Holiday Gifts - Images and products

Holiday Gifts - Images and products created with my images available here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mindscapeimages/

First Snow on a Larch Bog

New Hampshire Moose Poster

“The Distant Sound of a Different Drum”

Writing Effective News Releases

Writing Effective News Releases
By Wayne D. King

"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." - Chinese Proverb

Whether you are the person writing a news release, or the CEO reviewing that release before it goes out, its important to understand the form and elements of an effective news release.

You'll notice that I use the term New Release - not Press Release. Media in the digital age does not generally consider itself "press". When you measure your output in bits and bytes without any ink, you don't generally see yourself as press, so show some love and respect to the folks that you want to pass along your news.

One notable exception to this is the more hip reference to "Pressers" that you will hear in reference to News Conferences. What can I say? See Ben Franklin about a foolish consistency . . . "Presser" just sounds more sexy than "newser"

Keep in mind that a news release is most effective as a part of a media plan within your business plan.

If you need a News Release in a hurry, or help with development of a Media Plan or Campaign, we can help. Feel free to contact us, but take a look at this brief overview of an effective news release whether you do your releases in-house or you outsource them.


I. Elements of a News Release:

     A. A news release contains five major elements
          Advisory & Contact Information 

          A Headline
          A Dateline
          The Story/News
          End Delineation 

II. Types of News Releases:

     A. News releases can generally be separated into two categories
          Releases that are news-makers. 

          Releases that are news-responses. These releases respond to other news. 

III. Purposes of News Releases: 

    A. These two releases serve two distinctly different purpose.

1. Making News: If your release seeks to make news, you will have to tell the story succinctly but give them a reason to consider it as news. The challenge here is to be succinct and at the same time give them enough information to see the importance of your release to a broader community. Be sure to include in the release information the vital information: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How.
2. Responding to News: If you are responding to news, remember that your comments will most likely be used in the context of a larger story on an issue. In order to have your message somehow make its way through the din of competing messages you must say something compelling and keep it interesting – perhaps even controversial, since the media loves a controversy. Don't say something controversial that will damage the reputation of your organization but do look for ways to stimulate dialogue in an interesting fashion. 

IV. Elements of a News Release

1. The Header: This section of your news release serves to identify who the contact person is for the story and what are the best ways to contact them. It also includes the date and information concerning whether the content is for immediate distribution or is to be held until a specific date - known as EMBARGOED.
   
   News Release
   For Immediate Release
   October 10, 2017
   For More Information Contact: John Smith - 635-786-9944 The National Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds
   
   If the information is embargoed the form would look like this: News Release
   Embargoed Until: October 21, 1999
   For More Information Contact: John Smith - 635-786-9944 The National Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds
   
   You will notice that this is called a NEWS RELEASE not a press release. there is a very specific reason for this. Electronic news media are sensitive to being termed "press", it is an outmoded expression. In order to start off on the right foot with your release, make this concession to be as inclusive as possible.
2. The Headline: Your headline is the most important sentence of your news release. Try to keep it short and interesting. Make it timely and newsworthy. Consider whether you are trying to create news or respond to news and generate your headline based on this. See the sample news releases at the end of this primer.
3. The Dateline
   Despite its name the dateline is actually the location from which the release is written. Generally, that is also the location of the story behind the news release as well.
4.  Telling The Story
   Organize your story before you actually sit down to write it. Whether you are making news or responding to news be sure to include the following elements:
   
   Who is the release about - if you are responding to news that has been made by someone else you will be discussing two different entities. Make sure as you write that it is always clear which you are referring to at any point in the release.
   
   What is the principle issue or problem that this release addresses When did these events take place or when will they take place? Where did these events take place or where will they take place?
   
   Why did they happen. What was the mission behind the event or, in the event you are responding to news, why did they make the mistake they made? How can a reader or listener act if they wish to so do. Give your reader the opportunity to take an action. engage them in your mission.
   
   Summarize your story in the first paragraph.Your headline and first paragraph should provide a summary of the story that any reader can understand, from an anchor person at a news desk to the reader of a newspaper that prints your release verbatim. Think about how people read letters and newspapers and webpages etc. as you write. Provide a reason to read on quickly.
   
   Use real people to tell your story. Stories that have a personal angle are very appealing to the news media. Try to make your release real by involving real people in the story. Quote respected individuals and members of your staff. A great morale booster for staff members is to include some of them in the story as well. Try to give everyone the opportunity to be quoted in the media if this is feasible.
   
   Write in the Third Person Voice. Unlike an email or a letter that is written in a personal voice, a press release should be presented objectively from a third person point of view. The reason is obvious. Every journalist has a duty to provide his/her/their readers with impartial facts and figures. They must not be seen as endorsing a company's products or services.
   
   For example: Remove "you", "I", "we" and "us" and replace them with "he/she" and "they". Provide references to any statistics, facts and figures raised in the news release. Personal opinions should be expressed in the form of quotes from individuals.
   
   Draw conclusions from facts and statistics - not from opinion.
5. Provide additional background information.
   Here is an ideal opportunity to provide a way for people to take action, provide your Website address and telephone number and encourage people to find out more. End your news release with an appendix that provides brief background information on your organization, newsmakers, as well as who to contact for further information.
6. The End
   It seems like a small point but be sure to let the media know where your news release ends. This allows them to be sure that they have the full story and nothing is missing. There are several accepted ways of doing this, all of them perfectly acceptable.
   ###
   ## END ## END

 IV. What is the Difference Between a Media/News Advisory and a Media Release?
An advisory informs the media of an upcoming event. Often inviting them to participate in some capacity. It is written in much the same manner as a release but is usually very short and succinct and often followed up with a personal contact.

V.   News Makers - News Releases Intended to Create News

News Release
For Immediate Release
October 10, 2005
For More Information Contact: John Smith - 635-786-9944
The National Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds


The Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds Formed
Group Intends to Foster Quality Sleep (sub headers are also effective)

Ojai, California . . .  As a result of the cry from both public and private sources for greater peace and harmony among all earthlings, a new coalition, The Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds today announced its formation.

Commenting on the need for this new organization, coalition President John Smith said, "We believe that by focusing the efforts of our organization on the core principles of peace, justice and a sound night's sleep that we can begin to achieve a level of harmony previously unknown to humans."

Smith continued, "For too long the leaders in this country have neglected the serious effects of sleep deprivation on the national psyche, we intend to do something about this problem."

Smith, who previously served as the Director of the United Nations steering committee on Affordable Housing, said that the new coalition's mission would be to bring about universal harmony through the promotion of a sound night's rest.
The new coalition will be located in the residence of Swami Sanchedenadna, on Harmony Lane in Ojai, until it has established its permanent headquarters. Smith invited interested individuals to call their sleep hotline at 1-800-GET-REST to make a donation or volunteer time.

###


VI.  News Response Release - News Releases that Respond to News

A News release that responds to news is the second general category of news release. A sample is shown below.

News Release
For Immediate Release
October 11, 2005
For More Information, Contact: Ace Hardguy
The Coalition to Eliminate Nonsense: 1-800-465-NO-BS

No Nonsense Says "Give Me A Break" to New Waterbed Coalition

Mill Valley, California . . .
Commenting on the formation of the new Coalition for Peace, Love and Waterbeds in Ojai, Ace Hardguy, President of the Coalition to Eliminate Nonsense said: "Give Me a Break . . . Give Me a Big Break".

"This is nothing more than an attempt to raise money in the name of universal harmony. The notion that helping people to have a good night's sleep is going to bring about a change in our society is nothing more than what the cow left in the field."

Hardguy, a former veteran of the special forces, Green Berets, said that these kinds of efforts were poorly disguised efforts and that people should protest by sending envelopes with nothing but a blank piece of paper inside. "That will keep them out of mischief," he said. "They will spend their days opening envelopes as empty as their mission."

###

© 2018 Wayne D. King,
Originally released as part of “Creating Electronic Communities, a Primer for Accessing and Using to the Internet” 1997 by Wayne D. King, Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu and Philip K. Bates III

Special Offer
Ripple of Hope - Limited Edition Print
19" x 30" Signed limited Edition of 250 prints
$125

$99.00

A Ripple of Hope:
Signed limited edition poster created from an image of the same name inspired by the famed 

courageous speech of Robert F. Kennedy in 1966 in South Africa where he spoke out against the Apartheid system and for hope. 

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. 

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, 

he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring

 those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Limited Edition Print

Open Edition Poster and Cards

Listen to the speech here.

