Listen to your mother: Collect and use rainwater!
by Jeff Sytsma

Mom says that I should have lived two generations ago, when conservation was required rather than desired. Well, I think that conservation has never been "not required"; it has just somehow gotten socially "weird."

Mom says that her grandmother and mother saved rainwater in wooden barrels because it was good water that shouldn't run down the street when the plants (and their hair!) found it to be wonderful. It was also acceptable for washing clothes and bodies and other stuff back then, and easier to acquire than using the energy to pump it (although they were pretty good about using windmills for pumping). The Netherlands is pretty rainy so they had a good supply, but we have a pretty good supply of rain here; it just usually comes "fast and furious" and infrequently in summer from thunderstorms...not the way our plants really like it. Lake Michigan is also a good supply, but the pumping energy comes into play there, too, plus the chemicals to make it safe to drink for humans. Flowers and tomatoes don't need fluoride much. They smile pretty nicely on rainwater. They don't really care for chlorine either.

You’re on a well? Well, there is good reason to create a reduction of the suction. Water doesn't grow down there! It mostly comes from up here and gets there eventually if we let it. Waukesha County suburbanites, in their quest for golf course lawns and living the "good life", have pumped their water source dry and the wells there now are sucking water from the under the rock layer that is beneath Lake Michigan and consuming water that is coming from underneath the state of Michigan. Nothing against the state of Michigan (they get good water from above this rock layer) but Waukesha is getting putrid water now and wants to take water from out of their watershed to fulfill their needs. This can happen here as well. Geologists and water-smart people keep track of this kind of thing and there is a cone-shaped depression under our area that is also rapidly emptying itself of water from water well use.

Would you like to collect rainwater again? Water your plants slowly with warm, unchlorinated water (slightly acidic which plants like) and keep some of that good water from running down the street? The answer is a rain barrel!

After some alterations, the barrel sits under your downspout and fills with water when it rains. You connect a regular garden hose to it and can turn a valve on when you want the water to come out. Use a short hose to fill a watering can or let a longer hose water your garden plants. Indoor plants love it too!


Our Sierra Club Group is working with the City of Racine to provide low cost rain barrels for residents. As of this newsletter deadline, the details had not all been worked out but they will be available this spring or early summer. The Group will also have them available to non-City of Racine residents.

Contact Jeff Sytsma for further information at (262) 637-6845 or Jeff12759@aol.com .

Why should I use rain barrels?

• Rain barrels help slow down rain runoff so it can drain naturally into the ground. This helps us keep excess water out of sewer systems and keeps rain runoff from collecting pollutants on its trip to nearby waterways.

• Collected rainwater is better for plants because it's not chlorinated and it is mildly acidic, which helps plants take up important minerals from the soil.

• They can provide water during dry weather, or you can set them to slowly release the water over a 1-2 day period when the rains have subsided. The slower release of rain will allow the water to seep into the soil and be used by plants.

Do you know? When it rains, oil, antifreeze, detergents, pesticides, fertilizer and other pollutants get washed from driveways, backyards, parking lots and streets into storm drains and go to our rivers and lakes untreated. Please avoid fertilizer containing phosphorous. Our soil is already rich in it. Excess runs off into our waters and causes water plants to grow profusely,taking oxygen away from fish and other water critters and causing "algae bloom" which is a stinky, oxygen robbing problem.

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Calendar:

April 3: Conservation Committee meeting at Berges' house, 1529 Crabapple Dr., Racine, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, etc.

April 11: Indoor training session from National Institute of Invasive Species Science at Pringle Nature Center starting at 3:30 p.m. Pringle Nature Center is in Bristol Woods County Park in Kenosha Co. on CTH MB south of CTH C.

April 12: Field training session from National Institute of Invasive Species Science at Colonial Park in Racine starting at 8:30 a.m. We will meet at the entrance to the park at the foot of West High Street.

April 12: Work Day at Colonial Park from 8:30 a.m. to noon. We will continue our removal of alien, invasive, plant species in conjunction with Weed Out! Racine. Training to identify these plants will be available. Most tools will be supplied, but wear work clothes and gloves and bring your favorite weeding device. Bring your own water.

