Sustainable Community: November 9th Meeting (6 pm), Siempre Sustainable Network, Mosaic Community Church-1201 W. Court St., Seguin, TX 78155

Ecological Literacy and Sustainable Livelihoods from Public Schools?

(Position Paper Written to Facilitate the Development of a Panel Discussion
for the November 9th Meeting of the Siempre Sustainable Network)

paul b. martin

“All education is environmental education.” David Orr, Ecologist, Oberlin College

……………………………………
Background. The real crisis in the world is not in the financial economy and its current state, … but rather, the crises in Nature’s economy [severe human poverty and malnutrition (and other physical and mental/spiritual stresses on humans), watershed disruption, top soil loss, dead zones, desertification, loss of diversity and resilience, serious pollution, global climate change, etc., etc.] . Moreover, we are not providing our children (or most of the “adults” around them) with the educational foundation for developing critical thinking and ethical decision-making skills, particularly with regard to the serious long-term ecological challenges.

(Of course in the U.S.A. most of the problems with Nature's economy are out of sight and mind because we have so much power and we suck tremendous resources from all over the world to a relatively small population here in North America--a process which masks and hides the really serious problems our kids and grandkids ... will have to confront with insurmountable difficulties. Moreover, most of us live in such a virtual and unreal reality that whole lives of relative ignorance and procrastination are prevalent--versus what could be fulfilling and spiritually rich and active lives of wisely dealing with real problems.)

The bottom line is that, for the most part sustainable livelihoods do not exist in our very artificial conventional economic systems. Our current (and past) economies, and most of our livelihoods that come from these socio-political/economic systems, are destroying soils, water, the air we breathe, and the climate which sustains life--and these unsustainable livelihoods are doing away with the organisms and their ecological communities with which we as humans must associate for quality life. … They are destroying our humaneness, … our humanity!

Some of us believe we should earnestly begin to attempt to change this unpleasant situation we humans are creating as a result of our development and continued propping up/bandaiding of non-conserving and unsustainable, and non-resilient ecological communities. In particular, we are certain that this major shift in behavior and action must include a comprehensive and intensive long-range plan which would involve (“optimally”) small (less that a 500 student population www.wested.org/online_pubs/po-01-03.pdf ) neighborhood and rural schools—with separate elementary, middle school and high school campuses placed side by side, but in concert with the Land and Nature.

“To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. …
when we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament;
when we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration.”
Wendell Berry, Essayist, Poet, Farmer


Sustainable Livelihoods. We are positive that such an ecologically-sound school system mentioned in the previous section, can definitely help to realize sustainable livelihoods for local communities and the world, … livelihoods which involve some of the following:

0 Educated holistic and ethical decision-makers
0 Folk who dedicate their lives to targeting the poor with education, knowledge, franchisement, empowerment, power, and resources
0 Organic farmers who are “truly organic” in a holistic sense
0 Urban farmers and rural farmer-ranchers who produce grass-fed and browse-fed meat animals on a small and large scale
0 Holistic low-input community gardeners
0 Health care professionals who holistically and comprehensively practice preventative care on a local level … first and foremost!—and curative care when needed (and who develop health care systems that particularly target the poor)
0 Lawyers who mostly help the poor (including other species)
0 Bankers supporting microloan/microenterprise systems which are conserving and sustainable
0 Blue collar workers who make enough for a good quality life
0 White collar workers who make enough for a good quality life. But no more!
0 Architects who design conserving and sustainable built-systems
0 Builders of small ecological-friendly homes
0 Constructors and maintainers of transport systems primarily involving bicycles, trains, buses, and modern clipper ships http//:adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003APS..DFD.MH007D
0 Seekers of low input/throughput/output systems involving ethical use of what is truly “renewable energy”
0 Effective and efficient communicators who work in inexpensive low input systems
0 Systems analyzers and researchers who can effectively communicate the state of the state/the world in terms of material flow and energy flux—inputs, throughputs, and outputs; ... also, teams producing life cycle assessments for products/systems
0 Scientists who truly seek knowledge vs. technicians and technologists who attempt to bring the Land/Nature “to its knees” in service to humans
0 Guardians of diverse native living communities of organisms (including in bays and estuaries); ample amounts of good clean water and air; rich, deep, living top soils; and ethical use of energy
0 Ethical naturalists
0 Readers who seek socio-political/economic (ecological) knowledge about how to live well in a place
0 Human cultures who respect other human cultures, traditions and rituals
0 A human culture that respects the Nature, the Land
0 Ecological historians
0 Local, homegrown entertainers who are relatively “low input”/”low maintenance”
0 Everyone actively participating in local low maintenance sports and entertainment
0 Politicians and bureaucrats/policy-makers at all levels who work intelligently and prudently to facilitate change toward “conservation and development of sustainable community”
0 Teachers of reading, writing and arithmetic who are striving to meet our local and global challenges within a holistic, participatory/hands-on, site-based curriculum of applied ecology
0 True Peacemakers
0 Folk in all disciplines and roles in life who are Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecologists and who live light on the Land

“My own preference is for an environmentalism that talks about ethics and aesthetics rather than about resources and economics, that places priority on the survival of the living world of plants and animals regardless of their productive value, that cherishes what nature’s priceless beauty can add to our deeper-than-economic well-being.”
Don Worster, Environmental Historian, University of Kansas




Questions for the Panel of Experts in the Field of Education. I am certain each and every one of the panel members feels strongly that there is much room for improvement in our public schools. However, differences arise when we begin to discuss what?, where?, when? and how? we need to go about realizing improvement. The questions listed below will hopefully provide some initial insight into how this community and others might move forward toward providing sustainable livelihoods and quality life for all—locally and globally:

Briefly tell the audience what the term “quality life in community” means to you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life

What is education for? www.context.org/ICLIB/IC27/Orr.htm

What is the most important change we can make in our public schools in order to realize quality life locally and worldwide … for as many folk as possible, and for as long as possible?

What are your thoughts concerning ecological literacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_literacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_economics and the importance of such?

Discuss the importance of keeping schools small, “neighborly” and rural—and in concert with the environment.

Discuss the role of schools in community and the need for schools to be “truly Green” holistically, and in concert with the local ecological community of diverse organisms?

Do you believe a “charter school”-initiative targeting low-income families and involving a small middle-school student population--and an ecologically-sound, socially just and humane mindset--might be effective in improving our public school system? Could you actively support a charter school in your current situation, i.e., primarily in an advisory capacity and through possible collaboration with institutions/entities you represent?

What are some other suggestions for moving us toward:
· ecological literacy?
· sustainable livelihoods?
· and communities which are ecologically-sound, socially just and humane?

San Antonio political history - 2003

Opinion: How the Hell Did We Get in This Mess?
March 13, 2003
Published in the San Antonio Current

BY MICHAEL CARY
Federal indictments, an eroded trust in City government, lifeless politicians, apathetic voters: With a Council election two months away, these are not the best of times for San Antonio politics.
Heading into the May 3, 2003 municipal election, City Hall reeks of scandal. District 5 Councilman David Garcia resigned over charges that he misappropriated campaign finance funds; District 2's John Sanders and District 4's Enrique "Kike" Martin face bribery charges stemming from law enforcement sting operations aimed at curbing corruption in Alamotown.
By appointing former Mayor Lila Cockrell to head his commission on trust and integrity, Mayor Ed Garza has made overtures to prompt City Council to clean up its act. Yet in its analysis, the panel acknowledged that previous "findings and recommendations of citizen commissions have been ignored or forgotten, adding to a sense of futility on the part of the public." So far, Council has shown no signs of changing the status quo at City Hall.
It is time to ask the questions: How did San Antonio politics fall into such a sorry state? And should local citizens trust any remedies proposed by City leaders?
Part of the answer can be found in the rise of the pro-business Good Government League in the 1950s, its decline in the early 1970s, and its current revival in the form of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
Henry Cisneros rose like a Phoenix from the GGL's ashes and evolved into a pro-business Supermayor in the 1980s, setting the tone for today's City Hall. In the 1990s, self-appointed tax watchdog and Cisneros critic, C.A. Stubbs and his conservative Homeowner Taxpayers' Association, convinced the community that term limits would solve problems at City Hall - and subsequently, term limits were imposed and remain in effect today.
Add to the political complexity the increasing demand from Chicanos and African Americans to participate in the political process; yet, some elected officials such as David Garcia have failed to represent their constituents, further disenfranchising them.
History has repeated itself: The Greater Chamber and others who seek financial gain stand at the helm of city government and perpetuate the illusion that ordinary citizens, including Chicanos and African-Americans, have a modicum of power.
A BRIEF, SORDID HISTORY OF SA POLITICS
The agenda at weekly City Council meetings reflects and responds to the interests of big
business. This is how the ruling class has conducted itself for decades - even a millennium.
Begin with the conquistadores who invaded México and the New World with the publicly stated intent of spreading the word of God to the pagans. In reality, their purpose was to murder and enslave the indigents, mine the riches, and ship the spoils home to the king of Spain. The defenders of the Alamo cried "liberty and justice for all," but their underlying agenda was economic: to take the land and its wealth for themselves and their kin who poured into Texas, seeking their fortunes.
In the 20th century, "San Antonio's urban political history followed a pattern similar to other Sunbelt cities," wrote Kemper Diehl and Jan Jarboe in Cisneros: Portrait of a New American, published in 1984. "The 1940s saw the rise and fall of flamboyant municipal reformers; the 1950s and early 1960s were decades of sleepy efficiency when city government was in the hands of a few businessmen; and the late 1960s and early 1970s saw previously dormant interest groups demand power."
Fast forward to 1951, when the City Charter was changed in response to, (you guessed it) political corruption at City Hall and the rise of the Good Government League was imminent. The charter change demoted the mayor to a ceremonial leader, with an equal vote among other council members, and placed the real power in the hands of a city manager, the system that is in operation today. Simply put, the city manager and staff follow policy set by the City Council, but the daily operation of the community- managing growth, providing public works, public safety, and trash pickup - is coordinated through the City Manager's office. However, fulfilling that responsibility is a huge undertaking for a City this size.
Elected city council members who have a single vote face a daunting task of learning how City Hall works and how to meet the perceived needs of their constituents.
Tucker Gibson, professor and chairman of the political science department of Trinity University, explained that the strength of business' influence over City Hall was due to the Good Government League's grip on the amateur political scene from about 1955 to 1975. That influence - even without the Good Government League - lingers today. "They [the GGL] were not Democratic or Republican, but they called themselves an association," he explained. "They recruited candidates for City Council, but did it secretly. They raised funds, ran slates of candidates and they dominated city politics for a 20-year period."
According to Rodolfo Rosales' book, The Illusion of Inclusion: The Untold Political Story of San Antonio, "The new political arrangements brought about by the business community in 1951 were certainly not intended to create independent representation for the Chicano community, and they did not.
However, a consequence of this more open political environment was that it set in motion a more competitive political environment that eventually brought about in the 1970s independent political representation for the Chicano community, a situation without precedent in San Antonio in this century."
Rosales, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, credits the Chicano movement for changing the city's political face. "Mexican- Americans don't get credit for shit, except making tamales," Rosales said recently. "I started out with giving credit to Mexican-Americans who changed politics in San Antonio. We changed the town."
Rosales pointed out that the Good Government League was focused on the goals of the Greater San
Antonio Chamber of Commerce: growth, expansion, and economic development. Yet, Chicanos, many of whom opposed the Good Government League, fought for representation through organizations such as the Bexar County Democratic Coalition, which included liberal North Side Anglos and East Side African- American leaders. As minorities were elected to office, they made inroads at county and state levels, but the city's political climate remained static until 1973, when independent candidate Charlie Becker ousted Good Government League-backed candidate Roy Barrera in an at-large election for City Council.
