{"id":431,"date":"2006-02-08T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2006-02-08T11:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hostkabob.com\/vote\/?p=431"},"modified":"2006-02-08T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2006-02-08T11:27:07","slug":"2306","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/?p=431","title":{"rendered":"2\/3\/06"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever I’m asked about our environmental stance, I always say that we’re actually “left of the Green Party.” That is, we think sound “environmental stewardship” entails caring for the environment God has given us with the utmost respect. [St. Benedict said we should treat the environment the same way we treat the sacred vessels of the altar.] Anyway, in Citronelle, Alabama (pop. 3,720) we met with a couple who are “left of the Green Party” as well. Lisa and Craig Kalloch have established a “permaculture” on their land in the outskirts of Citronelle. (The essence of permaculture is to create as rich an environment as possible, allowing nature’s synergy to play a large part.) An example: Craig took us to a compost pile made of sawdust and “human manure” from the couple’s compost toilet. The manure and sawdust go through a two year cycle of composting to make it pathogen free. This compost, Craig explained, is then used in “sheet mulching.” This is a process that enhances the quality of the soil exponentially. A layer of compost is put down on the earth, then a layer of newspaper, then another layer of compost, then a layer of leaves… All this starts to quickly break down. And what’s more, the layering of this new material brings worms and microbes to the surface as well, further breaking everything down and making the soil that much richer. The Kalloch’s then planted an expansive garden in this region… The day we toured the Kalloch’s, there was also three people from Bellingham, Washington. One, Eric Conn, said he had had a business in Bellingham called “Food Not Lawns.” And he would cover existing lawns with sheet mulching (using all kinds of compost, etc.) to reclaim the ‘dead green,’ chemically-treated lawns for rich soil, gardens, and even “perinnial food forest systems.” That is, Conn said they would plant things like fruit trees, then friuty shrubs (blackberries, blueberries…), then patches of medicinal herbs, vegetables, and so on. The land, as a result, becomes so much more “productive and educational,” he added. Note:<\/strong> When you chemically treat grass, it destroys the natural mineral content in the topsoil and the toxic chemicals also leech into the groundwater. Not exactly your: “…treating the environment like the sacred vessels of the alter” orientation. It is our belief how we treat the environment is, indeed, a serious moral issue. Note 2: <\/strong> The threesome from Washington are sailing the country on a “Sustainability Research and Education Project.” From town to town, their boat is open for public tours and they demonstrate: wind powered propulsion, photovoltaic collectors, a solar cooker, solar shower, solar pasteurizer, solar water heater. The boat was built using scrap wood and other recycled material. The trip is 3,500 miles over six months. One of the sailors, Eric Conn, got a degree in “Sustainable Community Design” from Huxley College of the Environment, a branch of Western Washington University. He said he believes strongly we should redesign our communities in America based on the concept of: “The Five-Mile Walk.” That is, within a radius of five miles you should be able to get all the things you need — as was the case in our communities before the advent of the car. [I am just drafting a Transportation position paper that reflects some of this orientation.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever I’m asked about our environmental stance, I always say that we’re actually “left of the Green Party.” That is, we think sound “environmental stewardship” entails caring for the environment God has given us with the utmost respect. [St. Benedict …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voteforjoeblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}