Th e Ec o t o n e Spring 2008 The Journal of Environmental Studies University of Oregon

URBAN e c o l o g y Th e Ec o t o n e The Journal of Environmental Studies

The Ecotone is published by the Environmental Studies Program at the University of

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Th e Ec o t o n e

Environmental Studies Program

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Ed i t o r s

Shannon Tyman, Editor-in-Chief

Cody Evers & Rob Hoshaw, Managing Editors

Jill Jakimetz, Deputy Managing Editor

~ ~ ~

Design by Cody Evers

Cover Art by Jill Jakimetz

2 Th e Ec o t o n e In s i d e Th i s Is s u e

Ed i t o r ’s No t e 3 Sh a n n o n Ty m a n Th e We s t Eu g e n e We t l a n ds 6 Ma tt Pe t e r s o n Th e So u n d o f Ho p e 12 Sa r a h Ja q u e tt e Go v e r n m e n t ’s At m o s p h e r i c Tr u s t 13 Ma r y Wo o d Re n e w i n g Re l a t i o n s h i p s t o t h e Land 17 Ro b Ho s h a w Th e Ec o t o n e St u d e n t Vo i c e s The Journal of Environmental Studies Pr e d a t o r Co n s e r v a t i o n 20 St a c y Vy n n e An t i c i pat i n g Ha r d s h i p 21 We n Le e Hummingbirds 23 Al i Ab b o r s Ba t h t u b i n t h e Bu s h e s 25 Sh a n n o n Ty m a n A Na t u r a l Di s t u r b a n c e 26 Co d y Ev e r s Th e Ed i b l e Ci t y 28 Ji l l Ja k i m e t z Ou r Co m m u n i t y Re l a p s e 33 Ga y l a Wa r d w e l l UO Fo o d Po l i c y 34 St a c y Vy n n e Th e Wh i t e St a g Bl o c k 35 Di a n a Fi s c h e tt i Gr a d u a t i n g St u d e n t Pr o j e c t s & Th e s e s 37 Th e En v i r o n m e n t a l Le a d e r s h i p Pr o g r a m 39 Ka t i e Ly n c h Co m m u n i t y Up d a t e s 44 Do n o r s Li s t 47

Sp r i n g 2008 3 Ed i t o r ’s No t e Selected Syllabi: An Interdisciplinary Approach

he theme of the 2008 Ecotone is Urban Ecology. The editorial team chose this topic to reflect cur- Trent trends in environmental studies and ecological thought. Amidst the insecurities surrounding global climate collapse, it has become increasingly inappropriate to assume either a conquer and pillage mentality or to worship ‘pristine wilderness.’ The dialogue has thus shifted from ‘saving the whales’ to articulating a cogent and non-destructive human-nature relationship. Including the city in ecological conversations is to invite politics, cultural difference, legal issues, aesthetic interests, and, of course, concrete. Urban Ecology does not have a single clear definition or its own discipline. Rather, it is us- ing an ecological lens to understand human institutions and using a human lens to understand ecology. This issue of The Ecotone is meant to explore the different manifestations of the term: urban ecology.

To begin the conversation, we have included a few shortened syllabi from classes taught at the Uni- versity of Oregon that touch upon the topic at hand. The first is from the English Department and highlights the simultaneous development of self and landscape. The second, from an Environmental Studies graduate student, focuses on politics of difference and the correlations with the local ecol- ogy of waste. Finally, a syllabus from a course taught in Planning, Public Policy, and Management foreshadows an article later in the journal about the West Eugene Wetlands and hints at the politics of urban ecology and complexities of land use policies. These syllabi offer a sense of the diversity with which this topic is approached and its importance to the further maturation of ecological ideas.

This edition of The Ecotone hosts Urban/Social Ecologies in a wide array of work from students, Contemporary Literature faculty, and staff at the University (English) of Oregon who are involved with * the Environmental Studies Pro- Professor Elizabeth Wheeler, English gram. Poetry, short stories, opin- ion pieces, and art works reflect the Co u r s e De s c r i p t i o n : diversity of the Program. The “Our While ecocriticism often focuses on wilderness, this course focuses on cities and on the Community” section includes infor- relationships among nature, culture, and the built environment. Drawing on ethnic stud- mation on specific student work and ies, postcolonial theory, and disability studies, the course asks: what kind of landscape projects led by students and faculty. description assumes what kinds of bodies in the landscape? ~ Shannon Tyman Re a d i n g s : Neely, Barbara. Blanche Cleans Up; Lethem, Jonathon. Motherless Brook-

lyn; Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco; Cao, Lan. Monkey Bridge.

Ad d i t i o n a l Ar t i c l e s :

Michael Bennett, “From Wide Open Spaces to Metropolitan Places” & “Manufacturing the Ghetto” Lawrence Buell, “Flaneur’s Progress: Reinhabiting the City” Mike Davis, “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn” Andrew Light, “Boyz in the Woods: Urban Wilderness” Giovanna Di Chiro, “Sustaining the ‘Urban Forest’” George B. Handley, “A Postcolonial Sense of Place”

4 Th e Ec o t o n e Conservation Planning (Planning, Public Policy and Management) * Neil Bjorkland, City of Eugene Environmental Planner Co u r s e De s c r i p t i o n :

The primary goal of this class is to identify, understand, and critique the key element of plan- ning for habitat conservation in the real world context of charged politics, constricting proce- dural requirements, limited funding, and rapid growth development. This course emphasizes critical thinking, evaluation, and analysis skills that can be applied in any habitat conserva- tion planning context, at various scales. Case studies and in-the-trenches experiences will serve as a jumping off point for group inquiry into understanding strategies, processes, goals, and outcomes. The case studies will be reviewed against various planning frameworks to help us understand the role and importance of key planning steps and processes. We will focus on ways to think about conservation planning as we explore this discipline from the viewpoint of the planning project manager, including political, social, economic, ecological, and fiscal elements.

Re a d i n g s : Environmental Justice Dramstad, Wenche; Forman, Richard; (Environmental Studies) and Olson, James. Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and * Janet Fiskio, PhD candidate Land Use Planning. Environmental Studies, focal department English Environmental Law Institute. Lasting Landscapes: Reflections on the Role of Co u r s e De s c r i p t i o n : Conservation Science in Land Use Plan- ning. The environmental justice (EJ) movement is a coalition of grassroots civil rights, en- Groves, Craig. Drafting a Conservation vironmental, and labor organizations, community activists, and academics. Grow- Blueprint. ing out of civil rights activism and analysis, EJ critiques the institutionalized oppression Lane Council of Governments. West that places disproportionate risks on people of color and other vulnerable populations Eugene Wetlands Case Study & Wetland through exposure to toxic living and work environments. In contrast to mainstream en- Executive Team, Partnership Agreement vironmentalism’s focus on wilderness, the EJ movement defines the environment as The Nature Conservancy. Conservation the place where individuals and communities live, work, play, learn, and worship. Action Planning: Developing Strategies, This course will provide an introduction to the history, literature, and contemporary work of Taking Action, and Measuring Success at the EJ movement, with a particular focus on the local knowledge that people gain from living in Any Scale (Overview of Basic Practices). situations of environmental injustice, how this knowledge is learned, and how it is articulated.

Re a d i n g s : Bullard, Robert. Dumping in Dixie; Castillo, Ana. So Far From God; Giardina, Denise. Storm- ing Heaven.

Ad d i t i o n a l Ar t i c l e s :

First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, “Principles of Environ- mental Justice” Wenz, “Just Garbage” LaDuke, “Nuclear Waste: Dumping on Indians” Film: Blue Vinyl

Sp r i n g 2008 5 Th e We s t Eu g e n e We t l a n d s Federal Regulations, Local Implementation

Matt Peterson

raveling west out of downtown Eugene on West 11th Avenue, a keen observer will notice ing and gathering, the Kalapuya burned the Tan unusual landscape for Oregon. Instead of closely packed development driven by prairies of the Willamette Valley every year. the limitations of the state-mandated urban growth boundary that is typical of most Oregon While little is known about Kalapuya burn- cities, an observer will notice development interspersed with open fields, meadows and ri- ing strategies, it is postulated that the burn- parian areas surrounding Amazon Creek. Crossing Bailey Hill Road, this observer will ing helped with hunting deer, gathering tar- notice a few fast food restaurants on the north side of the road, yet open space to the south. weed, collecting grasshoppers, nut gathering In a few more blocks, the observer will notice the opposite: development to the south and (acorn and hazel), and supporting the growth an even larger open space to the north; in this open space, one may even see a group of of camas, berries and other successional students peering into the grasslands at something more interesting than the traffic flowing plants.1 The yearly burning tended to occur in late summer and early fall, and there are by. Continuing west, an observer will notice that drove Eugene’s reaction to the “discov- excerpts from the journals of early European the Super Wal-Mart to the south and Target ery” of these wetlands in 1987. It was the explorers of the Willamette Valley saying the to the north competing for your money with citizen’s expectation of public involvement burning was so extensive it was often diffi- cheap, plastic stuff from China, yet behind and their environmental ethic that propelled cult to find forage for their horses: “Pasture Target as far as she can see are open fields— city officials to implement the wetlands is rarely found in the course of this day none not used for agriculture but filled with wa- regulations in an original and creative way. has been seen, altho’ we traveled good twen- ter and hundreds of waterfowl in the winter. Before discussing the laws and regulations ty miles …the fire destroyed all the grass.” 2 At a basic level, our observer is admiring the that have played a role in the preservation of The yearly burning had likely been in prac- West Eugene Wetlands and the results of the the West Eugene Wetlands, it is important to tice for over 6,000 years and had created a West Eugene Wetlands Plan for development understand the ecosystem as it was before Eu- fire-dependent landscape,3 including the and wetlands preservation in the area. But at ropean arrival. The southern Willamette Val- lands of the West Eugene Wetlands; in- a deeper level, our observer is also seeing the ley was the year round home to the Kalapuya stead of a forested, scrub-shrub wetland, interplay between federal and state wetlands Indians, who relied on hunting and gather- the fires maintained wet prairie grasslands.4 laws and the local conditions and ethics ing for their resources. To assist with hunt- However, the burning did not affect the hy- drological conditions of the southern Wil- lamette Valley, which included extensive wetlands and streams. There was constant flooding in the late winter and early spring, and Amazon Creek was so braided it was described as having a thousand fingers.5

Direct contact with Europeans began in 1812, although it was intermittent until the 1840s when immigrants started settling in the valley in larger numbers.6 Before the ar- rival of Europeans, it is estimated that over 14,750 Kalapuya lived in the valley, yet by 1841, only 600 survived.7 It is interesting The West Eugene Wetlands to note that it was actually malaria, intro-

6 Th e Ec o t o n e The West Eugene Wetlands Plan successfully synthe- started to occur in Eugenian and American sized local concerns, ethics and practices with federal society as a whole regarding environmental ethics and ecosystem processes. Ameri- and state law. cans were becoming less enthusiastic about “smokestack prosperity” and more aware duced by Europeans, that decimated the Ka- West Eugene Wetlands already show the in- and educated about the interconnectedness lapuya, and the mosquitoes that spread the fluence of European settlement: agriculture, of ecology.14 Locally, in 1966, the newly disease were concentrated in wetland areas.8 roads and homesteads are all visible. How- formed planning department for the city of Yearly burning continued until the 1840s ever, development was still limited because Eugene hosted a “Community Goals Con- but stopped as the Kalapuya population de- of the regular flooding of Amazon Creek ference” to receive feedback from citizens. clined so drastically and at the insistence of and the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers. The top two concerns were air pollution immigrant settlers. With this cessation of Over the next 30 years, the West Eugene and urban sprawl and the community goal fire, the ecosystem began to change with Wetlands were changed drastically as a re- was “to protect and enhance the quality of the increase in tree growth in former prai- sult of American society’s faith and use of our environment so that Eugene will retain rie lands. The European settlers also started 15 technology to solve both natural and self-in- its appeal as a good place to live.” Us- changing the landscape by logging and con- flicted problems. The common belief at the ing the feedback from this conference as a verting the grasslands to agriculture, includ- time was that “nature is an element separate guide, the Central Lane Planning Council ing, where possible, draining wetlands.9 from culture that exists to be manipulated prepared a new metropolitan plan in 1972 The cessation of burning and the convert- and molded for benefits of humans.”12 The (the 1990 Plan) that “rejected the growth ac- ing of lands to agriculture are representative Flood Control Act of 1938 led to the build- commodation objectives of a regional plan 16 of the ethic of land utilization prevalent in ing of Fern Ridge Reservoir and eight dams previously adopted in 1959.” This plan the mid-19th century. The Homestead Act on the upper Willamette and McKenzie Riv- also developed the concept of an “urban ser- of 1862 gave settlers 160 acres of land for a ers during the 1950s and 1960s. The dams vice area,” which was the prototype for the small price but with the requirement that they were built to control flooding, which had the urban growth boundary. The urban growth put some of the land to use within five years. consequence of altering the hydrology of the boundary came out of the Oregon Land Use Cronon10 contrasts the Native American West Eugene Wetlands.13 Amazon Creek Planning Act of 1973, and established limits view of land with the European settlers’ view was channelized, including redirecting most on where urban areas could expand. In the of land, pointing out that because the Native of its flow into Fern Ridge Reservoir, turning initial urban growth boundary for Eugene American’s did not “improve” the land, they the thousand fingers of Amazon Creek into and Springfield, most of the West Eugene had no right to it. Even though he is discuss- one. These changes enabled Eugene to start Wetlands was included within the boundary. ing the northeast part of the United States, the expanding to the west and it opened more Another key element to the Oregon Land importance of “improving” the land still held land for agriculture. These effects are notice- Use Planning Act was the establishment with the settlers of the Willamette Valley. able in the aerial photograph from 1968—the of 19 planning goals that urban areas must The city of Eugene was incorporated in 1862 channelization of Amazon Creek is obvious incorporate into their comprehensive land and settlement continued to grow through- and there is significantly more develop- use plans. Of the 19 goals, the fifth goal is out the end of the 19th century and begin- ment than there was in the photo from 1936. the most pertinent to wetlands and is titled ning of the 20th—by 1940 the population of However, what is not obvious in the photo- “Open Spaces, Scenic and Historic Areas, Eugene was 20,838.11 As seen in the aerial 17 graph from 1968 are the changes that had and Natural Resources,” which includes photo from 1936, the lands surrounding the wetlands. “Goal 5 requires local govern-

Sp r i n g 2008 7 ment to inventory the quality, quantity and location of specific resources, including wet- lands. Identified wetlands must be preserved in their original state unless conflicting uses are identified.”18 To meet the requirements of Goal 5, a natural resource inventory was conducted in 1977-78, including a search for wetlands. This also corresponded with the effort by the US Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice (USFWS) to map wetlands nationally. However, because wetland delineation was a new science and also because of the meth- ods utilized, they only mapped a quarter of 1936 Aerial Photo of the intersection of Bailey Hill Road and Highway 126 (West 11th). the actual wetlands in the Eugene area and Amazon Creek is flowing east to west in the lower part of the photograph. only included Bertelsen Slough and Willow 19 Creek in the West Eugene area. These ar- Eu g e n e , 1987 Instead of just allowing the wetlands permit- eas were protected under the land use plan. ting process to deter individual companies Eugene had invested millions of dollars in from developing in Eugene, the Eugene City Because the West Eugene Wetlands area infrastructure in the west Eugene area to Council decided to work toward a compre- was within the urban growth boundary and promote development in response to the re- hensive plan that would benefit the econom- the wetland inventories of the late seventies cession of the 1980s, when wetlands were ic and development interests of the city as missed most of the wetlands in west Eugene, discovered in 1987. The discovery “placed well as the community.25 It is important to the area was zoned primarily for industrial a cloud of uncertainty over future develop- note that the plan was not to simply make development because of their proximity to ment opportunities,”22 because of the federal development in the wetlands area easier, but highways 99 and 126 and to the Coos Bay and state wetland regulations that were sud- 20 also to ensure larger community benefits be- rail line. However, little development oc- denly applicable to the area. This “cloud of yond the economic impact of the develop- curred, mainly because of the recession that uncertainty” became evident almost imme- ment. The environmental ethic that began in hit Oregon and Eugene in the 1980s. To diately when Spectra-Physics, an electron- the late 1960s and early 1970s continued to help kickstart the local economy and at- ics firm and large employer located in the flourish in Eugene, giving it a reputation of tract development heart of the wetlands, being a city where “Birkenstocks and grano- and jobs, the city wanted to expand their la bars are standard issue.”26 Since the Com- of Eugene spent operations. The Fa- munity Goals Conference in 1966, Eugene $12-20 million The plan called for the cilities Manager of the continued to be concerned with the environ- on infrastructure establishment of the first plant said, “The prob- mental and livability effects of urban sprawl improvements in wetland mitigation bank lem with [the presence throughout the 1970s and 1980s.27 The the area, includ- of wetlands] was that if in Oregon. citizen involvement reflected in the - Com ing roads, water they were indeed there, 21 munity Goals Conference also continued to and sewer lines. you didn’t know what have an important influence in Eugene as the But in 1987, a it really meant, and it city adopted a Citizen Involvement Program new natural resources survey of Eugene sounded like it was going to slow down or in 1975.28 Because of the citizen initiative was performed and discovered over 700 impede our ability to develop phase three,” process and a statewide planning law that acres right in the heart of the west Eugene and the hassles and unknowns of wetland mandated public input,29 Oregonians have an area that had been zoned for development. permitting even caused the company to con- expectation of being involved in communi- In 1989, the wetland acreage increased to sider leaving Eugene.23 The company de- ty-wide decisions. These societal currents, over 1,300. This discovery immediately cided to remain in Eugene and expand their along with the economic pressures of the re- brought state and federal regulations in- operations, but it cost them over $600,000 cession, pushed the Eugene City Council to volving wetlands to bear on these lands. just for the mitigation of the filled wetlands.24 seek alternative means of dealing with state

