Sometimes it's hard to get excited about groundwater. Rural residents of Snohomish County, like me, generally belong to one of two quiet groups--those that have good wells, and those that don't. And both have this in common: wells that were tested for "stuff" once upon a time. If the building inspector stamped the right form, the source of the water was then forgotten.
Like whiskey and dark, orange chocolate--blended and poured over ice cream--Snohomish County groundwater is especially tasty, not to mention absolutely necessary. We can't live without it; we're all in love with Earth's Wild-Whiskey Chocolate Sauce. Homes that don't have fresh water...do have "For Sale" signs in the front yard, and they're permanent fixtures. The original purchase price, maybe $200,000--maybe $2 million doesn't matter. Homes with wells that run dry or become toxic suddenly become worthless.
Homeowners and builders that find themselves unexpectedly without water often end up in bankruptcy. We've all seen them, the abandoned homes with sunken roofs. As we drive by, we wonder what happened.
Thanks to my love of geology (and M.S. from SUNY), a friend recently approached me with a question about our water supply. "I have a septic system," she said, "so it doesn't matter how much water I use, right? I put it right back into the ground. If I'm returning the water, surely there's no such thing as using too much?"
I appreciated my friend's concern, and she highlighted a common misconception--that our septic system returns water to the original source. Amazingly enough, groundwater is very much like starlight. The photons touching our eyes when we stare at Betelgeuse in the night sky, for example, left that star 640 years ago. While we watch, they come to rest in the depths of our retinas at the end of a 3,840 trillion mile journey.
As for groundwater, individual molecules often travel a great distance before finding a well. They, too, reach us at the end of a magical journey; theirs through the space-time continuum of porous rock. While Betelgeuse's starlight might seem old, paleowater from the famous Ogallala Aquifer of the US Great Plains probably dates back to the last ice age. That means roughly 65% of US irrigation uses water ~20,000 years old. (Not bad, eh Betelgeuse?)
Well drillers know that deeper is usually better because earth and stone act as natural filters. They also know that the higher the number of impermeable layers (like clay) they drill through to reach an aquifer, the greater the protection from surface contamination. This is really important for those of us with little-boy family members who play in the back garden, and can't always be trusted to go inside to pee.
According to Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute (Oakland, California) the average household requires about 50 liters of water per person, per day--not including gardening. After we consume it and process it, it begins a new journey, takes a new path to somewhere else. The water we return to the Earth via septic system almost never makes it down to our well intake, as long as it's a good well. (I have a friend with a shared residential well that's only 6 ft deep. This does not count as a good well.)
The water dispersed by a septic field sinks into the ground, hits the first sloping impermeable clay layer and flows downhill--or it evaporates. Either way, there's no return...no such thing as sneaking back to the watershed nest.
So yes... It does matter how much water we use--even when we have a well--even when we use a septic system. Plus, too much water flow through a septic field decreases its efficiency, and way too much water can cause it to overflow. And trust me, an overflowing septic system is a seriously nasty disaster!
Sadly, we need to get excited about groundwater really fast because our favorite Wild Whiskey Chocolate Sauce is being attacked. When too many homeowners, developers, or businesses consume the water upstream, the wells downstream run dry. Since huge new developments are being planned right now, we all have to wonder... Can my own well survive?
Consider this...the slope of the aquifer may not match the slope of the land at the surface. Your surface water may be running towards the East, and your well water may be running towards the West. So it can be hard to tell if you should worry about that new rural cluster being developed just up the hill from your home. They might be putting themselves first in line for your water supply--or not.
That's why we have a WA Department of Ecology, and an important local resource, Snohomish County Planning and Development Services (PDS). These groups are charged with studying this stuff, and they're supposed to pay attention to the difference between water sources that are sensitive and those that aren't. It's their job to make sure new businesses, new condos, and new schools are planned in a way that protects those with a financial stake in growth, as well as existing residents. After all, what developer wants to build a bunch of new homes only to have the wells run dry before they're sold?
Unfortunately, PDS doesn't have a good record of enforcing permitting restrictions. Politics and money influence PDS's development policy, even though they should know that responsible development earns more money for our communities in the long run. They seem to be overriding the Dept. of Ecology in favor of another manual that says, "Develop anywhere you want. We have a permit for that."
