Come on Home!

SUBHEAD: Ecological agriculture and sixteen wonderful farms that point the way to sustainability.

By Allen Dale on 10 February 2014 for Resilience.org -
(http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-02-10/come-on-home-ecological-agriculture-and-sixteen-wonderful-farms-that-point-the-way)

http://www.islandbreath.org/2014Year/02/140212mainstreetbig.jpg
Image above: Amish wagon in winter tied up at the corner of Main Street in Panama NY circa 1990. Note atilt street sign and store for rent. This is the farming village that Juan Wilson and Linda Pascatore lived in before moving to Kauai and starting IslandBreath.org. Click to embiggen.
“If we don't get sustainability right in agriculture first, it won't happen anywhere.” - Wes Jackson, http://www.landinstitute.org/
“We’ve got examples [of agricultural sustainability], but you’re not under any obligation to be an optimist. And you’re not under any obligation to construct a hope for the whole human race. What you are required to do is to be intelligent. And that means you’ve got to have an array of examples you want more or less to understand. Some are not perfect…and to be intelligent you’ve got to know why some are better than the others. …[T]hat means you’ve got to think in particular about particular examples.”- Wendell Berry, http://www.iasc-culture.org
“If there’s a world here in a hundred years, it’s going to be saved by tens of millions of little things.” – Pete Seeger, http://www.resilience.org/

 Summary:  The transition to an ecologically-based agriculture is obligatory if we hope to feed ourselves during the wrenching economic, social, and climatic troubles ahead.  But how do we make this transition?  This essay uses over a dozen working farms across the country (& a few other countries) to illustrate some of the key principles of the ecologically-based agriculture that will be required.  …The next steps are up to you, kid.


I. A GATHERING DARKNESS
“That’s how the pan flashes / that’s how the market crashes / that’s how the whip lashes / that’s how the teeth gnashes” – Tom Waits
At this point in our crumbling industrial misadventure, anyone with even a shred of consciousness can sense the approaching storms.

Of course, the skies of our earthly prospects have been darkening for centuries – with every pound of topsoil washed to the sea, with every molecule of CO2 spewed from our incessant fires, with every deadly toxin stockpiled in our crumbling nuclear reactors, with every species we exterminate, with every resilient human connection to the earth severed by the maelstrom of our industrial culture.

But as the winds pick up and the thunderheads roll into sight – as we enter the spastic endgame of our civilization -- things are about to get noticeably exponential. Indeed, stray gusts of entropy have already billowed our drapes a time or two (e.g., DeepwaterHorizon, BearStearns, the TX-OK drought, Fukushima, Frankenstorm Sandy, etc., CA drought ongoing), but far worse is yet to come. That deep roar in the distance, those sharp cracks, the tinkling of broken glass – it’s headed our way.

I won’t go into all the gory details here, but I think our dicey predicament can be summed up like this:
  • Our industrial way of life is toast.  The way we live now in Industrial, USA will not last long.  It may persist anywhere from a few more hours to a few more years, but the faux stability we’re feeling now will end shortly.  Jim Kunstler summarizes the big picture nicely at his Forecast 2014 post: http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/forecast-2014-burning-down-the-house/.  And Chris Martenson does all the play by play at http://www.peakprosperity.com/.

  • The post-industrial transition will be damn hard.  While we can certainly expect much laughter, love, and beauty in the ‘collapsing’ times ahead, we’ll also be visited by a generous helping of much nastier stuff.  Here’s a sampling of some unwelcome things we’ll need to deal with over the coming years as our civilization unravels:  economic depression, broken supply lines, hunger and want, military opportunism, spasms of pollution, repression, homelessness & refugee camps, disease, random & directed violence, etc.  See Dmitry Orlov’s The Five Stages of Collapse for a general framework of what we might expect.  And see Kunstler’s World Made by Hand novels for a fiction take on the same ideas.

  • We’ll likely have trouble feeding ourselves in the coming decades.  As the fabric of fossil-fuel-based industrial agriculture unravels, we’ll be shocked to find that (1) the transition to traditional annuals-based agriculture is severely challenged by past erosion of the necessary capital (soil fertility, fossil aquifers, knowledge, skills, genetics, etc.) and (2) that really any sort of dependable agriculture becomes highly problematic due to a destabilizing climate.  For more details, see http://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-03-11/when-agriculture-stops-working-a-guide-to-growing-food-in-the-age-of-climate-destabilization-and-civilization-collapse.

II. COMING HOME
“You haven’t looked at me that way in years / But I’m still here” – Tom Waits
So the future certainly paints a potentially scary picture, no? And it thus begs the question: What should we do about it? Or, is there anything we can do about it?

…Well, we do have some choices.
The lazy choices are, as usual, the bad ones:

(1)   We can do nothing and hope everything will be ok.  It won’t.  The approaching storms are too big for the ostrich strategy to work.

(2)   Or we can work to wall-off just our own family from the approaching storms.  This is almost certainly futile, as the massive approaching storms will overwhelm any meager family bubbles we can erect.  And even if we could protect our own families initially, no family is likely to survive in isolation – too much can go wrong.  Small, tight-knit communities are probably the smallest (and largest) units to have a fighting chance.  Because, if you have something and those around you don’t, don’t expect to keep it very long.

While the challenging choices are, as usual, the good ones:
(1)   We can reconnect with our families and human communities, knowing that we’ll need each other to have any chance of making it through the storms.  This requires the difficult process of learning to live and work closely with many people – both related & not – who either scare you, disagree with you, or annoy the hell out of you.  We need to learn to do that and keep the inevitable tensions from ripping our little communities apart.  …Hey, who moved my cheese?!
(2)   And we can reconnect with our ecological communities and the earth.  Only by tying back into the powerful cycles of biological growth and decay do we have any chance of weathering the coming storms – and particularly, of feeding ourselves in the coming resource-challenged, climate-destabilized future.  And this requires the long, messy (but fulfilling!) process of learning where we are and with whom we share the land.  …Hello, song sparrow!  Nice to meet you!  What are you up to?

Put another way, we need to come home. We are a people sprung from small communities and an intimate connection to the earth. That is our home. And only recently have we strayed from that literal Eden – initially with the tragedy of annual agriculture and the growth of cities, and then with the catastrophe of industrialism.

So now we just need to come back. But that is, of course, a tall order, given how far we’ve strayed and how much damage we’ve done. So we’ll need to work damn hard at both getting there and staying there to have any chance of making it through in one piece.

And we need to start now.


III. ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE
“We belong to the water / We belong to the air / We belong where there is love” – Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
But fortunately, there are many who have already started on this journey home – far too few, to be sure – but enough to give us some hope that we can do it. And some of these people have left a record of what they’ve done and why they’ve done it – and crucially, what’s worked and what hasn’t. And that’s what I want to share here.

And while there are many pathways by which people are coming home, I’m going to focus here on agriculture, as food acquisition is perhaps our most intimate interaction with the land. And also, for a number of social, economic, energetic, and ecological reasons, how we do agriculture dictates a great deal else about how we structure our societies. Thus, Wes Jackson states that, “if we don’t get sustainability right in agriculture first, it won’t happen anywhere.” So we need to get our food acquisition in line with what the earth requires of us, and then everything else in society has at least the potential to follow a similarly enlightened path.

But what does the earth require of us? And what would constitute a ‘sustainable agriculture?’ And how can we even grow any food reliably amidst the mayhem of these approaching storms?

All three answers, I think, come back to this: tying our agriculture back into the biological cycles of growth and decay, back into the riot of relationships among the living and the non-living inhabitants of the land. We need an ecological agriculture – one that doesn’t sit on the land, displacing ‘nature’, but rather one that fits into the land, partnering with the land in a way that (as Eric Toensmeier quotes in Paradise Lot) fulfills human needs while enriching the land.

We need to dive back into the ‘tangled bank’, offering up our considerable ecosystem-shaping talents as a species – but also humbling ourselves to the larger whole, of which we are but one contributing member. That’s ecological agriculture. That’s a potentially permanent agriculture.

