Petroleum coke, or “petcoke,” if you aren’t familiar with the term, is the byproduct one is left with after processing oil sands, like those which are to be found in abundant supply in Canada. In this particular case, the oil sands have been brought from Alberta to be processed along the Detroit River, at a refinery owned by Marathon Petroleum. (The refinery has been active since 1930, but just began processing Canadian oil sands in November.) The Koch brothers, it would appear, have been purchasing the waste product, and stockpiling it in Detroit these past few weeks, right alongside the river from which we all drink, with the intention of eventually exporting it to a libertarian paradise like China, where, practically speaking, there don’t appear to be emissions standards. (On the open market, the material costs 25% less than coal, and generates up to 10% more CO2.)

To make matters worse, the waterside property just east of the Ambassador Bridge, where the coke is being stored, is owned by the most hated man in Detroit – billionaire slumlord Manuel (Matty) Moroun. (The Koch brothers, from what I’m told, also have a second site in Detroit, on the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority property, near the intersection of Clark and Fort.) I don’t know that I agree, as I think it has more to do with money than anything else, but some are speculating that this is Moroun’s way of getting even with the voters of Michigan, who recently decided that his Ambassador Bridge should have a publicly-owned competitor.

Here, by way of background, is a clip from the New York Times:

…An initial refining process known as coking, which releases the oil from the tarlike bitumen in the oil sands, also leaves the petroleum coke, of which Canada has 79.8 million tons stockpiled. Some is dumped in open-pit oil sands mines and tailing ponds in Alberta. Much is just piled up there.

Detroit’s pile will not be the only one. Canada’s efforts to sell more products derived from oil sands to the United States, which include transporting it through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, have pulled more coking south to American refineries, creating more waste product here.

Marathon Petroleum’s plant in Detroit processes 28,000 barrels a day of the oil sands bitumen…

Coke, which is mainly carbon, is an essential ingredient in steelmaking as well as producing the electrical anodes used to make aluminum.

While there is high demand from both those industries, the small grains and high sulfur content of this petroleum coke make it largely unusable for those purposes, said Kerry Satterthwaite, a petroleum coke analyst at Roskill Information Services, a commodities analysis company based in London.

“It is worse than a byproduct,” Ms. Satterthwaite said. “It’s a waste byproduct that is costly and inconvenient to store, but effectively costs nothing to produce.”

Murray Gray, the scientific director for the Center for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta, said that about two years ago, Alberta backed away from plans to use the petroleum coke as a fuel source, partly over concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions. Some of it is burned there, however, to power coking plants.

The Keystone XL pipeline will provide Gulf Coast refineries with a steady supply of diluted bitumen from the oil sands. The plants on the coast, like the coking refineries concentrated in California to deal with that state’s heavy crude oil, are positioned to ship the waste to China or Mexico, where it is burned as a fuel. California exports about 128,000 barrels of petroleum coke a day, mainly to China…

So, the Koch brothers, who are among the most ardent global warming deniers in the country, are using Detroit as their temporary dumping ground for this filthy fuel, the use of which, according to experts, could make our current climate problem “unsolvable.” And, what’s more, according to Rashida Tlaib, the member of the Michigan House representing that part of Detroit where this coke is being stockpiled, “Nobody knew (it) was going to happen.” The Koch brothers, it would seem, began dumping the material in the City without so much as a word to those who live in the area… And apparently that’s OK. According to Andy Hartz, the southeast Michigan district supervisor with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the substance seems to fall into a regulatory gray area. Hartz told Michigan Radio yesterday that, “The DEQ does not have any kind of specific regulations that regulates this type of land use.” According to Hartz, “The product is a commodity. And because of that, it’s not a waste material.” (Hartz also said that the DEQ has been informed that the coke would be shipped out of Detroit once the ice on the Detroit River melts… which seems odd to me, given that we’ve had temperatures in the 70s these past few weeks. But who am I to question the climate science of the Koch brothers?)

It’s unknown what the environmental impact might be, but, according to the Detroit Free Press, Representatives Gary Peters and John Conyers have written to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, asking the agency to look into the coke’s potential impact on the river and residents. “We fear the storage of petroleum coke along the river poses a potential threat to water and air quality. The material may contain trace amounts of metal and could have damaging health impacts if fugitive dust enters the air. Petroleum coke that enters the water may continue to frustrate efforts to prevent contamination from runoff,” the Congressmen said in their letter.

According to the safety data sheet for petroleum coke, the material should not be allowed to contaminate ground water, and the U.S. Coast Guard and others should be notified immediately if runoff into waterways should occur. I suppose it’s possible that the Koch brothers and Matty Moroun have taken every precaution to ensure that such leakages don’t occur, but, given their histories, I don’t know that it’s likely, and, with a thunderstorm expected later tonight, I’m concerned that we may well see runoff into the Detroit River… But, on the plus side, it’s only Detroit, right? I mean, who really gives a fuck? It’s not like Koch brothers and their fellow 1-percenters are vacationing in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge, inhaling the fine carbon particulate over caviar finger sandwiches.

Having this stuff in Detroit, while disgusting, isn’t really what bothers me. What bothers me more is that wealthy American industrialists, knowing full well the ramifications in terms of human health and the environment, would be willing to ship this filthy fuel to the likes of China and Mexico, driving yet another nail into the coffin of humanity. But, really, I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Koch brothers. When have they ever demonstrated anything but the unfettered shock and awe of slash and burn capitalism in its purest form?

What’s worse, I’m sure this isn’t the end of it. I’m certain, if they had their way, they’d be able to burn petroleum coke without oversight here in the United States. (Some is burned in the U.S., but it’s use is policed to some extent.) And, given their success getting anti-union right-to-work legislation passed here in Michigan, I wouldn’t be surprised if they started here… Who wants to bet that we see something to that effect during the next lame duck session?

[note: The above image was created by our friend Ken Boyd in response to a comment left by Demetrius, suggesting that we take the opportunity to tie this story to our satirical Pure Michigan campaign.]

In December, my daughter Juna learned about the Republican lame duck proposal to resume a wolf hunt in Michigan, and began making pro-wolf flyers. I helped her a little bit, but mostly marveled at that very direct and earnest childhood passion; it was inspiring. Then it occurred to me I could do another gift-economy May Day book. And hit the ground running. I wrote blindly to a couple of key wolf folks, and was in turn put in touch with others. There’s a really nice range — from the early-19th-century oral historian Tsilikomah to Derrick Jensen, with writing about the gray wolf, the red wolf, and the Mexican wolf — each of the three kinds of wolves that hang on in the US.