April 14: ExCom Meeting. The meeting will be at Olympia Brown Church Annex, 419 6th St. in Racine at 7:00 p.m. Please note that the meeting is on Monday.

April 17: Parkside's Green Campus. UW-Parkside Green Campus Initiative. UW-Parkside's John Skalbeck will explain how the Chancellor's Task Force on Environmental Stewardship is working to produce a green, environmentally-friendly campus. The meeting will be at UW-Parkside in Room 281 of Tallent Hall, 900 Wood Road, Kenosha. This building is on the east side of 30th avenue and is not on the main part of the campus.

April 26: This is the day Racine celebrates Earth Day. We will celebrate it with a Work Day at Colonial Park from 8:30 a.m. to noon. We will remove of alien, invasive plant species in conjunction with Weed Out! Racine. Training to identify these plants will be available. Most tools will be supplied, but wear work clothes and gloves. Bring your favorite weeding device and drinking water.

April 26: Invasive species removal at Pringle Nature Center, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Wear work clothes and gloves and bring loppers.

May 1: Conservation Committee meeting at Berges' house, 1529 Crabapple Dr., Racine, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, etc.

May 1: Southeast Sierran Deadline. Send articles, etc., electronically by using the information on the back page, or send by mail to: Gary Zumach, 2548 Pinehurst Ave., Racine, WI 53403.

May 4: Highway 38 Cleanup starting at 1:30 p.m. at Bob and Betty Gericke's house, 3927 North Lane, Franksville. See the article below for details.

May 10: Work Day at Colonial Park from 8:30 a.m. to noon. We will continue our removal of alien, invasive, plant species in conjunction with Weed Out! Racine. Training to identify these plants will be available. Most tools will be supplied, but wear work clothes and gloves and bring your favorite weeding device. Bring your own water.

May 12: ExCom Meeting. The meeting will be at Olympia Brown Church Annex, 419 6th St. in Racine at 7:00 p.m. Please note that the meeting is on Monday.

May 15: Dinner Meeting. Our annual spring dinner will be at Bombay Louie's, 2227 60th St. in Kenosha. Pre-dinner socializing starts at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be at 6:00 p.m.

May 22: SEGG Book Club. We will discuss "A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold. Meet at Harry Knipp and Mary Ann Ortmayer's house, 4033 Wickford Place in Racine. Come at 6:00 p.m. for a bite to eat -- Harry’s firing up the grill. Book discussion at 7:00 p.m. Let Mary Ann know if you’ll be there, call (262) 554-5058. See article below.

May 24: Work Day at Colonial Park from 8:30 a.m. to noon. We will continue our removal of alien, invasive, plant species in conjunction with Weed Out! Racine. Training to identify these plants will be available. Most tools will be supplied, but wear work clothes and gloves and bring your favorite weeding device. Bring your own water.

May: 24: Invasive species removal at Pringle Nature Center,10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Wear work clothes and gloves and bring loppers.

June 5: Conservation Committee meeting at Berges' house, 1529 Crabapple Dr., Racine, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, etc.

June 28: Invasive species removal at Pringle Nature Center, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Wear work clothes and gloves and bring loppers.

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From the Chair: Politics as Usual
by Nancy Hennessy

"Sierra Club" invokes images of active, outdoorsy types hiking or paddling in the wild. I like that image and I enjoy being outdoors in the wild pursuing those kinds of activities. But I also know that in order to protect the places that I love, it is important to be politically active as well. Our group provides many opportunities for political activism. Here's a bit of what's been going on lately.

Lobby Day: January 20 was the kind of day that makes you want to curl up with a good book and hibernate. The weather report spoke of freezing temperatures, a dangerous wind chill factor and the possibility of icy patches and drifting snow on the roads. But twelve determined Southeast Gateway Group members braved the weather and traveled to Madison for Conservation Lobby Day. The issues that we focused our attention on as we met with our legislators were: the need to pass a strong Great Lakes Compact, the passage of the Safe Climate Act (carbon capping legislation to fight global warming) and the need to return the DNR to it’s independent status. Our day ended with agreement that we would continue to develop our relationships with our legislators by scheduling future meetings with them in both Racine and Kenosha.

