Global oil consumption hit record high in 2010

Demand is outpacing supply as demand increases drastically causing supply shortfall

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Some illuminating new stats on global oil production, consumption, and the shifting landscape of oil producing nations.

Reports show that global oil consumption was up in 2010, bucking the trend for the two previous years under the grips of the Great Recession, increasing 2.7 million barrels per day (mbd )to a new record high of 87.4 mbd. Increases in global oil production, however, fell short of that by 900,000 barrels per day.

In other words, rising supply in not at all keeping pace with rising demand and consumption, something which everyone from the US military, to the IEA, to oil industry execs, and plenty of doom and gloom peak oil researchers (who likely will be more accurate than the technology optimists out there) have been saying for some time.

Exemplifying that growing supply and demand gap, and the dwindling supply of easy to get oil accompanied by the rise of tar sands and other so-called unconventional sources of fossil fuels, is Norway.

Once in the top 10 oil producing nations of the world, and one of the few nations which managed to escape the resource curse of oil while also having solid green credentials, in 2010 Norway's oil output dropped more than any other nation, by 9.4% to roughly 2.1 million barrels per day. It now occupies the 13th position.

Something which obviously doesn't sit well with Statoil, which has just released a statement saying that it expects to raise production “to above 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalents per day by 2020” and is positioned for long term growth.

Britain's North Sea oil (and gas) fields are also coming to an end of their productive lives and new sources do not seem to be forthcoming, not in the North Sea nor elsewhere. The trip to the Islas Malvinas, the Falkland Islands, and the surrounding waters, also drew a blank.

The rejiggered oil production rankings now have Russia leading the world (10.27 mbd) and Saudi Arabia in second (10 mbd). The US produces 7.5 mpd (and consumes a bit under three times that). China is now in fifth place, seeing the largest increase in production, with a bit over 4 million barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia, according, to sources, is, however, on the brink of running dry as well and that does not bode well for a lot of things.

The entire problem is not being helped one bit now by the crisis in Libya meaning that things will get worse in time to come. Then again oil is the very reason that we, that is to to say the USA, the EU and NATO are involved in supporting the Libyan rebels.

The action in Libya has about as much to do with human rights as the war against Saddam Hussein had anything to do with weapons of mass destructions. If it was human rights we were concerned about why are we not intervening in the former Rhodesia, now referred to as Zimbabwe, or Syria or Bahrain. In two out of the tree mentioned there is no oil and Bahrain is needed as a base for the US and British war ships thus we could not possibly upset the ruling family there. But I digressed. It was oil we were talking about and the disparity between demand and consumption and supply.

In order to level things out, it would appear, the US has, at the end of June 2011, released stocks from their strategic reserves. This was also a move in order to bring down gas prices at home and quieten unrest amongst motorist.

The fact that such reserves had to be released also seems to point to the fact that – unless the oil producing countries are sitting on their stuff (aside from no oil coming out of Libya) – the demand cannot be met anymore by current level of production.

Is the “end of oil” upon us sooner rather than we had assumed? It might just be.

© 2011

God created You in His image

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

God created You, in the image and likeness of God and You have created the rest, through the power that God has given you.

And God put you in charge of Creation, His Creation, as a steward, a husbandman, and not as its destroyer.

This is, however, something that modern man seems to be forgetting and he seems to think that science is everything and thus he can go about doing as he pleases without impunity.

The riches and resources of the Earth are plundered, God's Creation being ransacked, be that the fish in the seas or whatever else. Areas the size of countries are being devastated and polluted in the pursuit of the black gold, of oil, in which ever form it comes.

People are relocated by force, losing their ancestral lands, and if they do not want to move they are being shot like wild animals. Wars are being fought over the “rights” and the access to this or that mineral or to oil.

The way we farm too destroys the very soil that our growing of food depends upon but that is being done regardless. Obviously, so the belief of modern man, science will come up with something to make the land fertile again. Do we not have all those great fertilizers? Well they do not, in fact, fertilize the soil. They but feed the plant and leach the soil, thereby destroying it.

We have abandoned the Maker's Manual at our peril, all of us, in the belief that we are greater than Creation and the Creator and can do everything without impunity.