One thing some of the writing in the book really brings home is that two “facts” we often encounter in journalism about wolves, and from politicians (like the U.P.’s Tom Casperson), are in fact myths: that wolves are a danger to humans, and that they’re detrimental to the ranching industry.

The book was printed by McNaughton & Gunn in Saline. Copies are available in a gift economy (free of charge) at the Ugly Mug, the Coop, and Beezy’s. If reading the book inspires anyone, they should get on the horn with the Natural Resources Commission and voice their opposition to the hunting of wolves in Michigan. They can also check in with Keep Michigan Wolves Protected, to see what volunteer labor is needed right away. Finally, if any of your readers make a practice of calling politicians, they can call the Governor’s office at 517-373-3400, because SB 288, the bill that would sanction wolf hunting, is on his desk right now.

And while the first print run of 500 copies are just about gone (I’ve applied for a grant from the Fund for Wild Nature to print a second run), if anyone’s got strong ideas as to where copies might be sent, and can spearhead that, I’d be happy to bring them copies.

As Jeff mentioned, SB 288, a bill which, in the words of Democratic Representative Jeff Irwin, was “meant to short-circuit the citizen referendum on wolf hunting,” is on the Governor’s desk as this very moment, awaiting his signature.

Here’s the background: During the lame duck session, Michigan Republicans passed a bill to allow wolf hunting. A number of people and organizations then banded together to demand it be put to a vote on our next state-wide ballot, through our state’s well established referendum process. These folks gathered the 250,000 signatures necessary to do just that, but the Republicans introduced legislation that would preempt them, essentially pulling an end run around the democratic process. Their legislation (SB 288), passed the Senate and the House, and now all that stands between us and wolf slaughter is the Governor’s signature.

And, here, for those of you who, sadly, don’t live in Ypsilanti, are a few selected quotes from the new book.

As a country, we rely on the bottom line to settle every argument. Or so we say. But we also, collectively and individually, disregard it, and live beyond our means. Wolf hunts won’t generate much revenue; wolf predation won’t have a measurable impact upon Michigan’s GDP. We aren’t going to settle this matter by arithmetic and bookkeeping. Wolves have haunted the psyche of the Northern Hemisphere out of all proportion to their danger. The reason for that is because they are so beautiful, so much like the dogs we have domesticated and yet so superior to them. We ourselves seem a bit small and grubby by comparison. For some people, that is exactly why we should kill them; and for some, myself among them, that is exactly why we should not.
—Franklin Burroughs

When my son James was eight years old, he started a petition asking our governor to stop predator control in Alaska. The petition was for kids only, no voting-age adults. He gathered over 100 signatures, from King Salmon to Fairbanks. I typed it up just as he dictated it, and drove him places to post it. And I met with his principal after she took the petition off the school’s community bulletin board and called me to her office. She had received calls—some at home, at night—from several people in the town of Tok who were upset that her school in Anchorage would take a side on this issue. They were angry and rude to my son’s principal, but it was my son, and the wolves, who would pay. The petition was not allowed to be circulated on school grounds, she said.
—Marybeth Holleman

The face of the wolf is one of the extraordinary masks of being—a triangle in a circle, a blend of bear and fox—a dense totemic look, a forest visage. The medial line of raised fur that divides a wolf’s face is one of the great edges in nature, keen diameter of perfectly balanced predatory senses. The bilateral symmetry of a wolf’s face comprises one of those rare, ∞nished images of creation, something that could be improved no further. Another 10 million years of evolution and not a hair would move—no more than the shape of sharks will ever change. The wolf’s face, like the face of the bear and the mountain lion, is not so much a mask as nature’s embodiment of the idea of the mask, something ∞nal, like the form of salmon or falcons.
—Christopher Camuto

Why would you want to fell a redwood? Money. Why would you shoot a wolf? Economics, if you are a rancher (but really, the government has you covered). To destroy its grandeur and feel superior to it? A trophy? Like a Vietnam­ese ear? And let’s face it, if you are not going to eat it, which in the case of a wolf you are not, you have come to a place where you identify slaughter with pleasure, the ethos of genocide (the destruction of a tribe). Why should we not genocide wolves? Same reason we should not throw stones at the windows of Sainte Chapelle. Same reason we should not take a hammer to Michelangelo’s Pietà. Same reason we should not shoot Martin Luther King (wasn’t his fearless grandeur fearsome to some?). Same reason the caves of Lascaux need to be closed, so they don’t disappear.
—James Galvin

From the edges of wildness they watch us—
We want them dead.
We do not recognize them for who they are—
We see them as ourselves—
blood-thirsty and ruthless
hiding in the creases of cruelty.
—Terry Tempest Williams

Enough is not enough, instead one must kill for sport on the weekend because of the invisible injuries sustained during the workweek and its paltry psychic life; or dedicate an enormous tract of land to the fattening of livestock in order to make a “living.” When wolves live on the edges of that living they reveal its economic absurdity: a capital offense in every sense.
—Geoffrey G. O’Brien

In 1814, John James Audubon watched a farmer torture three wolves. The farmer had trapped them in a pit after they had killed several sheep and a colt. He jumped into the pit armed only with a knife, hamstrung each wolf as it cowered in fear, and tied it up with a rope. Then he hauled them out one at a time and set his dogs on them as the victim scuffled, crippled, along the ground. Audubon was astounded by the meekness of the wolves and by the glee with which the farmer went about his cruelty; but he was not distressed because both he and the farmer considered torturing wolves a “sport,” something both normal and enjoyable. The sadistic behavior did not warrant comment. Indeed: “Audubon and the farmer shared a conviction that wolves not only deserved death but deserved to be punished for living.”
—Jack Turner

About 2.6 million cattle, including calves, live in Montana. Seventy-four killed by wolves in 2011 out of 2.6 million is less than 0.003 percent. Western Montana, where most wolves live, has fewer cattle than the east side of the state. As of 2009, there were 494,100 cattle there. Seventy-four of these animals were killed by wolves, or less than 0.015 percent of the western Montana cattle population. Similar percentages apply to sheep. There were approximately 33,000 sheep, including lambs, in western Montana in 2009. Wolves were documented to have killed 11 of these animals, or 0.03 percent, in 2011. In that same year, 64 wolves were killed in response, plus 166 were taken in the 2011 hunt, leaving 653 at year’s end (Mallonee, 2011). This is not to say that the loss of a teenager’s 4-H calf or a small operator’s animals are ­not devastating; just that the industry is not at risk.
—Norm Bishop

