Which way to turn

Those who read this blog with any regularity have probably realized that Joy Harjo is one of my favorite poets and writers. Today I encountered an epigram from her works in Natalie Diaz’ Postcolonial Love Poem:

I am singing a song that can only be born after losing a country.   JOY HARJO

Curious about which of Harjo’s works was the source, I entered the phrase into an internet search engine. The answer is that the epigram is from Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, although I’m not sure from which poem. The pleasant surprise is that the answer was first found in a section of the web site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation: U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo: A Life in Four Directions.

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings
 Joy Harjo

It is very improbable I would have found the section linked above were it not for searching for the epigram. Having quickly skimmed through the National Trust section, I’ll be returning to it for a slower, more careful read sometime in the near future. I’m also curious about Harjo’s use of the four cardinal directions compared with their role in the Druidry material I’m reading. How much overlap is there between her indigenous perspective and that of the European ancients as currently interpreted and presented? As political winds continue to howl, and climate weirding intensifies, and other human induced disruptions occur with increasing frequency, I feel a growing need to determine a direction to face to keep from spinning around.

Once the World Was Perfect

Joy Harjo
1951 – 

Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world.
Then we took it for granted.
Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.
Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.
And once Doubt ruptured the web,
All manner of demon thoughts
Jumped through—
We destroyed the world we had been given
For inspiration, for life—
Each stone of jealousy, each stone
Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.
No one was without a stone in his or her hand.
There we were,
Right back where we had started.
We were bumping into each other
In the dark.
And now we had no place to live, since we didn’t know
How to live with each other.
Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another
And shared a blanket.
A spark of kindness made a light.
The light made an opening in the darkness.
Everyone worked together to make a ladder.
A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,
And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,
And their children, all the way through time—
To now, into this morning light to you.

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True colors will out

It's no longer necessary to look for the color in the local woodlots. There's now enough of it (approaching 25%) that it's obvious, especially in the maples. They've burst into orange and scarlet flames. Oaks are still a bit shy and bashful, but then many of them keep themselves partially covered throughout the Winter. As we write this, it occurs to us that, as much as the colors have developed over the past few days, today's blue skies and sunshine are highlighting what colors there are. We may offer this complaint most or many Autumns, but this one has been really dreary and the forecast is for more of the same.

glad we took this before the township paved the road

Photo by J. Harrington

Today, as we were returning from some local errands, driving on the Northern road through our local section of Carlos Avery WMA, we saw a bird that mad us smile: a ruffed grouse. S/he flew across the road in front of us. It's only the second grouse we've seen in the twenty-five or so years we've lived here. Maybe, hopefully, it's a sign of better days ahead?

North Woods ruffed grouse near BWCA country

Photo by J. Harrington

Last night's storms, plus the winds between those storms and the following cold front, brought a bunch of smaller branches down all over the drive. Living in a scenic, rustic setting is not without trials, tribulations, and irritations. When we've finished writing and posting today's blog entry, we're headed for the drive to do some cleanup. It's already snowing in other parts of Minnesota and we'd rather pick sticks up off the drive than out of the impeller in the snow blower.

For better, or worse, our reading continues to lean away from beach fluff. One of our errands today was an effort to pick up a copy of Rebecca Solnit's latest: Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises. It wasn't yet on the shelves at Scout & Morgan, but another book we've been looking for, off and on, for several months, was. We're returning to our college days mode and (re?)reading Albert Camus' Resistance, Rebellion, and Death. Existentialism was rather popular when we were in college. We suspect today's political, social and cultural climate may be comparably hospitable among the 99% of us who aren't in the 1% at the top. We think it will be interesting, and maybe enlightening, to read Solnit shortly after Camus. You may well get to share some of our thoughts on that experience right here. Bet you can't wait, right?

A MARK OF RESISTANCE

by Adrienne Rich

Stone by stone I pile
this cairn of my intention
with the noon's weight on my back,
exposed and vulnerable
across the slanting fields
which I love but cannot save
from floods that are to come;
can only fasten down
with this work of my hands,
these painfully assembled
stones, in the shape of nothing
that has ever existed before.
A pile of stones: an assertion
that this piece of country matters
for large and simple reasons.
A mark of resistance, a sign.