You and I and the rest of humankind has to come to understand that we cannot continue on this road for it but will lead us to destruction. And not just to the destruction of this or that ecosystem but to the very end of life on Earth.

Earth itself, probably, will not die and, in a few thousand to a million years it will be inhabitable again. We, on the other hand, will die as will most of not all life.

It is not just climate change that we have to worry about. The pollution that is all around us might end us all before a changing climate ever has the chance to do so.

The air in many places is so deadly that people really should be wearing respirators at all times, and it is only better nowadays in the cities of the developed world because we have – ever so nicely – exported such polluting industries to developing countries, with China in the forefront here.

Land and water is being poisoned at such a rate that here too time is running out for us, as humans, for without healthy clean land and clean water we cannot live.

It is time we rethought things, and especially in the Christian churches and the so-called Christian countries for the attitude of those countries is the causal agent to much of the suffering of the Planet today.

God created You, in the image and likeness of God and He, God, put you in charge of Creation, His Creation, as a steward, as a caretaker. So, let's do some caretaking.

© 2011

The dog poo fairy does not exist

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Parks and Open Spaces are littered with the feces of dogs (those of foxes cannot be helped) and many dog owners are the most irresponsible people that one can encounter.

Owning a dog comes with obligations, and some of them legal, and one of those is that you have to, by law, pick up Fido's doo-doo and dispose off properly in a litter bin.

The fact is that you do NOT have to hunt for a doggie doo bin anymore as any litter bin, in most place, in Britain, now can be used for dog waste. It is no longer, though in my eyes it still is and in all honesty nothing has changed, hazardous waste.

There was a time it was treated as such and it would be incinerated but within the last number of years it has been downgraded to “ordinary” waste again and is disposed off in landfill sites.

So, no excuse not clearing up after your dog and definitely no excuse to – when you have bagged it – to leave it littering the sides of a path in the bag. There is no fairy that will come along picking such bags up and getting rid off them.

Dog feces are a menace and harbor serious health risks and here especially for toddlers and young children, as several incidents in recent years have shown where children have lost the sight in their eyes because of contact with dog waste.

Some parks and open spaces, in summer, in certain places stink like sewers and worse because of heated dog waste laying in the grass and elsewhere. It only takes a little bag and a trip to a litter bin.

Be a responsible dog owner and clean up after your dog and dispose of the waste properly.

© 2011

Tree marking knife; the sustainable forestry tool

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

This tool, in German called Baumreisser, and produced, predominately by German and Swiss tool makers, such as Victorinox (Switzerland) and Otter (Germany), has been an important tool for the forestry worker and forester in time past.

The tree marking knife, the Baumreisser (tree ripper), was used in the past by forestry workers after a tree had been felled and the branches removed used to mark the cutting length depending on the timber grade. Foresters too used this tool in order to mark trees for removal, either small trees for thinning operations or even large trees in mature stands. Those were marked with a cross, an “X”.

It has, in recent decades, been replaced, some would say superseded, by the spray can and the paint ball gun for marking trees for felling, whether large or small, and even as a marker as to where to make the cuts in a trunk according to timber value and class.

As far as I am concerned, however, the tree marking knife cannot and should not ever be seen as superseded and replaced as spray paint is not sustainable and that for at least two reasons.

Spray paint is costly in the long run and while a tree marking knife costs up to $60, depending on quality and source, it will last a lifetime and more, if looked after. Paint, on the other hand, is costly in the long run. While a can of the stuff may “only” cost a few dollars at a time over time it will be much, much more than the cost of the tool.

The measuring staff of the woodsmen that I have encountered in years gone by in Europe used to have a built-in “bark ripper” for the purpose of marking the place where to cross cut the trunk.

The folding Baumreisser, the tree marking knife, is better though as the forester can carry that with him easily on a “patrol” and mark trees for removal as and when they are noticed.

I encountered such a tree marking knife again only recently on the Felco stand at the 2011 RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show when the marketing manager showed me one of which they were given boxes and did not really know what they were for.

Initially even I, as a professional forester, failed to recognize them as I had only encountered them with a fixed blade or as part of another tool and I mistook the took for a hoof knife. Shame on me, I know.