Adopt an Image and Raise Money for Your Non Profit or Small Business

Alton Washday Expressions

Alton Washday Expressions

Produced by special request in an affordable limited edition of 100 signed and numbered originals for the good folks at the Rumney Village Store - that would be George & Sheila - a beautiful 8" x 20" signed image with a certificate of authenticity. You can purchase this original art for just $95.00 at the Rumney Village Store on Main Street in Rumney, New Hampshire. If it's too far to travel and you'd still like an original signed print, you can order it right here and we'll see to it that the Rumney Village Store gets credited - but you can save the cost of shipping by stopping by RVS and buying it directly and maybe purchasing one of their great deli offerings! or grab a copy of Sacred Trust 😉 . http://bit.ly/AltonEXP

As a way to support local businesses and nonprofits I have created this Adopt-an-Image program. If you or your nonprofit have an interest in adopting your favorite image its easy, just click here: http://bit.ly/AdoptImage 

Finding the Center - Reversing the Hollowing of the Political Center in America

This Week's View from Rattlesnake Ridge

"A serious and substantive discussion about lowering the voting age to 16 instead of 18 is also in order. Ten other countries now permit it. In Scotland the Parliament passed the franchise to vote for 16 and 17 year-olds unanimously after successfully testing the premise during their referendum on independence."

http://indepthnh.org/2018/03/18/finding-the-center-reversing-the-hollowing-of-the-political-center-in-america/

Colors of a Pike NH Home

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

News Release

For Immediate Release

1/23/18

For more information: 603-515-6001

“Sacred Trust” Now Available in Bookstores and on Amazon

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

If the cover of “Sacred Trust”, created by Mike Marland, doesn’t clue you in, it won’t take long to realize that this novel is written as a vicarious homage to New Hampshire’s own ongoing battle over the controversial “Northern Pass” project and other similar projects.

Author, former State Senator and 1994 Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Wayne D. King adroitly weaves a story with a familiar ring . . . the clash of ordinary people confronting money and power in an epic battle to protect the land they love.

“Sacred Trust” is the tale of a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience against a private powerline, pitting nine unlikely environmental patriots, calling themselves “The Trust”, against the “Granite Skyway” transmission line and its powerful, well-connected consortium of investors.

With an obvious deep fondness for both the people and the land, King weaves a fast-paced tale filled with both real and fictional stories from the political world and life in the Granite State.  In a rich tableau that includes sometimes hilarious and sometimes hair-raising stories of Senators driving North in a Southbound Interstate lane after a night of drinking at the Highway Hotel; Doctors sneaking a pregnant Llama into a hospital surgical ward for ACL surgery; A bear and a boy eating from the same blueberry patch atop Mount Cardigan as his father, the Ranger, watches helplessly from the fire tower, and more.

Among the heroes of the story is Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada. While hiking the Mahoosuc Range of the Appalachian Trail with her companion - a wolf named Cochise - Brandt meets Daniel Roy, a New Hampshire “boy” and now a guide and outdoorsman. After a unique first encounter they continue their trip together, eventually finding themselves camping with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a conservative deer farmer, a retired spook, sidelined when he became the first US victim of Lyme disease; and an iconoclast and former Army Ranger named Thomas who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak – aptly named for the “Lone Survivor of the Megalloway” tribe, who in the late 1800’s was reputed to ride a moose himself.

The group quickly discovers that – despite their very broad range of ideological beliefs - they are united in their deep concern about the Consortium’s proposal to bisect the most beautiful parts of the state with massive 150 foot towers and clear cut forests for the sole purpose of transporting electricity from Canada to more affluent markets beyond its borders.  Like Oligarchs of the Gilded Age who minimized their costs by creating a legacy of polluted land and water, these modern Oligarchs stand to reap 100% of the benefits while passing off a large portion of their costs through the generations-long visual pollution of the public commons and all the economic shockwaves that result.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak. Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau and Dr. King proud.

Although “Sacred Trust” is a work of fiction, King says that educators will find the novel a great classroom resource as well. Adding a new dimension and lively discussion to classes on the emergence of the renewable energy era, sustainability, and the American tradition of protest and its place in an “Era of Terrorism”.

“in the coming “Age of Electricity” “ King says, “a principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of electric power. Across America today, the battle lines are being drawn. Utility companies, many in an existential battle for survival, are pitted against advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power sources replace today’s large electricity generation plants.”

“Most Americans” King asserts, “notice that things are changing, but have yet to fully grasp what a sea change in life it will be for every American.”

“Sacred Trust” follows the trail of heroic citizens banding together to stop one especially egregious powerline. The citizens who stand to lose most are dead set against the project . . . but the political winds are against them. It is in this setting The Trust takes on the Consortium.