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Poetry saving America Day 10 #NationalPoetryMonth

With today's poem, we're almost halfway through Tony Hoagland's Twenty Poems That Could Save America. Once again we have Hoagland's own words providing insight into why he included "Topography" as poem 9.  (If you're looking for a specific link to Minnesota with this poem, we call your attention to the mention of Great Lakes, Central Time, and twin cities.)

poems defuse sexual anxiety and acknowledge the naturalness of curiosity

Sharon Olds’s “Topography” could perhaps shatter the petrified classroom notion that poetry has no libido or sense of humor. The poem’s narrative achievement is to be both playful and wholesome on the subject of sex. “Topography” is also a tutorial in the pleasures of extended metaphor and language itself, allowed as it is to somersault in a non-directive, extracurricular capacity.

After we flew across the country we
got into bed, laid our bodies
delicately together, like maps laid
face to face, East to West, my
San Francisco against your New York, your
Fire Island against my Sonoma, my
New Orleans deep in your Texas, your Idaho
bright on my Great Lakes, my Kansas
burning against your Kansas your Kansas
burning against my Kansas, your Eastern
Standard Time pressing into my
Pacific Time, my Mountain Time
beating against your Central Time, your
sun rising swiftly from the right my
sun rising swiftly from the left your
moon rising slowly from the left my
moon rising slowly from the right until
all four bodies of the sky
burn above us, sealing us together,
all our cities twin cities,
all our states united, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

By original image by NASA; crop by Ryan Kaldari [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky once said that American poetry would be a warmer, more inviting place if it included more sex, humor, and violence — if, in some ways, it artfully incorporated some of the “life-affirming vulgarity” of the popular entertainment that has, it sometimes seems, elbowed it aside. Olds’s poem dispels the atmosphere of stodginess and elitism we culture lovers must constantly resist. It also sets the table for a host of subsidiary conversations on subjects ranging from patriotism to porn, from the curious pleasure of phonemes (“Sonoma”) to the nature of innuendo (“Fire Island”). The god of play is Eros, and sometimes art leads with the libido. If Americans only knew that poetry is sexy, surely more books would be checked out of the library. “Topography” demonstrates one of the wondrous facts of American poetry — its populist brilliance and range. It can be high and low, entertaining, erudite, provocative, rude, brainy, and mysterious.

Our suspicion is that Hoagland's intent with this poem is to suggest we need to lighten up if we hope to save America. He has chosen a poem that we would not have found to be characteristic of Sharon Olds' oeuvre. We wouldn't be surprised if there was a message embedded in that. After all, despite our differences, we are all in this together. What was it that Benjamin Franklin observed about us? Oh--"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." Division drives democracy down to doom and death.

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Curses, roiled again

Look at the photos below and consider whether they represent:

• the status of Republicans' ACA "repeal and replace" legislation
  (aka the "undead")


• the Senate Majority Leader's "leadership" of the Senate


• the governance of the Republican party


• the governance of the United States of America


• last night's thunderstorm clouds


• all of the above

storm clouds roiling the night-dark skies

Photo by J. Harrington

Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Photo by J. Harrington

If you've been around as long as I have, you might be lucky enough to remember that one of your favorite song writers from days gone by captured our malaise long ago. We've been here before. Just remember that the solution is NOT to be found in a Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine.

                                     Cloudy

Paul Simon lyrics:

Cloudy
The sky is grey and white and cloudy
Sometimes I think it’s hanging down on me
And it’s hitchhike a hundred miles
I’m a ragamuffin child
Pointed finger-painted smile
I left my shadow waiting down the road for me a while

Cloudy
My thoughts are scattered and they’re cloudy
They have no borders, no boundaries
They echo and they swell
From Tolstoy to Tinker Bell
Down from Berkeley to Carmel
Got some pictures in my pocket and a lot of time to kill

Hey, sunshine
I haven’t seen you in a longtime
Why don’t you show your face and bend my mind?
These clouds stick to the sky
Like floating question–why?
And they linger there to die
They don’t know where they’re going, and, my friend, neither do I

Cloudy
Cloudy

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A jackass or a carpenter?