It would appear that makers – some of them at least – are in the process of divesting themselves of the stock of those tools in the – in my opinion false – belief that the end of the tree marking knife has come.

The ones that I saw (and of which I was given a box) are made by Victorinox and are, in fact, no longer shown in their range. German makers still seem to produce them though.

As far as I am concerned we will be looking for this tool in the future again once petroleum – and the pain is based on it – has become unaffordable.

As far as I am concerned the tree marking knife, the Baumreisser, is far from dead and we will find that we will be happy to still have the skills to make them when the time comes and stocks left.

© 2011

Steward of Creation

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Too many people, so-called Christians especially, and those of the “Christian” world, seem to think that they have a G-d given right to abuse and exploit the Earth, our Mother. And all this, as we have spoken about before, due to the misconception and misunderstanding of the word “dominion”, as in “G-d gave man dominion over the Earth.”

Dominion, and again we have discussed this before, in this context, means to be a steward of Creation, of the Earth and all Her wealth. It has nothing whosoever to do with domination and exploitation.

The way man, especially ever since the industrial revolution, has exploited and destroyed the Planet we will have to put on the brakes now and do a total 180degree turn around and go back to the way things were before we went mad.

The blessed late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, said: “Unfortunately, if we scan the regions of our planet, we immediately see that humanity has disappointed G-d's expectations. Man, especially in our time, has without hesitation devastated wooded plains and valleys, polluted waters, disfigured the Earth's habitat, made the air unbreathable, disturbed the hydrogeological and atmospheric systems, turned luxuriant areas into deserts and undertaken forms of unrestrained industrialization, degrading that 'flowerbed' – to use an image from Dante Alighieri (Paradiso, XXII, 151) – which is the Earth, our dwelling-place.”

The sad fact is that he is so very true in what he said, but then again he was a most remarkable man and servant of G-d, with a deep and profound insight.

The Earth is, indeed, our dwelling place and there is but one Earth. The is no Planet B and hence we have to perform a profound U-turn this very instant and try to get the Earth back into some semblance of balance.

If we do not do it now, this instant almost, chances are that things will be too late and in a few decades to a century or two (OK, probably not in the lifetime of many of us here) the Planet will become uninhabitable to human life, if not indeed al life.

Our cars and truck, our factories and power stations, belch out pollution into the air; other things pollute the water in our rives and our seas; yet others pollute the soil... and we are wondering why, in general, there seems to be one new bug after another appearing.

This is not new either, even though we now have to concern ourselves with possible serious climate change (no one knew back then). Already in the 1960s and 1970s Hippies and others were fighting to slow down our life and to reduce our impact on the Planet. The message was heeded for a few years and then we went – once again – all speed ahead. The economy – after all – had to grow, all in the pursuit of the perpetual “more, more more.”

While I may sound very much like a Luddite at times, seeing that I use computers and the Internet, etc., should prove that I am not one. However, I will continue to say that in many ways we must return to the way of our ancient ones and, aside from reconnecting with Nature we must return also to many of their ways of working, including horses and human-powered transportation, by way of an example.

Horses, more than definite, are our possible transportation future, getting miles per hay bale instead of miles per gallon when oil has become scarce and thus too expensive for ordinary mortals to purchase. Hybrid cars are a waste of time and money and the electric car is no answer as yet as it is still far too expensive to make and batteries are still not much use for the longer distances.

We were called to be stewards of Creation and all we became was exploiters and destroyers, especially with the way we have gone after the Earth's resources, whether minerals or oil. Entire mountains had their tops blown off and then taken off bit by bit in the quest for coal and entire eco-systems have been destroyed and everything poisoned in the Tar Sands of Athabasca and in ares of chemical works and other factories.

No consideration whatsoever have we given to the Planet and to its inhabitants, including humans affected by the fallout of the exploitation of areas and of factories and we still play around with an energy source that, in the end, could destroy all life on Earth.

The great majority of people on Earth seem to be hell-bent on destroying the only Planet that we have in their pursuit of “more, more, more” without any consideration for coming generations and for the rest of Creation.

They treat the Planet as if they are the only ones that matter, often in such an egoistical manner that it is the individual that matters and his or her happiness and wealth, and some groups of so-called Christians even seem to justify that with the Scriptures.

