During the four years of the anti-renewable-energy (by doing as much as possible to downplay and ignore it, and misportray it when the other two aren't possible) Bush Administration, one of the topics I stupidly expected to hear from others, but never did, was about "Victory Gardens". I was stupid in this because frankly I knew very well that four years of the Bush Administration meant, basically, silence on anything having to do with renewable energy. If you never mention something then you can avoid a mistake, which is to get drawn into defending a position you know very well is indefensible and in some ways outrageous. And by never mentioning renewable energy, one can cast the impression, soto voce, underground, that people who do mention it are wacos, lunies, etc.... that they *and their pet technologies and practices and social concerns* can be marginalized.
And by never mentioning it, it doesn't come up that often, and you get away with four to eight years of full-steam-ahead make-it-more-impossible to kick the addiction of oil-coal-nuclear-natgas. Victory Gardens must be pretty far down the list even for renewable-energy-discussers (discutants? I always think there should be a word for 'discussion participant'), but maybe the lack of mention of a topic during this Administration should be a clue to us that if we think of it, let's get it out there a bit for discussion. I don't know 1/100 of what I'm sure others know. When I was a kid and I asked why my Papa grew tomatoes in the back, I was told it was a habit he'd picked up during WWII, when he was slightly too old to serve but wanted to contribute in some way. So, that was when I first heard about Victory Gardens. Some here, who may despise how the U.S. has chosen to define the War On Terror, may call into question the naming of this thing, the Victory Garden. They may say that whether it's 9-11 or 9-10 or 9-12, the rational for local food growing has nothing to do with a "Victory" in a War on Terror. Ok, whatever. I mean: let me make clear that I disagree, but that does not mean that we disagree as to the discussion of finding ways to save energy. One of the ideas that Keith and others have passed on to me that I particularly like is the idea that one can save energy (and money if prices for energy are reflected in products) simply by sourcing one's food supply as close as possible to home. This includes, for some, growing one's own food. For others it means buying it at a restauraunt or grocery store that buys locally-grown food. Ideally, grown in a progressive clean lower-energy way. I happen to make some connection to the U.S. resolving its foreign policy issues permanently and beneficially and such matters as changing energy patterns at home, but even if one doesn't see that connection, I think the idea of a "personal garden" or a Victory Garden would get some traction in the U.S. Of course, no Bush Administration official would dare mention the idea. They've already permanently marginalized every sustainable technology and renewable energy person and concept they could think of. Which means they've tried to distance themselves from some Americans who could have helped them in their War, if they'd actually wanted to do everything posssible to define it properly and then win it. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