And, frankly kids, that’s the only chance we’ve got.


IV. THOSE ALREADY ON THE PATH HOME
“Only one desire / that’s left in me / I want the whole damn world / to come dance with me” – Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
But while any stirring ecological agriculture ‘call to arms’ certainly raises the goose bumps on my arms, we’re going to need some more particular directions if we want to make it home in time – before the approaching storms rip us apart.

…But luckily we have them! Dozens of farms, after spending decades exploring and implementing various forms of ecological agriculture in their places, have recorded their experiences in book, article, and video form. …Just for us! Yay!!

So now we need to carefully study their examples, noting what has worked and what hasn’t – as well as the key ways in which their situation differs from ours. And then we need to work to create some form of ecological agriculture appropriate for the particular places and communities in which we’re embedded.

This is, of course, easier said than done – especially given the inexperience of most Americans with both practical ecology and agriculture, as well as the persistent hindrance from a still-dominant ecocidal culture. But do it we must. So do it we shall – difficulty be damned.

And to facilitate this daunting task, I’m going to present a bunch of these examples of ecological agriculture here, along with links to relevant books, articles, or videos that flesh them out.

But rather than just list the farms, I’m going to highlight just one key characteristic of each – one characteristic among the many key elements of the diverse ecological agricultures we need to implement. These key elements, presented here, include things like a general ecological framework for agriculture, perennial staple crops, species diversity, polyculture planting, capturing rainwater in soil, drought adaptations, etc.. There are other elements we could include – but this is a good start, I think.

And each farm, of course, features many or all of these key elements, but some do one particularly well or in some particularly interesting way – which is the one I’ll discuss it under. In any case, you should certainly dive into the literature yourselves. And then pull out what might work in your place and give it a try.

Hey, it’s worth a shot,
ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE…IN ACTION ON SIXTEEN FARMS!
“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.” – Wendell Berry
1. FOUNDATIONS OF ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE: 
Wendell Berry (Kentuckey) & Wes Jackson (Kansas)
We can fully imagine, implement, and sustain an ecological agriculture – one that can fulfill our needs while mending the strained relationship between human culture and the land.

And we must, because centuries of land abuse and the mounting depredations from industrial waste and pollution have painted us into a tight corner. Our slack is gone. We can no longer pretend to go it alone. We will need a true partnership with the land if we are to have any hope of making it through the coming ecological bottleneck.

Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson are American treasures. On their respective hillside and prairie farms, and in their writings for half a century, they have served as (so to speak) relationship counselors between our wayward human culture and the land. They suggest that only by listening closely to the land over many generations can we hope to fulfill our responsibilities to it, to nurture its health as it nurtures ours. And only by tending to the health of our human communities can we foster the culturally-enforced restraint such an ongoing responsibility demands. Their words and examples can give us strength and guidance in the long journey of healing that lies ahead.

2. PERENNIAL STAPLES: 
Phillip Rutter (Minnesota)
We can get the bulk of our carbohydrates, fats, and proteins – our agricultural staples – from perennial crop species that are not only climatically resilient and efficient at energy and nutrient uptake, but that also enrich the farm ecosystem and build precious soil.

And we must, because again, our slack is gone. Our soils are already thinned and depleted by the ravages of centuries of annual grain production. Our formerly-annuals-friendly Holocene climate is already beginning to destabilize. Thus, continued reliance on climatically-fragile, nutrient-inefficient, soil-wasting, annual-grain staple crops is not merely a bad idea, it is literally cultural suicide.

In a sane culture, Phil Rutter would have the fame of a George Washington. As the founding president of the American Chestnut Foundation, Rutter, a plant ecologist and tree breeder, is a major part of the imminent return of the American Chestnut to our forests. But his 160-acre Badgersett Farm in Minnesota is also well-advanced in its efforts to domesticate hazelnut, chestnut, and hickory-pecan trees for use as perennial staple crops. Using a nature-mimicking hybrid swarm breeding method, Rutter has combined the genomes of several species of hazelnut (and likewise with chestnut and hickory-pecan) and selected for earliness, reliability, and size of yield, as well as a robust disease resistance. After over 30 years of breeding, he is now many generations down the path (furthest with hazelnut), and his trees are already available for purchase.      

3. SPECIES DIVERSITY: 
Ken Asmus (Michigan)
We can supplement our staple crops with a diverse array of trees and shrubs that not only supply fruits, nuts, edible leaves, fuel, and fiber, but also build soil, capture rainwater, and accumulate nutrients.

And we must, because the coming economic, social, ecological, and climatic shit storms demand an uber-robust agricultural resiliency. And the only way we achieve that is through a redundancy and complementarity of perennial food crops – i.e., addressing each food-nutrient niche with several crop species, and addressing as many food niches as possible.

Ken Asmus’ Oikos Tree Crops catalog is an ecological agriculture treasure chest. On his 13-acre Michigan farm, Asmus grows, propagates, and sells a breathtaking variety of woody perennial food plants, in addition to a nice selection of perennial vegetables and nitrogen fixers. Nobody can predict which food species will serve us best in the ecologically-scrambled times to come, so we need such wide diversity to hedge our bets. But not only does Asmus’ farm feature a stunning diversity across family and species, his nursery features an impressive genetic diversity within each species as well. Incorporating such open-pollinated seedling diversity, which sacrifices narrow yield maximization for yield regularity and resilience, will be absolutely key to both place-adapted woody-crop breeding efforts and in keeping our families fed in the face of the wacky weather ahead.

4. PERENNIAL VEGETABLES: 
Eric Toensmeir (Massachusetts)
We can get much of our nutrient-dense vegetables (leaves, stems, flowers, roots, and tubers) from a diverse array of climatically-resilient, soil-holding perennial herbaceous species.

And we must, because annual vegetable production on anything larger than a garden scale is problematic in the same manner as annual grain cultivation – wasting of soil, inefficient at capturing nutrients, ecosystem over-simplifying, vulnerable to climatic instability, and ultimately suicidal. In addition, we will need a diverse array of perennial vegetables to fill key niches in our nascent food forest polycultures.

Eric Toensmeier is something of a perennial vegetable savant. In his 0.1-acre Massachusetts backyard, he grows (along with his gardening partner Jonathan Bates) hundreds of species of edible perennial vegetables. In his excellent book Paradise Lot, Toensmeier details the multi-stage, emergent process of determining which perennial vegetable species fit best in his place. Some species grow great, some don’t; some taste pleasing to them, others don’t; etc. But with enough attention, a suite of pleasing, productive, place-adapted perennial vegetables eventually reveal themselves. We will need to begin the same process in our places.

5. POLYCULTURE: 
Geoff Lawton (Australia)
We can raise our perennial food, fuel, and fiber crops in diverse polycultures that mimic the structure and functions of natural ecosystems.

And we must, because agriculture is about to get damn tricky. In the face of mounting resource scarcity and climate destabilization, our agroecosystems will need to become both more efficient at nutrient capture and more resilient in the face of the ever-more-frequent disruptions. Only a high diversity of genetics and structure both above and below ground will be up to the task. We will need to mimic the redundancy and complementarity of natural ecosystems if we wish to continue to eat in the century ahead.

Geoff Lawton, a protégé of permaculture founder Bill Mollison, might be my choice for “Groundskeeper of the Earth” if such a silly title existed. Since it doesn’t, we all need to pay close attention to what he’s doing in Australia. Because he’s doing something beautiful – and something on which our collective survival depends. Lawton is partnering with the land and building a farm that stands a chance; a farm that mimics the resilient form and functions of a natural forest ecosystem, but that also produces food, fuel, and fiber for generations to come. Such a project requires careful observation, sound ecological knowledge, the right plant species, hard work, and time – but it’s as possible as it is necessary. Learn from this man and start now.

6. CAPTURE RAINWATER IN SOIL: 
Mark Shepard (Wisconsin)
We can capture the majority of rainfall in the soils and ponds of our farms with relatively minor but well-placed earthworks.