The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf’s job of trimming the herd to ∞t the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.
—Aldo Leopold

Most of us will hear a wolf rather than glimpse one. Listening involves an experience different from seeing—more porous, less complete. Hearing a howl, we are taken in and taken away, ∞lled with animal otherness and mesmerized by it (sight keeps things at a distance and in perspective). Howl converts our plasma to primal intoxication with the living; our bodies were made with its spectral incantation. Howl runs through us threatening dissolution; it passes through us and we recognize it. Howl calls us out.
—Christine Hume

As soon as members of this culture arrived in North America, they started slaughtering wolves (and polar bears, and cod, and whales, and indigenous humans, and on and on). The humans who already lived here noticed the pattern, and gathered a meeting to try to understand why the whites hated wolves so much, and why the whites were so hell-bent on killing them all. They discussed this for days, and ∞nally came up with their best answer: the whites are completely insane.
—Derrick Jensen

AND SO IT WAS
That the People devised among themselves
a way of asking each other questions
whenever a decision was to be made
on a New Place or a New Way
We sought to perceive the ±ow of energy
through each new possibility
and how much was enough
and how much was too much
UNTIL AT LAST
‘‘Someone would rise
‘‘and ask the old, old question
‘‘to remind us of things
‘‘we do not yet see clearly enough to remember
‘‘TELL ME NOW MY BROTHERS
‘‘TELL ME NOW MY SISTERS
‘‘WHO SPEAKS FOR WOLF?’’
—Tsilikomah

And, finally, we have this, from a press release put out yesterday by Keep Michigan Wolves Protected:

…If signed into law, SB 288 would result in Michigan’s 7.4 million registered voters losing their right to decide whether to protect Michigan’s declining population of 658 wolves in the November 2014 election. SB 288 was fast-tracked through the legislative process to prevent the Board of State Canvassers from certifying signatures from registered voters in every corner of the state, which would suspend the wolf hunting law until voters could decide the matter on the November 2014 ballot. SB 288 would empower a politically-appointed panel of seven persons, to designate animals as game species without voter oversight.

“Now is the time for Governor Snyder to stand up for the voters of Michigan, to uphold our fundamental democratic principles, and veto SB 288. The legislature wants to silence the voice of Michigan voters, circumvent the democratic process, and nullify the more than 255,000 signatures submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office. We encourage everyone who values their right to vote, and those who want to protect wolves from needless hunting and trapping, to contact Governor Snyder and tell him to veto SB 288,” said Jill Fritz, director of KMWP…

And you read that right. We’re only talking about 658 wolves, across the entire state of Michigan.

Please forward this broadly, and encourage your friends to join you in picking up the phone and calling your elected officials.

[note: The above Michigan tourism ad was produced by one of this site's readers back in January, as part of our Pure Michigan parody campaign.]

It’s worth noting, I think, that these kids very much wanted to come as a group to Water Street to walk the site, help remove invasive species, and see what we were planning firsthand. Unfortunately, however, due to budget cuts, and the district’s reliance on private buses, they couldn’t make it. (I’m told that they would have had to pay $300 to use a bus for the day.) So, we did the best that we could to make them a part of the process, given the parameters. Last week, we shot video of the site and sent it to their teacher, so that they could get a sense of what we were doing, and, today, Jeff and I went into their classroom to show them how to make seed bombs, while talking with them about everything from the history of May Day to colony collapse.

Given the feel good nature of this post, this probably isn’t the right place for me to launch into a tirade about the systematic defunding of public education in Michigan, but I really do think it’s criminal that these kids, and their incredible teacher, Tonia Porterfield, lack the ability to even make it across town to work on a project that would tie together so much of what they’re learning about in the classroom, from the real life application of math (in laying out the site), to the importance of species diversification. Assuming this initiative of ours takes off the way that we’re hoping, and the seed bombs made by these young folks this morning actually work, and successfully bring about positive change in our downtown, I’m thinking that we should have another fundraising campaign next year, so that we can rent buses and bring them to the site, so that they can see firsthand what they’ve helped to create… And, yes, I know that a lot of them will have other opportunities to get to the site on their own, but they won’t have the benefit of being able to hear from native plant experts, and professionals working in brownfield remediation, etc, the way they would if we set up something comprehensive for their entire class.

When one of the girls in the class thanked Jeff and me for coming out today, saying excitedly, “This makes it so much more real than a video,” it really brought home the fact that these kids are anxious for real, hands-on opportunities to learn and make a difference in the world. (As much as Michigan Republicans would like it to be the case, on-line education isn’t sufficient by itself.) And, even with a teacher as creative and resourceful as Ms. Porterfield, who took the initiative to call me after hearing about the seed bombing project, asking me to include them somehow, the opportunities for project based learning outside the traditional school setting are few and far between. And, since meeting with them this morning, I can’t stop thinking about ways to get them more engaged… So, if you do come out to help us slingshot and catapult seed bombs onto Water Street this Wednesday, and you happen to see a few middle school-aged kids standing around, thank them for helping make the bombs, and talk with them about the kinds of things they’d like to do in the community. Not only will it be good for them to know that adults actually give a damn, but I think you’ll get something out of it too, as they begin talking about the kinds of contributions they’d like to make, and the kinds of experiences they’d like to have. It’ll restore your faith in humanity. I promise.

Speaking of May Day, thanks to the efforts of the lovable young radicals of the Ypsi Free Skool, a number of other activities will be taking place in addition to the seed bombing. Here’s the schedule.

12:30 – 1:30 – Skill Share – MiniZine Workshop with David Chapman

1:30 – 2:00 – International Worker Solidarity March

3:00 – 4:00 – Skill Share – Radical Labor History with Phil Patterson

4:00 – 5:00 – Skill Share – Food Forests with Jesse Tack

5:00 – Seed Bombing

5:30 – Potluck and Bonfire

Further information can be found at YpsilantiMayDay.org.