Letter Writing Pizza Party: We did some follow up lobbying on the issues mentioned above when eight of us (four Lobby Day attendees plus four others) got together to write letters and eat pizza. We generated fifteen letters and five postcards to legislators thanking them for their good work and/or urging their support on our issues. We also inspired one letter to the editor (written later).

Spring Election: Our Political Committee has been hard at work. They have been meeting to get ready to recommend the endorsement of candidates in local races. Since many political decisions that effect the environment are made at the local level, we feel these endorsements are important. The endorsement process makes candidates aware of our issues. And it’s another way to let them know that they have a constituency that cares about the environment.

Great Lakes Compact: On February 21, with very little notice, a hearing on the Great Lakes Compact was scheduled in Kenosha by the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Several SEGG members attended and, with the need to protect the Great Lakes for future generations in mind, spoke in favor of the adoption of a strong Compact.

Join us in our political activities. You don’t need to be an expert on the issues you just need to have a love for the natural world around you and the desire to protect it.

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Carbon Capture at Pleasant Prairie Power Plant
by Gus Hauser and John Berge

WE Energy brought out all the big guns at a press conference on February 27th to announce and dedicate a pilot plant at the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant (4P) to test a carbon capture technique developed by Alstom, a French company which, according to their fact sheet, "is a global leader in the world of power generation and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies". We were invited to the press conference after the larger public dedication event was canceled because of dire weather forecasts.

Gale E. Klappa, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Energy Corporation and WE Energies opened the press conference. He was joined at the podium by Henry A. Courtright, P.E. and Senior Vice President of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which is a partner in this project, and Jean-Michel Aubertin, Senior Vice President of the Energy and Environment Systems Group at Alstom. After presentations by engineers and a question and answer session, we were given a very cursory tour of the newly constructed add-on facility.

Even though the pilot plant will work with less than one percent of the flue gases coming off the power plant, it is not small by any means. The structure is 20 feet wide by 74 feet long and the absorber columns are 83 feet tall. Flue gases are treated in this pilot plant after they have gone through the scrubbers to remove fly ash and sulfur dioxide and a catalytic chamber to remove nitrogen oxides. This patented process invented by Eli Gal is referred to as a "chilled ammonia process" but the main reaction is ammonium carbonate plus carbon dioxide and water yielding ammonium bicarbonate at ambient temperature and pressure. This reaction is reversed in a recovery process where the ammonium bicarbonate solution is heated to recover the ammonium carbonate for reuse and the carbon dioxide would be dehydrated and compressed to pipeline pressures. "Would be" because the current tests will not sequester the carbon dioxide, but vent it back to the smokestack. EPRI will conduct an extensive program to collect financial, chemical and physical data on both gas and liquid streams to evaluate performance. Klappa referred to this as "catch and release" for the current testing which will last about a year. Aubertine predicted little, if any, losses of ammonia.

This pilot plant evaluation of the process is the first in the United States, although other tests are going on at power plants in Germany, Norway, Sweden and France. The anticipated project outcome was given as follows: "The use of this new technology has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of removing CO2 from pulverized coal (PC) power plants. Almost all current analyses show a PC plant with carbon capture sequestration (CCS) is less expensive than an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with CCS." Capturing CO2 from burning coal, of course, is an effort to reduce the amount of green house gases going into the atmosphere and thus reduce global warming and climate change.

It should be emphasized that Sierra Club's policy is to oppose all new coal-fired power plants, but the facts are that about half of all electricity in the United States comes from coal and that percentage is even higher in Wisconsin -- about 70%. These coal-fired power plants are not all going away in the foreseeable future. Therefore, technology such as this which can be added on to existing plants and does not require a start-from-scratch situation, as does IGCC, will be necessary. Efficiency improvements can reduce electricity use by five to twenty percent. Renewable sources and other new technologies must combine to drop the CO2 emissions below 1990 levels by 2030, according to the PRISM forecasts or targets. (The PRISM study is a much larger report than could be covered here. It is named for its colorful graphs. The largest reduction in greenhouse gases is from carbon capture and storage.)