And we must, because rainfall in much of the US is becoming increasingly uneven – with long hot-dry spells punctuated by brief, intense rain events. And while the average annual rainfall may remain somewhat ‘normal’, the soil moisture dynamics for agriculture and the land are changed drastically. So when rain does fall in this new ‘weird weather’ manner, we need to “slow it, spread it out, and sink it in.” And when we do, longer droughts can be weathered, flooding is minimized, base flow in streams is maintained, and hillside springs gurgle back to life – and the land thrives. And so do we.

Mark Shepard is an engineer by training, and he’s applied both an engineers eye and an ecological sensibility to the fate of rainfall on his beautiful 106-acre Wisconsin permaculture farm. Through a combination of on-contour swales, subsoil plowing, and catchment ponds, Shepard has been able to keep rainwater on the farm where it belongs – slowing its runoff, spreading it out, and allowing it to sink into the soil where it’s needed by his food trees & shrubs, grasses, animals and family. Look at an overhead photo of his farm (see his website above), and you can see the outline of the contour swales, spreading runoff from valleys to ridgetops, instead of funneling it as fast as possible (in eroding torrents) down the valley centers – as happens on most farms. And this stuff isn’t just for big farms: these water-managing strategies are as vital on 0.1 acres as they are on 100 acres – as Eric Toensmeier mentions in Paradise Lot.

7. DROUGHT ADAPTATIONS: 
Gary Nabhan (Arizona)
We can grow some amount of food in times of severe drought stress if we learn from and implement the nature-mimicking water conserving techniques of traditional desert farmers.

And we must, because droughts are coming – brutal, prolonged droughts that dwarf anything in living memory. Climate models suggest that, as the climate continues to destabilize over this century and beyond, much of the US – even many currently well-watered parts – will be racked by prolonged episodes (or, in places, even essentially permanent states) of extreme drought. The beginnings of such droughts are already becoming noticeable in states like TX, OK, and CA. So in many parts of the US, we must increasingly adopt the many time tested strategies developed in desert regions for utilizing every single drop of rainfall and dew we can capture. Or we perish.

Not too long ago, the great ecologist and author Gary Nabhan was absolutely devastated. Native to the arid Southwest US, Nabhan was noticing a disturbing shift in the climate there that was making it increasingly difficult to grow any food at all at his farm. After mourning for a period, he started looking for solutions – to see if there was any way to adapt to the increasingly hyper-arid conditions his farm was experiencing. \ 
So he looked to regions and farms all over the world that had found ways to thrive under such conditions. He found that through a suite of strategies mimicking how natural arid ecosystems manage water (nurse tree over-stories and multi-layered plant structures, building soil carbon with mulch, terracing, check dams and living fence rows to catch debris, drought/flood/wind/fire-tolerant species, etc.), arid-land farmers were able to maximize their farms’ ecological potential and make the desert bloom. So he put it into action on his own farm. And it’s working. – The land is talking to us, you know. We just need to listen.   

8. ADAPTED ANNUALS:
Carol Deppe (Oregon)
We can breed our own resilient, open-pollinated, place-adapted annual crops to supplement our perennial crops.

And we must, because (1) we’ll still need resilient, place-adapted annuals during our necessary transition to a perennial agriculture, and (2) there may be challenging times in certain parts of the US where only annuals will work for us. For example, if the expected future droughts become so crippling that our woody crops die back, we may be able to turn to short-season annuals that can thrive even in the small growing windows available to us. Secondly, if climate disasters, social disruptions, war, or severe pollution events force us away from our perennial plantings, we can transport our annual seeds and some food security along with us.

Carol Deppe is a visionary. A Harvard-educated biologist and longtime gardener, Deppe lamented the sorry state of the vegetable seed industry – namely that local, place-adapted varieties were being lost left and right, while varieties that remained were being managed poorly, resulting in a diminishment of many important qualities (taste, nutrition, storage ability, etc.). 
So she did something about it. She started breeding her own varieties of the annual crops she deemed as most crucial to a resilient food supply in the pacific Northwest – squash, corn, beans, and potatoes (as well as ducks). And she wrote some fantastic books telling us how we might go about doing something similar where we live. So let’s do it.

9. ANIMAL HUSBANDRY:
Sepp Holzer (Austria)
We can raise hardy, resilient breeds of livestock in humane ways that not only provide us with food and fiber, but also perform useful functions on the farm and improve ecosystem health.

And we must, because animals raised in a natural, low-input manner represent an added layer of food security to complement our annual and perennial crops – namely, they can eat things we can’t (like grass and branches), and they can come with us if we need to move. Such livestock are also crucial components in nutrient cycling on the farm (with their manure and foraging), as well as willing workers for ground preparation and harvest.

Sepp Holzer -- the ‘contrary farmer’ of Europe, in the true Gene Logsdon tradition -- is a permaculture pioneer who farms over 110 acres of high altitude slopes in Austria. Holzer is famous in permaculture circles mostly for things other than animal husbandry (e.g., hugelkultur raised beds, terracing, microclimate enhancements, aquaculture, etc.), but there are a few things about his farm animals that we need to pay close attention to. Firstly, he raises tough, old-time breeds, sacrificing narrow yield maximization for resiliency and durability – both crucial traits in a post-fossil fuel era. Secondly, he lets them express their true animal nature – raising them in stress-free, natural settings where they can behave according to their instincts. And thirdly, he manages them in labor-efficient ways, letting them harvest a majority of their own food while at the same time doing important ecosystem management on the farm. The picture above tells much of the story by itself. Check out his work!

10. FARM PONDS: 
Gene Logsdon (Ohio)
We can get significant amounts of both food and enjoyment from our low-input farm ponds, even while they play their vital roles in rain-water management and ecosystem enrichment.

And we must, because as our industrial amenities vanish in the coming years, we will sorely need many sources of both food and enjoyment! Low-input ponds provide an additional layer of food security -- another complementary food source (plants and animals) to fall back on should other sources become strained. And ponds can also bring bucket loads of refreshing family and community fun -- as we fan out from our soon-to-be-darkened screens and industrial cocoons to rediscover our families, communities, and ecosystems.

'Contrary Farmer' Gene Logsdon is a living link to a time when our country still perhaps had a choice of two paths -- and chose the wrong one. Logsdon farms on 32 acres not far from his boyhood home, surrounded by friends, family, and land that he knows intimately -- and often grieves for. Logsdon has written scores of wonderful books about how we might reconnect our fraying relationships with the land, but his 2004 treatise on farm ponds, Pond Lovers, is one of the more moving ones. Logsdon truly loves his pond -- a small low-input pond in his sheep pasture that he made inexpensively with the help of family. 
And he writes not only about it's food production (which is impressive), but also about it's prime importance to both the surrounding ecosystem and his family bonding. He writes, "To appreciate the full worth of a pasture pond, I visualize it as part of the extended environment of the farm, which…becomes the watery balance to the meadows and woods. Such a farm can only continue to increase in self-sustaining animal and plant species, powered and operated almost totally by the sun. Here is all the paradise I desire, all the paradise I need." Amen. So let's start building some ponds!

11. BUILT SYSTEMS: 
Ben Falk (Vermont)
We can design and construct quality, energy-efficient built systems -- those that serve the functions of shelter, heating, water delivery, human waste handling, etc. --with local labor and materials that harmonize with our lives and the land in both form and function.

And we must, because both the 'cheap' materials to build and repair our shoddy industrial systems, as well as the 'cheap' energy to make up for their egregious design flaws, will soon become unavailable. And we will soon find that careless design and poor craftsmanship of our built systems are a one-way ticket off the land. So to survive (and thrive!) in our coming resource-challenged era, we'll need homemade, easily-repaired systems that don't waste material or energy resources -- and that serve multiple functions, complementing the other farm operations.