I'm writing this on a gloomy Friday afternoon as rain changes to a mix of ice pellets and snow flakes on its way to becoming all snow. I'm thinking about the recent election and about Dylan Thomas' poem, Do not go gentle into that good night. I'm hoping that much of what we're seeing as this country, together with the rest of the world, transforms economies from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources; from "free trade" to fair trade; from extractive to restorative; from terminal to sustainable is raging against the dying of the light of the exploitative economy. If you look carefully, you can see that raging in what a minority of eligible voters has foisted on the rest of us.

one of many pairs of bald eagles in Minnesota

Photo by J. Harrington

We've succeeded in restoring the bald eagle, our national symbol, to the point it is no longer endangered. "Organic" food and Community Supported Agriculture didn't first destroy industrial farming, they offered consumers a better, more healthy alternative to the latest and greatest processed food crap. Wind and solar energy are becoming/have become less expensive than green house gas creating coal fired generators.

Yes, ice caps are melting and seas are rising. That means, at a minimum, we have to be prepared and willing to offer help to those who will lose their homes and countries to the effects of global warming. Some of us will do so much more willingly than others. The only times I've believed America to be something less than great was when we didn't fulfill our responsibilities to each other and the rest of the world. We can and will do better in the future.

Sam Rayburn, a Democratic congressman from Texas with a reputation for fairness and integrity (think about that for a minute), is reported to be the source of the observation "A jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one." It remains to be seen whether a jackass or a carpenter became president-elect on November 8, but, based on the reports about those currently being offered cabinet positions, I have my suspicions. But I also know that, in addition to Rayburn, a bright Red state like Texas has produced Molly Ivins, who understood that democracy isn't neat and clean, and Lyndon B. Johnson who, when he wasn't tormenting his dogs, was busy signing Civil Rights legislation. Sometimes, whether a leader acts like a jackass or a carpenter depends on those s/he is trying to lead.

Before you misunderstand, get upset, and fill my in basket with hate mail, I'm not trying to "normalize" the president-elect. I'm not even sure what "normal" is any more, are you? I am thinking that, if Nixon was the only one who could go to China, and if Nixon, a Republican president, forced to resign in disgrace, signed a number of critical environmental statutes, our job is to find the equivalents for our president-elect. I think we're up to that task, don't you. After all, I bet most of us are Ed Abbey patriots, who know that "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." Washington is full of those who kick like hell but can't tell a hammer from a nail. The rest of us need to get building before it's our turn to go gentle.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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If we build it, ...

INFRASTRUCTURE VISION: Infrastructure will be designed and developed in accord with the Daly triangle and the approach outined in (chapter 8 of) Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development, using an integrative process with life-cycle costing. Costs will be equitably distributed among current and future users. All sectors that contribute to impairment of natural systems will be mandated to meet proportional investments in restoring the capacity of those systems. Financial feasibility will not depend on growth of the user base. Infrastructure services provided will be resilient, sustainable and not stress the local assimilative capacity of natural systems. There will be feedback loops consistent with those referenced by Meadows in Places to Intervene in a System (Information flows).

urban infrastructure, Mississippi River, Minneapolis

Photo by J. Harrington

There are continuing reports of how much we consistently underfund needed infrastructure improvement, maintenance and replacement. Here's a 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers overview on Minnesota's infrastructure status. It's far from a pretty picture. Congress just allowed the Land and Water Conservation Fund to lapse. We have increasing numbers of oil trains traversing major population centers and environmental impacts from inadequately designed or maintained pipelines and tailings dams. It seems to me that a good part of the problem derives from how we fund our infrastructure, our reliance on "growth," cost savings and/or profits as a basis for funding. Strong Towns covers some of those issues fairly well.

urban infrastructure, Duluth Harbor

Photo by J. Harrington

Orion magazine has recently concluded a series of articles on Reimagining Infrastructure. It repeatedly reminded me of the planning dictum "More of the same never solved a problem."

[UPDATES]:
Some of the concepts proposed in My Minnesota's systems visions show up occasionally in the blogs listed on the sidebar. Others originated from reading print resources or online materials. In this section from time to time we'll flag newer reports that, at least in part, support systems visions proposed here. If we come across any that materially undermine our proposals, we'll also note them.

ENERGY VISION

• How much can electric cars impact climate change?
  New report says a lot


• Renovate America Banks $90M From SolarCity’s VC Investors for Residential PACE
  PACE financing for homes is expanding rapidly, with residential loans eclipsing commercial projects in California.

