Der Spiegel's Victims of Extreme "Green"

It seems Germans have taken it upon themselves to become martyrs for the cause of environmental degradation, and are suffering for it greatly… The whole article is a huge whine fest about how all of Germany is suffering under the weight of their own green – extremism. Sounds like a high school science project gone amuck.

Notice how nothing you hear about is ever being done in moderation. It’s all or nothing… overreacting, hysteria, burdensome impositions...

...and then, of course the resentments and backlash from those opposed to stopping the collapse of the ecosystem we rely on for our existence..

Also, notice how there has been no onslaught of grass roots efforts to reduce environmental impact of our behaviors... No ‘bottom up” solutions, such as “community gardens." 
In Germany, it can be argued that "Veggie Thursday" is more aptly named "Expensive Guilt Reconciliation Thursday" leaving everyone feeling a bit anemic in the nation famous for sausage.  Are there express misgivings over preparing vegetarian meals for a small fraction of their existence? It's probably not making many gourmets out of them, is it?

As I read the scathing criticisms for all these "literal" translations of what amounts to experimental solutions, I easily conjure up practical, and basically FREE solutions for nearly every one of these “complaints” as I read them…

The regulations from above that are enforced onto people are going to be huge let downs… and we're surprised by this, why?   Are people really so helpless and hapless in the face of environmental challenges? Simple solutions at home seem quite salient and realistic.

Have Germans lost their “edge” when it comes to innovation and engineering?  And never mind that, a better question is, why on this green earth would anyone rely on “industry” at any rate to solve these problems?  Think about that for a moment...

Germany's citizens are sounding a lot like beleaguered guinea pigs for industrial solutions. 

Not that there may be some solutions that are applicable on a wide scale, effective, and successful in a wide distribution... I'm sure there are... but are too many just going to rely on that?

But wasn’t it Einstein (A German) who said that the thing that causes the problem is unlikely to be the source of its solution, or some such pap?

So, do economic values trump everything?

Dec. 20, 2011

Want to be spoon fed an apologist's resolved defeat in an all you can eat, bottomless barrage of fatalism?  If this sounds like something you could go for right now, read today's TIME Science article "Winning the Conservation War: How to Manage the World We're Stuck with"

It really crystallizes so much of what's wrong, and what cannot be made right in the world.  The mainstream mentality so often heard now, complacency. 

So, Time's piece encourages us to be complicit to a "reality" to which we are subjected and of which we are subjects at once;
From the article:

"...a recent scientific review that looked at 240 studies of different types of ecosystems following major disturbances like deforestation or oil spills, and found that the abundance of plant and animal species recovered at least partially in 72% of them."

They call this "winning."
How very Anemic and pathetic.
In this Time article, the most solemn and sickening sentence I see is this:

"In a world where economic values almost always trump environmental ones this may be the best we hope for"

So, do economic values trump everything?  Maybe in a world to which the apologists would damn us all.  In that world, those who would think of revolting, the message is, "You Lose."

It seems to me there is often displayed in certain corners of the media, this arrogant agreement toward conciliation. A "bow" to moneyed interests which seemingly prevail in all aspects of the physical world to a degree that is disheartens if you know of no other reality.

There is certainly a tense resolve in our collective situation that can urge most of us toward denial and distractions a-plenty.  The burdensome sense of truth is met with what must surely be the ultimate, "Fuck It!" a la the Bohemian Grove's infamous "Cremation of Care" ritual. 

Some folks really know no other way than the one they're in, and the one that is also, in effect, doled out to us.   Some, likely most, folks wake in the morning to a reality that more and more, they did not choose for themselves; they wake to a life that is less and less of their own design. We are born into a prescribed sense of fatalism, we are defined. We are defeated.

But are we damned?

If not, then, what does saving ourselves even look like?

We cannot choose to walk, or ride Bicycles instead of driving a car because, in many areas there are too many dangers.   Limited or nonexistent access to this option or many others leads some to fight for bike-lanes and awareness.  Some take this front and a few in some more progressive urban areas make it their life's work.  It is one battle in the war.

We can seek out or work to build up alternative economies, smaller, local economies.  Worker  Co-ops.   Local barter groups,  "hours exchange" programs,  local currencies.   Buy from makers you know.  Make for ourselves, DIY.    Skillshares.   Many actively reject the extreme specialization that creates dependency on the destructive system.  "Don't be a cog."   Some take this front.  It is one battle in the war.

