ThinkLady

How to help Oklahoma become more resilient

The daily pounding of sun, drought, and record-setting heat on the Great Plains is a searing reminder of nature’s cycles and of a changing climate. In western Oklahoma grasslands and pastures give way to sand, farm ponds and creeks are dry or going dry, water wells are low, and ranchers -- no longer able to feed cattle on pasture -- are selling them off at auctions that go long into the night. As the drought monitor above shows, in central Oklahoma things are literally only a shade better and all of Oklahoma is now in some level of drought.

Oklahoma has always been a place with weather extremes. Climatologists tell us that not only can we expect this to continue but that we will see even more variability and extremes as the climate continues to change.

This raises questions: Are there ways to better manage increasingly precious resources such as water, to retain soil moisture, to retrofit and redesign human communities that are resilient and perhaps even abundant in the face of all kinds of weather, and to do all these things so that we manage, maintain and preserve the natural systems that give us life in a sustainable way?

Permaculture design offers an approach to designing human settlements modeled on the relationships found in nature. Central to permaculture are three ethics: care for the earth, care for people and fair share. These three ethics, along with 12 principles, form the foundation for permaculture design and are also found in most traditional societies. Many ecologists, scientists and environmental advocates see permaculture as offering one of the most comprehensive and holistic means for addressing the critical state of our planet and its species.

For Oklahomans, learning about permaculture has, up until now, required travelling out of state, and paying hefty tuition fees in addition to traveling and lodging expenses since permaculture courses are not yet routinely offered here. That’s changed this summer with the advent of Oklahoma’s first full-scale, certificate-level Permaculture Design Course organized by Transition OKC and taught by internationally renowned permaculturist, Scott Pittman of the Permaculture Institute, Santa Fe, N.M. The course starts in less than two weeks on August 4, and I admit to being terribly excited about it.

Two of my Oklahoma City colleagues and friends have taken the Permaculture Design Course and are much more articulate than I am about describing permaculture’s promise for Oklahoma and the talents of Pittman as a teacher. Randy Marks, principal, Groundwork: Applied Design says this:

“Scott Pittman is one of the most gifted teachers I have encountered. He has a long history of putting permaculture into practice and he knows how to convey what he has learned. Additionally, he is a great storyteller and has tales of his worldwide travels as a teacher and practitioner. He has a huge heart and is altogether a wonderful human being.

I took the design course with Scott when I was trying to figure out a new direction for my career and life. The course was fun, provocative and challenging. In itself, it didn't change my life, but it gave me a framework to begin changing my life and my understanding of nature and culture. I have thought of that course and what I learned there virtually every day since, and believe now more than ever that permaculture can help us forge a human culture in tune with the natural world.”

Oklahoma’s own practicing permaculturist, Bob Waldrop, founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative and Prairie Rose Permaculture, and one of the teachers for the upcoming Oklahoma PDC, sees permaculture as an essential investment in an age of uncertainty.

“Permaculture, with its focus on caring for people, caring for the planet, and having a care for the future, has helped me design adaptations to my house that make it possible for us to be comfortable, at low cost, even as the weather seems to be becoming more extreme – heat and drought in the summer, cold and ice in the winter. The money I am spending on those renovations is certainly the best financial investment I have ever made, since it has reduced my monthly energy bills. 

Like many in the baby boom generation, I am concerned about retirement in an age of great economic uncertainty. A significant component of my retirement plan is a debt-free house with very low operating costs. By spending money now on these permaculture design renovations, while I have a job and income, I am reducing my cost of living, not only in the present, but also later on, when I retire and my income is much lower. Every dollar I don’t have to spend during retirement is probably a hundred dollars I don’t have to save, so the advantages of permaculture design for anyone approaching retirement are very clear and compelling.”

Deadline for enrolling in the course is Tues., Aug. 2. Full details on registering for the course, payment, dates, times, location, syllabus and other pertinent details can be found online here.

Technorati Tags: agriculture,awareness,climate change,ecology,green living,hope,inspiration,nature,permaculture,resilience,social justice,sustainability

You are not alone: learning more and growing community

Part 4 of wake-up calls, insurance and having a plan

This is the final post in a four-part series started in March on resiliency and emergency planning. Part 1 covered waking up to our vulnerabilities; Part 2 explored responding versus reacting; Part 3, sobering up, covered a few, very basic food and water storage strategies.

In this post, Part 4, the focus is on resources for learning more and opportunities for connecting with others doing the same work.