Bridge

JEFFREY HARRISON 

(First line from the radio)

Plans for the bridge are still up in the air,
printed on the blueprint of the sky
like jet trails bending into curves that get
more graceful as they grow fainter,
until at their most exquisite they disappear
before we can get them down on paper,
our idea of the bridge always more beautiful
than anything we might actually build.
And yet there has to be a way to bring it
down to earth if we are ever going to be able
to cross from here to there, even if something
is lost in transit, because we don’t live
in some vaporous sphere but down here
where the air we breathe also makes things rust.

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More dots to connect

These are the current possession limits for walleyes for Lake Mille Lacs:

Walleye: All less than 19.0" or greater than 21.0" must be immediately released, except one 28.0" or greater is allowed in possession. Possession limit one. [accessed 5/1/15 at 1:15pm]

This is the current fish consumption advisory for Lake Mille Lacs:

If I'm tracking this correctly, and I may not be, it should be "safe" for my family to eat one meal per week of any one walleye between 19" and 20" we could legally keep if we caught one exactly that size. If we wanted to consume our legal walleye catch of a fish 28" or more, we should only do so one a month. That certainly encourages catch and release, or not going in the first place.

Mille Lacs Lake had been known as a premier walleye fishery. What with Aquatic Invasive Species, related boat inspections and the combination of a stressed fishery and consumption advisories, are those days gone forever? How concerned are the Chippewa about mercury-contaminated walleye consumption by band members, especially children? From the available reports, including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's recent Swimmable, Fishable, Fixable?, more than 95% of the Minnesota waters tested mercury contaminated fish swimming in them. I don't think that's what Congress meant by "fishable, swimmable." Does that contamination constitute a violation of treaty rights? Could Xcel Energy be subject to litigation for their opposition to several solar gardens, since that might be seen, and proved, as hindering the rate of conversion to energy sources that don't deposit mercury into Minnesota waters? I'm not trying to be as technically accurate here as I could, I'm more concerned by what seems to be a lack of dots getting connected in Minnesota's environmental protection and natural resource management strategies. The sources of our energy affects our water quality and fisheries. Too many of our farmers are providing feedstock rather than food and that's not an OK trade-off in my opinion, either.

silos aren't good for connecting dots

Photo by J. Harrington

These are silos. Even if you live in "The Cities," you've probably seen some. There's little, if any, connection among them. Silos often keep us from connecting the dots. It seems to me that entirely too much of Minnesota's future is being stored in silos. I don't think, based on where we are today, enough trends are pointed toward "Success" instead of "Fail." The legislature isn't going to be able to fix these problems with an amendment, or even an entire bill, that changes a number or prohibits enforcement of a regulation, unless they get out of their own particluar political silos. As Minnesotans, don't we deserve better? Who's leading the conversations of how we get better results from our political and regulatory systems?

Jack

By Sara Backer 

I have become the smaller flag on a ship,

the shorter rafters of a roof, a knave

in a pack of cards. I wear a skimpy coat,

tall leather boot, and leather drinking flask.

I am captured in a child's game

and hit when grown men gamble.

I am what they call a tame ape.

I was a common man

whose job was to lift weight.

Mechanical devices that replaced

my muscles took my job and pay

and more—they took my human name.

And I, who used to pull

my master's boots, hoist meat

and turn the spit, work the roller

and the winch, climb the steeple,

strike the bell and connect lines

in telephone exchange, am a daw,

the tiniest of crows, gathering

loose sticks to nest in castle ruins.

The solace of six centuries—and still—

is once, on a high and windy hill,

beside a well that was clear and full,

I kissed a girl named Gylle.

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Earth Day Milestones to celebrate?

Happy Earth Day. By now you've probably heard that President Obama has been reported to claim that Senator Warren is just plain wrong about the facts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Of course, as Huffington Post and others note, it's hard to be sure since the Obama administration has classified the the negotiations and related documents. As one who believes that the strategy to "Trust, but verify" was one of the few worthwhile things to come from the Reagan administration, I can only reply to President Obama "say what?"

prairie flowers at Wild River State Park

Photo by J. Harrington

I'm still disappointed that the Clinton administration brought us the North American Free Trade Agreement, which I continue to believe did major disservice to two of the democrat's longest-standing constituencies, environmentalists and labor unions. The "side agreements" on protecting the environment and labor rights seem to have substantially less effectiveness than the jurisdiction exercised by the World Trade Organization. Minnesota's Iron Range claims to be suffering from unfair trade practices in the international steel industry, compounded by claims that it takes too long and is too difficult to get redress from the damage of "steel dumping." I haven't yet seen an analysis that would support those assertions either, but Public Citizen has published a 20 years of NAFTA report, with data, that states

"The data show that NAFTA proponents’ projections of broad economic benefits from the deal have failed to materialize. Instead, millions have suffered job loss, wage stagnation, and economic instability from NAFTA. Scores of environmental, health and other public interest policies have been challenged. Consumer safeguards, including key food safety protections, have been rolled back...."

The Economics Policy Institute also has criticized NAFTA's "benefits." It's a contentious issue and one of my biggest critiques is that the basis on which the anticipated wins and losses for these kinds of agreements are rarely (never?) documented. To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, "show me the jobs." I don't expect any projections to be absolutely correct, but at least we could judge future realities against well-defined expectations and, perhaps, limit the debate to more productive lines. All of which brings us to one of my wishes for future Earth Days in Minnesota.

great blue heron at Carlos Avery WMA

Photo by J. Harrington

Once upon a time, Minnesota had a set of broadly agreed upon and formally adopted goals called "Minnesota Milestones." They were goals and indicators of progress, or lack thereof, toward attaining those goals. For this Earth Day and future ones, I'd like to see Minnesota bring back Milestones and measure how we're doing against them. Maybe it might help bring some modicum of civility to our political discourse. I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with bickering along the lines of "she said, he said" that are focused on scoring points, not progress. These are the Environmental goals (in bold) and indicators (numbered) in the last (1998) version of Milestones I could find:

Minnesotans will conserve natural resources to give future generations a healthy environment and a strong economy.
     55 Energy use per person
     56 Renewable energy sources
     57 Vehicle miles
     58 Air pollutants
     59 Water use
     60 Timber harvest
     61 Solid waste and recycling
     62 Toxic chemicals

Minnesotans will improve the quality of the air, water and earth.
     63 Urban air pollution
     64 Water quality in lakes and rivers
     65 Nitrate in ground water
     66 Erosion of cropland

Minnesotans will restore and maintain healthy ecosystems that support diverse plants and wildlife.
     67 Wildlife habitat
     68 Changes in land use

Minnesotans will have opportunities to enjoy the state’s natural resources.
     69 Parkland and open space
     70 Recreational trails

cottontail under bird feeder

Photo by J. Harrington

I think most of the goals and indicators would still be worth measuring today and into the future. I find it much easier to trust when it's also easier to verify. Don't you? Maybe next Earth Day we can celebrate the return of Minnesota's Milestones and some progress toward attaining them.

UPDATE: A major step in the right correct direction:
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's DashBoard

Shall earth no more inspire thee

By Emily Brontë 

Shall earth no more inspire thee,

Thou lonely dreamer now?

Since passion may not fire thee

Shall Nature cease to bow?

Thy mind is ever moving

In regions dark to thee;

Recall its useless roving—

Come back and dwell with me.

I know my mountain breezes

Enchant and soothe thee still—

I know my sunshine pleases

Despite thy wayward will.

When day with evening blending

Sinks from the summer sky,

I’ve seen thy spirit bending

In fond idolatry.

I’ve watched thee every hour;

I know my mighty sway,

I know my magic power

To drive thy griefs away.

Few hearts to mortals given

On earth so wildly pine;

Yet none would ask a heaven

More like this earth than thine.

Then let my winds caress thee;

Thy comrade let me be—

Since nought beside can bless thee,

Return and dwell with me.

Do you, too, sing America?

For the record, yes I voted. No, I wasn't very happy with many of the available options. I'd like to see us have ranked choice voting or maybe, switch to a parliamentary system. Or, maybe we could live in such a way that government is of very little relevance? Note that I wrote government, not governance.

St. Croix River on a chilly Autumn day

Photo by J. Harrington

I would be more concerned about the outcomes of today's voting except that I have hopes that Joseph de Maistre's (not Alexis de Tocqueville's) observation that "Every nation gets the government it deserves." might serve as a wake up call. And, if you've read prior postings here with any regularity, you've probably noted support for Edward Abbey's thought that "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." If the political pundits are correct, today's outcomes are likely to mean that many of us had best plan on becoming patriots while our rivers still flow to the seas.

After today, do you think we'll make it through our usual commercialized holiday season before the political ads for the 2016 presidential election start? Or, am I naive because those ads have started already? As we look ahead, no matter which side prevails today, if prevails is the term for continued gridlock, we all will do well to remember that others, too, sing America as they await their turn.

