Eat, Drink, Be Local

The average dinner travels about 1,500 miles to arrive at your plate. That drains local economies of income and wastes tankers of fuel in the process. Generations of Americans have grown up expecting food that arrives in shrink-wrapped and paper-boarded perfection. Unlike our ancestors, few of us maintain backyard gardens or know the origin of the food we eat. And, more often than not, the food we purchase contains an unrecognizable list of ingredients.

In our region, eat-local opportunities abound. Family farms still remain a vital component of the region's identity. Farmers markets and roadside stands dot the countryside. And a host of chefs and self-proclaimed foodies support the "eat local" philosophy and devote their culinary efforts to showcasing the best of the region's bounty.

Do you think it's important to buy locally-produced food? Do you agree that the opportunities to buy locally are present in the region? Would you buy more locally-produced food if it was more convenient?

Drinking Well

Some townspeople view wells as nuisances to tolerate until the city rescues the population by installing water meters that offer a common and trustworthy water supply. Other rural folk see wells as a statement of independence and a source of more "natural" water, but the recent need to drill deeper to find potable water creates concern and a decided uneasiness. As municipal pipes snake farther out into the rural communities, some welcome them, others resist.

Regardless of which side of the well issue residents reside, new water infrastructures upend a community, creating economic opportunities, eliminating others, and prompting political and health debates that foreshadow what scientists and researchers refer to as the coming global water crisis. But for now, the state of wells in the rural parts of central New York serve as our region's canary in the coal mine and offer a telling look at this area's water culture.

Do you use municipal water or a local well? Would you rather get your water another way? Does you think your community should provide municipal water services?

Teaching the Nation

Brad Powless left a good job as a teacher in a moneyed suburb of Rochester so that he could move to a place where median income is far less, and uneven roads disappear around wooded bends; a place, only five miles from the traffic hubs of Syracuse's city center, that struggles to keep a handle on its trash dump and maintains its fire department with proceeds from tobacco sales. The story of this place stretches so far into the past that human memory alone sustains it. Yet its future seems so ripe with potential that a growing body of people finds hope in its precepts. It's a place that Powless has always called home: the Onondaga Nation. Now he teaches 88 Haudenosaunee students in a K-8 school, reminding them of their heritage - a heritage Powless thinks will carry them far.

What do you see in the Onondaga Nation's future? What can we learn about conservation and a more healthy relationhsip with nature from native peoples' practices? What have we learned already? How can we help incorporate peoples like the Onondaga Nation into a society we hope to make more environmentally friendly?

Land of Broken Dreams

For fifty years, Bob Smith built his backyard palace made entirely of junk. A trail leads from his house out into the woods to the Land of Broken Dreams, a little shanty village with some structures two stories tall. He built a tiny church and an artist’s studio and plenty of brightly-colored houses where birds and rabbits used to live. Paintings, clocks, and long-forgotten toys fill each one. Something hangs from every tree and every wall — mannequins, signs, broken statues, and suitcases. He checks on it once a year just to see what the wind has taken. He says Mother Nature can do with it what she will.

What do you think? Is it art? Is it junk? Should it somehow be preserved? Or should it be allowed to become overgrown with foliage and decay naturally?

The Great Corn Debate

We're kicking off Envi Blog's premiere with a Q&A by an advocate and an opponent of corn ethanol, the hotly disputed alternative fuel.

Ann Peck, former executive secretary of the New York Corn Growers Association, supports corn ethanol production.
Peck's points:
- The increased demand for ethanol has increased the price of corn, helping farmers make financial progress.
- The residuum of the corn-to-ethanol process can be used as a low-cost, high-protein feed for livestock.
- It's going to take a variety of alternative fuels to help improve the country's carbon emissions.

David Pimentel, chair of the U.S. Secretary of Energy's corn ethanol study since 1980 and professor at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, does not believe that corn ethanol is a viable fuel option.
Pimentel's points:
- Corn is one of the most environmentally damaging crops. Corn farming causes more soil erosion and uses more nitrogen fertilizer, insecticide, and herbacide than any other crop grown in the United States.
- "It takes 43 percent more fossil energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than you get out."
- Corn ethanol is not helping the U.S. become oil independent. "In fact we’re importing oil from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to produce ethanol."

How do you feel about the pros and cons of corn ethanol? Does one outweigh the other? Let the debate begin!

Welcome to Envi Blog

Envi Blog is here for you to connect with your community in a discussion of the issues you care about most. In each edition of Envi Online, we'll highlight a story that will spark your interest.

But we hope you'll want to comment about lots of our stories. So, start now by reading the Great Corn Debate, online-exclusive content, or stories from the print magazine. Then, join the conversation!