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The year is 1992, the place… Dade County, Florida. The summer day is hot, humid and quiet. On This August day Miami is busy with daily living in paradise… except for those who work with the National Weather Service - National Hurricane Center.  They are busy as bees, watching a storm develop in the lower Atlantic that blooms overnight with growth beyond the normal threats… into a full-fledged Hurricane. Its name is Andrew, first storm of the season.

This is more than a nightmare to some who experienced it. To some, it is a tragic lesson of what the country will need to “pay attention to, learn from, and constantly practice with planned protocols to get out of the way of Mother Nature”.

Today… some of those lessons come in the form of yearly hints. In some parts of the south, people are still learning that lesson hard from more storms like Katrina, Faye, and the list goes on. Every year America is learning the ‘hard way’ of the need to yield to warnings, practice using their sense of personal responsibility and be prepared for anything to happen when it involves storms and natural disasters.

But in rural America, there are those who get displaced by ignoring those possibilities until it actually happens to them. The real shame of it is animals are at the bottom of the priority list over and over again. Katrina proved that in several states.

Natural Disasters such as Katrina and wild fires have proven that the government needs a ‘kick in the pants’ for poor planning in the largest economic tragedies this country has seen.

But there is ONE GROUP that noticed, paid attention from personal experience, and places the right priority of helping others form a plan that works in rural areas, with human and animals of all shapes and sizes.

This group was formed by and plans to employ people from all walks of life, including experienced professionals from Law Enforcement, Fire Rescue, and Medical Professionals. This group stands tall in pride and integrity to help save horses and cattle before, and after a storm like Katrina and they are called “Healing Spirits Ranch and Rescue, Inc.“. Their chilling experiences have made them aware of the vital need for a group that functions on a multi level and is prepared to respond with proper protocol during any natural disaster.

They learned from previous experiences that many problems are avoidable, and they are doing something to ‘change’ how we deal with those problems.

Please visit their website, Healing Spirits Ranch and Rescue, Inc. and read about this group’s mission to teach others how to survive a disaster, how to prepare for a storm, how to become a volunteer trained to help others, and how to care for animals when a disaster is coming.

Jody, Gord, and Corey Barge, Curt Seely, Derek Routledege, Nat DePalma and Friends form The Backyard Jammers from Calgary Alberta Canada, and give us this video of their live performance of “A Peaceful Solution” for our listening and viewing pleasure.

Corey plays bass, Jody and Gord sing and play guitar. Their buddy Curt also plays guitar, Nat De Palma plays drums and Derek Routledge plays Sax. Gord claims his favorite book is the dictionary because, “all the words are in it and if you read it once you never need to read another book again.”

Whenever a great local band with a wide social network of musicians performs “A Peaceful Solution” I get a thrill. This provides me proof of the widespread desire for an end to military madness.

Perhaps we are finally learning the profound differences between political campaign promises and the actions of elected officials. The expansion of the War in Afghanistan, the enlargement of the U.S. extra-legal prison system and renewed funding for the so-called War on Drugs leaves us all looking for a change we can believe in.

It is becoming clear that our employees holding public office have not received the message that we desire peace. That leaves it to us to renew our efforts by raising our voices until we cannot be ignored any longer.

We all bear a responsibility to do our parts in determining the state of human existence. We require no further proof that giving up our initiative to temporary leaders does not necessarily produce the results we desire.

Now is the time to get together and sing songs of peace and put them into circulation. It is not the time to give up and fade away.

We can all take a lead from The Backyard Jammers and raise our voices in the public sphere for the sake of peace. The more people who sing for peace, the harder it will become to ignore the call.

The Backyard Jammers play and jam with some of the greatest musicians in Western Canada, such as Vernon Wills from Vand the Wholly Cats. Anthony Davis from CCR and the Tom Fogerty band, John Gray from the Ray Charles band, and Marvin Yakowishen from Dr. Hook and the Ronnie Hawkins Band just to name a few.

Be sure to visit their two youtube channels; bownessgord and backyardjammers to see and hear more of their eclectic performances.

* * * * Artists’ Statement * * * * *

We are the BACKYARDJAMMERS and we are a group of friends and family that enjoy playing together at Jams and the occasional Paid Gig.

To us Family and Friends are very important and we believe that our youth is were we need to concentrate our energy on to make this a more peaceful place to spend our time.

Live music is a great medium to generate peace with. The spoken word is a very powerful thing and when it is combined with a great tune that you can dance to and sing alone with it is very hard to be angry.

Less anger means more peace.

Enjoy your music and remember what Liz, Jay and Amy and Willie are trying to do.

SPREAD THE WORD OF PEACE

Thanks,
Gord, Jody, Corey, Curt, Derek and Nat and Friends
THE BACKYARDJAMMERS

I honestly feel there is little anyone can say about Michael Jackson that speaks more eloquently than what he himself sings. The fact remains that there is just no accounting for what some people say.

