Basketball in Sacramento Doesn't Need Sports Scams on Steroids!

Apparently both regressives and progressives agree that sports construction is a bad investment, if not outright welfare for rich people who feel entitled. So what does this make KJ? Moderate? Narcissistic? Your call.

But then why a "burning desire" to keep them here? Could I please review the methodology on that poll before I agree that voters want to consume public revenues to give the Maloofs their very expensive toy? And who will pay for the inevitable construction cost overruns? For those who feel befuddled, these facts and figures may be of interest.

Theoretically, the voters are the referee. But when the mayor disses his office digs (that were good enough for every other mayor) and insists on building his own suite at taxpayers' expense, the ref may need law enforcement backup more muscular than the city manager. (Don't think strong mayor unless you want to get lowballed.)

If this was really such a great deal, the private sector would already be financing it. Sacramento taxpayers don't need this kind of economic liability. If anybody except the Maloofs would have to make up the different between rosy financial predictions and future shortfalls, can the council really be exercising due diligence?

If it's basketball we want, we can still have a city league, make our own neighborhood teams, get some fun exercise, and all for peanuts. (And can we please have a mayoral candidate worth voting for, in addition to Leonard Padilla?)

It's Ok to Be Chicken, But Let's Keep Our Heads On.

The last time Law & Leg discussed backyard chickens in Sacramento, concerns about avian flu were a key sticking point. So it will be very interesting to hear from Dr. Glennah Trochet, the County of Sacramento Public Health Officer this afternoon, beginning after 3pm at council chambers in city hall.

I asked Christine Heinrichs, the environmental journalist and author of "How to Raise Chickens" and "How to Raise Poultry" about avian flu. Apparently, avian flu comes in 2 broad categories: Low and High Pathogenic. Crossover of highly pathogenic avian flu to the human population is rare, and usually happens near factory farms, which Wendell Berry calls "disease-breeding operations." Moreover, the US Geological Survey has yet to find any bird flu on this continent, even the low-pathogenic kind, after having tested 326,000 migratory birds between 2005 and 2008.

She quoted Bruce Levin, a biology professor at Emory University, "In the more than 15 years since it was first recognized, this bird flu virus has yet to cause very much mortality in humans or evolve to be readily transmitted between people."

The dangers of endemic strains of influenza are much higher; we would mostly be better off staying away from the mall and in the backyard with our chickens, ducks, pigeons, and other enthusiastic pest-control assistants.

So ask the Law & Leg Committee to act on Agenda Item #4 by directing staff to draft a backyard chicken ordinance for council discussion.

As for regular old flu (presumably including low-pathogenic avian flu if it ever gets here), Christine reports that public health research has discerned 4 major differences between our understanding of it now and in 1918:

We know a virus is responsible.

We have vaccines.

We have antiviral medications to mitigate the flu and discourage transmission

We have antibiotics and/or vaccines to address the secondary bacterial infections which appear to be the proximate cause of most flu deaths.

Is Economics Really the Dismal Science After All?

Reportedly, Japan's economy has lost heart. Years of monetary contraction have left people fearing to risk, borrow, invest or build much of anything.

However, the reporter may have overlooked new green sprouts growing out of the decay of winter, which reliably yields to the fertility of spring.

But what's the real problem? There's no good mechanism in place for the monetary system to re-adjust to fit the economy again.

It's time to revive an ancient custom, developed by people who are widely reputed to understand financial affairs exceedingly well, probably because their acquaintance with money's behavior is so ancient. Another ethnic group whose economic aptitude is the equal of any lacks, unfortunately, the corrective religious custom that the Japanese - and any city, state or country that is in the same pickle - could profit from just now.

Thinking Outside of the Box on Green Jobs

This morning, the Bee warned us that green job growth isn't going to save the economy anytime soon. But there are many many more kinds of green jobs than just "work to install solar panels and build electricity-powered cars."

