Republished with permission from the January issue of the Ester Republic.

This January marks the third calendar year that I’ve written the column for the ER, and though I have often mentioned or drawn upon the writings of others, I have never come right out and provided a legitimate, start-to-finish book review. It always seems a bit pedantic when a columnist chooses to write a book review solely for the sake of, well, writing a review. Book reviews should be transparent, authorless, written only for one of two reasons: either for the purpose of making more people aware of a work that might change the way they think about the world, even if just a very small piece of it (like the one I review below), or to provide a counter-perspective on a work that, if left unchallenged, might do real damage through misinformation (think Michael Crichton’s State of Fear). Of course, inescapable are the assumptions by the writer that 1) people care what they think and 2) they are qualified to identify books that should be suggested and books that should be challenged. But, I figure if you are reading this column, then you have already admitted a marginal interested in my opinion, and that being the case, I imagine you will allow me some liberty on number 2.

Where our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov’s Quest to End Famine, by Gary Paul Nabhan, is the gift I wish to share with you this month. Read the rest of this entry »

The role of the volunteer is not to be underestimated, and in the case of the Tanana Valley Watershed Association and other similar partnerships in Alaska, where I am focusing my research as part of my graduate studies in environmental policy, volunteers are an integral piece of a healthy watershed. Watershed partnerships are informal governing networks comprised of multiple stakeholders within an ecosystem basin.  Often these stakeholders have competing interests, but work as a body to make consensus-based decisions on things like which scientific research needs should be pursued or a plan for restoring a watershed or which issues require greater regulatory oversight. Participation in watershed partnerships is not mandatory.  The theoretical incentive is the desire to maintain a healthy ecosystem, one that can continue to provide jobs, services, clean water and a high quality of life for all.

Okay.  Tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking academic definitions aside, this seems a relevant topic as last week we were all called to serve by our new president. Read the rest of this entry »

Jed meet the readers… readers meet Jed! Jedediah R. Smith is one of my colleagues at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and I’ve asked him to contribute to the Fireweed when he has the time. My time in Arizona has made it all to clear to me that water is an issue that should be on everyone’s mind, so I’ve tapped Jed, who knows a good deal more than I about the subject, to join me here. His inaugural article is timely and gets at a good point about just how powerful and effective a changing force volunteerism can be. I’d go as far as to say that the spirit of collaboration about which Jed speaks might be the only way to save our spot on this fine planet. It is a great first contribution, even if he does cite that crackpot Friedman! I joke, of course, Friedman is a pretty good hand, just misguided as of late, too convinced that technology alone can save this world. 

Anyway I look forward to many more contributions from Jedediah, about water or anything else that happens to cross his mind, because its a sharp one.

Coming off that last post regarding some of the lies in advertising about HFCS, I think it is only fitting to take on another major heath threat - this time one that is deliberately (and quite disingenuously) packaged as something to make you healther. I am speaking of Alli, the only FDA-approved, over-the-counter weight loss product marketed by Glaxo-Smith-Kline. If you know someone taking this product, tell them to stop. Now. Even if they are losing ‘weight.’  Read the rest of this entry »