And, one last thing… It’s just come to my attention that, as luck would have it, the voice of the international worker, Billy Bragg, is scheduled to be in Ann Arbor on May Day for a show at the Ark. And I’m thinking that it would be really cool if we could get him out to Ypsi for a while, to join us in a song or two. I don’t know how realistic it is, as I’m sure his schedule is tight, but I’ve just reached out to a brilliant designer friend, asking him to drop everything and begin work on a “This Machine Plants Flowers… The People of Ypsilanti Would Love to Share a May Day Meal with You, Billy” poster. My thought is that, if we can get people to put them up all over Ann Arbor tomorrow, there’s a chance that he might see one, or someone might mention it to him. (It’ll also, of course, draw the attention of folks in Ann Arbor to our May Day activities. As I’m not aware of a May Day event taking place in Ann Arbor, I suspect there are some folks who would like to come out and join us on Water Street.) I’ll keep you posted… In the meantime, though, please do what you can though your networks to reach Billy Bragg. If you know someone at the Ark, pick up a phone and call them. Or perhaps send him an invitation through Facebook.

[note: Background on the seed bombing of Water Street can be found here.]

Thanks to a post on Metafilter, I’ve spent the last hour learning about contaminated honey from China. Apparently, several years ago, we erected trade barriers to keep Chinese honey out of the United States market, as it showed traces of heavy metals, and the antibiotic chloramphenicol (which has been linked to aplastic anaemia), but that hasn’t kept companies from smuggling it into the U.S. through other countries, like Australia. In fact, according to a 2011 investigation by Food Safety News, more than one third of the honey consumed in America, despite the laws we have in place, has its origins in China, where the natural environment is fast collapsing under the burden of the unfettered free market.

Speaking of China, did you happen to see today that a Chinese entrepreneur is offering a reward of 200,000 yuan to the head of their environmental protection bureau if he’ll swim for 20 minutes in one of the country’s toxic rivers? I’m encouraged that there seems to be a burgeoning environmental movement in China, but one wonders if it can possibly happen quickly enough to change the course that the rapidly growing country is on.

And, here, as long as we’re talking about China and the problem of fake food, is a fascinating little piece of video on the production of counterfeit eggs made from chemicals… Yes, it would seem that someone in China has figured out that it’s cheaper to make fake eggs in a filthy bathtub than feed real chickens and collect natural eggs from under their feathery bottoms.

This, my friends, is what true freedom tastes like…

And it can be ours, right here in America. All we have to do is follow Rand Paul’s advice, kill the EPA, roll back those regulations that we still have on the books, and defund our consumer protection agencies. If we can just do those three things, soon we’ll be living in a paradise like the people of China, enjoying the good life, with our bellies full of delicious “eggs,” just like Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ intended.

[note: Not all fake food is bad.]

The threat is so great, according to Beck, that he’s written a book about it, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The book, entitled Agenda 21, shows us what life will be like in a post-Agenda 21 world, says Beck.

Here’s a clip from the dust jacket:

“I was just a baby when we were relocated and I don’t remember much. Everybody has that black hole at the beginning of their life. That time you can’t remember. Your first step. Your first taste of table food. My real memories begin in our assigned living area in Compound 14.”

Just a generation ago, this place was called America. Now, after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, it’s simply known as “the Republic.” There is no President. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom.

There are only the Authorities.

Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life. Those who cannot do either are of no use to society. This bleak and barren existence is all that eighteen-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed.

Until the day they come for her mother.

“You save what you think you’re going to lose.”

Woken up to the harsh reality of her life and her family’s future inside the Republic, Emmeline begins to search for the truth. Why are all citizens confined to ubiquitous concrete living spaces? Why are Compounds guarded by Gatekeepers who track all movements? Why are food, water and energy rationed so strictly? And, most important, why are babies taken from their mothers at birth? As Emmeline begins to understand the true objectives of Agenda 21 she realizes that she is up against far more than she ever thought. With the Authorities closing in, and nowhere to run, Emmeline embarks on an audacious plan to save her family and expose the Republic — but is she already too late?

Beck, of course, didn’t really write the book. According to an editor who had worked on the project some time ago, it was written by a nurse named Harriet Parke, who was inspired by Beck’s entreaty to his Fox viewers to “do your own research” on Agenda 21. Here, by way of background, is how this editor describes the UN document from which the book takes its name, to the readers of Salon.com.

…If you’re not an urban planner, here’s a crash course on the novel’s eponymous United Nations Agenda 21. It’s a 40-chapter behemoth written in 1993. It lays out non-binding guidelines for promoting economic growth, environmental protection and social equality. Basically, it is a recipe for living within our means today, so that we do not pass along to our children a degraded economy, environment and society. It addresses topics as various as toxic waste, biotechnology, conservation and green transportation, all with the goal of helping poor countries develop economies — in large part, by encouraging wealthy countries to dial back in sensible ways on their consumption of resources.

Today, city and regional planners support the concepts that underpin Agenda 21, because they translate the big picture to local efforts to save people time and money. In other words, think globally, act regionally. After all, the planning profession is about supporting a community’s efforts to collaboratively make the best of change — such as whether your community is growing or shrinking, or becoming more rural, suburban or urban. Change is inevitable: Brookings reports that “our population exceeded 300 million in 2006, and we are on track to hit 350 million in the next 15 years.” And that “America will probably be older, more diverse, more urban — and less equal” than we are today.

Planners help communities find common-sense, constructive ways of using limited resources wisely. It looks for ways to make transportation inexpensive, keep energy plentiful, and help towns and cities avoid the kind of bad economic decisions that lead to eyesores like, say, a half-deserted strip mall anchored to an abandoned Wal-Mart. Thanks to zoning, for instance, which was created in the 1920s to protect property values, no one can come in and inappropriately construct a landfill or a steel mill next to your house.

Glenn Beck and fellow pundits hate Agenda 21, however, because they interpret a few lines from chapter four out of context. Their scare tactic is to say it’s the narrow end of a wedge that will insert global UN authority over American towns and cities, allow the government to confiscate private land, reallocate resources by force, and evict people from their single-family homes. Never mind that the law of the land begins with the United States Constitution and that our relationship with the UN can hardly be described as lockstep. Moreover, the United States has no land use laws at the federal level, whatsoever. All land use decision-making authority in the United States lies with the states, who delegate authority to local governments. Relatively speaking, the United States has some of the strictest protections for private property in the world.

Agenda 21 is simply a non-binding, unenforceable menu of guidelines that exists to help any town or city that signs on to it. But when removed from all sensible context and cast forward into a dystopian future, Agenda 21 becomes the novel “Agenda 21,” which tells the story of a post-American settlement where people are forced to ride bikes and walk on treadmills to generate electricity, told whom to marry, raised in communal kibbutz-like nurseries, and forced to swear allegiance to a scary green one-world socialist entity…

Unfortunately, though, some people are taking the “threat” of Agenda 21 very seriously, as evidenced by the fact that, during this last summer’s Republican National Convention, the Republican Party adopted a resolution opposing Agenda 21, adding the following line to their official platform: “We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty.” Furthermore, several state and local governments have considered or passed legislation opposing Agenda 21.(Alabama became the first state to prohibit government participation in Agenda 21, and Arizona just recently rejected a similar bill.) And, irate Tea Party activists, waving copies of the Agenda 21 guidelines, are not only making the lives of city planners in America miserable, but also derailing significant projects. The following comes from a report earlier this year in the New York Times.

Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights.

“Down the road, this data will be used against you,” warned one speaker at a recent Roanoke County, Va., Board of Supervisors meeting who turned out with dozens of people opposed to the county’s paying $1,200 in dues to a nonprofit that consults on sustainability issues.

Local officials say they would dismiss such notions except that the growing and often heated protests are having an effect.

In Maine, the Tea Party-backed Republican governor canceled a project to ease congestion along the Route 1 corridor after protesters complained it was part of the United Nations plot. Similar opposition helped doom a high-speed train line in Florida. And more than a dozen cities, towns and counties, under new pressure, have cut off financing for a program that offers expertise on how to measure and cut carbon emissions…

And, thanks to our friends at BetterGeorgia.com, who recently attended a four-hour briefing session for Georgia’s Republican State Senators, we now have some insight as to how this particular conspiracy theory is making its way though our state legislatures. Following is hidden camera video, shot on October 11, of a four-hour Agenda 21 information session for Georgia legislators called by Chip Rogers, the Republican Majority Leader of the Georgia State Senate, and Treasurer of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). During the session, Rogers shared what he’s uncovered about Agenda 21 with his fellow State Senators. (The invitation to the event promised that the presentation would explain: “How pleasant sounding names are fostering a Socialist plan to change the way we live, eat, learn, and communicate to ‘save the earth.’”) I particularly like the part, at about 23 minutes into the presentation, when we hear conservative operative Field Searcy relate to the Senators how Obama is using a mind-control technique known as “Delphi” to trick the American people into accepting this UN-orchestrated coup, which will ultimately see all of us forcefully relocated to cities. (It should be noted that Rogers was just two votes short of getting anti-Agenda 21 legislation approved by the Senate last session.)

Agenda 21 Full Video from Bryan Long on Vimeo.

And, did you catch that Majority Leader Rogers is the Treasurer of the ALEC Board of Directors? (He’s also their Georgia State Chairman, and winner of ALEC’s State Chair of the Year Award.) I find that connection really interesting, given ALEC’s well-established role as the lead entity pushing the extreme legislative agenda of corporate America. As one doubts that the very intelligent individuals behind ALEC truly believe that President Obama is attempting to enslave us, and hand our country over to the United Nations, I can’t help but think that they’re involved in the pushing of this conspiracy theory for other reasons… most notably, to stop environmental legislation that would negatively impact the bottom lines of America’s largest and most powerful corporations. This, in other words, has nothing to do with the threat of creeping Socialism, and everything to do with a desire on the part of America’s CEOs to operate outside of the law. This is about keeping cap-and-trade from being implemented, and keeping our coal-powered factories belching black smoke into the atmosphere.

And, on that note, I give you the ad for Glenn Beck’s book. Be sure to watch until the end. Otherwise, you won’t learn about how, in the future, we burn old people alive for energy.

note: I should add that I think this subject matter should be fair game for fiction writers. Dystopian novels, when done well, as in the case of 1984 and the Handmaid’s Tale, can be incredibly powerful. And, as we find ourselves, right now, at a time in history when natural resources are dwindling, population is rising, and our climate seems intent on wiping humanity from the face of the planet, I think we need to begin exploring, through fiction, and all other means available to us, how our countries might choose to intervene in hopes of salvaging what can be salvaged. It’s certainly plausible, I think, that we could find ourselves in a situation, for instance, where people are incentivized to give up their cars, move into urban centers, and use mass transportation. (Personally, I’d like to think that we could figure out how to make cheap, efficient solar power ubiquitous before resorting to the burning of our elderly, but I suppose it’s an alternative worth considering.) No, what I object to isn’t the book, but the fear mongering being done by certain people on the right who have a vested interest in the status quo. I have a problem with ALEC taking up the Agenda 21 conspiracy theory as a way to drive terrified and poorly-informed individuals into the offices of their elected officials, demanding that we not, for instance, legislate the emissions of coal plants, because it’s all part of Barack Obama’s evil Socialist plot to overthrow our great and powerful country. And, it pisses me off that Glenn Beck is building an empire on this nonsense, peddling fear between ads for gold coins, local gun shops, and so-called “survival seeds.” So, it’s not the book that I object to – it’s the completely disingenuous propaganda campaign surrounding it.

Let me start by saying that I know that it’s not a fair comparison. I know that Grand Rapids has the good fortune of having a few extraordinarily wealthy patrons, thanks primarily to the success of the international network marketing firm Amway, that are dedicated to making sure that their city is well-positioned for the future, whereas our only fantastically wealthy potential benefactor, after losing a bitter fight to legally enshrine gay discrimination in Ypsilanti, chose to move to the swamps of Florida, and build a new, ultra-conservative city in accordance with his far right religious beliefs. And I know that things are possible in a city of 190,000 that just aren’t possible in a city of 20,000, especially when those 190,000 individuals are, on average, a lot better off financially than their Ypsilanti counterparts. Furthermore, I also seem to recall having heard Heartwell say that Grand Rapids was number two in the nation when it came to per-capita charitable giving, which certainly helps.

As someone who hasn’t spent much time there, I can’t say definitively, but I get the sense that folks in Grand Rapids, in spite of their religious conservatism, actually believe in the concept of the greater good. For instance, they’re not just talking about sustainability, but they’re actually addressing carbon emissions, rapidly expanding bike paths, and implementing ‘pay as you throw’ garbage collection. And, as I mentioned above, they’re presently building an incredible year-round market facility which will not only serve to support regional growers, but also provide the infrastructure necessary to nurture a generation of budding food entrepreneurs. The following comes by way of the New York Times.

Next year… Grand Rapids is scheduled to open the $30 million, 130,000-square-foot Downtown Market, a destination that is expected to attract 500,000 visitors a year. The three-story brick and glass building, under construction in a neighborhood of vacant turn-of-the-20th century warehouses, is intended by its developers to be a state-of-the art center of commerce for the culinary arts and fresh local foods.

It is also seen as having the potential to accomplish much more.

