The Land Report A publication of The Land Institute / Number 90 / Spring 2008 Connecting Climate and Energy in Public Imagination David W. Orr: Optimism and Hope in a Hotter Time Herman E. Daly: From “Know How” to “Do Now” Contents The Land Institute Features Mission Statement When people, land and community are as one, all Climate & Energy Project three members prosper; when they relate not as The Land Institute’s work to connect climate and energy in members but as competing interests, all three are the public imagination. exploited. By consulting nature as the source and An Invitation—R.S.V.P. .......................................................4 measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil Our Approach .......................................................................5 from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring. Our Projects .........................................................................6 What You’ll Find on Our Web Site ......................................8 Land Institute Staff Land Institute Scott Allegrucci Board of Directors Want to Make a Difference Today?......................................9 Ron Armstrong Anne Simpson Byrne Christina Arnold Strachan Donnelley Conversation Starters .........................................................10 Martha Bryant Steve Ells Scott Bontz Terry Evans Carbon Dioxide Regulation: Not If, But How and When ................................................12 Cindy Cox Pete Ferrell Sheila Cox Jan Flora Climate Policy: From “Know How” to “Do Know” Stan Cox Wes Jackson Herman E. Daly .................................................................15 Lee DeHaan Eulah Laucks (emeritus) Liz Elmore Mary Laucks Optimism and Hope in a Hotter Time Jerry Glover Conn Nugent David W. Orr ......................................................................19 Maril Hazlett Victoria Ranney Eileen Horn Lloyd Schermer Variation on the Theme: An Invited Response Stephanie Hutchinson John Simpson Conn Nugent ......................................................................23 Joan Jackson Donald Worster Nancy Jackson Angus Wright Notes on the History of World Energy Use Wes Jackson Vaclav Smil ........................................................................32 Patricia Johnson Ron Kinkelaar Glenn Laubhan Regulars John Mai Grant Mallett At the Land ..........................................................................3 Bob Pinkall Prairie Festival Recordings ................................................13 Harris Rayl Thanks to Our Contributors ...............................................24 Steve Renich 2440 E. Water Well Road The Writers and Artists ......................................................31 John Schmidt Salina, KS 67401 Donation Form ...................................................................31 Tiffany Stucky David Van Tassel Phone: 785-823-5376 Debbie Turner Fax: 785-823-8728 [email protected] Cover: Hay Rack, woodcut by Harry Shokler. From the Ste- Ken Warren ven Schmidt Collection, courtesy of the Spencer Museum of Darlene Wolf www.landinstitute.org Art, University of Kansas. ISSN 1093-1171 Want to share a story from The Land Report? Unless the The Land Report is published three times a year. writer objects, you may photocopy from the magazine or get Editor: Scott Bontz the piece by e-mail. Write to Scott at [email protected] Associate editor: Darlene Wolf or our street address in the column at right, or call him at 785-823-5376. 2 The Land Report www.landinstitute.org The Land Institute At the Land Perennial Grain Breeding rennial. Large seed can make for rapid establishment of a Breeder David Van Tassel is studying how the density of plant, will make harvesting easier, and will produce better plants in a given area affects their growth, including seed flour when milled. yield. Packing plants together allows the crop to cover the ground with leaves more quickly, gives more heads per acre New Staff Members and makes smaller plants on average—potentially good Maril Hazlett, Eileen Horn and Christina Arnold work for things. But packed plants might dry the soil too early. And our Climate & Energy Project, which is featured in the plants that are stunted—with small heads, thinner, weaker this Land Report. For more about them see page 5. The stalks and shorter roots—could be more vulnerable to wind project’s goal is to help Midwesterners understand how the or drought. Getting the most grain over five to 10 years, connection of energy and climate affects their lives, and some of them wet and some of them dry, might take a com- what they can do about it. promise density. Managing density could be a special challenge with New Board Member perennial grains, which is our mission