As the actions of The Trust gain traction and momentum, other citizens join in support including a wave of supporters on social media; “The Gazetteers”, a group of citizen activists writing in the style of the Federalist Papers; and journalists including one business writer who weaves together details of the historic record leading his readers through a virtual primer on the evolution of a post-carbon energy paradigm beginning with the 1972 election of Jimmy Carter and the passage of the National Energy Policy Act into which NH Senator John Durkin inserted an eight word amendment that rocked the world.

"Sacred Trust" is a hilarious and vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the “Granite Skyway” leading the reader through the hijinks of The Trust, and the series of choices we all are currently confronted in the emerging “Age of Electricity”.

For each of the members of The Trust it is a sacred campaign fought against an impending legacy of steel towers and scarred lands - an existential threat to an entire way of life. The Trust is all that stands between the people and their worst fears . . . and they are willing to pay any price to prevail. 

                                                             

“Sacred Trust”

Paperback: 354 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-10: 1981490302

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Price: $14.95*

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

Price: $2.99*

https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/

* Special discounts are available to schools, libraries, and nonprofits. Please contact 603-515-6001

Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters - A Ramble Through the Baker River Valley

Here's a great idea for holiday gift giving. . .

Asquamchumaukee - A photographic ramble through the Baker River Valley of New Hampshire

Storm Over Tenney Mountain

Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters

A photographic ramble through the Baker River Valley of New Hampshire

This book and the images from it are available in a number of different formats including a large landscape hardcover, signed and numbered, limited edition art book; an open edition in hardcover, softcover and eBook formats as well as other related products including calendars, clocks, mugs, cards, posters and prints.

Signed, Numbered Limited Edition, Large Format $165.00

This book requires the artist to sign and number the books, it can ONLY be ordered directly from me at this secure address:

Asquamchumaukee Cover

http://bit.ly/OrderAsquam

Purchase the signed limited edition and receive your choice of two complimentary posters

Open Edition (unsigned) - Large Format $98.76

Available through Amazon.com

Large Landscape Hardcover 13” x 11” 

42 Pages printed on standard paper

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo3

Open Edition Small Hardcover (unsigned) - 8"x10" Format $59.35

Available through Amazon.com

Standard Landscape Hardcover 8” x 10” 

42 Pages printed on standard paper

Hardcover with Dust Jacket: 

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo5

Softcover "Keepsake Version"  8"x10": $39.58

Plus shipping & handling

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo6

eBook from Blurb

42 Pages

$4.99

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo7

Detailed information about Calendars, cards, clocks and other gifts can be found here.

http://bit.ly/Aquam_Gifts

Asquamchumaukee Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Asquamchumaukee-Baker-River-Valley/189924584514401?ref=hl

http://bit.ly/Asquam_FB

Dedication: This book is dedicated to the "Ladies of Got Lunch! Rumney" who saw a need and selflessly stepped forward to help and the millions of heroic people who volunteer in their communities, small and large in the quiet of anonymity and the glow of the hope they create through their actions.

ebook

http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/491117-asquamchumaukee-place-of-mountain-waters-open-edition

http://blur.by/1EISj5I

50% of the net  proceeds from sales of this book will benefit the local "Got Lunch!" programs in the Valley. 

The Need for an Alternative Vision on Tax Reform

The Democrats have missed a golden opportunity in not offering up a competing vision on Tax Reform, even if they cannot do any more than introduce it in a news conference - and by the way its time to reform the rules that allow the majority party to completely ignore proposals from the minority party in the Congress.

I have made it clear that I favor the radical centrist position of eliminating the business tax entirely and shifting all the taxation on income to the progressive income tax.

Most people don't know that currently all those people who have benefitted from the dramatic increase in the stock market pay less in taxes on the sale of stock or their dividends than Americans who earn their income by the "sweat of their brows".

Let me say that again: Work your ass off every day and pay a higher tax rate than the guy (or gal) who doesn't do anything more than move money around.

In other words, passive income is taxed at a lower rate than what is earned by someone with a traditional job. We could eliminate the business tax entirely and bring in MORE tax revenues if we simply asked those who earned passive income to pay taxes at the same rate as other Americans. We could generate substantially more revenues if we also instituted a small tax on stock trades, thus allowing us to lower taxes on middle income Americans in other ways or we could enhance coverage of things that will serve as a public good and reduce cost of living expenses, thus creating the same effect for middle income and working class families.

