Land Blog Fans

As promised, a new entry over at Joe's Land Blog. "Ecosystems at the Millenium." The Land Blog lives!

And speaking of writing...

While I was doing some research on how to write a query letter (tomorrow night's project), I came across this Blog, called Query Letters I Love. Allegedly these are real screenplay query letters sent to a Hollywood studio. Unquestionably the funniest Blog I have ever read (apologies to Weasel, who can also bring the goods). You must read the commentary!

Perserverance Pays Off

Regular readers of this Blog (both of you!) have been subjected to my occasional whining about my dissatisfaction with my current employment situation. Well, it's time to share some good news - I am getting a new job! It is a finance job, but it's also in the environmental arena. I don't usually get into specific personal information in this Blog, but tonight I am excited to inform you all that I will be working for both the Maine and Vermont Chapters of the Nature Conservancy, right in downtown Brunswick, Maine.

I couldn't be more pleased with this development. When I was unemployed last spring and summer, I went through the excercise of identifying my "ideal" job. While acknowledging that "Powerball Winner" would be a wonderful job description, my reality-based answer was "Finance manager for the Nature Conservancy in Maine". No kidding! At the time, I met with a former banking associate of mine who is now employed by the conservancy. This meeting was primarily to strategize my efforts to transition from the for-profit sector to the not-for-profit arena (which he had done recently), and to help expand my job search network. At the time I expressed how much I would like to work for TNC, but (as I expected) there was no position in the offing.

Eventually I landed my job for which I was highly qualified with a "Good Maine Company". Alas, I wasn't all that thrilled about the company, but the bills don't go away just because your severence does, so I accepted the position. As my friends and family are well aware, the job turned out to be worse than I had anticipated. Quite a bit worse, actually.

Shortly thereafter I saw an ad in the paper for exactly the job I was looking for - Finance Manager at the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. I called my contact and expressed my interest. I was given an interview, after which I started composing my resignation letter. Not exactly true, but I was starting to fantasize about what I would say. Unfortunately, management turnover and budget concerns led the Maine Chapter to try a different approach. I was quite heartbroken, and left to spend the following months moping and complaining to anybody who would listen, and occasionally my reader(s) here.

It turns out that things didn't work out quite the way the Maine Chapter had hoped, and so my friend gave me a call and said that they were looking to fill the position again. The long story short is that I was on the short list of people they were considering. To make this a full-time position, the Maine Chapter partnered with the Vermont Chapter, which is about half the size of Maine. I spoke with several people in Maine and my "boss" from Vermont and was offered the job, which I accepted on the spot.

This is a very exciting time for me. I will be taking a pay cut, but not as much as I was willing to accept, and it is completely worth it to know that my days will be spent helping to preserve the natural beauty, and natural resources, of this great planet of ours. I start in a couple of weeks and just can't wait to begin.

Readers of this Blog will remember that I have stated on several occasions that I wish to write for a living, and this isn't a writing job. But I will have an extra two hours a day, because the work day and commute are both shorter, which I plan to parlay into more writing time. I hope to begin freelancing on the side within the next year. I am taking a "how to freelance" class this weekend, and I have also completed a book review that I will be pitching to a couple of publications in the next couple of days (more on that in the near future). Things are moving forward in this area as well. Just as "keeping my eyes on the prize" seems to have paid off in this job endeavor, I believe it will pay off for my writing career.

This move doesn't mean that the Land Blog (yes, it's still alive) will turn into a series of TNC press releases. While the Conservancy does remarkable work in protecting "The Last Great Places on Earth" and I am excited to be a part of that effort, I still have a strong passion for exploring and advocating sustainable energy sources, and for finding ways to conserve fossil fuels. This will continue to be a central focus of the Land Blog (the soon-to-be published post that references TNC work notwithstanding!).

So thank you to all of my friends and family who stuck by me and believed in me and helped send positive energy my way as I have gone through this process. I am very grateful for all of your well wishes, and I look forward to this next step in my life's adventure.

Meeting on Common Ground

My partner and I went to the Common Ground Fair, MOFGA's annual "Celebration of Rural Living", which is held every September in Unity, Maine. Under bright blue skies, with a crispness in the air that belied the early Autumn season, thousands of individuals made the pilgrimage to this year's 29th renewal of the event.

Though my partner has been to the fair several times and has tried on more than one occasion to get me there, this was the first year that I have been able to attend. This is not for a lack of desire: given my growing interest in gardening, the environment and progressive politics, I have understood the Common Ground Fair to be an event that I would likely be interested in attending. And so it was as we pulled in to the fairgrounds at about 9:45 Saturday morning that I was able to see what the fuss is all about.

