Wednesday podcast

Tuesday podcast 

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold was one of America’s most famous naturalists.  In this episode, hear the story of an event in his life that may have helped make him one of America’s most famous naturalists.

Click here

Be bold!

To learn ‘bout Aldo

Leopold.

Links and Sources:  Visit the Aldo Leopold Foundation Webste.  Learn more about “Green Fire” documentary.  Where are wolves? 

Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac with Other Essays on Conservation from Round River. New York: Oxford University Press. 1966.

Lorbiecki, Marybeth. Aldo Leopold: A Fierce Green Fire. Helena, Montana: Falcon Publishing, 1996.

Tanner, Thomas. Aldo Leopold: The Man and His Legacy. Ankeny, Iowa: Soil Conservation Society of America, 1987.

Don’t fear,

Click here!

To learn more

About deer.

Click here to learn more about:  Hollis Crawford’s interview in the Truman Index.  M.D.C.’s history of whitetail deer in Missouri.  Wild turkeys in Missouri.  Bison in Missouri.  Otters in Missouri.

See also:  “The Wild Mammals of Missouri.”  Charles W. Schwartz and Elizabeth R. Schwartz.  University of Missouri Press and Missouri Department of Conservation.  1981.

Have you ever wondered what those little pictures on your food packaging mean?  In this episode, we try to decipher some common food labels during an ordinary trip to the grocery store. 

Don’t fear,

Click here!

To download

The episode.

Sources used (click for more information):

What does “natural” mean?  Artificial hormones not allowed in pigs and poultry.  Artificial hormone use.   Requirements for “grass-fed” labeling.  Cage free and free range, or How well are people keeping track of this stuff?  Organic labeling.   Status of the organic industry.   How healthy are organic foods?   Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International.   World Fair Trade Organization.

For those of us who want to unplug from the machine, Permaculture offers an answer. It’s a comprehensive system designed to create agricultural and lifestyle systems that can ecologically sustain themselves. Indefinitely.

An answer to our crisis, according to Permaculture, would involve creating systems of human life that replicate the self-sustaining systems of nature. Relying upon the city to bring you water, a supermarket to sell you food, and electricity to produce your power means there are a lot of external environmental costs you don’t see on the surface. Meanwhile, you could catch your own rainwater—treating and reusing it, grow your own food from a garden and/or livestock (or buy locally) and produce your own renewable power—or don’t product it at all.

There are three elements to Permaculture (according to Wikipedia) are:

• Earthcare – recognizing the Earth is the source of all life, that Earth is our valuable home, and that we are a part of Earth, not apart from it.
• Peoplecare – supporting and helping each other to change to ways of living that do not harm ourselves or the planet, and to develop healthy societies.
• Fairshare (or placing limits on consumption) – ensuring that Earth’s limited resources are used in ways that are equitable and wise.

Now, a few kind folks called Jerry and Michelle have started the first ever Kirksville Permaculture Education Center! They are still getting their feet off the ground, but they plan to offer free classes, give tours, and offer knowledge and support for anyone interested in Permaculture and sustainable living.

I worked at KPEC a few weeks ago doing some digging, and they live in a lovely house out by HyVee with a salvaged piano and a lively little kid named Oliver. They even fed me a delicious lunch! If you have some free time, hit them up and get your hands dirty: http://www.kvpermaculture.org

These guys are run entirely run out of pocket and by donation. Donate here. If you want to help out and do some gardening, look here for jobs.

Outdoor fun not only offers us a way to reconnect with nature. It proves that we don’t need to buy our way into having fun. We can begin to become self-reliant by creating our OWN wonderful times!

1. Climb a tree. You could read a book up there, or maybe you could bring a notebook and do some people-watching.
2. Meditate or do yoga under a tree (I find these activities immensely easier when I’m outside). Or in a pasture. If you want to take a slightly different route, hold an outdoor séance with a few friends.
3. Go CAMPING. Try to find someplace slightly uncrowded. Personally, I think crowded campsites kind of ruin the atmosphere. Fall asleep under the stars. If some people have instruments, a music session would be in good taste. (…outdoor dance party, perhaps…?)
4. Grab some chalk. If you’re above the law, perhaps a can of spray paint although it’s probably not the most eco-friendly option. Head to an abandoned part of town. Make SURE it’s abandoned, because graffiti-ing on someone’s property would probably be rude. Make a stencil beforehand if you want to ensure your art’s splendid-ness. Or, if you’re not one to plan ahead, just freestyle!
5. Play Tag, Hide-and-seek, or Sardines in the dark with some friends. Or my favorite, lava monster. (that’s when everyone runs around on a playset except one person on the ground who tags someone who then becomes the next lava monster)
6. Sit in the grass and read a book out loud to a friend or two. I find Harry Potter books ideal for this, because the Dursleys’ voices have fantastic potential for imitation, especially because of the British accents.
7. Work in a garden. (For Kirksville-ians, I’d recommend looking into the Kirksville Permaculture Education Center or the Communiversity Garden, which meets Thursdays in MG 1096 and generally does garden work on Saturday mornings/early afternoons)
8. Grab some paints (or make your own milk paint to avoid chemical vapors), brushes, a surface of some sort, and find a sunny hilltop.
9. Search around for some abandoned buildings. Enter at your own risk. This will ensure an adventure, if only for the fear-factor adrenaline rush.
10. Visit an intentional community or eco-village in your area. With the sun out, they are now in visitor-accepting mode and will probably give you a tour over a weekend if you call ahead. Lean about alternative and sustainable living. For Kirksville, look into the Possibility Alliance or Dancing Rabbit. Here’s a directory of all the communities in Missouri.

Any ideas to add? Comment!

Welcome to Radicle Radio, the environmental audio blog-cast!  Are you interested in nature and the environment?  Are you curious about what is going on in the area and how you can be a part of it?  Do you have an iPod?  Check out the first ever (and hopefully not last) episode, downloadable for free at:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/7431045257010e14/

Radicle Radio seeks to explore the roots of our environmental problems in an entertaining, creative, and thought-provoking way.  Not that radical.

Links from the Episode:

Who eats bugs?  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0416_040416_eatingcicadas.html

Saul Griffith on the challenges of renewable energy:

http://blog.longnow.org/2009/01/19/saul-griffith-climate-change-recalculated/

http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/8/Energy%20Literacy%20Presentation.pdf

The world’s governments are concerned about climate change http://unfccc.int/2860.php but still may not be doing enough  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/24/AR2009092402602.html

This episode, including the statistics used regarding consumption rates compared to population rates, draws heavily from the essay “The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures” by Erik Assadourian in the 2010 State of the World Report:

Assadourian, E. (2010). “The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures”. 2010 State of the World:  Transforming Cultures-From Consumption to Sustainability. New York:  W.W. Norton & Company.  p. 3-20.

Music Used:

“Pfrancing (No Blues)” by Joe Henderson. So Near, So Far: Musings for Miles. 1992.

“Ahuvati” by Kaki King. …Until We Felt Red. 2006.

“Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt from My Sandals as I Run” by Sufjan Stevens. Come on feel the Illinoise. 2005.

“Water Fountain Quicksand” by Railroad Earth. The Good Life. 2004.