Attendees at an EPRI seminar last summer predicted that mandatory CO2 controls will be placed on the electricity sector by 2010 or 2012. The cost of CO2 will be factored into the cost of electricity and may make coal no longer the "cheap alternative". CCS could use up to fifteen percent of the energy produced and may raise electricity prices by thirty percent.

If this "chilled ammonia" technology works out and is adopted at We Energy power plants, what will happen to the captured carbon? CO2 is currently being used in Texas, Canada and other places to enhance recovery of oil by pumping it down into the partially depleted reservoirs. In other places, CO2 is pumped into deep (3,000 to 10,000 feet) saline geologic formations. The Department of Energy (DoE) has identified over 3,600 gigatons of potential geological storage. (A gigaton is one billion tons!) Wisconsin has no such geological formations that could be used. With 4,300 power plants and other large industrial sources putting out 4 gigatons annually, it means that a new system of pipelines will have to be installed to pump the CO2 to areas that have storage, such as the southern Illinois basin or beyond to Texas, Louisiana or the Gulf of Mexico. The DoE claims that no source is more than 300 miles from a storage formation.

Since we quit burning coal in fireplaces, coal combustion has never been simple; it is getting more complicated every day. It underlines the statement that there is no such thing as "clean coal".

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UW-Parkside Environmental Club Becomes A Sierra Club Student Coalition

The Parkside Environmental Club (PEC) recently registered as a Sierra Club Student Coalition. Barry Thomas will be the liaison between the PEC and the SEGG. Several of the PEC members serve as environmental stewards in Parkside’s Green Campus Initiative. The club plans to be involved in fund raising, invasive species removal and rain garden construction among other things. They will be presented with the SEGG Green Award at the May meeting.

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Legislation to Clean Up the Environment
by John Berge

Bills were introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature earlier this year which could have significant and favorable effects on the environment if they are passed by both the Senate and the Assembly and signed into law by the Governor -- a big if.

Senate Bill 397 was introduced by Senator Mark Miller and cosponsored by a number of senators and representatives of both parties. This bill, concerning the "collection, recycling and disposal of certain electronic devices", has been dubbed the E-Waste bill or Electronic Waste bill. The electronic devices referred to are televisions and computer monitors with a tube or screen that is at least nine inches on the diagonal. That leaves out your cell phones, but there are plenty of places to recycle those. In essence, the bill says that manufacturers must collect and recycle the used electronic devices that they sell.

The Legislative Reference Bureau summarizes this bill as follows: "Under the bill, beginning on September 1, 2008, a manufacturer may not sell a video display device at retail, or to a retailer for resale, unless the manufacturer registers with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), collects and recycles or arranges for the collection and recycling of certain electronic devices, makes required reports, and pays certain fees." After February 1, 2009, a retailer can not sell these devices unless the retailer determines the manufacturer is registered with the DNR.

Furthermore, "The electronic devices that are counted as satisfying a manufacturer's obligation to collect and recycle covered electronic devices include, in addition to video display devices, computers, computer peripherals, digital video players and video recorders. A manufacturer may not charge an individual a fee when the individual relinquishes a covered electronic device for collection and recycling."

Each manufacturer must report quarterly the weight of video display devices sold in the state and the weight collected by or on behalf of the manufacture. With all the toxic materials used in manufacture of these devices, such collection and proper recycling will have a substantial effect on the amount of toxic material in our landfills, basements and garages. The prohibition of putting these devices in a landfill would go into effect on September 1, 2009.

Other bills were introduced by Representative Mark Pocan and Senator Robert Jauch and a number of co-sponsors. Senate Bill (SB-451) had its first reading on February 4 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources; the Assembly bill (AB-813) had its first reading on February 15 and was referred to the Assembly Resources Committee. To quote Pocan's memo when they were seeking co-sponsors for these two identical bills, "This bill would ban retail stores from providing non-compostable (non-biodegradable) plastic bags to consumers. There are as many as one trillion plastic bags used around the world each year. Only 1 to 5 percent of those bags are recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The remainder end up stuck in trees, at the bottom of our lakes and streams or in landfills. It takes 1,000 years for the average plastic petroleum-based bag to decompose, compared to one month for a paper bag." The bill would take effect three years after it is passed and published. It would exempt the thicker, more reusable bags.

