Morning before the New York State Wetlands Forum Annual Conference 2008

Hello viewers!

Ok, it's been a few months since my last posting, understandable. Good idea, but inertia got the better of me until my muse galvanized me awake again.

I am currently in Skaneateles, a small Fingerlakes town in upstate New York at 5am. Right now, there are dozens of wetland specialists and wetlands enthusiasts waking up and moving toward a Holiday in Waterloo, NY. There, they are holding their annual NYSWF Conference. I will be reporting directly on the presentations, atmosphere, and persons at the Conference today, April 9. Whether I stay for the closing remarks depends on the energy and interest I sense today. I was at the conference last year, and the last remarks were rather dull -it seemed mainly for persons who had grown interested in each other to continue networking and finalize their plans.

My two goals of this conference are to observe the panels and the participants, and to find a worthwhile project or contact to develop.

One of my Neighbors (film review: A Writer Named Phil Hall")

"Being a writer is being in touch with humanity"

"A Writer Named Phil Hall"
By Bryan Correa-Berger

Being a writer is being in touch with humanity. The film is a short but refreshing interview with Phil Hall on being a writer. I've talked with Walter Myers, Madeline L' Engle, and a couple of other great writers of our generation, and Phil has the qualities they have to really understand and connect with the humanity in others. He is very proud of his writing achievements, but his astute insights and passion are very understated. The qualities for good writing (and hopefully great writing) he suggests are to keep your quality high, court attention wherever you can, be persistent and as a writer, talk to your reader.

From a technical standpoint, the video is actually better as a radio broadcast. The film needs changes in viewpoints, camera angles, or something to make it visually more interesting. I played it without looking at it and I actually picked up on more of the content without watching it. I also had to smirk when Phil admitted that being a writer is an ego trip. He made at least 2 plugs for each of his books and listed many of his extensive writing accomplishments (with a hint of so many that it would exceed the length of the video). You can almost hear the horns tooting. To his good credit and story-telling style, he humbly and generously acknowledges the responsibility of being published and backing up your reputation with continuing quality. You can't talk the talk without walking the walk.

You can find the film Here. It is 24 minutes long and the website is a good resource for students and teachers to learn from other experts.

Phil Hall is also an editor for a trade magazine for the Alternative Energy Industry in CT. I keep track of him because he's doing his part to be a good neighbor.

These people want to run our (white) house?

QUORUM, n. A sufficient number of members of a deliberative body to have their own way and their own way of having it. In the United States Senate a quorum consists of the chairman of the Committee on Finance and a messenger from the White House; in the House of Representatives, of the Speaker and the devil.

— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

I was inspired to do this during a snow storm on Thursday that shut the world down for a day -I was sick with a chest cold and I thought, "Why don't I research every single presidential candidate for 2008 and be an informed voter?" I specifically wanted to see what their positions were on environmental issues, their competency and their past involvement.

So I tried. I found all the listed candidates, looked up their contact information then sent e-mails to them or telephoned them. Anyone who didn't have contact information, was chucked out -you'll never be president if no one can talk to you.

Then, I discovered that the Pew Research Center had already done what I was trying to do, but with the main front runners. Dismayed, a silver lining appeared -I ended up getting feedback from alot of dark horses and little candidates that didn't appear on the research report. Here are some of the responses from the candidates:

Millie Howard (R) Ohio -

[As President, I shall do all in my power to educate Americans that growth, by its very nature, means harm to the environment. Just by stopping subsidies to anyone, at anytime, anywhere, for any reason, we can slow down the process and take the time to make the planet a better place... This too, will give us some time on environmental issues. We must get government out of the subsidy business.

All Nations must look to their populations....and we must take a stand to curb global populations to that which each country can sustain, and insuring a quality of life for their people. This is about education, not force. We must begin to talk about real issue in the environment....]

comments - Run on sentences and redundancy galore. Simplified -get government to stop buying things that don't represent the needs of the people, like nuclear power; fund a plan to forcefully lower the human population (via forceful Education); and focus on America's environmental problems first, THEN the rest of the world.