When I start despairing a bit at our predicament, I just think of Ben Falk and I start to feel better. Falk gets it. A 30-something permaculturalist, Falk farms 10 acres of challenging land in Vermont in a thoughtful, caring manner -- in a true partnership with the land. Reading about his wonderful farm gets me musing about all the intelligence and enthusiasm of our young minds that can soon be turned to the vital problems of re-inhabiting this land -- instead of the intellectual vandalism that currently beckons them from industrial culture. 
And while his book covers every aspect of his Vermont farm, I just want to focus here on his approach to built systems. Falk's key insight is that while biological systems reproduce themselves and can improve over time, built systems – again, those that serve the functions of shelter, heating, water delivery, human waste handling, etc. -- start degrading the moment they're created. Thus built systems are, in a sense, a necessary evil whose functions should be handled or shared, whenever possible, by self-renewing biological systems. But wherever necessary, such built systems should be (1) designed intelligently for both energy/material efficiency and multiple functionality, (2) built skillfully with local labor and materials, (3) easily repairable when the inevitable breakdowns occur, (4) and redundant in case a failure occurs and the system cannot be repaired immediately. 
Good stuff! -- So just imagine what we could do if our ample intelligence and imagination were applied to enriching the earth instead of plundering it. Oh wait...we don't need to imagine -- we just need to look at Ben Falk's farm and the wonderful work he's doing there!     
12. HEALING HERBS: 
Nancy & Michael Phillips (New Hampshire) 
We can grow our own medicines and ally with our plant partners to heal our bodies, minds, and souls.

And we must, because, for better or worse, industrial medicine will soon be leaving us. We will then be, once again, responsible for our own health and healing, mediated largely through a diverse array of healing plants. And we will sadly need this healing more than ever, as a potent cocktail of poisons -- organic, heavy metal, and nuclear -- spreads out from our crumbling industrial infrastructure into every nook and cranny of the planet and our bodies. But even beyond the physical necessity of such healing skills and knowledge, reconnecting with these healing plants will begin to heal our withered, industrial-besotted souls -- as we leave our electronic prisons and reconnect to the river of life that animates the planet.

Nancy and Michael Phillips run a beautiful herb and apple farm in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. And they are the kind of people we need to become as a nation -- skilled, thoughtful, caring, and above all, reverent and thankful for the gift of Creation. Their book, The Herbalists Way, illuminates not only the path we need to make to reconnect to the powers of the plant kingdom, but also how close we are to the tools and inspiration we need to make this journey -- it's all right here! Plants have great healing powers that humans have used since the beginning of humans. And only recently have we have abandoned these relationships. But we can tap back into these powers if we let the plants into our hearts and minds. They're waiting for us to come back. We just need to begin the journey. So let's start now!
13. EDIBLE & HEALING FUNGI: 
Paul Stamets (Washington)
We can ally with our fungal partners to heal our bodies with food and medicines, while at the same time healing the land.

And we must, because as we work to recover from the Great Industrial Catastrophe, our bodies and the land will need healing like never before. Fungi can help us strengthen human health through both their rich nutrients and potent medicinal properties. And they can help us strengthen the health of the land by building soil, aiding plant growth, filtering water runoff, and detoxifying soil.

Paul Stamets is a brilliant mycologist, innovator, and all-around champion of the fungal kingdom. On his farm in Washington state, Stamets is trying to change the way we think about our fungal brothers. He is pioneering ways we can use woody debris and logs to grow edible and medicinal mushrooms on our own farms -- both of which are vital complements to the plant-based foods and medicines we grow. 
But he is also pioneering ways that we can use fungi to restore the land back to health -- namely through (1) filtration of water and reduction of erosion with mycelium mats, (2) forest regeneration with mycorrhizal fungi, (3) detoxification of soil by both their potent fungal enzymes and hyper-concentration of nasty elements, and (4) deterrence of insect pests in our structures by certain fungi. 
In all his work, Stamets is serving as a sort of human ambassador to the fungal kingdom, and he's telling us that it's not only time for a fungal detente, it's time for a fungal celebration! -- So let's party!
14. WILD HUNTING & GATHERING: 
Samuel Thayer (Wisconsin)
We can get a bounty of delicious, nutritious food from wild plants and animals through hunting and gathering – often with far less labor than from our domesticated crops and livestock.

And we must, because in the tough times ahead, we will need as many complementary and redundant sources of food as possible. If we just know what to look for, there is a literal banquet out there in just about every wild habitat in just about every month of the year -- food that is not only nutritious, but delicious too. 
And due to any number of coming disruptions, there will likely be times ahead when such food is all we have. (For example, I think back to ecologist Bernd Heinrich's descriptions of his family hiding out in the German forests during WWII and eating wild foods.) So we need to learn how to find, harvest, and prepare such foods now, so that they will be there for us in our time of need. -- 
But even beyond the possible survival necessities of wild foods, their incorporation into our everyday lives will do much to further strengthen the bond between us and the land. Wild foods are another example of the gifts being offered to us all the time, free of charge, by the great river of life that courses through the planet -- if we only open ourselves up to it.

Sam Thayer absolutely floored me with his two incredible books on wild plant gathering, The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden. While I had dabbled in wild foods and considered myself somewhat knowledgeable, here was a person who lived and breathed wild foods -- who was writing not only from a place of deep knowledge, but of deep love. Thayer gathers wild foods on and around his Wisconsin farm as an integral part of his family's diet, and he's compiled his growing practical wisdom in such a clear, readable way so that we too can begin grow into such knowledge and love. His beautiful books are the Sibley's Guide to Birds of the wild food literature (i.e., they're awesome!). 
So let's dive into them, start to experiment, and we'll not only eat well, we'll begin to see the land around us in a more compassionate, loving way. -- Hold on land, we're comin' home!
15. FARMING THE FERMENTERS: 
Sandor Katz (Tennessee)
We can ally with microorganisms to improve the storage life, nutrition, flavor, and fun content of our foods.

And we must, because energy intensive industrial methods of food preservation will not be with us much longer. Our food will no longer be able to jump from extended cold storage to oven to plate on demand. So we will need ways to keep our food edible and yummy for longer at room temperature. Fermenting with microorganisms can do this. And by doing so, we also get the added benefit of enhanced nutrition and more robust intestinal health…and in some cases, even that most ancient of social medicines, ethanol -- all of which will be sorely needed in the trying times ahead.

Sandor Katz raises more livestock in his little kitchen than there exist cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens in the entire world. And those little microbial guys are doing work! And Katz is as much a culinary anthropologist as anything else -- connecting us to our pre-industrial, old-world past, where a significant percentage of foods we ate and drank were fermented. And we did it because it works -- fermented food lasts longer, tastes richer, and contains more nutrients. 
Such 'controlled rotting' of food is a little scary for the uninitiated, but once we learn to trust in the ways of the ancients, the glory will be revealed to our palates (and intestines). And Katz lays it all out for us in his wonderful books. So let's get out that crock, some veggies, and a little salt -- and dive in!
16. SPREADING THE WORD – Teaching, writing, doing, etc.: 
Here is a very incomplete list of some more great teachers and practitioners of ecological agriculture.  Search out your teachers, get access to some land, and let’s get some roots in the ground!

17.  SPREADING THE GENETICS –
Some perennial crop and heritage animal sources:
Here is a very incomplete list of some plant, seed, and animal sources for your ecological agricultural adventures from Eric Toensmeier’s nice plant source list: 
…there are many many more! Search them out!

    V.  AND NOW IT’S OUR TURN
    “With my own two hands / I can clean up the earth / with my own two hands / I can reach out to you / with my own two hands” – Ben Harper (Curious George soundtrack)
    I think most of us can agree that we are currently living in a very unsettling time -- at the cusp of a monumental transition, with no assurances that the coming descent is even doable. Yikes! …It’s like we’re at the top of a rollercoaster ascent and a thick fog obscures the steep track ahead – and no assurances that the track is even there. Double yikes!

    So how then do we respond to this predicament? What choices should we make? …Well, the first step is acknowledging that a lot of conceivable options are just not on the table – namely those involving lots of fossil fuel energy and those that rely on environmental, economic, or social stability. Those options are now likely closed by virtue of our past sins. But we do still have some choices. Of course, there are no guarantees that things will turn out OK, but we can maximize our chance for success if we concentrate on making good choices from here on out.

