Peak oil and bleak marshes

A longtime reader of Dreamcrisp requested more photos of Paynes Prairie. Well, here you go. The subtle beauty of the north Florida wilderness is hard to capture, and I'm sorry to say that this image reveals little of this ecosystem's certain magic. But if you could just smell the breeze.... I'm hoping to get out for another photo foray soon, so stayed tuned.

In other news, I recently found this authority site on Peak Oil by Matt Savinar. This information has been well cited in government halls, including the floor of the Senate. If you only read one article on peak oil and the imminent collapse of our economy, let it be from Matt's library.

The other first Thanksgiving

I can't believe it's been a year since the last good lookin' bird. Last year, Thanksgiving was all about gathering the other orphans far from their families and reminding them they are loved. This year, well, they have to fend for themselves because we're back in the fold. Sorry ya'll. I'll mail some leftovers.

This year, it's all about extended family for us. No, make that two extended families. First my family and then hers. It's like a bad stovetop stuffing commercial. But there will be Aunt Josephine's wicked corn fritters, and many other classic northeastern recipes involving cream, butter and shortening.

And believe it or not, I'm closer to the Original Thanksgiving than ever before. That's right: Jacksonville, 1564. Fort Caroline was built shortly after the French sat down to a meal with the Timucua Indians.

I really don't why we cling to the vision of the first thanksgiving, given what I know about the history of the US. It's not exactly a history of delicious meals with Native Americans and Europeans sitting at the same table, is it?

Maybe giving thanks is as close to atonement that European-Americans can get. Maybe today's abundance will wash over the harsh memories of yesterday. Maybe it's about forgiveness - the hardest kind: forgiving our culture, our ancestors, and our ourselves.

The deeper history of thanksgiving doesn't involve projecting our indigenous selves onto other people who have been oppressed by colonization. Harvest festivals have been around since there was grain to reap. In its original and most basic context, thanksgiving is about celebrating the fruits of a hard year's work. For my ancestors, it's also time to bundle up and play dice on a dirt floor for three months while it snows outside.

So, thanks to everyone in my life. Thanks for showing up for me this year. Thanks for the courage it takes to be real. And thanks for letting me be real too.

Sonny's reign

It rained in North GA last night - up to .75 of an inch in some locales. Governor Sonny Purdue is calling it an affirmation. Of what, exactly, I'm not sure. That God listened? Or that our elected officials function better as charismatic gurus than civic leaders?

But now's as good a time as any to remember the Maharishi Effect. Keep praying for rain, and our elected weather shaman may fill the reservoirs after all.

We're prayin' for rain

The Governor of Georgia finally took action two days ago and faced the crowd to say that it's true that the state is fixing to run out of water.

From NPR news: Perdue, a Baptist, said people here have not done all they can to conserve and manage the state's resources.

What's up his sleeves - A new water sharing plan with Alabama? A moratorium on industry to not dip so many of their spacely sprockets into the last vat of the drinking water, at least for a day or two? Sue Florida again because all of Georgia's water is running downhill? Or a plea for residents to perhaps forgo shaving their legs in the tub?

No, he prayed for rain. Read a more holistic account of this spectacle by a Georgia native. I'm too pissed off to be holistic right now, but I am talking about sacred rage so maybe it's Integral Frothing.

I grew up in Georgia too, but I'm viscerally removed from this Twilight Zone episode. My water's coming straight out of the aquifer that is located 60 feet under my feets, so my anger is also slouching at a comfortable distance. Or so it seems.

More from NPR: The governor has been focused on the drought for weeks. Last month, Perdue declared a state of emergency in much of Georgia and called for conservation.

Just think of that - the governor has been focused for weeks. Weeks at a time, even. That's the kind of foresight we need given the current pizza party that is 21st century civilization.

Is the first world crashing down? Not quite yet. But this could be a tragedy and an expensive one too. Georgia is about to owe another big one to the feds. Don't rise right now, ya'll. Just drink the trucked-in water, don't leave your homes, stock up on wonderbread and it'll work out.

As for praying for rain itself, not the lack of civic thinking, the denial of the term carrying capacity, and Purdue's historic green light on anything resembling growth, I'm all for it. It's a time tested method. It's worked in the Middle East for thousands of years. Oh, wait, that was 1999. Okay, it still can't hurt.

Let's all check up on the Global Consciousness Project just in case.

Maybe the Urban Scout is on to something. Maybe we should learn to swim if we're prayin' for rain.

My biggest fan

My biggest fan did this to himself. I'm not making this up, this is not my arm. I don't even have that much hair on my chest.

Thanks, guy.

UN passes Declaration of Indigenous Rights

While only time will tell if this measure is a massive "human rights-washing" campaign or a real fresh start to globalization politics, this week we can celebrate that the UN passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with overwhelming support.

Dissenters were predictably what has come to be called the CANZAUS group - Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. (AKA those who have the most to lose as Indigenous Peoples have politically organized and remain committed to managing their own resources and rejecting the homogenizing and destructive forces of industrial capitalism).

It's not legally binding, of course, but the declaration does come into direct conflict with many of the WTO's primary goals, so let's watch to see how this plays out in the near future.

In other news, it's cold as a mug down here tonight. Awesome.