Don't Recycle Paper

It's bad for the environment. Really. I know we've been told since the late 60's that we need to recycle paper in order to save the planet, but it's just not so. Here are some compelling reasons why:

1. Transporting recycling materials increases the use of petroleum and electricity. Most of our electricity in this country is still generated by burning fossil fuels. See where this is going?
2. Before paper can be recycled it must be de-inked. Commercial recycling of paper requires the use of toxic chemicals to de-ink the paper. These chemicals are non-recyclable and are extremely hazardous to the environment. http://www.treecycle.com/papers/we_lived.html


3. Recycling paper requires huge amounts of energy input from non-renewable fossil fuels, much more than is used for recycling plastic. http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7


4. Commercial recycling of paper puts money in the pockets of huge corporations, at the expense of the environment.

So, what's a Druid to do?

1. Use less paper. This is the single most important thing you can do. I make an effort to find products in reusable packaging, such as glass or metal.


2. Precycle. The second most important thing you can do is to be more selective about the paper that you do purchase and use.


3. Reduce paper recycling by collecting other people's paper. I use old phone books and newspapers as foundation fill for my rainwater harvesting landscape. It raises ground elevation quickly, and it breaks down beneath the soil on its own with no additional energy input.


4. You can shred it for compost, even bury it in your yard.


5. Just don't burn it, trash it, and especially, don't recycle it.

The Merry Month of May

May was rather a busy month for Mrs. Druid and I.

We went to Mexico for four days of fun and sun. We certainly got it, in spite of the concern for our health and safety expressed by friends and family. We were not decapitated by ruthless narcotrafficos, nor did we contract lethal cases of H1N1. Heck, we didn't even get Montezuma's Revenge, for that matter. Rather, we had a lovely time by ourselves, with only a few thousand desperate, out-of-work Mexican locals as compañeros. This is not a pejorative comment on the Mexican nationals. Rather, it is an observation of life in a third world fishing town. The town in question is only sixty miles from the U.S. border.

Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point, is a small fishing town on the east shore of the Sea of Cortez, in the estado of Sonora, Mexico. The old town is built on a steep rocky headland, reminiscent of mediterranean fishing villages. The recent slump in the U.S. stock market, combined with fears of swine flu and increased violence in Mexican border towns, caused fewer Americans to travel this past winter, the height of the tourist season in Mexico: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/05/01/20090501biz-rockypoint0501.html

Japanese expansion has had two major impacts on the development of Puerto Penasco. During World War II, Mexico allowed the U.S. to build a paved road from the Arizona border to the coast as a means to move troops rapidly, should the Japanese attempt a landing in the Sea of Cortez. Forty years later, Japanese commercial fishing had destructive effects on the sealife population of the Sea of Cortez:

http://www.baja-web.com/pto-penasco/index.html

Just as destructive, though, has been its impact on the local economy. As the supply of fish dwindled, the local small business fishermen were squeezed out of the picture. Attempts at protecting the upper portion of the sea are ongoing:

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3157-overfishing-in-the-sea-of-cortez-are-sustainable-fish-farms-the-solution

Another factor in the decline of a produce economy is the rise of mega-resorts along the region's coast. Tourism has been a part of the town's economy from its earliest days, but it was always within the town itself. The new resorts that dot the long sandy beaches are outside of town limits, and they draw the workforce out of the town itself, who take up residence in shanty towns that have sprung up closer to the resort buildings. These resorts now provide the majority of the cash income, upwards of 70%, leaving residents at the whim of foriegn travellers.

The second bit of busy-ness we had was attending Desert Magic Festival in Oracle, Arizona. That was a good bit of fun also. DMF is hosted every year by Sonoran Sunrise Grove of Ar nDraiocht Fein. We drove from Mexico on Wednesday, to the festival on Friday. There were no end of good classes, including one on ectstatic experiences using body stress techniques, and the usual drumming, dancing, and fellowship. Here is the article on last year's festival:

http://www.ssg-adf.org/photopages/DesertMagic2008/index.htm Afterwards it was back to work to make up the time and money spent.

