Gardening, an interview & environment initiatives

-- Quote of the Day --

"I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest, a continued one thro' the year. Under a total want of demand except for our family table. I am still devoted to the garden. But tho' an old man, I am but a young gardener."
~ Thomas Jefferson

-- Announcement --

I am honored to announce that I was approached by Chelle, the author of the Women In Charge blog, for an interview on her site. We had a lot of fun doing the interview a few weeks ago, and I felt that Chelle did a wonderful job in creating today's article from that conversation.

Find the interview here:
http://cce613.xanga.com/702342525/woman-in-charge-lillian-brummet

-- Municipal Environmental Initiatives Can Make All The Difference --

A letter to the editor in the May 6 issue of The Gazette (servicing the Boundary region of BC, Canada) – a fellow brought up a very good point about the ironic environmental laws reducing plastic bag use. His point was that as a consumer, he is paying 2 cents more per liter of gas for environmental fees to drive to get this groceries (there is no public transit alternatives here and very few, intermittent bike lanes) – where he buys groceries that are already over packaged and then he’s charged another green fee at the till for the plastic bags. He saw this as a bit ridiculous and that the system could be improved. In this view I tend to agree.

Take water restrictions for instance. There is a water restriction bylaw in most communities and often metered water taps as well – some places will impose fines on those that abuse the water system, others will just charge you for the extra water you use. The problem with this is that they think money will fix the issue.

While charging people fees will help enforce the consumption issue in a small and restricted manner, and would certainly be necessary to encourage people to look at alternatives -- providing alternatives like subsidized rain collection systems, subsidized or tax incentives for underground and drip irrigation systems and other incentives for people to create a real, long term change for the environment.

Some regions have also looked at incentive programs for waste management, offering options from paying only for what you throw out by incorporating different sized containers/service packages. Recycling, yard waste and sometimes organic pick up services are made available. Other regions have focused on providing subsidized worm and compost bins for people to manage organic waste on their own.

What I am saying here, and what I think the fellow who wrote the letter to the editor is saying - is there is no doubt that there are environmental issues to be faced head on, but as a society we can't simply impose yet another tax, or fee and continue thinking that money is going to fix the problem. What we need, what will really spark the change our world is to provide viable, affordable alternatives. For instance, we know that rain barrels exist in the world... but have you seen the prices in the retail stores? We are talking about anywhere between $115 to over $200 for one barrel that can only store 35 gallons at one time. So as a home owner, we'd look at that and think - perhaps, that if there is any available money it would be better spent elsewhere. I mentioned a short time ago on this blog a community who has offered rain barrels to their residents for less than $25. Now this is the kind of thing the average individual can get behind!

**Reminder - this week's Prize Draw Contest: (May 18-24th) Email me at: ldbrummet @ yahoo . com (remove spaces before sending) with the word "prize" in the subject line for a chance to win a copy of: Dianne Ascroft's fiction novel: Hitler & Mars Bars -&- a copy of Laurie Cameron's non-fiction book: The Journey from Fear to Love **

Find Dave & Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows & free resources & articles at www.brummet.ca