Meanwhile, in 1974, Henry G. Cisneros gave up an offer to teach at MIT, packed up his family and returned home to take a teaching slot at UTSA. "When Henry Cisneros returned to San Antonio, the city was in chaos," Diehl and Jarboe wrote in their profile of his political career. "The GGL, the conservative political organization which had run the city for 20 years was in shambles.
The Anglo business establishment was divided into two warring factions. City government was paralyzed. Ethnic tensions ran high as Mexican-Americans made a long overdue, but painful drive for power."
Cisneros broke with the liberal Chicano ranks and ran on the West Side Good Government League ticket, winning the Place 3 spot on City Council in 1975. "This is not a time for complacency," read one of his campaign ads in a local newspaper. "It is time to thrust for our full potential as individuals and as a people. This being done, there shall be no excuses for the generations that follow." Cisneros linked economic development, not social welfare programs, to lifting San Antonio out of the wage doldrums - at a time when the average annual per capita income was $5,672.
Cisneros cast a crucial City Council vote concerning the U.S. Department of Justice's edict that the city change its charter to allow single-member voting districts to ensure that minorities were represented. The Justice Department put the hammer down after the city annexed huge properties on the North Side, adding many Anglo voters to the mix.
As a result of Cisneros' vote, the City conducted a referendum on the single-member districts rather than fight the order in court; with more than 52 percent of the vote, the proposal won to change the city charter. As a result, in 1977, five Chicanos and one African-American won council seats, giving minorities the majority at City Hall.
Cisneros served as a bridge between Anglos and Hispanics, and was a political shining star in the eyes of the nation; Walter Mondale considered him as a running mate during the 1984 presidential election. Cisneros had the backing of influential men such as B.J. "Red" McCombs, Jim Dement, Jim Uptmore, Ray Ellison and the newly organized North Side Chamber of Commerce, which took offense at the Government League's financial pact with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to promote economic development in San Antonio. When Cisneros ran for mayor in 1981 against
Good Government Leaguer John Steen, one investor quipped, "What this election is really about is the Oak Hills Country Club (in the Medical Center) versus the San Antonio Country Club, and us Oak Hills boys are going to beat the hell out of the old guys."
In 1988, Cisneros' reputation was slightly tarnished after the San Antonio Current published an interview in which he admitted having an Anglo girlfriend, whom he refused to name. A few days later, a daily newspaper columnist revealed the shocking news that the media had known about the affair for more than a year, but had remained mum at the behest of wealthy powermongers: Henry had a girlfriend and her name was Linda Medlar. He stepped down as mayor in 1989, citing other reasons.
Personal relationships aside, Cisneros served three terms as city councilman and three terms as mayor, and gave the public the much-ridiculed Alamodome - what the Current dubbed the "Dillodome," then the "Tacodome," and what other pundits (Michael Cary) called the "Bubbadome."
C.A. Stubbs referred to the domed stadium as Henry's Folly. What really rankled opponents of the dome is that Cisneros billed it as a venue suitable to host a National Football League team when he pitched the project to the public. Then he later retracted, stating he never really said the Alamodome was specifically for an NFL team. The stadium stands as a monument of the legacy of Cisneros, Supermayor with highly developed persuasive powers.
Cisneros had political opponents, and his greatest detractor was self-appointed tax watchdog C.A. Stubbs. A retired computer systems employee of Civil Service at Kelly AFB and founder of the Homeowner Taxypayer Association, Stubbs is partly responsible for the term limits enacted today.
Stubbs, who turned 80 in January, and who bills himself as "the No. 1 tax watchdog in Texas," turned over leadership of the Homeowner Taxpayer Association in 1990 to run a statewide, fiscally conservative group. "I was a staunch opponent of Henry Cisneros. I still am," he said recently. "I helped to set up term limits (at City Hall) because of Henry."
Term limits are the legacy of the HTA, and the center of a 1991 referendum battle. Since that public vote, a council member can serve only two, 2-year terms and
is banned from serving in that office again; the same restrictions
apply to the mayor. The effects of term limits have contributed to the Council's current woes, explained Tucker Gibson of Trinity University. "From my perspective, you get a number of things. One, it potentially expands power of the bureaucracy. Members of the City Council know little about parliamentary procedure. There is no institutional memory and no knowledge of policy. People come to the table with less experience."
Gibson added that people who now get elected to a council seat have an agenda to pursue, but by the time two terms have lapsed, it is hard to pursue it. "By the time you are on your agenda, you're finished unless you run for mayor."
Rodolfo Rosales' contended - accurately - that the inclusion of minorities in city government is merely an illusion. Big business still has its way at City Hall, and with term limits in place, it's nigh impossible to fight the system. A lack of partisan politics - Democrats versus Republicans - results in an absence of political party slates. Following the charter change in 1977, Rosales said, "The city council came up with a 10-1 plan, the mayor-council government. But, they missed the boat. The GGL was a party, but the non-partisan rule excluded political parties. That is the crux of the issue. You don't have an agenda by which to keep candidates accountable."
Ordinary citizens who are gnashing their molars and plugging in the plancha to iron out the kinks in their voter registration cards might believe that by electing new faces to City Hall, things will change - but the prospect is dim. Historically, big business interests dominate the language of the agenda, and Council members and the mayor have individual goals to work into the city government. The system works in perpetuity, as new faces are elected and placed on the Council dais, and new rounds of negotiations begin.
First, big business gets a huge slice of the pie, with the leftovers to be fought over by the citizens who have to pay the baker.
San Antonio is not going to fall into a giant sinkhole if we experiment with the City Charter in an effort to put ordinary citizens on equal terms with power-hungry business interests.
The ethics panel has recommended term limits and lifetime bans for those who have served be terminated and that the mayor and council members get paid living-wage salaries. The
City has survived numerous forms of government, and its citizens have proven resilient enough to accept - or resist - a changing of the guard. •

A brief history of eminent domain

"Texas has a higher level of concern because roots to the land are deeper... You're entering the land of the unhappy people."
A King's Divine Right

A brief history of eminent domain

10/14/04

By Michael Cary
San Antonio Current
Copyright 2004

Domingo Castelo had served five years in the Presidio of San Luis de Las Amarillas by June 21, 1762. He sent a letter to the governor and captain general of the Province of Texas and the New Philippines, continuing to plead for a "single lot on which to earn my living," in the City of San Fernando.