I, Too, Sing America

Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967 

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides, 
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

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Making Minnesota Milestones More Meaningful

Recently, My Minnesota noted that the Minnesota Milestones 2011 Summary reported one in ten of the environmental indicators showed a positive trend. "On the positive side, lake water clarity in Minnesota appears to be improving overall, with more lakes showing improvement than deterioration." Although lake water clarity improvements are desirable, this improvement needs to be considered in light of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's findings that "Monitoring suggests that about 40 percent of Minnesota's lakes and streams are impaired for conventional pollutants..." We don't know the relationship between the 40 percent impaired and the improved clarity lakes. Clarity could be improving in a lake that failed water quality standards not directly related to clarity, such as mercury or coliform bacteria. A general observation is that government could probably stand to undergo major improvements in the way it collects and presents data. Too often, it seems, there's overwhelming data with little information provided. This returns us to our earlier thinking about ways and means. An economist I've long admired, Herman Daly, developed a triangle that help's show what's involved. I prefer this to some other models because I like the way it portrays human well being and society's intermediate means being dependent on the natural environment.

from the Sustainable Sonoma County web site

For work that she did with the Balaton Group, Dana Meadows elaborated on Daly's Triangle in the report Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development. That version (from page 69 of the report) looks like  the one below (download the PDF from the linked page to see it in a larger size):

Alan AtKisson has taken the Daly/Meadows triangle and turned it into a compass. Auburn University has chosen the Compass model and has a nice explanation of essential sustainability concepts on the linked page of their Office of Sustainability section of their web site. Any of these examples offers an improved way to organize, present and think about Minnesota Milestones. The existing model, which should be built upon since it came from out grassroots, could be augmented to include other relevant, regularly collected metrics (MPCA's impaired waters list comes to mind) and organized to fit a hierarchical framework such as Meadows'. I don't think government needs too many more stories about government programs with insufficient oversight or training. We can't all be like Daniel Langton.

School

By Daniel J. Langton

I was sent home the first day

with a note: Danny needs a ruler.

My father nodded, nothing seemed so apt.

School is for rules, countries need rulers,

graphs need graphing, the world is straight ahead.

It had metrics one side, inches the other.

You could see where it started

and why it stopped, a foot along,

how it ruled the flighty pen,

which petered out sideways when you dreamt.

I could have learned a lot,

understood latitude, or the border with Canada,

so stern compared to the South

and its unruly river with two names.

But that first day, meandering home, I dropped it.

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Measuring Minnesota's Sustainability

Yesterday, August 16, was World Honeybee Day. Although I'm a beekeeper wannabe, somehow that important information escaped me until this morning. (I think it has something to do with the schedule I have for early morning checks on a number of web sites compared to mid-morning updates for several of those sites.) Anyhow, the photo on the (belated) linked announcement gives me an indication of just how much I need to improve my macro photography. I know that digital photography means I can take lots of shots at no additional cost. It doesn't mean that the subjects (bees and flowers in this case) will hold still long enough for me to take all those shots. Sometimes, though, I just get lucky.

bee on pansy

Photo by J. Harrington

My Minnesota has been on a "sustainability kick" recently. We hope to convince Minnesota to go "back to the future." Evidence can be found on the Minnesota Sustainable Communities Network's web site. On it there's a page called Sustainability 101. It has lots of resources and explanations. What troubles me, though, is there's a time gap that keeps the subject from becoming "today's news." Minnesota Planning's 1998 publication Sustainable Development: The Very Idea, although updated in 2011 with Minnesota Milestones data through 2008 or 2009, isn't likely to generate much news coverage in 2013 or 2014, even though, on balance, it appears that we haven't yet turned the corner on sustainability, according to this summary in the report.

Environment

The Environment goals are divided into four sub-goals. First, Minnesotans will conserve natural resources to give future generations a healthy environment and a strong economy. Second, Minnesotans will improve the quality of the air, water and earth. Third, Minnesotans will restore and maintain healthy ecosystems that support diverse plants and wildlife. Fourth, Minnesotans will have opportunities to enjoy the state's natural resources. The indicators related to the Environment are aligned to these five areas.