“Teach us, oh G-d, thy ways of caring for the Earth and for everything that dwells upon it and in it. Teach us to live as part of Creation and to be the Good Shepherd of Creation and not its destroyer. Amen!”

© 2011

UK training Saudi forces used to crush Arab freedom movement

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Britain is training Saudi Arabia's National Guard – the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain – in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles. The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom's human rights record is “a major concern”.

Is this, however, surprising anyone? It does not surprise me in the least because Britain is making good money – though not ethical money – by training such kind of forces in many places of the world where we'd better not be doing that.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British personnel regularly run courses for the Saudi National Guard in “weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training”. The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.

Britain sends up to 20 training teams to the kingdom a year. Saudi Arabia pays for “all BMM personnel, as well as support costs such as accommodation and transpor”".

Bahrain's royal family used 1,200 Saudi troops to help put down demonstrations in March. At the time the British government said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of human rights abuses being perpetrated by the troops, but that seems to make no difference as to British “assistance” to Saudi Arabia. Maybe one should dig deeper to see as to whether the BMM may be giving similar training to the Bahrain.

Britain's important role in training the Saudi Arabian National Guard in internal security over many years has enabled them to develop tactics to help suppress the popular uprising in Bahrain and they have used the skills with great effectiveness.

One can be nigh on certain that the same National Guard is being used to suppress any activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself as well and this makes Britain culpable in this, whether in Saudi Arabia or in Bahrain.

British Defence minister Nick Harvey confirmed to parliament last week that the UK's armed forces provided training to the Saudi National Guard. “It is possible that some members of the Saudi Arabian National Guard which were deployed in Bahrain may have undertaken some training provided by the British military mission,” he said.

It is possible? I think we can be 99% certain that that is the case and the British government is playing a game here, yet again. To the outside world and to its own subjects – there are no British citizens – they claim the moral high ground while they allow British service personnel via a government-operated training organization to give such training to foreign governments.

The reason, according to the MoD for conducting such training missions to Arab Gulf states is to enable them to fight against Islamist terrorism. Yeah, right, and at the same time to suppress the aspirations of its own people for freedom and democracy. Even though the latter is not as great as it is always being made out to be.

It is intensely hypocritical of our leadership in the UK – Labour or Conservative – to talk of supporting freedoms in the Middle East and elsewhere while at the same time training crack troops of dictatorships. But, as I said, there is money in this game, money for the government, and when money is involved they care little about human tights.

Last year, Britain approved 163 export licences for military equipment to Saudi Arabia, worth £110m. Exports included armoured personnel carriers, sniper rifles, small arms ammunition and weapon sights. In 2009, the UK supplied Saudi Arabia with CS hand grenades, teargas and riot control agents.

We have also now seen what is happening in Pakistan with regards to them being our allies in the fight against al-Qaida, where it turns out that CIA informants have been arrested simply because they have been passing on information on the Taliban and al-Qaida to Langley.

With friends like those we do not need enemies.

© 2011

Krispy Kreme doughnuts now with a little less guilt

Krispy Kreme is transitioning to cage-free eggs for all its products

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Fans of Krispy Kreme can enjoy their favorite guilty pleasure a little more, thanks to an announcement that the company will transition to sourcing cage-free eggs.

The shift is good news for egg-laying hens and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which last year sent one its employees to Krispy Kreme's annual shareholder meetings to ask the doughnut king to improve its food supply chain. The HSUS had already purchased Krispy Kreme stock in 2010 as a move to encourage the North Carolina-based company to move away from egg suppliers that confine hens in battery cages or other inhumane conditions. At the time Krispy Kreme's management claimed it would consider purchasing some cage-free eggs in 2012, but had no plan.

Now the company has implemented a cage-free eggs plan, and HSUS Corporate Policy and Supply Chain Manager Kristie Middleton will was addressing Krispy Kreme's shareholders in Winston-Salem on June 14 to thank the company for making the switch. According to Middleton: “Krispy Kreme doughnuts now come with a little less guilt, since some of the eggs they use will be from hens who at least haven't been crammed into cages. Consumers care about animal welfare more than ever, and we’re pleased to see Krispy Kreme joining the dozens of major companies that are taking notice of that. We believe the company is genuinely interested in doing the right thing when it comes to animal welfare.”