8 Th e Ec o t o n e and federal wetland regulations at a local ment opportunities and certainty; wetland These 300 acres were either small, isolated level. In 1989, the city partnered with Lane protection measures; mitigation and the re- wetlands or wetlands of lower value and County, the Lane Council of Governments gional mitigation bank concept; stormwater as of 2005, about 30% of these wetlands (LCOG), the Eugene office of the Bureau of management; and recreation, education and have been developed The plan also recom- Land Management (BLM), and the Nature research.32 Some of these highlights, as well mended the city work with the ACOE and Conservancy to prepare a “West Eugene Wet- as their status in 2005, are outlined below: DSL to create a one-stop permitting pro- lands Special Area Study” (WEWSAS). The cess for wetland development. The city four major objectives of the WEWSAS were: Pr o t ec t i o n o f was not successful with this aspect of the Na t u r a l Di v e r s i t y plan, yet the plan has created certainty for 1. To use the best information to help businesses seeking permits because of the the community understand the choices The plan called for the protection and res- designated acreage for development and available; toration of approximately 1,000 acres of the wetlands in west Eugene and since they the extensive wetland delineation that has 2. To find a balance between environmen- primarily were located on private land, the occurred, thereby avoiding any surprise tal protection and sound urban devel- plan called for the BLM to use federal Land wetlands when planning development. opment which meets state and federal and Water Conservation Funds to purchase laws and regulations; Mi t i g at i o n a n d t h e Re g i o n a l Mi t i g at i o n the land from willing sellers. As of 2005, Ba n k Co n ce p t 3. To provide opportunities for involve- most of the 1,000 acres of wetlands desig- ment of all interested segments of the nated for protection, plus 2,000 surround- Of course, any development on the 300 community in plan development; and ing and upland acres, have been purchased, acres would still require mitigation, so the over half by the BLM. Over $18 million plan called for the establishment of the first 4. To turn a perceived “wetlands prob- of federal, state and local monies have mitigation bank in Oregon, even though lem” into a “wetlands opportunity” for been used to fund these purchases,33 $13 they had been allowed in Oregon since the the community.30 million of which have been Land and Wa- legislature passed a Wetlands Mitigation Over the course of the next three years, the ter Conservation Funds through the BLM. Bank Act in 1987. Instead of a developer partnership worked on developing the West creating or restoring compensatory wet- Eugene Wetlands Plan, a wetlands conserva- De v e l o p m e n t Op p o r t u n i t i e s a n d lands themselves, a mitigation bank allows tion plan allowed under the 1989 amendments Ce r t a i n t y developers to pay a designated fee for any to the Oregon Removal and Fill Laws. The The 300 acres of wetlands not protected permitted wetland destruction. The money work on the plan incorporated an extensive were instead designated for development. paid to the West Eugene Wetlands mitiga- public involvement process, which included seven public workshops, wetland tours and field trips, presentations to public and private organizations, public surveys, and newsletters and other communication to a mailing list of all interested parties, environmental and civic organizations, and all land owners potential- ly affected by the wetlands in west Eugene.31

In 1992, the West Eugene Wetlands Plan was introduced to the public and adopted by the City of Eugene and Lane County. In 1994, it was adopted by the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and the Oregon Divi- sion of State Lands as Oregon’s first wet- lands conservation plan. Some of the plan 1968 aerial photo of the intersection of Bailey Hill Road and Highway 126 (West 11th). Notice the increase in development enabled by the channelization of Amazon Creek and highlights, as titled in the plan, include: the building of dams upstream on the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers. protection of natural diversity; develop-

Sp r i n g 2008 9 tion bank would support the restoration and tinues along West 11th Avenue, most of the would fit with the economic needs of the city, enhancement of the 1,000 acres of protect- wetlands are now publicly owned, and res- while also fitting with the culture of partici- ed wetlands. The mitigation bank makes it toration of the wetlands continues. The suc- pation and environmentalism of its citizens, significantly easier for developers dealing cess of the plan is also demonstrated beyond but still fulfilling the requirements of federal with wetlands mitigation, and it has the en- the effects on the land. Three examples of and state law. As our keen observer from the vironmental benefits of concentrated - wet this success: the West Eugene Partnership introduction noticed, this interplay between lands restoration and mitigation in a larger continues to garner significant grant money federal rules and local character has had project, rather than many smaller projects.34 because of its past success creating partner- a visible and significant effect on the West ships and obtaining and enhancing wetlands; Eugene Wetlands and surrounding areas. The city was successful in establishing a Steven Gordon, the planner that led the de- mitigation bank, and it continues to operate velopment of the plan, received the EPA/En- and provide funds for ongoing restoration vironmental Law Institute’s “1992 National and enhancement. As of 2003, it had sold Wetlands Protection Award” (local govern- almost 68 credits,35 raising over $2 million. Matt Peterson is a master’s student in ment category); and Eugene was one of only both the Environmental Studies Pro- gram and the Department of Planning, Rec r e a t i o n , Ed u c a t i o n a n d Re s e a r c h twenty municipalities in the nation to be pro- filed in Nature Friendly Communities37 with Public Policy and Management. New trails, bikeways, wildlife observation a chapter entitled, “Eugene, Oregon: Shining points, and interpretive signs are all part Star of Wetlands Preservation.” The plan’s of the West Eugene Wetlands Plan. A na- success is also evident with the citizens of ture center is still a future possibility, with Eugene, with almost 1,000 citizens and 3,000 the hope that the wetlands would be used students participating in education programs 1. Boyd, Robert. “Strategies of Indian Burning as an educational resource by schools. The in the Willamette Valley.” Indians, Fire and the in 2004, over 2,000 volunteer hours donated Land in the Pacific Northwest. Robert Boyd, plan also noted the possibility of extended for service projects, and the many cyclists, editor. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State Uni- research on the wetland sites by the Uni- versity Press (1999). joggers and walkers that use the new paths.38 2. Ibid, p.101. versity of Oregon, Oregon State Univer- In response to the recent brouhaha over the 3. Ibid, p.98. sity, Lane Community College and more. 4. City of Eugene website. “Historical Vegeta- West Eugene Parkway, which would be built tion in West Eugene.” http://www.eugene-or. gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&c A bike path has been built following Amazon right through some of the wetlands, many ached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&pa Creek all the way to Greenhill Road, with letters to the editor of the Eugene Register- rentid=0&in_hi_userid=2&control=SetCommu nity&CommunityID=217&PageID=1358#. many observation points and interpretive Guard pointed to the wetlands with pride 5. Ibid. signs along the way. Between 2002-2005, and as a reason to keep the parkway from 6. Boyd 1999, p.99. 7. Ibid. almost 6,800 students have participated in a being constructed (personal observation). 8. Ibid. WREN (Willamette Resources and Educa- 9. City of Eugene website. The West Eugene Wetlands Plan success- 10. Cronon, William. “Bounding the Land” in tion Network) environmental education pro- Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and fully synthesized local concerns, ethics and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill gram at the West Eugene Wetlands.36 There practices with federal and state law. It is an and Wang (1983). is a major research project headed by a Uni- 11. Gordon, Steven C. West Eugene Compre- excellent example of how federal laws work hensive Wetlands Plan: A Case Study. Lane versity of Oregon biology professor, along at spatial scales other than purely at the fed- Council of Governments. September 1990, with many on-going monitoring projects of p.4. eral level, and the importance in considering 12. Alvorson Ed. “The Changing Natural En- species considered threatened or endangered. the local geographical context when examin- vironment.” Eugene 1945-2000: Decisions that made a community. Kathleen Holt and Cheri By most accounts, the West Eugene Wetlands ing the law-space nexus.39 The Eugene City Brooks, eds. (2000), p.38. 13. City of Eugene website. Plan has been successful. Development con- Council pushed for the creation of a plan that 14. Madden, Carl H. “Land as a National Re-

10 Th e Ec o t o n e source.” C.L. Harriss, ed. The Good Earth of America: Planning Our Land Use. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, (1974). 15. As quoted by Seidel, Karen. “Coping With Growth.” In Eugene 1945-2000: Decisions that made a community. Kathleen Holt and Cheri Brooks, eds. 2000. 16. Duerksen, Christopher and Cara Snyder. Nature Friendly Communities: Habitat protec- tion and land use planning. Washington: Island Press (2005), p.200. 17. OAR 660-015-0000(5). 18. Corday, Jacquelyn. “Freshwater Wetlands Law: Two Different Local Government Ap- proaches in Oregon.” 6 J. Envtl. L. & Litig (1991), p.113. 19. Gordon 1990 & Corday 1991. 20. City of Eugene website. 21. West Eugene Wetlands: Recreation, Access and Environmental Education Plan. Bureau of Land Management, Eugene District Office. April 2001, p.1. & Gordon, Steven C. A Case Study in Multiple Objective Water Resources Management Planning. Lane Council of Gov- ernments. June 1993, p.2. 22. West Eugene Wetlands Plan (WEWP): A Product of the West Eugene Wetlands Special Area Study. December 1992. Lane Council of Governments. 23. Missar Chuck. Transcript of interview on Rice University’s West Eugene Wetlands Proj- ect website: http://www.rice.edu/wetlands/Inter- views/int5.html. (1995). 24. Gordon 1990, p.5. 25. WEWP 1992. 26. Maben , Scott. “Green Eugene.” Planning. American Planning Association. October 2004. Pp.10-15. 27. Seidel 2000. 28. Brown, Tracy et al. Involving Citizens from Beginning to End with the West Eugene Wetlands Plan. Lane Council of Governments. September 1993. 29. Goal 1, Citizen Involvement. 30. WEWP 1992. 31. Brown et al 1993 & Corday 1991. 32. WEWP 1992. 33. Maben 2004. 34. Just the Facts #6. About Compensatory Mit- igation for Wetland Impacts. Oregon Division of State Lands. April 1999. 35. West Eugene Wetlands Mitigation Bank Annual Report 2003. City of Eugene. August 2004. PHOTO BY REBECCA BRIGGS 36. WREN Website. http://www.wewetlands. org/center.htm. 37. Duerksen and Snyder 2005. 38. WEW Annual Report 2005. 39. Blomley, Nicholas K. “Text and context: re- thinking the law-space nexus.” Progress in Hu- man Geography. 13(4):1989, pp.512-534.

Sp r i n g 2008 11 Th e So u n d o f Ho p e

Sarah Jaquette

On the phone, my brother (who lives on a sailboat in the Berkeley marina) tells me of the oil spill last week (remember that one?) and the sea tar sloshing against the hull next to his head at night.

I’m trying to imagine living on a Chris moved to the boat boat in the Berkeley marina in the Berkeley marina. to get off the grid. (Out of the pan into the fire, An oil spill is personal right?) when your neighbors are turning up upside While I post “No Spray” signs at my down sealed silent. curb (do you mind?) Floating diving birds And commute to get schooled on Waylaid by diesel. “the environment” Their triumphant explosions from deep I’ll let him listen to it punctuated by black bobbing blobs (the ocean deafened by my (abbreviating life, remem- denial) ber?) through his pillow.

That was last week. On the phone, I hear a seagull squawking drowning me out.

12 Th e Ec o t o n e Go v e r n m e n t ’s At m o s p h e r i c Tr u s t Responsibility MARY CHRISTINA WOOD

I. Th e Pr ec i p i ce tant, but at the same time, they are quickly mosphere triggers feedback loops in Nature nullified by the carbon emissions of others. capable of unraveling the planet’s climate In June 2007, leading climate scientists is- system, despite any subsequent carbon re- sued a report concluding that the Earth is in This is exactly why we have government – ductions achieved by Humanity. Six months “imminent peril.” They warn that runaway to address threats to society and organize a ago it was thought that we might have 8-10 climate heating will impose catastrophic con- response commensurate with the scale of the years before the tipping point, but more re- ditions on generations to come. It threatens problem. All of our regulatory authority and cent extrapolation of the data shows we are to destroy major planetary fixtures, includ- public funds are locked up in government. on its doorstep now. The insidious thing ing the polar ice sheets, Greenland, the coral These resources must immediately be used about a tipping point is that we may pass it reefs, and the Amazon forest. It will bring to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Yet our without even realizing it, but it locks in fu- floods, hurricanes, heat waves, fires, disease, government is actually promoting excessive ture climate heating that is out of our control. crop losses, food shortages, droughts, and greenhouse gas emissions. County com- trigger a kind of mass extinction that hasn’t missioners are approving trophy home sub- Scientists have used climate modeling to occurred on Earth for 55 million years. It will divisions and destination resorts. The For- present us with a path that they believe can force massive human refugee migrations and est Service is approving timber sales. The stave off the worst climate change. The pose a threat to world security. In the words U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just models have changed recently due to data of leading scientists, our continued carbon approved another coal-fired plant and- is showing accelerated melting in the arctic pollution will cause a “transformed planet.” sued rules to expand mountaintop coal min- and elsewhere. The most recent science sug- ing. Life in America is beginning to have gests that we have to prevent global tempera- We face a problem that is unprecedented in the feel of a lemming colony. Some of our tures from rising to more than 0.5 degrees terms of its consequences; a problem that governmental officials say that the science Celsius above the pre-Industrial average.1 is caused by virtually everyone on Earth; is still out on global warming. These lead- Exceeding this climate threshold would a problem that so far has been ignored by ers of the lemmings would call for stud- make it warmer on Earth than it has been most governmental officials in this -coun ies on the scientific uncertainty of cliffs. for half a million years, and, in the words of try; a problem that, to solve, requires us to NASA’s leading climate scientist, Jim Han- overhaul our sectors and lifestyles; and, as The heart of the problem is this: Ameri- sen, “many things could become unstoppa- if that were not enough, a problem that re- cans have lost their sense of government ble.” We can think of this as Nature setting quires us to act before Nature passes a criti- obligation. Without this sense of obli- a “climate imperative”- to not go beyond a cal tipping point looming right in front of us. gation, there is no way to impel govern- 0.5 degree Celsius rise. To do that, we have ment to act in the short window of time And yet, we have the human imagination, the to keep the atmosphere concentration of car- remaining. Four principles are essential to resources, the legal tools, and the bureaucra- bon dioxide at above 320 parts per million.2 creating a framework of government ob- cy to tackle this challenge head-on. We can ligation and accountability in this crisis. Various states have proposed or enacted change this disastrous course, and we can do measures to reduce carbon. These mea- so without inflicting pain or misery on our II. Th e Sc i e n t i f i c Im p e r a t i v e : Ca r b o n sures are crucial, but we must keep at the citizens. In fact, the changes we make can Ma t h forefront of our minds the fact that states’ vastly improve the American condition. Indi- efforts will be futile if they do not com- viduals have the power to reduce their carbon The first is that the laws of Nature, not politics, plete the required carbon math within the footprint. However, sweeping carbon reduc- must guide government action. One binding required time. Thus, the first principle for tions are largely in the hands of the govern- reality is the “tipping point” – a phenomenon climate crisis is that political solutions must ment. Individual reductions are very impor- whereby a certain amount of carbon in the at-

