Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Sunrise doesn't last all morning, a cloudburst doesn't last all day, seems my love is up and has left you with no warning. It's not always going to be this grey. All things must pass, all things must pass away. George Harrison

I had to quote George Harrison this week - his birthday is less than a week away and mine is in a few days.

I recently interviewed a group of Episcopalians in central Maine about two mission trips to New Orleans last year. I did a two part series for the Good News Gazette and the Kennebec Current. Although still long, this is a condensed version of their trip that will be in the Sun Chronicle next week for my column.

Here it is:

Contrary to the recent news reports and ads surrounding Mardi Gras, the devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina remains the dirty little secret of our nation. I spent six months in Slidell, Louisiana, just prior to the storm and remain in contact with friends. Slidell is on the other side of Lake
Pontchartrain from New Orleans, where entire neighborhoods remain in ruin.

However, “Love your neighbor” took on new meaning last year when Episcopalians, under the leadership of their bishop, the Rt. Reverend Chilton R. Knudsen, traveled to the Big Easy and began renovations long over due.

Last April, the Bishop coordinated with the Louisiana diocese to bring hope and volunteers to those still unable to live in their homes. In October, another group from two Augusta churches, St. Mark’s and St. Barnabas, joined Hallowell’s St. Matthew’s Church, creating a mission trip of neighboring towns helping their spiritual neighbors who wondered – after more than two years - if they would ever recover from Katrina.

Rather than editorializing, I find their words to be powerful.

Jason Blais said, “In some parts of New Orleans, it doesn’t seem like you are in the US – it seems like you are in a developing country. You can tell where can tell where the neighborhoods were because of the roads and driveways.”

Ryan Corum said, “I was surprised it was still in such poor condition. The majority of the progress was due to the donations and volunteers from non-profits instead of the government.”

St. Mark’s Rebecca Grant and St. Matthew’s Deacon Alicia Kellogg volunteered for both trips. Kellogg said, “I was surprised that in some areas it’s as though the hurricane happened yesterday and in some areas it’s like it never happened. In some areas, there is no plumbing or electricity.”

Grant explained that one group worked on a home that belonged to a woman who had been a Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights movement. “It made you want to give her, her house back,” she said.

That particular area - in the Gentilly section of New Orleans - looks like a war zone, with little rebuilding taking place. She wonders if it will be a safe neighborhood for the woman to live when the renovations are finished.

Nancy Finnegan said, “I’d been to New Orleans before the hurricane. I was struck by the poverty before the hurricane, now it is much worse.”

With neighbors still missing and others presumed dead, she wonders if the area will recover. “The city just finished picking up the debris for free,” she said. “Now it is piling up.”

Hauling garbage to the dump is another expense that homeowners cannot afford - when others see a pile, they toss their debris, including fast food bags, into the mix.

Vincent Tschamler, a former Peace Corp volunteer on the Ivory Coast, said that locals shook their hands and thanked them for the support that they had not received in over two years. He said, “In one of the houses we worked on, one of the volunteers loaded up a van – it was $35 to $40 to dump it. We send all this stuff over to rebuild Iraq and we can’t even rebuild our own country.”

Mary Yost was so angry about the conditions that she wrote a letter to President Bush - she did not receive a reply.

Flying in to the city, Bernard Shaw could not believe the amount of water still backed up. He said that the media should focus on the role of the government agencies and that the city cut services – such as garbage pick-up. He said, “I wanted to see if it was as bad as we had heard. It was all of that – if not worse.”

The group consensus is that bureaucracy stands in the way of progress. People of faith and church groups make more of an impact than the government or large non-profits. Many individuals – not all deserving – received huge cash payments up front, leaving residents with little. Grant said that one of the problems we face is that political appointees replaced FEMA’s seasoned professionals when Homeland Security assumed jurisdiction.

Rev. Elizabeth Miller said, “I think since such a tremendous amount of volunteer labor is making a big difference, more volunteers are needed.”

She said that they need financial donations, too, and suggests that people donate to church groups of various denominations to insure that the funds will be used as intended. Donate to the Episcopal Diocese of Maine Presiding Bishop’s Fund if you wish to support this on-going mission – there will be another one this fall. Be assured that 100% of your money will assist in rebuilding homes in New Orleans.

