Tag: season

A Lighter, Brighter Christmas?

  • Author Bob Lilienfeld suggests that we find ways to express our love for each other in less material ways. (Photo by Denise Docherty)

The message from advertisers this holiday season seems to be: buy more because you and your family deserve it. Retailers are hopeful we’ll all spend just a little bit more to make the holidays shiny and bright. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham went to the shopping mall with a guy who thinks we ought to scale back our spending during the
holidays:

Transcript

The message from advertisers this holiday season seems to be, buy more because you and your family deserve it. Retailers are hopeful we’ll all spend just a little bit more to make the holidays shiny and bright. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham went to the shopping mall with a guy who thinks we ought to scale back our spending during the holidays:


Bob Lilienfeld is one of the co-authors of a book called Use Less Stuff. As you might guess, he’s an advocate of using fewer resources, including buying less stuff during the holidays. We asked him to meet us at a big shopping mall to talk about why he thinks buying less means more.


Lilienfeld: “I want you to go back to when you were a kid. Think about the two or three things in your life, the things that you did that made you really happy. I guarantee none of those have to do with physical, material gifts. They have to do with time you spent with your family or things you did with your friend. But, it wasn’t the time you said ‘Oh, it was the year I got that train,’ or ‘the year I got those cuff links,’ or ‘when I got those earrings.’ That’s the principle difference. We’re trying so hard to be good and to let people know that we love them, but the things that we love about other people and that they love about us have nothing to do with material goods.”


Graham: “There’s a certain expection during the holidays, though, that we will get something nice for the people we love and here at this mall as we’re looking around, there are lots of enticements to fulfill that expectation.”


Lilienfeld: “That’s true, but we’ve been led to believe that more is better, and to a great extent more gifts is not better than fewer gifts. Quality and quantity are very different kinds of thoughts and we’ve been led to believe economically that quantity is more important. But, in reality it’s the qualitative aspects of life that we long remember and really are the ones we treasure.”


Graham: “Now from the news media, I get the impression that if I don’t do my part during the holidays in shopping, that it’s really going to hurt a lot of Americans, the American economy. $220-billion during the holiday season. It’s 25-percent of retailers’ business. So, if I don’t buy or if I scale back my buying, won’t I be hurting the economy?”


Lilienfeld: “It’s always been 25-percent of retailers’ business, even if you go back 30 or 40 years, and that’s probably not going to change. It comes down to your thinking through what’s good for you, what’s good for your family, what’s good for your friends and not worrying so much about what’s good for the economy and what’s good for big companies.”


Retailers are expecting sales to be better this year than last year. So, that simpler lifestyle that Lilienfeld is talking about is not widespread enough to have any real impact on the overall shopping season. But apparently the economy isn’t strong everywhere.


We talked to some shoppers about their holiday shopping plans and the idea of simplifying things. Many of them told us that the economy was forcing them to cut back on gift buying…


Shopper 1: “Well, because of my limited budget, I have to buy, like – I have a list – and I have to buy one at a time, so, being pretty poor is being pretty simple. I’m kind of already living that way.”


Shopper 2: “I don’t need to celebrate Christmas by buying people gifts. And I can give people gifts all year long. And I — Christmas is kind of sham-y to me.”


Shopper 3: “This year, yeah, my family is like, ‘Don’t get me anything.’ I’m going to do something, but hopefully it will be smaller and less expensive and all that.”


Shopper 4: “Well, I don’t feel compelled to buy something because an economist says it’s my part as an American. And I think people are going to get smarter and smarter about how they spend their money and the almighty dollar.”


With the constant messages on television, radio, the Internet and newspapers to spend, there’s a lot of persusive power by advertisers to buy now and think about the cost later.


Since Bob Lilienfeld is such an advocate of a simpler lifestyle, it makes you wonder about his own shopping habits.


Graham: “Do you ever find yourself in the shopping mall, buying stuff for the folks you have on your Christmas list or your holiday list?”


Lilienfeld: “All the time. But, what I try to do is two things. One is think about the fact that more isn’t necessarily better. But the other thing I really try and do is look for gifts that are what I call ‘experiential’ as opposed to material. Tickets. Things where people can go to plays or operas or ball games so that they have an experience. Same thing with travel. I mean, if I could give my father a gift or if I could help him afford to go somewhere, like to see me and the kids, that gift is probably worth a lot more to both of us than if I just gave him a couple of bottles of wine.”


And Lilienfeld says you don’t waste as much wrapping paper when you wrap up tickets.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Cleaner Air, Higher Gas Prices?