Governor Angel De Martos y Navarrete granted a lot 80 varas square in the vicinity of San Pedro Creek, near his mother in law's property. "He must plant trees and vegetables and occupy the land within the fixed period, with the understanding that if he does not comply," the governor wrote, "the land will be declared unoccupied and uncultivated and may be granted to any other deserving person who may present a petition for it."

This was colonial Spain's version of eminent domain. The school of thought was that God gave the right of eminent domain to the king, and the king gave it to the viceroy, who gave it to the Spanish governor, who parceled it out to settlers. Yet, the king always had the right to reclaim his land for the public good.

Castelo was dead by 1770, and the property was reallocated to a succession of settlers. But Castelo's wife, María Ejeciaca Rodriguez petitioned to reclaim the land, and in 1778, Alcalde Phelix Menchaca restored her title after determining that she had made improvements with a fence and a water conduit for irrigation on the property.

María won her case in a time when rebellious British colonists had yet to pen the U.S. Constitution, and include the last line in the Fifth Amendment which reads: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Note two key words, "public use" and "just compensation."

"Eminent domain is the exclusive right of the state, county and the city to exercise discretion in taking private property," says Suzette Berry, a senior analyst in the Bexar County Clerk's office, which oversees the collection and storage of public records. "But it has to be for a HemisFair or to build expressways, with a purpose to serve all of the citizens."

The first eminent domain case on record in the courthouse (from the Republic of Texas era) was dated June 11, 1885, and pitted the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway Co. against property owner George Witte. The railroad had its heart set on a 600-foot wide swath of land between the San Antonio River and Probandt Street for a railroad right of way. The railroad won the first of a series of cases, and Witte was paid $125 for his property.

"Eminent domain removes your right to property, and the rights to water and minerals under that property - you can kiss that oil well goodbye, too," says Berry.

Jump ahead to November 1964, when the Texas Attorney General conducted a seminar for attorneys who had worked, or were about to work, on eminent domain cases. "While the concept of eminent domain stretches back in time to almost the beginning of law ... the development of this area of law, as we know it today, has taken place almost entirely within the past 15 years," explained Assistant Attorney General Hawthorne Phillips.

The Texas Highway Department had only three attorneys working condemnation cases in 1958, but by 1964, there were 30 attorneys involved with condemnations for interstate highway rights of way.

San Antonio residents were getting a taste of it from the north, south, and downtown. Families were displaced in the 1960s to make way for HemisFair and the convention center, as urban renewal programs opted to demolish neighborhoods instead of rebuilding them.

And the highways were indeed coming. City Council in August 1963 approved a "schematic" for the North Expressway, known today as Highway 281 and Interstate 37. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word didn't have to consult an oracle to see what would happen to them. The highway plan published in local newspapers showed the project's first route would cut through the Incarnate Word High School Campus.

The sisters hired attorney Pat Maloney and filed suit. The state attorney general's office was prepared to use taxpayer money to condemn the property. Other lawsuits followed, and the newspapers reported that City Hall had hinted at following a strategy to get a court to "stop legal bushwhacking of the freeway program." Maloney promised "a decade of court action."

But Incarnate Word was not only concerned about the taking of property. There was the integrity of Olmos Dam, the San Antonio Zoo, the Japanese/Chinese Sunken Gardens and the theater. The Conservation Society, led by Wanda Ford, sued to protect Brackenridge Park. Ford faced the prospect of losing her home to the project.

It was the first time the nation would build a highway through a school campus. Another irksome fact was that an alternate route would have followed Devine Road through the "walled city" of Olmos Park, but political pressure convinced the state to avoid building a highway through a municipality that did not want a highway. "A nun and a college administrator have to stand up here today to defend themselves against bricks, mortar and asphalt taking precedence over an educational institution which has given outstanding service to the city for some 100 years," said Sister Thomas Greenberg, president of Incarnate Word.

The nuns settled with the City for $972,000, and a walkway over the highway that twists and turns wildly on its route from Corpus Christi to Wichita Falls. Legal strategy and political clout delayed its opening until 1978. Ultimately, the City has benefited from the highway project, says former mayor Howard Peak IV, whose father had joined a lawsuit as an individual in the 1960s against building the expressway. "The net result was a roadway realigned to minimize the taking of the park, and so while it was long and involved, and expensive, some good did come out of it," says Peak. "In the end, the City would be in a bit of a mess if we didn't have the freeway."

Although eminent domain is used throughout the U.S., in Texas the stakes are higher, says County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff. "Texas has a higher level of concern because roots to the land are deeper. Land is 98 percent privately owned. You're entering the land of the unhappy people."

Just ask Elizabeth Small, whose grandfather was Edward Patrick Walsh. The Walsh Ranch along the Medina River had been in the family since the Spanish granted the land to them in 1794. Then in the late 1980s, the City decided it wanted a large piece of Walsh property to build a giant mosquito bog, the Applewhite Reservoir. Edward Walsh encountered then-mayor Henry Cisneros in an elevator in a local hospital and was told, "We're gonna get your ranch."

Small contends that the Walsh Ranch was chosen for political reasons. She says the City left the nearby Strauss Ranch alone, since that family carries more political clout. And today, the Walsh Ranch is under construction as Toyota Acres.

