Posted at http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/

Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 5

It was good to get back to the farmer's market yesterday after missing last week. My wife and I were out house hunting, one of the many reasons for us to get a house is to be able to start growing our own food. I'll still hit the farmer's market, but it'll be great to grow my own. Also found out that garlic is planted in September, hopefully we'll have a place by then and I can try growing that first.

From my last post, I did use the basil to make a pesto sauce but found out that you really need two bunches of basil to make it work for about a pound of pasta. I'll try again later in the summer and get a good recipe together. Cooked the last of the potatoes as well, they taste great just roasted in the oven.

Yesterday walked through and found even more fruits and vegetables being sold. Picked up some large sweet onions, very large. Probably will only need a half for most of what I'll cook. Got more potatoes, one booth has a mix and match for the same price, grabbed reds, fingerlings, purples and yukons to roast.

Broccoli is now showing up. Usually when I get it in the supermarket they cut off most of the stem, I got three stalks to use. I cut the florets off and will use them for another meal and cook the stems. The florets of the broccoli can be steamed or sauteed or even eaten raw. Here is a basic recipe to use for broccoli stems.

Sauteed Broccoli Stems
2 to 3 stems
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Italian seasoning
Balsamic vinegar
Lemon juice

1)Slice the garlic thinly and saute in olive oil for about a minute.
2)Cut the stems thinly, on an angle if possible for more even cooking, add to garlic.
3)Fry until garlic and stems are tender, about 5 to 6 minutes and add Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice (about a tablespoon each), stir until well mixed and serve.

Artichokes are now in season, got two of them, medium sized. Be careful of the thorns on the leaves, I cut my index finger handing them over. Artichokes are easy to cook, simply cut the bottom stem off so that the artichoke can sit evenly. Also cut the top quarter of the artichoke. I boil them in a pot of water for about twenty to thirty minutes until the artichoke is tender, you can put a knife through the center easily.

Turn the artichoke upside down to drain out any water and peel the leaves off to eat. The outer leaves have less "meat" the ones closer to the heart have more. The bottom part of the leaf is edible, it's the most tender part. Also when buying artichokes look for a head that is very tightly closed.

Grabbed some more strawberries, their my wife's favorite as well as yellow plum tomatoes for snacking. New item to try this week, radishes. The greens on top are edible, try those in a salad and see how fresh radishes taste. I'm not much of a fan, but it's worth a shot.

Posted at http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/

Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 4

Another week, another opportunity to cook with local fresh food. First stop was off to get more rhubarb to make another pie, picked up three stalks to cook with. Over to the place where I got the butter ball potatoes last week. Only used about half of them, just roasted them with olive oil and some seasoning in the oven, the small ones whole, larger ones cut in half. They came out delicious. Decided to pick up a few purple viking and French fingerling's (small ones) to mix with what I had left.

Then over to the booth where I got my onions last time and picked up four for the week. I told the guy how good they were last week, he thanked me. They also had a lot of asparagus, but my wife and I agreed that we were "asparagused" out and should take a week off. Picked up some fresh Chinook salmon to make with dinner on Saturday, recipe to follow.

Walked around and ended up getting two zucchinis to try and make pancakes with. This batch came out better than before, but my wife is still not swayed. She says it's a texture thing, but they are tasting better. I grate the zucchini, add flour, egg, baking powder, granulated garlic and pepper. I fry them until golden brown. I'll keep working on the seasoning, when I hit upon something I'll post the recipe. Also got some strawberries, cherry tomatoes and a bunch of basil.

The first thing I cooked was the salmon. Since it was a small piece I mixed it in with rice and made a one-pot meal. I added rice, onions, garlic, mushrooms and black beans with the salmon, turned out good. Here's the recipe:

Salmon Black Bean Rice
Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic
Salmon
1 cup of rice (jasmine rice was used in the recipie but any rice will do)
14oz can of low salt black beans
Vinegar
Italian Seasonings
Salt
Pepper

First cook the rice. Put salmon in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes, put some dill and lemon pepper on the top of the salmon. Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms (and any other vegetables you like) until tender. Add drained black beans, stir and keep on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Add rice to mixture when done and then add salmon cut up when cooked. Stir in some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

For the rhubarb I made another pie using the same recipe from last week but this time made a cream cheese crust. It's the same recipe as the basic pie crust just substitute cream cheese for shorting. I made a rhubarb, strawberry, peach pie and had the right level of sweetness and tartness with the great crust. I'm going to a party next week so I'll try to make some to bring with me and get more opinions.