    And what are those good choices we can make:
    • Find some land – You can buy, lease, rent, borrow or squat, but as the industrial infrastructure crumbles, it just seems like access to land is a prerequisite to maximizing our chances.  There are pros and cons with every place.  Weigh them and make a stand.
    • Listen to the land – Learn the ecology of your chosen place.  Watch, listen, taste, smell, and feel.  Do this continually.  Realize that no matter how much you know about your land, there is much you are missing.  Embrace that ignorance – allow for wiggle room in your projects.  Start small, observe, & then scale-up.  Don’t do anything you can’t undo. 
    • Look for good examples to follow – Pick the best parts of the best examples you can find and start there.  The farms profiled here can be a start, but look around in your area – good examples can be found in the most improbable places.  Then try those examples on your land and watch for the response.  Then alter your plans accordingly.
    • Look to your community – You won’t make it through alone.  Find like minded people and put your heads together.  And learn to live with those who aren’t like minded.  Find some common ground with them and start from there.  Moving forward wealth will be measured in the quality and quantity of your relationships, not in stuff.
    • Keep on the sunny side – There’s gonna be heap-loads of bad stuff coming our way.  So much that it will be tempting to let it swallow us.  Don’t let it.  Look for the good in everything.  Find reasons to laugh.  Make your own fun.
    • Keep on plugging away – There will be set-backs along the way.  Sometimes BIG ones – ones that take us back to the start.  Remember the lessons you learned playing ‘Chutes & Ladders’ and keep going.  Don’t let the bastards keep you down.
    So how’s that?
    Good enough, I say.
    We’ve got all we need to start something good here.
    So let’s get this party started. 

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    Our Middleman-Skimming Economy

    SUBHEAD: Collapse for the middlemen-skimmers is akin to the collapse of debt-based serfdom. It's called freedom.

    By Charles Hugh Smith on 11 February 2014 for Of Two Minds -
    (http://www.oftwominds.com/blogfeb14/middlemen2-14.html)


    Image above: Detail of movie poster fr film "Middlemen" From (http://sorabhsamsukha.blogspot.com/2011/11/movie-review-middle-men.html).

    The Internet is enabling sellers and buyers to bypass the predatory State and the parasitic middlemen the State enforces.

    Why do we read commentaries and analyses? To understand why the Status Quo is dying and to have a hand in shaping the new way of living that will replace it. Longtime correspondent Zeus Y. recently encapsulated the core dynamic of our era:
    "Here's the deal between the two worlds right now: the Status Quo is dying but trying to take everything with it and the other is trying to hold the old world up enough to avoid complete collapse, buy time, and construct the airplane of the new world, all while flying."
    Humans avoid changing current arrangements until there is no choice left but to change them--usually when the arrangement collapses in a heap. Greece is an interesting example of just this dynamic: the political parties left, right and center are desperate to keep the corrupt Status Quo intact, while those whose slice of the swag has vanished have already moved on to new arrangements that no longer depend on Central State swag or the many layers of middlemen that skimmed off most of the wealth for various monopolies, cartels and Elites:
    After Crisis, Greeks Work to Promote ‘Social’ Economy
    Here's the Status Quo arrangement: the Elites trying to take everything they can before their vast skimming arrangement finally collapses:
    Corruption in the EU and Greece (Acting Man)
    Greek official bribed 'more times than he can remember'
    At the time, Mr. Kantas, a wiry former military officer, did not actually have the authority to decide much of anything on his own. But corruption was so rampant inside the Greek equivalent of the Pentagon that even a man of his relatively modest rank, he testified recently, was able to amass nearly $19 million in just five years on the job.
    Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' (BBC)
    It's instructive to study the key strategy in Greece's social/community economy: get rid of the middleman.

    There's a couple of things we need to understand about middlemen before we can grasp the revolutionary nature of a social/community economy.

    A middleman adds value to both supplier and buyer by making transactions faster, easier and cheaper. A bank, for example, clears payments made with checks, and takes depositors' savings and loans the money out at interest to borrowers. Both of these transactions are fraught with various risks and complications, and the bank charges a fee for taking on the management of the transactions.

    A wholesaler adds value by providing a market for both sellers and buyers that enables a transfer of risks and transaction costs to the wholesaler in exchange for lower prices to the seller and higher prices to the buyer.

    The keys to this middleman economy are transparency, voluntary choices and the competition that arises in transparent voluntary markets. Middleman economies function for both sellers and buyers only as long as all transactions are voluntary and the costs and risks of using middlemen are transparent to all participants.

    The problem, as Marx foresaw, is that profits are always at risk in such a competitive marketplace. Middlemen who raise their prices enough to skim big profits are soon abandoned by sellers and buyers who can get lower transaction costs elsewhere.

    The ideal system for middlemen is the exact opposite of an open competitive market: low-risk fat profits flow to monopolies or cartels that obscure costs, and turn sellers and buyers into involuntary participants who have no other choice but to give money to the middlemen.

    This is the middleman-skimming economy, in which middlemen are free to skim enormous profits from participants who've been left no other choice. The classic skimming middleman is of course the State (government), which holds a monopoly on violence and other forms of coercion (for example, threats from the F.B.I.: Green is the new red: Will Potter on the problem of treating environmentalists like terrorists).

    Everyone who thinks the State is a warm and fuzzy uncle here to help the disadvantaged should study these paragraphs closely:

    At the Tribune, I was covering breaking news, shootings, murders and local government, and it was all horribly depressing. It was not the type of thing I went into journalism to do. I had a background in college in environmental activism, and protesting the World Trade Organization and the economic sanctions on Iraq, and I wanted to be involved in something positive like that again. 
    So I went out leafletting with a group of people. We just passed out pieces of paper in a residential neighborhood about animal testing. I thought that was the most I could do as a working journalist — something so benign. And of course, since I have the worst luck ever, we were all arrested and charged. It was the only time I’ve been arrested. Those charges were later thrown out, of course. It was a frivolous arrest. And it’s still lawful to pass out handbills.
    A couple weeks later, I was visited by two FBI agents at my home, who told me that unless I helped them by becoming an informant and investigating protest groups, they would put me on a domestic terrorist list. They also made some threats about making sure I wouldn’t receive a Fulbright I had applied for, and making sure my girlfriend at the time wouldn’t receive her PhD funding.

    I really want to think that I wouldn’t be affected by something like that, especially given my activist background, but it just scared the daylights out of me. It really did. That fear eventually turned into an obsession with finding out how this happened, how nonviolent protestors are being labeled as terrorists.

    They knew everywhere I worked, they knew my editors at the Tribune, they knew different journalism awards I received — and their message was, “Help us or we’re going to put you on a different path.” And they kept saying, “Don’t throw all this away.” And so at one point, I just said, “What are you going to make go away?

    This is a class C misdemeanor for leafletting, there’s no way it’s going to hold up in court, and you’re talking about ruining my life.” I of course never became an informant, and never thought about doing anything like that, but — it changed the focus of my work, without a doubt.

    There's your warm and fuzzy State in action. I can attest from personal experience that these are exactly the same tactics used to suppress, undermine and criminalize the anti-war movement in the late 1960s and 70s.
    Pimping the Empire, Conservative-Style
    Pimping the Empire, Progressive-Style
    Substitute middleman-skimming operation for empire and you get the basic idea.

    The State is thus the ultimate skimming middleman: Every transactional fee is set by a monopoly seeking maximum profit and/or leverage from every transaction.

    In our middleman-skimming economy, the State partners with various private cartels to fix prices, guaranteeing immense profits for the corporate cartels and the State functionaries who enforce the involuntary trade.

    Would you like to see the "competitive" healthcare available in your area? It turns out all the insurance plans are ultimately operated by two companies in the cartel--ditto for the hospitals, Big Pharma medications, and so on.

    How about our "competitive" national defense weapons industry? Oops, there's only a handful of suppliers--or in many cases, one supplier. Here's your $1,000 hammer--sorry about the high cost, but our overhead costs include very large bribes paid to politicos under the polite guise of "campaign donations." We're sure you understand (snicker).