This performance is proof of at least part of what Michael Jackson believed was important. Songs about this topic are actually suppressed by main stream media so when you hear one you know that the singer feels strongly about it.

Listen to the man, hear his words and take whatever anyone else says with a grain of salt. You can do Michael Jackson no greater honor than to listen to his music and take it to heart.

Earth Song

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain.. .
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we’ve shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world
Look what we’ve done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son…
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine…
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don’t know where we are
Although I know we’ve drifted far

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can’t even breathe
(What about us)
What about the bleeding Earth
(What about us)
Can’t we feel its wounds
(What about us)
What about nature’s worth
(ooo,ooo)
It’s our planet’s womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We’ve turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We’re ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can’t we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can’t you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about babies
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the man
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn !

Originally published in The Denver Post

June 2, 2009

by Jessica Fender

Veterans Graduate from Green Jobs Academy

George Webb left the Army in 1989 and, for a while, drove trucks for a living.  At a low point, he spent four or five years living on the streets.

But Tuesday afternoon, Webb graduated from a new two-month program certified to evaluate the energy efficiency of homes and the promise of a job maintaining a biodiesel plant in New Orleans.

He found the training through a group that aids homeless vets.

“I kind of walked right into it,” he said. “A week before I’d seen on the news about renewable energy and solar power.”
George Webb, Veteran’s Green Jobs Academy Graduate

Webb and 14 other veterans, many newly returned from Iraq, on Tuesday became the first graduating class from the Veteran’s Green Jobs Academy, a new non-profit aimed at retraining veterans for jobs in the environmental sector.

The cohort spent a month in class, learning environmental and energy efficiency basics. The next month the class fanned out visiting low-income homes throughout the state and telling residents how to cut their energy costs and consumption.

Each veteran emerged with a certification in home energy auditing and can get community college credit for their work.

The housing provided for the vets in central Colorado - facilities built for farm workers - reminded Thomas Cassidy, 26, of barracks. The program, a quick and hands-on approach followed by immediate deployment to waiting jobs, has a certain military flare as well.

Cassidy said he finds the work rewarding.

“In a large part of the region, their bills are out of control, and they don’t know what they can do about it,” Cassidy said.

After graduation, he’s staying in Denver to help organize an urban reforestation effort using homeless veterans as workers.

The group’s commencement speaker, Gov. Bill Ritter, lauded the program for its focus on military veterans and green energy.

“One of the ways we want to honor you … (is to) give you an opportunity to create a different future for yourself and your family.”

Ritter also signed into law Tuesday five bills aimed at helping members of the military by expanding access to in-state tuition and mentoring programs, making it easier to vote while overseas, better advertising benefits for veterans and boosting support for veterans in nursing homes.

Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender [at] denverpost [dot] com

Annie Leonard narrates this brief explanation of Materials Economics which is something different from the Raw Materials Economics we discussed in previous articles about family farms. The film has become an Internet phenomenon, generating over 6.5 million views in 200 countries and territories since its launch in December 2007.

She discusses how corporations, which now comprise over half of the 100 largest economies in the world, have manipulated governments to run things for their profit and benefit rather than ours. Annie Leonard seems to make the case for a separation of corporations and government similar to the arguments for the separation of religion and government hundreds of years ago.

Her story begins with resource extraction that is exploitative and exhaustive of nonrenewable resources. At this first stage a shift to widespread commercial hemp production would resolve many of these issues.

Current manufacturing process involves adding toxic chemicals to natural resources and pollute the environment. Many of these toxic chemicals are derived from petroleum or are simply byproducts of another toxic industrial process.

Distribution to retail consumers currently under prices the finished goods, not returning enough value to the producers and workers to keep them out of debt. This is why even the contemporary financial system is not sustainable as illustrated by the current financial crisis.

If we put parity pricing of raw materials into practice as recommended by Raw Materials Economics and shifted to commercial hemp production sustainable in localized economies many of these problems would not even exist.

Annie Leonard goes on to tell us that 99% of everything we buy becomes trash within 6 months. Just dealing with the garbage, land fills and incinerators required to take our trash out of sight greatly contributes to our current mess.

She tells us that sustainability, equity, green chemistry, zero waste, closed loop production, renewable energy and local living economies are needed to reform our lifestyle. It would also reduce out need to wage wars over resources and the forcing of other people to into our wasteful toxic system under the guise of bringing them democracy.

Historically, the ‘old way’ she talks about is actually pretty new. The actual old way embraced many of the reforms mentioned because it made sense and enabled 10,000 years of human social evolution.

The contemporary way is relatively new, unsustainable and will lead to the total collapse of civilization if left to continue to its own exhaustion. The sooner we change, and I mean substantial meaningful change not just the holding on to the empty promise of change by career politicians in the pay of corporations, the better.