Sp r i n g 2008 13 be measured against Nature’s climate im- rather than an ill-defined commons, we Third, over the longer term, we must re- perative, which is the supreme law of this vest citizens with expectations of enduring duce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by land – and furthermore, of this planet. Ig- property rights to a defined, bounded asset. 2050. While the timeframe set by the tar- noring this law subjects Humanity to climate We start thinking, “Hey, that’s my air, even gets stops at year 2050, recent scientific re- punishment for untold generations to come. if I share it with others.” Pollution of that ports strongly suggest the need to achieve air becomes an infringement on American zero carbon emissions over the long term. III. Go v e r n m e n t ’s Tr u s t Ob l i g a t i o n property rights. Therefore, the second prin- By clarifying what we must do as a matter of ciple of this framework is that government The second principle is that government is the science, this report paves the way for actually is obligated to defend our atmospheric trust. trustee of our natural assets, including the wa- doing it. The scientists’ climate stabilization The failure to mount a national climate de- ters, wildlife, and air. A trust is a fundamen- pathway becomes the fiduciary standard of fense is as absurd a proposition as the idea tal type of ownership whereby one manages care for protecting the atmosphere, though it of government sitting idle during an attack property for the benefit of another. We are may become more stringent as arctic melting on American soil. By looking at govern- the beneficiaries of our natural endowment. data comes to light. This is a clear, quantita- ment’s obligation in this way, we can hope Everyone holds a common property interest tive prescription for action to get our planet to engage all levels of government in climate in Nature’s Trust, and we need that trust in back on the path to climate equilibrium. order to sustain human survival and promote defense as the supreme national priority. Citizens, the beneficiaries of this atmospher- human welfare. Our imperiled atmosphere IV. Th e Cl i m a t e Pr e s c r i p t i o n ic trust, can now evaluate their government’s is one of the most crucial assets in our trust. climate policy in real terms. Carbon accoun- The third principle builds on the second. With every trust, there is a core duty of tants can do the carbon math and calculate Trustees have specific fiduciary obligations protection. The trustee must defend the compliance with these targets on each juris- that serve as measures of performance. trust against injury. Our government trust- dictional level. Moreover, it is not beyond You cannot vest trustees with priceless as- ees do not have discretion to allow irrevo- the imagination to think of citizens enforc- sets and no accountability. A trustee has to cable damage to the atmospheric trust. As ing this fiduciary duty in the courts through measure up to a fiduciary standard of care. our Supreme Court said in 1892: “The state atmospheric trust litigation. Courts should can no more abdicate its trust over prop- Recently, leading climate scientists issued a be engaged to ensure that government does erty in which the whole people are inter- path breaking report that sets forth a course not bankrupt the trust and impair the pro- ested…than it can abdicate its police pow- of emissions reduction designed to achieve ductivity of the atmosphere so that it can 3 ers in the administration of government.” climate equilibrium. The report, called Tar- no longer sustain human civilization. There gets for U.S. Emissions,4 sets carbon re- However, we Americans have lost our focus ought to be a remedy to ensure against such duction goals for the industrialized world on government’s obligation, as trustee, to extraordinary dereliction of fiduciary duty. based on reasonable assumptions about the protect crucial resources. Ironically, this is developing world. The Targets for U.S. V. Th e In e x c u s a b i l i t y o f Or p h a n Sh a r e s largely a failure of environmental law. Our Emissions sets forth three sequential steps statutes allow government to give out permits The fourth principle is that the sovereign to reducing carbon. First, the United States to destroy our resources. Because of such per- nations of Earth share the atmosphere as must arrest the growth of greenhouse gas mit systems, society has lapsed into assum- their common property. They are sover- emissions in the very short term—by 2010. ing that government has unbridled discretion eign co-tenant trustees of the atmosphere, Second, we must reduce our greenhouse to allow destruction of our natural assets. all bound by the same duties regarding gas emissions by 4% each year thereafter. the trust. Property law has always im- The federal government uses this discre- tion to justify complete inaction in the face of climate crisis. The danger is this: we When we portray Nature as a trust rather than an ill- have relegated the climate to the political defined commons, we vest citizens with expectations playing field. There is no umpire on this of enduring property rights to a defined, bounded field. There’s just discretion. Citizens have asset. We start thinking, “Hey, that’s my air, even if to lobby government for their own surviv- I share it with others.” al! But when we portray Nature as a trust

14 Th e Ec o t o n e posed a responsibility on co-tenants to This fourth principle means that, as co-ten- ing. For example, Mayor Greg Nickels has not degrade, or waste, the common asset. ant trustees of the atmosphere, all nations led Seattle to cap and reduce its emissions must carry out their share of carbon reduc- and initiated the U.S. Mayors Climate Pro- You can apply this mandate to every nation of tion as set forth in the prescription provid- tection Agreement. The agreement, which the world and create a framework for carbon ed by scientists. Scaling down to another commits cities to reducing greenhouse gas responsibility. If each industrialized nation level, this also means that all states, and emissions, now has over 800 signatories. carries out its fiduciary obligation to meet the all cities and counties within such states, carbon prescription set by scientists – that is, We have legal tools available to arrest the must carry their own burden. If San Diego, each nation caps emissions by 2010, reduces growth of emissions. A carbon tax, for ex- for example, leaves an orphan share, that 4% a year after that, and gets to 80% below ample, is a swift, effective way to achieve 2000 levels by 2050 - then the planet as a dramatic emissions reductions. Government whole will comply. (That is assuming devel- can also use rolling moratoriums to halt new oping nations uphold their duty to not waste sources of greenhouse gases. A moratori- the asset). One can imagine the industrialized um is a versatile legal measure, and it buys world’s planetary carbon load as one big pie. time. One could envision moratoria against Even though industrialized nations come in new coal-fired plants, certain air permits, different sizes, if each proportionately reduc- commercial logging, airport expansions, es carbon by the same amount, the carbon pie farmland development, and other activi- as a whole will reduce by that amount. How- ties. Nearly all of these types of moratoria ever, the contrary is also true: if even one have been used. Government also has the major industrialized nation does not accept ability to switch subsidies from fossil fuels its share of carbon reduction, then the carbon and coal to renewable energy, invest in mass pie will not shrink by the required amount. transit, use tax incentives to encourage green initiatives, develop cap and trade programs, Let’s put this principle into a familiar en- and undertake a nearly infinite number of vironmental context. In hazardous waste other policies. But all of those measures cleanups, we talk about orphan shares. If 20 take time to design and implement. We no different companies contribute waste to a longer have the luxury of time. Moratoria toxic dump, all 20 are liable for the clean-

B RIGGS and carbon taxes are tools government can up costs. If one company has gone bank- use right now to stabilize a situation that rupt, it leaves an orphan share that the

R EBECC A otherwise will spiral out of our control. others must pick up to clean up the site. Some elected officials oppose such climate The U.S. is responsible for 30% of the B Y PHOTO initiatives out of fear that their constituents greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.5 will resent measures that cut into their life- We are producing a huge orphan share. In style or make that lifestyle more expensive the hazardous waste context, orphan shares to maintain. This is exactly backwards. We are not so much of a problem, because the will leave California with a partial orphan have to take action now to preserve the se- solvent companies can pick them up simply share. Orphan shares must be inexcusable. curity that we now take for granted. Gov- by paying out more money than their share VI. Th e Ca p o n Em i s s i o n s : Ge t t i n g ernment has to choose between disaster for the cleanup. But this does not work with Th e r e i n Tw o Ye a r s prevention and disaster relief. I think most carbon. No other industrialized nation on rational people would choose prevention. earth is positioned, much less obligated, to Rarely does action come before vision. This is a chance for politicians to become adopt an orphan share left by a deadbeat sov- We must visualize what it is going to take true leaders, to explain clearly the nature of ereign – especially a share as large as ours, to achieve the first part of the prescription: the threat, and to install in Americans’ minds 30%. By refusing our planetary share of a cap on emissions in two years. That is a the need for short-term investment and regu- responsibility, we are consigning ourselves very short time frame indeed, given that lation in order to avoid long-term calamity. and all other nations on Earth to disaster. our emissions are rising at a rate of 2% a year. However, success stories are emerg- We must make the point to Americans that

Sp r i n g 2008 15 today’s life of convenience will lock us into Thus far in climate crisis, Americans have ment’s basic obligation to protect the atmo- a future where there is little or no conve- relied on what I would call “paper democ- sphere that our children need for their sur- nience. Where is the convenience in a fam- racy,” that is, sending emails and letters to vival, security, and prosperity, we may soon ily huddled on their rooftop praying that a officials, and writing a letter to the editor find every other nation in the world engaged helicopter will lift them from the floodwaters now and then. The problem is that paper with us, not against us, in a massive, urgent of Hurricane Katrina? Where is the conve- democracy is very labor intensive, does not defense effort to secure the systems of life nience in half a million Californians evacu- create momentum or a critical mass in short on Earth for all generations to come. That ating to escape mega-fires racing toward order, diffuses anger and emotion, and does shall be the dawn of planetary patriotism. their homes? Do we find convenience in the not present the pain of climate damage di- emergency cooling centers of Missouri and rectly to the lawmakers. There is another Mary Christina Wood is a Philip H. Tennessee, where masses congregated last approach, “street democracy.” This is where Knight Professor of Law and Found- summer to take respite from searing tem- citizens exercise their Constitutional right of ing Director of the Environmental and peratures? As for cost, where is the business assembly in protest at public places, includ- Natural Resources Law Program, Uni- sense of letting this problem get so bad that ing the steps of the legislature. What govern- versity of Oregon School of Law. we will be spending much more money re- mental official wants to turn on the television sponding to disasters and crop failures than and see masses of citizens in angry protest *This article was originally published we will spend in taking preventative action holding up signs that say, “government is in the UO Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation. now? The British Government’s Stern asleep at the wheel,” or “there’s nothing Review estimates that climate disaster will worse for business than the end of civiliza- cost up to 20% of our GNP, yet actions to tion”? Demonstrations can be the lighter reduce greenhouse gas emissions would fluid for smoldering legislative coals. The 1. See David Spratt & Philip Sutton, Climate Code 6 Red: The Case for a Sustainability Emergency 39 cost only 1% of our GNP. Leaders need major movements of our time have gained (Friends of the Earth 2008) (summarizing science), to start speaking truth to the circumstances unstoppable momentum when citizens exer- available at http://www.climatecodered.net/ (here- inafter Climate Code Red). we face. True leaders know how to do that. cised their right of street democracy. Think 2. Id. (“The long-run maximum level of CO2e of the women’s suffrage movement, the Viet- must not exceed 320 ppm.”); James Hansen, Those leaders are coming forth. For example, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, David Beerling, nam War movement, the civil rights move- Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Pagani, Maureen the Kansas Department of Health and Envi- Raymo, Dana Royer, James C. Zachos, Target ment, and the environmental movement. ronment recently denied an air permit for a Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? (draft) March 31, 2008, available at http://www. proposed coal fired plant on the basis of green- The climate movement will be next, and it columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TargetCO2_20080331. pdf. (noting 350 ppm as initial target subject to house gas emissions. The head of that agen- has already begun. One thing is clear: Amer- reassessment “as the effect on ice sheet mass bal- cy said, “It would be irresponsible to ignore . icans will stand together during this crisis. ance is observed.”). 3. Ill. Cent. R. R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 453 . . the contribution of . . . greenhouse gases to The choice is whether to stand together in (1892). climate change and the potential harm to our the streets today holding up signs with po- 4. Luers, M. D. Mastrandrea, K. Hayhoe, & P. 7 C. Frumhoff, How to Avoid Dangerous Climate environment and health if we do nothing.” litical messages or to stand together tomor- Change: A Target for U.S. Emissions Reductions 5 row- on rooftops holding up signs for help. (Union of Concerned Scientists 2007) (hereinafter Target for U.S. Emissions Reductions), available at VII. Th e Cr i s i s o f Di s t r a c t i o n The moral high ground is here, and it is now. http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_ warming/emissions-target-report.pdf. To close, the question should not be whether 5. Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary VIII. Th e Da w n o f Pl a n e t a r y Pa t r i o t i s m we can transform society to thwart global Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. 250-251 (2006) (featuring a map catastrophe. The question is how we can im- When the leaders of this country are jolted depicting contributions across the globe). mediately convince our government to do so out of denial and wake up to climate emer- 6. Nicholas Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review vi(2006), available – how can we bring forth courageous leaders, gency, they will suddenly realize that they athttp://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/3/2/Sum- mary_of_Conclusions.pdf. because there have been pitifully few so far. face a higher calling than any other genera- 7. Steve Mufson, Power Plant Rejected Over tion of leaders in our history. For they hold Carbon Dioxide for the First Time, Wash. Post, Our greatest enemy is distraction. Every Oct. 19, 2007, at A1. office during a planetary emergency. Their day of carbon pollution brings increased decisions will reverberate through all of probability of harm, but the attention of Humanity on Earth from this time on. As the vast majority of leaders and agency soon as we Americans define our govern- officials is still focused on other issues.

16 Th e Ec o t o n e Re n e w i n g Re l a t i o n s h i p s t o t h e La n d On Two Wheels Rob Hoshaw first-year master’s student

he sun warmed me from behind, flitter- Looking up at the dome of unbroken blue, weren’t so bad here. Eugene’s weather is sup- Ting through the branches of Douglas fir I shifted down and inhaled the sweetness posed to be frustratingly static for months. In and hardwoods canopying the trail. Beads of of the crisp afternoon and rode on anyway. reality, I think nothing could be further from perspiration dampened my undershirt as it the truth. Oh, it does rain—and often. Yet the “The weather is the same thing there every clung to my skin. The air was cool,though, rains themselves are wonderfully dynamic. day. You wake up and you know exactly and it had a bite which made even this Mid- While day-long soaks are likely, and blind- what it’s going to do—rain.” western boy wish I had something to cover ing downpours happen occasionally, the my ears. The cool afternoon breeze nipped This was the cynical response of a former most common rains are gentler than the soft- playfully at my nostrils and tickled the back coworker from Fargo, North Dakota to my est mists at the produce aisle, and even other of my throat dry. I could hardly complain inquiry about Oregon’s weather; he had winter days flirt with the possibility of just a though. The weather was gorgeous, and lived in Portland for several years. His blunt kiss of snow. I have enjoyed the weather, no honestly, I had underdressed in a spontane- comment disheartened me somewhat in an- less, due to my choice to embrace a lifestyle ous decision to defy January by embark- ticipation of my move to Eugene, and once that is so easy to adopt in Eugene—biking. ing in only a green hooded sweatshirt. Yet I arrived in the Northwest, it was a message By commuting on bike, no matter the the longer I rode the more comfortable I further enforced by Eugeneans themselves. weather, I have been able to experience a became—it felt delightfully rebellious. The bluebird skies of August, they warned, plethora of sights, scents, and sounds. On would before long give way to persistent Tender ears and a runny nose were quickly bike, there is a viscerally invigorating per- gray and endless rain. As I continued to bike forgotten, and soon I feathered the breaks spective which is lost to a driver of an au- past the Delta Ponds, I had to chuckle lightly and paused to watch several species of ducks tomobile. From behind a windshield, life is to myself. Even if this was a fluke, things dabbling in the flooded riparian woods of the brimming Willamette. For a moment, I was back home, and it was April in north- central Minnesota. The north winds had less- ened their brutality, bringing only the chill of the disappearing lake ice. The waterfowl were returning to breed in the streams and ponds, and I could tell it was spring most of all because I could smell it—smell the thaw of water-logged mud as the leaves of last November began once again to decay and smell the freshness of moist breezes replacing the dry arctic air. If I closed my eyes, I had to remind myself that this was

not Minnesota in April; this was January in PHOTO B Y Eugene. I threw my right leg over the seat

of my bike and smiled at the wading birds, W E N L EE once again oblivious to my presence. Wait- ing at my apartment were articles to be read and assignments to be completed ...

Sp r i n g 2008 17 lackluster; it dulls the senses and the view Eugene, and in fact much of the Pacific on the roads. And it’s a culture that isn’t just is incredibly restrictive. Observing the Northwest, is conducive to a lifestyle of alter- present in Eugene. The largest Northwest cit- world from your car is akin to turning on the native transportation--especially biking. The ies, Portland and Seattle, also boast well over television at home to see what the weather Northwest lacks the bitter cold of the Upper 100 miles of bike trails and lanes themselves. had been like outside your front porch. Midwest, and strong storms and winds are Within the Eugene area there are also ap- infrequent enough. Yet the fact that so many What my coworker in Fargo hadn’t told me proximately 30 miles of bike paths, many are riding bikes also reflects the way cities was that the sun peeks out from behind the of them following the winding shores of the like Eugene are designed to accommodate clouds almost every day, sometimes bashful Willamette. These riparian paths were the lo- cyclists, and it is not only a climate of mild and brief, or sometimes long enough to dry cation of my early January expedition to the weather, but a climate of hospitality which the dampness from the pavement. I hadn’t Delta Ponds. On my return trip, significantly makes cyclists feel comfortable commuting been told about the glorious image of the warmed from the quickening of the blood in an urban environment. Motorists and cy- sun’s beams beckoning through a gap in the through my veins, I stopped once more to clists alike share the road, and the gap be- evening clouds and warming the chill from observe the ducks dabbling near the shore tween the number of people on bicycles and my face. It’s a splendor even Bob Ross, if amongst the inundated trees, sequestered in automobiles seems much narrower than he were alive, would have trouble duplicat- from the waves which rolled with the current, many other places of the country. Nearly 90 ing in one of his paintings. Nor was I told churning the Willamette into a white lather. miles of designated street routes and bicycle when you ride south on Willamette or Pearl lanes provide cyclists with the same privi- There was a welcome stiffness in my thighs, streets during foggy mornings, the Douglas leges and responsibilities as automobiles. an awakening of muscles. I set my bike firs atop Spencer Butte are ghostly spires that While the car would likely appear to reign, down and attempted to identify the water- appear for an instant before they’re shrouded there is a deference given to cyclists by mo- fowl. There were at least two. There were once more behind color-shifting mist. Even torists, who will often wave the cyclist on the larger mallards and the scaup—their the clouds themselves are far from monoto- at an intersection or yield the right of way steel-blue bills, dark heads and whitish nous, as there is often a whole spectrum of with a smile instead of an impatient scowl. backs, and smaller frame made them easily gray—from goose down and gull grey to distinguishable from the common mallards. steel and charcoaled ash. I’m astonished In past experiences in the upper Midwest, And was that a ring-necked duck just beyond at the majesty of the sky, and the freedom I’ve had obscene gestures and angry com- the others? I cursed myself for not bringing of the bike allows me to drink it all in. ments directed at me while riding on the road, binoculars and a bird guide, necessities for not to mention fear I might be struck down at The benefits to riding are well documented any cyclist serious about birding. Instead, any moment. A cyclist should not feel “in the both health-wise and environmentally. In I resorted to straining my eyes in search of way” on the road. Vehicles powered by hu- a society where obesity is an increasing the telltale white swoosh-shaped patch on man muscle have every bit as much right to epidemic, biking is a great way to keep in the side of the bird. The waves broke up travel on the road as those powered by gaso- shape, and it is no secret that bicycles don’t the pattern on the duck’s feathers, however, line. This is not to say that every driver in Eu- discharge greenhouse gases. Implications of and the identity of the bird was left in ques- gene respects cyclists, nor does it suggest that health and sustainability aside, there is an- tion. The beauty of bird watching was also drivers in the Midwest are out bowling for other, greater incentive to get on a bike and the challenge of identification in the field. cyclists and pedestrians. What I am suggest- experience the Northwest—personal fulfill - ing is that there is a palpable culture in Eu- Back on the bike and on the trail towards ment. Your body, your senses, and not least gene which has embraced biking. We belong campus and downtown, black-capped chick- of all your spirit, will thank you. adees chattered to each other in the limbs

18 Th e Ec o t o n e overhanging the river and the bike path. My identifying birds along the paths of the Wil- feet gripped the pedals as they gyrated round lamette, children who are still excited about the axis, and the wheels whirred softly across discovering their own relationship with na- the pavement, a constant drone deadened ture, even if they don’t look at it in that con- only when the tires passed over a carpet of text. It’s a relationship they’re unwittingly fallen fir needles. It was a cozily intimate set- introducing themselves to through biking. ting amongst the birds and steady stream of There’s also hope present in all the Euge- people. Other Eugeneans took full advantage neans who commute to work and school— of the clear skies and warm weather as well. I those for whom the decision to ride instead passed couples young and old holding hands, of drive is seen as a pleasure and a privi- groups of friends, parents and their children, lege, not a responsibility or commitment. an abundance of dogs—tongues lolling contentedly, and most of all, other cyclists. I felt fortunate to experience seeing the birds and feeling the freshness of the balmy Janu- The last of the ponds on my way home pro- ary air. Even within the city, there’s so much vided me with the most joy. Out of the cor- more one will notice on bike than in a car. ner of my eye I spotted a double-crested cor- Far less noisy and intimidating, bicyclists are morant, obsidian black and nearly invisible more likely to spot the family of raccoons save for its yellow-ivory bill. Seconds later, living near the University of Oregon or a a great blue heron’s spear-like silhouette bald eagle perched on the limb of a tree by materialized from the rushes on the shore, the Willamette River. The urban landscape tall and statuesque. They reminded me of is not devoid of wildlife or natural beauty; home—of Minnesota—and it was as though one merely has to know where to look. Just they had followed me here, but the birds as many will relinquish their cars for bikes weren’t truly what brightened my day. Two to experience the Oregon wilderness, others young boys were by the very same pond, bal- of us have already recognized that the best ancing bikes between their legs. One had a way to experience the city is on two wheels. pair of binoculars, proving more industrious than I had been. They pointed at it excitedly.

