Earth Week Friday

This week is Earth Week, and I plan to post an agenda of activities for each day, including some reading and education, contemplation, earth care actions, and artwork, to ground me in unity with the Earth. 

Agenda:

1. Read "The Serviceberry" 

2. Fossil free transitions

3. Late April planting

1.  Read "The Serviceberry":

Today I'm reading from "The Serviceberry", by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024). I got this sweet little book for Christmas.

This book is a rambling essay on abundance, reciprocity, and the gift economy. She's been talking about how we expand the single-person gift economy to a whole community with our taxes and what they support. 

And then she talks about how some people cheat by taking more than their share: By over-grazing the commons and over-using the water. That's the theory called the Tragedy of the Commons, which was a strong rationale for converting common lands to private lands. But there are still systems of land management that view land as a common source of abundance, especially among Indigenous cultures, and they have guidelines, called the Honorable Harvest, to constrain rampant consumption - protocols of restraint, respect, and reciprocity.

"If we think of the Earth as a big warehouse of commodities, as mere objects, we claim a kind of privilege to exploit what we believe we own. ... And so, we find ourselves in a time of ecological and spiritual depletion. But in the worldview of land as gift where the givers are 'someones' not 'somethings,' consumers confront a moral dilemma."

2. Fossil free transitions: 

This year I'm looking at the transition away from fossil fuels, which are the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the biggest cause of climate change. Transitioning away from fossil fuels involves a global effort to reduce reliance on coal, oil, and gas and move towards renewable energy sources. The transition requires significant investments in renewable energy infrastructure, policy changes, and a global commitment to phase out fossil fuel production and use.

Today I'm reading about local efforts by Fossil Free Eugene, a Coalition of organizations that includes Cascadia Wildlands, Beyond Toxics, NAACP, and 350 Eugene, that is calling on the City of Eugene to follow through with the goals that it set for itself in 2014 with the Climate Recovery Ordinance. As some of us predicted, the city set goals to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, but didn't follow through with them. 

Fossil Free says, "As the climate crisis continues to worsen, and our local community is impacted by climate-driven wildfires and drought, it is time for the city to act. We are calling on the city of Eugene to take immediate action to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels..."

They have 3 asks:

1. Facilitate a just transition for frontline and historically marginalized communities by providing trainings and resources to increase the accessibility of funds and subsidies; working with utilities to reduce energy burden; identifying additional funding streams to support whole home retrofits;
2. Mandate that new construction in Eugene be built all-electric.
3. Transition all utilities in the City to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

"Not only are these steps necessary to prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis, but they will greatly reduce the risks to health and safety posed to our community by fracked gas and other fossil fuels, and save us money all the while."

3. Late April planting:

Everything in the garden is looking good! Peas, onions, lettuce, beets, and garlic are growing. Inside I have bok choy, kale, parsley and sunflowers, all ready to go outside soon. Today I will begin the hardening off process, which takes 7 days. And I will prepare beds for these plants:

Kale and bok choy are both from the Brassicaceae (mustard) family along with cabbage and broccoli, and they are all vulnerable to the same pests: aphids, cabbage worms and root maggots, flea beetles, slugs and whiteflies; I will spread them out around the garden when I plant them, to prevent the pests from having such an easy time jumping from one plant to another. 

Planting near onions can help deter cabbage maggots, and rosemary, sage, thyme, coriander or nasturtiums will help keep flea beetles and aphids away. Brassicaceaes also grow well with beets, bush beans, chamomile, cucumber, dill, garlic, marigolds, mint, nasturtium, and potatoes. Avoid grapes, pole beans, tomato, strawberry, and calendulas.

Parsley is good to plant near tomatoes, peppers, peas or beans, because parsley attracts beneficial insects like hoverflies. (But do not plant near lettuce, mint, carrots, or dill.)

Sunflowers need to be planted near the back of the garden so they don't shade other plants. They are a great asset for vegetable gardens: They double as natural trellises for climbing vegetables such as beans, and even though sunflowers need a lot of water, they improve soil aggregation, which helps the soil retain moisture through the winter. Also, they can act as a pest trap because they are so attractive to pests; rather than attacking your vegetables, pests such as the leaf-footed bugs will be drawn to the sunflower where they are easy to pick off.

And I will plant a small row of lettuce seeds outside as well, and every three weeks after this. Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow; the seeds are quick to germinate, and the leaves grow fast. Plant it near beets and onions, which are root crops, and utilize underground space to grow their produce, while lettuce plants have very shallow roots and grow their crop above the soil. This means that they can be planted very close together to maximize your garden space.