The ideology of “sustainable dining” is a fairly new concept on campuses. While students and universities have been focusing on energy efficiency and policy, of course important issues, there has been another looming shift in our country where people are beginning to focus on their food and what their body intakes. We’re not just talking calorie counting, but examining what farmers and food processors put in the things we eat. In the light of this shift, students are demanding their school dining services think about these things as well. Additionally, how far food travels is a considering factor. Reducing the carbon footprint of your campus includes decreasing the distance your food is travelling from “Farm to Table”. Basically, buying local, naturally grown produce and naturally fed meat is important for the sustainability of human health and the health of our planet.  And of course, in a still largely agricultural state like Georgia, opportunities for this should not be hard to find.

Friday’s workshop began with a keynote from K. Rashid Nuri, founder of Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture. Truly Living Well is an organization with two community gardens in Metro Atlanta’s urban neighborhoods. However, they do much more than gardening. TLW has a number of programs educating Atlanta and the state community on urban agriculture. Nuri came and gave a very inspirational speech on his background, starting Truly Living Well and his opinions on urban farming. We were reminded of why we were there and why this work is so important.

Jett Hatthaway’s lunch time presentation on Kennesaw State Students for Environmental Sustainability’s new student run farmer’s market

Campus Ecology’s Southeast Campus Field Coordinator, Eriqah Foreman-Williams, holding two new friends at Hunter Cattle Farm in Brooklet, GA

“It was very inspiring to see others who are breaking new ground in the ‘good food’ movement. It was such a pleasure to hear stories about the creative work colleges and universities are doing across the state, in the area of sustainable food. Momentum for this movement is growing, and it’s very exciting!”

I believe this was the necessary guidance needed to drive sustainable food initiatives forward on Georgia university campuses. In the next year, my plan is to organize strategic planning meetings with students, administrators, and university dining staff together to brainstorm how to tailor this new venture to their individual campuses.

Click here to view the embedded video.

My thoughts quickly centered on the many barriers and obstacles to making this transition, but I also considered alternatives and found that while difficult, going to no till and cover crops has created some great opportunities.

First lesson: Other farmers are a valuable resource

Going through this process is much easier when networking with other farmers going through similar transitions, especially if they are in your area. In my first year, there were no other farmers in my area using no till and cover crops.  Just recently I learned of another farmer choosing to go to no till with cover crops. The conversations since have been quite valuable for the education and information exchanged.  Just 10 minutes on the phone, comparing notes with this nearby farmer provided me with insights that would help me improve my system. This type of information exchange is all the more valuable when farmers convert to less well-known systems.

Winter Wheat, October 2012.

Second lesson: No till makes it easier for beginning farmers to get into agriculture

No till and cover crops have allowed me and other beginning farmers an easier entry into agriculture.  For those just entering the business, acquiring assets (land, cattle, equipment etc.) is often the most expensive and difficult step. The costs of some of this equipment can be truly astounding. Systems with reduced equipment requirements (such as no till or rotational grazing) lower that initial barrier to entry. By not having to purchase tillage equipment (chisel plow, disk, field cultivator and stalk shredder) and a larger tractor to power that equipment, I am able to keep costs low.

Third lesson: Farm Bill conservation programs make a difference

Despite the benefits to farmers, the environment and taxpayers (see my previous post), conservation programs which help farmers transition to these conservation practices face budget cuts in the next Farm Bill. Few programs provide as many benefits to so many, yet all of the Farm Bill proposals include some drastic cuts to conservation programs. More immediately, because of the current impasse on the Farm Bill leading to its expiration on September 30, some conservation programs cannot take new enrollments.

Take Action

With the Farm Bill debate set to begin again right after the election, speak out for wildlife and let Congress know you value Farm Bill conservation programs for the clean water and wildlife they protect.  The many farmers who rely on these programs to implement good conservation practices will certainly thank you.

“We were too selfish and we were trying to make money. It didn’t work out.” – Dust Bowl Survivor quoted in Ken Burns’s documentary, The Dust Bowl

Wednesday night, I attended an early preview of Ken Burns’ documentary, The Dust Bowl, which will be airing on PBS November the 18th. Mr. Burns presented 6 clips from the film, followed by a panel discussion that also included Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, National Geographic editor Peter Miller, and CBS news correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As a former student of soil science and the history of agriculture in America, I was more than passingly familiar with the story of the Dust Bowl as a cautionary tale of the consequences of the coincidence of human greed, government policy, and extreme climate conditions. As I know the story, a favorable market for crops, speculation from wealthy investors, and encouragement from the federal government led to a massive plow-up of land in the Midwest and Plains States during the 1930s. This was before modern soil conservation practices evolved, when people really believed that their activities would not harm the land.

“The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possesses.  It is one resource that cannot be exhausted, that cannot be used up.” – Federal Bureau of Soils, 1909

We now know the above quote is not true. It is possible for humans to cause incredible, and even irreversible damage to our natural resources. The soil is resilient, but it is not indestructible.

Watching the film brought the human dimension of the Dust Bowl and its aftermath to life in my mind. I can’t imagine what it was like for people to sit in the dark in their own homes, covering their faces with flour sacks or pieces of cloth to keep from breathing in the dirt as black clouds of dust raced by just outside their walls. I can’t imagine the aftermath of poverty, when people’s lives were destroyed and their sources of income depleted, so that mothers went to extreme measures to find lost dimes to feed their children.

Photo: Arthur Rothstein, 1936. Library of Congress. Farm family walks through a dust storm near Cimarron County, Oklahoma.

Right now, market conditions are encouraging farmers to plant fence row to fence row, breaking out new land in the Midwest and Plains and destroying what native grasslands remain. This past summer, one of the worst droughts in recent history created ideal conditions for dust storms. Indeed, yesterday, in Oklahoma, a dust storm caused “near blackout visibility” and a 30 car pile-up, resulting in injuries, damage to property, and the risk of human life.

It is crucial that our government policies do not encourage us to repeat past mistakes. That is why NWF has been fighting to get a national Sodsaver provision applied to the next Farm Bill. The Great Plains of the past that supported vast herds of buffalo and antelope are long gone, but our remaining grasslands are home to a wide array of wildlife, such as pheasants, prairie dogs, and songbirds. It is very important that we don’t lose what little grassland remains. We should remember the lessons of the Dust Bowl, and think not just about what could happen to wildlife, but also what could happen to human beings if we try to do too much on the land.

Let Congress know that you want a national Sodsaver provision in the next Farm Bill.  This is a small step we can take to make sure taxpayer dollars aren’t funding the same kind of activities that contributed to the Dust Bowl.

Farming and ranching makes a huge contribution to the economy of the Great Plains states

In its original application for a Presidential permit, TransCanada Corp. (the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline) planned a route that would have cut through the sensitive Sandhills region of Nebraska.

Fierce opposition from farmers, ranchers, and citizens of every political stripe forced the company to scrap that idea.

Now TransCanada is trying to identify a new route.

Any Pipeline Through Nebraska Puts the Ogallala Aquifer at Risk

Even though the oil industry was forced to make this concession to public health, a much vaster resource is still threatened: the Ogallala aquifer, which provides 30% of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States, and drinking water for 2 million people. 

Almost any feasible pipeline route through Nebraska will still run over the Ogallala aquifer.

It would be hard to overemphasize how vital the Ogallala is to our national economy. As Nebraska’s Republican Governor Dave Heineman stressed in a letter to the White House, “This resource is the lifeblood of Nebraska’s agriculture industry.” 

The aquifer’s enormous stores of fresh water are the only reason the “Breadbasket of America” can exist–it irrigates farms that harvest nearly 20 percent of our wheat and cotton, and 15 percent of the U.S. corn–and makes possible a booming cattle industry across the Plains states.