"In 1991, the condemnation was very rough on the family," says Small, who grew up on the ranch. "We were told the only thing the land was good for was for tire recycling or trailer parks. Then suddenly it was too valuable to sell back to us, and they were using taxes to condemn our property." "They weren't too sensitive to the family," says Rickhoff, referring to the City's tactic in the Applewhite episode.

The Small family has located another ranch farther south, near Pleasanton, and Elizabeth has graduated from UTSA with a degree in marketing and is moving on with her life, although it still hurts to think about losing 5,000 acres and a family homestead. "It's hard to drive by there, very hard. It was a unique place."

There were 67 condemnation cases before two probate courts in Bexar County in 2002. There were 35 in 2003, and 39 so far in 2004. Various public entities, including the City, the State, school districts, and even Canyon Regional Water Authority, have filed the cases, and the public rarely gets a glimpse of them. On the City side, condemnation proceedings are listed under the "Consent" portion of the City Council Agenda, and rarely get a mention in public.

But the results can be seen everywhere, in drainage or utility easements, or property taken for a road project. There is one substantial example on the City's North Side, along Babcock Road, between De Zavala and Hausman roads. The City condemned property owned by the Bertetti Family Trust, paid more than $600,000 for the property, and built a new bridge over Leon Creek.

Owning a piece of property and a home has for decades been the American Dream, but if the Kingdom of Government wants its property back, there's nothing to do but jump out of the way of the legal bulldozer known as eminent domain.

Toll roads dead?

There was a room full of angry cattle ranchers in the room when the Texas highway department rolled out its Trans Texas Corridor, which showed routes across their property lines in Wilson County. I know because I squeezed among them to look at the highway plans.
Texas already has lots of great farm to market roads that are well paved and can get the motorist to just about anywhere in the state, so I really didn't agree with the need to widen every rural highway to 16 lanes in each direction.
Of course there are plenty of other reasons I will not be voting in the "red" column in the November 2010 election.

Life in Coastal Bend

My ancestors did not observe property lines. Maps and other man made delineations of the planet for the purposes of marking territory have resulted in senseless wars, starvation, human slavery, etcetera. Will the rising ocean waters create a new world order, where there are not any more "no trespassing signs?

What I'm Certain of--I think??!!??

Taxes, death; change.
.............................
As a 62 + year-old skeptic and agnostic, and as a biologist/ecologist who was (somewhat) educated in the sciences and scientific method, ecological principles and processes--I recognize the uncertainty of dynamic earth systems. I am humbled by virtue of my/our ignorance, by the virtues of ignorance www.landinstitute.org/pages/Virtues-of-Ignorance-Order-Form.pdf , and my/our extremely limited capacity to learn. ... I know that I/we know so very little when consideration is given to what there is to know--and to the complex and fluid processes of the earth/the universe.

Therefore I strongly believe a tenet for resilience and sustainability for sociological/ecological systems is that of possessing caution and tentativeness--and the necessity of adherence to the precautionary principle www.sehn.org/precaution.html .

For these (and other) reasons I strongly believe:

• Might doesn't make right. ... And there should be mechanisms to reduce individual and collective "power and might" and to move toward a more equitable situation.
• Power should be diffused to the point that we all realize our right to sustainable livelihoods, good nutrition and exercise, and preventative and curative health care.
• Salary/income caps need to be implemented.
• War is never the answer!
• "Killing to fix" is (generally) not the answer. Give the system (body, community, agricultural system, ecosystem, country, world) a chance to "Naturally" heal. ... Don't play God.
• Unilateral disarmament is needed--and right now!
• Capital punishment is wrong.
• Rampant artificial change though capitalism, consumerism, industrialism, informationism (or any other "ism") should be strongly/tightly regulated.
• Economic growth, consumption by humans and population growth must be controlled.
• Monotheistic (Catholic, Protestant Christian, Muslim, Jewish) God's Will is very dangerous.
• Small, decentralized, participatory systems are beautiful. www.ecobooks.com/books/smbeaut.htm

Theater celebrates Banned Books Week

RIALTO THEATER, ARANSAS PASS, TX
Performances Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.; Tickets: $12.00
The words of Mark Twain, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Maya Angelou, Judy Blume- all great and inspirational American literature- ALL BANNED at some point in American history. In this Readers Theater, a small cast of actors will revive some of the most memorable moments in literature. From the great American novel to Where's Waldo?, audiences will find that no work is immune to censorship on some social, political, and/or religious level. As tribute to Banned Book Week and in celebration of our democratic freedom to read, this performance was organized by Jerry Halpin.

This special performance runs Friday and Saturday, October 2-3 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $12.00. Rialto Theater, 327 S. Commercial Street, Aransas Pass. For more information, call 361-758-0383.

Find Winston here

Have moved to the Coastal Bend, New Philippines. See updated into about Winston at above web site.

Ecological Economics: Beyond the Growth Paradigm/or Beyond the Mindless Conversion of Nature/the Land to "Artificial"

Ethically practicing applied biology involves respect and protection of other peoples/cultures, species, topsoil, water, the atmosphere ... which are essential for quality life.


Neoclassical economics and conventional business systems involve consumption, resource extraction and pollution as if: other peoples/cultures aren't important, "topsoil doesn't exist", and quality water and air can endlessly be available for their fallacious economic engines. These systems, including myopic religious "fundamentalists" and addicted frivilous consumers, involve a pervasive ignoring of the need to realize and maintain low input/throughput/output energy flux in order to realize sustainable quality life throughout the earth ecosystems.

The latest issue of Adbusters magazine, Thought Control in Economics, does an excellent job of succinctly but thoroughly making these and related points. https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/85

Natural Spirituality

Creation is the Creator!

Global Climate Change, Etc.