  • The EPA is getting ready for smog season. (photo courtesy of USEPA)

The federal government’s tougher regulations on pollution might have consequences on prices at the gasoline pump. To meet the Clean Air Act, some areas might be required to use cleaner-burning fuels. That could make it tougher to get gasoline supplies where they need to be. And that could mean higher prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The federal government’s tougher regulations on pollution might have consequences on prices at
the gasoline pump. To meet the Clean Air Act some areas might be required to use cleaner-
burning fuels. That could make it tougher to get gasoline supplies where they need to be. And
that could mean higher prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


The Environmental Protection Agency says 31 states are not complying with the Clean Air Act.
The EPA indicates tougher standards for ground-level ozone make many areas that didn’t know
they had a problem in violation of air pollution laws.


John Mooney is an environmental specialist with the EPA. He says the government used to
check for ozone pollution for short periods… but started monitoring for longer periods and found
more instances of high levels of ozone.


“The other issue is that we’re changing the number of the standard from 120 down to 80 parts-
per-billion. So, it’s a lower level that we’re looking at. And we think that’s more reflective of
the health effects that are being caused by this pollutant.”


Ground-level ozone aggravates asthma. People with lung diseases can find it hard to breathe.
And those who work outdoors are affected by the unhealthy air.


Ozone is created when factories and cars emit volatile organic compounds. That chemical stew is
affected by sunlight and ozone can form. Cities that have had high ozone levels have worked to
reduce emissions from businesses, encouraged car-pooling, made announcements asking people
not to use gas-powered mowers on high ozone days.


And… for some cities… part of the solution has been reformulated gasoline. It’s gas that’s
cleaner burning. Different formulations are used in different areas. And… gas formulas change
from winter to summer. Refineries and gasoline suppliers have to empty their tanks and pipelines
before switching. That makes gas supplies tight for a while and that drives the price up. We
asked the EPA’s John Mooney about that.


LG: We’ve got several cities with reformulated gasoline right now and that’s put a strain on the
distribution system nation-wide. If more cities have to start using reformulated gasoline and each
city has to have a different formulation, that’s going to further strain the distribution problem at a
time when gasoline prices are at an all time high.


JM: “We’re extremely sensitive to the infrastructure issue and the energy issue and are trying to
promote clean-burning fuels that have environmental impacts without significant economic
disruptions. Having fuel shortages and price spikes and things of that nature don’t contribute to
the success of our mission to improve public health. And so, we’re going to be tied into the fuel
distribution issues and we’re going to be working with the oil refiners to make sure that the fuels
programs that are ultimately decided upon operate without significant disruptions.”


Significant disruptions that could cause gasoline shortages and high prices.


Bob Slaughter is the President of NPRA, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. He
says the government needs to work closely with gasoline suppliers to make sure that efforts to
make the air easier to breathe don’t make problems for the economy of an area.


“You know, you have to be very careful that you don’t have so many fuels in certain areas that it
becomes difficult to re-supply if there are problems, say, with a refinery or a pipeline in a
particular area.”


For instance, in recent years a fire at a refinery at a bad time meant shortages and higher prices.


But… even with lots of cooperation between government and the gasoline suppliers, the added
burden of different types of reformulated gasoline to the fuel distribution system might mean
spikes in gas prices.


(road sound, gas station)


We asked some people buying gas if they were willing to pay more if it meant cleaner air…


VOXPOP (voice 1) “Well, the gas prices are high enough. Uh, am I willing? I suppose so if it’s
better for the environment.” (voice 2) “Well, I think the federal government regulates everything
way too much right now. I think they do have a lot of safeguards in place right now to lower the
emissions in a lot of vehicles. Why do we have to make further regulation to control that?”
(voice 3) “I mean, I hate to – I hate to pay more gas prices. I really do. But, I guess for cleaner
air, it might be worth it.” (voice 4) “I haven’t thought about it too much. I pay what they make
me pay. I don’t care.”


The EPA is giving states and cities three years to get their ground-level ozone pollution problems
below the government’s new standards.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Dairy Farmer Gives Cows a Winter Break

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady
paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing
number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal
dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives
small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


It’s a chilly winter day in the northern New York town of Denmark. Kevin Sullivan strides into
the barn where his 60 cows munch quietly on their day’s feed.


“In the winter we’re pretty much conventional farmers.”


On conventional farms, cows stay in the barn all year long. The farmer trucks hay and grain into
the barn to feed them. But Sullivan is a grazier. His cows munch on pasture grasses from April
to October. And when they’re inside for winter, he “dries the cows off” for a couple months.
That means they don’t give milk until they start calving in the spring. Sullivan says he first read
an article about what’s called “seasonal dairying” ten years ago.


“I started thinking about it then and I kinda ran it past my wife and she laughed at me and said
‘y’know it’ll never work.'”


