STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
February, 2001
Living Lightly
Valentine recipe
Submitted by Tina Arnopole Driskill
We at Stanislaus Connections offer all our sweetheart readers wishes for a romantic and sweet Valentine's Day along with one of the finest recipes for chocolate decadence anywhere. The following recipe was taken from The Eating-In-Bed Cookbook:
Elizabeth Barrett's Brownies
"This hereto unpublished recipe is said to be the basis of the romance between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. While eating them in bed does not guarantee you will end up in Italy with a poet for a spouse, you will enjoy them anyway."
Melt together in a double boiler:
1/4 pound butter
2 squares bitter chocolate
Remove from the fire and add:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat vigorously until the color lightens considerably. Add:
1 cup chopped walnuts and mix in well.
Bake in a greased 8-inch cake pan at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.
Throw in some hearts and flowers and have a dreamy Valentine's Day!
(for more recipes see the Connections Recipe Book)
GOOD NEWS on Tuolumne River salmon runs
Excerpted from an email from David Boucher, Friends of the Tuolumne River
The first estimates of the year 2000's salmon run size are in. It looks really good! 20,000 in the Tuolumne River but only 10,000 in the Merced River. That is double the size of last year's run. If these smolt have favorable conditions to get out to sea this spring, look out in 2003!
The river goal is for an average of 24,000 over the years. This is a VERY good start, but the restoration activities will need to add a significant number of fish to meet the goal. We are still waiting for the restorations to be started, but over the next 3 or 4 years there should be a lot of improvements. Major restoration is on tap to begin very soon where outmigrating smolt losses are 50% in one six mile reach of the river. Then it will take the three year fish cycle to kick in to prove the results. I anticipate next year's run to be about equal to this year. That year's class had similar seeding success and water conditions.
Things are looking really good now, but bear in mind that if we hit low water years the population will plummet. We expect good runs in good water years and tolerably small runs during drought. The hope is that the populations will never suffer as badly as they did in the early 90's. With the improved habitat and larger starting base population coming out of a drought, we think the population will recover more rapidly than we have seen. Without the increased water releases required by the new dam license in 1995 we don't think we would be seeing a recovery anything like this.
Governor Davis budgets $8 million for the Tuolumne River
A jubilant cheer greeted Governor Davis' announcement that he was earmarking $8 million for the Tuolumne River. Friends of the Tuolumne River, government agencies, and others involved in local riparian issues were delighted but also a bit anxious as they waited to find out how the money would be split.
How the Tuolumne River corridor is to be used has been a much debated topic. The floods of the 1990s changed some governmental minds and policies as to flood "control" and that floodplains really aren't suitable places for housing.
What other types of human activities should be allowed in floodplains is a hotly debated item. Friends of the River does not support or encourage development of athletic facilities or other uses of the riparian habitat other than restoration and preservation.
Representatives from Congressman Gary Condit's office gave this break-down:
More next month....
Deregulation was supposed to benefit whom?
Deregulation, under then-governor Pete Wilson, opened California's retail power market to competition. Competition = lower prices, right?
Huh?
Source: The Wall Street Journal 1/19/01
"What greater stupidity can be imaged than that of calling jewels, silver, and gold 'precious,' and the earth and soil 'base'? . . . It is scarcity and plenty that make the vulgar take things to be precious or worthless."
I know the air is polluted. I know it
Because I have read it in newspapers and
Popular journals. I know it because I can
See it on the branches of trees, I know that
Dirty air is dirtier on days filled with fog.Wet air holds millions of micro-particles
In suspension. Rain can clear the air.
Rain takes particulate and automobile
Emissions to the ground to be recycled in
Drinking water, but bound in suspension by
Fog they are breathed directly into the lungs
Like so much sand cutting and scarring the
Trachea, the bronchi, and alveoli.I work confused in fog, knowing its dangers
Yet find it cool on my skin, taste it wet on
My tongue. It is a sensation from my boyhood.
A boyhood I relish, standing in orchards,
Pruning shears in my hands, shaping trees
In fog when air was clear. Air yet to be
Fed from the coal and gas refineries of
Neighboring cities and counties. Air not yet
Subject to tire fires and too many cars. Air I
Could breathe deep, enjoying its moist coolness,
Enjoying a view of the world in fog. The
Background disappearing into a haze, leaving
Trees and bushes bare, naked branches
Outlined in distant gray.It is important that I don't think too much.
That I only feel the moisture, the wet on
My skin, in the pit of my stomach where
My youth lies intact, denying the effects
Of age. I breathe deeply, searching for my
Adolescence, where strength is new
And boundless. In my heart I am always
An adolescent, tempting life, measuring
Its limits, challenging mortality.-- Ed Bearden
The Energy Crisis: "We have met the enemy, and he is us" (POGO, by Walt Kelly)
By MYRTLE OSNER
Reading this quotation in Dan Walters’ column (Modesto Bee, Jan. 17, 2001) reminded me of 30 years ago when Earth Day celebrations were new and exciting. Then, we were urged to conserve everything, especially gas and electricity, so we’d have enough for the future and to pass on to our children. At the time, I remember that we were urged to conserve so that we would not need to build so many new power plants. And we did conserve.
