A Fable for Dogland

12/25-26/17

A Fable for Dogland

‘Twas the day after Christmas,

and all through the land

people were coughing and crying,

as loud as a band!

     

Evie sat on the beach, but the ocean was still,

not a wave coming in, not little,

not big.  Her sister beside her

began to cry—her face smudged and dirty,

the air hard to breathe. 

The sky was dark and no one was on the beach.

 Evie looked around and spied her friend,

her friend there on the lonely beach,

Lucy the Laughing Sea Lion,

who rolled in the sand and looked very sad,

not laughing, not laughing at all.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Evie asked.

“What’s wrong with the beach? 

What’s wrong with the sky?  Why is it lonely?

Why does everyone cough and cry?”

And Lucy said, “Yes, I can tell you what’s wrong.

A business guy named Ronald Rump,

who isn’t very nice, he wants to run the world

and own every store, and always have the last say,

so he put up a wall, to keep others away.

A wall of rock and brick, wire and stone,

and then on top, he added a big glass dome!

A dome so, so big, it closed out the sky.

Now even the stars are out of sight!

So all around the country, no breezes, no waves,

no planes, no birds, no salmon in the streams.”

Lucy shook her head and cried, “And here,

on our pretty beach, there are no waves,

no waves, no waves at all!”

   

Then Lucy shook her head and a tear

rolled down her furry cheek.  She said,

“But even worse, worst of all, on Christmas Eve,

even Santa was stopped by this big wall!

He wasn’t stopped by snow nor rain,

nor sleet nor darkest cold and windy night.

No, not even his reindeer, not a one,

could crack through that wall!

So instead of dolls and books and peppermint candy,

red sweaters and toys and nice warm socks,

everyone got just a lump of coal,

no songs, no cookies, no presents at all.

  

“And now everyone is burning their coal

and the air is thick and dark,

not from storm nor clouds, not Seattle fog,

no, not even an eclipse,

but deepest…darkest…awful…Smog!”

      

Even Evie was about to cry, but then

her dog friend Domino ran up and barked and jumped

and did a flip, licked Evie’s face and said,

“Can’t you hear the howls and barks?  Can’t you hear

the call?  The dogs in Oregon and Idaho,

the wolves in Wyoming, the coyotes in Kansas,

across mountains and plains, through cities and towns,

and deep…dark…woods, full of scary things!

The dogs in Denver and Kansas City,

in Sedalia, Boonville and Columbia,  

barking all the way across the continent,

to say, “come back, Evie, come back to Dogland,

we need to see you soon!”

 

 So Evie took her sister by the hand,

and they followed Domino a long, long way,

past fields of yellow grass, and desert sand,

where rattlesnakes said hello, and rattled and danced

like a mariachi band.  
  

Evie ran and ran, with Alice riding Domino,

they ran up mountains,
coooooold, so cold, shiiiiiivering cold,

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……

Then hot, hooooooot, panting, huhh, huhh, huhh,

like her daddy running a marathon.

And then they reached the Missouri River,

and Evie found her friend,

Roger the River Otter,

and he found sticks and string and logs,

he made them a raft to float and float

a thoooooousand miles, while he paddled

their little boat, paddled

past tiny towns and family farms.

 

They paddled under bridges, past barges,

they saw trains and buffalo and eagles,

herons and prairie dogs, but the air

was still so thick and bad, that

they saw sad butterflies that couldn’t fly!  

  

At last, they saw the Big Burr Oak

that towered to the sky, 

                                   so they landed
at Katfish Katie’s, jumped off their raft,

Evie and Alice and Domino,

with Roger the River Otter, who shouted out,

“no time for a snack.”

So they ran up the trail, over creeks, past bikes

and big, big rocks, through fields and forests, 

until they got to Dogland,

where the sky was blue and clear. 

“Whew!” said Domino, rolling in the grass.

“That was a long, long walk!”

Then Evie talked to Hector and Cybele and Dorothy,

the dogs who live in Dogland.

She asked “Why is the sky here still blue?”

Hector scratched his ear and told her,

“It’s no big secret.  There’s no coal here,

no smoke, no dust, no deep, dark smog.” 

And Evie looked around and said,

“I have a plan.”  She whispered it to Hector,

to Cybele, Dorothy and Domino,

and they barked and barked, so the dogs

way down the road could hear.  And they barked

and barked, until far away, even

Lucy the Laughing Sea Lion knew the plan,

and knew that she could laugh again.

Ho-ho-ho!  And ho-ho! again.

Then Lucy called all the whales and dolphins,

called the sharks and minnows and salmon,

called sea horses and sea urchins,

and even called an orange octopus so big

it could stretch from Washington

to the Hawaiian Islands,

and all of them pushed and pulled,

until the walls caved in and the waves

rushed back onto the beaches.