Mrs. Druid

I'm feeling a need right now to set a thing or two straight about Mrs. Druid. I have remarked upon her fondness for electronic conveniences prior to this, but there is so much more to her as a person than as a comic foil in my blog entries. She wouldn't have become Mrs. Druid in the first place if she weren't an individual of character and substance. I rely on her wit and humor to get me through times when I'd rather sleep in to miss the entire day. She is beautiful and womanly, with a smile that lights up any room. She is my partner in sustainability- domestic and otherwise.

Where Has All the Pig Iron Gone, Long Time Mama?

As one might have gathered from some of the posts here so far, I'm something of an adherent to self reliance, if not an outright primitivist. My leaning in this direction comes from several different personal viewpoints. Firstly, I'm just plain fascinated with the ingenuity of our forbears. I can pore for hours over diagrams of medieval and early modern mechanical devices. Secondly, I operate under a basic lack of trust that anyone besides myself can act impartially and in my own best interest. Thirdly, after seeing the massive bungling of the meteorological pile-up between New Orleans and hurricane Katrina, I have essentially no confidence in the ability of my municipal, county, state, or federal governments to adequately safeguard my interests, or even my basic survival. It seems to me that many of us are truly on our own.

One of the looming features that peak oil pandits (I can't resist the proper Hindi spelling of that word) often bring to our attention is that much of the US's manufacturing capability has been exported to overseas sweatshops. The ethical and karmic issues surrounding this aside, there is a very serious practical side to it that cannot be overlooked. As the price of energy and transport rises, so too will the price and ready availibility of all those imported neccessities. Many of our consumer goods are made to break or wear out quickly, and are cheaper to throw away than to fix. On top of that, an increasingly dwindling portion of our society actually knows how to make or fix something. Where once we had a nation of craftsmen, mechanics, and toolmakers, we now have a nation of marketing experts, retail sales clerks, and luxury service providers. To get around the possibility of a shortage of crucial tools and long-lasting implements of everyday life, I have begun replacing as much of the extraneous and disposable items around me as I can. For instance, I am replacing the plastic storage containers and ziploc bags in my kitchen with longer lasting stainless steel boxes and canisters. To me this is as much a wise investment of my money as it is an effort at conservation. I have every intention of passing these precious artifacts along to my grandkids when the time comes for them to set up house (I'd also like to rid myself of the microwave and the Xbox, but Mrs. Druid hasn't quite come that way in her thinking yet).

With all this in mind, I decided a short while ago to order my very own copy of the Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog. For those of you not familiar with http://www.lehmans.com/ , they are a family owned business in Ohio that specialize in (funnily enough) non-electric farm implements. Non-electric in this sense also includes non-internal combustion engines. The implied their sales blurb they supply a good many devices and sundries to Amish and Mennonite communities that those good folks can not necessarily produce for themselves, and they also sell Amish-made farm implements. Recieving my paper catalog, I set about doing my paper window shopping. My Hoosier go-to-it-ness was quickly replaced by realization and reflection. Aside from the Amish-made wooden implements, nearly everything else in the catalog is imported. The traditional American cast iron pots and pans are imported from South Africa and China. The traditional American steel milk cans are imported from India. Most of the hand tools such as planes, chisels, and axes are imported from Germany. The oil and kerosene lamps are imported from parts unspecified. Now, I'm not in any way incensed about buying foriegn goods, nor was I even particularly surprised. What I did experience, though, was a certain leaden appreciation of the reality of the dwindling US manufacturing base, and a quiet resolution in the pursuit of my own food and energy independence.

Naoi Beannachtai,
Eremon

The Leading Edge of Deindustrialization

The gravity of a thing is not always self-evident. If Marcus Aurelius didn't write that in his Meditations, he should have.

'Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.'
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/01boats.html?_r=4&hp

There is an old joke among boaters that "a boat is a hole in the water, surrounded by fiberglass, that one pours money into". The story of the boats brings to mind the many 'ranches' that dot the countryside near me here in the Sonoran desert. A hundred years ago people here ranched horses on vast open range as a means of livelihood. The sale of strong horse stock every year was what supported families over generations. Now the typical 'horse ranch' is under 2 acres and the stock on it are pets kept at great expense by hobbyists and rentiers, not unlike the boats.