If you have time, doing your own emergency planning and research will uncover a host of resources to help tailor a plan that’s most suited to your unique situation. A variety of books, blogs and websites offer plenty of information but sifting through them can take time, energy and patience. At the outset if you would rather cut-to-the-chase, here are few resources to serve as a portal.

• Get a Kit – FEMA’s emergency planning guide & check lists
• www.72hours.org – The City of San Francisco’s very comprehensive emergency planning guide
• A Simple Plan -- A post by my dear friend and blogger, Christine Patton, a.k.a. Peak Oil Hausfrau, on short and long-term planning. Plenty of additional info on her blog, about everything from backyard gardening to cooking with a solar oven. She’s one of the most prepared people I know.
• “Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs: The Thrivalist’s Guide to Life Without Oil” by Wendy Brown. Personable, down-to-earth, easy to read, full of useful info and resources and mostly geared to longer-term planning.
• “Just in Case: How to be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens,” by Kathy Harrison, another book with a practical, down-to-earth approach.
• “The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-to-Basics Guide,” by John Seymour. Although geared toward longer term self-reliant living for those on small farms, it may seem like this book doesn’t have much to offer urban dwellers. Guess again -- this book offers a compendium of how-tos on a range of subjects, from soap-making to composting and is full of beautiful illustrations and graphics. A great resource for the home library and even if you never do any of these things – fun to read and browse.

Organizations providing a portal for actually meeting other people doing the same things, working on the same issues, providing ways and means of sharing knowledge and building community:

• Transition OKC (TOKC) –  a local Oklahoma City group working on these types of issues, sharing info, and networking (I volunteer with this group). TOKC offers an ongoing slate of free or low-cost workshops, films, presentations and events focused on helping people and communities in OKC become more prepared and resilient in the face of climate change, peak oil and economic instability. We like to have fun while we’re doing this work. We collaborate and partner with other groups, businesses, and organizations, serve as a catalyst and connector, and we organize practical projects, often with an emphasis on localization, a strategy that a growing number of leaders around the world believe will help offset many of the challenges we face. We eat a lot of potluck meals together (a lot). We are part of the vibrant Transition movement, which has more than 300 initiatives around the world. My friend and fellow Transitioner, Christine Patton and I started TOKC in Jan. 2009; it’s a program of Sustainable OKC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
• Oklahoma Sustainability Network -- a statewide nonprofit networking resource with a wonderful listserv and multiple chapters involved in an array of sustainable endeavors.
• Transition US – a nonprofit organization that provides inspiration, encouragement, support, networking and training for Transition initiatives in the U.S. There are now 90 Transition initiatives across the U.S. -- take a look at the map on their website and seen if there’s one near you, or if you’re interested in starting one in your community, school, or town, they can help.
• Transition Network -- the international hub for the Transition movement. You can sort through Transition initiatives from all over the world here and browse loads of ideas and resources.

More books. If you’re into reading, dive into this big fat list of recommended books. Every book on this list is part of our personal library, guiding our family as we work on our own resiliency planning.

Again this is just a starting place. You may have a whole different set of resources you’ve found that work for you (good on you if you do) and if you’re up for sharing, please feel free to do so. What websites, books, blogs do you recommend for resiliency and emergency preparedness planning?

Technorati Tags: awareness,books,change,climate change,community,emergency planning,home,hope,peak oil,partnerships,resilience,sustainability,transition okc,transition movement

Soggy and annoyed

Almost daily it seems more studies and data link an increase in extreme weather to climate change. Today NewScientist carried news of a study confirming that …

“ … the devastating floods which damaged nearly 10,000 properties in England and Wales in 2000, and cost £1.3 billion in insurance losses, were made significantly more likely by climate change caused by humans.”

Of course the study is done by mere scientists rather than politicians, so it’s sure to be dismissed by the denier crowd. Sigh. Annoying isn’t it!

Technorati Tags: climate change,rain,weather,fear,floods

Snowpocalypse 2011

White-out. Way-cold. Big-ass drifts. Blizzard! Howling wind. Face-slapping wind. Stinging wind with one step out the door. Single digit temps. Below zero wind chills. New meaning to bone-chilling.

Prior to this, we’d had almost no snow here in Oklahoma this winter. In fact, things were decidedly balmy, as in 70+ degrees last week. At least now we’ve had a spat of real winter, and we get the benefit of moisture which we desperately need. I think most people took heed, stocked up and stayed home. Thank goodness! I worried about the farmers and ranchers and others whose jobs demand they get out, but so far most folks seem to be making the best of a dicey situation.