“This project fills a variety of needs,” said David Frey, chairman of the Frey Foundation and co-chairman of Grand Action, a nonprofit group of local business leaders that joined the city’s Downtown Development Authority to raise money for the market and to build it. “It creates a lot of synergy for the development that’s been happening in Grand Rapids for some time now.”

The Downtown Market, in effect, is the newest piece of civic equipment built here since the mid-1990s to leverage the same urban economic trends of the 21st century — higher education, hospitals and health care, housing, entertainment, transit, and cleaner air and water — that are reviving most large American cities….

The design plan for the Downtown Market includes space for food production and processing, a commercial kitchen to provide an incubator for new businesses and another to educate students in food preparation and healthful eating. A greenhouse will occupy the roof and two restaurants are planned. Enough space is available indoors and out for banquets, civic events and more than 60 vendors. The market was built with nontoxic materials, and has advanced systems for energy efficiency, natural lighting, waste management, recycling and water conservation.

A feasibility study, completed in March 2010 by Market Ventures of Portland, Me., found ample reason for Grand Rapids to pursue the project. Some 12,220 farms in the 11-county agricultural region that surrounds Grand Rapids bring in a total of $2 billion in annual revenue. Many of the growers produce fruits and vegetables, including specialty crops, for sale at a public market.

The study forecast that the Downtown Market, which occupies a 3.5-acre site close to highway exits and the Grand River, would achieve gross annual sales around $25 million, and generate more than 600 jobs. A small staff could manage the market, and its annual income is expected to total $2 million, with expenses reaching $1.5 million…

Is it impossible to think that something like this would work in Ypsilanti? Probably. I would argue, however, that there are a lot of possibilities along the continuum which has, at one end, a $30 million downtown market facility, and, at the other, a Family Dollar store.

And, yes, I know that we’re talking about apples and oranges, here. But I’m not trying to make the case that we should have an indoor market on Water Street. I’m only saying that, when assessing projects, we should keep in mind that some will move us in the direction of sustainability, growth, and self-sufficiency, while others will move us away from those shared objectives. And I’d put Family Dollar in the latter category.

I know that some of you believe that Family Dollar is “our only hope,” as someone expressed in the comments sections today. I would argue, however, that Family Dollar actually represents the ceding of hope.

And, here, now that I’ve got that off my chest, are some sketches showing what the Downtown Market will look like.

FIRST FLOOR:

SECOND FLOOR:

This is what the future looks like, folks.

If you like this ad as much as I do, and would like to contribute toward getting it on television, the folks at ClimateSilence.org are accepting donations here.

And, before you say that this most recent hurricane had nothing to do with global warming, you might want to read this clip from the New Yorker, which references several recent scientific studies which would strongly indicate otherwise.

A couple of weeks ago, Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance firms, issued a study titled “Severe Weather in North America.” According to the press release that accompanied the report, “Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America.” The number of what Munich Re refers to as “weather-related loss events,” and what the rest of us would probably call weather-related disasters, has quintupled over the last three decades. While many factors have contributed to this trend, including an increase in the number of people living in flood-prone areas, the report identified global warming as one of the major culprits: “Climate change particularly affects formation of heat-waves, droughts, intense precipitation events, and in the long run most probably also tropical cyclone intensity.”

Munich Re’s report was aimed at the firm’s clients—other insurance companies—and does not make compelling reading for a general audience. But its appearance just two weeks ahead of Hurricane Sandy seems to lend it a peculiarly grisly relevance. Sandy has been called a “superstorm,” a “Frankenstorm,” a “freakish and unprecedented monster,” and possibly “unique in the annals of American weather history.” It has already killed sixty-five people in the Caribbean, and, although it’s too early to tell what its full impact will be as it churns up the East Coast, loss estimates are topping six billion dollars.

As with any particular “weather-related loss event,” it’s impossible to attribute Sandy to climate change. However, it is possible to say that the storm fits the general pattern in North America, and indeed around the world, toward more extreme weather, a pattern that, increasingly, can be attributed to climate change. Just a few weeks before the Munich Re report appeared, scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in New York, published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the apparent increase in extreme heat waves. Extreme summertime heat, which just a few decades ago affected much less than one per cent of the earth’s surface, “now typically covers about 10% of the land area,” the paper observed. “It follows that we can state, with a high degree of confidence, that extreme anomalies”—i.e., heat waves—“such as those in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010 were a consequence of global warming because their likelihood in the absence of global warming was exceedingly small.” It is worth noting that one of several forces fuelling Sandy is much-higher-than-average sea-surface temperatures along the East Coast…

[note: Thanks to Jim Egge for bringing this to my attention.]

Reversing his previous position, he today announced that he appreciates FEMA and wouldn’t dream of giving the agency less than it needed to function… even though the Romney/Ryan budget still calls for cutting the agency’s budget by at least 34%.

Here’s a clip from the Huffington Post:

…Now, a week before Election Day, after of a massive disaster, Romney’s campaign is reassuring voters that his administration wouldn’t leave disaster victims in the lurch. The public’s attention is locked on the devastation caused by Sandy at a time when Romney and President Barack Obama are locked in a close presidential campaign. With Obama heavily involved in getting federal funds to those in trouble, the Romney campaign moved quickly to reassure the public it supports a strong program of storm relief.

“I believe that FEMA plays a key role in working with states and localities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” Romney said in a statement supplied by his campaign Wednesday. “As president, I will ensure FEMA has the funding it needs to fulfill its mission, while directing maximum resources to the first responders who work tirelessly to help those in need, because states and localities are in the best position to get aid to the individuals and communities affected by natural disasters.”

Wednesday’s statement came after the candidate ducked a spate of opportunities Tuesday to personally clarify his position and the statement essentially endorsed the current disaster aid system.

But what the campaign wouldn’t do is say whether a President Romney would insist that help for disaster victims be funded by cutting other programs in the federal budget, as many conservative Republicans insist…

For what it’s worth, I don’t imagine this guy is buying it.

[warning: Profanity.]

For those of you who didn’t follow that first link, the man in the video is angry because Romney, after promising not to politicize the storm and saying that he’d cancel his campaign appearances out of respect to the families devastated by this natural disaster, went on to do the exact opposite, holding events in Ohio that, in every way, looked like his previous events, but with the addition of canned food, diapers, granola bars, and a few banners declaring these campaign stops to be “storm relief” events. And, the saddest part is, it’s been discovered that the Romney campaign bought these food donations, spending, in one case, $5,000 at a local Wal-Mart, only to hand them out to supporters outside a rally, so that they could then be photographed as they entered with “donations” in hand. If I’d just lost my home, I would have found it a disgusting spectacle as well. But, Romney got the photo he needed of his compassionate supporters handing him bags of food, demonstrating that individual charity can, in times of crisis, be more effective than intervention from big government. Meanwhile, up and down the east coast, a newly recreated FEMA saved lives all day long, not just handing out granola bars, but actually pulling people from the rising water, bringing them to safety, and putting them in temporary shelter.