And there is a lot to fuss about. MOFGA's soiree has grown well beyond the boundaries of organic gardening, and it has truly become a "common ground" where people from many walks of life gather together. (Except for those people who actively oppose a woman's right to choose what happens to her body. They were lined up on the Route 202 with placards showing "images of death" to those driving toward the fairgrounds. To each his or her own.) Certainly there is a heavy agricultural flair to the fair. There are livestock demonstrations, vegetable contests, yarns woven from sheep, lamas and alpacas (who are shown off outside the tents), herbs, bulbs and seeds, and a farmers market. There are demonstrations and lectures about organic farming and many other related topics.

Along with all of this, however, there are sections dedicated to Maine-made products, arts and crafts, environmental issues, "green" households, Native American culture, and social issues, among others. While all walks of life appear to be present among the crowd, there is a definite left-wing/hippie leaning in the politics and the patronage represented. This is a good place to find out what is happening to the people and places in the state of Maine and areas beyond our borders (like the guy who was educating us on all the good things that happen in Cuba). Oh, and there is food. Some of it, on the surface, is standard fair fare - french fries, fried dough, blooming onions and lemonade - and there were some ethnic entries (my favorite being the Korean booth called "Downeast Seoul"), but there is a difference. All food vendors are required to sell all natural or organically produced foods. Thuse the french fries were made from organic Maine potatoes cooked in safflower oil and seasoned with sea salt. The fried dough was made from organic whole wheat flour. And so on. The food was wonderful, and even the indulgent stuff wasn't as bad for you as normal.

We only had a few hours to spend at the fair, which is unfortunate because there is much to see and learn. We hardly had time to stop and listen to the musical acts performing under the tent, or the group of Native Americans who were drumming and chanting, or the bagpipers who were wandering the grounds playing the melancholy songs that issue from their pipes. We also didn't have as much time as we would have liked to get tips about gardening, or information about solar energy, or biodiesel. Likewise there were lots of books available in the media tent that would have been fun to peruse and purchase. I did manage to make a connection with the couple who publish the Wolf Moon Press, and get some information about the kind of articles that they are looking to include in their magazine and online. Perhaps this can be a starting point for a place to get my work in print.

There are many opportunities to learn, to connect with people, and to connect with the land that supports us every day at the Common Ground Fair. This year's three day event ends on Sunday, September 25. Next year is the 30th anniversary of the Fair, and it will likely to be bigger and better than ever. Check out the Common Ground Fair, and check out the MOFGA web site to learn more about how they continue to promote organic gardening and the continuation of the rural culture within Maine.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

The Navy brought their flying recruiting show to Brunswick over the weekend. The show, at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, featured the Blue Angels and their F-18 fighter jets. I have to admit that I watched the show, despite the fact that I probably "should" have been protesting with my left-leaning brethren. Well, I watched the Blue Angels anyway, from my friend's boat in Harpswell Sound, pretty much at the end of the BNAS runway. The power and precision of these machines is quite impressive. (I'll also note here that, with the team practicing in Brunswick for three days beforehand, I had already seen a lot of the show anyway).

Of course, the power of earth-moving equipment is fun to watch, too. But when it's taking off the top of a mountain in search of coal it's not fulfilling, even if you can't take your eyes away. This air show, which attracted 200,000 to the base (I think that the figures are just for the base) and many more to surrounding areas, burned 1,300 gallons of fuel used by the F-18's alone (according to one of the linked stories) and countless others in transporting people to Brunswick. It's a colossal waste of resources. Likewise, the tax dollars needed to maintain these $30 million aircraft could be better spent in many many areas. The Blue Angels, after all, are all about entertainment and recruitment. These pilots are not engaged in combat training at this stage of their careers. The last Angels show scheduled for Brunswick was cancelled due to the 9/11 attacks. Hurricane Katrina was much more devastating than 9/11, and clearly underscored how poorly this country has been allocating resources in recent years. If anything, Hurricane Katrina should have provided impetus to cancel the show and scrap the program altogether.

Supporters of the air show talk about how it increases the patriotic feeling in this country, and how attendance showed support for the troops in Iraq. This is baloney. The Blue Angels have no relevance to the war in Iraq, unless it draws more people to the military so that they, too, can spread democracy in the desert (I heard a Navy recruiting ad on the radio this afternoon that elicited the power of the Blue Angels). The Blue Angels were around long before the start of the war in Iraq (and, indeed, the War on Terror), and they'll (unfortunately) be around long after. They serve nothing other than to spread propaganda about the military.

So, I'm sorry, but I went to see the Blue Angels. I also went to spend time with my friends and enjoy a boat ride off the coast of Maine. But I oohed and ahhed at all the right times, and was impressed with the machines and the daredevils who fly them. I also came away with an empty feeling because I don't buy into the goodwill mission that these pilots are supposedly spreading. The whole event was, ultimately, a big waste. At least I got to see where some of my tax dollars are going.

Apocolypse Now?

