My Face Is on Fire, My City Is Underwater

All of these were taken between 6:30 and 8:30 pm on April 30. My little city is facing its worst flood in over 30 years.

This is the parking lot behind the Justice Building on the north side of Queen St.

The Saint John River is to the left. That's Ste Anne Blvd that's flooded, with water spilling into parking lots behind Queen St buildings (as seen from the pedway).

Officer's Square on Queen St was also flooded. Dunno what those guys in the faux knight gear were all about. You can see the backed up traffic in my bike's mirror.

Ug99 and your loaf of bread

As wheat prices soar, another danger is lurking just around the corner (or across the ocean, to be more precise) -- actual wheat shortages. A fungus called Ug99 has wiped out 70% of Africa's wheat crops, and it's expected that in some areas there, crops will be a total loss. First discovered in 1999 in Uganda, the fungus has already spread to Asia thanks to its wind-borne spores. Scientists are concerned that it will inevitably make its way to Europe and North America.

In a New York Times piece from this past Saturday, Norman E. Borlaug, the Nobel Prize winning and biotech / genetic engineering promoting ''Father of the Green Revolution'', calls for the development of a stem-rust-resistant (no doubt genetically modified) form of wheat and for it to be used to replace ''almost all of the commercial wheat grown in the world today'', for the sake and safety of the global wheat supply.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently handed Cornell University a $26.8 million dollar grant to initiate a three year study to develop (primarily and mostly through genetic modification), a stem-rust-resistant variety. Details of the project are available here in its executive summary.

I'm wondering what all of this will mean for organic wheat farmers.

Stereotypes, misinformation and Happy Meat

It's curious how just in the past two days, the Ottawa Citizen's managed to provide two lifestyle articles promoting negative stereotypes of vegetarians and / or vegans and, with them, completely inaccurate opinions of the healthiness of vegetarianism.

Michael Murray's piece in Saturday's paper asserts that anytime he's ever been inside a vegetarian restaurant that ''everybody in those places looked unhealthy. Thin and anemic, they all appeared as if they'd been suffering the affects of a parasite'' and concludes that ''the avoidance of meat was in fact making these people sick''. Then he perpetuates the stereotype that all vegetarians and vegans are ''humourless'' and ''political'', that they're living ascetic existences and seeking ''equal rights with humans'' for non-human animals. Murray strikes me as being that sort of loud and obnoxious type who makes unbelievably tasteless jokes based on stereotypes at an office party, completely oblivious to the reactions around him, and then when told he's being rude, lewd or mean-spirited, would shrug and, even more loudly, exclaim ''What? You can't take a joke?!''.

In today's paper, Joanne Laucius presents meat eating as making a comeback, continuously referring to omnivorous humans as ''carnivores'' (which would mean that people subsist on meat alone, with no need for vegetables, fruit or grains -- see any food guide for proof to the contrary). She sets the tone by kicking off her article by referring to the ''dedicated and pallid vegan'' with whom she used to work and describes how she'd needle this coworker about her dietary choices. She spends most of the article talking about what she calls ethical meat eating, then brings up another example of the stereotypical sickly vegetarian by mentioning a born again meat fetishist (and self-proclaimed former on-again / off-again vegetarian) who's recently -- jumping on the latest trend -- written a book about happy meat (see Gary Francione's post about the expression and movement) and who states that when she eschews meat, ''she doesn't feel or look well''.

It's interesting for me (and very telling) to see how, in writing articles promoting the eating of animal flesh, the writers need to rely, at some level or another, on perpetuating the myth that not eating animals is unhealthy and somewhat freakish. As presenting this misinformation is needed to add weight to the argument that eating meat is and should be the norm.

This is called ''freeing the Iraqi people''?

Freeing Iraqi men to murder their daughters? This is the status quo that we're maintaining there? The treatment of women as things? A teenager falls in love with a boy, so her father and brothers brutally murder her, and get a nod of approval from law enforcement officials for having done something that it is their right to do. And by having our soldiers there upholding this status quo, we're complicit. We really are.

