatic biodiversity of the Tennessee River watershed and the southern Appalachian region in general has continued to suffer insults. Well over 300 species of fish live in the rivers and streams of Tennessee, and many of these species are found nowhere else on the planet. Surrounding the upper reaches of numerous watersheds are vast wilderness tracts within the Cherokee National Forest. The Upper Bald River Wilderness, for example, protects a major tributary of the Tellico River, home to several endangered and threatened fish species. The Bald River spectacularly joins the Tellico just downstream from Bald River Falls, near the town of Tellico Plains.

Bald River Falls

Besides protecting the river, the Bald River Wilderness shelters numerous species of plants and other life forms, including many rare ones. Bald River, together with five other wild places in East Tennessee, will receive permanent protection if the Tennessee Wilderness Act is passed by Congress this year. Sponsored by Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, the act would protect an additional 2922 acres in the Sampson Mountain Wilderness area near the city of Greeneville. Sampson Mountain is perhaps the best black bear habitat remaining in the Applachian region. Other areas that would be expanded under the act are: Joyce-Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness (1836 acres), Iron Mountain near Elizabethton (3000 acres), Lick Log Ridge in the Big Frog Wilderness (348 acres) and Little Frog Wilderness (978 acres).

Protecting these ecological treasures enjoys broad support, and passage of the Tennessee Wilderness Act seems likely during this session of Congress. The Tennessee delegation is already on board. Readers who have friends and relatives in other states are urged to contact their Congressmen and Senators and ask them to support the Tennessee Wilderness Act.

Fall Gardening and Fertilizer Cost Calculations

More On Fall Crop Selection

Yesterday we transplanted our 30-day old starts of fall brassicas:

 Bak Choy, Baby Choy—a dwarf cultivar from the Burpee seed rack at Lowe’s

 Broccoli, Thompson—a variety developed specifically for fall culture, from Southern Exposure

Brussels Sprouts, Catskill—an old standby from the Burpee seed rack

 Cabbage, Early Flat Dutch—starts from a gardening friend

Cabbage, Savoy Perfection—also from Southern Exposure, recommended for fall growing

Chinese Cabbage, Michihili—the standard “napa” type, from Mayo Garden Seeds

We had previously transplanted cauliflower ‘Frosty’ from the same July 21 sowing, and those plants are now almost a foot tall. All of our brassicas receive a dusting of Dipel weekly. Today, I fed each transplant about two tablespoons of cottonseed meal, working it into the soil at the base of the plant.

We also started five Romaine lettuce cultivars:

·         Anuenue—developed for Hawaiian heat, our seeds came from Southern Exposure

·         Freckles—from the Burpee seed rack

·         Forellenschluss—also from Burpee

·         Jericho—originally from Israel, another one from Southern Exposure

·         Generic-- a green variety that grows well here, purchased from Mayo Garden Seeds

We expect these plants to be ready to go into the ground in three weeks. Romaine lettuces are more heat tolerant, and so will perform well despite the unusually warm early autumn days we are likely to experience.

A Note on Amy’s Sugar Gem

We purchased the seeds of this “patio” size tomato from Southern Exposure on the basis of their glowing catalog entry. We have not been disappointed. Besides abundant fruit production despite the unseasonably hot, humid summer, the plants have remained free of common problems. The fruits resist cracking, even with the boom-and-bust rainfall distribution we had this year. The flavor is superb, they keep a week or so after picking. If you are inclined to canning, Amy’s Sugar Gem is a cinch to peel after 30 seconds in a boiling water bath. Cut a tiny slit in the blossom end with a serrated knife, plop them in rapidly boiling water for no more than half a minute, and transfer to a sink full of cold water with a slotted spoon. After another half minute, the peels can be slipped off easily with your fingers, and the fruit will remain whole and undamaged.

Determining Fertilizer Costs

I covered this topic in The New American Homestead. Here is how to compare the cost of different brands and types of fertilizers. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium percentages by weight are printed on every fertilizer package. Phosphorus and potassium are abundant and cheap, but nitrogen, in a form that plants can use, is not. Natural sources include volcanoes and lightning, but by far the majority of natural nitrogen comes from the activities of beneficial bacteria. Organic nitrogen sources consist of the tissues of plants or animals that have been concentrated in some way to render them effective as fertilizer. Cottonseed meal is one example. It contains about 6% nitrogen, and is a good source for the home vegetable gardener. A three pound bag costs $8.72, including tax, at my local garden center. Since six percent of the contents of the bag is nitrogen, the weight of the nitrogen is 0.18 pounds. (.06 X 3) Dividing the cost by the weight of nitrogen yields a value of $48.45 per pound of nitrogen.

We can use this same method to calculate the relative cost of any nitrogen source. Earthworm castings were on offer at another store I frequent. The best price was $43.69, including tax, for a 30-pound bag. The label says it is 1% nitrogen, so the bag contains 0.3 pounds of nitrogen, at a cost of $145.63 per pound!

Bear in mind that in both cases, nitrogen fixed by soil bacteria was taken up by plants that were in turn processed (either by worms or a cotton gin) into a usable material. This material then had to be packaged and transported, all at additional cost. The less concentrated the nitrogen source, the more transportation costs add up. At one percent nitrogen, you have to ship 99 pounds of inert material for every pound of nitrogen. Understanding this, you can begin to understand the costs.

Now let’s calculate the cost for artificially-fixed nitrogen. This is what is added to chemical fertilizer mix. A 40-pound bag of 10% nitrogen fertilizer at Lowe’s is $18 with tax. If you do the math, you will find the cost per pound of nitrogen is $4.50. Unfortunately, the external costs of producing this nitrogen by artificial means are not taken into account. The energy required to produce ammonia or other forms of nitrogen that can be utilized by crops is produced at the cost of large amounts of carbon dioxide and other kinds of pollution, because natural gas is both the feedstock and the energy source for the process.

According to a publication from Iowa State University:

“ Due to the consumption of natural gas as an energy source and as feedstock in ammonia produc­tion, the price of N fertilizer is typically related to supply and price of natural gas. A modern ammonia production plant requires net energy consumption of approximately 29.7 million BTUs per ton of N (Kongshaug and Jenssen). Upgrading ammonia to other N fertilizers requires even more energy: 35.9 million and 31.4 million BTUs per ton for urea and urea/ammonium nitrate manufacture, respectively. “

This is equivalent to burning a gallon of diesel fuel for every 10 pounds of fixed nitrogen thus obtained, in terms of the energy needed. But how much diesel fuel was needed to move the earthworm castings from their source to Knoxville? Ten pounds of nitrogen would be half a ton of bagged worm poo. Calculations far more complex than the ones above would be needed to accurately compare the overall environmental cost of various forms of fertilizer. How much energy was expended, for example, to grow the cotton that ended up in my cottonseed meal? Were pesticides involved? No labeling requirement, to my knowledge, exists for soil amendments.

Conscientious gardeners everywhere might benefit from having this knowledge, but it is not easy to obtain.