Foundation Journal

"The truth is not inconvenient -- it is deadly" Dr. Wildcat speaks to a group at the Plaza library on April 21, 2010. Dr. Daniel Wildcat spoke to an audience of 130 people in the Truman room at the Plaza library April 21, reading at length from his book " Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge ." He commented on a range of topics from climate change, to the contradictions of development and "progress," and how Native Americans are especially equipped to provide advice on changing course on solving the crisis. "The status quo is not good enough," he emphasized, suggesting at several points that the book is not a romanticized report on Indigenous experience and traditions, but challenged people to "start in your backyard" in observing and acting on the climate crisis. Some of us have so well-insulated ourselves from the inconvenient and uncomfortable features of the natural world, we fail to see that in the proce

A few people I have spoken with are cynical about the use of windmills, asking if I was willing to subsidize the costs for wind energy. I take it to mean that opposition to coal plants and support for wind farms is some conspiracy to disable free market enterprise. One person explained how coal plants have to operate at 80% capacity. He argued wind energy is unreliable because of a lack of storage capacity.  In rural Missouri just 2 miles or so north of my father-in-law's farm near Amity, Missouri, a new wind farm is on-line. It was amazing that it was built in a few months as documented in a recent story in Rural Missouri . With 100 American-made General Electric turbines and transformers made in a Jefferson City plant, the Lost Creek Wind Farm is a $340 million investment in a region still suffering from the farm crisis of the 1980s. Each turbine is capable of supplying 1.5 megawatts of power. Given the intermittent nature of wind power, it is expected to provide the energy ne

The film "Dive!" is not likely to "go viral" on the Internet. It won't go viral on YouTube or other video sites because it's 45 minutes long and tells a story without publicly embarrassing anyone. What the film does is challenge people to look at food waste in a calm, humorous, and factual way -- not a recipe for developing quick, large audiences fed on celebrity mishaps. However it's clearly seeking an audience of people concerned about problems of hunger and poverty in our communities. The screening of the film took place in Kansas City on April 17, 2010 as part of the KC Film Fest and drew a full house of 75 people. Like a lot of videos developed today it was made on a shoestring budget of $200 but the territory and message cover a much larger vision. Sifting food in dumpster (from Dive! The Film) The filmmakers juxtapose images of hunger with the mountains of food waste discarded everyday. The central focus of the film is waste by grocery sto

Earth Day comes about once a year but the tradition of protecting the land has occurred for generations by Indigenous peoples in North America. This is a central theme in Dr. Daniel Wildcat's book " Red Alert!: Saving the Planet through Indigenous Knowledge ." To learn more about this book and Dr. Wildcat's work he will be reading from the book at the Plaza Library , 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri on Wednesday, April 21 at 6:30 pm. The event is sponsored by the Heart of America Indian Center in Kansas City. One of the groups he works with, American Indian Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group, is referenced in this video.

Following the success of films about out-of-control food industries like "Super Size Me," "Food Inc," and "Fast Food Nation," the upcoming film " Dive! " takes an angle on food waste and hunger in USA. The film seems to capture not just the desperation of recovering food from dumpsters, but the magnitude of the waste problem. Harvesters food bank has had a long-time food rescue program, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the food rescue program was one of the original programs at the food bank. This film is part of KC Film Fest this Saturday, April 17, 2010. Dive! Trailer from Compeller Productions on Vimeo .