In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs. -Daniel J Boorstin
1. Ben Franklin wanted turkey for our national bird
2. Consumers, attention: We need your help
3. SFPUC will turn your used cooking oil into biofuel
4. SF historic property owners qualify for tax-saving under new legislation
5. Some thoughts (rabid ones) on SF eco-district planning
6. LTEs: Population/nuclear power greenhouse-gas-free?
7. Brendan Kennelly considers how a shaken love may be sustained
8. Regional Parks District Botanic Garden lecture series/docent training starts January
9. Fundraiser for Project Wild Thing
10. World's shrinking glaciers at Commonwealth Club Nov 23
11. NERT training in Mission District Dec-Jan
12. President Abraham Lincoln proposes 'compensated emancipation' of slavery
13. No Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread?
1. But did you know that Benjamin Franklin would have preferred the Wild Turkey as our national bird? Here’s what he wrote in a 1784 letter to his daughter, in response to selection of the eagle as symbol of the Cincinnati of America, a new society of revolutionary war officers:
For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country…
I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.
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2.
The notion of progress based on domination of nature has its foundation in the "enlightened" thought of John Locke, who wrote that "land that is left wholly to nature...is called, as indeed it is, waste." Modern civilization's failure to recognize the fundamental interconnection between humans and earth lies at the root of the current global environmental crisis and biotic Armageddon. E.O. Wilson
Why are ecologists and environmentalists so feared and hated? This is because in part what they have to say is new to the general public, and the new is always alarming. Garrett Hardin
Every country has three forms of wealth: material, cultural, and biological. The first two we understand well because they are the substance of our everyday lives. The essence of the biodiversity problem is that biological wealth is taken much less seriously. This is a major strategic error—one that will be increasingly regretted as time passes. E.O. Wilson
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3. SFPUC
This holiday season, recycle your used cooking oil. We’ll turn it to biofuel.
Most people cook and share meals with friends and family throughout the holidays. That means an increase in leftover used cooking oil. Used cooking oil poured down the drain will clog our sewers, and can cause street flooding – a costly mess to clean up (at $3.5 million a year).
To help minimize the amount of grease getting into our sewer system, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has partnered with local retailers to enable residents to drop off their used cooking oil. It is then converted to biofuel.
For convenient used cooking oil drop off sites in SF, such as Whole Foods, Costco and Rainbow Grocery, and in Treasure Island, visit SFGreasecycle.org.
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4.
Mills Act in Effect
Tax-saving legislation in effect for owners of qualifying historic properties
SAN FRANCISCO – Owners of historic properties in San Francisco are now able to take advantage of tax savings due to updates to the Mills Act, recently adopted by the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor. These changes will allow more eligible owners to take advantage of tax-saving legislation, while making it simpler and easier for owners to apply.
The Mills Act Program, a program developed to help promote the preservation of San Francisco’s historic landmarks, is considered the greatest economic incentive in California for private property owners of historic buildings.
A number of changes are now in effect including:
· a timeline for processing applications in an effort to ensure timely completion;
· a reduction in application fees:
o from $9,159 for residential properties, to $2500
o from $18,310 for commercial properties, to $5000
“These changes will improve access to the program, reduce processing costs and time and streamline the coordination between city departments, all of which makes it easier for owners to benefit from this program,” said Planning Director, John Rahaim.
These legislative changes aim to increase the number of Mills Act applications, specifically by small-scale residential and commercial properties. Other cities across the state have seen a positive impact on the reinvestment in historic properties and providing financial assistance, especially to single-family homes, small-scale residential and commercial properties due to this legislation. For example, San Diego has 1,100 active contracts; Los Angeles currently has 601 active contracts; and Oakland’s program, which began in 2008, has 24 active contracts. To date, San Francisco only has 6 contracts in effect.
For more information on the program, visit www.sfplanning.org.
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5. On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:40 PM, Alice Polesky wrote:
Hi Jake,
This is the first I've heard of this -- haven't seen any reference to it in your newsletter (unless I missed it). Do you have any thoughts on it?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/san-francisco-eco-district_n_2140905.html?ref=topbar#slide=1765966
I have some thoughts, Alice. There are so many ideas and initiatives, some good, some not so good, some goofy, some faddish, some fuzzy, some contradictory. When I looked at the Huff URL, the first thing I saw was: Follow:
Central Corridor Eco-District, San Francisco Eco-District, San Francisco Planning Department, San Francisco South Of Market, San Francisco Sustainability, San Francisco Eco District, Soma, San Francisco News
Whatinhell is all this? Lacks focus.