This stinks, and it's unexpected--but we're not helpless. Here's what we can do:
1. Demand a change in regulatory culture from our Snohomish County Executive, Aaron Reardon. Tell him you care about Wild Whiskey Chocolate Sauce (oops, I mean water) and that you want him to uphold building codes and population density guidelines. His SnoCo website is being revamped to make it easier for us to share input. Let's use it!
2. Arm yourself with knowledge about where your water comes from and where it goes. Look at the topography of your property. Which way does your liquid garbage flow--the extra lawn fertilizer, the pet poop extract? Even if we don't like the neighbors downhill very much, it's worthwhile examining our chemical usage every once in a while just to see if we could use a little less.
Think of this article as a good excuse to ignore the dandelion and clover flowers in your lawn. Tell your neighbors they stay green without fertilizer; they grow more vigorously than grass; they probably consume more carbon dioxide. Those are my excuses, anyway.
3. Lend a hand to environmentally concerned citizens like Ellen Hiatt-Watson--people who want our communities to grow; want new neighbors and new stores; want great jobs for our local building professionals--but know that Snohomish County Planning and Development Services must do its job. Growth must happen in ways, and in places, that are sustainable.
4. Notice that State Representative Dan Kristiansen (39th LD, pos. 1) doesn't express any concern about the environment anywhere on his website (except in one vague reference to meth manufacture). Notice that Kristiansen's challenger in this November's election, Eleanor Walters, grew up in a community where water and salmon were important to the economy.
Eleanor's website explains her understanding of the critical links between great jobs, community growth, and clean water. On May 25, Walters went on record to say, "Groundwater is essential to our continued quality of life here in the 39th district. We need to work together to protect this vital resource." Let's give her our support!
I know it can be hard to work up much emotion about groundwater. As a geologist, I understand. For some of us, it's helpful to think of water as if it were Wild-Whiskey Chocolate Sauce. Another friend of mine thinks gin and tonic with a twist of lime makes a better analogy... Either way, we can't afford to run out, to let our properties go fallow. Not now. There's only so much hardship we can take. ~Elizabeth A. Scott
Useful links:
*For access to your very own well log online: www.apps.ecy.wa.gov/wellog/
*For info about the impact of fertilizers on groundwater from WA State University: www.cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1722/eb1722.html
*For links to Snohomish County public officials: www.co.snohomish.wa.us/
*For info about Eleanor Walters: http://www.eleanorwalters.com/
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Top 10 Tea Party Proposals for Maintaining Roads, Improving Schools
The Countdown...
10. For schools: repair leaky roofing with recycled grass clippings. Get that trendy "thatched" look as an added bonus.9. For roads: replace "pothole" with "targeted speed-management device" in the city engineer's report.
8. Attack childhood obesity by cutting school lunches in half.
7. Raise revenue by lowering all speed limits 15 mph. Warn traffic police; keep mum to motorists.
6. Quit purchasing glue sticks for elementary school classrooms. Kids know spit is stickier anyway.
5. Train military for special concrete barrier black-ops. Mission: Sneak into Canada; steal expensive concrete lane dividers; install them on Hwy 2. (Might also work for bridges...more research needed.)
4. Don't replace 20 year old math texts. They provide students with a priceless, historical perspective.
3. Scrap half the school bus fleet. Mount seat belts from scrapped buses to roofs of remaining buses and warn children not to play with the power lines. Don't worry, children always follow directions.
2. Give the land back to the people! Privatize all roads. Residents and business owners with property in direct contact with any section of road should be directly responsible for any necessary improvement of said section of road. Costs and decisions associated with repairs should be equally split with neighbor across the street. (Personal injury and real estate lawyers, rejoice!)
1. Forget schools altogether. Put the children to work maintaining roads.
~
Not ready to thatch school roofing with old grass clippings? Support Eleanor Walters, the Democratic Party nominee for WA State Representative, 39th LD, pos. 1!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Ken Wilber--Essential Vitamin or Deep Fried Granola Bar?
(Author's note: I'd like to extend a special thanks to Beth for suggesting Ken Wilber as today's Global Microscope topic. Wilber is certainly an interesting character, and I hope this blog inspires discussion. Thanks! ~Elizabeth A. Scott)
Citizens of the Pacific Northwest have a fantastic appetite for innovation and sociopolitical activism. To that end, many of us turn to Ken Wilber, author of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995); A Theory of Everything (2000); Boomeritis (2002), for enlightenment and direction.
