Thursday, April 25, 2013

Am I a Gas Whore?

Hi.  My name is Tovah.  I am a Jewish, holistic, natural mothering, teaching, farming, earth loving, humanity connecting pioneer.  And I am leasing my land to a large gas corporation.



I gave you some space to inhale sharply, feel your feelings of shock, repugnance and horror, and to judge me harshly.  Go ahead, let it out.

When you're finished, please continue reading.

The decision to lease was at once horribly difficult, conflicting and a no-brainer.

But how, you ask, can you come from generations of hardcore leftist liberals and call yourself a sustainable farmer and STILL sell your soul for a dollar sign?

Well, more than once my father has joked about leaving me out of his will due to a difference of political leanings, so consider this my insurance.

On a more serious note, this is  a big deal.  I do believe in making this world a better place when I leave it than it is now.  I do believe that we are going in the wrong direction with our modern day progression.  If you asked me what it would take to save the world from itself, I would give you a very simple answer:  Go back to community, go back to the earth.  What does this look like?  Small farming communities.  Why?  Because it solves world hunger, depression, wealth distribution and greed.  I could go on about why that is, but this article isn't really about that.  It's about gas.

We hear the words, fracking, gas, oil, and we think, corporate greed, environmental damage, pollution. And it's all true.  And yet, this is the world we live in.

But surely to be a part of it, to accept their money, is like whoring your soul.  You are condoning what they do.
And to that I say, So are you.
Let me explain:  The world runs on fossil fuels.  Whether it be dirty coal, imported oil or native natural gas, we all use it.  You can ride your bike, use cloth bags and be vegan, but you are still using products made from fossil fuels everyday.  Here are some examples from the website http://oilandgasinfo.ca/oil-gas-you/products-made-from-oil-and-gas


Eye glasses
Flip flops
Gore-Tex™
Panty hose
Polar fleece 
Raincoats
Rubber boots
Runners
Shoe polish
Shoes     
Sunglasses
Umbrellas
Velcro™
Vinyl
Zippers
Bathtubs
Brushes
Combs
Contact lenses
Curlers
Dentures
Deodorant
Hair colour
Hearing aids
Lip balm
Lipstick
Mascara
Moisturizer

Nail polish
Perfume
Petroleum jelly (Vasoline®)
Plungers
Rubbing alcohol
Shampoo
Shaving cream
Shower curtains and stalls
Soap
Toilet seats
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Vitamin capsules

Cables
Camcorders
Cameras
Clock radios
Computers
DVD and CD cases
DVDs and players
GPS devices
Headphones
Keyboards
Monitors
MP3 players

PDAs
Phones
Power bars
Printers
Projectors
Scanners
Speakers
Toner cartridges
TVs
Two-way radios
Video games
Waterproof cases

Lunch Boxes
Measuring cups
Mops
Pillows
Plastic containers
Plastic pipes
Plastic wrap
Polystyrene (Styrofoam™)
Pop and juice bottles
Sandwich bags
Synthetic fibres
Teflon®
Upholstery
Utensils
Venetian blinds
Wax
Window cleaner
Wiring insulation

Anaesthetics
Antihistamine
Antiseptics
Artificial limbs
Aspirin™
Bandages
Bedpans
Catheters
Cortisone
Disinfectants
Gloves

Heart valves
IV bags
Medicines
Oxygen masks
Pill bottles
Safety seals
Surgical and lab equipment
Syringes
Tools
Trays
Tubes

Artificial turf
Basketballs
Bicycle tires
Bike seats
Boxing gloves
Buoys
Face masks
Fishing line
Fishing lures
Fishing rods
Footballs
Golf bags
Gym mats
Handlebar grips
Helmets
Hockey pucks

Inner tubes
Knee, shin, elbow and shoulder pads
Life jackets
Skateboards
Skates
Ski jackets
Sleeping bags
Snowboards
Soccer balls
Speed boats
Tennis balls
Tennis racquets
Tents
Water skis
Windsurfers


Okay, obviously this list could go on forever, but I am trying to make a point.  Am I condoning evil gas corporations by leasing my land, anymore than you are by using their products everyday?  If you're answer is still yes, than let's continue.

Fracking happens.  Could I protest it?  Sure, but where would that get me?  Most of my county is already signing up to lease their land, happy that they will maybe, just maybe get to pay off their mortgage and not have to wait until they are 85 to retire from farming.  Another interesting point: Law of capture.  Look it up.  But basically it is the law that whatever was captured on your land, whether or not is originated from your land, if it is feral in nature, belongs to you.  Simplified, this means that if a deer is on your land, even if it came through your neighbors, if you catch it, it is yours.  (Providing it's hunting season and you have your permit, of course.  Something that is taken quite seriously out here.)  What it means for gas is that if they put a well anywhere within 2000 acres of you and drill down, then spread out 5000 feet below the surface and take gas that runs under your land, well, it was captured on your neighbors land and they don't have to pay you a dime.  