Can you imagine how the people who are trying to sell the public on the bill currently masquerading as tax reform in the Congress would have to scurry if the Democrats offer a proposal that eliminated the Business Tax, gave all those companies reason to repatriate their money and really lowered taxes for middle income families? Even if the proposal did not shame the majority party into action it would establish a real position that demonstrated genuine concern for working class families and middle income families.

I'm sure to get flack from some folks about this but I'm going to keep saying it until someone listens.

A Childs Walk Thru Lupine

One day left! Free Download October 19-21! "Sacred Trust"

One day left! Free Download October 19-21! "Sacred Trust" A vicarious eco-thriller where citizens take on a "Northern Pass-like" powerline project using creative civil disobedience to stop the travesty. To download the ebook go to Amazon.com and type in any of the following keywords: Eco-thriller, Creative Civil Disobedience, Environmental Action, Sacred Trust. The eBook is free for 3 days only (10/19-10/21). If you like it I'd appreciate a review from you but its not required.

Short cut link:
http://bit.ly/STrust

"Sacred Trust" Published as ebook on Amazon

News Release
For Immediate Release

"Sacred Trust" Published as ebook on Amazon
Available from Kindle Books
Moosewood Communications Publisher

http://bit.ly/STrust

"Sacred Trust" A vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook with the paper edition due soon.

Described by one reader as "The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution" the book is a fictional account of a group of unlikely compatriots who join together to stop a powerline proposed by a private consortium, employing creative civil disobedience in the traditions of Alinsky, Thoreau and King. 

In the book, Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada who travels with her companion, a wolf named Cochise, meets Daniel Roy, a guide and outdoorsman while hiking the Mahoosuc Range of the Appalachian Trail. The two find themselves unexpectedly camping together on Lake Umbagog with a group of unlikely compatriots including a former Olympic paddler, a deer farmer, a retired spook who was the first US victim of Lyme disease and an iconoclast named Thomas (just Thomas) who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak. The campsite itself is said to have been frequented by the Indian medicine woman Moll Ockett in the early days of the American Republic. 

They find, in short order, that they have one very important thing in common - a deep concern about a proposed private power transmission line proposed to transport electricity from Canada to the toney suburbs of Boston, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. 

The project, dubbed "Granite Skyway", proposes to bring massive 150 foot towers through the most beautiful parts of a state that boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire country.

The threat to the environment and the scenic beauty are only the tip of an iceberg that includes the value of homes, farms and businesses built by generations of men and women in this hardscrabble land. Already affecting life for many caught up in the mere rumor of this proposed transmission line, Granite Skyway poses an existential threat to an entire way of life.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak - calling themselves "The Trust". Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rolicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau, Alinsky and Dr. King proud.

While the book is a work of fiction, teachers and professors may find it a book that would add a new dimension to classroom discussions and an interesting touch for classes on sustainability, renewable energy or the American tradition of protest. Woven into the story narrative are news stories by a journalist observing the shifts and upheavals of climate change and the renewable revolution as well as a group of patriots writing in the style of the Federalist Paper authors in opposition to the power project.

Throughout their adventure the members of "The Trust" examine many of the most important questions of our time including how America can continue to make an honored space for free speech and civil disobedience in an era of terror; how social media can help create accountability in an increasingly corporatized mega-media landscape; and, how citizens can challenge the corporate oligarchies that threaten our planet's future.

"Sacred Trust" is written by Wayne King a former State Senator, Democratic nominee for Governor of NH, and most recently CEO of environmental cleanup company MOP Environmental Solutions. Not coincidentally, King worked his way through college as a White Mountain Guide which explains his detailed knowledge of New Hampshire's White Mountains. The book is filled with political and environmental stories that will have you laughing and gasping and wondering what is true and what is fiction. 

"Sacred Trust' is a vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the Granite Skyway power transmission project and its short-sighted and in some cases greedy corporate sponsors, intent on using political muscle and money to lock up the region's energy production and distribution, short circuiting efforts to bring about an energy future based on sustainable, and renewable energy deployed through micro-grids, smart-grids and a competitive environment that makes energy more - not less - affordable. 


Available from Kindle Books
Moosewood Communications Publisher

Two Wayne King images chosen for North River Arts Juried Show "Focus on Figures" Juried Show April 22-30, 2017

Two of Wayne King's images have been chosen for North River Arts Juried Show "Focus on Figures" Juried Show April 22-30, 2017

On The Vineyard:

Woman sits on a beach along the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, MA. Monochrome image printed through textured glass and used for the creation of two limited editions. The first an edition of 10 individually hand painted prints.