The Ogallala aquifer stretches across 8 states and supplies billions of gallons of fresh water for irrigation

Tar Sands Pipelines: A Disaster in Waiting

Oil spills happen all the time–a dirty secret that’s not so secret anymore, thanks to the scrutiny faced by the industry the last few years. And tar sands pipelines in particular have been in the news for all the wrong reasons:

• a 1.1 million gallon spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River;
• a 42,000 gallon spill in the pristine Yellowstone River in Montana; and
• a 21,000 gallon eruption in North Dakota on TransCanada’s first Keystone 1 pipeline – which has been plagued by at least twelve spills since it was completed in 2010.

TransCanada is doing their best to hide these risks, even going so far as to manipulate data submitted to the U.S. State Department.

An independent analysis by the University of Nebraska found that the worst-case spill scenarios were much higher than TransCanada’s estimates, with up to “91 major spills over a 50 year design life of the pipeline” and even the potential for benzene contamination of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. A study after the Kalamazoo spill found that nearly 60% of area residents experienced gastrointestinal, respiratory or neurological symptoms from exposure.

An Easy Choice

It’s obvious that tar sands pose an enormous risk to the Ogallala aquifer and the crops that feed Americans from coast to coast. Public polling on the issue reflects this concern: According to a Feb. 3 poll conducted by Hart Research Associates, 64% of voters think that the risk of a toxic oil spill in the Ogallala aquifer was a “very convincing” or “somewhat convincing” reason to block construction of Keystone XL. And after hearing pro and con arguments, a wide plurality of voters supported the White House’s decision to deny the permit (47% support, 36% oppose, and 17% undecided or no opinion).

Randy Thompson, a rancher whose land Keystone XL would cut through, put it in plain terms:

 Perhaps it’s just my Nebraska logic, but from my perspective it appears that the United States is getting the short end of the stick on this deal. Canada and the big oil companies are reaping the rewards while Americans are being left to fix the fence.

When you hear it like that, you realize that this debate boils down to a pretty simple question: Do we decide to protect Americans’ food supply and drinking water, or pad the profits of foreign oil companies that want to cut through our farmland on the way to overseas markets? It should be an easy choice.

 Urge President Obama to stand strong to protect wildlife against Big Oil.

For more on tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline visit nwf.org/tarsands

Check this out:

1. Chocolate: A report out last month from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) found that just a 2 degree Celsius increase in temperature could significantly reduce land suitable for growing cocoa in the regions of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire where about half of the world’s cocoa is produced. The impacts could be devastating for local farmers and the $9 billion chocolate industry. Peter Gleick wrote an elegant appeal to climate skeptics on behalf of chocolate lovers. Definitely worth a read.
2. Peanut butter: The drought and heat that the South experienced this summer have contributed to a 13 percent decline in the peanut harvest. Price jumps of 20-30 percent are expected for peanut butter in the coming weeks! Thanks to my colleague Miles Grant for flagging the climate-change-extreme-weather-peanut-butter connection.
3. Bread: During the last 18 months, we saw the consequences of bread shortages play out on the world stage. Christian Parenti shows how the record-setting heat, drought, and wildfires in Russia and the record-setting floods in Australia conspired to cause wheat shortages, that in turn led to the unrest in the Middle East.
4. Wine: Grapes require specific climate conditions to ripen in ways best suitable for fine wine. As these microclimates shift, places that known for excellent grapes may no longer have the right conditions. This issue is of such importance to the wine industry that they hold entire conferences on it!
5. Coffee: Like chocolate, coffee plants prefer a narrow range of climate conditions. Starbucks and the Union for Concerned Scientists have been raising the alarm bells that climate change is threatening coffee crops. Extremely heavy rainfall events and warming conditions have already affected coffee yields in several nations.

So, even though some of these climate shifts and extreme weather events may be happening far away, we will see the impacts in our household expenses (and desert island plans!). More seriously, these climate change impacts could be devastating for the people around the world who rely on income from these crops.

