Today in Dakota Territory, gasoline is $3.60 / gallon, and #2 diesel is $4.20 / gallon, and a barrel of crude oil is $120. People are beginning to cry out about "the peril to the millions" who won't be able to afford food, fuel, and entertainment, or "their current lifestyle". My sympathy basket is about empty, takoszja.. Because I've been speaking about these things - as have hundreds, perhaps thousands of others, for decades.
And the rest of you have been ignoring us, and the facts we speak of. Now it appears the facts are speaking for themselves so loudly you cannot ignore them any longer. Well, we tried.
Let's do a bit of simple arithmetic and see where this is going. Let's pretend the price of a barrel of crude oil has already hit $200. Where will the costs of gasoline and #2 diesel fuel be then? Divide 200 by 120, you will get 5/3. Multiply that by $3.60 and $4.20, and you will get $6.00 and $7.00 respectively.
Now do that with food, heating fuels, and clothing, and you will see that: the current fad in having more than 2 children will go away quickly; the current fad in the U.S. of building huge houses (that require amazing amounts of fuel to heat) will come to a screeching halt; and as a result, you will see a huge sudden increase in the number of homeless, followed by a fast decrease in the number of homeless - as they starve and freeze to deat any place where winter temperatures drop below freezing at night - along with a concomittant rise in the buzzard population, since there isn't likely to be enough land to bury these individuals except in mass graves.
You will also see a huge rise in rustling of food animals, and of garden vegetables.
Doomsday predictions? Not at all. When the prices of food and fuel rise to the point where people must choose between feeding their close ones and altruism, they will feed their close ones and altruism will take a hike into history until costs and prices stabilize and the American public lives a more realistic lifestyle than it has for at least the past 50 years.
No more fast boats and huge motors to push them, jet skis, motorhomes, SUVs getting 9 mpg, snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, etc., etc. No more jetaway vacations, and maybe a huge decrease in airlines. Well, it will mean much shorter lines for those who can - or need to - travel....
We will see a big run to telecommuting, I expect.. and a much more environmentally-friendly perspective than we have seen for dona hey decades in the U.S. My company, Indian Maid Products, Inc., which makes passive solar heaters and coolers, will probably do well, if we can get enough fuel to send a crew to install our units. We'll certainly try - we've been trying for decades..
But you know what really 'gets' to me about this fuel thing? It has been planned-for for over 20 years by those silent, shadowy figures who run the U.S. economy. This is no conspiracy theory; it is fact. I know this because in the early 1980's, I spent considerable time working for and around high-ranking state and federal people in the D.C. area, and they were working on it then. Given my security clearance of the time and the fact that The Rule was, "if you tell the story, you cannot name names or places specifically", they openly discussed these things in front of me - and others, I am sure. Why did it do no good to tell you?
Because you were so taken with your own perspectives that you narcissistic people refused to believe the facts when they were set clearly in front of you. Just about a year ago, a speaker told people in Minot, ND that the price of a barrel of crude oil was going to hit $120, and the audience (of business 'leaders') laughed him off the stage. A few months ago, this same speaker told these same people that oil is likely to hit $200 a barrel, and this time, almost no one laughed.
Just the same, I don't expect to see any major change in the lifestyles of most U.S. folk until oil actually does hit $200 a barrel, because Disneyism and t.v. have taught the majority of people to believe in 20-minute solutions to huge problems and that "someone" will "save" us. It may be that someone will save you, but the facts of physics and the real world say it won't be in a short time, nor will you be able to live in the same old ways with the same old disregard and disrespect for the rest of the world, including the environment.
I think I'm going to enjoy watching that.. Given all the szit I've taken from so many of you for living "greenly" for all of my life.... Whod'a thunk an old woman could have so much fun watching the Wheel turn? Not me.
And isn't that a hoot..
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Earth Day Thoughts
Hanh mitakuyapi. Yesterday was the official Earth Day here in the U.S.A. Here are some of my thoughts on it.
Every day is Earth Day, April 22 is simply a day set aside for official recognition of that fact. Why is every day Earth Day? Because we only get one earth to live on. If we humans foul this one up - and global warming says we are fast approaching the State of Fubar in this matter - we have no place to go. We are literally in a "save the game or die" situation.
I went to the local Earth Day Celebration (in Bismarck, ND) - all 4 hours of it out of the 24 hours that make up any day. There were demonstrations, a proclamation by the governor that we could all sign, and 4 talks. The 2 talks I went to were good; I learned things. This is how I judge the value of a presentation. There should have been at least 8 hours of "celebration" and many more talks.