The problem with the seasonal system is dairy farmers are used to relying on their monthly milk
check to pay bills. No milk, no check. That took some getting used to.


“The first year was kind of scary ’cause you don’t really have any income for a couple months in
the wintertime but after we made it through that first year, I knew it was going to work pretty
good.”


The reason it works is outside.


Sullivan zips up his jacket and walks out to the barnyard. Unlike most farms, there’s not much
mud, just acres of thick green grass peeking through a dusting of snow.


“Once you get a sod built up like this, you can bring out your cows, I mean, the cows could be out
here today and they’re not going to hurt this pasture at all.”


Grazing is the key to seasonal dairying. You time when your cows give birth to calves and
produce their best milk to coincide with spring and early summer. That’s when pastures grow
the most nutritious grass. Sullivan says it’s a cow’s natural cycle.


Cows were made to eat grass. A lot of people forgot about that, I guess. I would say the two biggest things that
harm a cow is grain and concrete and a lot of guys push grain and the cows are on concrete all
the while but by kicking the cows outside and letting them be on the sod and letting them eat the
grass, you can get rid of about 90% of your cow problems.


In the pasture, they’re less susceptible to foot diseases than cows in a muddy barnyard. And
because grazing cows roam many acres, their manure is spread naturally and fertilizes the land.
A grazing farm typically has less erosion, uses fewer pesticides, and is less polluting to nearby
creeks than a conventional farm, where cows are confined to a small area and the farmer has to
dispose of tons of manure.

The method is easier on the animals and the land. And often easier on the farmer’s wallet too. A
study by the American Farmland Trust finds seasonal dairying can be an economically viable
alternative to conventional farming, especially for small farms like Kevin Sullivan’s. But only one or two percent of farms in the U.S. are seasonal. Brian Petrucci directs the American Farmland
Trust’s farm division.


“At some point in the last twenty years, it was decided that the only way to farm in this country was to get big or
get out.”


Under the tutelage of Ag school extensions, farm herds have swelled from the hundreds to the
tens of thousands. State and federal environmental agencies have had to create new regulations to
contain all the waste the farms generate. At the same time, thousands of small farms have gone
out of business.


Petrucci says seasonal dairying can help reverse the trend. But it’s slow to catch on in part
because the agriculture industry – the companies that supply the farmers – often doesn’t benefit.


“Dairy graziers and others who are operating on a smaller scale are not the consumers of feed
stuffs and farm supplies and farm equipment that the larger farmers are.”


There’s another reason, says Pete Barney of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in St. Lawrence
County, New York. It’s rooted in dairy history in this country.


“Milk plants, milk companies wanted a year-round, constant supply of milk, so now farmers bred
animals so they were coming in periodically throughout the whole year so they could keep a constant
flow of milk going.”


A different system can work on a large scale. Brian Petrucci says in some countries all dairy
farms are seasonal and grazing operations.


Back on the Sullivan farm, Kevin Sullivan says seasonal dairying is also good for his family. The
two months off from milking means more time for his kids, even a vacation, a rare thing among
dairy farmers.


“Farming is, you know, daily grind. Most people get locked into it and they don’t realize that there is
something besides going to the barn and doing chores every day. It’s really kind of opened up
our life a little bit to enjoy our hobbies in the wintertime at least.”


Sullivan’s business is good. He’s invested in an ice cream factory with some neighbors. He says
thanks to grazing and seasonal dairying, his fields are clean and green, his cows are healthy, and
his farm is thriving when so many other small farms are up for sale.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Fall Foliage Could Be Brilliant

Across the region, the leaves are beginning to change color. One forestry expert says it’s a slow start, but the autumn foliage could become brilliant before the leaves fall this year. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Across the region, the leaves are beginning to change color. One forestry expert says it’s a slow
start, but the autumn foliage could become brilliant before the leaves fall this year. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


This fall, most of the region has seen a lot of cooler, overcast days. Burt Barnes is a forestry
professor with the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. He
says if we’re to see great fall color, we need some more sunshine.


“Well, so far we haven’t had the crisp, sunny, warm days and cold nights that are sometimes
characteristic of fall, which give us the best coloration.”


Barnes says the temperature differential between day and night affects the fall color. With
brighter, warmer days and cool nights, the colors become spectacular. He adds if there’s a sharp
frost, that will cut short the display, but if we get a long frost free period, the colors will continue
to intensify.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Dairy Farmer Gives Cows a Winter Break

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows, it’s easier on the environment, and it gives small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:

Transcript

Most dairy farmers around the Great Lakes region milk their cows all year long. It brings in a steady
paycheck and ensures a steady flow of milk to manufacturing plants. Now a small but growing
number of farmers give their cows a break during the coldest months. It’s a technique called seasonal
dairying. Its supporters say it’s gentler on the cows. It’s easier on the environment. And it gives
small dairy farms a future in an industry that’s growing ever bigger. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:


It’s a chilly winter day in the northern New York town of Denmark. Kevin Sullivan strides into
the barn where his 60 cows munch quietly on their day’s feed.