Only one of 10 environmental indicators showed a positive trend. It should be noted that widely-accepted statewide environmental indicators are hard to find and national comparisons are scarce. [emphasis added]

Three indicators changed to a negative direction. Minnesotans are using more water resources. Data sources point to declines in many species of breeding birds, raising concerns about the health of Minnesota’s diverse ecosystems. Participation in traditional forms of outdoor recreation has declined as younger generations turn to alternative forms of entertainment.

On the positive side, lake water clarity in Minnesota appears to be improving overall, with more lakes showing improvement than deterioration.

The remaining five environmental indicators showed no clear change. These include greenhouse gases, energy consumption, frog and loon populations, and air and water quality.

I've had the pleasure of working for government, for "for profit" businesses and in the non-profit sector. In each of the three, effective managers stressed that "what isn't measured, isn't managed." Effective managers also recognized the need for consistent and frequent communication. Because of that, I was favorably impressed when Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) and the National Park Service (NPS) teamed up to develop a "State of the River" report for the Mississippi as it flows through the Twin Cities. I know that our governors have delivered State of the State addresses to Minnesota's legislature on a regular basis. Do we need legislation that requires the governor to report on Minnesota Milestones as a required element in a State of the State address? I think that might help focus our, and our local media's, attention on some important news that otherwise gets neglected or "spun" in a different direction by special studies and press releases.

For example, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency [MPCA] prepared a 2010 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report (dated 2013) as called for since "The Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 set targets for energy conservation, renewable energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. The Next Generation Energy Act set a goal that would reduce GHG emissions in 2015 to a level 15% below the 2005 level, and also for 2025 and 2050 emissions levels to be 30% and 80%, respectively, below the 2005 emission levels (Minn. Stat. § 216H.02)"

My Minnesota has elsewhere noted that Minnesota does not appear to be on track to coming close to meeting the 2015 goal. MPCA's web page about the report doesn't highlight that issue. A more generic problem, however, is that the legislature can change the requirements for the report's contents at their convenience.

"This report fulfills the requirements of Minnesota Statute §216H.07. In the past, this report included both a greenhouse gas emissions reduction progress report per subdivision 3 and a discussion of legislative proposals to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions per subdivision 4. Minnesota Statute §216H.07 subdivision 4 was repealed in 2012."

There's a fundamental problem with tracking progress if progress indicators, including those of legislative performance, are revised frequently. Minnesota had been making what seemed like reasonable progress toward becoming a sustainable society. The challenges have increased. Interest in defining and tracking progress seems to have waned in Minnesota. Does that seem wise? Can't Minnesota do better, regardless of which party controls which organs of government? Don't Minnesotans deserve better? Are we confusing ends with means? If we don't report it, it doesn't exist. Isn't that the way North Carolina governs when it comes to rising sea levels?

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North by ...

© harrington

Hello. Thanks for dropping by. I told you today's question from Where you at would be fairly easy. Here's question "19.    From where you’re reading this, point north." Now, we all know (don't we?) that both the sun and the moon rise in the east and set in the west (approximately). The picture above is of a setting moon off the back of the house. The front of the house faces east. As I look toward the west, north is to my right. Looking out the kitchen and dining room windows means I'm looking approximately north. I bet you can figure out a similar scheme where you're at. I think if we were in the southern hemisphere, it would still work pretty much the same. Here's a poem by Sherwin Bitsui with much to say about north.

Blankets of Bark

  by Sherwin Bitsui

Point north, north where they walk

in long blankets of curled bark,

dividing a line in the sand, smelling like cracked shell,

desert wind, river where they left you

calling wolves from the hills,

            a list of names

growling from within the whirlwind. 

Woman from the north,

lost sister who clapped at rain clouds.

We were once there

holding lightning bolts above the heads of sleeping snakes. 

Woman, sister, the cave wants our skin back,

it wants to shake our legs free from salt

and untwist our hair into strands of yarn

pulled rootless from the pocket of a man

who barks when he is reminded of the setting sun. 

At 5 A.M., crickets gather in the doorway,

each of them a handful of smoke,

crawling to the house of a weeping woman,

breaking rocks on the thigh of a man stretching,

ordering us to drop coins into her shadow,

saying, "There, that is where we were born." 

Born with leaves under our coats,

two years of solitude,

the sky never sailed from us,

we rowed toward it,

only to find a shell,

                    a house,

                          and a weeping woman.

Tomorrow's question, the last one, is unseasonable, but what are we going to do? Here it is "20.    What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?