The future is now, and we are faced with shortages of electricity, natural gas, and oil (to say nothing of other stuff.). How far away are we from that concept that was born of Earth Day?
Walters’ column was addressing specifically the governmental snafu created by deregulation of power sources. No doubt there is a great deal wrong with the way that the power business is being handled today. Competition in this most essential element of our lives, electricity, has obviously been a failure. Ditto with natural gas, since a great deal of our electricity supply requires gas to run the turbines to make the electricity. What can we do ?
The ordinary citizen has no power to cure a failure of this magnitude. Today I was in a store which had just experienced a "rolling blackout" of one hour. No business can be done during this time, since everything, including lights, heat, cash registers, computers, etc. etc., depends on electricity. (I once was in an electrical storm in Calgary, Canada, where the power was out because of lightning. It’s a fairly often occurrence there; lightning storms are common near the Rockies.) So, all business stops. This certainly brings the matter to your full attention, especially if you are a business owner.
Oddly enough, the only news I’ve read that even remotely gives us a clue as to what the ordinary person can do was a full page article about electric lighting. The benefits of fluorescent lighting were touted, explaining that they take far less electricity for the same lumens as you get from incandescent bulbs. They are also much cooler.
This might be a very good way of conserving electricity if only the receptacles in our houses were converted to take fluorescent bulbs. For those of us with limited incomes, the money to do the conversion is just one more expense that we can’t take, especially since we know our electric bills (and probably our gas bills) are likely to double in a month (nobody has really told us yet).
Recently, I had a guest who left his computer on all night. In the morning, not wanting to accuse him directly, I commented on the morning paper and its story about the energy crisis. He expressed doubts that a computer would draw enough wattage to make any difference in the energy grid. He did agree though that turning off the computer when not in use might be a good idea It does not seem to occur to people that our usage, multiplied by millions all over the country, all contributes to the energy shortage – light bulb by light bulb – computer by computer - adding up to megawatts in no time.
So, my take on this is, we are all responsible. Turn your furnace down even two degrees and you’ve saved a bunch; same goes for summer with air conditioners. Use motion sensitive lights outdoors, that turn themselves off when nobody is moving. Go back to hanging your wash out on the line; dryers take an amazing amount of energy. If you live where there is a prohibition on clotheslines, I feel sorry for you. Try to get it changed. I know, I know, most of you out there don’t have clotheslines and the youngest ones never heard of them. Some of the things we did in my day should be brought back again.
Use your oven to cook several things at once; turn it on only when really necessary. Don’t take long showers; heating water takes a bunch of energy (gas or electric, it doesn’t matter)
And finally, if you really want to do something major, put up some solar panels. Get energy efficient windows; you can get an energy audit from Modesto Irrigation District for free.
And, you might try lobbying to get the emphasis changed to making power with photo voltaic cells or windmills. There used to be a tax write-off for this, but it went out of business a while back. Encouraging alternative energy sources might just work this time.
I encourage all of you to think energy conservation and find ways to do it that fit your life style.
On Cruelty-Free consuming
By SALLY MEARS
There has been a trend in the last few years to become more aware of the destruction of our planet and its inhabitants, and how we can make a difference to reverse this effect. One way we can stop the damage is to change our lifestyle, to help rather than harm mainly — to become more educated.
From recycling, to conserving energy, to finding alternative forms of entertainment that are not destructive and harmful, to choosing a more efficient vehicle to drive; there are so many ways to help, and do our part to keep our planet , and our compassion intact for the next generations. Unfortunately, this process is never-ending, As soon as you figure out what is causing the most harm, and how to avoid it, something else comes out about another product and you have to change yet again.
But knowing the facts can empower you, and then you can teach/show others.
Here are some tips that may help you find some short cuts to the long road of becoming a more Cruelty-Free consumer.
Find out all you can about companies, especially the larger, more profitable ones that you’ve known all your life. Some wholesome, family-oriented famous companies have a very disturbing and barbaric legacy that continues on today: The things you do not want to know. Get the truth by writing letters or calling those companies. Ask them if their cleaning products and toiletries are harmful to the environment (containing phosphates, CFCs etc.). Ask them if they still do torture tests on animals (LD 50/50 Lethal Dose tests, Draize eye irritant tests, crash tests, pain endurance tests etc.) Many big companies still do, but many have stopped due to continuous pressure by the public.
Ask the Meat and Dairy companies if they inject hormones, and /or antibiotics into their livestock (that are then transferred to the food we eat.) Most of the time, especially in factory farms, they must inject their stock with antibiotics because the conditions are so unsanitary and cramped that disease spreads quickly. Support the companies that make much smaller profits because they choose be ethically and morally sound, instead of being greedy and barbaric. Support local companies and organic farms. Whatever products you buy you can find out the specifics of their practices and ingredients used. It is our right to know, and the fastest way to get greedy companies to change their ways is to hit em where it counts: The pocketbook
ACTION: For a free listing of cruelty-free companies, charities, and organizations please write to: S.E. Mears, P O Box 111, Hickman, Ca. 95323, or email: salamndr@earthlink.net