We all know at this point what the invasion of Iraq was really all about -- anyone paying attention has known it for years, but it's just especially deplorable to me that Western politicians are presenting Iraq as having been liberated -- as a free society -- when it's acceptable there for a woman to be murdered at any man's whim.

The Fredericton Community Kitchen needs urgent help

On Wednesday, April 23, the industrial dishwasher used by the Fredericton Community Kitchen to wash and sterilize the 120 or so loads of dishes they use every day caught fire. Repairs would cost more than getting the dishwasher completely replaced, and the replacement cost is approximately $12,000. That's money the Fredericton Community Kitchen doesn't have, and the dishwasher is crucial if they're able to continue serving the number of meals they do every day.

Fredericton radio station FRED FM has organized a fundraiser to come up with the money to replace the dishwasher. Donations can be made directly at the Community Kitchen itself at 65 Brunswick St, or at FRED FM's studios at 77 Westmorland St, Suite 400. Additionally, FRED FM staff will be around the city with collection buckets over the next few days. Pledges can also be made by calling 455-FRED (3733) or 455-0923. They're also encouraging the community to respond with corporate / school / retail / community group challenges and will be keeping a running list of these challenges on their website.

The situation is urgent and the sooner the Fredericton Community Kitchen can obtain this money, the sooner things can get back to normal for them as they continue to provide an invaluable service to so many people in the city who need them. Please get involved asap!

On the bike trail

Let the foraging begin!

Rice, rodeos and Rob Brezsny

Rice rationing in North America has begun. As the price of rice skyrockets and as some consumers are beginning to hoard staples amidst fears of a global shortage, both Costco and Sam's Club are capping the number of bags of imported rice each customer can buy per visit.

The self-proclaimed ''largest rodeo in the world'', Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD), is suing animal welfare organization SHARK for having first persuaded Carrie Underwood (who is supposedly a vegetarian), and now rock band Matchbox 20 (whose lead singer Rob Thomas and his wife established the Sidewalk Angels Foundation to assist homeless people and animals) to cancel scheduled performances at the rodeo. SHARK's been busy providing the public with footage of the ridiculous amount of cruelty that persists at CFD (whose organizers have, incidentally, recentally announced that they're going to be ''toughening'' their rules on shocking horses to make them buck or bolt).

On a somewhat lighter note... It's offical, folks: Astrology is bunk. No more living my life according to Rob Brezsny. Sigh!

DIY meat -- PETA's million dollar in vitro meat challenge

Someone needs to tell William Saletan at Slate that humans are o-m-n-i-v-o-r-e-s. In his article on PETA's million dollar vat-grown meat challenge, he consistently refers to non-vegetarians as ''carnivores''.

I haven't wrapped my head around this whole lab flesh idea -- this in vitro meat. It's come up for discussion (and debate!) over the past few years in many an online vegetarian community, so the theory has been kicked around for a while. I'm obviously all for the idea of getting animals out of slaughterhouses and supermarkets, but the thought of growing animal flesh in a lab just sounds bizarre and gross to me (as I suspect it will sound to many other veg*ans and omnis). I'll have to give it some more thought.

Vegan recipes in the news

The Kansas City Star had a recipe for Cashew Manicotti w/ Sundried Tomatoes tucked into an Earth Day related blurb about veganism. It's from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

The Canadian Press is spreading around a recipe for Tomato Curried Lentils, from Angeline Linardis' V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking. I think that Linardis has a blog (unless the blog's name is just a coincidence), but it seems to be a 'by invitation only' sort of thing.

The Baltimore Sun has a piece today about the rising cost of food and how to eat frugally by incorporating vegetarian meals into your week. In it, the writer of the piece contributed her adaptation of a Curry of Eggplant and Peas recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the animals we eat

The animals you eat are not those who devour others; you do not eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern. You only hunger after sweet and gentle creatures who harm no one, which follow you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their service.
--Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and novelist (1712-1778)

Women in a post-carbon world

Just a few articles I thought I'd share...

