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February 7, 2010

"Asian Carpe Diem" is my new favorite saying. Roughly translated, it means "Pluck the Asian Carp out of your left ear before it does any more damage." I could be mistaken. Regardless of my ridiculous jokes, the Great Lakes are still in danger of being invaded by this swimming eating machine. There are a lot of unanswered questions:

  • Have the various species of Asian carp already found their way into the Great Lakes?
  • Is there a way to keep them out--or to keep more of them from entering the lakes?
  • Would closing the locks on the Illinois waterways that lead to the Great Lakes cause untold economic damange to this state?
  • Will the issue be resolved in the courts or some other way?

The Natural Resources Defense Council's Josh Mogerman is back in the studio to shed some light on these questions. He has blogged recently about the Asian Carp problem, noting that there are lessons to be learned from other species that have colonized other parts of the globe. And his colleague Henry Henderson writes about the State of Michigan's attempts to have this issue legally resolved, and cites a study that indicates that the cries of economic doom may be overblown.

Mr. Brown Thumb is the most famous person you've never heard of. Unless you Tweet, that is.When it comes to horticultural social media in Chicago, he might not be The King (that honor apparently belongs to Ron Wolford from Cook County Extension), but says he's probably the Court Jester. Works for me. He has a blog on Chicago Now called Chicago Garden. He has another blog called, appropriately, Mr. Brown Thumb. He has a Facebook page, too, and the Tweets from his Twitter account seem to be everywhere.

I have to confess that, against my better instincts, I've been putting a little more time in the Twitter thing, just to see what value it might have. And that led me to make a connection with Gary Oppenheimer, founder of an organization called AmpleHarvest.org. This worthy organization helps people with excess food find food pantries in their area that can use it to feed the hungry. Now that's great stuff. Of course, one connection through Twitter doesn't exactly make me a fan. But if it leads to more friends like Gary...I might do some reconsidering.

UPDATE: Okay, I have to admit that Tweeting live on the show was a blast. I gained quite a few more Twitter followers and started following a few myself. Gary Oppenheimer says that immediately following his appearance on the show, he gained a few. So, it was a good combination of Radio and more modern technology.

"Health Department destroys thousands of dollars of local fruit" was the title of the blog by the Chicago Tribune's Monica Eng on Friday. By the end of the day, a number of people had sent me links to this disturbing story about how the Chicago Department of Health had destroyed thousands of dollars of food inventory belonging to a small entrepreneur, bascically because her papers were not in order.

The company that was victimized is called Flora Confections, created by Flora E. Lazar, who has already blogged about the City of Chicago's ham-fisted actions at Huffington Post. The story smacks more of Kafka than of Horatio Alger, and is a chilling reminder of what bureaucracy run amok is capable of.

Flora Confections Chief Operating Officer Lee Greenhouse, Tribune reporter Eng and I will attempt to recreate the timeline of how a small business, trying to follow the letter of the law, was undone by that very attempt. It's also a lesson in how fast the world is changing and how our governments--city, state and federal--are often hopelessly unequipped to keep pace. The local fresh food movement is happening all over the country faster than anyone can imagine. It will require new laws and new ways of thinking about how food is grown and produced and distributed. Hang on to your turnips.

 

 
 
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Appropriately, this is one of Mr. Brown Thumb's profile pix from Facebook.


Local fruit puree destroyed by City of Chicago inspectors