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There will be a few surprises along the way, all good ones, we hope.
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We post Mon-Sun at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
Pie fights will be met with outrageous ridicule and insults. Trolls will be incinerated and served at the next group BBQ. As briquettes.
American cities are like badger holes, ringed with trash — all of them — surrounded by piles of wrecked and rusting automobiles, and almost smothered with garbage. Everything we use comes in boxes, cartons, bins, the so-called packaging we love so much. The mountains of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use. In this, if in no other way, we can see the wild and reckless exuberance of our production, and waste seems to be the index. Driving along I thought how in France or Italy every item of these thrown-out things would have been saved and used for something. This is not said in criticism of one system or the other but I do wonder whether there will come a time when we can no longer afford our wastefulness — chemical wastes in the rivers, metal wastes everywhere, and atomic wastes buried deep in the earth or sunk in the sea. When an Indian village became too deep in its own filth, the inhabitants moved. And we have no place to which to move.
John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley (1962)
In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.
This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.[6] While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. en.wikipedia.org/...
The first Earth Day national coordinator Denis Hayes (written before SIP orders) —
The following morning, the wire services estimated total national participation at 20 million people. In November, we were able to capitalize on that strength by defeating several anti-environment villains in Congress in the first "Dirty Dozen" election. In December, when Congress passed the Clean Air Act with only one dissenting vote, I began to comprehend how deeply Earth Day had altered the political topography.
Other immediate outcomes included the passage of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, the establishment of the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the banning of DDT, the removal of lead from gasoline, and the passage of the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Together, they transformed modern America more fundamentally than any other governmental action, with the possible exception of the New Deal.
Today, the need for a similar transformation is dire. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day—#EarthRise2020—will mobilize a grassroots movement against a threat to the planet as great as that posed by nuclear weapons at the peak of the arms race. Humans face many urgent issues today, but only the climate crisis poses an irreversible threat to the habitability of the planet.
{snip}
The 50th anniversary of Earth Day will be an environmental earthquake. Then we will mobilize for a powerful aftershock in November.
Released: 1990
In the overcrowded cities
Where the nights are bright as day
You spend your weekly paycheck
And turn your eyes away
From the crisis we've created
With our self-indulgent ways
Living like there's no tomorrow
Well that just might be the case.
Now they're tearing down the forests
In the jungles of Brazil
Without a second thought about
The species that they kill
But extinction is forever
And still the forests fall
And push it ever closer to
Extinction for us all.
But you're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
And you can't see nothin'
You're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
But the judgment day is coming.
Now the politicians bicker
On the early evening news
Pledging their allegiance
To whoever they can use
And the corporate bosses snicker
As they watch the profits soar
They don't care what they make next month
Just as long as it is more.
The take our farms and marshlands
Drive nature to the wall
Just so they can build another
Goddamn shopping mall
And it doesn't seem to matter
If we cannot see the stars
Just as long as they can keep
On building obsolescent cars
'Cause they're so
But you're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
And you can't see nothin'
You're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
But the judgment day is coming.
Now you cannot drink the water
And you cannot breathe the air
The sky is ripping open and you
Still don't seem to care
The soil is tired and toxic
And unable to provide
The clock is running out and
There is nowhere left to hid.
Now there's laws that we must live by
And they're not the laws of man
Can't you see the shadow
That moves across this land
The future is upon us
And there's so much we must do
And you know I can't ignore it
And, my friend, neither can you
Unless you're
But you're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
And you can't see nothin'
You're so blind to the truth
Blind to the truth
But the judgment day is coming.
NASA’s Earth Day Countdown
Although plans for big gatherings to recognize Earth Day have been put on hold this year (instead going digital) due to COVID-19 SIP practices, we can continue to practice earth friendly routines from home and when venturing outdoors —
- Pick up trash during walks
- Feed wild birds
- Plant victory gardens and/or native plants for bees and butterflies
- Recycle/compost, reduce, reuse
- Conserve water and energy
- Urge politicians and business leaders to take action toward green policies
- Buy Earth Day postage stamps, t-shirts, coasters
- Support small outdoors oriented NFPs — “ Members are asking what they can do to help the co-op during this crisis. We are offering the opportunity to donate to REI’s Outdoor Emergency Fund. This fund supports a network of US local grassroots nonprofits that steward and enable access to outdoor places where we live and work.”
6 Animal Webcams to watch during SIP.
Michael Pollan’s Any Veggie Frittata Recipe
One onion or leek
Olive oil or butter
Eight eggs
A splash of milk
Any or all vegetables you have around or like, including: spinach, kale or chard, asparagus, summer squash, peppers, peas, green beans, potatoes, mushrooms. Frozen vegetables are also fine. In spring, summer, and fall the elements in a frittata can reflect whatever is going on in your garden.
Cheese—optional
Fresh herbs (or dried)
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400
Dice the onion or slice the leek.
In a cast iron pan, saute in butter or oil (or a combination) for 5-10 minutes, until soft—about ten minutes.