I support:

carbon taxing (including taxing gasoline/other fossil fuels to rapidly get them to $8++/gallon);

conservation, efficiency; ecological economics/pricing schemes to reduce electrical usage;

policy/practices to increase Natural stable soil organic matter (increase the fixing of carbon/carbon dioxide into living organisms/complex organic compounds);

policy/practices to increase the Natural health of worldwide bays, estuaries,and other rich biotic areas of the ocean (and hopefully to increase fixing carbon/carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate and related compounds);

biodiversity;

small (homes, work places, farms, ...) and slow (buses, trains, ...);

weaning ourselves from conventional hot water heaters, clothes dryers, air-conditioning, lighting;

Nature, rural and small towns vs. urban/suburban;

policy-programs to move toward more walking/bicycling/mass transport and ridding the world of automobiles;

moving to an ecologically-sound steady-state economy; an anti-stimulus package; much of what is in the Green Party platform;

policies/actions that redistribute wealth/power toward the poor/powerless of the world;

policies for retrofitting the homes of the poor toward efficiency and conservation of energy;

small local neighborhood/rural schools that develop local and global ecological literacy in a holistic/transdisciplinary; hands-on fashion;

policies/programs for local food/fiber/shelter production/processing;

universal health care;

not dwelling on how much better others are than we are (because we are truly "the same");

a diversity of robust scientific endeavors/policy approaches that attempt to deal with the complexity of what we need to know for good socio-political/economic (ecological) decisions (because we know so little);

scientific research results, policy proposals, opinions that are written succinctly and well, and that are published in referred journals;

local community action, collaboration and "stick-to-itness";

critical thinking that is holistically based on ecological principles/processes;

my spouse, my kids, my extended family, many cultural traditions/customs, sense of place and community, Natural spirituality;

prudence;

caution and tentativeness;

humility.

kilocalories = Calories (w/ a capital "C"): Response to a Brother

"Kilocalorie" is the "Calorie-term" (big "C") the public generally uses when dealing with measurements of energy.
(We can convert kilocalories to joules--used by physicists and other scientists; or to BTUs--used in the energy industry, etc. ... However, I believe most folk can most easily think in "Calories".)

o We need ca. 2000 kilocalories (or Calories) of food intake per day for body maintenance depending on weight, activities, metabolism/metabolic rate, etc..

Folk who make <$2 per day make it on 1500-5000-10,000 Kilocalories per day*.

We in the U.S. (and in many other parts of the "developed" world--or the Haves in "less developed") make it on 200,000 to 400,000+ kilocalories per day*. [We need to bring the 3 billion or so folk making it on 10,000 kilocalories up to 10-50,000 kilocalories per capita per day (for "quality life")--and we need to come down to that (or risk serious species destruction).] ...
One can do a little playing round with the numbers--and do a little thought-experimenting and modeling-- and see that if we did that, we'd solve many of our problems: energy "needs", energy-greed impacts on other species, etc.
Of course the daunting challenge is: coming up with the socio-political/economic system redesign to make this happen--and making a smooth transition to truly sustainable community. It is obvious that a free-enterprise, libertarian, capitalistic, trickle-down/deregulated economic system will not get us there!

o There is quite a bit of carpooling in this south central Texas region (though not percent-wise)--and plenty of websites dealing with car-pooling. (In the 80s/90s I "carpooled" to Austin from San Marcos in a van.) ... But this is a "band aid" approach.


o Increased efficient use of home insulation (and other means of effectively maintaining a comfortable home in a sustainable way) is needed--and penalty/incentive strategies/tactics should be employed to increase cost-effective, ecologically-sound home insulation. (A major energy "leakage" is in rent & owned homes of the poor--and some in the environmental community in San Antonio, and other communities, are attempting to address this in a comprehensive and long-term way).


Communication in a face-paced chaotic world of ca. 7 billion humans is really difficult!**
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*[Of course this includes all our food, fiber, shelter, transport, recreation, luxury, ... "needs".]

**What is written herein includes basic vocabulary and concepts of fundamentals of biology/ecology that every citizen should develop--through public schooling, continuing education from public institutions, public service announcements communication/shortcourses, etc. and reading--in order to develop and realize critical thinking skills.

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What a Real Maverick, Maury Jr., Called Succotash

Communication Toward Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology. If we can view local community from the inside and from the outside in a holistic way, it helps in doing what’s "right" and making constructive change toward quality life for all for a long period of time. … And there are many ways (knowledgeable, courageous leadership; grassroots community organizing; good investigative journalism; petitions; op-eds/letters to editors; etc.; etc.) to effect such appropriate change, i.e., change to:

o Respect the need for scientific knowledge of ecological principles and processes, which includes socio-economic/political actions of what is now the dominant species (humans).
o Target the poor with power and resources.
o Curb consumption and increase ethical transformation of energy. (This must include fewer automobiles, low square-footage of home space and built capital per capita, local production of food, fiber and shelter, small neighborhood and rural schools promoting “Lands On” ecological literacy, and local community-directed preventative-health care and healthy living.)
o Give the nations of the world—and people of the world—the courage and means to lay down all arms and armaments.
o Establish holistic, dynamic and sustainable decision-making processes in manageable wholes, and involving goals (of desired quality life, landscape, and needed production), policies, strategic and tactical plans, monitoring, analysis, evaluation and replanning.
o Redesign our current socio-economic, political systems in a holistic way toward sustainability.

Efforts to Turn Around Global Climate Change and Other Ecological Disasters Must Lead to Sustainable Livelihoods for All. Those who worry about losing jobs because of concerted efforts to deal with global climate change have reason for concern if they plan to continue doing “business as usual”.

o Consumption and lack of conservation, growth, rampant conversion of natural capital to human financial and built capital, use of GDP as a measure of sustainability and quality life are major aspects of “the problem”, and we who have undue power need to come off of our consumption levels of up to 400, 000 kilocalories per capita per day, and help billions of others to increase their levels from a few thousand kilocalories per day to 5-10 times those current levels.
o Present ways of “living” involving conventional consumerism and capitalism are very problematic. … We need to move from such systems of bio-destructive livelihoods toward sustainable livelihoods www.livelihoods.org/ .
o We must begin to make the transition from our currently very broken systems dependent on economic growth to systems involving ecological economics proposed by Herman Daly, H.T.Odum, David Pimentel, Robert Costanza, Gus Speth, et al.