Consumer please note, however, that cage-free does not, necessarily, mean free range eggs. It means simply that it is eggs from hens that are not kept in battery cages.

The statement from the HSUS sucks a little, I would say, when they claim that they bought stocks in the company in order to persuade them to change their purchasing habits. They bought stocks in the company because they bring a good return. Let's call a spade a spade, people. Greenwash remains greenwash even if.

© 2011

The end of Murdoch media - hopefully

This man must be stopped, once and for all

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Hacking murdered children's phones, paying off police, destroying evidence of crimes, threatening politicians; that is what the Murdoch new corporation has been doing. British MPs are now saying the Murdoch empire has “entered the criminal underworld” and this is more than true. The fact is that it has been part of the criminal underworld for a long time. But Murdoch is still calling the shots and could still get the BSkyB prize.

On Monday, September 12, 2011, he pulled a cunning manoeuvre at the last hurdle, meaning regulators will review the deal solely on plurality, not the outrageous immorality of his company's practices. But British law says media owners must be “fit and proper (persons)” to be trusted with broadcast licenses. The fact is that Murdoch and his outfit are not a “fit an proper person” and we must kill that deal for BSkyB once and for all.

Not only should he be stopped from taking over BSkyB but he must have his media empire taken from him and sent back whence he came.

Rupert Murdoch and his family have never been conducive to the good of this country and his media control and influence must be destroyed in the same way as Italy is looking at curbing Berlusconi's media power.

People power has brought this deal to its knees and the more that 160,000 letters sent alone via the Avaaz network were critical in getting the deal referred to the Competition Commission. But we cannot stop now: the hacking scandal is our best chance in a generation to end Murdoch's reign of fear and smear over our democracy. We must put pressure on the government and our members of parliament to take action against the Murdoch empire in the UK. Other countries we cannot touch from here though there his influence also needs dealing with.

Fox News in America is a joke beyond joke and people on that network, such as Glenn Beck, are more than a problem to the world.

Let's make sure Cameron and Hunt immediately ensure the BSkyB deal is assessed on whether Murdoch is “fit and proper” to be given half our country's commercial media. Click to sign the urgent petition of Avaaz, we have just 24 hours until the Parliamentary debate:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_murdoch_mafia_2/?vl

Murdoch's media, from the News of the World to the Sun to the Sunday Times, has corrupted our society, our politics and our police. His staff have listened in to grieving widows of soldiers who died in Iraq, a war that Murdoch's global media empire promoted. They stole a sitting Prime Minister's bank information and his family's medical records, and hacked into the phones, computers and homes of thousands of people. They paid the police for information, and got the first hacking investigation stopped after meeting senior officers. And James Murdoch approved cheques to hush up victims who threatened action, which is a criminal obstruction of justice.

As the Murdoch empire's vile dealings have been uncovered, he has fought back to try to save his lucrative BSkyB TV deal. First, he pulled the News of the World. Then he surprised Jeremy Hunt at the last minute by withdrawing his proposed undertakings for Sky News, forcing Hunt to refer the deal to the Competition Commission and buying time for the political temperature to cool to ensure the deal he so badly wants is judged only on market share, not his company's criminality.

So far the Murdochs have been protected by fear. They run smear campaigns against their enemies, threatening the career of any politician who challenges them. But the fear is melting away, and for the first time our politicians could take steps to stop him, by ruling Murdoch unfit to own our media and forcing him to give up control of his empire in the UK.

The government has now agreed wot vote with the Labor opposition – obviously realizing that if they would not they might lose their jobs rather soon – to tell Murdoch to drop the BSkyB bid.

Murdoch must be told that he cannot have BSkyB, period and then the government must take a very close and deep look at how to break up that media mafia empire that is News International and News Corporation.

Tell the British government what you think – regardless whether you are a British voter or not – and add you name to the list by using the link given above.

The Murdoch empire must be defeated.

© 2011

Microsoft says it is not responsible for its own security holes

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

An IT expert in Germany was astounded by the reply he received from Microsoft in Germany when he tried to inform them about a security issue on one of their websites. The reply he got to an email he sent was that they were only responsible for license queries and issues of Microsoft software.

The security hole that the expert tried to inform Microsoft about is one that cybercriminals could use to spy out all the user related data on the microsft.com website.

So, should we read from that that they are also not responsible for any holes in their software. That is probably the very reason why they cannot be bothered to actually create bug-free software and just simply release new software that is not fit for the purpose very often.

Then, often very delayed, they end up having to release one patch after the other for the whole time that they are prepared to offer support for the software of theirs, and it is not just the operating software, whether XP (support soon being removed, no doubt), Vista and Windows 7. Now Windows 8 is soon to be released, and the programs are getting bulkier and bulkier; something that is actually not needed to happen.

Open Source operating systems and other software proves the point that a good working operating system does not have to have to need several gigabyte to operate in and several gigabyte of RAM.

© 2011

Woman faces jail for planting a vegetable garden

Michigan woman faces 93 days in jail for planting a vegetable garden

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

What precisely is wrong with this? There are even flowers in those beds.

I do not think that it can get any more ridiculous than this and this runs about along the same lines as making collecting rainwater and hanging out washing on a line in your yard.

However, many areas in the United States do have laws and ordinances against those activities as well and jail terms for violation of those statutes. I always thought it was the land of the free and the home of the brave but seem to be neither (anymore).

Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan – a mother of 6, law-abiding citizen, and keen gardener – is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor.

So, what precisely was her heinous crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard, that was it.

Bass says that she planted the garden after her front yard was torn up for some sewer repairs. Rather than wasting the opportunity to start with a clean slate by planting a lawn, she decided to really put the area to use, and plant a vegetable garden.

Her garden consists of 5 raised beds, where she grows a mix of squashes, corn, tomatoes, flowers, and other veggies. Bass received a warning from the city telling her to remove the vegetable garden, because it doesn't adhere to city ordinances.

When Mrs Bass refused, she was ticketed and charged with a misdemeanor. Her trial, before a jury, is set to begin on July 26th. If she is found guilty, she can be sentenced to up to 93 days in jail.

Supposedly, Julie Bass is in noncompliance with a city ordinance that states that only "suitable" plant material is allowed on the lawn area of residences. When local media asked city planner Kevin Rulkowski what that meant, he said suitable means "common:" lawn, nice shrubs, and flowers. However, the city ordinance does not specifically state that those are the only allowed plant materials.

Oak Park is not, as some might now think, some gated community with HOA regulations. It is an ordinary, working class neighborhood in Oakland County, Michigan.

Like nearly every other city in the state of Michigan right now, Oak Park is facing financial issues and people are amazed that a cash-strapped city has the resources to investigate, charge, and prosecute a resident for something as innocuous as planting a vegetable garden.

The question one must ask also as to WHY? Mrs Bass has planted a vegetable garden instead of the “normal” useless lawn, flowers and trees/shrubs and, seeing from the fact that the city ordinances do not actually specify the “common” plants exactly to the species the city could very well lose this court case and then have to pay costs and, possibly, could be counter-sued by the defendant.

This story is gaining traction all over the web currently and there are Facebook pages devoted to supporting Mrs. Bass and her family during this ordeal. Will social media help change the city's mind? That's what many of us are hoping. I have “liked” the relevant page(s) on Facebook and hopefully the city will listen.

Maybe local residents should make their anger felt and let the phones ring off the hook at the government offices and flood their email accounts with complaints. That is one way they listen for it is their jobs that could be on the line if enough votes come out against it.

If you want to help support a gardener's right to grow food for her family – even if it is – shock, horror – in the front yard – there are several things you can do, and do right now:

1. Email or call officials for the city of Oak Park. Mrs. Bass has listed contact information for the mayor, city manager, and other city officials in the sidebar of her Blog.

2. "Like" the Oak Park Hates Veggies Facebook Page.

3. Spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. By gaining attention to this particular issue, with this particular homeowner, the hope is that other cities will reconsider before they harass another homeowner for something like this and, maybe, just maybe, such stupid statutes will be removed from the books.

A front yard vegetable garden should not be a crime; it should be permitted, acceptable and become the norm.

© 2011