Rev. Calvin Sanborn said that one morning a woman approached their van. “She stood there in tears and said that they never would have been able to make it if it hadn’t been for church groups. She said, “God Bless You.” It meant more in that context than many other blessings. I feel like we were blessed by our work, her words and by the reality of what exists there,” he said. “It is a sign of great hope to seen the area Episcopal churches work together to do God’s work to serve the poor. It changes you. Barriers are broken down between people – some of the false pretenses slip away. There’s grace in an experience like this.”

That the older volunteers – in their 70s and 80s expressed anger not verbalized by others may be due to their expectation that the government should assist in rebuilding after natural disasters.

Since the recent tornadoes in the south, more Americans lost their homes. Will they suffer and wait as has happened in the Gulf Coast? Will the government make a better attempt in this election year or will people of faith once again take the lead and show us all how be human? If, after all this time, we continue to ignore the victims of Katrina, those suffering around the world have little hope.

Food for thought...

Peace -

Bonnie |
NEIDEEP at 4:31 PM

Friday, February 01, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008

"Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will." Bono

A few months ago, one of the publishers I work with asked me if I would like to write a finance column. I laughed and declined. Finances are not my forte. I asked if any other topics were open and she said that only farming was available. To her surprise, I jumped at the opportunity. I grew up on a farm. Farming is essential to our way of life in rural America and crucial to those living in developing countries.

Here is the essence of my last column for the Tri County Business Focus:

The coming season promises to be full of controversy as our government endorses bio-fuel, and farmers watch the price of grain, formerly used for people and livestock, rise.

President Bush just signed a new energy bill into law raising the use of renewable fuel from 6 billion to 36 billion gallons by 2022, with a little less that half of that fuel coming from corn. Automakers must have their fleets operating at 35 mpg – or greater - by 2020, which is the first policy requiring an increase in automobile fuel efficiency in 3 decades. I wonder what prices at the gas stations would be if fuel efficiency issues were mandated twenty years ago.

The entire nation faces choices about protecting our environment and the future use of bio-fuels. We must remember to factor in concerns about healthy food for livestock and ourselves.

Rather than increasing the production of corn to meet the demands for food, livestock and bio-fuel consumption, 6% less corn will be produced in the US this year. The result will be high corn prices until the production meets the demand during 2009.

As they wonder how they will feed their animals, farmers in the Midwest watch as the land prices skyrocket and the greed of producing bio fuel sets in. Livestock producers are concerned as they compete for corn and grains, and fuel for livestock becomes less important to produce than that for cars. John Phipps, of the US Farm Report, said, “These are curious times.”

As renewable energy, switch grass produces about 540% more ethanol than other sources. However, bio-fuel factories that produce ethanol from corn already exist – an enormous savings that must be considered. Since corn only uses 10% less carbon as fossil fuels, more reviews and revisions to policies - as well as more studies on third generation bio-fuels - are essential.

Two of the giant bio-fuel companies, Vera Sun and US Bio Energy, just merged. They expect to produce 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol. Small plants, like Bean’s Commercial Grease in Vassalboro, collect used yellow grease from restaurant frialators to produce bio-fuels.

Bill Gates and other foundations give millions of dollars in aid to farmers in developing nations. By producing their own food as well as bio-fuel for export, the third world could develop sustainable sources of renewable energy, as they climb out of poverty. We must make sure that large developers do not grab village farmlands, or raise food costs, so that corruption overtakes the production of bio-fuels.

I want to see US farmers succeed. I want to see impoverished farmers around the world raise crops that will create a sustainable future for the coming generations. I also want to see less dependence on fossil fuels and on OPEC.

I wonder at what point the USDA will become more focused on fuel rather than food. I wonder how political appointees – from any party - will balance the concerns of food producers with that of the Defense department and Homeland Security.

The corn and soybean market are already impacted by oil prices. At what point will the high oil prices dictate our food source? At what point will we make conditions worse for those around the world, rather than better? These are very curious times, indeed.

Peace -

Bonnie |
NEIDEEP at 9:13 AM