The basil will be used for a pesto sauce this week for pasta. I'm using walnuts instead of pine nuts, they work as well and are much cheaper. The trick is getting the right amount of olive oil so that it blends but doesn't become too watery. And don't forget the raw garlic.

The onions and potatoes will work great as side dishes this week. I am anxiously waiting for eggplant to come back, I'll have a bunch of recipes to post then.

Posted at http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/

Beaverton Farmer's Market Part 3

Although I missed the farmer's market last week due to being at the LP national convention in Denver, I was able to go this morning. Taking a week off must have helped ;-). There was a greater selection of fruits and vegetables than the past weeks combined. I took a walk through to see what everyone had first then made my way back around to get what I needed.

First I bought two large stalks of rhubarb which I made into a pie, recipe to follow in this post. I pick up more asparagus from where I got some two weeks ago, as well as some onions. Made my way over to another stand and got a bunch of carrots and some butter ball potatoes. I found out that these potatoes are good for baking or mashing, but have a heavy starch content so they don't work when cooked too long. I picked up two Yukon golds to use in a curry later in the week.

I didn't get seafood this week, but the snapper I got the last time was delicious. I just fried it up in a pan in olive oil and put some dill and pepper on it, a little bit of homemade cocktail sauce (ketchup, grated horseradish, granulated garlic) and a shot of lemon juice. Before I left I got some strawberries, mainly for my wife who loves them.

I wanted to try and cook the rhubarb again and decided to try and make a pie for a house warming party my wife and I were going to later in the evening. I cut off the ends of the rhubarb to make sure there was no trace of the leaves (They are poisonous!) and ran the stalks through the food processor to get a even thin cut. I put about a half a cup of sugar, cut up some of the strawberries and a few apricots and mixed them together. After making a basic crust I made a small sample pie, turned out good but too bitter/sour. So I added another half cup of sugar, baked the pie and hoped for the best.

After dinner I waited to see if people would be smiling or if their faces were puckering up. Turned out perfect, everyone loved the pie. So here is the recipe including the crust.

Rhubarb Fruit Pie
2 discs of basic pie crust (see recipe below)
2 large stalks of rhubarb
8 strawberries
4 apricots
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs corn starch

Basic Pie Crust
2 cups flour
2/3 cups shorting (cream cheese can be substituted for shorting)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup ice water

To make crust mix flour, salt and shorting using a pastry cutter or two knives. Slowly add water and stir with a fork until pastry sticks together. Add as much water until pastry is moist but not too wet. Break off into two lumps, one slightly larger than the other. Put balls into saran wrap and press down to flatten. Refrigerate for one hour minimum or up to twenty four hours.

Cut up rhubarb and any other fruits (I used strawberries and apricots), add sugar and corn starch and stir. Roll out larger pastry ball and put filling inside shell, cover with smaller shell or cut into a lattice pattern. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 375F. Cool pie after cooking for about 30 minutes to one hour, serve and enjoy.

I'll use the asparagus in a stir fry, curry and just plainly grilled or fried. The carrots came with the tops on. The person selling me the carrots asked if I wanted the tops cut off. I asked if you can cook them, like beet greens. He told me that this is debatable, some say you can other say that they are too bitter. A woman who worked at the booth mentioned that rabbits do eat the greens, so they are edible. I tried some with the guy I was talking to and realized that they are very bitter. I'm going to try and see if I can cook them up so I can go back and give them a recipe.

I may try cooking the potatoes like I did with the blue potatoes I got the last time. They were very small so I sauteed them with onions and garlic in olive oil. They turned out tasty but not much flavor. My wife suggested that they would go better with eggs, such as a side dish for breakfast. I'm thinking of using them when I make chicken breasts later in the week.

Posted at http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/

Beaverton Farmer's Market - Week 2

I've decided to try and do a weekly journal of the Beaverton farmer's market, of what I've bought and how I cooked and ate it. As for what my wife and I got last week included tomatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, rhubarb (mistakingly called rutabaga by me in my last post, sorry), asparagus, kale and a sourdough rye bread.

The first thing we cooked was the kale in a soup with linguica and a few of the Yukon gold potatoes. It turned out great. It can be made as a vegetarian dish if desired, just leave out the sausage.

Kale Potato Sausage soup
Head of kale
2 Yukon gold potatoes
1 onion
2 to 3 cloves of garlic (or more to taste)
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
14 oz can of white kidney beans
4 cups of broth
6 to 8 oz of linguica (or sausage of choice)
1 Tbs olive oil

1. Cut sausage thinly and fry on each side until browned, drain and reserve a bit of the fat, add olive oil.
2. Cube potatoes, onions and chop garlic and saute until lightly browned.
3. Add broth, bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
4. Add can of chopped tomatoes with the liquid inside.
5. Add the beans after draining.
6. Add the kale chopped and stir into soup until it begins to wilt. Let simmer for a few minutes to allow everything to heat up, season with salt and pepper to taste.

We had this for dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day, it went great with the bread.

Later in the week we had pasta and used the tomatoes to make sauce. After frying some onion and garlic in olive oil and anchovy paste, the tomatoes were chopped up and added to the pot and cooked on low heat for about an hour. We kept in the skin and seeds, it was great with the left over bread which I toasted in the oven with some granulated garlic.

The asparagus was used in three meals, first simply steamed and eaten fresh on Sunday night. Later in the week I added it to a stir fry, and the last fried up with onions and peppers when we had fajitas.

For the rhubarb my wife chopped it up and baked it with vanilla sugar (sugar you put in a jar with a vanilla bean, try it!) for about 30 minutes, maybe about 10 minutes too long. It did taste good with some strawberries, I think next time we'll try baking it with some apples.

So yesterday we went early to avoid the heat, but didn't get much since we will be at the Libertarian convention later in the week. We did get some asparagus to cook on the grill, turned out great. They had some blue potatoes, we got some of the very tiny ones and will saute them up whole. Picked up some fresh snapper, about a pound for five dollars, to cook up before we leave town. And had to get some fresh bagels, some more tomatoes and some hot sausages from the German deli that cooks them up by the bandstand.

I'll be missing going next Saturday when I'm in Denver, but there should be more variety when I go again at the end of the month.

Posted at http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/2008/05/beaverton-farmers-market.ht...

Beaverton Farmer's Market

I have been waiting months now for the farmer's market to come back in Beaverton. Last year was the first year my wife and I went to the farmer's market on a weekly basis. In the past we visited the Beaverton farmer's market once or twice, but never really bought much of anything. A few years earlier we went to the Tigard farmer's market (over in the Garden Home neighborhood), but it was smaller and we didn't get too many items there.

Last year due to health issues and a more concerted effort to eat locally, we decided to start going to the farmer's market on a weekly basis sometime in the early summer. At first we got a few items, some tomatoes, berries and maybe a sweet onion or two. After a few weeks we expanded to more fruits and vegetables. We would experiment, look on line or go to my cooking bible, Fanny Farmer, to find out how to cook what we got. By the end of the market we were getting dozens of items, bringing our own bags and going to our favorite booths for specific items.

The first day today was a good one. The market was packed and about three fourths of the spaces were filled. Since it is early in the season there weren't many fruit or vegetable options, but a lot of plants and seedlings. There was a lot of asparagus, rutabaga, leeks, leafy greens and even a stand selling tomatoes. There were some booths selling wine, cakes and breads. What I was amazed to see were how many booths were selling seafood and pork. In the past I would see one or two booths, but today I saw at least five. Although I need to eat less meat, I might start eating more local meat which looks to be of better quality than what I usually find in the supermarket.

So we got some asparagus, use half tomorrow night as a side with dinner and the rest in a stir fry later in the week. Four beefsteak tomatoes to use for a sauce with pasta. My wife got a bunch of rutabaga to make me a pie and has promised to not feed me the leaves ;-). A leek to most likely use with the chicken I will be making for dinner tomorrow. And for dinner tonight, a fresh bunch of kale and Yukon gold potatoes to use in a soup with linguca sausage and white beans, served with a sourdough rye bread that we bought on the way out of the market.

I look forward to the upcoming weeks where more fruits and vegetables will start showing up. This will give me an opportunity to make some old favorites and to try anything that I somehow missed last year. Thanks to the Beaverton farmer's market for allowing me to become more of a locavore.

**Posted from http://sustainourrights.blogspot.com/

Over the past few months there have been a number of news items about the shortage of rice. While this can and may become a crisis around the world, it's not a real issue here in the US. But then again is it?

Rice is a staple around the world, mostly in Asia and Africa, just as potatoes are a staple in the standard American diet. Think about it, when you go to a fast food restaurant they offer you fries and not rice. When you are eating out at a restaurant your meal will most commonly come with a potato side dish. You can get rice, but only if you ask for it. This is why the US exports more rice than probably any other country in the world. We grow alot of food here, but more rice than we need.

Other nations in East Asia grow much of their own rice, but they would sell extra to other nations. They are facing shortages so they are keeping more for themselves. This means that these nations will buy from other areas, such as the US. This will help rice farmers here, they will have new markets that they can sell to who normally would not purchase American rice.

But does this mean there will be shortage of rice here in the US? Most likely not. Will it be hard to find rice over the next few weeks? Most likely it will. People have a tendency to panic when they here a sound byte from the news. This has been known for months now, but because people will only go on small amounts of information, they panic. Of course if you were purchasing imported rice, then you might want to stock up, but for the rice grown domesticaly there will be enough.

As many of you may know, I just became certified at TVCTV as part of the plan to get Peak Moment TV aired here in Washington county. The studio training class I took, as well as with my wife, had a final project, produce a TV show that would be aired on public access. I pitched the idea of having a 30 minute talk show about peak oil and interview people who are involved with this group. The class and instructor agreed so I interviewed Tatjana De La Cruz and Lisa Perrine in October 2007.

After the show was edited and reviewed by the TV station board for a possible conflict of mentioning Powell's bookstore in the show, they gave it the OK and it aired locally in December and January on public access. A schedule was posted on the website, hopefully you got to watch some or all of it. I finally got to see the final edit right after Christmas at a friend's house and though it looked good.

I got a DVD copy of the show this past week and have spent all week trying to figure out how to post it online to video sites like you tube. After playing with some freeware, I was able to convert the show into a format that can be viewed on the web. Then I had to sign up with you tube and found out that each video submission must be under ten minutes. So I then had to edit the show into ten minute clips. After finally getting something that looked good I needed to upload it to you tube which took about five and a half hours. Then when I did a search last night about midnight it wasn't showing up.

This morning I checked my email and saw that not only is it listed but someone has already subscribed to the video to link to their you tube site. I also set up a myspace page for the show with all three parts on the same page. Please watch if you haven't already, Tatjana and Lisa do an outstanding job of explaining about peak oil and how it will effect our lives. Also forward the links to other people to watch and of course feel free to have it shown on any website that you have.

The links are as follows:
You Tube
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALmpJofkG4

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF7Tc0M3NUs

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWfNrTfICas

My Space page
All three parts on one page
http://www.myspace.com/washingtoncoenvironmental

Adam Mayer

I attended Richard Brenne's The Truth About Everything on Thursday August 2, 2007 presentation at the Beaverton library auditorium. There were over a hundred people who attended. I printed out the two page black and white flier (on one page of course!) as handouts. I was told by the library staff that I couldn't hand them out, but was more than welcome to put them on the table with other information. I did notice that a few people did take the handout and were reading it before the event started. Hopefully they have joined the website, and if you are one of those people, thank you and welcome to the group.