We look for ways to reuse things, recycle, use it up, make do.... but then we learn that recycling garbage into fabric and selling it back to us is bad for the oceans... It's all garbage.  A plastic world.  Garbage in, garbage out. The laws of conservation of matter are a real bitch.
Solution: Choose local, organic foods. Organic fibers. Natural organic fibers. Flax. Hemp. Cotton. Wool. Non gmo.  This is another front.

We innovate, cut back, shore up and access renewable energy. Some opt for wind, photovoltaics, masonary stoves, coppicing managed woodlots, use of passive solar, fuels made from recycled vegetable oil, alternative building, alternative lifestyles, public transport, rail...
Another front.

In the city, programs are underway to figure out how to grow food vertically, or to reclaim and remediate such nastiness as mercury and lead in unused lots through a process of chelating pollution by growing sunflowers. Growing healthy food nearby. Security from fluctuating food prices, and processed foods that make us sick... Food justice.  It is one of life's greatest pleasures to understand what there is to appreciate about the ability to eat healthy, tasty, slow food. When more people come to see what factory farms are really up to, we can choose to become vegetarians or vegans, even for only one day a week, and it cuts the problem by 1/7th.
Another front.

We can demand, or build our own, homes that are within the landscape, not on it. We can build with natural materials, locally sourced, renewable. We can live in homes that are scaled down, comforting, nurturing, protective. As it turns out efficient and small is also smart. The opportunity to adopt minimalism is always at hand. Give away "stuff", and stop buying more. Far more people can choose to go with a low tech lifestyles, head on back to the earth. Alternative building. Rammed earth. Strawbale.   Another front...

So the more this information is shared, becomes known, becomes our first hand experience, then the more support for our own industriousness at hand instead of industry imposed upon us we shall see. (Unless we're repeatedly denied access to such occasion, experiential learning, information, and resources, which is why co-ops and community initiatives are of vital importance now.)

It is in us, we have evolved to sow and grow, and it is still with us since long before marketplaces, or our propensity to sell and buy.

As it turns out, it's helpful, healthful to green things up, and it's not "rocket science", though science is immensely helpful when applied to something of use.

Back to the earth.

Will more and more of us move away from the technology, refusing to be "in on it",  or will we continue to play along nicely?

It is becoming harder for the dungeon masters to convince the players to continue on with the status quo.  It's becoming obvious that human beings will fuck a majority of their own selves out of existence on the current trajectory.

By creating my own life, right where I am and wherever I go in the future, I can increase my own "environmental values" in all the ways I possibly can find to do so. Breaking from a world where economic values trumps all else. Finding out ways and means to make my whole life, everything about it, into an endeavor of activism and protest.
over 30 years ago,  my dad abandoned my mom and I.  When he came to get his remaining things, I questioned his cold stare. I mustered the guts to ask him how he could sit there and watch his own daughter cry like that and not even flinch. He said, "That's just the way it is"
To this day, these words lift me out of complacency, out of apathy, and move me to action, because that was how it was to him, in his world. In my world, what was happening was inconceivable, and remains so to this day.
I am sick of having the values of the world explained to me, being told, this is just how it is.

When I make up my mind that I simply refuse to be complicit in predefined, status quo, traditions that support the reality that was created for me without my say, that alone eliminates a reality that has been dictated to me, and all in my society.      I strive to see, and hope to understand the world, not based on what I've been told, or what others believe, but solely on face value.  I want to see the reality in the world for what it is; Not for what others see, or what I'm told it is, So often there is a pre-arranged lie everyone agrees upon.  Everyone goes around telling each other these same lies again and again.   

The path less chosen...

Something is happening on the planetary scale. Humans have caused a lot of damage to our planet over the course of very short time. We have withdrawn from having direct experience in nature, and turned toward symbolic realities; we have a tolerance for being crowded, we can get by in managed artificial environments, we survive through commercialization, relying solely on socially facilitated constructs of nature.  We are at a crossroads, and one way continues on the status quo, the other will be very challenging.  Change is difficult and even when one wants it, it is hard won.

