The Natural Step
Suzy Fenner of SCANFairbanks introduced speakers Ritchie and Mike Musick, who used the example of the port city of Göteborg, Sweden, to explain the concepts of the Natural Step for Communities. Mike Musick, a Fairbanks North Star Borough assemblyman, carpenter, and former contractor, has had a longstanding interest in green and northern building techniques and recycling. Several years ago the Musicks went to Sweden and attended a conference in Göteborg, learning how the city has incorporated recycling, renewable energy, urban agriculture, waste heat recapture, public transportation, and other systems into its aim to become a zero-environmental impact municipality. The couple also traveled elsewhere in the country, looking at how Sweden manages its forests.
The Natural Step is a science-driven framework of guiding sustainability principles that outline the conditions essential for life on the planet. This became national policy in Sweden, which plans to become carbon-neutral by 2050. The Natural Step is now an international organization with offices in 11 countries. As shown on the Natural Step website, the basic conditions and principles derived from the program are:
The Musicks pointed out that Sweden’s culture and government are different than that of the US, and that therefore a different approach to implementing these principles in Alaska is appropriate.
Food security for Alaska
Food security and sustainable agriculture in Alaska were the other forum topics, speakers Gary Currington and Hans Geier. Currington described his interests in energy efficiency and gardening: he is experimenting with various mulches (shredded newspapers, etc.) and hydroponics, has a water catchment and cistern system, a composting toilet, and a wood stove.
Hans Geier spoke on the imminent establishment of the Fairbanks Community Cooperative Market. Geier, who is a board member of the FCCM, is also a Cooperative Extension Service agent, an instructor with SNRAS, and a farmer. The FCCM will concentrate on selling locally produced goods and food. He described one of the difficulties in getting Alaska-grown food into the hands of consumers, saying that most Alaska seafood in the state’s supermarkets has been first shipped to distributors in Seattle and then shipped back up to Alaska. The market will try to establish direct shipping from Alaska businesses, such as seafood cooperatives, farmers’ cooperatives, the two dairies (Matanuska Creamery and Northern Lights Dairy), Alaska-grown oyster producers, and so on.
Many villages and towns in Alaska have created plans to improve the sustainability of their communities, and a frequent feature of this endeavor is encouraging local food production. This does not always come as a result of seeking environmental or economic sustainability. For example, the Sitka Health Summit wanted a healthier populace; as a result, the city now has the Sitka Local Food Network, which features a farmers’ market and a community garden, farm, and greenhouse. Sitka is working to reinvent itself as a bicycle friendly community, and is organizing to build a community health and wellness center. Villages such as Chickaloon are building community greenhouses or establishing community gardens.
The audience engaged in a discussion about state and local policy toward agriculture, zoning and agricultural development, the effect of rationalization of fisheries (it’s now safer, but can be permits can be very expensive because of the limited number of shares of catch, so it is harder for new fishermen to enter the fishery), and support available for growers and consumers (such as the Alaska Farmers’ Markets Association, the Alaska Farmers’ Union, the Alaska Cooperative Development Program, and the like). Geier gave an example of the isolation of Alaska agriculture through such policies as restrictions on importing livestock: cattle cannot be trucked through Canada from the Lower 48—they can be flown in to Alaska (which is of course prodigiously expensive), or cattle already resident in the state can be artificially inseminated with imported semen. Still, he explained, there is good potential for agricultural expansion in Alaska: “Only about 10 percent of the designated farmland in the state is actually being used. There’s plenty of demand, plenty of land, just not enough farmers.”
During the course of the discussion, Tom Paragi, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, described the results of a study he and others did on the relative proportions of red meat imported, produced in-state, or from Alaska game: 85 percent of red meat from hoofed animals came from Outside. Paragi estimated that there is a ten-day reserve supply of food in most of the state, but only a three-day supply in Fairbanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment