One of the major stumbling blocks faced by the American people is a lack of access to the value stored in the lands all around us. Forests store enormous volumes of natural material that may contribute to local economies, for the benefit of the local people. A problem arises when the forests are owned and operated almost entirely for the monetary profit of individual landholders or paper and timber corporations. These interests most often plant a single tree species with no mind toward the quality of a forest rich with biodiversity. After growing to profitable size, the single species is most often clear cut, leaving a broad swath of bare, infertile soil which may quickly erode.
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| http://www.wildcalifornia.org/ |
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| Rackham |
but new generations will have no concept of the deep woods and a close relationship with natural elements as we remove those from the catalog of cultural experience. This seems indefensible as a our society progresses.
I propose we revalue the forest and all of its component native species and lore by creating a paper money supply that depends on the forest for its promotional value, currency valuation, legibility, ease of measure.
As an example of the monetary value to be had in a healthful diverse forest consider that the business, Mushroompeople, in Summertown, Tennessee, grow gourmet mushrooms such as "Shitake, Oyster, Maitake, and Reitshi," in the understory of the forest. Mushroompeople is a business that helps to make the alternative green community, The Farm, into a profitable enterprise. They have developed moderate success with more than four decades of experience to date.
I find there are enormous economic, cultural and sociological benefits to be realised through reinvestment in forests and fields. Presently the super majority of these benefits are pent up in conditions of, potentiality, though many groups are working to unlock the potential.
Lets consider the benefit of living near watercourses; easily observable in society as the enormous value placed on lakefront, riverfront, and oceanfront property. Qualify for yourself the actual value of the water for its capacities in recreation, view, food generating, thirst quenching, cleansing, soothing (sound, sight and feel), biological habitat, transportation, and weather moderation.
Next, think of the enormous expanses of water that are exclusively accessible to industrial interests (or individual private landholders), and used as dumping grounds for animal farm waste runoff, agricultural, industrial and municipal waste dumping. These actions should be considered truly criminal under the purview of socio-cultural productivity, ecological sustainability, and even national security.
In a city having leadership and foresight to enact works of the greatest public interest, watercourses would be prepared throughout town, where topography permits. Truly, the canals and waterways of a well-developed community would have municipal fish hatcheries constructed at intervals along the waterways to release game fish as insect control and as a cheap food source to be fished. Town waterways would be just wide, and deep, enough to permit use of canoes or pole-boats for pleasure and transport of heavy items (such as furniture to be delivered). Cottage homes, townhouses, and apartments would be constructed all along the watercourse as well as patio cafes and shops and a pleasant avenue for strolling or biking along. Schools should also be built nearby.
Another despicable aspect of our present use of water is its consideration as dumping ground for human waste. Too often our cities are overwhelmed by a heavy rain that is then channeled into the sanitary sewers and finally, untreated, into the nearest river, sea, or lake. This is unacceptable, for one, in that rain water should be allowed to seep through the ground, naturally, and into the water table. Secondly, waste should be managed in such a way that it is elevated to the status of a natural resource. This was achieved in many cities before the 20th century. Tokyo, Japan, supported an industry of waste collection which converted human urine and digested solids into fertilizer for crops. We would easily be able to achieve such efficient use of waste, and the technologies exist, were it not for archaic health and public sanitation laws which disallow alternatives to sewerage.
You are welcome to conduct your own web search of these processes and come to your own conclusions, as my intent is to raise your interest in the construction of pleasant watercourses in our towns and cities.
It is easy to observe and understand why beloved cities around the world are very often those that have embraced and elevated their watercourses to a status promoting public enjoyment and garnering romantic consideration.
Another point of this post is to raise your awareness of the economically degenerative effects of our waste collection and disposal system, and to implore you to support an economically beneficial alternative such as I suggest here. Our municipal waste collection services most often collect all waste, unsorted for recycling, and transport the waste to a sanitary landfill. The landfill is designed to contain waste in an environment without oxygen to prevent decomposition. In the landfill, there are sometimes effluent leaks into nearby water sources, or into the groundwater. The entire disposal process is an outdated and ineffective solution.
I suggest that after initial separation of industrial recyclables (glass, plastic, steel, aluminum, and other metals) from waste that easily decomposes, the later be collected for grinding and drying. The ground and dried waste could either be spread in the forest for biological decomposition or burned in furnaces as fuel or in generators to produce electric energy. These alternatives would drive existing economies of recycling (profitable), energy and forest/food production (necessary and essential). In turn we would remove the administrative, environmental and regulatory costs associated with permanent disposal. The only reason that dumping is practiced rests with the fact that, in most jurisdictions, municipal collections is the only industrial scale method that has been commercially developed. This is a strange affair considering the public dollar is most often spent to pay for disposal and it has been running unchecked on an open tap. We can generate money, energy, and newly minted material if an alternative collection/disposal process is developed.
Finally, if all these proposals are brought to fruition in under a singular plan of urban reinvestment, I believe the immediate benefits would be increased job creation, industrial production, less garbage disposal, cost savings associated with decreased municipal expenditures (tax dollars are free to use for other innovative projects), greater attraction for tourism, national news headlines, decreased cost for fresh foods, water, and power.
These effects would be realized immediately, and in the long run I propose/support many ideas for further reductions in traffic hazards, automobile deaths, traffic congestion, cost of housing and construction, cost of road building, and reduced time spent in transit between work/school/entertainment/home.
Check back more for elaborations on those points!
Source Material:
Scott, James C. Seeing Like A State. Yale U. P., 1998.
http://www.thefarm.org/businesses/index.html
http://www.mushroompeople.com/
http://www.wildcalifornia.org/
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Little Brother and Little Sister and Other Tales By the Brothers Grimm. Arthur Rackham, illustrator. London: Constable & Co Ltd, 1917.
http://biomassmagazine.com/
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/2064/trash-tactics-in-iraq
http://biomassmagazine.com/
http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/2064/trash-tactics-in-iraq
AND MANY OTHER WRITINGS COME ACROSS OVER THE YEARS AND THROUGH UNGUIDED/INDEPENDENT STUDY