This is a post in reference to the national crisis now being faced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's pummeling of New Orleans and a wide swath of the Gulf Coast in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I have a lot of thoughts and emotions resulting from the events of the past week. Driving home last night I found myself unable to have a conversation with my wife because I was simultaneously concerned, disappointed and angry.

Yesterday, a co-worker made an incredibly insensitive quip about the people who died essentially "getting what they deserved" for not evacuating the city when instructed to do so. My question to him was, were they able to evacuate? I don't know the details about the evacuation process in New Orleans or other areas prior to the hurricane, but I do know that it is unlikely that the infrastructure is adequate to handle the evacuation of such a mass of people in a short period of time. Ultimately it is the people of lowest means - the poor, ill and elderly - who were least likely to be left behind in the city. It is not the fault of these people that they did not have the means to evacuate, and they did not "get what they deserved".

(Granted, there are always those who stubbornly refuse to evacuate when a storm like this comes along. Hopefully they were aware of the risks that they were taking. To cast aside the fate of thousands because a few of them may have ignored the warnings strikes me as heartless).

We drove past gas stations that had raised the price for a gallon of gas by 40 cents or more. I stopped at one station that was selling regular for $2.85 per gallon. When I remarked that many stations were charging $3.19, the clerk told me that the old fashioned (analog) pumps couldn't be programmed to charge more than $3.00/gallon. I guess that's to our benefit until the pumps can be updated, or until the "cheap gas" stations run out of fuel. Unless demand is reduced immediately (and substantially), prices will continue to rise. Katrina has caused substantial damage to America's oil rigs, refineries and pipelines. Reserves will dwindle quickly, and prices will increase. I am angry that no administration (I'm not singling out the Bush administration here) has been able to grasp the fact that our societal dependence upon oil, a finite resource, is not sustainable and therefore taken significant strides to move away from oil dependence. Well, I guess the Carter administration knew all this, but Reagan cast Carter's energy initiatives aside and we haven't looked back. We are now 25 years behind where we could have been in developing (and using) more fuel-efficient technology and non-petroleum energy sources.

And, lest you think that I am merely engaging in self-riteous finger wagging at "you driving your Hummer around", I am also disappointed in myself for not being able to do more to wean myself off petroleum. Sure, I feel good about burning wood rather than oil, but how much oil has gone into the effort to bring my my annual cord of wood? And how much oil am I saving by burning wood as a secondary heat source? And is it possible that I could drive less and use less plastic than I do now? Of course I can. I usually justify my occasional slipups with the fact that I know I strive more than most people to conserve energy, and "nobody is perfect". Well, maybe not being "perfect" (or closer to perfect) is no longer good enough.

Then today I read the news that is the kicker for me - funding for needed improvements to the levee system that is vital to the flood control efforts in New Orleans has been cut by 44% in recent years. Why? To help pay for the "War on Terror" in Iraq. Or, shall I say, "to pay for the war in Iraq while simultaneously reducing taxes for the wealthiest of Americans"? Furthermore, Bush Administration policies have allowed greater development of wetlands - wetlands that help serve as a natural defense against hurricane-induced storm surges.

Katrina has become what might be categorized as the Perfect Storm, one whose impact is much more far-reaching than simply the effects of its wind and rains. And one whose impact on this country is exacerbated by the US's own "Taxes are bad! Who cares about the environment? More development is good!" policies in recent decades: poor services available to the poor, ill and elderly; a transportation system centered around the automobile that was ill-equipped to evacuate New Orleans in anticipation of the hurricane; an "Enviornmental" policy that compromised the natural defenses against the hurricane; funding for person-made disaster control diverted to an ill-advised war (and to the bank accounts of the rich); and a petroleum-based society that will now be handcuffed for an indeterminate amount of time due to damage inflicted on the oil wells, refineries and pipelines.

Hurricane Katrina obviously could not have been avoided. But if we had acted with even a little bit of foresight over the last couple of decades, Katrina's human, environmental and economic impact could have been greatly reduced. The Bush Administration's policies are certainly responsible for some of the current problems, but others are the end result of decades of ignorance and inaction by the citizens and politicians of this country. Hopefully we can learn lessons from Katrina, and this will serve as a wakeup call to us all.

Note: Jim Baumer has written a couple of well-researched and well-thought-out entries over the last few days that I think are worthy of a good read. Today's entry at Words Matter directly targets the Bush Administration, adn it provided some inspiration my entry today. I agree with most of Jim's points, so rather than try to go down that road myself, I will simply suggest that you read what he has to say. And at his blatherings blog at WriteForYou, Jim forwarded a post-oil picture of America that was written by Tim Holt in the Portland Oregonian. This vision may come to pass all too soon, it seems. I planned to reflect on this at the Land Blog, but it seems appropriate to point you to it from this post. Jim cares deeply about our society and always writes thoughtfully about many of the issues that of concern to me. I encourage making his Blogs part of everybody's regular reading.