The "celebration" had something like 20 booths. I noticed that the Sierra Club did not have a booth there. Neither did any of the major conservation organizations, such as Ducks Unlimited, which is headquartered at Bismarck, ND. I cannot help but wonder why not. Preservation and restoration of the potholes where ducks breed is excellent activity for helping our Holy Mother the Earth.
At one of the booths, there were trees being given away. We were offered a sheet with the names of 5 kinds of trees on it. The trees we were given were not labelled, so I have no idea what I got, other than that it was some member of the pine family. Had it been chokecherry, which is the ND State Tree, and holy to my People (the Lakota), I would have been happier, but I will find this tree a home and take care of it and pray that it grows. ND is high plains prairie, so trees are not common here, except along creek- and river-bottoms. This 'pine family' tree is not something we would expect to find growing in a river bottom, so now I have to do some homework to find out where best to put it. I find this lack of attention to detail bothering.
There was absolutely nothing about bale buildings or green roofs. I asked the state forester about green roofs, and he said he had heard of them, but didn't know anything about them or where to find information. Given that many square miles of the earth's surface are covered with blacktop, concrete, and buildings daily, thus taking out many square miles of plants that process carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and so reduce global warming, I believe he should have been knowledgeable about bale buildings and green roofs. Don't you?
I made some good contacts which will enable the organizations I head - one for-profit and one non-profit - to become greener than they already are (and have been for more than 30 years).
I pointed out to the people handing out CFL bulbs that incandescent bulbs are an excellent source of heat in our houses and businesses in the winter time, and that I have made sure that we burn incandescents in the winter to take advantage of this, while burning CFLs in the non-heating months when we don't need to heat. Tain't many such months in ND, but there are some. (They bulb-handers said they hadn't thought of making use of the heat from incandescent bulbs, but realized that this is a good idea..)
I visited at length with the man from Waste Management Corporation, and told him that they need to do more advertising, since I didn't know what to do with plastic bottles, there being no known place to take them for recycling here. I also told him that since we had lots of such bottles and didn't know what else to do with them, I had our people save them in bags and when it got cold in the fall, we fired up a hammermill shredder and shredded the bottles and made packing out of them. It's excellent packing. We continue to look for other uses for it. He liked that we do that, and said he will see about more advertising of the fact that WM takes plastic.
Since I am already greatly overloaded with work, networking is something I don't do tons of. "Should", but it takes time I don't have. Still - there was not one booth that talked about solar heating, alternative energy, insulation, or any other such subjects. This is a major failing in my view. Next year, my company will have a booth at the Earth Day celebration, we believe, and we will talk about solar heating (we make a passive solar heater which can also be used for passive solar cooling in some buildings), bale buildings, and green roofs.
I Sun Dance, and I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds, which is a prayer to heal the Sacred Hoop of the world. My question in this regard is, "What have you done today to help heal the Sacred Hoop, of which you, too, are a part?" Ask yourself this question daily and keep track of your answers. That is what Earth Day is about....
Every day is Earth Day, April 22 is simply a day set aside for official recognition of that fact. Why is every day Earth Day? Because we only get one earth to live on. If we humans foul this one up - and global warming says we are fast approaching the State of Fubar in this matter - we have no place to go. We are literally in a "save the game or die" situation.
I went to the local Earth Day Celebration (in Bismarck, ND) - all 4 hours of it out of the 24 hours that make up any day. There were demonstrations, a proclamation by the governor that we could all sign, and 4 talks. The 2 talks I went to were good; I learned things. This is how I judge the value of a presentation. There should have been at least 8 hours of "celebration" and many more talks.
The "celebration" had something like 20 booths. I noticed that the Sierra Club did not have a booth there. Neither did any of the major conservation organizations, such as Ducks Unlimited, which is headquartered at Bismarck, ND. I cannot help but wonder why not. Preservation and restoration of the potholes where ducks breed is excellent activity for helping our Holy Mother the Earth.
At one of the booths, there were trees being given away. We were offered a sheet with the names of 5 kinds of trees on it. The trees we were given were not labelled, so I have no idea what I got, other than that it was some member of the pine family. Had it been chokecherry, which is the ND State Tree, and holy to my People (the Lakota), I would have been happier, but I will find this tree a home and take care of it and pray that it grows. ND is high plains prairie, so trees are not common here, except along creek- and river-bottoms. This 'pine family' tree is not something we would expect to find growing in a river bottom, so now I have to do some homework to find out where best to put it. I find this lack of attention to detail bothering.