But still, once you take their money, you're telling them you're fine with the rape of American land!  

Well, I could not take their money, and they'll rape it anyway, but better to be a rape victim than a whore, right?
Sorry to be so vulgar, but these were the questions I was asking myself.  Does it just boil down to 'Everyone has a price?'

But there is yet more that needed to be considered.  If we didn't sign a lease we would have no say in what happened.  By working with a lawyer who represents the majority of landowners signing leases, we actually have bargaining leverage.  We can insist on certain water conservation procedures and land reparation.  We can have a say in which company buys up the leases, one with maybe a more moral operation (I do believe such a thing exists, even among evil corporate empires) and a smaller accident rate.  We can ask for better compensation.  But only as a large group of landowners.  By ourselves we are powerless.  And against the human desire for more money, especially amidst poor, rural farmers, we are equally powerless.  But when it comes to these mega-corporate giants, if we, the farmers, ask for $3,500 an acre for a signing bonus and %18 royalties (the gas companies have been known to offer $10 an acre and little royalties), the corporations may lose $10,000,000, but stand to gain billions.  They can do the math.  Again, alone we are powerless.  In a group we have choices.  

When Hilary Clinton was running against Obama, something Obama supporters liked to bring up was that Ms. Clinton was on the board of Wal-Mart.  Yeah, sure that looks bad.  But when asked about it, Ms. Clinton explained that the only reason she joined was to help sway the corporation to act in a more moral way.  That makes sense.  There are two ways to change something: grassroots or within the system.  I believe I am doing both.

I am going into the system, in my own small way, to hopefully have some kind of influence on how it runs.  At least in my small part of the world.  And as a consumer I am working the grassroots end of things.  I am very conscience of what I consume.  One of the reasons I became a farmer (besides the fact that I love dirt) is because it was the only way I could see to become a true environmentalist.  I want to produce and share my food locally.  That way I can grow sustainably and actually make the land I own healthier and richer than when I bought it.  I can influence others to eat local, organic, non-gmo foods by offering them mine.  And educating them.  And letting them be a part of the whole experience of what they eat.  I can reduce carbon emissions by not having my food shipped to me from halfway across the world.  Anything you buy in a store took more fossil fuel than you can imagine to get there.  And I don't drive to work!  As consumers we have more power than any corporation in the world.  Corporations exist because we support them.  

So if you still feel I am a hypocrite for leasing my land, then I suggest you go out and build an off the grid, energy independent homestead where you produce %100 of everything you consume, and saddle up to get to work.  Or perhaps we can all stop judging each other and do our best to make the best choices we can.  Because sometimes, (as my wise father told me) there aren't any right choices.  There are just better and worse ones.  

Choose wisely. 

Today I am grateful for SPRING!

5 comments:

  1. Fascinating and complex. Nothing is as simple as our idealistic selves imagine it will be. As with most decisions, it's complicated.

    I'd love to see this article published in an Op/Ed section of a news source. Huffington Post, perhaps?

    Thank you for sharing this, Tovah, you brave, wild and wonderful farmer.

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  2. This is a logical polemic that makes the legitimate point that we are all whores, doing what comes easier than living the clean life off the grid, and therefore we are no different than you. But the person who lives an isolated life on his or her homestead, while not contributing to the wasteful destruction of our planet's ecosystem, also isn't doing anything to repair it, is not helping his/her neighbor, is not contributing to his/her community, and so on. So is that a better choice? As I said, there is no ethically right choice. But you need to own that either choice is a compromise in one's ideals, and is uncomfortable to live with. You and the rest of us need to live with that discomfort, and I think your rationale helps you avoid that.

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    Replies
    1. Kind of harsh, but okay, yeah, of course I use rationale to help ease the discomfort. But I also use it to understand why I am making the decision I am. I am also fully aware of the discomfort, and I think what I am doing, rather than attacking everyone's way of life to make myself feel better, is trying to understand my place in the system, amongst everyone else. I think I have lived much of my life unconscious of the little things, like buying salad dressing, and how many trucks went into shipping the various oils, vinegars and spices to the factory, and then how it gets shipped across the country, etc... I suppose I am trying to bring to awareness that we are all a part of it in one way or another. And here is where I see my part, and how I can make the best of it. And that homesteader, who said he's a loner? Who says he isn't sustainably farming (which does leave the earth better than when he found it) and creating a local economy and working with his neighbors? No person can farm alone. There's a reason they had barn raisings in the pioneering days. We certainly hope to involve our neighbors and the Pittsburgh community in building this life. So rather than saying that my blog suggests that we are all gas whores, I believe the point was that we are all a part of a complicated system, we all have a role, and life is compromise, so let's find the one that benefits us and the world, the most.

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  3. Fair enough.
    And let's agree that difficult decisions often have trade-offs,
    And acknowledge the discomfort even while we try to make the best of it.

    ReplyDelete