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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Two stories,
one from the NY Times magazine yesterday on an amazing urban farmer in Milwaukee,
Wis., named Will Allen, and the other, one of the top stories in today’s
NY Times, on how unprecedented oil price volatility is hampering economic
recovery. Both illustrate the challenges we face, but in the urban farming
piece we also catch a glimpse of the potential for one positive-change model
for our food system. And, I think it’s hopeful knowing there are projects
with elements of Allen’s work in cities and towns throughout Oklahoma. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>The piece on
oil price volatility illustrates once again the need for grass-roots localization
and making our communities more resilient and less vulnerable to oil prices,
supply and demand. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
color:black'>Swings in Price of Oil Hobble Forecasting<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>By
Jad Mouawad<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormalCxSpLast><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>NY
Times<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>The extreme
volatility that has gripped oil markets for the last 18 months has shown no
signs of slowing down, with oil prices more than doubling since the beginning
of the year despite an exceptionally weak economy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Highlights:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>“To call this extreme volatility might be an
understatement,” said Laura Wright, the chief financial officer at <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/southwest_airlines_company/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More information about Southwest Airlines"><span style='color:windowtext;
text-decoration:none'>Southwest Airlines</span></a>, a company that has sought
to insure itself against volatile prices by buying long-term oil contracts.
“Over the past 15 to 18 months, this has been unprecedented. <b><u>I
don’t think it can be easily rationalized</u></b>.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>But to Jeroen van der Veer, who retired as chief
executive officer of <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/shell_royal_dutch_plc/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More information about Royal Dutch Shell Plc"><span style='color:#004276'>Royal
Dutch Shell</span></a> last week, prices are increasingly dictated by long-term
assessments of supply and demand, rather than current market fundamentals. He
advised taking a long-term view of the market. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='margin-left:1.0in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>“Oil has never been very stable,” Mr. van
der Veer said. <b><u>“If you look at history, you have to expect more
volatility</u></b>.”</span></i><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Complete
article here ::: <a href="http://bit.ly/17MnBy">http://bit.ly/17MnBy</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
color:black'>Street Farmer <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>By Elizabeth
Royte<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>NY Times
Magazine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Will Allen, a farmer</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'> of Bunyonesque
proportions, ascended a berm of wood chips and brewer’s mash and gently
probed it with a pitchfork. “Look at this,” he said, pleased with
the treasure he unearthed. A writhing mass of red worms dangled from his tines.
He bent over, raked another section with his fingers and palmed a few beauties.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>And a few
highlights: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>With
seeds planted at quadruple density and nearly every inch of space maximized to
generate exceptional bounty, Growing Power is an agricultural Mumbai, a
supercity of upward-thrusting tendrils and duct-taped infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>If
inside the greenhouse was Eden, outdoors was, as Allen explained on a drive
through the neighborhood, “a food desert.” Scanning the liquor
stores in the strip malls, he noted: “From the housing project,
it’s more than three miles to the Pick’n Save. That’s a long
way to go for groceries if you don’t have a car or can’t carry
stuff. And the quality of the produce can be poor.” Fast-food joints and
convenience stores selling highly processed, high-calorie foods, on the other
hand, were locally abundant. “It’s a form of redlining,”
Allen said. “We’ve got to change the system so everyone has safe,
equitable access to healthy food.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Allen, too, has achieved a certain momentum for his
efforts to bring the good-food movement to the inner city. In the last several
years, he has become a darling of the foundation world. In 2005, he received a
$100,000 <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/ford_foundation/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about Ford Foundation"><span style='color:#004276'>Ford
Foundation</span></a> leadership grant. In 2008, the <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/macarthur_john_d_and_catherine_t_foundation/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation"><span
style='color:#004276'>MacArthur Foundation</span></a> honored Allen with a
$500,000 “genius” award. And in May, the Kellogg Foundation gave
Allen $400,000 to create jobs in urban agriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><b><i><u><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>“We need 50 million more people
growing food</span></u></i></b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>,” Allen told them, <b><u>“on porches, in
pots, in side yards.”</u></b> <b><u>The reasons are simple: as oil prices
rise, cities expand and housing developments replace farmland, the ability to
grow more food in less space becomes ever more important.</u></b> As Allen
can’t help reminding us, with a mischievous smile, “Chicago has
77,000 vacant lots.” <b>(NOTE: This made me wonder many how vacate lots Oklahoma
City, Tulsa, Edmond, Norman, Stillwater, Shawnee, Broken Arrow, Bartlesville, Tahlequah,
Woodward, Clinton, etc. have?)</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>“Not everyone can grow food,” Allen
acknowledged. But he offers other ways of engaging with the soil: “You
bring 30 people out here, bring the kids and give them good food,” he
said, “and picking up those rocks is a community event.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>This nondogmatic approach may be one of Allen’s
most appealing qualities. His essential view is that people do the best they
can: if they don’t have any better food choices than KFC, well, O.K. But
let’s work on changing that. If they don’t know what to do with
okra, Growing Power stands ready to help.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><b><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>If there’s no place in the food movement for low-
and middle-income people of all races, says Tom Philpott, food editor of
Grist.org and co-founder of the North Carolina-based Maverick Farms,
“we’ve got big problems, because the critics will be proven right</span></i></b><i><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'> — that this
is a consumption club for people who’ve traveled to Europe and tasted
fine food.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>… Growing Power isn’t self-sufficient. But
neither is industrial agriculture, which relies on price supports and
government subsidies. Moreover, industrial farming incurs costs that are paid
by society as a whole: the health costs of eating highly processed foods, for
example, or water pollution. Nor can Growing Power be compared to other small
farms, because it provides so many intangible social benefits to those it
reaches. “It’s not operated as a farm,” said Ian Marvy, executive
director of Brooklyn’s Added Value farm, which shares many of Growing
Power’s core values but produces less food. “It has a social,
ecological and economic bottom line.” That said, Marvy says that anyone
can replicate Allen’s technical systems — the worm composting and
aquaponics — for relatively little money. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></span></span><![endif]><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Allen predicts that because of high unemployment and the
recent food scares, 10 million people will plant gardens for the first time
this year. But two million of them will eventually drop out, he said, when the
potato bugs arrive or the rain doesn’t cooperate. Still, he was sanguine.
“The experience will introduce those folks to what a tomato really tastes
like, so next time they’ll buy one at their greenmarket. And when we talk
about farm-worker rights, we’ll have more advocates for them.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:
.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>Complete article here: </span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://bit.ly/yenMk">http://bit.ly/yenMk</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Malgun Gothic","sans-serif";
color:black'>Shauna, OKC<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>Imagine, innovate,
create, collaborate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#913200'><a
href="http://www.sustainableokc.org"><span style='line-height:150%;color:#913200;
text-decoration:none'>www.sustainableokc.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#913200'><a
href="http://www.transitiontownokc.com"><span style='line-height:150%;
color:#913200;text-decoration:none'>www.transitiontownokc.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#913200'><a
href="http://www.goinglocalokc.com"><span style='line-height:150%;color:#913200;
text-decoration:none'>www.goinglocalokc.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#913200'><a
href="http://thinklady.typepad.com%20/"><span style='line-height:150%;
color:#913200;text-decoration:none'>http://thinklady.typepad.com /</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#913200'><a
href="http://freshgreens.typepad.com/"><span style='line-height:150%;
color:#913200;text-decoration:none'>http://freshgreens.typepad.com/</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Webdings;
color:green'>P</span><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:green'>please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to</span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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