“That’s a great blue heron!” the one with the binoculars shouted.

The bird had made their day, yet they had made mine. In a world where the future of our environment at times seems quite un- J AKIM E T Z certain and precarious, and when we face a J ILL litany of issues that threaten to drain every ounce of hope, there is a shred of optimism B Y PHOTO for the future. It’s a presence which can be found in something as simple as two boys

Sp r i n g 2008 19 St u d e n t Vo i c e s from the Environmental Studies Program

Predator Conservation Depends on Human Collaboration Stacy Vynne Second-year master’s student

Lawsuits, publicity stunts, and rumors of re urban residents making decisions the wolf, but there’s no point dwelling on wolf bounties and wolf baiting (leaving dead that impact rural communities? In the past. Serious changes must be made to A livestock out as attractants) continue to make many cases, yes, especially pertaining to management if the wolves have any hope at headlines and inspire heated debates across politics. In Oregon and Washington, voters a future. The wolves are on the ground, and both states. Something needs to change. outside of major cities tend to vote more they face huge hurdles in winning over the conservatively, whereas the majority of hearts and minds of the ranching community. For a researcher who was raised in the city dwellers veer more toward the liberal The idea of wolves and ranchers embracing suburbs and has spent her life dedicated to end of the spectrum. In rural Arizona and is a little overly optimistic, but how can they wildlife conservation, it can be hard to get New Mexico, ranching communities claim learn to at least live alongside each other? into the minds of men and women whose that these often urban “vegetarian envi- families have lived for generations in rural A 2005 survey conducted by an independent ronmentalists” are behind the reintroduc- communities, working the land and caring consulting firm (hired by Fish and Wildlife) tion of endangered species. However, the for their animals. But reading their stories identified that a wide majority of citizens in reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf, a – about finding partially eaten calves, sheep Arizona and New Mexico supported wolf re- subspecies of the better known “Yellow- with missing limbs, and how their fathers covery. However, a survey conducted this stone” gray wolf, isn’t a conspiracy against and grandfathers were celebrated as heroes winter that targeted ranchers living in the the rural ranching community—it’s the law. for killing off the wolves—provides some communities where wolves are allowed to insight into this world. Within less than The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 roam showed an overwhelming lack of sup- sixty years, wolves went from being vermin requires federal and state governments to port for the wolves. So if the wolves are that must be removed forever to an endan- do whatever possible to protect and recover staying in the Southwest (thanks to the En- gered species that should be celebrated and species identified as endangered or threat- dangered Species Act), but their closest neigh- reintroduced to the land. Even the recent ened. Despite the clear guidance given by bors would rather have them killed, what can city transplants that have moved to ‘ranch- the ESA, it took almost 20 years from the be done? Instead of seeking input from the ettes’ are quickly linked in with their new time the Mexican gray wolf recovery plan city dwellers, it is essential that conserva- community and join forces to fight against was written until the time the wolves set tionists work with the communities that are wolf recovery on behalf of their neighbors. foot back in the forests of the Southwest. directly affected by species recovery. Many (And even then, they were classified as a conservation organizations in the Southwest No amount of conservation dollars will build “nonessential experimental” population al- have taken this approach by working with tolerance in these communities—at least not lowing for great flexibility in their manage- livestock owners to develop programs that during our lifetime. There is such intense ment, such as removing wolves that left the reduce the economic impact that might come hatred for these animals that efforts should restricted reintroduction boundary.) There from losing animals to endangered predators, instead focus on ways that eliminate any jus- are major criticisms of how the Fish and but today the war continues between the wolf tification that people have for killing off the Wildlife Service handled the recovery of advocates and the livestock associations. wolves. Continuing to work directly with

20 Th e Ec o t o n e communities that are affected by conserva- long history that almost ended in extinc- to say, the wolves have faced a long uphill tion efforts can help to identify innovative tion, the wolves are on the ground. How- battle. Even though they are protected by initiatives that are proactive and preventa- ever, ten years since the first wolf release, the Endangered Species Act, until human tive against wildlife conflicts. These types only 50 individuals exist in the wild and ap- communities learn to work together, their of initiatives will only take place when there proximately 44 have been removed (either future, at least in the Southwest, looks bleak. is collaboration between urban and rural killed or placed back in captivity). Needless residents. The decision-makers need to em- power the communities that are most affect- A grant from T&E Inc provided funding to conduct the survey of ranchers and supported trav- ed by conservation (typically rural areas) or el to the Southwest to conduct interviews and visit areas where wolf-livestock conflicts occur. the Endangered Species Act and the animals In addition, a Barker Grant (through the Environmental studies Program) allowed for travel it protects will continue to be threatened by to Chico, Montana to present research on “Assessing Ranchers’ Attitudes Towards Livestock the courts, poachers and negative publicity. Compensation in the Southwest” at the North American Wolf Conference in April 2008. The an- It is hard to say whether wolf recovery in nual Wolf Conference brings together leaders in wolf research and management from federal, the Southwest has been a success. After a state and tribal governments, as well as conservation organizations, researchers, and ranchers.

Anticipating Hardship A Carefully Calculated Balance Wen Lee first-year master’s student

ncreasingly, we see pieces written by sumerist, extraction-intense system of indus- ful model will emerge. In the meantime, Ithose calling for the Next Industrial Rev- try will have to be torn down. Think of how caught in the crossfire of transition will be olution,* a revolution in which the current many people work within this network. They people who need jobs and an environment linear system of extraction and production will lose their jobs. Think of how many cities that will have to sustain more extraction. is scratched for something completely dif- and communities rely solely on a specific leg of Let’s not kid ourselves. A new system of ferent: natural capitalism, closed-loop pro- this network. Local economies will collapse. industry will inflict damage to the environ- duction systems, the complete eradication of A new system will have to be put in place. ment. It is ironic, since the whole point of this hazardous materials, and so on. They argue This new system will not be simple. It will new system is to stop inflicting damage to that this shift is not only necessary, but also require complexity and carefully calcu- the environment. But where do you think the imminent. While the likes of William Mc- lated balance. How to produce items with- photovoltaic cells will come from? Where do Donough proclaim their grand visions with out cross-contamination of organic and you think the natural substitutes for chemical zeal, I find that a terribly important component non-biodegradable ingredients? How to set inputs will come from? Where do you think of this discussion remains unacknowledged. up a system where consumers will actually improved mass transit lines will come from? THERE WILL BE A LOT OF SUFFERING. return all appliances to manufacturers, and Will urban sprawls magically transform into manufacturers will actually sort and recycle green cities? Of course not. Setting up new Not the tsunami or famine type, but intense the appliance materials? How to phase out infrastructure requires resource extraction… pain will be afflicted upon the economy and all toxic chemical use? Mass industry has and a huge system overhaul like this will re- environment. This suffering will be tempo- never tried such ideas. It will not emerge quire a lot of extraction. Not just material ex- rary, but that doesn’t mean it won’t matter. overnight. People will try things. People traction (I suppose some could be offset by The complex and intricate infrastructure cur- will make mistakes. It will require many recycling) but energy extraction as well. How rently in place for our globalized, hyper-con- cycles of trial-and-error before a success- much energy will be needed to build new fac-

Sp r i n g 2008 21 tories, new machines, and new landscapes? What I am arguing against are those who a new, clean, and thought-through industrial How much work will be required to reorient paint a rosy, beautiful picture of the future system. The revolution will allow us to suc- city, building, and transportation plans? How that we could have. As though with a sweep cessfully live on the earth in a sustainable much will we ask of nature to supply us with of the hand, we will be free of the evils of and balanced manner, in which we enjoy materials for new technology? How much industry and the reckless plundering of the benefits of civilization while respect- waste will be produced from the demolition Mother Nature—that we’ll enter a utopia of ing ecological limits. This is a noble goal, of old structures? I shudder to think of it. security, harmony, and prosperity. They fly and is one for which we must strive. How- on the wings of idealism without consider- ever, the difficulty of the task at hand must Yes, the construction of a new system will ing realistic implications. They are wrong. be acknowledged. We must understand that offer a plethora of new jobs. Yes, the com- it will get worse before it gets better. The pletion of a new system will open up a Change causes hardship. We cannot alter this choice to enter the Next Industrial Revolu- myriad of new careers. But changing careers fact. The only thing we can do is try to mol- tion/The Great Turning/whatever you want is not a painless process. Just ask someone lify the hardship by easing into the change to call it – is not a choice to make lightly. It who has been laid-off from a job of 20 years slowly. If we slowly and carefully transition is a choice to walk deliberately down a path and now needs to enter another field with- from our current extraction-intensive system of guaranteed hardship and suffering. This out any training or experience. The lay-off to an environmentally sustainable system, is something we must accept and prepare. itself was already a blow to morale and se- we will decrease the intensity of suffering. curity. Job-searching takes time and train- We could implement policies and safety Are we willing to make sacrifices for the ing takes time, and in the meantime this nets to support people and the environment good of the future? person’s family still needs to eat. Multiply throughout the change. Instead of thousands This is not a hypothetical question. I’m talk- this by millions, because this will happen of people losing their jobs at one time, may- ing real, material, and economic sacrifices. on a large scale across developed countries. be only hundreds will. Instead of an industry Can we consciously say yes to this question? completely switching over all its manufac- Let’s consider for a moment the impact of turing processes at once, maybe it will only * This piece is a response to : this paradigm shift on poor, developing have to focus on one specific process at a countries. Many of them are already mired McDonough, William, and Michael Braun- time. Instead of a complete system overhaul, in political, social, and/or environmental in- gart. 1998. The next industrial revolution. maybe it will be a gradual piece-by-piece ad- stability. Inexorably connected to developed The Atlantic Monthly. 282(4): 82-91. aptation. With more time, there will be less countries via globalization (a huge portion Lovins, Amory B., L. Hunter Lovins, and shock, less suffering, and fewer mistakes. of goods are manufactured in developing Paul Hawken. 1999. A road map for natu- countries), they will then also have to bear Of course, you see the problem with that. ral capitalism. Harvard Business Review. the burden of all that comes with the Next It is uncertain whether we have the time. 77(3): 145-158. Industrial Revolution. The rocky, fault-rid- How many projections have you heard about den transition to green industry will only add the million ways the world will collapse? chaos and complexity to their already turbu- Greenland is melting, hurricanes are coming, lent world. Sure, an entire mining town in the polar bears are going to die, England is go- U.S. may be thrown into unemployment. But ing to freeze over, we’re going to run out of consider the impact of an entire textile-man- clean water… in 50 years? In 100? By 2050? ufacturing village in Latin America thrown By 2100? We are operating in a state of ur- into unemployment… On top of the poverty, gency right now. Adapt or die. Change needs there is government corruption and a lack to happen now, immediately, fast. We don’t of education with which they were already have time to implement safety nets to ensure struggling to live. This is not a pretty picture. that the transition is as painless as possible. I am not arguing against the Next Industrial Which takes me back to my opening state- Revolution. On the contrary, I believe that as ment. The result will be a transition with a a matter of our survival, it is not a possibility great deal of suffering. Of course, in the end, but a necessity. it is very possible that we will triumph with

22 Th e Ec o t o n e Hummingbirds A Backyard Delight

Ali Abbors first-year master’s student ne of the greatest delights of back- I’ve been feeding, observing, and enjoy- but they’ll find your feeder just fine regard- Oyard bird watching, in my opinion, is ing hummingbirds either on my own or less of its color. Feeders with ant moats and observing hummingbird antics. How can a with my family for decades. Nonetheless, bee guards are available to prevent uninvited bird be at once so tiny, so beautiful, and so I learned only this year about a number of diners from going for a swim in the syr- feisty? And how can such a little bird make potentially deadly misconceptions I’ve held upy hummer food and potentially latching it all the way through a Eugene winter? about hummingbird feeding safety. I imag- onto an unsuspecting birdie tongue. Feed- ine that a number of hummingbird-lovers ers with perches allow the birds to dine in I moved to Eugene in the fall of 2007 and are equally unaware. Whether you are a comfort, but feeders without perches are also immediately began to wonder how long the long-time hummingbird feeder or just get- fine, as some birds will hover either way. hummers stick around this part of the world once the days start turning shorter. As it Many people place their feeders outside a turns out, by the time I put out my feeder window where they are easy to observe. The in November, only Anna’s Hummingbirds A BB ORS birds don’t seem to mind this too much. Just ALI

(Calypte anna) remained. As an amateur make sure the feeder is high enough to be birder and a newbie to Eugene, I wor- out of reach of cats and that you discour- ried that my feeder would keep the hum- B Y PHOTO age window collisions by using dark-col- mingbirds here into the winter longer than ored decals. Hanging feeders in the shade they should safely stay. Concerned, I called may help slow spoilage (although feeders the Audubon Society of Portland to get an should be cleaned regularly, regardless). idea of what to expect. The nice woman on One feeder may be more than enough in the the phone assured me that Annas Humming- winter, but you may want to increase the birds are non-migratory and that my feeder ting started, these helpful hummingbird number during warmer months. Anna’s and would have no bearing on their presence feeding instructions will help you ensure the Rufous Hummingbirds are very territorial, so in Eugene. She encouraged me to keep my well being of your tiniest backyard friends. several smaller feeders can be better than one feeders up all winter and keep them clean. large one. Keep an eye on the birds’ behavior to (For information on creating a humming- The stalwart Anna’s continued to visit my determine when to put out additional feeders. bird-healthy habitat in your yard, visit: feeder throughout the winter, defending http://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/bird_ “their” backyard against, well, everything. Pr e p a r i n g h u m m i n g b i r d f o o d : feeding/hum_habitats.html.) When the tiny, brightly-colored Rufous Hum- Hummingbirds have evolved to digest the mingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) began showing Ch o o s i n g a n d l o c a t i n g y o u r f ee d e r : sucrose found in flower nectar. Many of us up in early March and more feeders popped may be tempted to use raw sugar, honey, or Hummingbird feeders are available at most up throughout my Whiteaker neighborhood, other types of syrup to feed hummingbirds, garden shops, drugstores, and feed stores. the hummingbirds ratcheted up their antics but these can introduce impurities that may Above all, choose a feeder that is easy to with territorial displays of surprising vigor. cause illness or death. Commercial nectar disinfect. A red feeder will attract the birds,