“In the winter we’re pretty much conventional farmers.”


On conventional farms, cows stay in the barn all year long. The farmer trucks hay and grain into
the barn to feed them. But Sullivan is a grazier. His cows munch on pasture grasses from April
to October. And when they’re inside for winter, he “dries the cows off” for a couple months.
That means they don’t give milk until they start calving in the spring. Sullivan says he first read
an article about what’s called “seasonal dairying” ten years ago.


“I started thinking about it then and I kinda ran it past my wife and she laughed at me and said
‘y’know it’ll never work.'”


The problem with the seasonal system is dairy farmers are used to relying on their monthly milk
check to pay bills. No milk, no check. That took some getting used to.


“The first year was kind of scary ’cause you don’t really have any income for a couple months in
the wintertime but after we made it through that first year, I knew it was going to work pretty
good.”


The reason it works is outside.


Sullivan zips up his jacket and walks out to the barnyard. Unlike most farms, there’s not much
mud, just acres of thick green grass peeking through a dusting of snow.


“Once you get a sod built up like this, you can bring out your cows, I mean, the cows could be out
here today and they’re not going to hurt this pasture at all.”


Grazing is the key to seasonal dairying. You time when your cows give birth to calves and
produce their best milk to coincide with spring and early summer. That’s when pastures grow
the most nutritious grass. Sullivan says it’s a cow’s natural cycle.


“Cows were made to eat grass. A lot of people forgot about that, I guess. I would say the two biggest things that
harm a cow is grain and concrete and a lot of guys push grain and the cows are on concrete all
the while but by kicking the cows outside and letting them be on the sod and letting them eat the
grass, you can get rid of about 90% of your cow problems.”


In the pasture, they’re less susceptible to foot diseases than cows in a muddy barnyard. And
because grazing cows roam many acres, their manure is spread naturally and fertilizes the land.
A grazing farm typically has less erosion, uses fewer pesticides, and is less polluting to nearby
creeks than a conventional farm, where cows are confined to a small area and the farmer has to
dispose of tons of manure.

The method is easier on the animals and the land. And often easier on the farmer’s wallet too. A
study by the American Farmland Trust finds seasonal dairying can be an economically viable
alternative to conventional farming, especially for small farms like Kevin Sullivan’s. But only one or two percent of farms in the U.S. are seasonal. Brian Petrucci directs the American Farmland
Trust’s farm division.


“At some point in the last twenty years, it was decided that the only way to farm in this country was to get big or
get out.”


Under the tutelage of Ag school extensions, farm herds have swelled from the hundreds to the
tens of thousands. State and federal environmental agencies have had to create new regulations to
contain all the waste the farms generate. At the same time, thousands of small farms have gone
out of business.


Petrucci says seasonal dairying can help reverse the trend. But it’s slow to catch on in part
because the agriculture industry – the companies that supply the farmers – often doesn’t benefit.


“Dairy graziers and others who are operating on a smaller scale are not the consumers of feed
stuffs and farm supplies and farm equipment that the larger farmers are.”


There’s another reason, says Pete Barney of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in St. Lawrence
County, New York. It’s rooted in dairy history in this country.


“Milk plants, milk companies wanted a year-round, constant supply of milk, so now farmers bred
animals so they were coming in periodically throughout the whole year so they could keep a constant
flow of milk going.”


A different system can work on a large scale. Brian Petrucci says in some countries all dairy
farms are seasonal and grazing operations.


Back on the Sullivan farm, Kevin Sullivan says seasonal dairying is also good for his family. The
two months off from milking means more time for his kids, even a vacation, a rare thing among
dairy farmers.


“Farming is, you know, daily grind. Most people get locked into it and they don’t realize that there is
something besides going to the barn and doing chores every day. It’s really kind of opened up
our life a little bit to enjoy our hobbies in the wintertime at least.”


Sullivan’s business is good. He’s invested in an ice cream factory with some neighbors. He says
thanks to grazing and seasonal dairying, his fields are clean and green, his cows are healthy, and
his farm is thriving when so many other small farms are up for sale.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Hump Day Club Celebrates Winter

Great Lake’s residents are settling in for a long dark winter’s night.
But a north country tradition celebrating the fact that the days are
getting longer is helping some people get through the season with some
humor. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson covered the
annual business meeting of the “Hump Day Club”: