Sunday, March 8, 2020

Seed Bombs

Seed Bombs

a fun way to help save our future
#solarpunk #solarpunkActionWeek #SolarpunkDIY #SolarpunkDIY

(excuse the messy quick post)


SolarPunk action week is a week for solarpunk activism, direct action, and community building
held on March 8-14 2020.
TheCenter for a Stateless Society (C4SS) is an anarchist think-tank and media center. Its mission is to explain and defend the idea of vibrant social cooperation without aggression, oppression, or centralized authority. They describe SolarPunk Action Week thus:


“A week of independent decentralized and autonomous actions all undertaken with the goal of helping to create a solarpunk society.”

To begin in brief — what is solarpunk? This can be difficult but I like this version I read on a Tublr page:

An optimistic, eco-friendly vision of future Earth (without being blindly utopian) which shows the costs of getting or maintaining that sort of world (usually a severe struggle, hence "punk")


Or from Wikipedia:


Solarpunk is a movement that encourages optimistic envisionings of the future in light of present environmental concerns, such as climate change and pollution, as well as social inequality. Solarpunk encompasses a multitude of media such as literature, art, architecture, fashion, music, and games.”


Solarpunk seeks to answer and embody the question “what does a sustainable civilization look like?” At 65 years of age I have been attempting to envision this future since the late 1960's. So today I proudly say, “I am a SolarPunk.” An ethos which aligns well with my “hippie” roots. In the past I have proclaimed, “The hippies were right!” Now I say as well, “The SolarPunks ARE right!”


For the first day of SolarPunk action week is a week I have chosen a fun action for us as well as for an activity children may love.


Seed Bombs


To begin — in brief — a little history.


Fukuoka Masanobu, 2 February 1913 – 16 August 2008 was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified land. Fukuoka re-invented and advanced the use of clay seed balls. Clay seed balls were originally an ancient practice in which seeds for the next season's crops are mixed together, sometimes with humus or compost for microbial inoculants, and then are rolled within clay to form into small balls. A modern variation is to include additives such as cotton-fibres or liquefied paper mixed into the clay in order to strengthen it, or liquefied paper mash coated on the outside to further protect the clay ball during sowing by throwing, or in particularly harsh environments.


The term "seed green-aide" was first used by Liz Christy in 1973 when she started the “Green Guerrillas”. The Liz Christy Bowery Houston Garden (LCBH) started in 1973 is the first and oldest community garden in New York City. The first seed green-aides were made from condoms filled with tomato seeds, and fertilizer. They were tossed over fences onto empty lots in New York City in order to make the neighborhoods look better. It was the start of the guerrilla gardening movement. Seed balls are also known as "earth balls" or nendo dango in Japan.


Do you hate those blank vacant lots on the side of road and city streets? Have you wanted to put a flower garden in one of those lots? Well let's get started making our Seed Bombs!


Basically everything needed is — compost, clay and seeds. They say “preferably volcanic pyroclastic red clay.” And seeds can range from flower seed of all sorts — perhaps pollinator specific like milk weed for monarch butterflies. Kitchen herbs, edible flowers, and veggie seed bombs. My preference is pollinator-friendly wildflower bombs!

Michael Franti says, “We can bomb the world to pieces but we can't bomb theworld to peace” But perhaps we can just a little.


The simple formula is the 5-3-1 method. 5 parts clay 3 parts compose 1 part seeds. A little water to the mix then start rolling the balls in your hands. Remember to flatten one side if throwing on to hillsides to prevent rolling. After the seed balls have been formed, they must dry for 24-48 hours before use. For added fun use a slingshot! Seed bombs are the major weapon in this ground attack in this battle to save the planet.


This post could be much longer if I were to talk about drones and other aerial methods being used around the world for reforestation efforts. Methods enjoying great success.


A quick search on the web will result in all this information and more. From articles on Medium — to Twitter and Tublr — to many YouTube videos. Have fun exploring my dear friends.


For now have a thoughtful SolarPunk action week.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Giving Chocolate on Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter


Giving Chocolate on Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter
by Nino Kether

Image from ‟Put your money where your mouth is” Blog > A Guide to Buying Slave FreeChocolate

January was National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

I love chocolate. But I think the real cost should be addressed. It probably should cost more to have it — given much of the chocolate we get is produced from slavery and/or the money is used for war. These same concerns apply to coffee and diamonds.

Years ago I was going to have Boise'sDream Chocolate make specialty bars for us at the Idaho Peace Coalition as a fund raiser. I decided not to because they didn't know if their chocolate was slave free or conflict free.

According to Stop the Traffick, 1.8 million children are subjected to hard labor and horrible working conditions on West African cocoa farms, which is where 70 percent of the world's chocolate comes from. (STOP THE TRAFFIK was founded in 2006 by Steve Chalke MBE as a campaign coalition which aims to bring an end to human trafficking worldwide. Initially STOP THE TRAFFIK was set up as a two-year campaign to coincide with the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807)

Dream Chocolate's website now states, ‟We are dedicated to making high quality chocolate in a socially responsible way. Dream Chocolate Company has found suppliers who share values in preserving the Earth and taking care of the people who grow and produce this wonderful organic food. The cocoa beans are Rainforest Alliance Certified, to make sure our product is grown responsibly and the workers are treated well and paid fairly.” A Rainforest Alliance Certified farm is one that complies with 10 standards set in place by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). These standards include ecosystem conservation, wildlife protection, and fair treatment and good working conditions for workers.

Some terms to familiarize yourself with:

Stop the Traffick

The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is the process established in 2003 to prevent "conflict diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond market by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 following recommendations in the Fowler Report. The process was set up "to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments."

A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fairtrade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Fair Trade Certified Mark is the North American equivalent of the International Fairtrade Certification Mark. As of January 2011, there were over 1000 companies certified to the Fairtrade International's_International certification and a further 1000 or so certified to other ethical and fairtrade certification schemes around the world.

Looking for a Fair Trade, organic label or an explanation of why the source is child labor free is the best we can do as consumers when purchasing chocolate. Certification programs can only go so far when it comes to eradicating the worst forms of child labor including slavery.

It takes you and me.