Sp r i n g 2008 23 mixtures are costly and often include unnec- white rice to the vinegar solution and shak- hungry winter hummers by thawing the fro- essary additives. Refined white sugar is actu- ing vigorously. Make sure to rinse at least zen nectar in a bowl and refilling your feed- ally the most “natural” option for humming- three times after scouring with rice. You may er immediately with your stand-by batch. birds; this is the ONLY thing you should use also consider designating a bottlebrush spe- to feed them. Fortunately, organic refined cifically to feeder-cleaning duty. “He y , w h o i n v i t e d y o u ?” De a l i n g w i t h u n i n v i t e d d i n e r s : white sugar is widely available, so you can • Make sure your cleaning includes all parts “feed two birds with one seed”, so to speak. of the feeder, such as the beak entry holes Ants, wasps and other insects will find your • Prepare a sugar and water mixture of 1:4 and the perches. Some parts of the feeder feeders, especially in the warmer months. (e.g. ¼ cup sugar and one cup of water). may need to be submerged in a vinegar solu- A feeder with an ant moat filled with - wa Some hummers prefer a sweeter syrup, and tion and scrubbed separately. ter (NOT oil or any kind of insecticide) others will tolerate a lower concentration; can prevent ants from overtaking the hum- “Sh a v e d i ce , a n y o n e ?” Wh a t t o d o w i t h 1:4 is generally seen as the happiest medium. mingbird food reservoir. Crafty folks might y o u r f ee d e r s i n t h e w i n t e r : Make sure the sugar dissolves completely. try securing a half soda can or small yo- Anna’s Hummingbirds will continue coming gurt container to the wire that attaches the • Boil the solution for a couple minutes in to Eugene feeders year-round, even as tem- feeder to the eaves; if properly sealed and order to help eliminate bacteria, but don’t al- peratures drop below freezing. Dan Gleason, filled with water, ants won’t be able to get low the sugar to caramelize Field Ornithology Instructor at the Univer- past it. Vaseline can also be applied as a bar- • Allow the liquid to cool before adding to a sity of Oregon, cautions: “If the bird seems rier around the beam that holds the feeder; clean feeder; lukewarm (but NOT hot) liquid to disappear for a few days, don’t remove just be careful not to apply it where it can is just fine for hummingbirds. your feeder. Hummingbirds often change drip onto the feeder in warmer months. • Prepare only as much as needed for up to their daily routes and you may find [them] Keeping flying insects away is mostly 5 days in cold weather and no more than 2 still feeding at different times or returning a about choosing the right feeder. Feed- days in warmer weather. few days later.” It surprised me to learn that ers should have bee guards and the liq- • Do NOT add red food coloring—it’s not insects are an important part of the Anna’s uid level should be out of reach of insects necessary. year-round diet. As Gleason points out, but still high enough for hummingbird “Your feeder will account for only 10-15% “Wh e n i n d o u b t , c l e a n .” Fee d e r h y g i e n e : tongues to reach. If bees and wasps are of their diet, even during the winter.” giving you trouble, try taking your feeder The importance of a clean feeder can- When feeding hummingbirds in the win- down for a few days. The insects will give not be emphasized enough. A dirty feeder ter, the issue of freezing is especially prob- up looking long before the hummingbirds. is more than just unsightly—it’s deadly. lematic in the early morning hours when Bacteria, mold and fungi can cause ma- the hummingbirds are most in need of an So u r ce s : jor problems in hummers’ tiny digestive energy boost. People have come up with a Personal correspondence with Dan Gleason, Vice Presi- systems; you can prevent these issues by variety of solutions to this predicament, in- dent of the Board of the Lane County Audubon Society, following this simple cleaning protocol: cluding rigging tiny heating systems for University of Oregon Field Ornithology Instructor. • Change the liquid in your feeder every five the feeders. The simplest way to keep your Personal conversations with representatives of the days in cold weather and every one to two backyard hummingbirds fed throughout the Audubon Society of Portland. days in warm weather, rinsing with hot wa- winter is to keep an eye on the forecast and ter. bring your feeders in at night if it’s likely to National Audubon Society website: http://www.audu- • If the liquid is at all cloudy, change it; with freeze. Make sure to wait to bring feeders in bon.org/bird/at_home/bird_feeding/hum_feeders.html. regular cleaning, you should be changing it until well past nightfall; hummingbirds de- before it reaches that point. pend on the energy from their last few sips of the day to get them through the cold win- • Disinfect your feeder once a week using ter nights. Put the feeders back out at first a mixture of one part white vinegar to four light. Keep an extra batch of nectar in the parts hot water. Be sure to rinse thoroughly. refrigerator in case your feeder unexpect- • For hard to reach spaces, the National edly freezes; you can minimize delays for Audubon Society recommends adding dry

24 Th e Ec o t o n e Bathtub in the Bushes

Shannon Tyman second-year master’s student In 2004 a poll of 500 art ‘experts’ voted Mar- ference entitled “Waste and Abundance”, I is a pornography of sex and death.” ii Train- cel Duchamp’s Fountain the most influential may have continued my aimless adventures side, in the bushes of Belfast, a bathtub un- art work of all time.i A ready-made urinal through the streets of Belfast, Ireland last abashedly exposed itself to me. signed by the artist and hung on a gallery spring without a second glance. Circum- This discarded rubbish was the result of wall thus forever changed the way the world stances being as they were, I was struck by abundance: too many tubs, presumably the looked at art. the artful manner in which a tub lay wasted new and the old. Perhaps it leaked; wasted Were it not for the ostentatious creativity of in the shrubbery. As Kevin Lych points out, water is uneconomical. Before me lay the Duchamp and within the context of a con- “There is pornography of waste, just as there ruins of a great lavatory, the relic of bygone WC’s. Through my experience of it, this haphazardly tossed bathing receptacle was aesthetically redeemed. Less than two days later, having led a small tour from conference headquarters, it was discovered that the tub had found a new resi- dence. One renovator’s trash had become an- other’s treasured new property. From object to waste, to art through abundance, both uri- nal and tub reveal the often hidden lifecycle of our latrines.

i. BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/, 2004/12/01.

ii. Lynch, Kevin and Southworth, Michael (ed), Wasting Away. San Fransisco: Sierra Club Books, 1990, p. 1.

PHOTO BY SHANNON TYMAN

Sp r i n g 2008 25 26 Th e Ec o t o n e A Na t u r a l Di s t u r bpai anting ns by c Cod ey Evers first -year master’s student

Sp r i n g 2008 27 h e d i b l e i t y Tredefining E human habit(at) C in the urban agrarian landscape

Jill Jakimetz first-year master’s student

rban agriculture is a radical tradition. look like when the urban and agrarian meet. hold in your now cold hands a parcel of food UPeople have been growing food in the that embodies not only the energy put into city since there was such a thing as a city. Fo o d Ne t w o r k s , Su s t a i n a b l e Sy s t e m s a n d creating the plants and harvesting the ber- Through economic instability and war it has t h e Ex p ec t a t i o n o f La n d s c a p e ries and shipping and trucking and keeping secured human survival. In better times, ur- “Food”, says Carlos Petrini, “is far more the load cold, but at least as much energy ban food production has cultivated thriving than a simple product to be consumed: it is put into obfuscation. A picturesque Ameri- individuals and robust communities. Urban happiness, identity, culture, pleasure, conviv- can red barn, nestled in the rolling hills of agriculture provides opportunities for help- iality, nutrition, local economy, survival…”i a dairy, beams beneath the label “Wood- ing not only humans survive and thrive, but These qualities and components reach be- stock Farms” harkening back to a golden, other creatures as well. As a form of planted, yond their being inherent to food as an object. agrarian New England or Ohio. These urban open space, agriculture in the city is They are components of human experience are “organic” berries, but both the ber- a catalyst for land reclamation, toxic reme- and they are components of the landscapes ries and Woodstock Farms are from China. diation, and microclimates. Urban cropland in which food is produced, processed and But could you say you are surprised? Largely, can be a node and connector of more-than- consumed. If we examine these landscapes, we expect food to be available in the frozen human habitat corridors. The spaces urban we find also that food is habitat, soil,- sur section- well, any section- of the supermar- agriculture occupies are productive spaces: face, sunward aspect, pollination, near water, ket. We expect food to be sold with the charm ecologically, socially and economically. shaded, clumped, all-in-a-row, and it is pas- of agrarian naturalism, and we have become These spaces also produce challenges in, toral, industrial, picturesque, corporate, rural, accustomed to being ignorant or oblivious and therefore opportunities for, redefin- and urban. These compositions of food are to the actual places, people, and landscapes ing how we think of the form and func- ecological, cultural, and aesthetic markers. from which this pound of fruit has come. It is tion of urban infrastructure, food networks, If, as Wendell Berry states, “Eating is an ag- and the meaning of productive landscapes. ricultural act,” then food is a network.ii And As we draw our attention to the sustain- this network is fundamental to the larger ability of our cities, urban agriculture has systems that support and shape human life. become a radical way of entering the con- It becomes essential to think of food as “far versation about what a city is, what it might more than a product”, and also as system, become and how its inhabitants might live. network, and landscape. It is essential if we In 2007, on the banks on the Maas River, are to imagine the diverse and dynamic na- The Netherlands Architecture Institute held ture of what growing, distributing, cooking, an exhibition called De Eetbare Stad / The and eating looks like, where these processes Edible City. It was a collection of projects take place, what form they take, how they from architects, artists, engineers, and de- are accomplished and experienced, and the signers that engaged with the question of ecological and cultural implications. Ev- eating from/in the city. The result was a eryone at every scale must do this work; cacophonous disruption of stiff public/pri- it is an inherently trans-disciplinary task. vate, work/leisure, stable/mobile, rural/ If you pick up a bag of frozen berries from urban dichotomies. The small selection of Woodstock Farms (not that you would do designs presented in this article question that in this part of the country), you will what cities and the lives of their inhabitants

28 Th e Ec o t o n e this tendency toward oblivious expectation ine the urban and agrarian landscapes, and highlight ‘waste’ spaces and articulate con- that is challenged by urban agriculture. This the landscape that encompasses them both. nections between separate places.iv The site is not to say that urban agriculture is purely and plantings serve as “climate and seasonal radical, seeking only to challenge contempo- Th e Ro l e o f Ur b a n Ag r i c u l t u r e registers”, reinforcing experience of space as rary ideas of where food is and where it is not. Locally, urban agriculture exists as city a function of place and time. Urban agricul- ture also gives measure to landscape. “The As with tilth and climate, space has always farms and market gardens (Food for Lane way in which ground for planting is often been a constraint and an opportunity. These County Youth Farm, Springfield), as allot- terraced, faceted and shaped to accommo- three are boundaries to be challenged and ments (Alton Baker Park plots), backyard date [undulations]… articulates and makes have been since the very first transition from gardens (and front yard gardens, rooftops, visible the underlying topography. The actu- hunting and gathering to agrarian cultivation. and road medians), and community gardens al dimension of crops, and of beds, provides If we consider this ancient experiment, we (The Urban Farm here on campus, for ex- another gauge for measuring landscape and witness the beginnings of the nature/culture ample). These forms of agriculture address allowing individuals to locate and position dialectic. What we also notice is the symbio- diverse needs--encompassing the realms themselves within a particular territory. This sis of settlement and agriculture of planning of the social, ecological, and economic. ability to read a landscape and locate oneself to sustain cities from beyond and within the In many countries, urban agriculture is relied becomes critical as contemporary globaliza- city walls. Shanghai, China and Havana, upon for survival--an economic and nutri- tion makes environments more uniform”.v Cuba are contemporary examples of defining tional safety net (urban agriculture in Harare, the city as both urban and agrarian. In Shang- Nairobi, Gaborone, Dar es Salaam, Havana This uniformity without orientation, the hai, as the city developed and grew, many are prominent examples). Other countries, placelessness of contemporary globaliza- enveloped agrarian spaces remained agricul- mostly in Europe and North America, advo- tion articulated by the architects Katrin turally productive. In Havana, following the cate for and participate in urban agriculture Bohn and André Viljoen, is echoed by Pe- collapse of the Soviet Union, Mother Neces- as a “response to long term environmental trini. It is the nearness to food that begins sity placed food production atop an urban degradation or particular local conditions, to create place, meaning, and health in fabric and reestablished agrarian spaces with- often related to specific areas of social- de the human sphere. Collapsing this physi- in the city as integral to urban development. pravation”.iii As a result, urban agriculture cal distance requires loosening the polar- ization between the urban and agrarianvi The spatial arrangement of city and agri- is largely regarded as a grassroots, environ- and any other dichotomous extremities. culture in the United States, for example, mental justice endeavor. In these cases, de- was the inheritance and evolution of a dif- sign is a function of utility: space, money, De Ee t b a r e St a d ::: Th e Ed i b l e Ci t y ::: ferent model. The dominant American ur- and labor are scarce, and need is immedi- Ne t h e r l a n d s Ar c h i t ec t u r e In s t i t u t e ban aesthetic became easily described, and ate. Aesthetics, too, are a function of utility, often mutually exclusive of the rural agrar- but also of individual or small-scale com- The Edible City exhibit was created by Guus ian. This aesthetic also informed the de- munity intervention by myriad participants, Beumer, Debra Solomon, Anneke Moors, velopment of the American suburb, which often with diverse cultural backgrounds. and Hans Ibelings. It was a collection of art, design, and documentation of urban ag- sought the most leisurely balance of the ur- In landscape terms, urban agriculture riculture, “presenting a diverse range of pro- ban and rural spheres, excluding the agrar- sites play several roles. As the architects posals and strategies to produce food in or ian in all but symbolic ways. Within this Bohn and Viljoen articulate in their book near the city and that offer the opportunity context, urban agriculture provides an op- on urban food production, these sites often to experience the city in a different way”.vii portunity to reexamine the ways we imag- occupy edges and interstitial spaces; they

Sp r i n g 2008 29 There seem to be two major approaches Some inadvertent shoppers were extremely intensity, and technology. The human scale to contemporary urban agriculture design. knowledgeable about the plant properties, is minimal, human presence is minimal or One inserts food production into the exist- others took offense at a bad joke, some ex- non-existent. Though the landscape form ing urban fabric through small scale, indi- pected botanical education services, others may have changed, our relationship to the vidual project interventions. The second still reminisced about cooks scurrying out pigs in terms of animal husbandry, meat pro- incorporates the first approach into a radical the back door to quickly gather fresh ‘weeds.’ cessing, eating, and wasting does not. Pig restructuring of the urban landscape. The Some got their wallet ready, only to realize City is based on the premise that consump- majority of designs of last year’s Edible they could have grown or gathered the puny tion is constant. This certainly isn’t biologi- City exhibit at the Netherlands Architecture plants themselves. Within this project we cal farming. It is not an improvement on pig Institute tend toward the former. Some of can observe a distinction between an urban farming as it exists now. It then follows to the selected designs following are extreme agriculture in the sense of a cultivated plot, ask whether vertical intensification for other visions of such interventions. CPULs, or and an existing productive landscape, which systems may be equally inappropriate. At Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes, contributes to the food production of the city. least one thing we learn is that in designing articulate an exciting form of the latter. Here also we see an ambiguity about the role for sustainable systems and sustainable cit- Both branches redefine work/leisure, public/ of consumer, urban-dweller, producer, and ies, merely tweaking the landscape in terms private, rural/urban, stable/mobile in ways distributor. Some of the most knowledgeable of rural/urban or horizontal/vertical without that produce variable visions of the urban patrons were immigrants, complicating the critically managing scale and intensity is ef- agrarian landscape. Images of these projects question of native food and native knowl- fective only in framing the conversation. can be found through Solomon’s website. edge. In the urban environment are crops non-native plants? Is urban agriculture an AVL Vi l l e ::: At e l i e r v a n Li e s h o u t economic invasive? An aesthetic invasive? AVL Ville is the art, architecture, and de- sign company Atelier van Lieshout’s answer Pi g Ci t y ::: MVRDV to the question, what is a sustainable urban “In 2000, pork was the most consumed community? “The village can be seen as an form of meat. Animal diseases such as urban survival kit complete with a hospital, Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth disease were then raising questions about pork pro- an art academy, a canteen, a working alcohol duction and consumption. If we don’t want distillery, a sausage factory, a mobile farm to become instant vegetarians, MVRDV for personal food production, its own mon- suggests that we change the production ey, but also containers for making weapons methods and adopt biological farming. But ix do we have enough space for biological pig and bombs.” The struggle of AVL Ville to farming? The Netherlands is chief exporter become and remain a sovereign state within of pork within the European Union. As or- Rotterdam articulates the necessity of inter- ganic farming involves feeding pigs with dependence and the desire for independence. 100% grain, 130% more field surface would be needed. This would mean that 75 % of Materials and money flow from outside the the country would be dedicated to pigs. town’s boundaries. Food is produced within Pig City’s proposal is to concentrate the a hoop house designed off site, and the fami- meat production in one area. Pigs would be ly car is put to use as a generator and chicken kept in stacked comfortable ‘apartments’, which would make them happy (and thus coop. The gardens are cultivated to sustain would mean a better taste for the meat) and the community, but end up being served to Ci t y Fo o d Sh o p ::: Fi l i a l e viii save space”. tourists to generate income. Everything is The sign in front of the Filiale art studio By transplanting the intensity of pig farm- created to sustain the village. Citizens work reads, “Here, locally grown food, for free!” ing from the rural, horizontal landscape to be self-sufficient, but everything, includ- This is an investigation into the “natural re- to the urban, vertical landscape, Pig City ing the village itself, is a work of art. The sources” of Basel, Switzerland. The shop ex- challenges our sense of what constitutes an idea becomes more interesting when the vil- plored the free growing, edible foods readily outrageous and unsustainable food system. lage sets up franchises in rural areas, bring- gathered in the city and the perceptions of While the rural/urban and axial orientation ing homemade, recycled, prefab sets to aid this edible network by consumers/audience. has shifted, what remains constant are scale, the urban agrarian pioneer to be self-suffi-