The second edition is a limited edition of 100 printed using one of the hand painted images and scanned for output with archival inks. The image is used for creation of a digitally initialed open edition but otherwise archived and kept only for historic purposes and publications. To purchase a 1st or 2nd edition original, or an open edition digitally initialed print, click here: http://bit.ly/1mwWnk1

Into a Misty Wood:

Male nude runs into a misty wood.Only one original edition of 10 prints of this image is created, signed, dated and with a certificate of authenticity Printed on fine art paper with archival inks. The image is used for creation of a digitally initialed open edition but otherwise archived and kept only for historic purposes and publications. To purchase an original contact the artist at waynedking9278@gmail.com. Or click here: http://bit.ly/2ooGnCz



The Exhibit is open for one week only, beginning with an opening night reception April 22 from 7-10pm at the North River Arts Society in Marshfield, MA. For directions, click here: http://northriverarts.org/index.html

Holiday Cards

Holiday Cards made from award winning Moonlight on the Stone House image. Peace, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Peace on Earth themes. Click here.

The Pony's Trail - with ee cummings quote

Special Poster offer!
The Pony's Trail - with ee cummings quote




This poster is created from one of my favorite images and includes a quote from ee cummings: "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." ~ e.e. cummings

Available in two different sizes and signed limited edition or open edition. Choose below.

Choose Size

Pony's Trail Poster 16x20 $21.00 USD Pony's Trail Poster  23.4" x 29" $35.00 USD Pony's Trail Poster Signed Limited Ed  23.4" x 29" $250.00 USD

 

GMOs Threaten Monarch's Future

New Study: Loss of milkweed linked to plummeting number of Monarch Butterflies

According to a new study conducted by Prof. Ryan Norris and doctoral researcher Tyler Flockhart and a team of Scientists at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, the dramatic decline in the monarch butterfly population in eastern North America is due largely to the steady loss of milkweed crops in U.S. breeding grounds.

Scientists at the University of Guelph say it provides the first proof of the critical connection between the monarch's sole source food and the declining population. Having picked apart the various factors linked to the drop in monarch butterfly populations - including climate change and storms in the wintering grounds for Monarchs - the researchers confirmed their theory that the lack of milkweed is likely the principle culprit in the chain and new anti-weed treatments for farm land may be the leading agent of the change.

Although originally thought to be caused by other forces in the region of Mexico where the Monarchs winter after a long migration, there is evidence that Monarchs have been able to recover regularly from storm related events that wiped out as much as 80% of the population at once. But the interruption of the breeding cycle, which takes place in a broad swath of both the US and Canada, seems to be placing the species in real jeopardy.

"Milkweed loss specifically in the midwestern U.S. is likely contributing the most to monarch declines, but the loses of the food species are occurring everywhere that the plant grows" according to Flockhart. The study was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

The reason that the midwest seems to have the dominant effect is quite simply that it is the corn belt and new techniques for enhancing the growth of corn and limiting the species considered to be "weeds" are having unintended consequences.



The plant is both the food source and the nursery for the species because, in addition to consuming its leaves the insect lays its eggs on it. It is also the only group of plants that monarch caterpillars feed on before developing into butterflies.

"Reducing the negative effects of milkweed loss in the breeding grounds should be the top conservation priority to slow or halt future population declines of the monarch in North America."

The study's findings, which are based on a mathematical model that includes all known factors linked to the decline of the butterflies, challenge long-held beliefs that their population drop was due to the degradation of their wintering grounds in Mexico. Mexican authorities have taken action to protect the wintering grounds but this new twist indicates that the attention has been in the wrong place and that action in the US and Canada will be needed to halt the drift toward extinction.

The authors say the loss of milkweed crops is likely not the only cause of the butterflies' falling numbers, but they're calling on governments to restore milkweed habitats.

Mexico, the United States and Canada agreed in February to form a working group on the conservation of monarch butterflies, with discussions expected to include milkweed restoration but we should not wait for government to address these issues. We can start immediately by planting milkweed in areas where they will flourish but not be subject to agricultural interference and particularly to the use of genetically engineered crops.

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Phoenix Project Aims at Cleanup and Job Creation in Niger Delta

Phoenix Project Aims at Cleanup and Job Creation in Niger Delta

Creating Multiple Positive Outcomes from Spill Cleanup

Brief:

The Phoenix Project proposes to create a pilot "Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zone" in the Niger Delta of Nigeria to test an innovative approach to oil spill cleanup that includes creation of an enterprise community generating electricity, jobs and research opportunities for the people of the region.