And there are more green jobs than I listed 2-plus years ago, such as:

Urban farming

Rural farming

Graywater system design & installation

Rainwater storage system design & installation

Greenhouse design, manufacturing & installation

Rainwater tank design & manufacturing

Mulch broker

Bicycle-power design & manufacturing

Redesign of electric appliances to be manual, such as sewing machines and washers

Tool sharpening

Replacing other unnecessary appliances with more civilized alternatives

Caretaker for oldsters who have an extra room and need help

So rest assured that the potential growth of green jobs, that minimize our energy used for meeting our needs for water, food, and warmth, is much greater than realized by those still thinking inside the box of conventional technologies.

Chickens & Other Forms of Urban Farming

The staff report for today's city council law & legislation committee discussion of urban chickens mentions chickens’ pest control potential. Turning mosquitoes and ticks into eggs seems like a win-win. But dandelions are extremely nutritious and should not be considered a weed when it’s actually lawns that are highly unsustainable and harmful as typically managed.

Chickens are so effective at turning kitchen scraps to eggs that “The municipality of Deist in Flanders, Belgium, gave 2,000 households a gift of three chickens each as an economic solution to the costly problem of recycling biodegradable trash. A chicken can consume approximately nine pounds of kitchen garbage a month. The encouragement of urban animal husbandry can help erase the artificial barriers between the urban (non-agricultural) and the rural (agricultural). Additionally, increased composting can also help to diminish waste.”

Concerns about noise seem very biased, since the city never takes any action to reduce nuisance noise from leafblowers and viciously loud motorcycles. I would much rather have a rooster next door than either of these two widespread urban hazards.

Slaughtering, like most things, depends on whether or not you are doing it right. While it may be premature for this ordinance revision, it should be kept on the back burner.

Concerns about complaints and staffing are valid. The financial stresses we all face can be reduced by becoming more ‘Greenwise’ and increasing local self-sufficiency and sustainability. Perhaps neighborhood associations can help keep things on an even keel. Another possibility would be a sort of streamlined standardized variance process for prospective urban farmers.

There are other general helpful actions the committee can consider for Sacramento.

Reconsider all the unlawful animals listed in ordinance section 9.44.340. Currently, “it is unlawful to keep, harbor, or maintain any bovine animal, horse, mule, burro, sheep, goat, chicken, duck, turkey, goose or other domestic livestock or poultry on any parcel of property located in the city.”

Given the fact that most of these are smaller than the largest dogs which are considered completely okay, they should all be reconsidered on their merits (as well as disadvantages). There are a variety of miniature breeds of larger animals. The importance of size can be seen in 9.44.320 which allows swine such as the pot-bellied pig. It may also be appropriate to review 9.44.710 and include methods of animal attack in addition to biting.

Each species has its own general personality, which may require specific requirements tailored to successful management of that particular animal. Thus, the research required to define success for each species can be taken sequentially, with chickens serving as the case study for a process that should be repeated. Personally, after creating the proper space for urban chickens, I would proceed to consider ducks, geese, goats, sheep, turkeys, and miniature burros and cows.

Please note that the poop of carnivores such as cats and dogs is more likely to be a problem than that of vegetarians, all other things (such as amount) being equal. I recently completed a Permaculture Design Certificate, and one of the key principles I learned was about ecological diversity. It is extremely convenient that a biologically healthy environment has adapted to dealing with poop by eons of evolution. By recreating the proper conditions, poop can be managed much better than at present, when it usually ends up in wastewater or landfill where its fertility is not just wasted but transformed into pollution.

Create a new zoning category for urban agriculture. An analogy for this would be the Single-Family Alternative Zone, which was also designed to support Sacramentans’ economic welfare, by allowing more residential diversity.

Supporting more diversity in urban agriculture will both assist the many Sacramentans whose backs are now to the wall, economically, and make Sacramento more sustainable over the long term as petroleum-based modes of transportation all become more problematic.