The following is a summary of what happened as the best as I could take notes. If anyone can add or edit please feel free to do so.

Adam Mayer

Richard Brenne started off with a story of when he was climbing Mt. Hood years ago, fell and was sliding down the mountain on his back, head first and made this comparison to humans right now. Because of population growth, peak oil, climate change we are in this situation. If a culture does not take care of their entire environment it will fail. As the ancient cultures of Iraq built dams for irrigation, they did not take care of the soil and eventually the land became arid. If we are not careful, our bread basket can end up the same way.

He talked about how he is fascinated with Tsunamis and that if one appeared to be happening at the beach and you yelled “Tsunami!” and made people flee with you to higher land, you better be right. (I take this to be a comparison to talking about peak oil, climate change, etc about making sure you have your facts otherwise you'll be labeled as crying wolf. AM).

Talked about cycling and how great a tail wind is, when it's there it gives you great strength that you don't realize until its gone until the head wind hits you. We have had ten thousand years of a stable climate, our tail wind, which has helped agriculture and one hundred and fifty years of cheap oil, another tail wind. These will come to an end, the climate is changing, peak oil is coming.

Talked about the history of oil, Hubbard's Peak, called coal the devil and clean coal not a permanent solution. We are blowing up a balloon of population growth and can't keep blowing it up forever. There are finite resources on the planet. We need to play a spiritual game so we can rise above. Our species being humbled is something that Richard appreciates.

Talked more about Tsunamis, people who live along the Pacific are well trained, along the Indian ocean kids weren't, hence the devastation of life. When the science is in, it can be wrong, but when there is a consensus and it uses math and physics, it needs to be taken seriously. If you are arguing with someone on the beach and a Tsunami comes, the argument is not as important. We need to get over political differences and solve problems. Took an example of a Tsunami at Seaside, how do you share resources when you have fled to the eighth floor of a hotel. The rich people are in the suites, for example rich nations, and people in the hallway are the poor people of the earth.

Talked about his theory of big bang, how before it happened all matter was condensed. There have six great die offs in the history of the earth, we are the cause of the sixth. The other five were climate related. Sixty five million years ago was the last one, the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. We need to be careful about altering our climate, this will lead into our continuing evolution of humans. Beavers alter their environment, second most of all animals to humans, but a very distant second. We need to be more like beavers, when they change their environment they offer benefits around them.

Talked more about human evolution, how we began using fire, talking, hunting which we became too good at because we killed off the biggest docile game creating a food shortage. We then changed to horticulture, domesticating animals and growing food, agriculture. If you look at civilization, taking human power and resources, we have created pyramids, cities. We need to be conscious of what we are doing but be aware that there are those who are poorer.

Talked about Roman empire, Spain, England and now the the US, getting resources and bringing in to keep our society going. Continued with evolution, the industrial revolution, the rust belt and silicon valley, believes that the next will be spiritual, but not a particular faith. War is not good, talked about how US wars have been double headers; Revolutionary War and War of 1812, England; Mexican and Spanish American War, Spain; World War I and II, Germany; Korea and Vietnam, China; and the past two Iraq wars.

Talked about pure democracy and how it works in small groups, but it doesn't guarantee that its best. Pirates for example were very democratic except when in battle and the leader was in charge. Otherwise they would be very democratic when it came who to steal from and who to kill. They were still murderers, just because democracy works doesn't mean it will solve our problems.

Fear has shifted from dreadnoughts (battleships) one hundred years ago to rising sea levels today. As humans we have addictions, addicted to thought, chemicals such as alcohol or cigarettes, and our addictions can become biased by out thoughts. We are addicted to cheap oil. Quoted Lovelock's The Revenge of Sin about the worst case scenario of what will happen, scientists have said it is extreme but could happen. We will talk about solutions with a panel. Our species is being asked to change, we need to love each other, our planet and all species.

Panel
Andrew Fountain – Glaciologist
Pam Leitch – Co-founder of Portland Permaculture
Todd Duncan – Physicists
Bill Lang – Portland State Professor of Environmental History
Richard Brenne asked the questions to the panel

Todd Duncan said that he liked the way Richard presented this, facts in the world and world view, likes how story was told.