 

 And Evie climbed a tree and called all the birds

that she could see, the robins and the owls,

the blue jays, hawks and sparrows,

the condors, cardinals, and canaries,

the pelicans and gulls and all their friends,

even a frosty albatross!

And all together, they beat their wings

and flew fast and faster, round and round,

until a giant whirlwind took all the smog away.
 

Then Domino and Dorothy

called the dogs and bears and buffalo,

all the cats and bats and rats and hares,

all the skunks, raccoons, and river otters,

all the squirrels and grumpy baboons,

the moose and mice, the deer and mountain lions,

and together they gathered all the coal

and made a giant mountain in big flat Kansas.

  

But no one liked that mountain made of coal,

so everyone brought dirt and shovels,

and rakes and seeds, and planted

daisies and roses, white, red and blue,

and violets and cedars, and apple trees, too,

and right on top, a huge, huge bright yellow bloom

opened up, a sunflower that grew and grew!

  

Then Evie pointed up at the clean blue sky,

and the bright, bright sun, and said,

“No more coal, no more oil.  From now on,

we’ll use the power from the sun!”

       

The dogs in Dogland, and the people, too,

all barked and howled and cheered,

and Domino shook her paw.

Cybele gave Evie her favorite bone, 

        

and others gave her a double,

no, triple, even bigger! ice cream cone!

   

Then Hector stepped up, and gave Evie

a glittery crown, and said, “thanks to you,

we’ll keep our skies clean and blue,

all because of you, our pretty princess.

That’s what we’ll call you now,  

our pretty Princess Evelyn Sunstone!”

     

Retreat to Reading

Less than 10 hours to go, to be retreat back inside the borders of Dogland, my respite from your holiday excesses and unremitting ho-ho-ho.  (How much Christmas music does anyone need to hear in a lifetime?)

I have the basic supplies--several bottles of wine, including a (sadly, Californian, not Oregonian) Pinot Noir, lots of coffee, 2 1/2 cartons of Central Dairy peppermint stick ice cream, an extra 60 pounds of dog food, plenty of vegetables, yogurt, maybe no meat, but plenty of peanut butter, peas, rice and beans.  All set.

And, it seems like I'm currently reading 5 books, not all at the same speed:

Le Courbusier, A Life.  Not an architect I much life, but I need to know more about his work to understand all those in the 50s and 60s who tried to undo him, like Constant Nieuwenhuys, and his vaguely exciting and distinctly horrifying New Babylon.  (Did just read Mark Wigley's Constant's New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire--lots of interesting photos.)

And not fast, reading Why Geology Matters, which is fine, but not as intriguing as Planet in a Pebble, which I read a few months ago..

Finding Them Gone: Visiting China's Poets of the Past, about a somewhat odd and cranky translator making 30 days worth of pilgrimages through China, to visit and drink with dead poets.  Cool.  (And we're going to China next June.  Plenty of spots available.  Go sign up.) 

 

With Soren, I'm reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, an intriguing look at how we might know the world through ways other than western science, and might hold a different sort of conversation.  One outcome already--I need to see about planting a bit of Ozark Witch Hazel in the fields.

And finally, Ready Player One, a dystopic, online sf novel that drips with pop culture.  Reading this because, oh, I need that outlet, and the movie version comes out next year sometime.

later, bob

Bioregionalism

Ideally, Dogland will be, in its remaining short flicker of existence, a bioregional republic.  Probably at least one of those terms is a bit fuzzy.  Let's hope it's 'bioregional.'

          


Lots of material out there for you to peruse, such as Peter Berg's "What is Bioregionalism?" or this site from the Living Awareness Institute:  "Bioregions are unique life-places with their own soils and land forms, watersheds and climates, native plants and animals, and many other distinct natural characteristics. Each characteristic affects the others and is affected by them as in any other living system or body," and "Bioregionalism is a fancy name for living a rooted life. Sometimes called "living in place," bioregionalism means you are aware of the ecology, economy and culture of the place where you live, and are committed to making choices that enhance them."

And from the same site, a nice list of what living this way might mean:

Living a bioregionally-conscious life means making choices daily that focus on local ecology, economy and culture. It may mean any or all of the following:

• Buying food grown locally (and organically).
• Avoiding large chain retailers in favor of locally owned stores.
• Seeking out products made close to home by companies that are socially and environmentally responsible.
• Banking with locally owned banks, especially ones that invest in the community.
• Knowing the birds, animals, trees, plants and weather patterns of your place, as well as land features and soil types.
• Understanding the human cultures that have occupied your place in the past and respecting their ways of life.
• Getting to know your neighbors and "looking out for each other."
• Seeking out entertainment that originates in your area; supporting local artists, musicians, theater companies, storytellers.
• Watching less TV and spending more time with loved ones or neighbors playing games, making music and having your own fun.
• Knowing where your garbage goes and reducing your waste to a minimum.
• Knowing where your drinking water comes from and using water conservatively.
• Knowing how and where your electricity is generated and utilizing sustainable energy sources, such as solar power, whenever possible.
• Voting in local elections and being involved in political decision-making.
• Being directly involved in your children's education, whether they are in school or are homeschooled.