Currently, Sacramentans living in residentially zoned neighborhoods are unable to sell excess produce at a standard farmers market. An alternative urban agriculture zoning could offer additional economic support now and in the future.

Chickens & The City Council

Next Tuesday afternoon, the city council's law & legislation committee will hear a staff report about the pros & cons of backyard chickens. The committee will consider whether to ask staff to draft a proposed ordinance for the council to consider.

If you would like Sacramentans to have access to the increased food security that backyard chickens offer, you can ask the committee to proceed with a draft ordinance, either online (click on "eComment") or in person on Tuesday.

If you have any suggestions about how to manage backyard chickens so as to ensure a peaceful and pleasant neighborhood, please share them with the committee. Although some residents may have concerns about nuisance or blight, the fact that Fair Oaks residents have been living harmoniously with free-roaming chickens for many years suggests that such concerns are unfounded.

What I Learned On My Summer Vacation

Well, it's true that summer started a long time after my last post. But my mother passed away February 24, and after that I spent most of April rearranging my house making room for my new roommate who looks after things when I am gone.

I left in May to spend most of the summer near Eugene, Oregon, at Lost Valley Educational Center, taking their three key courses, Permaculture Design, Eco-Building, and Community/Eco-village Design. And to top it all off, I got to spend the summer living in community, sharing meals, etc., after 22 years of living alone. I had a wonderful time.

What did I learn about permaculture? First, permaculture isn't just about edible gardening, it's also about self-winding houses that blend into the local biology rather than contradicting it like a crewcut green lawn in California. Rainwater storage, graywater irrigation, composting privies, passive solar climate control, solar hot water, greenhouses, and food forests are key green technologies for sustainable housing.

At a deeper, more philosophical level, 12 permaculture principles have been formalized. They reflect the way biology operates, as opposed to the way engines and machines operate. The machine metaphor permeates our culture, and is reflected in unconscious assumptions. Contrasting the philosophies of life and mechanism makes old assumptions conscious and offers a basic way to understand a new way of thinking. Thinking like a tree, perhaps.

Eco-building methods are diverse, including post & beam and other timber framing, straw bale, adobe, and a few others. Local climate and materials determine what makes the most sense.

Typical eco-villages are also intentional communities of people who want to live an alternative lifestyle. Many villagers are interested in food security and relocalization. But when you didn't grow up together there's lots of potential for conflicting customs or expectations, so fair and effective self-governance processes are crucial, especially when you are starting from scratch.

So as you can imagine I learned a lot. I really had a wonderful summer out in the country - once it stopped raining, that is.

Is Competition Sustainable?

I keep hearing that we need to be more competitive to make it in the global economy, but I can't believe the multinational corporations that dominate the global and industrialized economies will ever let anyone else win.

Plus which, I've been reading some great stuff about how we are at least as cooperative by nature as we may be competitive. What if Nature Herself were cooperative too?

Rebecca Solnit's book "A Paradise Built In Hell" describes how disasters seem to attract lots of ordinary people who just pitch right in the start cooperating to help in whatever ways make sense. In fact, it turns out that often official disaster relief and security actually get in the way and make things worse by imposing their bureaucratic and hierarchical plans on what is already spontaneously underway, as was seen not just after Katrina but after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

"Elite panic" is behind official efforts to control the situation, whether it is caused by fear of being unnecessary or fear of vengeance by the have-nots. Elite panic is why people who are taking necessities from stores after a disaster are seen as looting if black and as requisitioning if white, as happened in New Orleans and Haiti.

I've also been reading about Open Space Technology, guidelines from originator Harrison Owen. He shares some of his philosophy about jobs, a view that's very relevant to economic competitiveness.

"After all, if we did only what we cared to do, not much would get done. Or would it? Isn't it true that jobs done by people who don't care are not worth much? Is it not also true that people who care greatly accomplish incredible things? And fortunately, there are a lot of different people who care about a lot of different things, which means there is a high likelihood that the majority of things needing to be taken care of will be taken care of--by someone who cares."