Elevate your awareness (and literacy) of the greater place in which you live

30 questions to elevate your awareness (and literacy) of the greater place in which you live:


1) Point north. [Recommendations for answer methods]
2) What time is sunset today? [Recommendations]
3) Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap. [Recommendations]
4) When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water? [Recommendations]
5) How many feet above sea level are you? [Recommendations]
6) What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here? [Recommendations]
7) How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? Can you draw the boundaries of yours? [Recommendations]
8) Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt? [Recommendations]
9) Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves? [Recommendations]
10) Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available. [Recommendations]
11) From what direction do storms generally come? [Recommendations]
12) Where does your garbage go? [Recommendations]
13) How many people live in your watershed? [Recommendations]
14) Who uses the paper/plastic you recycle from your neighborhood? [Recommendations]
15) Point to where the sun sets on the equinox. How about sunrise on the summer solstice? [Recommendations]
16) Where is the nearest earthquake fault? When did it last move? [Recommendations]
17) Right here, how deep do you have to drill before you reach water? [Recommendations]
18) Which (if any) geological features in your watershed are, or were, especially respected by your community, or considered sacred, now or in the past? [Recommendations]
19) How many days is the growing season here (from frost to frost)? [Recommendations]
20) Name five birds that live here. Which are migratory and which stay put? [Recommendations]

21) What was the total rainfall here last year? [Recommendations]
22) Where does the pollution in your air come from? [Recommendations]
23) If you live near the ocean, when is high tide today? [Recommendations]
24) What primary geological processes or events shaped the land here? [Recommendations]
25) Name three wild species that were not found here 500 years ago. Name one exotic species that has appeared in the last 5 years. [Recommendations]
26) What minerals are found in the ground here that are (or were) economically valuable? [Recommendations]
27) Where does your electric power come from and how is it generated? [Recommendations]
28) After the rain runs off your roof, where does it go?   [Recommendations]
29) Where is the nearest wilderness? When was the last time a fire burned through it? [Recommendations]
30) How many days till the moon is full? [Recommendations]
The Bigger Here Bonus Questions:
31) What species once found here are known to have gone extinct? [Recommendations]
32) What other cities or landscape features on the planet share your latitude? [Recommendations]
33) What was the dominant land cover plant here 10,000 years ago? [Recommendations]

34) Name two places on different continents that have similar sunshine/rainfall/wind and temperature patterns to here. [Recommendations]

The Law of Mother Earth

In truth, it may be that people are really ready to step away from the model of continuous economic growth, and want to find ways of doing so... but when I look around, I see most people still living mindlessly, and I know that it's really just a small movement that manifests in bold moves at a larger scale in far flung places like Bolivia... 



...and Ecuador.

The new reality for the planet is accepted among only those who have to stomach the harsh realities. I don't think people are prepared to face the realities on an individual level until something bad that is tangible happens either to them or right in front of their eyes.  Even then, memory seems weak and short.   Even when people are affected, the focus toward "sustainability" can be quite narrow.  (NIMBY).
Individualistic culture is unsustainable patterns of behaviors for a "collective" environment.  We don't own or control the whole planet.  Who does?  Religion that listens to the static wisdom of bearded men from 5000 years ago is a huge obstacle to real changes in our beliefs and behaviors.  Instead of using religion to be supportive of what is good and right, it's now based on selfish interests of a collective.  So we find collective cooperation in religions, but it's only to perpetuate an unsustainable status quo. 

When you think in terms of a national agenda, it's really quite impressive that anyone would do such a thing at all.
The reason I think we hear the "left" called socialists as if it's a bad thing at the same time they're called "fascists" as if they're really scary isn't because those doing the accusing have these two political philosophies confused... it's that they are thinking in terms of fascism as a strictly enforced agenda that requires some autocratic decision making.  Eco-fascists.  The "hippies" now see it's going to take serious laws, restrictions on behaviors, and limitations to what you're able to do that will need to be heavily enforced.   "Keep off the grass" signs (Signs signs, everywhere a sign) those are now the values of leftists! The right restricted access to private property, and the leftists wanted it to be shared.  Neither plan was ever "just", and neither political philosophy, neither approach is really an answer to our problems.

The only answer is a new age of enlightenment of our survival and the survival of the planet, and the motivation is going to come from the will to prevent future generations from great suffering.

It sometimes seems to me like a lot of people are "coming around" because I frequent those places and associate myself with others of like mind as much as possible, and not because there is a real serious push toward sustainability for the planet. It's barely conscious, but you'd think it was an overwhelming social force because the media wants you to think so... we see a superficial account of the "green" movement.  And so our youth think, "someone's handling whatever problems there are, and lots of problems aren't really all that worrisome"... 