You’ve probably seen the photos of the devastation in the Niger Delta. They were likely a sidebar story to coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill. As cleanup commenced here in the US within days of the accident, an equal amount of oil was being spilled in West Africa’s most fertile valley and richest fisheries and little was being done by anyone. Further, on an annual basis the Delta has experienced spills equivalent to two Gulf spills every single year.

Oil Companies find the inconspicuous nature of drilling and harvesting oil in Africa an attractive alternative to doing so in the West where consumers are more organized and unforgiving. Many of the local Nigerian politicians find that oil money makes a very tempting and large target for illicit proclivities. Add to all this a spill cleanup funding mechanism that suffers from a complete lack of transparency, further tempting even aspiring “honest” politicians and distancing oil companies from the assumption of responsibility and you have a recipe for an amoeba-like environmental catastrophe - growing and spreading as it devastates the economic and social fabric of the region. 

Enter Project Phoenix, the conceptual brainchild of former NH Senator Wayne King of with the help of his Nigerian counterpart Osita Aniemeka. King began going to Nigeria in 1997, shortly after an unsuccessful run for Governor, Leading a team of social entrepreneurs on behalf of the Ford Foundation, King’s team, which included Santa Barbara-based Philip “Kip” Bates of the University of California, Santa Barbara who was the technology guru of the Team. Rounding out the team was the late Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu a native born Nigerian and US Citizen and CEO of Sameday Express and a unique startup called UConnet that was one of the nation’s very first companies to use the Internet for telephone services, now referred to as “Internet Telephony”. Since 1997 the team has continued to return to West Africa for Ford Foundation, USAID and the World Bank among others. Dr. Nwachukwu died from Leukemia in 2000, when the idea for doing something about oil spills in the Niger Delta was little more than a glimmer in the eyes of the trio, and the team has dedicated this pilot project in his honor.

The Phoenix Project officially has been in the works for more than four years when King got the idea that it might be possible to build an “Enterprise Community” around the oil spill cleanup process where the cleanup and associated funds - if they could be accessed - would drive the development of both cleanup jobs as well as jobs related to the bi-products of the cleanup, specifically electricity, biochar, and biofuels. The more the team began to explore and research the components they envisioned the mmore they came to realize that there may be a way to make the effort sustainable, replicable and taken as a whole - carbon-negative. The Kyoto accords, that took effect in 2005, also spurred the idea that there might also be an opportunity for Carbon Credit trading based on the Carbon-Negative

In most circumstances today the end results of an oil spill cleanup are hidden from the public, quite possibly because the companies want the problem and its accompanying bad publicity to simply go away. “This means” said King, “that the opportunities to generate revenues from the cleanup of the oil and the treatment of the oil contaminated absorbents - like booms - go unnoticed and and untapped. Our pilot project recovers and recycles as much of the oil as we can, using a patented cellulose absorbent from MOP Environmental Solutions for the cleanup on both land and water (MOPenvironmental.com) then using the remaining biomass (the cellulose after oil removal) to generate electricity with a small, mobile, pyrolysis power plant manufactured by EcoReps of Adelaide Australia (www.Ecoreps.com.au). In addition to the electricity, the plant will also produce biochar a highly acclaimed soil amendment that has properties that make it both a fertilizer, a water storage element and a carbon sink - capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequestering it for decades and perhaps centuries, releasing it only when called on for plant growth.” 

In addition to the jobs and opportunities created by the obvious products and processes The Phoenix Project - Niger Delta expects to seek out additional research and entrepreneurial opportunities that coincide with, and take advantage of, synergies that arise within the process. For example, research on biochar is at its very early stages and the use of it for bioremediation of oil spills is postulated but not thoroughly researched. Osita Aniemeka, Director of Nigerian operations, believes that the emphasis on research is consistent with Nigeria’s new emphasis on its agricultural sector and provides opportunities for the Phoenix Project to create jobs and ventures that empower women and young people who are particularly vulnerable to the economic woes brought on by these devastating and continuing oil spills.

Depending upon their ability to access oil spill cleanup funds and the extent of those funds, the Phoenix Project team believes that they can generate sufficient revenues to allow them to fund all or part of the cost of designating and cleaning up the next zone.