As if that isn't bad enough, some guy in Planning is now trying to whoop it up for Biophilic Cities (!!). These vague terms (what is a biophilic city?) don't do anything but diffuse attention and energy. Too theoretical. Making changes in the world is difficult and takes a lot of work. True, out of brainstorming and creative froth solid projects can arise. More often they just die, especially if there are too many that are without grounding, or they may get in the way of good, realistic projects.
And what about this:
The Planning Department defined the neighborhood as a "patchwork quilt" that is "characterized by its mix of land uses and is comprised of undeveloped, under-developed and developed land owned by different property owners implementing development projects under different timeframes."
It's an area in which the city is expecting exponential growth--about 10,000 units of new housing and 35,000 new jobs. By labeling it an "eco-distrcit," the city hopes to bring a focus on sustainability into the planning process for how the neighborhood is expected to expand.
There you have it--expect exponential growth, new housing, new jobs. "Focus on sustainability"? Hello? Will we ever have a mantra other than jobs, housing, sustainability? How can we ever have "green" or "eco" anything with the crush of population necessitating more concrete, steel, paving, energy consumption, diminishing space? If there was a fraction of conversation about population stabilization/reduction as there is about eco planning, I would begin to have a tad of hope. Only a handful of people ever mention that, so you can eco-plan all you want, but we're still on an unsustainable path; the warning signs are everywhere. People ridicule the GOP for being climate-deniers, but is that any worse than population-deniers? Democrats are equally good at population denial.
Sorry for the rant. But you know by now that I have a number of buttons that are easy to set off.
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6. LTEs, Guardian Weekly
Attenborough's warning
Sirs: How fortunate we are to have someone of the stature of David Attenborough still around after six decades of educating us about the wonders of nature (Force of nature's stark warning, 9 November). And who better than he to pinpoint the blame for the current terrible loss of biodiversity: "...so many mouths, so many people in the west offering to pay for these forests to be cut down...", he says.
Climate change will also impact adversely on biodiversity as species move polewards or to higher altitudes to try to survive a warming Earth. Many will be impeded by human settlements that have not been there in the past when the planet has warmed or cooled. It is one of those problems that could be solved easily if you reduced human population, as Attenborough says.
George Monbiot may claim that climate change is caused only by the richer world burning fossil fuels and the poor are not to blame (Extreme weather will cause salvation, 26 October). But it is also exploding populations who cut down forests to grow food, or intensify agriculture for greater yields. Taking everything into account in the production of food from fertilisers to machinery to transport, agriculture now accounts for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. The more mouths, the more farming, the more emissions.
Jenny Goldie
Michelago, NSW, Australia
Proximity makes the heart grow colder.
A finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
Garrett Hardin
We have one globe, and it has one atmosphere.
Sirs: Nuclear power is not a greenhouse-gas-free source of energy. That assumption has long been proven wrong. The industry is heavily dependent on fossil-fuel energy.
This is because the nuclear fuel cycle is exceptionally demanding of energy sources that exist outside its original uranium. The mining and processing of the uranium, the elaborate transport procedures necessary to move these materials with any safety, the significant carbon dioxide debt carried by the construction of the plants and the investment of energy in storing nuclear waste add up to large-scale carbon dioxide emissions.
We must add to this the energy in decommissioning and dismantling aged reactors. This will soon be a significant factor because high numbers of the world's reactors are at the end of their working lifetimes.
In July 2005 the journal Australian Science published an analysis of the greenhouse gas costs of nuclear reactors, excluding decommissioning costs. If the reactors were using the increasingly scarce high-grade uranium ores as their fuel source, the greenhouse gas cost was already high. If they were using the low-grade ores, the only ones available after 2024, the greenhouse gas emissions of the reactor become more than those for a gas-fired thermal station of the same electric output.
To all the other terrible problems associated with nuclear reactors and nuclear fission, we can safely add that of their being large emitters of greenhouse gases.
Denys Trussell
Auckland, New Zealand
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7.
Willow
To understand
A little of how a shaken love
May be sustained
Consider
The giant stillness
Of a willow
After a storm.
This morning it is more than peaceful
But last night that great form
Was tossed and hit
By what seemed to me
A kind of cosmic hate,
An infernal desire
To harass and confuse,
Mangle and bewilder
Each leaf and limb
With every vicious
Stratagem
So that now I cannot grasp
The death of nightmare.
How it has passed away
Or changed to this
Stillness,
This clean peace
That seems so unshakable
A branch beyond my reach says
"It is well
"For me to feel
The transfiguring breath
Of evil
"Because yesterday
The roots by which I live
Lodged in apathetic clay.
"But for that fury
How should I be rid of the slow death?
How should I know
"That what a storm can do
Is to terrify my roots
And make me new?"
~ Brendan Kennelly ~
(A Time for Voices)
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8.