and something new Steve Ells is founder and chief executive officer of Chipotle to farming. Unlike annuals, which start from seed each year, Mexican Grill, which makes fast food but aims for fresh herbaceous perennials usually reproduce clonally, increasing ingredients, and over its 15 years increasingly has applied root and stem density. Clonal species could eventually reach ethics to how the food is raised. The publicly traded, Den- a steady density, but it might be much higher than best for ver-based business has more than 640 restaurants. grain production. We want to know if we can breed perenni- als to control their own density, or if we’ll need to thin them. Presentations Made In addition to reading literature from past studies of Wes Jackson was among interview subjects in The 11th density and yield, David has begun a greenhouse experi- Hour, an ecological crisis documentary produced and nar- ment with sunflowers. rated by Leonardo DiCaprio, and released last fall. He’s also developing a database to track individual Filmmaker Aaron Lucich interviewed Jackson and plants, experiments, seed populations and pedigrees for all institute scientists Jerry Glover and Cindy Cox for We Are of our breeding. What We Eat, a documentary about the effects of how food Perennial sunflowers from cross-breeding different spe- is grown. For more, see wearewhatweeatthemovie.com. cies made seeds last year. Some plants made many, and in Wes also was interviewed for a project called YERT, a few cases there were many seeds larger than those in the Your Environmental Road Trip. For a year, Mark Dixon, perennial parent plant, though still small compared with Ben Evans and Julie Dingman Evans are visiting all 50 those from the annual parent. From this harvest we plan to states “with video camera in hand and tongue in cheek” to plant select seeds in early spring. report on Americans and environmental sustainability. See Sheila Cox found seed in about 40 new crosses she made www.yert.com. between annual sunflower varieties and several perennial Wes spoke at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago, in sunflower species. Some of these seeds have been planted in Charleston, South Carolina, for talks sponsored by Center the greenhouse. Sheila will try to cross results with proven for Humans and Nature, at the University of Florida in hybrids, ones that had good seeds and pollen production. Gainesville, and in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for The More than 95 percent of the wheat hybrids that the Quivira Coalition. Managing Director Ken Warren spoke perennial wheat program made last winter, mostly by cross- for a sustainability seminar at Kansas State University. ing existing hybrids with the perennial intermediate wheat- grass, could not make pollen. Plant breeder Lee DeHaan’s Presentations Scheduled crew is crossing these with the few pollen producers to see April 7, Pitzer College, Claremont, California. if seeds form. Male-sterility is a common hurdle in cross- April 9, University of California, Santa Barbara. ing species, but over generations can be overcome to make April 22, International Symposium on Agroterrorism, fertile plants that don’t need such babying. Kansas City, Missouri. From a breeding nursery for wheatgrass, which he is The previous dates are tentative. Call to confirm. selecting from directly to make a grain crop, in addition May 3, Webster University, St. Louis. to crossing with wheat, Lee found a few extremely large August 5, North American Prairie Conference, Winona, seeds. They were about three times the size of the usual in Minnesota. wheatgrass grown only as forage. In the greenhouse, the September 5, Muddy Boot Organic Festival, Portland, young plants from these seeds appeared so robust the he Oregon. initially thought they were wheat plants, not the slower pe- For more, call or see Calendar at www.landinstitute.org. The Land Institute www.landinstitute.org The Land Report 3 On Climate and Energy, an Invitation—R.S.V.P. ust over a year ago, my beloved father-in-law and your suggestions, and challenge you to employ your most I had what he calls a “spirited conversation” in the creative idea today with a skeptical co-worker, neighbor or kitchen. Wes had just testified in Topeka and Law- relative. rence against two large, coal-fired power plants Friends, we are in a race—to avoid the worst global Jproposed for western Kansas. I respectfully submitted that warming and to adapt creatively to the changes we’ve al- a successful fight against global warming would go well ready bought. We can and must win this one together, with beyond testimony in eastern Kansas—that it would require the likeminded supporting the otherwise-inclined. broad, deep engagement with the