30 Th e Ec o t o n e cient in a new landscape. The mobile farmer mous location questions the relationship be- upon you to feed it, water it, let it grow, har- with a stable home seeks freedom in nature tween our spiritual lives, rituals, our sacred vest it, eat it, get it really dirty, create some only to impose an order conceived in the city. spaces and the mundane physical lives, ritu- garbage in it and wash it for it to function als, and spaces allocated to food production, optimally.”xi This design of integrated com- distribution, and consumption. We might ask ponents resonates with the overarching goal whether this is a culinary Las Vegas, an im- of urban agriculture: to create sustainable possible trick of imagination lent reality by systems. Issues of flow and scale, productive ignoring the sanctity of space and the reality reciprocity, work, action, utility, and eco- of increasingly scarce resources. Or is there kitchen-system services. Rather than a piece more transparency in this chimera of the ed- of technology providing a service only when ible landscape--not concealing, but revealing desired and at the expense of third party en- the reality of the food metabolism of econom- ergy, this relatively closed system speaks to ic, cultural, aesthetic, and spiritual systems. a different relationship between human and technology. Here, relationships of work are De Vu u r k e i ze r (Th e Fi r e Em p e r o r ) ::: Sm a l l Tr u c k a n d Ci t y Fa r m i n g Mo d u l e s encouraged, distilled, looped, and amplified. Ni o Ar c h i t ec t e n ::: N55 Co n t i n u o u s Pr o d u c t i v e Ur b a n La n d - A market design for Het Steiger in Rotter- A small truck (it looks like an ambitious s c a p e s ::: Bo h n a n d Vi l j o e n Ar c h i t ec t s dam (Het Steiger is the city’s big church), Lego construction) peddles through Copen- De Vuurkeizer is a dark and public urban di- hagen traffic. Stopping, the truck driver un- Bohn and Viljoen Architects have lay- gester. Speaking to concepts of metabolism loads, or rather unfolds the truck into a mar- ered the concept of productive ur- and energy, creation and digestion, the diver- ket stand, or a kitchen, or a dwelling. Using ban landscapes and continuous land- sity of the marketplaces global and local, the the city farming modules (sausage-like sec- scapes, envisioning open spaces that run design packs food production, preparation, tions of row cover-wrapped soil linked with “continuously through the built urban en- consumption, and waste into “one big, inimi- drip tape) this mobile farmer/cook/distribu- vironment, connecting all kinds of existing table, devouring machine, a hedonic tangle tor challenges our most fundamental precon- inner-city open spaces…and the surround- ing rural area…They will be well connect- of spaces inspired by intestines,” a “vora- ceptions of the place of agriculture. What ed walking landscapes…for pedestrians, cious building that day and night devours would it mean to say, let me just unload my bicycles, engine-less and emergency ve- anything that comes near: innocent tourists garden from my truck and leave it on the top hicles…reading as parks or urban forests, and experienced gluttons, pale potatoes and of this wall. I’ll make another garden and green lungs or wilderness, axes of move- ment and journey, or places for reflection, fresh coriander, tame pigeons and live quid, drop it off for you tomorrow? While CPULs, cultural gathering and social play…but raunchy market stalls and exclusive restau- for example, advocate for less compaction most uniquely they will be productive by rants, worn-out musicians and erotic servic- of the urban environment for the sake of in- es, the rotten smell of durians and the faded serting urban agriculture into the physical perfumes of waitresses. Everything is being structure of the city, N55 courts compac- digested, pushed along and shoveled out tion and the industry and mobility inherent again, but not before it has been substantial- in prefab modules to produce an entirely ly reshaped under high pressure.”x With the different vision of an agrarian landscape. Fire Emperor’s aesthetic metabolism comes an acceptance and melding of stylistic and Ki t c h e n o f Te r r e s t r i a l Mec h a n i c s ::: conceptual incongruities. While firmly in the Jo h n Ar n d t form of urban market, one feels upon enter- Wash the dishes; hang them to drip down onto ing any distinction between work and leisure thirsty herbs and greens. Kitchen waste is re- (eating and serving), urban and rural (market fined by worms, compost for the plants a few and barn), public and private (intimate spaces feet above. “For the kitchen to work for you, and overwhelming halls), stable and mobile you must use it. This may be the only kitch- (market location and inputs and outputs), en you will ever meet that actually depends are always in flux. De Vuurkeizer’s blasphe-

Sp r i n g 2008 31 providing open space for urban agriculture, periments that challenge the idea of food in ment, creating an immense opportunity for the inner-urban and peri-urban growing the city. Walking around Eugene and Spring- of food…”xii for innovation and further mingling of di- field we can see how urban agriculture already chotomies. Susannah Hagan describes this The introduction of continuous productive transforms space and activity, strengthens as part of “a very different way of conceiv- urban landscapes would “provide a coher- and brings near the network of good food. ence and structure to otherwise isolated ur- ing of city and non-city. It requires thinking Changing our relationship to food in the city ban agriculture sites and create a framework about the unbuilt as potentially an event of may bring spatial qualities of the rural into the for articulating the spatial and urban qualities equal intensity to the built, where the built urban, incorporate existing urban agriculture inherent in urban agriculture and fully utiliz- is indicative of cultural intensity, and the xvi interventions into the public realm, or apply ing their benefits as routes for circulation, unbuilt of ecological intensity”. While it urban forms and concepts to agrarian work. occupation and Ecological Intensification”.xiii may be problematic to assert that prior to agriculture the unbuilt is of lesser intensity Understanding the complexity of urban agri- Just as we consider roads to be integral to than the built (think of the cultural intensity culture and translating the most appropriate the urban environment, so should we think of parkland, wilderness spaces) I’d like to and critical forms of it into a thriving urban of urban agriculture (many CPUL designs in add that in the case of urban agriculture, the agrarian landscape will change the concept fact transform roads into growing spaces). built provides opportunity for new spaces and function of the city and all who dwell The several types of urban agriculture that of ecological intensity in terms of surface there. This task is required if we are to facili- already exist--urban farms, backyard kitchen design, while the unbuilt carries much cul- tate a network of good, clean, fair food, and gardens, allotments, and community gardens tural intensity in the forms of new traffic/use ecological, social, and economic systems would form nodes along a physical network patterns and particularly agrarian practice. that are healthy, reciprocal, and resilient. “with the advantage of open islands now be- ~ ~ ~ ing connected to a widely accessible region- Wo r k i n t h e u r b a n a g r a r i a n l a n d s c a p e *All PHOTOS BY JILL JAKIMETZ: al landscape, making them urbanistically The integration of agricultural spaces as SEATTLE, MAASTRICHT, more meaningful”.xiv This planned, struc- continuous urban open space introduces an S’HERTODENBOSH, AMSTERDAM tural coherence is echoed by the evolution unprecedented concept of an urban profes- of the CPUL: “As the ground- the earth- the sion. At the scale Bohn and Viljoen propose, air and vegetation become vitally important “open urban space achieves an [unprece- i Petrini, Carlo. Slow Food Nation: Why Our for the productive success of CPULs, the Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair. Trans. dented] occupational quality when including effort to maintain their well-being ensures Clara Furlan and Jonathan Hunt. New York: working activity, whereby ‘working’ means Rizzoli Ex Libris, 2007. p. 166. that natural conditions will be the most sig- iiibid. working with the actual space, i.e. earning iiiPetts in Viljoen, p. 66. nificant features within the new urban land- ivViljoen, André, ed. Continuous Productive a living by using elements inherent to the scape. Other characteristics of CPULs will Urban Landscapes: Designing Agriculture for space: ground, vegetation, buildings”.xix When Sustainable Cities. Oxford: Architectural Press, evolve in accordance with the landscape’s 2005. p. 12. v xv considering the habit and habitat of urban ibid. ecological aims.” This planned under- viPetrini, p. 171. humans, what will be the role and meaning vii mining of the built environment’s directive Solomon, Debra. “The Edible City”. Cu- of agrarian work? What is the character and liblog: Food, Food Culture, Food as Culture shifts our understanding of what is rural and the Cultures that Grow Our Food. www. organization of a labor culture that takes as culiblog.org. and what is urban as it begins to shift the viiiibid. precedent a combination of ancient forms ixibid. appearance and function of the urban land- x and methods of urban food cultivation, a Nio Architecten. De Vuurkeizer. www.nio.nl/ scape. It also highlights the question of how vuurkeizer. legacy of rural agrarianism, and a modern xiibid. we assess the health of urban environments. xiiViljoen, p. 11. infrastructure and culture of urban work? xiiiViljoen, p. 267. With CPULs we see the immediate perfo- xivViljoen, p. 12. In sustainable design and urban ecology, the xvibid. ration of rural/peri-urban/urban boundaries xviHagan in Viljoen, p. 53. ideas of ‘wild’ nature and ecosystem services xviiViljoen, p. 114. as they carry the common element of agri- xviii have changed the way we consider the natu- ibid. culture and physical connectivity among ral in the city. So may urban agriculture alter them. Agriculture and the agrarian, once the way we view the place, use, and aesthet- relegated to the rural landscape, is applied ics of natureculture in the human landscape. to other organizations of the built environ- The Edible City exhibited radical design ex-

32 Th e Ec o t o n e e l a p s e RRelapse

Gayla WardWell

pavement is not so strong as we think when we take down the trees, bulldoze the weeds, lay down cement and erect silver spaceships in the place where nature used to be

it is the fern breaking a hole through the tar in its inimitable quest for air and sun that carries the strength of the universe within its sappy fronds

we are no match for the inevitable. J AKIM E T Z J ILL B Y PHOTO

Sp r i n g 2008 33 u r o m m u n i t y OThe Environmental C Studies Program

ENVS Capstone University of Oregon Food Policy Stacy Vynne second-year master’s student

s consumers, we are becoming increas- we could do this for over 3000 people at once? is meant by a “sustainable” food system. De- ingly aware of our impact on human fining a sustainable food system is a process A The University of Oregon Dining Services and environmental health. When reducing that engages ethical, social, environmental, prepares 9000 meals per day. This winter, our environmental footprint requires little ef- economic, and health concerns. Simply put, four ambitious graduate students and their fort or cost (such as choosing more efficient it is a food system that can be maintained advisor embarked on a project to change light bulbs or duplex printing), making a indefinitely while nourishing the ecological the way these 9000 meals are prepared and change is easy. However, when greening our well-being of individuals and ecosystems. how the University spends their $5 million lifestyle requires more effort in terms of time, This type of food system looks beyond what food budget. The idea was to incorporate financial commitment, or major changes in is grown to how it is grown and who is im- more sustainable food purchasing and, unbe- behavior, many people are hesitant to change. pacted by the process, considering food secu- knownst to them, change the way that over rity, worker and animal health, distribution, Take, for instance, food. With the publication 3000 students were eating each day. As the waste, and the impact on the community. of numerous books such as The Omnivore’s graduate students met with Dining Service Dilemma and Fast Food Nation, as well as staff, farmers, food distributors, and local University dining services across the country films such as Supersize Me and Fast Food food coalitions, they began to pull apart the have made headway toward incorporating Nation, people are becoming more aware of different components of a very tangled food a more sustainable food system. The Uni- the impact of their consumptive behavior, at web. In addition, a panel was hosted by the versity of Oregon has already taken many least when it comes to food. Magazines and students at the Public Interest Environmen- steps that are not often recognized outside newspapers across the nation have begun to tal Law Conference in March to open up a the confines of the kitchen. In addition to publicize the carbon footprint of food and dialogue on institutional acquisition of more making a substantial number of items from the benefits of eating food that is grown in sustainable food. (A recording of the panel scratch, the University sources many foods close proximity to home and not laden with will eventually be available at http://www. from regional vendors. For instance, yogurt, synthetic chemicals. Yet, many of us con- pielc.org/2008/index.html.) Ultimately it tofu and flour are all organically sourced and tinue to eat the same old junk and patronize was realized just how complex food systems come from regional suppliers. In addition, the same restaurants and grocery stores. To are, and that the University was already tak- pre-consumer vegetable scraps are com- change our relationship with food is to not ing many progressive steps to reduce their posted locally and leftover food is sent to only change what we buy and cook, but how carbon “foodprint”. Below is a very brief Food for Lane County, the local food bank. we buy and cook. This type of behavior shift summary of the findings- a complete report of The report also helps to decipher the com- can be incredibly challenging. Convincing the research and recommendations are avail- plexities in defining a “foodshed”, the- de one consumer about the importance of con- able at http://sustainability.uoregon.edu/. bate over buying local or organic, and the necting with a local farmer and buying in- Before providing recommendations on how potential economic drawbacks (as well season organic strawberries provides a small to develop a more sustainable food system for as justifications) of purchasing more- sus reduction in the human footprint, but what if the University, it was essential to define what tainable food. Recommendations are also

34 Th e Ec o t o n e provided for the University in terms of of food distribution and purchasing, as well frequent the campus dining halls, buying sourcing, working with local distributors, as the power the consumer holds to change from the Eugene Farmer’s Market, com- establishing a food advisory committee, the way our food is grown and prepared. munity supported agriculture (CSAs), local bulk purchasing and preserving, and con- natural food stores, and investing in a com- Because the University caters to their cus- tinuing to develop seasonally-based menus. munity garden plot will help reduce your tomers, the students, they need to hear what own foodprint. By connecting more with The report prepared by the students is not students want to eat. If students insist on the food we eat, we are supporting not only an all-inclusive document, but is intended to cage-free eggs, organic tomatoes, and lo- our own health, but the health of the people highlight some of the actions being taken by cally grown asparagus, they need to let Din- who grow our food as well as the planet. the University and provide insight and rec- ing Services know by filling out surveys, ommendations on how and where improve- talking to chefs, emailing the Director, and ments might be made. If anything, the re- letting their interests be known to their hous- search was eye opening for the students as ing advisors and the student-run food ad- they learned first-hand about the complexities visory committee. For students that don’t

The White Stag Block University of Oregon’s New Green Home in Portland Diana Fischetti continuing master’s student

o doubt many have heard of the White Rating SystemTM is a national benchmark of egon campus in Eugene was reused to cre- NStag Block, the University of Oregon’s sustainable building techniques. This certifi- ate the beautiful wood flooring in the Uni- new home in Portland. In the past, it may have cation represents strong efforts to make the versity of Oregon in Portland’s School of perhaps been best known for its illuminated buildings’ construction and operations more Architecture and Allied Arts space, as well roof-top sign that shines over the Willamette sustainable. The historic character of the as the flooring in the Portland Duck Store. River and Governor Tom McCall Waterfront buildings was balanced with the green build- Significantly, the White Stag Block also has a Park, depicting a white stag and the phrase ing renovations so the buildings could retain rainwater catchment system that will capture ‘Made in Oregon’. Or it may have been their place in the National Historic Registry. 100% of the rain that falls on the roofs of the known for its riverfront location in Old Town The importance of retaining existing build- three buildings. Water is piped to an 11,000+ Portland, adjacent to Chinatown. But now, the ings cannot be understated, as a building gallon holding tank, located in what was White Stag Block will be best known for its that is already standing requires far fewer once an open-air, dirt-filled, basement-level beautifully restored historic architecture, its resources than a building built from scratch. lightwell. From the tank, the rainwater is green building features, and its new tenants. In this case, the buildings themselves were filtered and piped to low-flow bathroom -fix The University of Oregon in Portland, along not only reused, but more than 98% of the tures that help conserve water. The rainwater with Venerable Group, Inc., United Fund Ad- materials taken out of the buildings were catchment system, combined with the low- visors and others, has played a vital role in diverted from landfills, using a combina- flow fixtures, are expected to meet the White the green restoration of these historic build- tion of salvage, reuse, and recycling. Many Stag Block’s entire winter flushing demand. ings. The White Stag, Skidmore, and Bickel of these materials were reused within the As part of the White Stag Block’s LEED buildings, together known as the White White Stag Block itself. In addition, mate- Gold certification, a LEED Education- Pro Stag Block, have earned LEED Gold Certi- rials taken out of other buildings were used gram was created to disseminate information fication. The United States Green Building in the White Stag Block renovation. For in- about the buildings’ history, renovation, and Council’s Leadership in Energy and Envi- stance, the gym flooring salvaged from the green building components. Although the ronmental Design (LEED) Green Building Gerlinger Annex on the University of Or- renovation is completed and the buildings

Sp r i n g 2008 35 are now occupied, the work of those involved tory, green building components, connections behaviors amongst the building users. The with the Education Program continues. Led to the surrounding community, and other in- behaviors of those who use the White Stag by Associate Professor of Architecture Nan- teresting topics. Bethany Johnson, a graduate Block are equally as important to the build- cy Cheng and graduate student of Environ- student in Historic Preservation is producing ings’ sustainable functioning as the materials mental Studies and Geography Diana Fisch- a series of high-quality educational signs to and resources used in the renovation process, etti, a group of graduate and undergraduate be placed throughout the building. Raymond the buildings’ water efficiency, and the build- students began researching and developing Neff, a graduate student in Community and ings’ energy performance. Check out the educational materials in the winter of 2008. Regional Planning is producing an artistic in- website, signs, installation, and case study; stallation depicting the real-time energy con- take a tour; and learn how you can help Three graduate students have continued into sumption of the buildings. Diana Fischetti the White Stag Block be more sustainable! the spring to complete the development and will be producing a case study of the proj- installation of these educational materials. ect for use by green building professionals. Cody Evers, a graduate student in Environ- mental Studies, is producing a handsome These materials are designed not only to website detailing the White Stag Block’s his- educate, but to promote more sustainable JA K IMET Z JI LL PHOTO BY PHOTO

36 Th e Ec o t o n e Gr a d u a t i n g St u d e n t Th e s e s & Pr o j e c t s Diana Fischetti Concentration Areas: Geography; capitalism and development

y master’s thesis research involves a case study of lives of activists and the ways in which protest is not only part MEcovillage at Ithaca, an ecovillage using the cohous- of everyday life, but also that everyday life is sculpted into an ing model. Broadly, ecovillages are physical communities alternative process that has benefits for society. I will inves- whose members strive to live in a socially and environmen- tigate ‘geographies of resistance’ (which include many spaces tally sustainable manner and to practice voluntary simplicity. of resistance) and ‘autonomous geographies’ (which are con- The goal of Ecovillage at Ithaca, as understood by residents, cerned specifically with the everyday spaces of resistance in is to create a model of sustainable living that is appealing to the lives of activists). I will explore the ways in which these mainstream America, while reducing the ecological footprint theories can help illuminate the degree to which Ecovillage of inhabitants and increasing meaningful relationships within can be understood as a space of resistance and Ecovillage resi- the community. It is with this creation of new spaces in which dents can be understood as activists. I will argue that although people execute resistance through their everyday practices the individual residents do not necessarily consider them- that I take interest. ‘Autonomous geographies’ specifically selves activists, the Ecovillage itself is an activist space and examine the importance of these ‘everyday practices’ in the can be considered a space of resistance to consumer society.