By the time this newsletter is printed, the Legislature will have adjourned. Whether any of these bills will have been passed by both houses and signed into law is problematic. The Senate's Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has rightly placed a higher priority on passing the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact ratification (SB-523) which was introduced minutes prior to a public hearing in Kenosha. Many members of the Southeast Gateway Group were present at that hearing and testified in favor of ratification of the "Great Lakes Compact".

Sierra Club members may wish to let their legislators know their opinions regarding any of these bills, whether they are acted on this session or at a later session.

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Environmental Education
By Donna Peterson

This is the third question in a series of seven from the Timber Wolf Alliance at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute:

3. Why did wolves disappear?

State and federal bounties (no longer in effect), loss of habitat, poaching, car kills, disease, starvation and parasites have all contributed to their decline.

Today, thanks largely to protection provided by the 1973 Endangered Species Act, wolf populations have returned and are growing in the Upper Midwest.

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On the Greener Side
by Melissa Warner

We usually think of restaurants for tasty food, an evening out with friends or a quick meal when we're in a hurry. But Boston's Grille Zone, the first certified environmentally friendly fast-food restaurant, is showing consumers that restaurants can be green, too.

Chris Gaylord, writing for the Christian Science Monitor (11/7/07), noticed that patrons looking for the trash bins were confused; they saw only old barrels labeled "compost" and "recycling." The food of course is compost, but the utensils, cups, plates and paper are all biodegradable, made of corn and wheat starch. In 30 to 60 days, the rubbish is mulch and back on a farmer's garden, instead of occupying space in a methane-producing landfill. Owner Ben Prentice also points with pride to the infrared grill, energy-efficient lighting, locally grown vegetables and even decor from an old New England Schoolhouse.

Michael Oshman, founder of the Green Restaurant Association which offers the certification program, states that "For a restaurant to be truly green, they have to think about the lighting, the napkins, the cleaning products, the waste, the grill – everything… (it's) not only good for the environment and good for their image, it's also a way to lower costs."

I wonder what it would take to encourage our local restaurants to move in this direction. If we were to ask the owner/manager at the next establishment we go to what steps he/she is taking to be green, I'll bet that it could make a difference. One request will probably be ignored, but the second one will start them thinking, and by the third time, the owner/manager will start making plans for change. Pick your favorite eatery or coffee shop, and resolve to encourage them to "go green."

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An Interesting Self Inventory
by John Berge

According to a recent article in Chemical and Engineering News, the world's largest chemical maker, BASF, has done a comprehensive carbon analysis of all its operations and discovered that "Its products save (almost) three times more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than are created during their manufacture and disposal."

Of course, one must look at such calculations carefully and with a cynic's mindset. But if factual and truly comprehensive, it might well be a model for all industries; it could be something that governments would and should enforce. At a press conference in Berlin, the company showed how they calculated the GHGs emitted during the production of raw materials and precursors it buys, emitted from its own manufacturing sites, and emitted in the disposal of its products at the end of their life. This total they compared with the GHG emissions saved by customers by using BASF products.

In 2006, suppliers emitted 28 million metric tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalents during manufacture of the raw materials consumed, 25 million metric tons in BASF's own manufacturing, and 34 million metric tons to dispose of the products by incineration. This adds up to 87 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents per year. They didn't mention transportation costs and office overhead.

They claim that 90 key products saved their customers 250 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents. These key products included insulation materials to lower home energy use, fuel additives and lightweight plastics to reduce auto fuel consumption, and catalysts that reduce the emissions of the GHG nitrous oxide. The press release did not mention whether comparisons were to uninsulated homes or competitive products, Hummers vs. Toyotas or pre-regulation diesels. In any case, it would be good to see all the details before we hand out any awards or endorsements. If all companies were this good, would the solution to global warming be more manufacturing of more disposable goods?