In John Michael Greer's book, The Long Descent, the author raises the possibility of horses and sailing vessels as part of the future's renewable sources of tractor energy. Boating hobbyists have not yet (as far as I know) taken the steps to turn their luxury craft into going concerns. Judging by the lack of 'for sale' signs along the roads here, I'm hoping the horsey set will fare better.

'Detroit was once home to nearly 2 million people but has shrunk to a population of perhaps less than 900,000. It is estimated that a city the size of San Francisco could fit neatly within its empty lots. As nature abhors a vacuum, wildlife has moved in.'
www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395/To+urban+hunter++next+meal+is+scampering+by
I'm actually intrigued by the idea of going on safari in an abandoned urban area. When I was in art school, friends and I would hunt for rats in Philly's Chinatown alleys at 2 a.m. with wrist rockets.

The issue of depopulation in Motown is not limited to the rusty city itself:
'Since 2001, migration has cost Michigan 465,000 people, the equivalent of the combined populations of Grand Rapids, Warren and Sterling Heights -- the state's second-, third- and fourth-largest cities...Those leaving Michigan are the people the state most needs to keep -- young and college-educated. The state suffered a net loss to migration of 18,000 adults with a bachelor's degree or higher in 2007 alone -- the equivalent of half the staff of the University of Michigan crossing the state line.'
www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090402/METRO/904020403/&imw=Y

How many other states whose economies were/are based on centralized heavy industry and manufacturing are going to feel the same crunch as Michigan, being left more and more with an aging population and no one to work, care, or pay for it?

Naoi Beanachatai,
Eremon

Mechanical Obsolescence

At the risk of perpetrating an ethnic stereotype, I am a Cheap Scots Bastid. By that I mean firstly that a certain number of my ancestors (excepting those that came from Ireland) came from Scotland. Secondly, it means that I hate to let go of any percentage of the pittance that I earn at wage slavery. Thirdly, if I do let go of that money so hard-earned, I try to make sure that it goes to something that I will be finding useful or practical well into old age.

This brings me to the crux of this post. I can happily do without the various impedimenta that most people seem to require for modern living. Microwaves and electric skillets are unnecessary to me, since I can saute over an open campfire better than Wolfgang Puck. I can read Marcus Aurelius and Jim Morrison by candlelight. I'd rather pull on an extra blanket than turn up the heat past 69 degrees, and I'm happy to come in out of 110 degree weather into an 85 degree house with no air conditioning. Mrs. Druid doesn't share my technoapathy, but that's another post for another day. The upshot of this is not that I do these things out of a strong ethical concern for the environment, although I certainly have cultivated an ecological outlook in my own life, or that I have a driving need to do all that I can to bring global corparate culture to its knees as fast as is humanly practicable. It's just that all these things are a pain in the ass to purchase and maintain. They cost too much, they break too fast, they are unrepairable, and they don't contribute appreciably to my quality of life.

Mrs. Druid doesn't like our handcrank can opener. She always tells me that it's broken and doesn't work right and why can't we just get an electric one because they are obviously so much more superior to those old fashined things? So, the other day I'm opening a can (yes, canned food, I can hear people groaning out there already) of something to eat when, of all things, the can opener breaks on me. Now this is not a cheap manual opener, it's a (supposedly) heavy duty stainless steel model. I thought I was really getting one over on the big box, petrochemical, convenience store, corporate monster when I invested in it. Not so. No big deal really, since I can go get another one easily enough. The real issue is when I'm looking at the opener to try to determine what went wrong with it. A third of the teeth on the drive cog had snapped off, one right after the other. How could such a simple and robust mechanical device fail after only 3 or 4 years of service? Then it really hits me. What am I to do with the broken can opener? I can't go to the can opener supply store and buy a replacement cog. My preference would be to recycle it, but the whole thing is too large and bulky for that. Perhaps if I was a machinist or welder I could come up with some use for it as reusable scrap material, but as it stands I can't come up with any solution other than to bury it as an archaeological specimen for the coming ages.