All those things.   Here's a version of this that focuses more on the pathways from Aldo Leopold, on being a Biocitizen. Though just knowing about Leopold goes quite a way in itself.  (and sometime, read the section of Sand County Almanac that talks about the green fire in the wolf's eyes...I think there's also a film.)

May favorite, though not recent, book on this is Kirkpatrick Sale's Dwellers in the Land.  Consult this for an extended discussion.  He's especially good at insisting that bioregionalism includes history, local lore, stories, all the rest, beyond just the practical materialism.
 

A great deal to do, to start to know where we live

later, bob

Application for Citizenship

Applicationfor Ephemeral Citizenshipof Dogland,

a biogregional republic

         

Personal information of applicant:

Millennium of birth (circle one):  1   2   3   4   5   other

Country of former/dual citizenship:

Number of canine cohabitants:

Number of identities, face-to-face, role-play, MMORPG, social networking, multiverse, other:

Preferred name:

Citizenship of Dogland includes, but is not limited to, the following duties:

I pledge to learn about 5 new local flora or fauna in the next year.

I pledge to plant a tree in the next year.

I pledge to see at least one of these films in 2018:  An Inconvenient Truth, No Impact Man, Chasing Ice, Chasing Coral, or Before the Flood.

I pledge to notice the full moon.

I pledge to walk under the stars on clear nights.

I pledge to toast the quantum expiration of Dogland, on the morning of December 28, 2017.

    

 

Include an original poem along with your application materials.  Please do not exceed 10,000 lines.

(Additional bioregional training materials are available at the main government offices.)

Applicant’s signature__________________, Date ________

Approved                                                        

Vice President/Director of Naturalization

Issued at the Crossroads, Hague and Spiva

Dogland's Proposal to the U.N.

Not that the micronation of Dogland has yet been recognized by any substantial number of other nations, this quantum reality having only unfolded into existence about 26 hours ago, but anticipating the general approval of the world, here's our first proposal we would like the UN to consider.  And while we do consider this a crucial step in providing a safe world not only for our dog citizens, but also for the humans in our neighbor, America, we make no threats nor do we suggest any retaliation if the members of the UN need a few weeks to process this proposal--for clearly, a global civilization can't conduct its mission of bettering the lives of all involved in a hostile atmosphere.

Some background information first.  As of 2013, we passed 1 billion cars in the world.  And where?  "That gives China the world's second largest car population, with 78 million vehicles. But the United States still constitutes by far the largest vehicle population in the world, with 239.8 million cars," according to the Huffingtonpost, and there are predictions of more than 2 billion by 2035. 
  

   

           

 And is that a happy thing?  Getting a car is not only the dream of flocks of young teens, but of nearly everyone around the world, as that huge step up from the grinding limits of poverty.  We seem to believe in cars as that keystone of our independence, can't imagine life without cars--indeed, most of us seem pretty sure that all science and history talking about human life before Henry Ford is just scandalous propaganda.

Some consequences of all these cars...
land paved over:  "The United States, with its 214 million motor vehicles, has paved 6.3 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) of roads, enough to circle the Earth at the equator 157 times. In addition to roads, cars require parking space. Imagine a parking lot for 214 million cars and trucks. If that is too difficult, try visualizing a parking lot for 1,000 cars and then imagine what 214,000 of these would look like."
 

road deaths:   32,744 in 2014,  35,485 in 2015,  37,461 in 2016...and counting.  (There's a great chart there in Wikipedia.)

Even more danger to our citizen-dogs, and all the other critters who get squished on the road, 1000s of times a day.

And then, just the changes in who we are and how we live.  I assert that driving has never made anyone a better person, nor strengthened any neighborhood.

Perhaps most vital, the world just can't afford to keep this habit, neither in terms of production costs, resources used, nor carbon emissions.

 

                       source                                        image 

So, here it is.  We follow the notions of Ernest Callenbach, in his seminal, if not perfectly written novel, Ecotopia Emerging, in which the newly formed nation agreed to a list of key principles.  It's worth finding the book and looking at the 10 items on that "No more" list, but we'll adopt here, "No more private cars."  That's what we propose the UN vote on--finding ways to eliminate the automobile industry worldwide, before natural castrophies do it for us.

Talk to your dogs.  They'll agree.

later, 
President bob


  

Ernest Callenbach’s Last Words, https://learningfromdogs.com/tag/ecotopia-emerging/