While the onions or leek are sautéing, slice or tear vegetables into small, bite-size pieces. Add to pan with onions or leeks. Saute for a few minutes, until tender. Season. (Potatoes should be parboiled or otherwise cooked in advance.)
Mix the eggs in a bowl with a splash of milk. Pour mixture over vegetables. Grate and add some cheese; sprinkle some fresh herbs. Let cook for a two or three minutes to let a crust form, then put in the oven for ten minutes, or until set.
You can flip the pan over to release the whole frittata onto a serving plate, or cut slices from the pan like a pie and serve slices. Good served with a salad and crusty bread.
FOR THE STARTER AND LEAVEN
FOR THE BREAD
- 200 grams leaven
- 900 grams white-bread flour
- 100 grams whole-wheat flour, plus more for dusting
- 20 grams fine sea salt
- 100 grams rice flour
- Make the starter: Combine 1,000 grams white-bread flour with 1,000 grams whole-wheat flour. Put 100 grams of warm water (about 80 degrees) in a small jar or container and add 100 grams of the flour mix. Use your fingers to mix until thoroughly combined and the mixture is the consistency of thick batter. Cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature until mixture begins to bubble and puff, 2 to 3 days.
- When starter begins to show signs of activity, begin regular feedings. Keep the starter at room temperature, and at the same time each day discard 80 percent of the starter and feed remaining starter with equal parts warm water and white-wheat flour mix (50 grams of each is fine). When starter begins to rise and fall predictably and takes on a slightly sour smell, it’s ready; this should take about 1 week.(Reserve remaining flour mix for leaven.)
- Make the leaven: The night before baking, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the mature starter. Mix the remaining starter with 200 grams of warm water and stir with your hand to disperse. Add 200 grams of the white-wheat flour mix and combine well. Cover with a towel and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours or until aerated and puffed in appearance. To test for readiness, drop a tablespoon of leaven into a bowl of room-temperature water; if it floats it’s ready to use. If it doesn’t, allow more time to ferment.
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine 200 grams of leaven with 700 grams of warm water and stir to disperse. (Reserve remaining leaven for future loaves; see note below.)
- Add 900 grams of white-bread flour and 100 grams of whole-wheat flour to bowl and use your hands to mix until no traces of dry flour remain. The dough will be sticky and ragged. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes at room temperature.
- Add 20 grams fine sea salt and 50 grams warm water. Use hands to integrate salt and water into dough thoroughly. The dough will begin to pull apart, but continue mixing; it will come back together.
- Cover dough with a towel and transfer to a warm environment, 75 to 80 degrees ideally (like near a window in a sunny room, or inside a turned-off oven). Let dough rise for 30 minutes. Fold dough by dipping hand in water, taking hold of the underside of the dough at one quadrant and stretching it up over the rest of the dough. Repeat this action 3 more times, rotating bowl a quarter turn for each fold. Do this every half-hour for 2 1/2 hours more (3 hours total). The dough should be billowy and increase in volume 20 to 30 percent. If not, continue to let rise and fold for up to an hour more.
- Transfer dough to a work surface and dust top with flour. Use a dough scraper to cut dough into 2 equal pieces and flip them over so floured sides are face down. Fold the cut side of each piece up onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf; this will become the crust. Work dough into taut rounds. Place the dough rounds on a work surface, cover with a towel, and let rest 30 minutes.
- Mix 100 grams whole-wheat flour and 100 grams rice flours. Line two 10- to 12-inch bread-proofing baskets or mixing bowls with towels. Use some of the flour mixture to generously flour towels (reserve remaining mixture).
- Dust rounds with whole-wheat flour. Use a dough scraper to flip them over onto a work surface so floured sides are facing down. Take one round, and starting at the side closest to you, pull the bottom 2 corners of the dough down toward you, then fold them up into the middle third of the dough. Repeat this action on the right and left sides, pulling the edges out and folding them in over the center. Finally, lift the top corners up and fold down over previous folds. (Imagine folding a piece of paper in on itself from all 4 sides.) Roll dough over so the folded side becomes the bottom of the loaf. Shape into a smooth, taut ball. Repeat with other round.
- Transfer rounds, seam-side up, to prepared baskets. Cover with a towel and return dough to the 75- to 80-degree environment for 3 to 4 hours. (Or let dough rise for 10 to 12 hours in the refrigerator. Bring back to room temperature before baking.)
- About 30 minutes before baking, place a Dutch oven or lidded cast-iron pot in the oven and heat it to 500 degrees. Dust tops of dough, still in their baskets, with whole-wheat/rice-flour mixture. Very carefully remove heated pot from oven and gently turn 1 loaf into pan seam-side down. Use a lame (a baker’s blade) or razor blade to score the top of the bread a few times to allow for expansion, cover and transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 450 degrees and cook for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid (steam may release) and cook for 20 more minutes or until crust is a rich, golden brown color.
- Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when tapped. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, clean out pot and repeat this process with the second loaf.
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