If there’s any silver lining at all in what’s happening right now along the east coast, it’s that maybe, just maybe, people will begin to see Romney for the smug, entitled, pandering little anti-science asshole that he is. I cannot even begin to fathom how one of our candidates for the highest office in the country could stand on a stage, in front of millions, and suggest that caring about America’s families and caring about the effects of global climate change are somehow mutually exclusive. I wonder how the families of the 11 Americans already killed by Hurricane Sandy feel about Romney’s guffaw-inducing inference that our President was stupid and out-of-touch for wanting to see climate change addressed in a serious manner. I know that it may not seem like a big deal to a man with a diverse portfolio of homes, and access to private jets that can easily shuttle his family between them, avoiding the dangers brought on by rising tides, and the increasingly violent weather patterns that have become the new normal, but some of us actually have to stay in these areas ravaged by the extreme weather brought about by global climate change, and fight for our lives.

But, as I said, some sanity is beginning to peak through the dark grey clouds of anti-intellectualism. Just today, Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, knowing that his state is in serious peril, dropped his ‘we need to slash taxes and starve the federal government’ nonsense, and began praising the Obama administration’s preparation for the hurricane. “I appreciated the president’s outreach today in making sure that we know he’s watching this and is concerned about the health and welfare and safety of the people of the state of New Jersey,” he said… The lessons of Hurricane Katrina, it would seem, become a little less abstract when it’s your people facing the brunt of a hurricane’s destructive force.

Thankfully for Christie, Obama is the President right now and not Romney, who has gone on the record saying that we should eliminate, downsize or privatize the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Here, with more on that, is yet another piece of video of Romney.

And, before you say that he doesn’t really mean it, let’s remember what the Romney economic plan, as outlined by Paul Ryan, would do to FEMA. The following is from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“States and local areas hit by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and tornadoes often seek help from the federal government. In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, at a governor’s request, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) helps people affected by the disaster get food, water, and shelter, and can help with search-and-rescue missions and providing electric power. FEMA also helps states and local governments repair or replace public facilities and infrastructure, which often is not insured. This form of discretionary federal aid would be subject to cuts under the Ryan budget. If it were scaled back substantially, states and localities would need to bear a larger share of the costs of disaster response and recovery, or attempt to make do with less during difficult times. Federal discretionary funds also help states, cities, and other local governments hire police officers. Big cuts in funds to hire police officers would shift more of the cost of hiring these officers to state and local budgets.”

A Romney/Ryan budget means a return to the Bush policies that made the disaster of Hurricane Katrina possible. It means cuts not only to FEMA, but to federal organizations that track severe weather, so that we can better prepare for their impact. Is that the kind of future we want for America? I know that the Libertarian fantasy of the rugged individual standing up to such challenges unimpeded by ineffective government is an attractive one to some, but, at some point, we need to grow up and face the reality, as Governor Christie apparently has, that we created the federal government for a reason.

Romney friend and Republican anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist once famously stated, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” Unfortunately, though, as Hurricane Katrina showed us, it’s not just the government that drowns these policies are put in place.

MARK: So, how are things going at Growing Hope?

AMANDA: It’s great now that we’re finally moved into the Growing Hope Center (as of April). We can finally begin to focus more intently on our work, and our impact, and less on managing construction, which has been my role for the last five years. Our new home — which we already feel cramped in, since our staff has continued to expand (including paid staff, Americorps volunteers, interns, youth employees, et al) — is great, and has exactly the home-y feel we were hoping for. People stop in all the time who don’t know us. People who live in the neighborhood just stop in to say hi. People driving by stop in, curious to learn more. People drop in just to ask a quick question. So, just that presence on Michigan Avenue alone has allowed us increase our reach and impact.

Now that we’re situated in the Growing Hope Center, it’s much easier to lend books from our library and tools to Growing GardensGrowing members. And we even lend canning equipment now! And having our own meeting/teaching space is awesome.

We’ve expanded our summer youth programs, and, this summer, we held garden and nutrition-based camps at the Boys & Girls Club, in West Willow, and at Parkridge, with our teen interns acting as peer educators. And those interns also started their bicycle-powered smoothie business.

The big exciting news (exciting to me, at least) is that we’ve just started a year-long strategic planning process to chart the next several years for Growing Hope. We’ve got a bunch of focus groups coming up, and we’ll will be inviting community members to give voice in those, as well as thought one-on-one interviews and surveys… Anyone interested in learning about any of those, or giving input, can write to us at rsvp@growinghope.net.

The other big exciting news is that we’re working to expand our social enterprises, and thus our ability to earn our own revenue, create more jobs, etc. I’ve been in a fellowship in Detroit called Enterprising Health since June, which is for social entrepreneurs who are working to alleviate health disparities, and we’ve been working on business planning (that also includes a component of community voice, planning for impact, etc). We’ve got a survey right now we welcome anyone near or far to take. You can find it here.

MARK: And can you tell us a bit about what you’ve got going on this Sunday?

AMANDA: This Sunday is the last of three Chefs in the Garden amazing dinners. We’ve got three chefs — the two wild women of Bona Sera, and Brandon Johns of Grange — cooking up deliciousness right on our urban farm. The first two dinners (featuring Chefs Emil Boch of From the Hearth Food & Kim Nichols of Harvest Kitchen in August, and Chefs Silvio Medoro of Silvio’s Organic Ristorante & Pizzeria and Benjamin Meyer of Iridescence) were amazing and sold out, and there are fewer then five tickets remaining for this Sunday’s event! Hopefully we’ll schedule more.

MARK: How did the Chefs in the Garden series come about?

AMANDA: Chefs in the Garden is an evolution of our annual fundraising dinner, previously called Hope’s Harvest. There, we had maybe 8 or 9 chefs, all on site, and the event was much larger — maybe 125 guests. We scaled it down, and now we’re having two chefs at once, with more like 50 guests each time. It’s a bit more intimate, and simpler for us to put on. We’ve thrifted enough that we have 50+ sets of dishes, tablecloths, napkins, etc (could still use more silverware!), and we have tables, etc. So, right now, all we need is a tent. By next spring, though, we’ll have another hoophouse up, which will serve as an education and event space, and then we can have dinners in there instead!