Learn what NWF is doing to combat climate change.

Mass Opposition to Keystone XL in DC Today

October 7 – It was a festive atmosphere outside the Ronald Reagan building in downtown Washington today, as protesters, many from National Wildlife Federation, flooded the plaza with chants, songs, and demands that President Obama reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.

Opposed by top scientists and riddled with charges of lobbyist abuses, the proposed pipeline has become the most controversial environmental policy item for the Obama Administration.

Nearly 1,000 people joined a noontime event that coincided with a final U.S. State Department hearing on the pipeline inside the Reagan Building. President Obama will soon decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which would increase carbon emissions equal to adding six million cars to America’s roads.

National Wildlife Federation and Minnesota Conservation Federation Launch Lawsuit to Protect the Great Lakes from Invasive Species

October 6 – The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Minnesota Conservation Federation (MCF) filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal court in Washington, D.C., to prevent the EPA from ignoring state measures to protect water quality.  The lawsuit was prompted by concerns about the harm invasive species cause the Great Lakes.

Under the Clean Water Act, any vessel that may discharge ballast water in rivers, lakes, or coastal waters must be covered under an EPA permit.  This is because ballast water may contain non-native species.  Non-native species like the zebra mussel that have invaded the Great Lakes have caused great economic, environmental, and ecological harm.

Groups Praise Momentum on Gulf Restoration as House Introduces Bill and Task Force Calls for Bold Action

October 5 – A coalition of groups supporting Gulf restoration thanked Members from both sides of the aisle who introduced a bill today that will ensure that 80 percent of penalties paid by BP and others responsible for last year’s Gulf oil disaster are used to help restore the region, not for unrelated federal spending. The RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act of 2011 (pdf) was introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) as lead sponsor, along with more than 20 other bipartisan leaders as joint co-sponsors.

Future Friendly Farming: Seven Agricultural Practices to Sustain People and the Environment

October 5 – American farmers provide food, fuel and fiber for a growing nation. In the face of challenges including tight budgets, increasing threats to natural systems, climate change and extreme weather, farmers can implement strategies that assure yields and farm income while helping to address these challenges. A new report from the National Wildlife Federation, Future Friendly Farming: Seven Agricultural Practices to Sustain People and the Environment, offers techniques that farmers and ranchers can use to increase profits, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect soil, water and wildlife habitat.

“These practices offer readily-available and highly cost-effective opportunities for farmers and land managers to reduce costs and maintain or increase yields while addressing water quality, wildlife habitat concerns and reduce emissions that fuel climate change,” said Ryan Stockwell, Ph.D., report co-author and agricultural manager for the National Wildlife Federation.

Lansing Community College Leads a Revival with Help from Greenforce Initiative

October 4 – About two blocks west of the Allen Neighborhood Center on Lansing, MI’s, Eastside, the flat, tree-lined expanse of East Kalamazoo St. is showing signs of renewal.

It’s a welcome change. In 2009, the median inflation-adjusted household income in Lansing was more than 36% below the national average. The city, Michigan’s fifth largest, is home to nearly double the U.S. average in individuals and families living below the poverty line, with many hit especially hard by the struggles of the auto industry. Population in the area has declined by more than 5% since 2000, leaving many houses abandoned or in a state of disrepair. This is, in most measurable ways, a town in serious need of a boost.

Enter Lansing Community College (LCC) and a bevy of students wielding hammers and a sense of purpose. They are on the front lines of the Restoration Works! project, a partnership between the school, the Ingham County Land Bank and the Allen Neighborhood Center to provide a living laboratory for students learning about energy auditing and sustainable construction and help maintain property values in the neighborhood with the help of a Greenforce Initiative Innovation Mini Grant.

Emerging Nutrient Crisis Causing Massive New Breakdowns in the Great Lakes

October 4 – The National Wildlife Federation today released a report documenting new and massive ecosystem breakdowns in the Great Lakes caused by interactions between excessive fertilizer run-off from farms and invasive zebra and quagga mussels. The report comes on the same day that NWF is testifying before the U.S. Senate Environment for Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife on the report findings.

The report, “Feast and Famine in the Great Lakes: How Nutrients and Invasive Species Interact to Overwhelm the Coasts and Starve Offshore Waters (pdf),” details the links between enormous algal blooms in Lake Erie that threaten the health of people and wildlife and a 95 percent decline in fish biomass in Lake Huron.

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• The Guardian: Final Keystone XL pipeline hearing sees show of force from both sides
• Reuters: Great Lakes face stresses from run-off, invaders
• The Daily Tribune: Addressing the Sleep Gap
• WSJM: Group Aims To Get More Kids Outdoors

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Michigan wetland by Sara L. Herzog

Ecosystems work in much the same way as bustling cities do. Amidst a constant frenzy of activity, each member plays an important and specific role within a self-contained world. Some of the most vibrant city-like ecosystems in the world are wetlands, which are rich in plant and animal species and have tremendous beneficial capabilities for agriculture.

Unfortunately, about 50 percent of all U.S. wetlands disappeared by 1993, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service census. In an effort to benefit the agricultural industry and the environment, the National Wildlife Federation released a new report about Future Friendly Farming practices, calling for farmers to work toward restoring native lands, such as a wetlands, while reaping from the natural benefits.

Working with Native Lands

The report identifies seven techniques farmers can implement to work alongside native lands and wildlife to gain natural benefits. By implementing practices like organic agriculture and planting cover crops, farmers can save money and simultaneously decrease soil erosion, improve nutrient retention in the soil, and increase nesting for ground-nesting birds. In an effort to retain or return native ecosystems, farmers can benefit from wetlands’ remarkable self-sustaining qualities.

What’s So Great About Wetlands?

Wetlands have the remarkable ability to filter agricultural runoff, proving much more effective than other processes at removing common agricultural chemicals, particularly the herbicide atrazine. According to the study, the slow water movement of wetlands allows for sediment to settle, providing a natural catchment of material and chemicals from surface runoff. In fact, numerous studies have shown that wetlands speed up the atrazine degradation process to less than 70 days, while it may take years for similar atrazine degradation to occur in open bodies of water.

Categorized into four major branches (marshes, swamps, bogs and fens), wetlands are complex worlds teeming with life. A healthy wetland can support more species of birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and plants per acre than almost any other habitat. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than one-third of the United States’ threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands, and nearly half use wetlands at some point in their lives. Familiar inhabitants of wetlands include herons, owls, hawks, ducks, alligators, turtles, snakes, salamanders, frogs, fish, muskrats, otters, panthers, raccoons, deer – the list goes on.

The Future of Friendly Farming

Not only do wetlands harbor an incredible diversity of life, they also benefit farmers by creating cleaner water through their natural filtration system. Additionally, the unique relationships between diverse species living in wetlands maximize plant growth and nutrient production. Wetlands can be worth up to $12,000 per acre for farmers thanks to their ability to regulate water flows and eliminate chemicals from water. Restoring wetlands, especially within agricultural areas, can provide an often overlooked benefit to society.

The full report is available here (pdf).

As a student, I have had my fair share of what I call ‘nature envy’ moments. You know, the ones where you are sitting in the classroom and suddenly find yourself staring out a window (if your lucky) or just day-dreaming (if your not so lucky) about being outside in nature. This phenomenon happens to increase exponential as the weather gets warmer, the days get longer and the landscape gets greener. If you have experienced ‘nature envy’ then you will certainly understand why I chose to participate in a Permaculture Certification course on a certified organic farm in the Caribbean this past winter.

Permaculture can be thought of as “permanent – agriculture” and was originally coined by Bill Mollison, but it can also be described as designing human systems that meet our needs while increasing the health of the eco-system. Most Permaculture Design Cources (PDC’s) are held on or within natural places that are incorporating the principles of said design. I’ll expand on this later…