My next can opener will be one piece and hand-forged like the antique one above.

Naoi Beannachtai,

Eremon

Who Watches the Watchmen?

By now I'm guessing that many of you will have been off to the movies to see the much anticipated film adaptation of Alan Moore's 1986 graphic novel, Watchmen.

I've been a fan of the GN since its first release. I actually used to bug the crew at Fat Jack's in Philadelphia for every issue as it was being released, along with Dark Knight Returns at about the same time. Strangely enough, both of those stories helped me along the path to moving past comics to other pastimes. But I mean that in a good way.

On to the movie. I'll try to do this without spoiling anything for those who haven't been yet. First comment on the film; I loved every minute of it. Mrs. Druid took me out on a date to see it, which made it all that much better for me. She was completely unfamiliar with the story and she loved every minute of it. There wasn't a sour note in it for me. The actors were all well chosen for the roles, and the dialogue was so close that I was recalling it from the book almost word for word as I remembered it. The film scenes were framed right out of the book. Neither of these made for a stilted piece, but retained the flow of the story, which is one of the things that I always liked about Moore's writing in the first place.

The title sequence did a fair job of setting the backstory of the 'golden age' heroes of Watchmen, which was good because the film really hit the ground running. As a former reader of the novel, I had no trouble with the pace of the movie, but I can see where someone not familiar with it might have a bit of trouble getting up to speed with the story right away.

I was aware for some time that the Black Freighter sub-theme would almost certainly have to be dropped in order to make a sellable product, so I wasn't upset about its absence from the theatrical release. I would like for someone to do an epic, 6-hour home kit-bash version of the final extended version of Watchmen and the Black Freighter DVD release at some point, but I'm a bit of a pirate that way my ownself...

I was curious at the change in Rorschach's dealing with the kidnapper. It certainly was graphic (I work in ER's and ICU's, but it caught me off guard just enough to make me squidge), but the original version would have been no less so. Curious, like I said, but not any strike against the screenplay.

The most major change from the novel concerned the culmination of the story, but reflecting on it during the drive home, I decided that it actually made for more internal logic with the rest of the story over the original version.

Random end notes, um, the costumes were great and the fight scenes radiated physical danger. The movie, like the novel, was accentuated by well-chosen pop tunes to undersore themes within the story. I would have liked a stronger suggestion of one of the main themes of the novel, to wit: people who dress up in costumes and wait around in dark alleys in order to beat people up have issues, to say the least. That said, I have no issues with the movie at all. Hop-flop-squawk, it's a keeper.

Where Are Peachy and Danny When We Need Them?

Pagan survival in former USSR
http://www.allnewsweb.com/page8998996.php
The Mari are a Finno-Ugrian people along the Volga river in the former Soviet Union. They are one of the last pagan peoples of Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_people
The republic of Mari El is located in the Volga region of the former USSR. The Mari people make up approximately 42% of the total population of the republic. During Csarist and Soviet rule they were subject to heavy Russification policies. The policies continue under the current president who has ordered the closing of several Mari language newspapers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_El
The Mari now keep a website (translated below) in order to make their situation known to the larger world
http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&u=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2emari%2del%2ename%2f2008%2f03%2f24%2fsobranie%5fdukhovnykh%5fliderov%2ehtml

Naoi Beannachtai,
Eremon

The Mighty Dead

What subject is best when one begins a thing?
Not hard. It is best to recite the lineage of our fathers and mothers. But for them, we would not have known the world.

In what manner, time, and place were your ancestors to be found?
Not hard. In the manner of the mighty Fir Bolg, in the time of Oengus of the spear, in the Island of the Blessed. From Oengus were engendered the Corcu Lugaid and their brother tribes. From the Corcu Lugaid sprung the victorious UiCobhthaigh. From the UiCobhthaigh of unconquered fame was my Grandmother O'Coffey to come forth, and from my Grandmother O'Coffey was I to come.

Naoi Beannachtai,
Eremon