What if we could all, worldwide, have economies where we took on the tasks we care about the most? We can all have work that matters, if we care about doing first what matters most.

And we can still compete--with ourselves, to just keep improving.

Dear readers, please ignore the comment below which it turns out leads to porn-spam. I will delete it as soon as I figure out how.

Ban Styrofoam & Be A World-Class City!

Seattle did it a year ago, and we can too. Check out this chart of replacement products.

And we could also start charging by weight or volume for regular garbage, just as Seattle does for businesses. That would be a really effective way to reduce tipping fees.

Colonial Ecology Rules?

On the news last night I heard about doctors doing cutting-edge research on helping old people live longer and accident victims regain the use of various appendages. The problem here is the amount of money being spent on doing this when so many babies and mothers are so poor and hopeless as they are now. These doctors must be as clueless as Wall Streeters about people's daily reality around the world, for them to be patting themselves on the back when so many lack the basics of survival - clean air and water, healthy food, and snug shelter. It would be far simpler and cheaper for them to just write prescriptions for these necessities, whose absence sabotages more expensive health care.

Then in the paper this morning I read about Monsanto's uber-Frankenstein desire to not just imitate but monopolize Mother Nature. According to the classical theory of hubris, the plans of men are the jokes of the gods. And karma suggests that monetizing bits of the ecology, as Monsanto continues to do, is rather asking for it. Still, as Prof. Shapiro suggests, ordinary people en masse are already buying in to technology that is equally opportunistic, narrow, and risky.

But what does all this have to do with colonialism or ecology? Well, colonialism is when one entity infects another somehow, acting from within as well as without. And ecology is a system, a network, where the effects of such actions are seen. Both entities, as well as their surroundings, can be seen as systems, definable and interdependent. And so much intercontinental biological cross-contact and colonialism has already occurred, I think we need to talk about how to somehow reintegrate ecologies from where they are now.

For example, I still mourn the eucalyptus, a few giants cut to the ground at a newly-formed nature preserve south of Sacramento. The idea was to eliminate non-natives, but in a place where there were few trees, I didn't like the idea of getting rid of what was there without having something comparable to replace it. When I do that in my garden, I get self-invited botanical invaders.

So what principles should we use to make such decisions? How can we co-evolve with what's here to be more sustainable and less opportunistic, as a species?

Sustainable Business in Sacramento?

I read in the paper this morning that the chamber of commerce backs the strong mayor. Apparently the chamber thinks that sustainability is bad for business, and that a strong mayor will be good for business. But what does KJ think about sustainability?

The recent meeting of his new arena task force suggests he doesn't think much about it. I went to their kick-off town hall meeting last week, and they started off saying the task force was all about economic development. But it really is just about the arena, and jobs for developers.

Most of the people in the room were men, and I was the only woman who spoke to the panel. It's time for the men in the chamber of commerce to refocus on the true and original purpose of business, which is to serve consumers. And consumers' most basic needs are clean air and water, healthy food, and snug shelter. These are the first priorities of economic development for human welfare.

Sports and entertainment arenas are not a basic consumer need. And we don't need to spend a lot of money on them. If we want basketball, we can have a city league. If we want entertainment, we have local and state politics at our doorstep.

CA's Unsustainable Legislature

Why should our dysfunctional, money-addicted legislators get to dodge the pay cuts that have cratered the budgets of so many ordinary Californians?

Offhand, I can't think of any reason that we would not be better off with the part-time legislature we used to have, and I am not alone. But I am sure there are reasons, even if I'm not sure that survey results are based on discussion of complete and rational pros and cons.

Let's start talking!

Looking Busy

I don't understand why KJ's call for a tent city for the homeless hasn't been as popular with developers as his latest effort to make Sacramento safe for the NBA.

If developers want to do something that's really useful for the community, they could build more affordable housing for the homeless. They could build housing that ordinary people could afford to buy.

Or they could try to save some of Sacramento's money, like SMUD, instead of spending it on more sprawl.