Wilber is perhaps most famous for his jumbo paradigm, Integral Theory. Loosely speaking, it's a conglomerate model of the human experience composed of ideas scavenged from biology, faith, business, politics, and psychology. Recently, Wilber's comments about a subset of this paradigm, Integral Politics, were published on YouTube under the title, "One Person, One Vote, One Catch." The post generated a tidal wave of comments.
Since Wilber is so influential--so appealing to our Pacific Northwest identity, it's worth examining Integral Politics for soundness. Should it influence our thinking about today's hot issues: panhandling, homelessness, incarceration, mental illness, health care?
If the answer is yes, then Wilber's philosophy is a vitamin; an essential, healthy approach we can use to increase the effectiveness of our political discourse. But what if it's really a deep fried granola bar? It could be tasty, healthy-looking, and a fatal 5,000 calorie heart attack catalyst. Together, we have to watch out for this kind of risk. So let's take a closer look...
Wilber's theory classifies people according to motivation, and assigns them a position within a pseudo-biological/developmental hierarchy. In his YouTube presentation, Wilber mostly talks about people near the top of his hierarchy--the "Worldcentric" folks, and those near the bottom--the "Ethnocentric" folks.
Now here comes the really interesting part. Wilber's "Ethnocentric" groups include Nazis, KKK members, devout Christians, and Republicans. He paints with the broadest brush possible, and uses only one color. For Ethnocentrists, he likes the color blue.
Since the opposite of blue in Wilber-World is green, he uses this color to represent "Worldcentric" people. These are defined as well-educated citizens interested in extending basic human rights to everyone regardless of race, color, sex or creed.
On YouTube, Wilber muses that Worldcentric citizens were responsible for establishing our current, representative form of government. He also suggests that our democracy has a built-in, catastrophic flaw: it pits Ethnocentric, values-focused citizens against Worldcentric, economics-focused citizens. He further asserts that the well-intentioned Worldcentric people are wrong to avoid "values" in the context of government. This, he feels, is one of the roots of civil unrest and displacement from government.
Even more interesting is Wilber's solution to American social discord. He proposes that we accept Ethnocentrism and Worldcentrism as natural stages in life. One must pass through the Ethnocentric stage to get to the Worldcentric stage. Then he compares Ethnocentrism to a molecule within a cell. The cell cannot reject the molecule, he says, so it's impossible for Worldcentrists to reject Ethnocentrists, even though that's exactly what they'd like to do.
According to Wilber, once Worldcentrists have accepted Ethnocentrism as part of their own natural development, they'll evolve onwards and upwards and become "second tier" citizens capable of "Integral Politics." He predicts that increasing numbers of people will actually do this because it's a natural trend. Plus, it inherently relieves tension between political groups. You can't hate your rivals if you see them as existing within a natural life stage.
In Wilber-World, the more people that practice Integral Politics, the easier it will be to make our social squabbles go away. Bible followers will be allowed to do whatever they want in their own homes but, he says, they "won't be allowed to burn people at the stake."
The appeal of Integral Theory to Democrats is that it pretends to promote compassion towards Republicans--and Democrats (like me) love themes of compassion. But watch out! Wilber isn't really teaching compassion at all. He's essentially saying, "Hey Democrats, acknowledge your dark, Republican, faith or ethnically-based genetic code and transcend to greatness. Love your conservative rival as you would a child, and political tension will go away." Can this be true?
Wilber's theory is entirely based upon the transposition of biological or evolutionary principles into a method for organizing geopolitical groups. It sounds scientific--almost logical--but in reality, it's like taking a rock classification system and using it to decide which cereal to eat for breakfast. Yuck!
True, there's often a relationship between genetic code and geopolitical identity, and some global populations are more closely related than others. The English, on average, might be more genetically and politically uniform than Americans. Sometimes this helps keep the peace, sometimes not.
In Rwanda, the New York Times reported just this week that the government has a stranglehold on political discussion. Dissent is not allowed, and international leaders fear citizens will soon be forced to identify with nothing more than their ethnic groups.