Nicole Menard Concentration Areas: International Studies; Community-based conservation

s one of the world’s ecological “hotspots”, Madagascar include Malagasy perceptions of, or responses to, participation Ais the subject of interest and concern for many interna- within international environmental agendas. This case study tional conservation organizations. Amist donor influence and will examine the perspectives of Malagasy residents in south- western conceptualizations of environmental issues, some east Madagascar where NGOs have active environmental pro- non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pursue diverse strat- grams. Surveys and interviews with both Malagasy residents egies to protect remaining endemic flora and fauna. Evalua- and NGO staff will provide a robust analysis of how internation- tions of organization’s conservation priorities, approaches, and al conservation efforts are being conceptualized. These find- program effectiveness aim to improve project results and the ings can contribute to a better understanding of the implications country’s ecological sustainability. Yet these analyses do not of current conservation efforts, and inform future endeavors. Matt Peterson Concentration Areas: conservation biology; conservation policy

or my exit project, I’m looking at Community Wildfire Protection Plans and why Fcommunities choose to use, or not use, regulation as a tool to protect property and homes from wildfire.

Sp r i n g 2008 37 Will Truce Concentration Areas: Ecology; geography

or my master’s thesis, I’m looking into the sea- climate processes at the global and local scale when Fsonal effects of altering nitrogen (N) and carbon- elevated. Though AOB are understood to play a crit- dioxide (CO2) input on the community structure of ical regulatory role in the cycling of N, little is known ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in California about the interactions of microbial communities and grassland. Increased N deposition and atmospheric global environmental change. Studying the inter- and CO2 are two primary consequences of anthropogenic intra-annual effects of multi-factorial ecological al- environmental change, and have been found to have terations on AOB’s functional role will greatly assist significant effects on vital ecological dynamics and in modeling global ecosystem and climate dynamics.

Shannon Tyman Concentration Areas: Ecological Design Theory; Environmental Literature and Criticism

rownfields, abandoned or underused properties where innovative projects that are able to simultaneously attend B“the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may to heterogeneous interests. My thesis is a case study of be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a just such a project. Gunpowder Park, located just outside hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant” (Source: of Greater London, is a former military munitions testing US EPA), are increasingly important to the fabric of both facility that is now a park for wildlife, science, and art. Us- urban and rural landscapes. As the western world grapples ing Felix Guattari’s call to move beyond a scientific para- with the challenges of these unused industrial sites, green digm and instead embrace “culture, creation, development, sites simultaneously decrease and homogenous suburban the reinvention of the environment and the enrichment of developments prevail. The challenge, then, is to address modes of life and sensibility,” I explore the artistic pro- the industrial legacy of contamination and dereliction with cess as a methodology for post-industrial reinhabitation.

Stacy Vynne Concentration Areas: Nonprofit Management; International Studies he Mexican gray wolf, now considered the rarest of review whether compensation has impacted rancher toler- Tall extant gray wolf subspecies, was historically found ance towards wolves or if financial reimbursement has met throughout a variety of habitats in the Southwestern United ranchers’ needs for compensation. For my research, ranch- States. By the early 1950s, the wolf was considered almost ers living in areas where wolf reintroductions have occurred completely extirpated from the region. However, decades were surveyed and interviewed. Results of my study will of collaboration between state and federal agencies resulted assist in determining whether the existing compensation in the 1998 reintroduction of eleven wolves to the Blue program is an efficient and effective use of conservation Range Wolf Recovery Area in eastern Arizona. Because dollars or if an alternative program would be more suitable of the high number of livestock grazing allotments over- for reducing conflicts between livestock and wolves in the lapping the reintroduction area, a financial compensation Southwest. My recommendations will address the fact that program was established to pay ranchers for livestock lost the continued survival of the rare and endangered Mexi- to wolves. Despite the distribution of almost $100,000 to can gray wolf depends on coexistence with ranchers and ranchers in the region, no assessment has been conducted to implementation of more efficient management strategies.

38 Th e Ec o t o n e The Environmental Leadership Program Innovative, Hands-On Learning

Kathryn A. Lynch

The Environmental Leadership Program governmental agencies have environmental the students focus on modifying existing (ELP) provides innovative, hands-on learn- education (EE) programs that are in need of curricula to fit the needs of their community ing opportunities to undergraduates at the support. Although Eugene is located near partners. Each team develops an educational University of Oregon (UO). Housed in spectacular natural areas, many local chil- unit for their specific community partner Environmental Studies, the ELP is a ser- dren have never visited the wetlands on the and ecosystem. Their final projects must: 1) vice-learning program that moves students edge of town or explored the magnificent incorporate an interdisciplinary approach; from the classroom into the community to old-growth forests or the tidepools just a 2) include multi-cultural perspectives; 3) address real-world environmental issues. short drive away. This initiative is designed use experiential, inquiry-based methods; 4) to help our community partners give more promote civic engagement; 5) articulate as- 2007-2008 was an exciting year for us. We children an opportunity to explore these ar- sessment strategies; and 6) result in a pro- welcomed Kirsten Rudestam to the staff, as eas first-hand. We begin by training a cadre fessional educational unit that teachers and Steve Mital transitioned to full-time Direc- of enthusiastic educators in environmental environmental educators will find useful. tor for Sustainability for the UO campus. education, then connect them with commu- We initiated a new international educational During spring term, the UO students devel- nity partners who have a need for assistance. project with the generous support of the T op their skills as educators by implement- & J Meyer Family Foundation. Thanks to To participate, ELP students must first com- ing their educational units and facilitating the generous support provided by the Wil- plete at least one upper-division science EE programs for their community partners. liams Council, we launched a new mapping course pertaining to the ecosystem where Each UO student completes a minimum and monitoring course to provide students they will work. This provides a natural of 120 hours of service. While each team with hands-on training. In addition, we have science foundation. They then take Envi- is slightly different, this usually entails fa- a new solar mapping project in collabora- ronmental Education in Theory & Practice, cilitating field trips, classroom visits, staff- tion with Springfield Utility Board. -In to where they learn about the history, learning ing educational booths, and developing tal, we offered seven projects in two main theories, and techniques behind environ- supplemental educational materials (e.g. focal areas: Environmental Education and mental education. In addition, they obtain wikis, posters, websites). The overarch- Mapping and Monitoring. Below you will Project Learning Tree, Project Wild and ing goal is to inspire a sense of wonder and find summaries of all of the ELP projects. Project Wild Aquatic certification through provide local children with the knowledge, a weekend workshop. Community partners skills, and inspiration to work individually En v i r o n m e n t a l Ed u c a t i o n In i t i at i v e facilitate field trips to their sites, partici- and collectively to protect the environment. In 2006-2007 we launched an ambitious pate in an orientation meeting, and provide Environmental Education Initiative. The ra- mentoring throughout the project. From the tionale was simple. We have a large number beginning of winter term, the teams begin of students who want to become environ- work on their group project. Since quality mental educators, and local nonprofits and EE curricula are usually already available,

Sp r i n g 2008 39 Th e En v i r o n m e n t a l Le a d e r s h i p Pr o g r a m

Forest Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ka t h r y n Ly n c h

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : Al i Ab b o r s

Te a m Me m b e r s : Sa r a h Cu d d y , Li s h a Cu r t n e r , Co l i n Cu r w e n -McAd a m s , Br e n d a n Ga l i p e a u , Tr i s t a n Jo n e s , Me l a n i e Ma r i n e (w i n t e r t e r m o n l y )

In partnership with the H.J. Andrews Experi- carbon sequestration, fire, climate change, mental Forest, the Forest Team is focused on and the management techniques that affect educating students and community members these processes in our forests; the lessons on the importance of forest ecosystem inter- incorporate H.J. Andrews researchers’ most actions in relation to global climate change. current understandings of the relationship During the spring of 2008, the team will visit between forests, fire, and carbon sequestra- middle school and high school classrooms tion. The team’s educational unit promotes throughout the Eugene area in order to cul- awareness of the relationship between forests tivate greater appreciation for our dynamic and climate change and encourages students forest ecosystems. The Forest Team has de- to take action to protect our forest resources. veloped a suite of lesson plans focused on Macaw Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ki r s t e n Ru d e s t a m

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : Co d y Ev e r s

Te a m Me m b e r s : Ka t e Co r n w a l l , Re n e e Ga b r i e l , Sy d n e y Wi g h t

In the spring of 2008, students from the tem- children from different parts of the globe perate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest are understand and share about this conservation connecting to conservation issues a world issue of global concern, while exchanging apart in the tropical rainforests of southeast- insight and wonder of ecosystems very sepa- ern Peru. The ELP, the CREES foundation rate from their own. The cross-cultural shar- and the Manu Learning Center (MLC) have ing is facilitated through an online dialogue collaborated to produce a bilingual cross- using video streaming technology (compiled cultural educational unit centered around the with the help of each class of students). Such conservation of macaws. These large parrots international collaboration in environmental represent the most endangered large-avian education helps build a global community and group in the world and are an important bell- understanding amongst concerned students. weather of tropical rainforest health. This innovative pilot program helps school-age

40 Th e Ec o t o n e Th e En v i r o n m e n t a l Le a d e r s h i p Pr o g r a m

Marine Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ka t h r y n Ly n c h

Te a m Me m b e r s : Je n n a Ku l l u s o n , Da y n a La m b , Cl a r e Go r d o n (w i n t e r t e r m o n l y )

The rocky shores of the Oregon coast are are participating in the Marine Team, which a place of extraordinary natural beauty and will facilitate educational activities in the biological diversity. Many teachers bring tidepools. In addition, the team will provide their students to the tidepools in the spring, interpretation at Simpson’s Reef - a popular but limited staff at Cape Arago State Park tourist destination where it is easy to watch means that teachers and students are often four marine mammal species. This year the on their own when it comes to exploring team will also assist educators at the South this wondrous habitat. In order to provide Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. greater support to teachers, two students at- tending classes at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) this spring term

Wetland Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ka t h r y n Ly n c h

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : Ka n d i Ba u m a n

Te a m Me m b e r s : Na t h a n Br e n n a n , Ad a m DeHe e r , AJ Fi s h e r , Kr i s t a Ha n s e n , Ka t e Se l f , a n d Be c c a We s t

What do beavers, great blue herons, and birds, amphibians, dragonflies, and -mam six UO undergraduates have in common? mals that make this Willamette wet prairie Well, if you guessed that they are all excit- habitat so valuable and unique. The West ing features during a visit to the West Eu- Eugene Wetlands are located in Eugene, OR gene Wetlands you are correct. This spring, and are the largest open space, natural area the Wetlands Team is working with the Wil- within the city. Four miles from the heart lamette Resources and Education Network of downtown Eugene and close to major (WREN) in the West Eugene Wetlands to regional roads, the wetlands are accessible deliver education programs and events to via public transportation and bicycle (or car students and community members. With if you must drive). The Wetlands Team cor- the guidance of WREN, the team will help dially invites you to check out and sign up showcase the plethora of wildflowers, for WREN events at www.wewetlands.org.

Sp r i n g 2008 41 Th e En v i r o n m e n t a l Le a d e r s h i p Pr o g r a m

Solar Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ki r s t e n Ru d e s t a m

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : St a c y Vy n n e

Te a m Me m b e r s : Ma r y Ad a m s , Lu k e An n a l a -Ki n n e , Da r t o n De v i n s , Er i c Kr a u s e , Ja s o n Ow e n s

Using remote sensing and mobile GIS units, community partner is the Springfield Utility the Solar Team will map the solar energy Board, which will use this information to capability for the residential districts of the inform and target residential outreach. The city of Springfield. Using this information, Solar Team will also generate a community they will generate numbers for the potential outreach portion to their project, which will economic costs and savings, as well as es- offer their findings to the greater public. timate the greenhouse gas reductions. Their

X-Stream Team ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ka t h r y n Ly n c h

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : We n Le e

Te a m Me m b e r s : Se t h Ba k e r , Ma tt Ev e n s e n , Yu k u m i Ho s o n o , a n d Da n i e l So u l é .

The X-stream Team holds a secret tool in its plans, covering topics such as water pollu- teaching toolbox... the stream simulator! De- tion, dams, and how climate change may signed and built by the U.S. Forest Service, affect stream systems. The stream simulator this box has an electric pump and a water offers a unique opportunity to teach chil- faucet. Throw in a couple buckets of sand, dren about watershed and stream systems ten gallons of water, and a bunch of toy trees, through fun, hands-on modeling activities. buildings, and animals... and voila! our very The team is thrilled to incorporate this ex- own self-contained miniature stream (in the citing tool into environmental education classroom!) Partnered with the U.S. Forest for the classroom, and they are (most defi- Service and Middle Fork Willamette Wa- nitely) having an X-STREAM experience. tershed Council, the X-stream Team travels with the stream box to local schools and uses it to teach stream ecology to K-12 students. The team has developed numerous lesson 42 Th e Ec o t o n e Th e En v i r o n m e n t a l Le a d e r s h i p Pr o g r a m

Turtle Habitat Monitoring ELP Co o r d i n a t o r : Ki r s t e n Ru d e s t a m

Pr o j e c t Ma n a g e r : Wi l l Tr u c e

Te a m Me m b e r s : Ad a m Da v i s -Tu r a k , Ni c o l e Dw y e r , Da n i e l Oh r n , As h l e y Ph e i l , Ma tt Sm i t h , Mi c h e l e St i v e r s , Be n Sc o tt Te t o n

The mission of the Turtle Habitat Monitoring made to stop the decline of the population Team is to further restoration efforts by cre- before it becomes threatened or endan- ating baseline knowledge of potential habitat gered. The BLM has trained students to go resources for the Western Pond Turtle on Bu- into the field to collect baseline habitat data reau of Land Management (BLM) lands. The using sophisticated GPS units. With this student volunteers provide invaluable help data the BLM can use GIS (geographic in- to the BLM in planning future restoration formation systems) to analyze and create efforts for this critically sensitive species. maps of the areas that are in need of atten- tion. Future restoration efforts will then The Northwestern Pond Turtle is listed be focused in the areas where suitable liv- as a critical species in Oregon. As a criti- ing and breeding habitat was documented. cal species it is important that an effort be

We would like to thank all of our community partners, the T & J Meyer Family Foundation, the Robert and Catherine Miller Foundation, the Williams Council, and Steve Ellis for their generous support of the Environmental Leadership Program.

If you are interested in learning more about the Environmental Leadership Program, or par- ticipating as a student or community partner, please contact:

Dr. Kathryn Lynch, [email protected], 541.3465.5070

kirsten Rudestam, [email protected], 541.346.5945.