East Bay Regional Parks District Botanic Garden
The Wayne Roderick Lectures Winter 2012-2013
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=01091d83e4aa193c78a888704&id=a894130732&e=dc1584429c
___________________________
Become a Docent at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
DOCENT TRAINING - STARTS JANUARY 8, 2013
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9.
Jake,
This might be newsletter material. It is a fundraiser for a film that I think most of us could support.
Pam Hemphill
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/projectwildthing/project-wild-thing-a-feature-length-documentary?ref=NewsNov1512&utm_campaign=Nov15&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
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10.
CHASING ICE SCREENING
NOVEMBER 23, 7:30 PM
Commonwealth Club of California
With America paralyzed by the debate on climate change, a team of daring adventurers set out for the Arctic with National Geographic photographer James Balog to document the world's shrinking glaciers. With the use of revolutionary time-lapse cameras, Chasing Ice compresses years of glacial retreat into hauntingly beautiful videos that follow a world-class photographer's endeavor to deliver evidence and hope to our carbon-powered planet.
After a screening of the award-winning documentary, photographer James Balog will discuss his experience filming and documenting the vanishing Arctic glaciers.
To purchase tickets, please visit http://bit.ly/RFpj5Z
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11. Neighborhood Emergency Response Training - NERT
The Holidays will soon be upon us and we are all busy with "things" and "stuff." How much fun is that!
And... NERT has one more training in December! Please include this training opportunity in your December district newsletter. This NERT Training is somewhat central but is for all people who live and work in the San Francisco. People may live and work in different parts of the city. This training may fit their schedule!
Please help to remind your Constituents: During a event, all of our First Responders will be overwhelmed with the disaster. It is critical for people in the neighborhoods to be prepared. Through the NERT training, we learn to:
Plan - Make a plan on how you and your family will survive during this challenge and Build a Go - Kit of important and necessary items they will need.
Prepare - for an event - Water is Life - have 3 gallons of water per person per day, food, clothing medicine, etc. for at least 5 days
Mitigate - (to make less Harsh, less severe, less painful) -think about what is necessary to have to be safe and get rid of the extra stuff
Respond - as needed to keep safe and protect your family and neighbors
Recover - If we follow the course of action above, in our Recovery phase, individuals will be have the necessary knowledge and ability to put their lives back together again faster and in good stead!
Surely, no one expected the East Coast Storm disaster to this bad! So many everyday people in the neighborhoods are struggling to get back to normal and it continues. We can make a difference in peoples lives.
Thank you for your continued support for the NERT program. NERT is a vital program to all citizens who live and work in San Francisco.
NERT TRAINING:
Mission District
San Francisco Fire Department Division of Training*
Folsom St. @ 19th Street
Wednesday, 6:00PM – 9:00PM Classes start promptly!!!
December 5: Class 1
December 12: Class 2
December 19: Class 3
January 2: Class 4
January 9: Class 5
January 16: Class 6
To register visit: http://bit.ly/X4o8CZ,
* Note: You must attend all sessions to gain the full benefit of the training.
New students may not join on the second day of class.
A Certificate will be issued. Make ups may be approved.
Recertification - Take Class 5 & 6 -
Or Call 970-2024 or – http://www.sf-fire.org/index.aspx?page=879
**SFFD DOT (Division of Training): 2310 Folsom Street between Shotwell & Folsom. Enter parking lot on 19th Street and park against masonry wall. DOT is the single-story building located next to Fire. Also see: http://www.nextmuni.com/ to arrive by Muni!
If you have any questions about the NERT program, please contact Lt. Arteseros at 415-970-2022 or email her at: erica.arteseros@sfgov.org,
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12. End of Slavery?
“The President [Abraham Lincoln] urges at great length, what he terms ‘compensated emancipation’ of slavery. He proposes to inaugurate the great jubilee with the year 1900, by payment of the owners of slaves as a mutual concession on both sides, and as a matter of justice to those who are owners of this species of property. It being quite evident that the war between slavery and freedom will continue to be waged with increased vigor, the President hopes to modify its intensity, by fixing upon a certain period, when the institution shall forever cease. He thinks this policy will shorten the war, and secure justice to all concerned; while, at the same, the country will be saved from the effects of violent and sudden changes in its domestic arrangements. This view of the case strikes us as humane, and if the more radical portion of the two sections would but accept it, as a ground of settlement, peace would again bless us; but so intensely bitter have these contending elements become, that we fear no such compromise would be acceptable or satisfactory.”
Scientific American, December 1862
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13. No Hostess Twinkies, no Ding Dongs, no Wonder Bread?
(No worries, someone else will buy the company and make sure we continue to have a nutritious, healthy diet. :-)
Late Bulletin: Yes, it was all a game, see who would blink first. Looks like we've still got Twinkies.
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