    Higher education is another middleman-skimming operation. Want a degree that may (or may not) still have a few shreds of "value" in the real economy? Pony up $100,000, buster, or better yet, make that $200,000. Here's the friendly Federal government which will issue you the loans to pay us.

    Oh, and these loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy--they're due and payable for the rest of your days (with rare exceptions that require a full-time legal team and many years of effort).

    In a no-middleman system such as the one I propose in The Nearly Free University and The Emerging Economy: The Revolution in Higher Education, students (buyers) pay the lecturers, working professionals/mentors, adaptive learning providers, etc. directly, cutting out the middleman universities entirely because the system is based on the professional model of accredit the student, not the institution.

    The same elimination of middleman-skimming is possible in a cash-barter only healthcare system: The "Impossible" Healthcare Solution: Go Back to Cash (July 29, 2009).

    The Internet is enabling sellers and buyers to bypass the predatory State and the parasitic middlemen the State enforces. Banks--no longer needed. Sickcare cartels--no longer needed. Higher education cartel--no longer needed.

    If you still think all these cartels are essential, please re-read the article on how people find new ways of living and interacting once the corrupt skimming operations of the State and cartels collapse.

    After Crisis, Greeks Work to Promote ‘Social’ Economy.

    Collapse of this system is akin to the collapse of debt-based serfdom. It's called freedom, and it's only a disaster for the middlemen-skimmers. For the rest of us, it's a new arrangement with many advantages over the long term.



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    It's all about the drones

    SUBHEAD: It's the military/industrial drone program coming to Hawaii that is driving separation of Kauai and Niihau.

    By Juan Wilson on 11 February 2014 for Island Breath -
    (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2014/02/its-all-about-drones.html)

    http://www.islandbreath.org/2014Year/02/140211dronebig.jpg
    Image above: Mashup by Juan Wilson of drone over the Apu ahapuaa in the Koolau moku of northeast Niihau. Click to embiggen.

    The ugly shape in the darkness is revealing itself as people turn their attention to recent news concerning Niihau.

    It would seem there has been a stealthy program to beef up the military presence here in Kauai County - specifically to add Niihau to the area controlled through the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF). The PMRF already has rights on 6,000 acres of the Mana Plain through leases with the DLNR and non-exclusive easement arrangements. Moreover, beyond Kauai they "coordinate" one million square miles of range in the Pacific Ocean.

    The issue is not about picking opihi, or nearshore fishing rights, or private property rights, or Aha Moku konhiki responsibilities, or Hawaiian cultural values, or increasing  PMRF basesecurity, or separating Niihau from Kauai County.

    This is about a play by the federal government to orchestrate the inclusion of Niihau as a part of US military operations here. Stakeholders in the drama (wittingly or unwittingly)  include the US Department of Defense, US Navy, PMRF, several military contractors, Governor Abercrombie, members of the Hawaii legislature, the DLNR, Aha Moku Council, and some Hawaiian cultural practitioners.

    Just remember, every other even numbered year is another RIMPAC exercise, and this year is RIMPAC 2014. There are some saying the channel between Kauai and Niihau is similar to the space at the Straights of Hormuz that separates the Arab Gulf States from Iran, ans here the bulk of Middle East oil must pass to reach the world - What better simulation area for practicing WWIII?

    See also:
    Ea O Ka Aina: Two bills to rule Niihau 2/9/14
    Ea O Ka Aina: Niihau and the US Military 2/7/14
    Ea O Ka Aina: End RimPac destruction of Pacific 11/1/13
    Ea O Ka Aina: Navy admits threat to sea mammals 5/12/12
    Ea O Ka Aina: RIMPAC to Expand Activities 8/3/10
    Ea O Ka Aina: RIMPAC War Games here in July 6/21/10
    Ea O Ka Aina: RIMPAC to return in 2010 5/2/10
    Island Breath: RIMPAC blaimed for beaked whale's death 7/29/08
    Island Breath: RimPac 2008 7/2/08 
    Island Breath: Protection of whales from Navy sonar 6/3/07
    Island Breath: RIMPAC 2006 Impact 7/9/06
    Island Breath: RIMPAC Threatens Kauai Again 5/23/06
    Island Breath: RIMPAC 2004 Strandings 9/2/04



    Keeping the islands one

    By Chris D'Angelo on 9 February 2014 for the Garden Island -
    (http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/keeping-the-islands-one/article_35834f64-915e-11e3-afae-0019bb2963f4.html)

    By now, it is no secret that the Robinson family and a handful of Hawaii legislators have major plans for the “Forbidden Island” of Niihau.

    A slew of bills have been introduced this legislative session related to the island — proposals from establishing no-fishing zones and regulating the harvesting of opihi in nearshore coastal waters to making the privately owned piece of land a new, independent county from Kauai.

    On Friday, Kauai community members came out in force at Wilcox Elementary School to make it clear that they feel they’re being left out of the discussions.

    “This whole bill thing for Niihau just absolutely stinks,” said Don Moses, a 40-year Kauai fisherman.

    The crowd of more than 100 was united in its stance.

    “They are being rushed through without hearings, which seems very unfair,” Puanani Rogers added of the bills. “What is the rush? Is it because the Robinsons have an ulterior motive?”

    Dan Ahuna, the Kauai and Niihau trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said he organized the “listening session” to make sure all Hawaiian beneficiaries are being heard on the matter.

    “Two days ago, in one of our OHA Board of Trustee meetings, a procedural vote came up and I was put in a situation to support a vote to write a letter to the governor and support this bill for (banning fishing) three miles out,” he said. “But it is important for me to be here to listen to you and your comments.”

    While he feels he has been put in an “unfortunate situation,” Ahuna said he wants to move forward with open dialogue.

    In attendance Friday was Rep. Faye Hanohano, who introduced the House version of a bill that would have established a two-mile no-fishing zone around the island. That bill was ultimately deferred and Hanohano has since introduced a short form bill, SB 709, that would make appropriations to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to conduct public outreach meetings to adopt rules for statewide coastal management.

    “The problem is not only on Kauai and Niihau,” she said.

    Rep. Dee Morikawa, who was also in attendance, said Hanohano’s bill is a compromise.

    “Her bill is what brings everybody to the table,” she said. “So that’s what we want you to know. It’s not getting shoved down your throat. If we can get her bill passed, we can get everybody on the table to figure out what we’re going to do about this.”

    More than a dozen people took the opportunity to voice their feelings. One resounding message was that Kauai and Niihau are one and should not be separated — neither as counties nor fishing areas.

    Westside fisherman Greg Holtzman described the two islands as “brother and sister,” and a relationship the state clearly doesn’t understand.

    Before any decisions are made in regard to Niihau, Rogers said there needs to be many more community discussions.

    “In my eyes, Niihau and Kauai are not separated,” she said. “We are one. We share the same ocean, we share the resources, we share ohana.”

    The concerns voiced during the meeting varied greatly. Some said the bills are nothing more than the Robinson family trying to further privatize their already private island. Others said they are worried that the Niihau people are having their voices suppressed.

    As for bringing everyone to the table, many questioned why the Robinsons didn’t attend the meeting. Shane Cobb Adams, however, said it’s not the Robinsons that should be included, but the people of Niihau.

    “The people on Niihau have rights, and nobody’s asking them what they want,” he said.

    If passed, SB 172 would make the island of Niihau a separate county under the control of the DLNR.

    Mel Wills, operations manager at Holoholo Charters, said his concerns with the recent proposals vary greatly. One concern is that the DLNR, which issues his company boating permits, has been unable to enforce the law when it comes to illegal boaters.

    While against fishing bans and the separation of counties, many in the audience seemed to be on board for Hanohano’s bill to appropriate money to the DLNR to study the issue.

    Moses said it is time for fishermen and other interested parties on Kauai to organize and fight together so that the end result is a win-win for everyone, not just the Robinson family.

    “We have to be one voice, one group that represents a lot of people that vote because that’s the only people they listen to,” he said of legislators.