Sp r i n g 2008 43 Ne w Gr a d u a t e St u d e n t s in the Environmental Studies Program

Ali Abbors, Master’s Candidate, ENVS I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and received my BA in anthropology from Occidental College in 2001. Since graduation, I have worked in fundraising for the Humane Society, as an AmeriCorps environmental educator on the Navajo Nation and at a Bay Area conservation corps, and as an educator for the National Audubon Society in New Mexico and as a writer/ researcher for the National Association of Counties’ environmental division in Washington, DC. My aca- demic and professional interests include: community-based environmental movements, community garden- ing, environmental education, food security, and the intersection of social and environmental justice issues; my focal areas are food security as well as natural resource management and conservation. I am especially interested in expanding the idea of “environmentalists” and “environmentalism” to include members of traditionally underrepresented populations. My thesis work will explore community gardening and urban Ezra Markowitz agriculture as a means of increasing food security and building community among the Eugene/Springfield area’s low-income Latino residents. In my free time I like to make music, cook, ski, knit, bike, hike, travel, read, and grow my own food. k D. F. Armand, Doctoral Candidate, ESSP & Philosophy. Broadly con- ceived, my interests encompass the ontological and socio-cultural dimensions of place and placelessness in post-Enlightenment to postmodern contexts. Protection of forests and other human and non-human animal habitats through both direct action and theoretical approaches also comprise an important area of interest. For my M.A. thesis (philosophy, Graduate Theological Union, 2006), I explored the ways in which Paul Celan’s poetry enacts the Heideggerian concept of Be-ing as the co-located action of human and non- human beings as embodied in the world. I also completed a B.A. in English at U.C. Berkeley. Currently, I am writing a book about a community redwood forest in the north coast region of California. The park was initially created in the late nineteenth century by a land grant of an uncut logging claim on the outskirts of Lee Wen Eureka and today still boasts many ancient redwoods as well as second growth trees. The book will be in print by the end of 2007, so check back for more information. Better yet, visit the park! My burning ques- tions: 1) Where and what is “place” in a world dominated by globalization? (i.e. What to do when there’s no where there), and 2) How can the concept of legal standing be expanded to include the life forms and natural resources upon which all life depends? Forests = water = life. k Kandi Bauman, Master’s Can- didate, ENVS I earned a BAS in environmental studies from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. During my undergraduate career, I completed internships in wildlife biology at UMass-Am- herst and wetlands monitoring with the Washington State Department of Transportation. After completing my degree, I served as the AmeriCorps Stream Stewardship Coordinator for the City Cassie Chen of Portland and also collaborated with a variety of Portland organizations to organize

events like the Greener Future for Affordable Housing Workshop Series and the Urban Dione Armand League Summer Youth Camp. k Chu (Cassie) Chen, Master’s Candidate ENVS My name is Cassie, coming from Southeast of China. I studied Chinese Literature for my undergraduate degree and received a masters degree on ecological literature; my thesis was “The Study of Henry David Thoreau’s Ecological Thoughts.” Last fall I came to the University of Oregon to join in our environmental studies program, and I started another section of my life as well as a “new” thinking of environment. Now I am interested in environmental management, especially the complex relationships among the various actors in the process. My thesis will focus on waterway manage- ment, particularly water policy and its implementation, public participation and governmental structure. I am thinking about doing a comparison of waterway management cases between China and the U.S.A, and I hope the comparison will produce some better methods for waterway management. Though “Thoreau” and “waterway management” seem to be unrelated, both of them successfully invited me to think of the envi- ronment and revealed the relationship between the environment and humans. In Environmental Studies, I learn, enjoy, and have found a new significance to both my studies and my life.k Erica Elliott Doctoral Candidate, ESSP & English I might be new to the envi- ronmental studies program, but I’ve been at the University of Oregon for a while now. After majoring in English and biology (with a concentration in environmen- tal studies) at Kenyon College in Ohio, I began work towards a doctoral degree in English here at UO. My work in the English program has been interesting, but

not as inspiring as working on the borders between disciplines. I look forward to Jill Jakimetz continuing my work on literary and cultural representations of the environment, as well as doing work outside of the English department in the areas of biology and geography. I’m interested in fostering lines of communication between the sciences and humanities and thinking about what it means to engage in “interdis- ciplinary” and “multidisciplinary” studies. I’m also looking forward to putting my own interests in dialogue; I hope to work in areas as (seemingly) disparate as landscape ecology, environmental justice, the rhetoric of science, race and space, Erica Elliot

44 Th e Ec o t o n e Christine Zeller resource management, and ecocriticism. Most of all, I’m excited by the prospect of learning from and with other scholars that are thinking about how to integrate various approaches in the service of environmental problem solving. k Cody Evers Master’s Candidate, ENVS I am originally from Park City, Utah, and as a result, I have been ski- ing for almost as many years as I am old and have an insatiable appetite for the outdoors. For the past eight years I have resided in Colorado; the first four were spent at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. I earned my degree in biology, emphasizing and writing, my thesis in molecular genetics, although I also did significant course work in ecology. I graduated with honors, received two undergraduate research grants and was awarded CC’s Laboratory Biology award for 2003. However, college was also sprinkled with a significant dash of philosophy and art courses (more on this in a bit). Since college, I have been working in the environmental field, first in research, and then in education. Currently, I am a middle school science teacher. This year, I have written and established the entire middle school science curriculum (including environmental studies) at the McClelland School of Pueblo, CO. But alas, as the saying goes, I have had to support my hobby of teaching with a side job: I am an oil painter and run a personal business (Juniper Brushworks) to sell and market my artwork. I am certainly eager to add the more ver- dant hues of Oregon to my desert palette of browns and reds.I am interested in focusing on the areas and overlap of environmental education (emphasizing student-led service learning), environmental research and technology communication. I am looking to articulate and define how these areas can be put together to bridge the gap between research and community; to raise awareness and participation in environmental efforts; and to empower students Rob Hoshaw in tangible ways to lead environmental change and monitoring. k Rob Hoshaw Master’s Candidate, ENVS I graduated in 2007 from North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, where I received my degrees in English and zoology. Growing up in the Upper Midwest, I spent a great deal of time exploring the outdoors and constructing the foundation for my interest in conservation and environmental issues. My academic interests include wildlife man- agement and conservation, ecology, ecocriticism, and nature writing. This diversity of interests has translated into a concentration in ecology and environmental writing at the University of Oregon. An equal passion for science and the humanities has directed my interest to the Andrews Experimental Forest and the Long-Term Ecological Reflec- tions program, a creative writing endeavor inspired by the scientific Long-Term Ecological Research program. My thesis will explore the intersection of scientific and creative inquiry through an analysis of the Andrews writing reflections while paying particular attention to how these works are a means of facilitating a personal connection to the land as well as a deeper appreciation for ecological processes. In my spare time I like to bike, fish, and read. I also enjoy cooking, painting, and going on long walks in the evening. This summer I will be getting married and am Ali Abbors looking forward to beginning my life anew. k Jill Jakimetz Master’s Candidate, ENVS I arrived in Eugene after two years of working with tractors, horses, pigs, sheep, people, and vegetables on farms in Maine. An undergradu- ate degree in environmental studies, working on the farm, and travelling about, have shaped my thinking of how ecological systems interact with material culture, memory, and the body; how perceptions of geography, the process of creative imagination, and the “natural” and “built” environments reveal our sense of place. Otherwise, I enjoy commuting to school on my bike, roasting the first asparagus, and defending my ping-pong champion title.k Wen Lee Master’s Candidate, ENVS I grew up in Southern California and spent my undergraduate career at Occiden- tal College in Los Angeles studying biology, education, and music. Since then, I have tried my hand at many things, including researching cattle grazing in Wyoming, working at an organic farm in California, producing a television show in Boston, and teaching at both a residential outdoor school and a public high school. I am aspiring to make the earth a nicer place to live by a) offering assistance to developing countries, b) promoting sustainable industrial practices, c) convincing people to stop consuming so much junk, or d) all of the above. My concentration areas are sustainable development and nonprofit management. For my terminal project I am producing a one-hour television show about the chain of production behind coffee, starting with the coffee plantation in Costa Rica and ending with the steaming cup in your hand. I believe global awareness is a good thing. I also like elephants, the color orange, and anything with mushrooms in it. k Ezra Markowitz Doctoral Candidate, ESSP & Psychology I am a first- year PhD student in the Environmental Sciences, Studies and Policy program at the University of Oregon (Eugene) with a focus in psychology. Broadly speaking I am interested in the relatively young field of Conservation Psy- chology, which seeks to explore questions and problems of environmental conservation primarily at the individual- actor level of analysis (i.e. I plan to study the way individuals, families, and communities interact with the natural Kandi Bauman environment as well as the ways in which that “human-nature” relationship can be improved upon through individual action). Recognizing the im- mense complexity of many environmental issues facing us today, I hope to integrate theories and methodologies from a variety of fields into my re- search and thinking in the hopes that becoming an interdisciplinary envi- ronmentalist will better equip me to address these problems in the future. My current research utilizes a mixed-methodology approach to explore the question of how individuals explain environmentally relevant behav- iors that they see, hear, or think about others participate in. k Christine Zeller Master’s Candidate, ENVS & Law I graduated from the UO with a BS in physics and music and a certificate from the Clark Honors College. I worked for the past several years as a legal assistant on environmental cases. Through that work I decided I would like to do further study regard- ing quantitative analysis of environmental systems and how that analysis is used in the creation and revision of environmental policy and law. I was born and raised a Eugenean and continue to live here with my daughter.

Cody Evers

Sp r i n g 2008 45 o m m u n i t y p d a t e s CAchievements, Awards, UAnnouncements

ANNOUNCEMENTS: “Thinking Through Nature: Philosophy for an Endangered World” 19 - 22 June, 2008 This summer, the Environmental Studies Program will collaborate with the International Association for Environmental Philosophy to host a four-day international summit gathering together the environmental humanities and design communities, including scholars from Anthro- pology, Art, Architecture, English, Geography, Landscape Architecture, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology. Events of the summit will include an afternoon of hands-on workshops, fifty interdisciplinary panels of speakers, keynote addresses by five internationally acclaimed guests, an opening reception and Saturday evening banquet, the Oregon premiere of the feature environmental filmHotspots , a book exhibit, and a series of excursions to nearby sites of environmental interest.

Keynote Speakers include:

Donna Haraway, Professor of History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz

John Llewelyn, Emeritus Reader in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh

Gary Paul Nabhan, Distinguished Professor, Southwest Center and Department of Geography, University of Arizona

Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Saidye Rosner Bronfman Professor of the History of Architecture, McGill University

Karen Warren, Professor of Philosophy, Macalester College

For a program of events and additional information about “Thinking Through Nature,” please visit the website:

http://www.uoregon.edu/~toadvine/TTN/

COMMUNITY AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS: Rebecca Briggs (continuing environmental reception in late April in Las Vegas at the Seri community. In September she organized studies masters student) accepted a position annual conference for the America Plan- the annual Composition Conference and has in August 2007 as editor of Biodynamics, ning Association where he received a $500 been serving as Assistant Director of Com- a quarterly journal published by the Biody- cash prize. The paper, “Spotted Owls and position this year. She presented the paper namic Farming and Gardening Association Landscape-Guided Forest Management,” “Becoming Non/Human: Toward an Eco- since 1941. This work fits well with her aca- began as an assignment in a Planning and hermeneutics” at the Nature Matters confer- demic interests in agriculture, land use, and GIS course taught by Marc Schlossberg this ence in Toronto in October. During fall and food production/supply issues. past Fall. Cody plans to continue to develop winter she served as the graduate representa- this work for his thesis. tive on the search committee for a Literature First-year ENVS graduate student Cody and Environment candidate in English, and Evers won a national award from the Ameri- In summer 2007 Janet Fiskio traveled to this year she has been on the local organiz- can Planning Association, the 2008 Informa- Desemboque, Mexico to interview Gary Paul ing committee for the conference “Thinking tion Technology Division of APA Awards, Nabhan for her dissertation, where she also Through Nature.” This year she has received for best paper. Cody was invited to an award participated in the mesquite harvest of the

46 Th e Ec o t o n e a Graduate Research Fellowship from the Science.” Check out the website at http:// Matt Peterson and his wife Sofie had a baby Oregon Humanities Center and a John and pbskids.org/fetch. boy, Milo, on March 16, 2008. According to Naomi Luvaas Fellowship from UO. She Matt, fatherhood is great. In addition, Matt ENVS master’s degree candidate Adam published a book review this spring and was offered a Presidential Management Fel- Novick guest lectured at a graduate semi- has an essay forthcoming in the fall, “Gary lowship with the federal government. He’ll nar on Aldo Leopold at OSU (FOR599) and Paul Nabhan’s Dialogical Science,” both in be working for the Inyo National Forest in in Rebecca Briggs’s course on law and the the journal Environmental Philosophy. This Bishop, CA as a Recreation and Transit Plan- environment (ENVS 411); contributed a pa- spring she is co-teaching ART 4/507: Eco- ner/Partnership Coordinator. per to the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery theory with Carla Bengtson and loving it. Team’s 2008 Research Colloquium (“Risk to Two books that Ted Toadvine co-edited have The American Association of University Oregon white oak habitats from orthodoxy recently appeared: Nature’s Edge: Boundary Women awarded Sarah Jaquette an Ameri- in the regulation of species”); received ac- Explorations in Ecological Theory and Prac- can Dissertation Fellowship for 2008-09. In ceptance of proposals for presentations to tice, edited with former colleague Charles addition, the Center for the Study of Women the 2008 annual conference of the Society Brown, was published by SUNY press; and and Society awarded her a 2008-09 Research for Conservation for Biology (“Risk to bio- The Merleau-Ponty Reader, edited with Len Grant. Sarah’s manuscript, “Risking the Body diversity from orthodoxy in the regulation Lawlor, was published by Northwestern. The in the Wild: The ‘Corporeal Unconscious’ of of species”), the UO conference Thinking appearance of the latter volume was timely, American Adventure Culture” won the Asso- Through Nature (“A war of musical chairs: since 2008 is the centennial of the birth of ciation of American Geographers’ Disability What have we done to Leopold’s land ethic? French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Pon- Specialty Group Student Paper Competition (And what else can we do?)”), and a brown- ty, and Professor Toadvine will participate in April 2008 and her manuscript, “Endan- bag presentation to the US Fish and Wildlife in several conferences this year devoted to gering the Desert: Ecology, Security, and Service (“Saving the streaked horned lark: Merleau-Ponty’s work: Basel in March, Par- Immigration in the Arizona Borderland,” Could maintenance-dependency increase is in June, Morelia in September, and Lisbon was accepted for publication in ISLE (In- agency discretion in regulating species?”); in November. In the area of environmen- terdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the received acceptance (pending revisions) tal philosophy, Professor Toadvine’s essay Environment). She presented “Endangering from Environmental Values for a paper on “How not to be a Jellyfish: Human Excep- the Desert” at the Pacific Northwest Ameri- orthodoxy in interpretations of Leopold’s tionalism and the Ontology of Reflection,” can Studies Association annual conference land ethic; continued to participate through was recently published in a collection en- in Walla Walla in April and will present public comment in Benton County’s devel- titled Phenomenology and the Non-Human “Negotiating Ecological Legitimacy” at the opment of a Habitat Conservation Plan for Animal (Springer), and he was invited to join Thinking through Nature conference here at Willamette Valley prairie species; continued the advisory board for the journal Environ- the University of Oregon in June. to serve on the steering committee of the mental Ethics. He is also lead organizer for Oregon Oak Communities Working Group; the summit in environmental humanities that This summer, Wen Lee will be an intern was offered a graduate fellowship from the UO will host in June, “Thinking Through Na- for the popular children’s television show Property and Environment Research Center; ture: Philosophy for an Endangered World,” FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman for WGBH in and with his illustrious peers, helped calcu- which is described in more detail elsewhere Boston. The show combines live-action and late fees to offset greenhouse gas emissions in this issue. animation to introduce children to concepts from the Thinking Through Nature confer- of science and problem-solving! The upcom- Shannon Tyman will present a paper en- ence (while advocating for decreasing emis- ing season’s educational theme is “Green titled, “Designing With(in) the Post-indus- sions through virtual conferencing).

Sp r i n g 2008 47 trial Landscape” in June at the Thinking funding to conduct a survey of ranchers in Shangrila Wynn presented a paper titled Through Nature Conference at the Univer- New Mexico and Arizona as well as travel to “Contested Notions of Fairness, Equity and sity of Oregon. In addition, last summer the Southwest for interviews and research. In Justice: Climate Change as an Arena for she received Barker Funds to travel to her April 2008, Stacy traveled to Chico, Montana North South Environmental Politics” at the research site, Gunpowder Park, located just to present her research “Assessing Ranchers’ American Association of American Geog- outside of Greater London. Her book review Attitudes Towards Livestock Compensation raphers’ annual conference held in Boston of Babylon and Beyond: The Economics of in the Southwest” at the North American during April 2008. She received a Gradu- Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist, and Radical Wolf Conference. The Conference included ate School Research Award and a Center Green Movements will be published in the 180 participants from nonprofit organiza- for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS) Small June 2008 edition of Capitalism, Nature, So- tions, foundations, government agencies, Professional Grant, to support dissertation cialism. She also published a review of The tribal representatives, ranching communities research work during Summer 2008. Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved in the and the general public. Also in April 2008, Christine Zeller has been accepted to the Spring 2008 edition of Biodynamics journal. Stacy was sponsored by the Mexican Wolf UO Law School. Beginning in Fall 2008, Fund to travel to Arizona and New Mexico In January 2008, Stacy Vynne received a she will pursue a joint degree in law and en- and visit a ranch being assessed for wolf- research grant from T&E, Inc., a foundation vironmental studies. proof fencing. based in New Mexico. The grant provided PHOTO BY JI LL JA K IMET Z

48 Th e Ec o t o n e 2008 Do n o r Li s t Thank you for your generous support! Kerry and John Bliss Steven Carter ‘05 Nicole Carter ‘07 Kate Darby ‘05 Dodge & Cox Mary Watkins Fagerlund ‘63 Vernon Fagerlund ‘63 Thomas Gray ‘76 Rebecca Graham ‘98 Lois Harvey Arista Hickman ‘06 David Kozak ‘88 Barabara and Stephen Lane Stacey Marz ‘93 and Patrick Lavin ‘92 Chandra Legue ‘01 Kay and Brian Lokkesmoe PHOTO BY REBECCA BRIGGS Hans Manseth ‘99 Jennifer Metz ‘95 Catherine and F. Robert Price Cheri Van Bebber ‘83 Daniel Puffinbburger ‘83 Maria Paula and Jose Santos ‘89 Monique Schoustra ‘92 Thomas Ribe ‘90 Aaron Sidder ‘07 Shanku and Kuppe Shankar Teresa Spezio ‘00 Pamela and Ronald Swisher ‘76 Nancy and Paul Vaughn Miles Wilson, Jr. ‘68 Willamette Resources Educational Network

Sp r i n g 2008 49 Th e Ec o t o n e Nonprofit Organization Un i v e r s i t y o f Or e g o n U.S. Postage En v i r o n m e n t a l St u d i e s Pr o g r a m PAID Eugene, OR 5223 Un i v e r s i t y o f Or e g o n Permit No. 63 Eu g e n e , OR 97403-5223

COTONE: A transition zone between two adjacent communities, such as a forest or grassland. It has some of the characteristics of each bor- Edering community and often contains species not found in the overlapping communities. An ecotone may exist along a broad belt or in a small pocket, such as a forest clearing, where two local communities blend together. The influence of the two bordering communities is known as the edge effect. An ecotonal area often has a higher density of organisms and a greater number of species than are found in either flanking community.