“We see this pilot project as our opportunity to develop an Open Source solution to the challenge of oil spills. Once we have tested the various aspects of the Pilot we will make the model available broadly to others who are seeking a solution to oil spills that creates a “Phoenix Effect” within an area devastated by a spill.” said Aniemeka.

The Phoenix Project is seeding the project with a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo to raise the funds needed to bring together the communities, the experts and officials from both the government and the oil industry in the Niger Delta. They will also be carefully choosing the first site taking into account the long term needs of the community after the Enterprise and Empowerment Zone is turned over to a local governing body. “With a little luck”, King says, “we can move on to the next zone with most of the funds needed for the next cleanup, leaving a 1 megawatt electricity plant in the control of a local governing body to continue to provide badly needed and reliable electricity to the businesses and homes of the community.”  

The total cost of the pilot will be in the range of 12 million dollars but the companies participating as partners in the venture have all agreed to discount their costs in order to create the model. The net cost is likely to be closer to 8 million dollars, most of that for the capital equipment like the mobile power plant. “Once we have the model down right,” King continued “the net cost of each succeeding Zone should be somewhere in the range of $2 million dollars per zone, before calculating in revenues from most of the bi-products. While only the real thing will allow us to be sure, we are confident that after Zone one the process should be self sustaining - as long as there are funds available for the cleanup.” and in the Nigerian environment . . . that seems to be the biggest question mark.  

To learn more about the Phoenix Project you can visit the Project Phoenix Blog at nigerdeltaphoenix.blogspot.com

The Crowd funding effort can be viewed at http://igg.me/at/PPND

Critical Thinking and the Paradox of History

Critical Thinking and the Paradox of History
Advice from a Lifelong Student (and sometimes Teacher) of History
Wayne D. King

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.
George Santayana
US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 - 1952)

History and politics must be approached with a large dose of skepticism whether from the left or the right because, after all, history is generally written by the "winners" whether their cause was just or not. While I may have coined, or simply adopted, the phrase "The Paradox of History" neither the phrase itself, nor the thought, is unique or original.

Economist John Maynard Keynes coined the phrase the “Paradox of Thrift” to describe that point in a recession when the public is inclined to save as much as possible and spend as little as possible, while at the same time massive spending is the only way to alleviate the economic peril that the country faces. The Paradox of history is simply that history is written by the “winners” who have a vested interest in the narrative, while at the same time, history's greatest benefit to us is what might be learned from an unbiased narrative that provides us an opportunity to see both the good and bad in its events, personas and results. Stated more eloquently by Gordon Craig, “the duty of the historian is to restore to the past the options it once had.”

So, therefore, a good teacher's first responsibility to his or her students is to convince them that they should believe as little as possible of what he or she is about to tell them. Let's call that the "educators corollary" to the Paradox of History.

Having admitted to complete and utter fallibility, a good teacher must then impart his/her knowledge assertively, as if no other source was closer to the oracle of knowledge.

A worthy teacher, then, seeks not to serve answers or truths but to urge students toward the development of critical thinking skills and a healthy skepticism, from which they can derive their own narrative.

This does not in any way alleviate the burden upon you, the student. Quite the contrary in fact - it imposes a larger responsibility because you must find a way to demonstrate a modicum of deference to my years of experience and knowledge while, at the same time, double checking the veracity of everything you learn from me.

One of the first things that you will learn is that a good critical thinker does not mistake opinion or "common sense" for fact. Opinion, after all is just that; one person’s view of something. Common sense, that stalwart beacon of logic and wisdom with which your elders have urged you to imbue your thoughts and behavior, is an even more devilish force because it is empowered by the vast influence of majority thought.

Stephen Hawking, in his extraordinary "Science in the New Millennium" speech, said “. . . common sense is just another name for the prejudices that we have been brought up with.”

Facts, on the other hand, as Mark Twain said, are "stubborn things"
they may stand by themselves or they may be turned into thought, but without them thought has no basis in reality; and, ultimately, no power.

So, as we begin this term, make it your goal to keep both your eyes and your mind wide open. Take joy in the moments in which your notion of the world is turned upside down because that is the surest sign that something useful is happening to you.

The Best Leader

A leader is best
When people barely know
That he exists,

Less good when
They obey and acclaim him,

Worse when
They fear and despise him.

Fail to honor people
And they fail to honor you.

But of a good leader,
When his work is done,
His aim fulfilled,
they will all say,
'We did this ourselves.’

Lao-Tzu
Chinese philosopher

Wayne D. King 2009

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