MARK: Any big things to note concerning this season at the Downtown Ypsi Farmers’ Market? Any trends that you’re seeing develop? Any lessons learned this year?

AMANDA: The Market has had another record-breaking year, in terms of numbers of vendors, customers, sales, and, most importantly to us, our SNAP (food stamp) sales have continued to break all previous records. There’s no disputing — people of all income levels want healthy food, and, when they have access to it, they’ll buy it! We’ve also been doing food sampling every week, and have finally got our portable four-bin sink, and other equipment in place, so that we can put on full fledged (and officially “food safe”) outdoor cooking demos!

MARK: What should we expect from Growing Hope over the winter?

AMANDA: The strategic planning is one — so folks should stay tuned to give input into that…

We’ve also been doing almost weekly classes, and there are still more of those planned in the next months. We’ll have classes on food preservation, season extension, and more. So folks should come on out for those. And, just tonight, we did an intro two-hour session to our Garden Leadership Training, which trains teams starting, expanding, or reviving community, school, and faith-based gardens. We’ve got another intro session next week. And, we’ve got our training dates set for February for the full course (and we’re offering a Saturday option this time!).

And, of course, we’ll have the winter farmers’ market inside the Corner Brewery. This winter, though, it will be every week instead of every other week. And it will run from Election Day (November 6) through December 18/

And, we’re going to do an online holiday auction again this fall — featuring local services & goods, which hopefully helps support those businesses. We hope that people who don’t win the auctions that they bid on will then go and purchase that item instead. And, we’re taking contributions now. It needs to be something that a gift certificate can be used for, which makes it easier for include in the format of an online auction. Email to sponsor@growinghope.net if you’d like to participate… Oh, and we’re still taking ads for our 2013 wall calendar. You can drop us a line using that same email address.

And we finally got the plant material installed to complete our green roof on our adobe oven structure! Thanks to an Ann Arbor Farm & Garden grant, not only do we have the green roof, but we have plans for a second hoophouse, a solar panel to power our cistern pump, some more accessible pathways through our gardens, and new signage. All of this will be getting in place in the next six months.

I’m spending a lot of time thinking and talking about broader economic and community development in Ypsi through healthy food. I think we (we in the broad sense, not necessarily Growing Hope) have a very real opportunity in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the GHC, and even on Water Street, and I’m working on getting some solid economic analysis in place to further “make the case”. I’m super inspired right now by how Cleveland is taking the lead on this — from some of the best zoning around urban agriculture, to public market revitalization, to pilot urban grazing projects on vacant land, to excellent marketing, to worker-owned co-ops… I was just there at the International Public Markets Conference put on by the Project for Public Spaces, an amazing organization that’s all about place making.

MARK: I imagine the Growing Hope Center is going to be a work in progress for the foreseeable future, so I won’t ask if it’s where you want it to be, but I’m curious to know if it’s coming along the way that you’d anticipated when you first took possession of the property?

AMANDA: I think in many ways it is exactly what we envisioned, and I think over the next year, as we are more and more settled in, get our commercial kitchen certified, get our LEED certification (looking for a volunteer or intern who wants to work on that (http://www.growinghope.net/get_involved/jobs), and are more set up to welcome school field trips, host events for others, etc., that it’ll continue to come to life. When I take the rare moment to step back and reflect, I’m overjoyed.

Our next big phase is going to be getting plans in place and funds raised for solar panels. We could actually be net zero energy, possibly, if we do this, because we already use geothermal for our heating and cooling system. I hope we can find a partner in the green building world who would like to market/use our space to educate around all of the sustainable redevelopment we did. We definitely talk about it during tours, but it’s not our main thing so we don’t do presentations and such about it. We rebuilt our old windows, installed geothermal, used tons of reclaimed materials, maximized insulation, have a 12,000 lb recycled glass plaza, have solar powered parking lot lights, a cistern system we designed, etc, etc…

MARK: How much produce have you generated in the hoop house so far this season?

AMANDA: Oy, I don’t have that number — someone else on my staff does… But we do grow over 1 ton each year on our 1/4 acre… And we’ve increased our wholesale sales this year. Have you had the Growing Hope frittata at the Wolverine? Kevin says it sells out a lot!

MARK: What’s going on in Ypsi schools? How active have you been so far this school year? Are kids coming out to the Center, working on the urban farm, learning about how food makes its was from the farm to table?

AMANDA: During the school year, we mostly do after-school programming. Speaking of which, our Seed 2 Plate club started today! Apparently they did a junk food makeover. They made kale chips and banana ice cream (which is literally frozen banana then put in a blender, and it’s apparently great), and it was a big hit. We do a lot of healthy cooking with these middle schoolers.

MARK: What kinds of new things are you working on for next spring? Any big plans afoot?

AMANDA: The launch of Growing Ventures — our social enterprise division — will be branding some things we already do that help people grow healthy food at home, but will also be offering new things. We’re exploring compost delivery and raised bed installation services, but nothing’s guaranteed yet. We’re working through the financials right now to see what is really feasible.

And there are some top secret things we’re not ready yet to talk about because we’re still working out the details.

MARK: How close are you to making your last fundraising goal?

AMANDA: For the Growing Hope Center, in the last five years we’ve raised just about $700,000 in cash, grants, pledges, and in-kind support… It’s kind of overwhelming to think that we’ve done that at the same time as raising our annual operating budget from scratch each year. (No wonder I feel so tired.) And as you know, this has been through very grassroots, one-gift-at-a-time contributions and amazing in-kind contributions. To pay off the entire debt on the building, finish up things like solar panels, accessible pathways, et al, and pay off other construction debt (not a giant amount, but some), we’ve still got about $250,000 to go.

So, by meeting the goal of the challenge grant we got last fall (which we just completed!!!), and getting our Certificate of Occupancy and moving in, we’ve successfully completed the first phases of our capital campaign! It’s very exciting– and while we’re gearing up to raise that last chunk of funds, we’re also turning our focus to our regular operating funds.

Our funding really is dependent on broad community support, so as much as we’re always trying to be more innovative in earning revenue, that charitable support from people is still really key.

Any gift of $100 or more designated to the GHC/capital campaign gets you a leaf on our tree of gratitude– which local artist Robb Todd did a breathtaking job of bringing to life on the side wall of the garage in the GHC back yard. (Any gifts by end of October will have leaves go up by the end of the year!)