In fact there is a serious push toward the agenda of continued growth and expansion, but it is impossible. It's not a "moral" argument. It's physically impossible.

But it's turned into a moral argument, and that is part of why it's been slowwwww to take hold and gain any real momentum (the move toward sustainability). Adopting new ways of life is really not realistic for most of the baby boom generation.  They built the highway systems that separated neighborhoods into class divisions, chained us to our automobiles.  They're patterns are so ingrained, and their denial is strong. They are hardworking, honest, decent folks who truly believe they are a deeply moral group of people. They fancy themselves in the middle class, and products of "The Greatest Generation", even though they're really more working class and actuallly quite spoiled children of Brokaw's "Greatest Generation". They mentally put themselves in those groups where they are acceptable and have no need for any change; And of course, to suggest otherwise offends them. When confronted, they'll claim that it's the lazy, the poor, the highly educated, the immoral who need to change.

I think people are too fearful of the truth, and that it is paralyzing their will to do anything, even if they are presented with options and facts... and this fear is fostering denial. To accept that the planet's resources are dwindling, and that we are destroying our own environment is to accept responsibility. This translates into "guilt", which also means "fault".

Again, some might proclaim that it's the lazy, the highly educated elitists, and the godless and the immoral who need to change! When in fact, it is civilization, all of it, that will have to change regardless of your prejudices toward others. Everyone needs clean air and water, vital soils, wild places... everyone.

Only the up and coming generations can learn a different way to see things... Learn methods of conservation, restoration, and develop a needs (instead of wants) based economy. They're inheriting a world that many seem to face with despair. It's important to instill in young people a great hope and perseverance toward a better world, and experiential learning hands-on know-how, not just "ideals".

Young people have always stopped at the point of thinking "I'll learn to play guitar and write songs about it". Or, they come together at music festivals and think it somehow changes things....

But are they really even being given a choice to behave in ways that, in their far less romantic day to day lives, can secure their futures? Or is it largely a snow job in the media? Are they getting a false sense of security through the morality that puts them up against the lazy, the highly educated, the free thinker? Will they just get in their vehicle and head to the 9 to 5 where they help the corporate beast fuel its never ending greed, on a planet that is torn up, filthy, and half dead?

The Holistic World View of a Hippie / Cynic

I love and value nature and wildlife and have felt this way since I was a child.  I try to "be the change" as Ghandi said, so I do a lot of things that reflect this in my daily actions.  I've been doing most of these things for about 20 years.   I am willing to discuss and debate many environmental issues toe to toe with anyone from any political stripe, anytime.  :)  I don't care if you want to label me a socialist or a hippie... There are worse things to be.

I keep the heat down and bundle up in the winter, go without air conditioning until I can't stand it, using c.f. lightbulbs, recycling everything I can, walk or bike instead of drive.  I drive the same little faithful Metro for 12 years now, I get 40 mpg.  Still,  I "plan"  errands to save trips.
I'm on a vegetarian diet for 5 years now and we normally cook everything from scratch. We check in junk shops and thrift stores for things before buying anything new, and lots more...
I believe we have a duty, but that it comes from societal norms and the opportunities for education we are given.  Problem is, now opportunities for education are de-valued, and societal norms have decayed into what TV shows we're following, what sports teams we follow, and political party we believe best represents "the best" values... I do not believe in "duty"  imposed through laws upon people by their government AS INDIVIDUALS...   I do NOT believe that corporations should be considered people, my friend... or "Individuals".  in order to have us swallow a corporate poison-pill, the underlying profit driven agendas of our politicians are now hidden... wrapped up with guilt driven, zealous religious mandates, quite ready and willing to impose laws and limitations on rights to our personhood, both civil and individual.

I believe that intelligent, thoughtful people want to preserve the natural world, and care for the environment.   Corporations have no such conscience.  BY LAW corporations are created and they exist for the sole purpose of the pursuit of profits.  Period.  I think there could be a way to live in balance and stop the disruption ... but someone with an agenda will undermine it in the media, and people are way too far removed from the awareness, or consequences of their actions. There is a rift created through the media by corporations between Americans that really makes me sad, and it is distorting or drowning out the true voices of responsible, thinking, American people.

I have little faith in mankind to solve the problems we face.  The modern industrial /technological civilization we have built is too pervasive.  Too many people really seem to be headed toward the scenario presented in the movie "Idiocracy".  

I don't have cable tv and I don't play video games, and I don't own a cell phone.  I don't live in a cave, but I'm careful.  I make an effort to deconstruct messages I do see and hear. I'm not good at distracting myself from reality.   I prefer to trust the images I see in the clouds over what's on tv.

By spending time in a forest with trees and ferns, birds chirping, and katy-dids, I know what's right and what's wrong.  Unless more people wake up to reality and start to take up alternative ways to live, and reject the profit agenda that is driving this economy and us right over a cliff,  I have a pretty grim outlook for the next 50 years. Mother Nature will create a backlash and the human over-population problem will be resolved relatively quickly and without any interventions.  Diseases, and possibly through trials presented now that we have reached the end of the era of "cheap oil" humans face some really tough times ahead.

All About Phosphorus!

Phosphorus is normally locked in deposits in the ground, or it can erode from such deposits and be found "in solution" (dissolved in water).

Phosphorus is important to growth and function of plant cells.  It aids plants in photosythesis, helps plants to respire, enables them to transfer and store energy, and use water efficiently.

Microbes in soil play an important role in transforming organic forms of phosphorus to create inorganic forms that plants use, which is called "mineralization". 
Microbe levels can be affected by poor soil quality, and their absence leaves phosphorus in the organic state that plants cannot use.   At high pH levels (such as occur due to acid rain), phosphorus is chemically "fixed" in  organic mineral forms such as aluminium phosphate, iron phosphate, or manganese phosphate, and cannot be taken up by plants.  In soils that are low pH, phosphorus can fix to Aluminum, Iron or manganese, and again, it becomes unusable to plants.   Low oxygen (as in dense soils or clay, or moisture laden soils) will inhibit plants from taking up phosphorus.  Lots of farmers have to be concerned about the balance of mineral content of their soils, ph levels, and promoting microbes. 

Phosphorus is one part of the interdependent factors for good soil health.

Phosphorus is attained from mining, and much of it is found in a mineral called Apatite.  It is mined for use as a fertilizer, and applied on farm fields.  It  runs off mines and fields into water supplies, where it causes serious plant growth (algae blooms).  This over abundance of phosphorus in water can create so much plant growth that then depletes oxygen levels in the water, thus killing all life in a body of water.
Much of the world's farm lands have been overworked, and  depleted of their minimal natural sources of phosphorus.  It takes many years for the cycle of phosphorus to replenish natural supply levels in the soil.

 "Local" plantlife is often more accustomed to low levels of phosphorus, but when phosphorus is introduced (from run off of farm fields where fertilizers applied), invasive species begin to thrive and crowd out native plants. In some countries, species of plants that do well in native soils require no amendment, but in these regions, farmers are shown how to increase yields (and make more money!) through the application of fertlizers (including phosphorus), and newer hybrids and gmo varieties of plants are being introduced, pushing out the practice of subsistence farming (a lifestyle where little money is needed), and centuries of use of traditional crops.

It's a bad idea to continue relying on mined phosphorus for industrial level farm use.  As we mine away all the resources locked in the earth,  some  farmers are becoming concerned a great deal about conserving their organic matter as compost.
Organic products may have been grown with the use of the mineral phosphorus applications without affecting the legal status for "organic".  Small scale, local farming, (and gardens-- perhaps your own?) may use composted organic matter instead of mined resources of phosphorus.  
Organic matter (manure, urine, composted matter) contains some phosphorus, and can be used to amend soils.  (instead of mined phosphorus). It also enhances the "good" bacteria in the soils that do the work of converting (mineralizing) the phosphorus for plant use.
Phosphorus in cleaning products and soaps is another waste of this natural resource that then goes "down the drain" and into the water supply.   It is possible to avoid these sources of it by learning what names to check for on product labels, or (easier) buying products known to be made without it, or making your own at home.

All about Apatite


Why Phosphorus is important to global security and a continuing food supply

What has happened in Florida thanks to Phosphorus mining.


Lake Erie's "Dead Zone", videos, animated illustrations, etc.... (from 2002, still relevant).

Article about "dead zones" Gulf of Mexico( 6800 sq. miles), Chesapeake Bay (100 miles): (9/2/2011)  Dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and other waters require a tougher approach: Donald Scavia

Corporate profit incentive described here, promoting globalization and opening new markets for phosphorus use by farmers reported September 2011.

Frack Water Treatment being Re-evaluated in PA

The New York Times has ongoing coverage of the Marcellus Shale drilling for natural gas and illustrates the use of toxic materials in this interactive illustration from March this past spring.



Governer Corbett Punts on PA Frack water treatment regs, summoning EPA to determine safety of citizens.

After the accident today leaking thousands of gallons into Towanda Creek which feeds into the Susquehanna River, Shamokin Dam borough has fears of Frack poisoning.l

From the Daily Item article on April 21, 2011:  
"WNEP.com reported the blowout happened Tuesday night on the Morse family farm outside Canton, a farming community. A piece of equipment on a Chesapeake Energy well failed, company officials said, gushing water from the earth and over the well pad.

Thousands upon thousands of gallons of fluid have spilled into nearby land and waterways, WNEP.com reported.

As of deadline Wednesday, the well was still not under control, but officials on site were able to stop the fracking water from discharging into nearby streams, DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh. Inspectors, Chesapeake officials and emergency responders were still on site, she said.

The main tributaries, including Towanda Creek, are being monitored for contamination and will continue to be throughout emergency response, Gresh said.

Well-control specialists Boots and Coots had arrived from Texas at the blowout site Wednesday, she said.

Dressler advised waiting for more information from DEP “before we go assuming it’s Armageddon,” Hovenstine said.

With any incident up-river, which can include sewage plants and fuel spills, DEP provides an estimate to municipalities of when they’d see the heaviest concentration and whether there is any danger or action to take, Hovenstine said. In the past, the borough has dealt with sewage plant failure that required preventative measures.

“Our water reserves are well-stocked, and we just don’t draw it” from the river during an incident, he said.

“We’d only get surprised if no one would tell us,” he said.

The reserve contains enough water for three to four days, Hovenstine said. A local stream also is an alternate drinking water supply."


It wasn't clear at the time of this article if Shamokin Dam was actually relying on reserves until reports come back on whether the water is indeed going to be safe. Your guess about that is as good as mine.

An average of 1.7 million to 1.9 million gallons of wastewater per day are treated at Sunbury Generation. Marcellus Shale wastewater makes up 8 percent of that.

Nov. 17, 2011, the Sunbury Daily Item also reported that "around" 15 gas-drilling companies truck frack-wastewater to "Sunbury Generation" where the Snyder county plant, treats up to 80,000 gallons of drilling fluid each day, and was authorized to do so since November 2008 by DEP.



 You rarely hear about the radioactivity...  Scientific American posted this about the radioactivity that ends up in fracking fluids back in 2009...
Just trying to keep up with this mess...

Soil in trouble... courtesy of tax dollars spent...

The government provides subsidies... what do these subsidies do??

incentivize this...

Pennsylvanians! Attend the Conference on HydroFracking

BUILDING A STRONGER MOVEMENT:

STATEWIDE CONFERENCE ON NATURAL GAS DRILLING

For community groups, activists, and residents concerned about the effects of drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Radisson Hotel Harrisburg
1150 Camp Hill Bypass,
Camp Hill, PA 17011

Participating organizations: ACLU, Campaign for Clean Water, Common Cause, Clean Water Action, Protecting our Waters, Democracy for America, Responsible Drilling Alliance, Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, Delaware Riverkeepers Network, Penn Future, Penn Environment, and many more.
The extraction of natural gas in Pennsylvania has been going on largely with minimal state and federal oversight. This conference is an opportunity to exchange information about natural gas drilling or “fracking” and learn how to make our voices heard in the Marcellus Shale debate.Conference topics include:

• Best practices of how to wage a winning campaign
• Training on organizing and getting your message out
• How to build an organization, fundraise, and do outreach
• Success stories from different regions of the state
• Networking
• And lots more.

Who Should Come? Community and organizational leaders, activists, concerned individuals and individuals who have leased their land or have been approached about a lease. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, home and business owners, farmers, hunters and fishermen - anyone who cares about protecting our property rights, air quality, drinking water, farmland and Pennsylvania's natural beauty.

Register Today! Sign up online at: http://bit.ly/9juhGz To RSVP and for any questions, contact Hannah Miller at 215-888-8036 or golden.notebook@gmail.com

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