There was absolutely nothing about bale buildings or green roofs. I asked the state forester about green roofs, and he said he had heard of them, but didn't know anything about them or where to find information. Given that many square miles of the earth's surface are covered with blacktop, concrete, and buildings daily, thus taking out many square miles of plants that process carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere and so reduce global warming, I believe he should have been knowledgeable about bale buildings and green roofs. Don't you?
I made some good contacts which will enable the organizations I head - one for-profit and one non-profit - to become greener than they already are (and have been for more than 30 years).
I pointed out to the people handing out CFL bulbs that incandescent bulbs are an excellent source of heat in our houses and businesses in the winter time, and that I have made sure that we burn incandescents in the winter to take advantage of this, while burning CFLs in the non-heating months when we don't need to heat. Tain't many such months in ND, but there are some. (They bulb-handers said they hadn't thought of making use of the heat from incandescent bulbs, but realized that this is a good idea..)
I visited at length with the man from Waste Management Corporation, and told him that they need to do more advertising, since I didn't know what to do with plastic bottles, there being no known place to take them for recycling here. I also told him that since we had lots of such bottles and didn't know what else to do with them, I had our people save them in bags and when it got cold in the fall, we fired up a hammermill shredder and shredded the bottles and made packing out of them. It's excellent packing. We continue to look for other uses for it. He liked that we do that, and said he will see about more advertising of the fact that WM takes plastic.
Since I am already greatly overloaded with work, networking is something I don't do tons of. "Should", but it takes time I don't have. Still - there was not one booth that talked about solar heating, alternative energy, insulation, or any other such subjects. This is a major failing in my view. Next year, my company will have a booth at the Earth Day celebration, we believe, and we will talk about solar heating (we make a passive solar heater which can also be used for passive solar cooling in some buildings), bale buildings, and green roofs.
I Sun Dance, and I am the woman who Dances The Four Winds, which is a prayer to heal the Sacred Hoop of the world. My question in this regard is, "What have you done today to help heal the Sacred Hoop, of which you, too, are a part?" Ask yourself this question daily and keep track of your answers. That is what Earth Day is about....
Re the grizzly bear the killed his handler that is in the headlines today -
"Bambi" is NOT reality. The reality is, people call such bears 'tame', but the bears have neither read the book, nor agreed with its premise, that persuades supposedly superior and supposedly more intelligent humans that bears can be 'tamed'. In short, they are not 'tame', and they never will be. The bear should be left to live and handled in some other way, since it can't be returned to the wild. Walt Disney & his dream-films are the worst thing to happen to wild animals since DDT and dioxin.
As for the story about grizzlies in Yellowstone - "Are there too many bears in Yellowstone?" No, there are too many HUMANS, the same as every other place on earth. Just because some Bambi-ite with more money than brains wants to build a house in or on the edge of a National Forest or other National Wilderness Preserve, DOES NOT mean they should be allowed to. Yellowstone National Park is not a zoo. The animals and flora that live there year round have precedence over the humans who come there to visit. The humans are said to be smarter - the humans need to be educated so they treat Yellowstone's inhabitants with respect instead of Pollyanna attitudes.
I hunt, with bow, guns, and cameras, and I admire the wild animals tremendously, but I don't think in terms of cuddling up to something with 4"-long claws and 3"-long fangs, such as a grizzly, or hand-feeding it. My Ina (ee-nah) / Momma didn't raise no dumb Indns.
I'm a horse-Indn, and we have Traditionally saluted any of our hunters who fought with a bear and survived, let alone won, but we also gave such people a wide berth, on the premise that they were spiritually different and not to be trifled with, due to the nature of "bear". That's an excellent perspective to maintain today.
A white man brought a bear cub up to the state Legislative Session one year, asking for some help with a bill regarding wild animals. I held this 4-month-old bear in my arms. He gave me a hug that took my breath away, and I've swung a hammer for over 30 years. I am no soft female. That should tell anyone all they ever need to know about the strength of bears.
That the bear bit the handler and killed him is not the bear's fault. Killing the bear won't teach it anything. Killing the bear won't bring back the dummy who hugged the bear. Killing the bear won't do one damned good thing. The bears - including this one - need our protection, our admiration, and our help - not to be treated like pets when there is nothing pet-ish about them.
"Bambi" is NOT reality. The reality is, people call such bears 'tame', but the bears have neither read the book, nor agreed with its premise, that persuades supposedly superior and supposedly more intelligent humans that bears can be 'tamed'. In short, they are not 'tame', and they never will be. The bear should be left to live and handled in some other way, since it can't be returned to the wild. Walt Disney & his dream-films are the worst thing to happen to wild animals since DDT and dioxin.