    Last to share his thoughts was Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., who expressed his disappointment with the flurry of bills, particularly the last-minute one to separate Niihau from Kauai.

    “What’s up with that?” he asked. “We are the county of Kauai and Niihau, Niihau and Kauai.”

    Carvalho added that fishing is everyone’s right and that Friday’s discussion was overdue.

    “We got to be able to talk,” he said.

    Responsive to local "stakeholders"

    SUBHEAD:  The FAA expects that public entities will be "responsive" to stakeholder concerns.

    By Lyn McNutt on 10 February 2014 in Island Breath -

    Regarding the situation on the ground needed for FAA approval of US Drone Test Sites:

    BINGO!  Here is the notice in the federal register (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-11-14/pdf/2013-27216.pdf).

    Second, the FAA believes that Test Sites operators will be responsive to local stakeholders’ privacy concerns and will develop privacy policies appropriately tailored to each Test Site. The selection criteria for the Test Sites specify that only a ‘‘public entity’’ can serve as a Test Site operator. The term ‘‘public entity’’ is defined in the selection criteria to mean
    (A) any State or local government;

    (B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government;

    (C) the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, and any commuter authority.
     The FAA expects that public entities will be "responsive" to stakeholder concerns.


    Hawaii offers exceptional opportunities 

    SOURCE: Lyn McNutt (zensea1@gmail.com)
    SUBHEAD: Alaska among six sites selected by FAA for cutting-edge drone research.

    By Mary Kauffman on 30 December 2014 for Sit News -
    (http://www.sitnews.us/1213News/123013/123013_test_sites.html)

    The "drones" are coming to Alaska (and Hawaii) - research that is. The University of Alaska will serve as one of six official Federal Aviation Administration unmanned aircraft system test sites, the federal agency announced today.

    According to the FAA, the University of Alaska's proposal was chosen making Alaska one of the six test sites joining Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia as testing grounds for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The Alaska-led team includes state agencies and companies in Oregon and Hawaii who joined Alaska's effort. In total, 58 companies and companies are part of the Alaska-led effort, according to ACUASI's Greg Walker of the University of Alaska.

    “The University is both honored and challenged with this selection,” Ro Bailey, Deputy Director, Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems at University of Alaska Fairbanks, said. “The benefits for the state, for its citizens, for business and technology, and for the nation are exciting and potentially very dramatic.”

    “The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ reputation as an experienced, safe and savvy operator using a variety of UAS types in diverse missions and locations all over the globe undoubtedly played a major part in our selection,” said Ro Bailey, deputy director of ACUASI and the intended Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex director.

    “Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii offer exceptional climatic and geographic diversity, lightly populated airspace and overwater test opportunities that can support the majority of FAA needs.”

    The Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex will be managed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the test site will build on the ongoing work of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration, which is part of the UAF Geophysical Institute. Operations of the test range complex are slated to begin in mid-2014.

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today the selection of the six public entities that will develop unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research and test sites around the country. These congressionally-mandated test sites will conduct critical research into the certification and operational requirements necessary to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace over the next several years.

    Today, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) perform border and port surveillance, help with scientific research and environmental monitoring, support public safety by law enforcement agencies, help state universities conduct research, and support various other missions for government entities.

    In selecting the six test site operators, the FAA considered geography, climate, location of ground infrastructure, research needs, airspace use, safety, aviation experience and risk. In totality, these six test applications achieve cross-country geographic and climatic diversity and help the FAA meet its UAS research needs.

    Across the six applicants, the FAA stated in a press release it is confident that the agency’s research goals of System Safety & Data Gathering, Aircraft Certification, Command & Control Link Issues, Control Station Layout & Certification, Ground & Airborne Sense & Avoid, and Environmental Impacts will be met.

    “These test sites will give us valuable information about how best to ensure the safe introduction of this advanced technology into our nation’s skies,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

    The FAA’s role in the UAS program is to help the test site operators set up a safe testing environment and to provide oversight that ensures the sites operate under strict safety standards.

    “Safety continues to be our first priority as we move forward with integrating unmanned aircraft systems into U.S. airspace,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “We have successfully brought new technology into the nation’s aviation system for more than 50 years, and I have no doubt we will do the same with unmanned aircraft.”

    The FAA has established requirements for each test site that will help protect privacy. The requirements were developed with public input and the final requirements were published on November 14, 2013 in the Federal Register. This followed the February Federal Register notice that asked for public comments on the draft privacy requirements for the six test site operators. Among other requirements, test site operators will be required to comply with federal, state, and other laws protecting an individual’s right to privacy; have publicly available privacy policies and a written plan for data use and retention; and conduct an annual review of privacy practices that allows for public comment.

    Alaska Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell welcomed the announcement that the Federal Aviation Administration chose Alaska as one of six states to be a test bed to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or remotely piloted aircraft into civil airspace.

    Treadwell is chair of the Aerospace States Association, which has advocated for the FAA's test bed program, and has helped Alaska and other states address privacy and constitutional issues related to UAVs.

    "UAVs can help save lives, and promote scientific research and resource development here in Alaska," Treadwell said. "An unmanned vehicle can fly through volcanic ash clouds and into forest fires where it is not safe to send humans. They can provide observational warnings about marine mammals approaching offshore oil and gas fields. In a state as vast as Alaska, UAVs can give us information on what's happening with weather, climate, and other conditions in remote parts of our state.

    "Safety and maintaining individual privacy continue to be our priority, and we're working to ensure they are never compromised," Treadwell said. "Alaska was a test bed for the next generation of air traffic control being adopted across the country. The FAA has learned Alaska airspace is a good place to advance safety for the nation."

    Lt. Gov. Treadwell said many individuals and groups came together to support the Alaska proposal, made by the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute's Alaska Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration (ACUASI). An Alaska UAS Interest Group, organized by the State of Alaska, the U.S. Department of the Interior in Alaska, the FAA and the University, has hosted an annual workshop for the last seven years to help prepare for the new technology here.

    U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) also welcomed the announcement that Alaska was chosen by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of the test sites.

    “I fought hard to include funding for this research in the FAA bill because this kind of cutting-edge research will bring jobs, resources and a new mission to the University of Alaska system,” Begich said. “This new initiative will help lay the foundation for other new economic activity in Alaska and put our state on the world map when it comes to this exciting emerging technology.”

    For years Begich has argued that Alaska is perfectly positioned for such research and development, given the state’s enormous airspace and challenging weather and temperature conditions.

    Representative Shelley Hughes, who co-chairs the State House legislative task force for unmanned aircraft systems, congratulated the University of Alaska Fairbanks for being selected and pointed out the timeliness of the task force’s work.

    “Our members have diligently been reviewing the state’s responsibility regarding privacy concerns, and we’ll be bringing forward recommendations to the legislature to provide a safeguard to the public,” Hughes said. “Alaska continues to be a leader in aviation, and this is the next wave. It makes sense to use UAS for the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks.”

    A brief description of the six test site operators and the research they will conduct into future UAS use are below:

    University of Alaska. The University of Alaska proposal contained a diverse set of test site range locations in seven climatic zones as well as geographic diversity with test site range locations in Hawaii and Oregon. The research plan includes the development of a set of standards for unmanned aircraft categories, state monitoring and navigation. Alaska also plans to work on safety standards for UAS operations.

    State of Nevada. Nevada’s project objectives concentrate on UAS standards and operations as well as operator standards and certification requirements. The applicant’s research will also include a concentrated look at how air traffic control procedures will evolve with the introduction of UAS into the civil environment and how these aircraft will be integrated with NextGen. Nevada’s selection contributes to geographic and climatic diversity.

    New York’s Griffiss International Airport. Griffiss International plans to work on developing test and evaluation as well as verification and validation processes under FAA safety oversight. The applicant also plans to focus its research on sense and avoid capabilities for UAS and its sites will aid in researching the complexities of integrating UAS into the congested, northeast airspace.

    North Dakota Department of Commerce. North Dakota plans to develop UAS airworthiness essential data and validate high reliability link technology. This applicant will also conduct human factors research. North Dakota’s application was the only one to offer a test range in the Temperate (continental) climate zone and included a variety of different airspace which will benefit multiple users.

    Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. Texas A&M plans to develop system safety requirements for UAS vehicles and operations with a goal of protocols and procedures for airworthiness testing. The selection of Texas A&M contributes to geographic and climactic diversity.

    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).Virginia Tech plans to conduct UAS failure mode testing and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas. This proposal includes test site range locations in both Virginia and New Jersey.

    On November 7,2013, the FAA released its first annual Roadmap outlining efforts needed to safely integrate UAS into the nation’s airspace system. The Roadmap addresses current and future policies, regulations, technologies and procedures that will be required as demand moves the country from today’s limited accommodation of UAS operations to the extensive future integration of UAS into the NextGen aviation system.
    As required in the 2012 FAA Reauthorization, the Joint Planning and Development Office has developed a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil UAS into the national airspace system. That plan details a multi-agency approach to safe and timely UAS integration and coordination with the NextGen shift to satellite-based technologies and new procedures.

    On the Web:

    FAA's first annual Roadmap http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/UAS_Roadmap_2013.pdf

    Joint Planning and Development Office developed a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil UAS into the national airspace system, for more information...
    http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/

    Source of News:

    Federal Aviation Admin. (FAA)
    www.faa.gov

    Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell
    ltgov.alaska.gov

    U.S. Senator Mark Begich
    www.begich.senate.gov

    Alaska House Majority Caucus
    akleg.gov

    University of Alaska Fairbanks
    uaf.edu



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    Okinawa resists US Military

    SUBHEAD: US ambassador visits Okinawa amid long-running row over US military bases there.

    By Justin McCurry on 11 February 2014 for the Guardian -
    (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/11/us-envoy-okinawa-dispute-caroline-kennedy)


    Image above: US C-130 cargo planes lined up at The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan on Okinawa. It takes up 25% of the town's land. From (http://www.dw.de/okinawans-struggle-with-us-military-presence/a-16371950).

    Caroline Kennedy arrives on Japanese island at heart of battle with far-reaching consequences for Asia-Pacific security. She will visit Okinawa amid a long-running struggle to evict military bases.

    The azure waters lapping at the sandy beaches of the city of Nago could have leapt straight out of a brochure. But the yells coming from a nearby football field at Camp Schwab, overlooking the north-east coast of Okinawa, offer a clue to the area's envisioned future, not as a holiday destination but as a bedrock of the region's security with thousands of US troops at its core.

    Here, groups of marines are being put through their paces during an exercise in armed, non-lethal, combat. "Open your eyes!" barks an officer as his charges brave a faceful of pepper spray before trying to pacify "enemy" soldiers.

    The US troops are at the heart of a political battle that will have far reaching consequences for the security of an increasingly unstable Asia-Pacific: if the Japanese and US get their way a decade from now the picturesque coastline below Camp Schwab will reverberate to the roar of military aircraft taking off and landing on an offshore runway whose fate has pitted Okinawa against the government in Tokyo, and which threatens to sour Japan's relations with the US.

    Caroline Kennedy, the US ambassador to Japan, will find herself at the centre of this dispute when she arrives on a brief visit to Okinawa on Wednesday. Her welcoming party may well include hundreds of people who on Tuesday attended a rally ahead of her arrival, holding signs calling for the closure of all military bases on Okinawa.

    Kennedy will visit a peace park, dedicated to the estimated 230,000 soldiers and civilians who died in Okinawa in the final months of the second world war, before meeting the island's governor. Local media reports said she would also view the proposed site of the new runway from a helicopter.

    Successive US and Japanese administrations have said the troop presence on Okinawa has contributed to peace in the Asia-Pacific for the past 70 years, and must stay put amid modern-day threats to stability from Chinese naval aggression and the looming presence of an unpredictable, and nuclear-armed, North Korea.

    But in 1995, both countries were forced to confront Okinawa's military burden after public outrage over the abduction and rape that year of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen. The incident brought hundreds of thousands of Okinawans on to the streets.

    Years of negotiations led to a compromise plan of moving Futenma, a marine corps base in a densely populated city, to an offshore site at the eastern outskirts of Nago.

    As an additional sweetener about 8,000 marines and their families are to be transferred out of Okinawa to Guam and Hawaii.

    But 18 years after the allies agreed to move Futenma, not a single marine or piece of military hardware has been moved, amid fierce opposition from voters in Nago and their anti-base mayor, Susumu Inamine.

    "Without the mayor's approval and consent, this process cannot go forward," said Inamine, who was re-elected last month. "In order to protect the future for our children I will not allow a new base to be built here."

    The stage is now set for a long and potentially bitter battle between Okinawa, the Japanese government and the US. The stakes are high: failure to build the new facility, which is expected to cost at least $8.6bn (£5.3bn), would pose the most serious challenge yet to the Obama administration's planned strategic "pivot" towards the Asia-Pacific.

    The relocation plan received a boost late last year when the governor of Okinawa prefecture, Hirokazu Nakaima, who once opposed the base move, approved permits for land reclamation at the new site. Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the US Pacific command, welcomed Nakaima's about-turn, calling the argument for relocating to Nago compelling. But opponents have since filed a lawsuit in an attempt to invalidate the governor's approval.

    Locklear told a briefing he was aware of local opposition to the move, but added: "From a military perspective, having the base [there] as soon as possible will allow the [security] alliance to move forward."

    Nakaima, who faces an election later this year, has been accused of being bought off by Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who had earlier promised 300bn yen in annual investment for Okinawa, Japan's poorest prefecture, through to 2021.

    "Our opposition to the relocation will continue for as long as necessary," said Jun Asato, chief of military base countermeasures at Nago city hall. "The people made their voices heard in the election. We want Futenma out of Okinawa. Its replacement should be built somewhere else in Japan, or overseas. Ideally, all of the military bases here should be shut down."

    US military officials in Okinawa insist the relocation goes ahead as planned. To retain their ability to respond quickly, for instance to an emergency in the East China sea, their logistical, air and ground forces must be close together, they say. Removing one or more would compromise their ability to safeguard the region's security, they maintain.

    Noah Rappahahn, a first lieutenant, said: "The most important thing is that all three of those elements are in place. That's what makes the marines so different. They all need to train together to be effective. After all, the marines are a war fighting organisation.

    "That's why the relocation plan is a step in the right direction. The Futenma base will move away from a populated area, land can be returned [to its civilian owners] and the new facility will have less of an impact on the local population. We care about the local community and the need to return land and ensure their safety."

    For the anti-base activists who have continued a non-violent protest from a beachside tent near Camp Schwab for the past 17 years, the relocation is a test of Japan's democratic health.

    "Voters in Nago have had their say, but the Japanese government is ignoring the result, just as it has always ignored the people of Okinawa," said Akira Yoshikawa, of the Citizens' Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa. "That, and the environmental destruction that would come with the new runway, is what angers us most."

    Yoshikawa said the planned construction of the offshore, V-shaped, runway on reclaimed land would destroy the bay's delicate ecosystem, which includes one of the few remaining habitats for the dugong, and threaten the safety of 2,000 residents living closest to the site.

    "My advice to ambassador Kennedy would be to not trust the Japanese government," he said. "It says the new base will have no environmental impact, and that building a new base will reduce the burden on the people of Okinawa, but how can anyone seriously believe that?"

    Eager to prevent creating more friction with Washington, government officials in Tokyo insisted the relocation would go ahead as planned, despite Inamine's recent election victory.

    But activists say the project can expect even fiercer opposition, with many protesters expected to take to canoes and fishing boats to obstruct offshore surveying work.

    "As a last resort we will occupy the site," said Hiroyuki Tanaka, a regular at the protest tent.

    Local authorities, meanwhile, can call on an armoury of procedural hurdles, such as denying construction firms the use of local ports and roads. "It is going to get nasty," said a source familiar with the relocation plans, who did not wish to be named. "There are lots of older residents opposed to the base who say they don't have that long to live and will do anything to stop construction. That is a very scary prospect."

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