Ethnic identity has indeed been associated with the kinds of catastrophes Wilber mentions, and this is his most important--most valid point. Rwandans could be in real danger, since ethnic tensions have led to wholesale slaughter in the not too distant past. It could happen here, too. Think Oklahoma bombing.
I must point out, though, that ethnic identity is rarely the real problem. It's a statistical happenstance. We humans are social animals, and we're competitive. We naturally join groups. Does that mean ethnic or religious identity causes violence? Absolutely not. Famine, lack of economic or biological success, disease, hardship, quests for power/control--even boredom--make better instigators of violence. Ethnicity is just along for the ride.
The idea that Republicans should naturally evolve or develop into Democrats, and Democrats should naturally metamorphose into political super-beings, puts Integral Politics squarely inside a philosophical black hole. Wilber talks about Republicans and Christians the same way slave owners used to talk about human property--like they're not as developed as the rest of us. While I usually agree with liberal/progressive ideas, I find Wilber's stereotypes offensive. His model of Integral Politics is also scientifically unhinged.
There's no biological impetus for political groups like Republicans (Ethnocentrists) to change into Democrats (Worldcentrists) in a country like ours--a country that's not actively being ravaged by civil war. There's no reproductive advantage to being a Democrat. Republicans are not being hauled off to death camps, and I refuse to believe that mainstream Republicans would even wish such a thing on Democrats. (Extremist motivations can't be modeled, so they aren't worth talking about.)
Ironically, Republicans and Democrats often have identical goals: good health, public safety, economic security, even religious piety. We just have very different ideas about how to achieve them. Wilber is right to point out that we have much in common, much to accept; wrong to say it has anything to do with natural life stages. It has everything to do with peaceful communication, education, and open debate.
If Wilber were a vitamin, he would promote peaceful discourse. He would generate an atmosphere of mutual respect that could actually lead to progress. But if I were a Republican being called a social tadpole with a predisposition for white, pointy hats and stake burnings just because of my religious or ethnic identity--I would be furious. I definitely wouldn't be interested in peaceful discourse. I'd be offering Wilber a stack of deep fried granola bars.
Then again, maybe I'm not that highly evolved. I bet those things are tasty...
~Elizabeth A. Scott
Citizens of the Pacific Northwest have a fantastic appetite for innovation and sociopolitical activism. To that end, many of us turn to Ken Wilber, author of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995); A Theory of Everything (2000); Boomeritis (2002), for enlightenment and direction.
Wilber is perhaps most famous for his jumbo paradigm, Integral Theory. Loosely speaking, it's a conglomerate model of the human experience composed of ideas scavenged from biology, faith, business, politics, and psychology. Recently, Wilber's comments about a subset of this paradigm, Integral Politics, were published on YouTube under the title, "One Person, One Vote, One Catch." The post generated a tidal wave of comments.
Since Wilber is so influential--so appealing to our Pacific Northwest identity, it's worth examining Integral Politics for soundness. Should it influence our thinking about today's hot issues: panhandling, homelessness, incarceration, mental illness, health care?
If the answer is yes, then Wilber's philosophy is a vitamin; an essential, healthy approach we can use to increase the effectiveness of our political discourse. But what if it's really a deep fried granola bar? It could be tasty, healthy-looking, and a fatal 5,000 calorie heart attack catalyst. Together, we have to watch out for this kind of risk. So let's take a closer look...
Wilber's theory classifies people according to motivation, and assigns them a position within a pseudo-biological/developmental hierarchy. In his YouTube presentation, Wilber mostly talks about people near the top of his hierarchy--the "Worldcentric" folks, and those near the bottom--the "Ethnocentric" folks.
Now here comes the really interesting part. Wilber's "Ethnocentric" groups include Nazis, KKK members, devout Christians, and Republicans. He paints with the broadest brush possible, and uses only one color. For Ethnocentrists, he likes the color blue.
Since the opposite of blue in Wilber-World is green, he uses this color to represent "Worldcentric" people. These are defined as well-educated citizens interested in extending basic human rights to everyone regardless of race, color, sex or creed.
On YouTube, Wilber muses that Worldcentric citizens were responsible for establishing our current, representative form of government. He also suggests that our democracy has a built-in, catastrophic flaw: it pits Ethnocentric, values-focused citizens against Worldcentric, economics-focused citizens. He further asserts that the well-intentioned Worldcentric people are wrong to avoid "values" in the context of government. This, he feels, is one of the roots of civil unrest and displacement from government.