As for the story about grizzlies in Yellowstone - "Are there too many bears in Yellowstone?" No, there are too many HUMANS, the same as every other place on earth. Just because some Bambi-ite with more money than brains wants to build a house in or on the edge of a National Forest or other National Wilderness Preserve, DOES NOT mean they should be allowed to. Yellowstone National Park is not a zoo. The animals and flora that live there year round have precedence over the humans who come there to visit. The humans are said to be smarter - the humans need to be educated so they treat Yellowstone's inhabitants with respect instead of Pollyanna attitudes.
I hunt, with bow, guns, and cameras, and I admire the wild animals tremendously, but I don't think in terms of cuddling up to something with 4"-long claws and 3"-long fangs, such as a grizzly, or hand-feeding it. My Ina (ee-nah) / Momma didn't raise no dumb Indns.
I'm a horse-Indn, and we have Traditionally saluted any of our hunters who fought with a bear and survived, let alone won, but we also gave such people a wide berth, on the premise that they were spiritually different and not to be trifled with, due to the nature of "bear". That's an excellent perspective to maintain today.
A white man brought a bear cub up to the state Legislative Session one year, asking for some help with a bill regarding wild animals. I held this 4-month-old bear in my arms. He gave me a hug that took my breath away, and I've swung a hammer for over 30 years. I am no soft female. That should tell anyone all they ever need to know about the strength of bears.
That the bear bit the handler and killed him is not the bear's fault. Killing the bear won't teach it anything. Killing the bear won't bring back the dummy who hugged the bear. Killing the bear won't do one damned good thing. The bears - including this one - need our protection, our admiration, and our help - not to be treated like pets when there is nothing pet-ish about them.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Why this Season is Called Spring
Hanh mitakuyapi. It's the Season of Showers that Make Flowers, and the temperatures up here in Dakota Territory are up n down n up n down. I figure the reason this season is called "Spring" in the majority culture is because the temperatures 'spring' up n down.
Of course that means that the number of layers of clothes we wear spring up n down, too. A couple of days ago, we had an afternoon temperature of 60F - above zero, not below - and most of us were running around in t-shirts and shorts. (The white legs on you non-ITI were almost blinding! Eeyew!)
Nights still get chilly, though, so we keep jackets handy.. Although you can track most of your Caucasian sorts in the dark if you're wearing shorts.. heh, heh..
Yesterday we had wind - about 30 mph - today we have light / 'female' rain - and no wind, with temperature of +37F. Nearly everyone is back in long pants and coats (this Indn is in 3 shirts & a sweater), although there are always a few hard-heads who insist that since it's Spring, they don't need their coats. Hah!
Tomorrow, the forecast is for warm again, and sunny.
When it was warm a couple of days ago, we who are building or rebuilding were out taking measurements and making notes in case we want to change anything before we get a contractor or go to the local building supply for materials. Me - I build. There isn't much a damaged leg keeps me from, other than roofing.
I'm no flexible enough to roof any more.. If the wind grabs me, I can't boogie up there.. I'll likely fall off and I no longer drop n roll.. More like, I'd drop n stick and become a flower pot holder! Think I'll pass..
See? Spring! Enjoy yours!
Of course that means that the number of layers of clothes we wear spring up n down, too. A couple of days ago, we had an afternoon temperature of 60F - above zero, not below - and most of us were running around in t-shirts and shorts. (The white legs on you non-ITI were almost blinding! Eeyew!)
Nights still get chilly, though, so we keep jackets handy.. Although you can track most of your Caucasian sorts in the dark if you're wearing shorts.. heh, heh..
Yesterday we had wind - about 30 mph - today we have light / 'female' rain - and no wind, with temperature of +37F. Nearly everyone is back in long pants and coats (this Indn is in 3 shirts & a sweater), although there are always a few hard-heads who insist that since it's Spring, they don't need their coats. Hah!
Tomorrow, the forecast is for warm again, and sunny.
When it was warm a couple of days ago, we who are building or rebuilding were out taking measurements and making notes in case we want to change anything before we get a contractor or go to the local building supply for materials. Me - I build. There isn't much a damaged leg keeps me from, other than roofing.
I'm no flexible enough to roof any more.. If the wind grabs me, I can't boogie up there.. I'll likely fall off and I no longer drop n roll.. More like, I'd drop n stick and become a flower pot holder! Think I'll pass..
See? Spring! Enjoy yours!
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