A few realizations:

It’s never too early to go to the store and stock up on essentials. The weather folks were predicting this storm by Thursday and Friday of last week. The storm hit Monday night and in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. People had a full three-four days of warning. We went and stocked up Saturday when things were still sane. Still, we heard some folks waited until the last minute, and sure enough, there were reports of stores being out of essentials.

You will use more milk. Hot chocolate, cookies and milk, biscuits and gravy, cheese sauce, creamy soups. Blizzards require comfort food. Comfort food requires milk. Stock up!

During a blizzard, there is probably no place outside your house where wood will not get covered in snow. We are lucky to have a wood-burning fireplace. We thought we’d be clever and move the wood pile around to the protected southern side of the house, which has a rather nice and expansive overhang. Forty-five mph wind and blinding snow doesn’t care where you put the wood – they will find it and pile on. So much for our cleverness. Still, it was better than if we’d left the wood in the old spot where there are now two-to-three foot drifts.

Thinking you’ll have time to do things such as snuggling up by the fireplace and reading a good book is probably a fantasy. I don’t know why this is but when you work from home as a rule (I do), and you’re also trying to cook a little, play with your kid or kids a little, or you have visiting parents and you want to be with them some too (my mom), somehow time evaporates even faster than snow on a warm roof once the sun comes out.

Drinking early is advisable. You’re not going anywhere in this kind of weather. Might as well make it interesting. Whether working at home or lounging languidly in front of the fireplace, spike your hot apple cider with wine all day long. Thereafter everything you do is brilliant.

*** Note: This doesn’t mean full-throttled glasses of wine with a splash of cider. Rather full-throttled cider with a splash of wine. Just don’t want anyone going around sayin’ I’m advising you to turn into a boozer.

Technorati Tags: snow,home,blizzard,preparedness

Taking the future into your hands

“We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. We’re going to do some of each. The question is what the mix is going to be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required and the less suffering there will be.” – John Holdren, President’s Science advisor, Harvard University

Last Sunday in “We’re Gonna Be Sorry,” New York Times op-ed columnist, Tom Friedman, quoted from the July newsletter of hedge fund manager Jeremy Grantham, who tells investors “global warming is a classic tragedy of the commons” and asks why we are even arguing the issue anymore. Grantham writes:

“ … the fossil energy companies, driven by the need to protect hundreds of billions of dollars of profits, encourage obfuscation of the inconvenient scientific results. I, for one, admire them for their P.R. skills, while wondering, as always: “Have they no grandchildren?”

And there’s the nut of the issue. This is the future of our children and grandchildren we’re talking about. A child born today will be 40 years old in 2050, in the prime of their life, and unless we change drastically, they’ll be living on a planet that’s crowded and hot and most likely short on a wide range of resources we now take for granted – including the basics such as food and potable water. It could be literally hell on earth. 

A few weeks ago I wrote about climate change in “Welcome to the new usual,” and promised to address mitigation and adaption strategies. The first strategy is simple – take responsibility for your future and that of those you love. Take the future into your hands as though it is a soft mass of moldable clay (and it is) and educate yourself pronto on how to shape it for yourself and for the common good because if you don’t understand the problem, you won’t be able to address what needs to be done in your own home, much less anywhere else. Once you understand what’s happening, then you can begin to act. 

I submit three simple places to start.

1. “The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience,” by Rob Hopkins. Rooted in his Permaculture background (Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human settlements), Rob takes a measured look at the daunting issues of climate change, declining supplies of cheap, easily produced energy, and economic instability and applies sensible creativity and practical mojo. A lot of books on these topics bog down in buzz words, jargon, dense analysis or academic punditry, and in the process they often shortchange readers on solutions. The Transition Handbook bypasses those pitfalls with accessible language, and then spends as much time on a framework for solutions as it does on explaining the issues, envisioning a nourishing and abundant future without fossil fuel dependency. And you just can’t beat the enthusiastic, “yes we can” attitude that pervades the book.

2. Rob’s blog, transitionculture.org, continues the work of “Transition Handbook” in real time. Stay connected with what’s being done around the world and to pertinent news and information useful in a personal or community journey.

3. Katharine Hayhoe’s slide show. Hayhoe is a highly respected expert on climate change, and a reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She knows her stuff! The full slide show is the best I’ve seen at quickly explaining what climate change is, the challenges it poses, and she also manages to debunk every silly denier myth out there. In short, she rocks.

Next strategy: Be a sensible hero. Coming soon.