Even more interesting is Wilber's solution to American social discord. He proposes that we accept Ethnocentrism and Worldcentrism as natural stages in life. One must pass through the Ethnocentric stage to get to the Worldcentric stage. Then he compares Ethnocentrism to a molecule within a cell. The cell cannot reject the molecule, he says, so it's impossible for Worldcentrists to reject Ethnocentrists, even though that's exactly what they'd like to do.
According to Wilber, once Worldcentrists have accepted Ethnocentrism as part of their own natural development, they'll evolve onwards and upwards and become "second tier" citizens capable of "Integral Politics." He predicts that increasing numbers of people will actually do this because it's a natural trend. Plus, it inherently relieves tension between political groups. You can't hate your rivals if you see them as existing within a natural life stage.
In Wilber-World, the more people that practice Integral Politics, the easier it will be to make our social squabbles go away. Bible followers will be allowed to do whatever they want in their own homes but, he says, they "won't be allowed to burn people at the stake."
The appeal of Integral Theory to Democrats is that it pretends to promote compassion towards Republicans--and Democrats (like me) love themes of compassion. But watch out! Wilber isn't really teaching compassion at all. He's essentially saying, "Hey Democrats, acknowledge your dark, Republican, faith or ethnically-based genetic code and transcend to greatness. Love your conservative rival as you would a child, and political tension will go away." Can this be true?
Wilber's theory is entirely based upon the transposition of biological or evolutionary principles into a method for organizing geopolitical groups. It sounds scientific--almost logical--but in reality, it's like taking a rock classification system and using it to decide which cereal to eat for breakfast. Yuck!
True, there's often a relationship between genetic code and geopolitical identity, and some global populations are more closely related than others. The English, on average, might be more genetically and politically uniform than Americans. Sometimes this helps keep the peace, sometimes not.
In Rwanda, the New York Times reported just this week that the government has a stranglehold on political discussion. Dissent is not allowed, and international leaders fear citizens will soon be forced to identify with nothing more than their ethnic groups.
Ethnic identity has indeed been associated with the kinds of catastrophes Wilber mentions, and this is his most important--most valid point. Rwandans could be in real danger, since ethnic tensions have led to wholesale slaughter in the not too distant past. It could happen here, too. Think Oklahoma bombing.
I must point out, though, that ethnic identity is rarely the real problem. It's a statistical happenstance. We humans are social animals, and we're competitive. We naturally join groups. Does that mean ethnic or religious identity causes violence? Absolutely not. Famine, lack of economic or biological success, disease, hardship, quests for power/control--even boredom--make better instigators of violence. Ethnicity is just along for the ride.
The idea that Republicans should naturally evolve or develop into Democrats, and Democrats should naturally metamorphose into political super-beings, puts Integral Politics squarely inside a philosophical black hole. Wilber talks about Republicans and Christians the same way slave owners used to talk about human property--like they're not as developed as the rest of us. While I usually agree with liberal/progressive ideas, I find Wilber's stereotypes offensive. His model of Integral Politics is also scientifically unhinged.
There's no biological impetus for political groups like Republicans (Ethnocentrists) to change into Democrats (Worldcentrists) in a country like ours--a country that's not actively being ravaged by civil war. There's no reproductive advantage to being a Democrat. Republicans are not being hauled off to death camps, and I refuse to believe that mainstream Republicans would even wish such a thing on Democrats. (Extremist motivations can't be modeled, so they aren't worth talking about.)
Ironically, Republicans and Democrats often have identical goals: good health, public safety, economic security, even religious piety. We just have very different ideas about how to achieve them. Wilber is right to point out that we have much in common, much to accept; wrong to say it has anything to do with natural life stages. It has everything to do with peaceful communication, education, and open debate.
If Wilber were a vitamin, he would promote peaceful discourse. He would generate an atmosphere of mutual respect that could actually lead to progress. But if I were a Republican being called a social tadpole with a predisposition for white, pointy hats and stake burnings just because of my religious or ethnic identity--I would be furious. I definitely wouldn't be interested in peaceful discourse. I'd be offering Wilber a stack of deep fried granola bars.
Then again, maybe I'm not that highly evolved. I bet those things are tasty...
~Elizabeth A. Scott
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