Sports Arenas Of, By and For The People?

Mayor Stork announced a new task force to figure out how to get a sports arena at Cal-Expo, I guess because the old task force didn't work it out.

Or maybe it's because this task force will announce its results just about the time we get to vote on KJ's strong mayor proposal. Given the expected members of the task force - "City Hall officials, business leaders and attorneys" - I think one can pretty much predict that they will say what insiders dressed in fancy suits usually say. 'We're wealthy so if you follow our advice you will be too.'

Right.

Sustainable Health Care & Evolution

On UCTV this morning, I happened to tune in to Prof. Lucy Shapiro sharing some sobering information about some health care issues that are more boring and more important than the public option.

I am reminded of Pogo's warning about our true enemy - it's us. Our own search for individual security and survival lead us to take pills we don't really need, and then when we really need them they don't work because the germs have evolved.

Shapiro says that natural genetic engineering is far more hazardous to our health than what we cook up in the lab. She discusses the realities of quarantine, which would limit our personal freedom far more than the terrorists can. But she doesn't address the question of the effect of human genetic engineering on the ecological systems which provide our food and water.

For example, one recent proposal alleges we can protect ourselves from almonds contaminated by salmonella by sterilizing the almonds with heat, but then they are no longer raw and some of the enzymatic value of live food is lost. Similarly, bagged lettuce that has been contaminated by e. coli has led to scorched-earth plans to genocide all natural plants (that could harbor actual wild animals and their dangerous poop) if these plants are growing anywhere near the monocultural lettuce, even though this eradication will make farms less healthy overall.

But food that is fresh and grown in a natural way is healthier than food grown in an ecological desert and then incubated in a plastic bag. And healthier food is required for healthier people whose immune systems are strong enough to resist germs.

To paraphrase a quote often attributed to a famous musician, "evolution happens." It happens to germs and humans alike. And it happens to individuals.

And it is what makes or breaks a species. Germs can only make us strong if we let them, if we are strong enough to face the entropic economic reality of diminishing returns. Perhaps a modern-day Pogo can help.

Investing for the Future

There's good advice in the newspaper this morning about separating investment proposals which are too good to be true from those that rely on the real economic value that is always the foundation of actual monetary returns.

Discounting fancy restaurants and expensive suits is an excellent idea. Although Arden Fair recently banned hoodies, it's a fact that men dressed in expensive suits are responsible for far more monetary losses than those dressed like bums.

It's only under unusual circumstances that publicly-traded investments need personal scrutiny, and I believe we are now back in circumstances where attention to general market conditions is enough for the average person to invest safely. Private investment proposals, however, always require caution. Educated and personal examination is appropriate in these situations. If you can't see the tangible thing that you are investing in, be extra careful.

At all times, an understanding of the real economy - which is the foundation of the monetary economy - is the safest approach. Economic shocks are most likely to occur when the monetary economy fails to accurately reflect the real economy.

Recently, I visited an eco-village which is still growing that seems to me like a good place to put my money. And I am sure I will find more as I continue to travel around ecotopia. Be aware, however, that this kind of investment requires even more personal participation, because communities require co-operation.

Economic Efficiency?

The problem with economic efficiency as defined by economists is its widespread interpretation as "maximiz[ing] the production of goods and services." This unfortunate phrase overlooks the physical limits to growth on a finite planet. It would be more efficient to optimize the production and consumption of goods and services.

The basic philosophy of classical economics offers a deeper definition of economic efficiency. The concept of value is the key concept, rather than maximum production or profit. And value is a qualitative, subjective, individual estimate. The economy - and all transactions - are based on all our individual estimates.

Since we are all human, we share similarities in our needs and wants, and thus in what is valuable to us. Needs have a higher priority than wants, and we have a variety of needs - physical, emotional, social, spiritual, etc.