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E-mail -- The Newfangled Phone Tree

Once upon a time we had a phone tree that we used when we wanted to contact our members. I have begun to use e-mail to remind SEGG members of upcoming meetings and events. Are you one of those people who reads the newsletter and promptly forgets to put events that might interest you on your calendar? Would you like to be receiving e-mail reminders? If you would like to be added to the SEGG e-mail list please call Laura at (262) 886-3803.

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Highway 38 Cleanup

The first Southeast Gateway Group Highway 38 Cleanup for 2008 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, May 4, starting at 1:30 p.m. At the Group's planning session in January, there were not enough spring Saturdays to schedule all that we wanted to do, so the experiment of a Sunday afternoon was approved. We will meet at Bob and Betty Gericke's home, 3927 North Lane, Franksville, for assignment of areas and distribution of equipment. North Lane is east of Highway 38 off of Hoods Creek Road just north of the Racine County K roundabout. There will be a light potluck supper afterwards, so bring something to share. The next two highway cleanups are scheduled for July 19 at 8:30 a.m. and October 4 at 9:00 a.m. Please join us for these community service events. It takes at least a dozen people to do the job well.

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Vote for Sierra Club Directors
by Melissa Warner, JMC delegate

Think turnout in congressional elections is low? It’s even lower for Sierra Club elections -- in recent years, only about 10 percent of Club members have voted for the National Board of Directors. You can change that this spring.

The Board sets Club policy and budgets at the national level and works closely with the staff to run the Club. The Sierra Club's effectiveness lies largely in its grass-roots structure; when you vote for the Board of Directors you are maintaining that structure. You should have received a ballot and written information on all board candidates in March. Ballots must be cast by mail or electronically by the third week in April.

Your John Muir Chapter ExCom has endorsed four candidates: Jerry Sutherland from Oregon, Lane Boldman from Kentucky, David Scott from Ohio and Barbara Frank from Wisconsin. Endorsement takes place only after examining campaign material from all interested candidates. JMC ExCom members nominated these four candidates and they were subsequently approved by a roll call vote. JMC hopes you will consider all candidates carefully when you cast your ballots.

The Club is a democratically structured organization that requires the regular exchange of views on policy and priorities from its grassroots membership in order to function effectively. The more members who vote in the elections, the more likely those elected will represent the members’ concerns and interests.

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Spring Dinner & Green Awards: May 15th at Bombay Louie’s

Welcome spring with us at our annual Green Awards dinner. This year two awards will be given. One will recognize the work of Indian Trails High School students on a recycling project and the other the newly formed Parkside Environmental Club.

The Bombay Louie's menu choices will be: Broiled Alaskan Haddock, Northwoods Grilled Chicken, Old World Pot Roast, Homemade Lasagna and Pasta Primavera (vegetarian). Call Donna by May 13th to let her know your choice (262) 637-3141. The cost of the meal including tax and tip is $17.

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Book Club: May 22 -- See calendar for time and place.

Join us to discuss Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac". This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of a seminal work by a weekend homesteader, teacher, philosopher and the man proclaimed by many as the father of the modern conservation movement. Aldo Leopold died in 1948 without seeing his book in print, but when "A Sand County Almanac" was published in 1949 it spoke his voice clearly and plainly, and has had a profound effect on its readers ever since. If you haven't read "A Sand County Almanac" (or you haven't read it in awhile), pick up a copy and dive in. Leopold's message is both timely and timeless, and deserves another look as we pass into a new millennium.

An Outing to The Shack and the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is planned
-- but it’s not on the calendar yet -- look for it in the next newsletter.

In 1935, the Leopold family renovated a rickety chicken coop on the Wisconsin River near Baraboo, affectionately called the "shack." For years, the "shack" served as Aldo's weekend retreat and was the unique setting that provided the inspiration for his observations, lessons and writing. The Leopold Shack still stands to this day, more than 70 years after Leopold and his family first selected it as their refuge from too much modernity. Nearby, the recently completed energy efficient, carbon neutral Aldo Leopold Legacy Center attempts to answer the essential question: "How can we ensure both people and the land will prosper in the long run?"