Learning About “Ecological Economics”, “Sustainable Livelihoods”, “Conservation and Development of Sustainable Community”, and “Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology”. There is much really good educational scientific information on conservation and sustainable community coming out, and I hope we all will become more knowledgeable in these areas and truly begin to work together for PEACE. (I’ll try to list some of the really great books, scientific journal and magazine articles, film, pieces “on-line” and in newsletters, etc. that have come out recently.

But in the meantime, … “Google on!”)

Doing What’s Right in Seguin (and Other Communities). I do hope our community leaders (Mayor & City Council--and associated governmental entities, County Commissioners Court, School Board, etc.) will have the courage to do what is right, and-- through creative and critical thinking and courageous/prudent risk-taking--

o Move us toward a system of small neighborhood & rural schools providing holistic ecological literacy.
o Promote local agricultural food (fiber and shelter) production, community gardens, farmers markets, etc.
o Encourage conservation and develop creative curbside trash and recycling pickups that are fair for the poor, and involve sliding-scale fees--that encourage a reduction of disposables and decrease in consumption.
o Facilitate a transition to intra- and inter-city transport/people-moving systems involving walking, bicycling, and mass transport.
o Curb growth and protect and enhance green space and biodiversity.
o Develop a healthy, relatively drug-free community of citizens among all ethnicities and economic levels.

We (Seguin/Seguinities) could be a model for President Barack Obama, other communities, and the world, rather than always cautiously following in the footsteps of others—oftentimes not thinking about whether the direction is “right” or wrong.

Gadfly, Thorn in the Side, Pain in the Butt, Fly in the Oinment, Quixotic

(The title indicates some of the nicer things I've been called through the years.)

o If the poor in a community aren't using "Green" technologies, projects, and programs, and these poor aren't being "Green", then these technologies, projects, and programs aren't Green. ...

Moreover, the community isn't Green (or sustainable)!

o If the poor of the world aren't significantly benefiting in a healthy way from "Green" technologies and programs, etc.--and "Green" technologies, etc., etc. aren't helping the poor to move toward quality life, sustainable livelihoods, equity and equality, then "Green" really ain't Green! ...

And it definitely isn't sustainable.

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o Sustainable systems involve deliberate, empowering human labor (sustainable livelihoods involving less than a 40-hour week of labor, good health care with an emphasis on prevention, and time for community and celebration), low-input technologies, and ethical use of energy.

Systems involving high input technologies, including most internal combustion engines, and emphasis on pseudo-efficiency and speed, are not healthy, Green or sustainable.

HOPE expressed in the Nov 2008 Dr. Bill Martin TX MONTHLY article on the COVENANT CHURCH

I really appreciated a number of my cousin Bill Martin's phrases in this Texas Monthly article (Covenant Church, Faith Base: Reviews of Place of Worship, Nov. 2008) he sent me in response to some of my comments in my previous post:

"I am also an amateur worshipper with a 'church home' of my own, one that I attend simply for the love of it."

"Fittingly a metal cross that sits atop the communion table usually tilts slightly to the left."

"'Pray to whomever you kneel down to' ... (Jesus, Buddha, Adonai, Allah, and Mary, ... ) ... ."

"The unison prayer of confession recalled Jesus' observations in the Sermon on the Mount about humility, meekness, hunger, purity of heart, peacemaking, and persecution, contrasting them with arrogance, false independence, gluttony, aggression, half-hearted commitment, and failure to take a stand."

"Jeremy [the Covenant Church's current minister] compared [controversial Jesuit priest Daniel] Berrigan's actions to those of the priest and prophet Jeremiah, who had mocked the illusionary idols of Israel. He depicted American military might as just such a false god, unable to deliver the security it promises. Though he conceded that reasonable spending on defense is warranted, he said that when the outlay for tanks and missiles requires the neglect of hunger, health care, and the education of children [of the world], we have laid our money at the wrong altar."

"... congregants gathered to visit, drink fair-trade coffee, eat healthy snacks, and sign up for various projects, such as marching in the gay pride parade to support our gay and lesbian members. At another table people wrote letters to their representatives in Congress ... ."

Hypocrisy

This was in an email sent from a brother today:

"It is sad that Israel is bombing Gaza City. It is sad that the children were killed in the last Afghan bombing.

You know I went to church ... yesterday, and the preacher never mentioned the plight that so many areas and people of the world are in today.

It is so sad that such a venue is not used to solve the problems of the world. Never once did he say - 'Wow, can you believe the problems global warming is causing.' ... 'We need to lobby for alternate means of transportation so we can all sell our gas guzzling cars.' Or, 'Can you believe what happened in Gaza City? We need to unite and work to put an end to such action.' He didn't even say - 'Wow, can you believe the killing going on in the Gaza Strip and Afghanistan? Let's take a moment and pray for those people.'"


I responded to my dear brother (somewhat indirectly and off-topic):

"A wonderful friend from Brazil, was giving me hell during this trip over Christmas to Rio--for being a hypocrite:

Despite my being an agnostic from about my Junior High School days-- I have gone to Mass fairly regularly/irregularly through the years, have been a Parish Council President (Father Rayner Dray in Tifton asked me to run for this office during a church-building period, despite his knowledge of my "agnosticism") and I taught Middle School CCD ("conservation and development of sustainable community") here at at Our Lady of Guadalupe for 15+ years, etc., etc.. (I am a "Catholic"; it is a part of my software--since Mom, with Dad's support, saw to it that we were produced in that cultural tradition; and I feel comfortable participating as a "sinner" and "lost soul" in my church ... at our local Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, and in the larger sense of "Church".)