She gets a D for Environmental Issues-no experience in the work, though her saving grace is that she can tap into the primary sensibilities of Middle-America and seems to connect with them like a neighbor doing what's right for her neighborhood. She should join a NIMBY group or a local grassroots group to get her feet wet.

Frank Lynch (D) Florida -yeah, that's a name that doesn't invite satire...

Anti Hillary plugs in all his policies. At first, I was almost impressed because he had written so much on energy independence and his ideas for national security via securing our own land -which is good! However, I read the links he sent me and my eye started to twitch.

His writings on transportation , energy, and cities are grandoise and futuristic like the Jetsons... He proposes building huge wind farms and 2,000 mile train systems through the middle of America in places that are "too dry for farming and where few people live today. In the semi-desert lands East of the Rocky Mountains, the federal government may condemn and acquire the land cheaply, without destroying wetlands or farmlands." Not only is this destroying habitat and spaces for other species desperately need but that would mean a) building more (huge deficit now) b) increasing urban sprawl, c) and paving down alot of the scenery and open land that Americans are so proud of.

His descriptions of the cities have about as much architectual skill and imagination for people living well within their natural boundaries as Robert Moses with a set of Legos.

comments-He gets a C. He genuinely cares about environmental issues, but I think his ideas need to be refined. If he's making me nervous, an educated college graduate in the field he discusses, I can only imagine how nervous and outright fearful he would make the public. He still hasn't said what he has done personally, like send a bill in for wind farms in his area or developing a piece of technology to support his dreams.

I will bring more installments of Prez candidates in next posts. But before I finish, I want to bring your attention to a terrible Presidential website, because it had me laughing so hard.

Rev. Phillip A. "John" Kok (pronounced "Coke"). Not only do you have to go through secondary sources to find his website, but his Presidential Website has his big, round Dungeons and Dragons, college-aged, Mountain-Dew-ed face bouncing up in front of you, preventing you from reading any his positions of points of view to become president.

My appreciation to Project Vote Smart for providing me with the contact info.

Welcome Home

"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.

I live in a small studio that I cannot not pay for, except with love, wit and chores.

I live under a wild grape vineyard that feeds me in the autumn and old willow trees that shade out my planter box full of invasive species and natives like the United Nations in session: Pink Lady's Pepper Thumb, Japanese Stiltgrass, Japanese Knotweed, Yellow Wood Sorrel, Goldenrod and Wild Carrot. Each nation has its own agenda in competition with each other under the blanket of shade. It's hard for them to live together.

I live by a parking lot where there was once an anodizing plant. Their production likely resulted in chemicals trickling down the slope into the soil and the creek below. Today, the building is empty with broken windows and what I suspect are superfund sites. It keeps the rent low and the neighborhood's diversity up.

This is a low-income part of town. I don't say "poor" because the neighbors aren't poor, but neither are they rich like the folks in Bedford Hills. The deer, raccoons, foxes, brown bats, chimney swifts, snapping turtles and box turtles have what they need, and the people living in the buildings have a quiet, safe place to live. My neighbor often invites me over for tea, and the neighbor above her, recovering from palsy, comes down to join us sometimes. The new neighbor is an artist who wanted to work for National Geographic as a staff photographer, but she was turned away because someone else could do it cheaper. The other neighbors have loved ones working at military bases or overseas in Iraq , and are staying home with their kids waiting for their return.

I live in a small city where art and antiques are the big draw for weekend rich people from New York City , and the hiking trails and shops draw the rest during the spring and summer.

I live with toxins from the air I breathe and water I drink.

Often, in the abstract, and in the physical world, I wonder if I actually live in my home, or if I'm just a guest. If I live here, that means I'm fully responsible for what happens here. If I'm a guest, then I am not responsible. Then I ask: "To whom do I pay my rent (gratitude)?"

From here on, I'll be bringing in articles, people and research that will help you answer the question for yourself as best you can.