Carolyn Baker wrote an article a few years back examining women and (quite interestingly) the feminine principle in relation to Peak Oil -- more specifically, as a part of life after the crash. In it, she raised issues that would mainly impact women in a post-carbon world (e.g. access to contraception and reproductive health-care) and questioned the fact that more women weren't (aren't?) involved in the Peak Oil movement. By exploring the "feminine principle", Baker refers to "nurturance, acceptance, generativity, eroticism, warmth, generosity, openness, introspection" and how these things contrast with the damage we've done to the ecosystem and how it's brought us to where we are today with global warming and Peak Oil. (Baker's website can be found here.)

Sharon Astyk wrote a piece that same year called "Peak Oil is a Women's Issue" that addressed the current vulnerability of women living in what's essentially a man's world (i.e. wage disparity, high percentage of women taking on solo childrearing, et al.) and what this could entail in a society in the midst of (or following) economic collapse. She also addressed the non-involvement of women in the Peak Oil movement, writing about her experience at a conference for The Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) and the ridiculously misogynistic old boy's school mentality which she encountered there. Astyk described it as "the habit of people in power of being powerful, and thus, not thinking very much about less powerful people". Astyk raised concerns that in a post-Peak world, women's access to education, health care and social programs -- three things that are often the first to suffer cuts in hard economic times -- could contribute to furthering the poverty and vulnerability of women, and that this would all tie into the population issue which will be of foremost concern in harder times as resources become more scarce.

Suburban Permaculture w/ Janet Barocco and Richard Heinberg

Peak Moment Television visits the suburban residence of Peak Oil author and educator Richard Heinberg and his partner Janet Barocco, to take a gander at all that can be done on less than an acre to make your home and yard as sustainable as possible. Too neat! There are so many great ideas in this, especially with regards to gardening.

Dawn of the Pixies

A friend of a friend created this beautifully trippy little thing. You can find more of her work here.

Plastic and yet another reason to avoid it

Discover magazine had a somewhat alarming article about the dangers of plastic featured on its site yesterday. Definitely wants to make me think twice about things like my storage containers and water bottles, never mind the dozens of other plastic things I find myself using on any given day. It mentions BPA (or bisphenol A) which has been in the news in Canada this week, as Canada has just become the first country in the world to deliberately limit human exposure to it with Ottawa's intention to ban its use in baby bottles. The chemical is commonly found in hard plastics, including compact discs, food and beverage containers (most notably hard clear reusable water bottles) and the liners in metal cans.

A Maritimer's vegan take on Egyptian cuisine

A couple of years ago, I spent some time testing, tweaking and sometimes (when needed) veganizing some Egyptian recipes I found across the internet. In some cases, I took 2-3 or more similar recipes and sort of merged them according to my taste buds. The experiment culminated in a scrumptious feast that left even a really fickle omni friend delighted (and stuffed). Here are a couple of the recipes; I'll have to dig out the others over the weekend.

Orange & Olive Salad with Cumin

What you need:

8 oranges, peeled and with the white pith removed, sliced (or in segments)
3/4 cup good quality black olives*, cut in half and pitted
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
juice of one medium-sized lemon
1/2-1 tsp ground cumin (to taste)
a pinch of cayenne (or more to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs olive oil

What you do:

Toss together the oranges, olives, onion. Mix together the lemon juice, cumin, cayenne and crushed garlic and then mix into oil. Toss with the rest of the ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, chill (you don't really have to, but I did and liked that the ingredients had a longer chance to marinate) and serve. Serves 6.

* Don't skimp on the olives by getting those canned rubbery things.


Couscous with Currants and Cumin

What you need:

1 cup water
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup currants (or raisins)
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs fresh ginger, finely grated
1 tsp cumin seed, toasted
the grated zest from one orange
1 Tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
salt
hot chili flakes

What you do:

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in the couscous and currants. Cover and remove from heat to let stand for around 5 minutes. During this time, heat the olive oil in large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Sauté 3 minutes or until tender and then add the cumin seeds. Sauté an additional minute. Fluff the couscous and currants with a fork, then stir in the onion mix, the zest and the cilantro. Add salt and hot chili flakes to taste. Serves 3-4.