I do recognize that I can be/am very hypocritical--but I also recognize the hypocrisy of others ('Christians' who support War and Capital Punishment; 'environmentalists'/'Greenies' with big homes and automobiles--and conventional-air-conditioning; 'conservatives' who don't really support conservation; folk who de facto don't seek real solutions to poverty, problems in our educational systems, and the serious troubles we've been in since the advent of capitalism and the industrial revolution; those who 'Hope/hope' only through prayer and not through scientific knowledge, critical/creative thinking and action; etc.; etc..

I do think it is important to discuss this hypocrisy ... ours and that of others!"

Cuba

[This is something from several years ago which Robert Cruz--a friend since childhood--asked me to send him ... after discussion of a multitude of things during a long phone visit yesterday. It is summary of a 20-page report and related thoughts, which I might post herein later (after a bit of editing).]

¿Es Cuba?* ¿¿O …, Es el Mundo?

(Pavel Martinka’s draft of an essay written after his "recent" 2006 visit to Cuba: Stories for his children and theirs—and for others who might significantly help to change the world in which they live)

Major Impressions

A Model for Realizing Sustainable Community?? Cubans are living a very low input life-style that is peaceful and relatively crime free, and that has a great foundation of holistic education and adequate health care for all--and that is developing urban and organic agriculture. It is of course highly significant that their premier politician has gained the honor and respect through the Revolution of most of the Cuban population, and he does govern as a dictator and the system is totalitarian http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=424 . Therefore, there are well-enforced limits to consumption, movement and development by humans. As I listened to my primary host (Dr. Rafael Ojeda) in Cuba in June of 2006, walked the streets of La Habana, watched the Cuban television channels, and participated in the meeting on Desarrollo Local, I could not help but think that this is perhaps a type of system much of the world may have to utilize to curb consumption, population growth, and anarchy in order to achieve maximum protection of our essential natural resource base and relative equity and justice for all, i.e. what might be called Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology (PEACE).

Respect for Fidel and the Revolution. Cubans-- … like Brazilians, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Poles, Ukrainians, and US citizens, ... --are beautiful and imperfect people using a functional but imperfect socio-political/economic (ecological) system in an attempt to achieve quality life. A huge majority of those over fifty who were the have-nots during the Fulgencio Batista years and previous years of U.S. colonization (the have-nots were by far the majority) have a tremendous respect and loyalty to Fidel for all his wonderful efforts. Younger Cubans may have respect for and loyalty to Fidel, but are more likely to overtly complain, to want considerably more, and even to attempt to flee Cuba. (For instance, I recently had a young Cuban student, Lisette, in my biology class who is probably in her early 20s. She credibly painted a very dark and deprived picture of her starving childhood in Cuba.)

What Right Does the U.S. Have to Decide for and Punish Others?!! It really is a
“ mortal sin” (or part of our/U.S. children’s “original sin”) to exert power over nations with economic/trade sanctions, embargos ,http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr072601.htm , attempted assassinations and invasions, and trumped up-charges against alleged terrorists http://www.freethefive.org/ --all of which stifle charitable assistance and serve to “ostracize” the government and people of Cuba—truly creating a tremendous hurt to the flesh and stomachs--and hearts and souls--of millions of innocent people. We should work hard at lifting economic sanctions against Cuba and at serving up justice to all the Cuban people, including the Cuban Five.

What We Might Do That Would Be Positive for Both Cuba and the U.S.? We could learn from Cuba a considerable amount about education, health care, organic and urban agriculture, living a low-input, energy-conserving lifestyle, and dealing with crime and terrorism. And since they are a nation with a biocapacity – ecological footprint deficit, they could certain benefit from some of the 33% of the world’s resources we (the U.S.) exploit and utilize (greedily--as 5% of the world’s population).

LBJ

LBJ said "The only thing worth being is a teacher, a preacher, or a politician!"

We are all ... all of these.

I would hope that we do them ethically and well (which I suppose is redundant).

Ipanema

We're off to Rio, and will be a couple blocks from Ipanema Beach.

I'll try hard not to stare at "the girl":

"Olha que coisa mais linda
mais cheia de graça
É ela menina que vem
e que passa nun doce balanço,
caminho do mar...
Moça do corpo dourado,
do sol de Ipanema
O seu balançado é mais que un poema
é a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar...Ah!
Porque estou tão sozinho Ah!
Porque tudo é tão triste Ah!
A beleza que existe
A beleza que não é só minha
que também passa sozinha Ah!
Se ela soubesse que quando ela passao
mundo sorrindo
se enche de graçae fica mais lindo
por causa do amor
por causa do amor
por causa do amor ... ." http://sprezzatura.editthispage.com/garota

"Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah
When she walks, she's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes - ooh(ooh)
but I watch her so sadly
How can I tell her I love her
Yes I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at me
Tall, (and) tan, (and) young, (and) lovely
The girl from ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, I smile -
but she doesn't see (doesn't see)
(she just doesn't see, she never sees me, ...)." www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/girl+from+ipanema_20055905.html

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2008 was one of my best years.

Wonder what 2009 will bring?

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HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Have some great days these last two plus weeks of December 2008

I'd like to wish Winston and Woodlandpixie et al. some fantastic last days for the wonderful year of 2008!

Thanks for the invite in this year of 2008--to contribute to BBC. [I'll try and spend some time doing a bit of writing tomorrow; however, we will be traveling to the other Rio (de Janeiro! ... We do also spend quite a bit of time in my wife's old homeplace, Rio Medina.) next week, and stay for 10 days. Therefore, my postings will continue to be relatively "few and far between".]
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I especially appreciate all of you who voted for Barack Obama, ... as well as you who didn't but are now supportive of him in his tough challenge as a world leader. His/our work is really cut out for him/us, especially after the fix previous world leaders (and particularly George W. Bush) have gotten us into as a result of inattention to ecological principles and processes, and the resultant incapacity to think critically.

We all need to help in an effort toward Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology, or Conservation and Development of Sustainable Community.
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Everyone be careful during your days off. And we'll meet down the road.