The physical needs that pertain to our perceived need for fossil fuel energy are: clean air and water, healthy food, and snug shelter. Although we are used to paying money and using fossil fuel to meet these needs, all of these - money, fossil fuel, food, water, etc. - actually come from the planet.

The engineering efficiency of using fossil fuels to work for us is a ratio of output to input:

Useful Work (e.g., miles driven)

--------------------------------------

Fuel Used (e.g., gallons)

But this ratio distracts many people from looking at the big picture. A more useful ratio would be framed in terms of our true priorities:

Clean Air and Water, Healthy Food, and Snug Shelter

----------------------------------------------------------------

Resources: Sunshine and Planet Earth

Naturally, a healthy planet will be the most efficient way to meet our needs.

God/s Make Men, Men Make Trouble

Just finished reading about what's now possible with engineering of genes and organisms. It's pretty creepy.

Not so much because it's necessarily more dangerous than existing GMOs, or nano-pollution, or climate change, or rusting nuclear weapons. They're all capable of freaking out most optimistic and sensible people.

The real problem is human nature. I just don't think we have the emotional sanity and spiritual stamina to avoid the corruptions of power. And many technologies offer too much power.

Power corrupts just the way the Ring of invisibility corrupted Smaug in the Lord of the Rings, just the way it would have corrupted Frodo had Sam not intervened.

Many human religions warn of hubris, of the vanity that built the tower of Babel, of the yang than always overextends itself to become yin, that pride goeth before a fall. And the only time Christ is known to have been angered was by spiritual pimps profiting in the temple.

Can spiritual wisdom enter into political decisions? Can we possibly learn the kind of peacefulness and cooperation that would solve the problems we have always known how to solve if we weren't so selfish and competitive?

For example, what good will it do us to design better children when we do such an overall lame job of taking care of them all and bringing them up happy and healthy? We can't even offer most of them the traditional benefits of old-fashioned breast-feeding and healthy food and water.

Until we learn how to do well the things we already know how to do, we aren't going to do that well with the new things either.

Watch Out! Mr. Bloatware Promises to Fix Education

Bill & Melinda Gates are on a mission to fix U.S. education. It amazes me that anyone who has witnessed Mr. Gates' obsession with profits would trust his opinions about their children's education.

I mean, here's a good programmer who happened to be in the right place at the right time when IBM needed an operating system for the PC they were getting ready to sell. Then, after he has control of the operating system, he milks it for all it's worth with constant upgrades, bells and whistles that clog up software operation, not to mention all the unnecessary hardware with toxic chemicals and plastic cabinets now littering the landscape worldwide.

If Microsoft software had been designed with the functional user in mind, it would be a cleaner and more efficient world world, and Bill Gates would be about as rich as your average Silicon Valley engineer.

Good education is the opposite of Bill Gates' recipe for success. You have to put students first, and really meet all their needs, not just the ones that are convenient or profitable.

The result of a good and sustainable education would be youth who can do what's needed to take care of themselves and others.

Who Gets the Victim Prize?

Local news has so far portrayed poor Mr. Hernandez, the neighbor of the Safe Ground campsite, as the persecuted victim of the homeless campers. But according to a Paula Lomazzi, a formerly homeless person who is involved in organizing SHOC and safe ground for living, the campers "have apologized to Mr. Hernandez and have tried many times to make friends, even sent a priest to his house and Spanish speaking ambassador." Apparently the Bee doesn't have enough reporting staff left to talk to enough people to get a fair and balanced understanding. It's also extraordinarily naive to blame the campers for all illegal activities in a problematic neighborhood.

Mediation would be an extremely sensible way to pass the time while waiting for the court hearing. Solving our own problems ourselves is far more cost-effective than paying for lawyers and judges, jails and probation.

Of course, that requires some emotional discipline. People have to sit down and actually listen to each other. They have to acknowledge that all parties have the same rights and needs. They have to take the time to completely understand the problem, instead of jumping to the first solution that wanders through their head.

And that's the only way I know of to find the win-win solutions that mean no one gets the prize for whining.