Question to Andrew Fountain – What is happening to glaciers on Mt. Hood?

Andrew Fountain – They are receding, retreating, they protect the mountain, without them you get mudslides. Thinks there will be more of the events in the future. About the pineapple express, it is not normal, not sure if there will more or less of them, talked about the Missoula floods.

Question – What are the world's glaciers telling us?

Andrew Fountain – They are receding, they are the poster child of climate change, some are receding faster than others, but they are receding fast.

Question – Can you sum up sea level rising (as mentioned in the IPCC report)?

Andrew Fountain – Global warming will rise temperatures one degree over the next one hundred years, water in oceans and on land will rise due to ice sheets melting, sea levels will rise, oceans will get warmer, water expands with heat, is seeing this right now. The science in the IPCC report is very conservative but they need to justify each step. Not sure how fast sea level is rise is going, want to be careful but it may be faster than we think. The report was put together by the best scientists. Worst case scenario by 2050 the rise will be about half a foot, Florida, Washington DC, Mississippi Delta would be in trouble. No one wants to be doom and gloom.

Question – What positive feedback is there from climate change?

Andrew Fountain – Working with Oregon congressional delegation, projection of 2040 at end of summer there will be an ice free arctic, dark water will absorb heat unlike snow which reflects light from the sun, it will create a feedback loop.

Question – Could science be underestimating?

Andrew Fountain – We don't know all the answers, central US may face more droughts, last fifty years have been good, the northwest will be wetter.

Question to Todd Duncan – How much of the current science does the average person understand?

Todd Duncan – Fairly comparable to other nations, in Europe and Japan they start earlier (education), but in the US there is more politicallizing of all science, not just climate change, increasing our awareness of science, but amount to know is increasing.

Question – Why is science under attack?

Todd Duncan – Broad reasons, beyond global warming, science is alienating, the strong scene that science gives is a picture that is not pretty, science gets a bad name. Facts come from math, physics, chemistry, human thought is a wild card. There is a cultural aversion to math, humans don't understand what the numbers mean about experiential growth and overpopulation.

Question – Are there things we think today are true that time will be proved untrue?

Todd Duncan – Yes, things will prove different as history has shown.

Question to Bill Lang – Is PSU at an advantage by creating a Environmental History department?

Bill Lang – Talked about the history of PSU how it started in 1946 after the Vanport flood.

Question – How does environmental history compare to history?

Bill Lang – Its an interest with nature and our built environment, how our actions effect nature, doesn't state right or wrong, says everything humans have done with nature have been choices, made with dreams and values.

Question – The freedom to consume as much energy, does it keep other species the freedom to exist?

Bill Lang – At the end of the nineteenth century Europeans were the most disbursed species on the planet, we are based on these values. The relationship of technology to these values, such as deep water sailing was a big change to our species, developing a smaller world, this was a big environmental change.

Question – Were American Indians living sustaining lives that could last thousands of years?

Bill Lang – The Oregon Trail people were living sustaining lives that could last thousands of years. We are consuming the world, our standard of living. Not the number of people in the world, its what they consume. Indians were sustainable, their population depended on salmon runs. Where people live, that is the best place to live.

Question – How are the salmon runs?

Bill Lang – Not good, science is mixed with politics. Talked about Pete Daniel who wrote Toxic Drift, wrote about government misuse of natural resources and cultures around the world.

Question – Facing as a species, what future will we face?

Bill Lang – When agriculture was created, wealth became a measurement of power, believes that wealth needs to be distributed, sees humans on a train, a train that needs brakes and more tracks. The US needs to stop taking from the rest of the world otherwise we will be the first to suffer.

Question to Pam Leitch – How does permaculture relate to sustainability?

Pam Leitch – Thanked the organizers for not having bottled water and using glasses. Asked if the Beaverton City Council understands exponential growth. Beaverton keeps growing its suburbs each year, putting concrete over farms. Permculture is a permeated culture which will give us a permeate culture. Organic is no longer sustainable due to the distance it travels and the waste used in producing it. Sustainable is an over used term. We don't know what sustainability will look like in a few generations, we can take the information and each generation has to do the best they can do. Going against nature has worked which is why we are doing it.

Question – Are other cultures who have less than us happier?

Pam Leitch – She can't compare to other cultures who have less if they are happier, she has no personal experience.

Question – What would peak oil and water depleting top soil do to agriculture?

Pam Leitch – Due to the effects of climate change, aquifers are running out, they are being pumped dry. The bread basket will face climate change roughly but also due to water depletion.

Question – Now that we are facing peak oil, fertilizers and machinery allowed us to feed the population, how do you see it affecting agriculture?

Pam Leitch – Nervous about impact, but we waste 25% of our calories on our tables, we still have enough calories provided we don't waste them.

Question – What do you do at the Portland Permaculture Institute?

Pam Leitch – Teach classes on how natural systems work. We have lost touch with how healthy soil works, food production.

Question – What will the future be like if we don't change?

Pam Leitch – Lovelock talked about gloom and doom, that doesn't help. Definitely in for a rough ride, be we adapt to survival. Survival versus consumerism, believes that we will make the right choice.

Question from audience – What would motivate high school students to be a scientist and how to make things better?

Pam Leitch – You can encourage kids to go to college, but they need an on the ground education, young people need to learn farming, solar, but mostly how the real world works not only a college education.

Todd Duncan – It's very easy to become narrowly specialized, need to keep focus of all things.

Question from audience – If taking 10% of Utah with solar panels can fuel America, GE is producing better wind equipment, enough energy can be produced for all of America, but will political decisions be make to use it? Who benefits from the status quo? How do we generate the political will? What does a sustainable city look like? How do we transition an energy evolution and not revolutionary way?

Richard Brenne - Sees a solar based economy in fifty years, will need to work in harmony with nature.

Todd Duncan – Amount of sunlight hitting the earth everyday is enough for a year of energy, the question is how do we transition to it.

Question from audience – There are new innovations with clean renewable energy, what about shortage of water?

Pam Leitch – Problem is not enough energy, look at what we have done so far to the earth with all of this energy, do we need more energy to hurt the oceans and nature?

Richard Brenne – We need to be more efficient, conserving.

Question from audience – Which pollution will contribute most to global warming and how does it get there?

Todd Duncan – Carbon monoxide, coal, oil and burning puts it into the air.

Comment from audience – Car dealership signs around license plates adds almost another pound to the weight of the car, please take them off.

Question from the audience – The media gives the impression of sustainability, why do we consume so much?

Richard Brenne – We are addicted to ease, comfort and wealth. We need to alter our behavior.

Comment from audience – Beaverton City Commissioner Kathy Stanton thanked Pam Leitch about talking about policy, its what goes a long way. Mayor Drake will change over 30% of the energy in the city to green, the city will budget more money for green energy, will use sustainable energy. It's an issue of education, we need to continue to push policy in the public and private sector, such as recycling and then thanked everyone.

Question from the audience – Since you have to put energy in to get energy out, quantum dot solar cells, from Rice university, are able to extract 70% of sun energy, which is beneficial. What does it take to move from fossil fuel to solar?

Todd Duncan – The biggest issue is cost. It costs 10% more for solar, but the gap is getting closer. The distribution is easier with fossil fuels, but with solar you need a distribution place, but progress is being made.

Richard Brenne – Believes there will be a solar based economy in fifty years, made a comparison to the Manhattan project, when our minds are set we can accomplish a lot. We can change our economy (fossil fuels to solar) just like the economy went from peace to war in World War II.

Question from audience – Do glaciers play a role in drinking water here?

Andrew Fountain – Not in this state for average users, only a few orchards on Mt. Hood. The myth about Bolder Colorado is not true, less than one percent of their water comes from glaciers. Alaska does use a lot of water from glaciers. There are places in the world that use glacier water, but not much in the lower forty eight.

Question from audience – There has been a lot of discussion about hydrogen, developing a grid, not sure how to generate it?

Todd Duncan – Generating it can be done with solar, hydrogen works like a battery to distribute it.

Richard Brenne – We are looking for a magic bullet, its not there, just lots of magic bb's.

Question from audience – About solar power with mirrors, pipes are heated with turns water into steam, one is in Las Vegas and one in Los Angeles, how is that a viable source of energy?

Todd Duncan – Stability is not a single solution, this is like a solar water heater on a large scale. The sun does not create energy but heating water to turn into energy.

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From yesterday's Oregonian Business section. The link has the basic article not the charts and graphics that were in the paper.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/11...

Interesting article about American refineries and how they keep breaking down.

http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1316732.html

I saw Dave Room speak Saturday July 14, 2007 at the Oregon County Fair talking about sustainability for his presentation called Be The Change. Here is a summary of what he spoke about:

We will be going through transitions about energy use over the next thirty to forty years. Our current system is near collapse, our dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) is at 90%. The US has about $48 trillion in combined debt (business, individual and government),this is compared to how we are in debt with the environment by using up non-renewable resources.

Exploitation of resources happens all the time in nature, an animal will use up all resources around them. It is no surprise that we are where we are today, it is part of the natural order since humans are animals. Can technology can solve the problem, it can temporarily but more energy will be needed. Is it a cultural problem, we need to change ourselves, change our behavior and change our culture.

Mobility and the "small world" concept. We have been raised (with help from Disneyland) that we live in a small world. People live across the country or the world from friends and family and that due to the ease and safety of travel, we travel in time measured by hours. When Mulligan sailed around the world it took over two years and he lost over 90% of his crew, today it's only a matter of hours to go anywhere on the planet. As travel becomes more difficult in the future, our world will become larger.

We need to be less energy dependent. In Oakland (California) sitting on an public committee, city hall wants to reduce energy dependence over the next fourteen years. Ideally they want to achieve a 50% reduction. They want to improve getting from point A to point B, but also want to bring point A closer to point B. People won't need as much transportation this way. By using backcasting, where you imagine the future and plan back to the present, instead of forecasting is one of their goals.

We are evolution becoming conscience. Our current evolution (since eugenics laws have been passed) cannot involve physical change. But we can make a mental change, an evolution of our own way of thinking.

Culture change, we are in a transition culture. Live Aid gave advice to people, such as using compact florescent bulbs, checking your tire's air pressure and other "baby steps". We are slowly changing, which will be less that will need to be done during a crisis, but baby steps are not enough. Yet baby steps are a good way to educate people and get them to take more later, hopefully we won't have to be running at that point.

Little changes can change the entire system. Humans have not changed their needs over the past 100,000 years only how we fulfill them has. We need to create new tools to fulfill our needs. How we fulfill our basic needs and how we express ourselves is what the culture change is about.

Localization, using a small scale as a model so when we need them they will be there already in place. By preparing ourselves and getting used to localization, when it becomes necessary it will be easier to make the culture change. We don't know the future, but we can form the decision about making processes. By creating the right processes (decisions) we can create sustainability.

There is no one solution, lots of baby steps are good but we need to change our lives. We will do it differently and that diversity will define how. We need to look for changes in our daily lives, our spheres of influence. We need to become more local, hopefully more democratic, work local jobs, local economy. This is what most of the world wants. And most of all, we need to be easy on ourselves.

Question from audience member about climate change and that the northwest is getting drier. Answer is that it is hard to predict, climate change is a wild card but it is worsening but will not make us change. People don't think, due to the magnitude of the problem, that they can fix it or are the real cause of the problem. We need to be more prepared and move towards green trades, such as solar.

Question from myself asking that I agree with that we need to change our way of thinking and that we can lead by example, but what about poorer nations around the world who have started to live our energy lifestyle, how do we tell people who have only started to live this way to change their ways. How do we convince them. The answer is that it's not an easy answer to make people who have done without to tell them to possibly go back to their old lifestyles but that we can lead by example. I followed up asking that will this then include a technological change, the answer is that technology change is one of the pillars, the other two are culture change and nature.

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Adam Mayer