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In this issue, you will read articles on The Billion Tree Campaign,
efforts to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of global
warming, a new Salt Lake City ordinance mandating municipal buildings meet
the LEED silver standard, a new University of Michigan car sharing
program, a new green roof for Auburn University's Haley Center, solar
power growth in the state of California, our newly listed and popular Solar
Boot Camp for Electricians (Jan. 22-26) and Solar
Boot Camp for Beginners (Jan. 29 - Feb. 2), job openings at the Solar
Living Institute, our holiday book sale, and more.
In the upcoming weeks, we will also be launching a new website and new
webstore to help us better serve and inform you. We have grown a lot in
2006. Enrollments in our workshop program have skyrocketed. There
continues to be an enormous amount of important work that all of us must
do for our world to be a more sustainable place, and we are working hard
to continually improve the quality and quantity of our programs to provide
you with the best possible education in sustainable living.
You can find hope in our
workshops on solar power, alternative transportation, sustainable
living, natural and green building, and permaculture. I really encourage
each of you to take one of our
workshops and to read the books
that we promote.
Thanks to all of you for your support. Together we not only can make a
difference, we are making a difference!
Bob Gragson, Executive Director
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Holiday Book Sale! |
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All books in our
bookstore are on sale through Tuesday, December 5 at prices
10-50% off. Take advantage of these holiday savings now. This is
a limited time offer so order now and support the Solar Living
Institute at the same time!
Some of the latest titles added to our bookstore include the
following: Eating
Fossil Fuels, The
NEW Create an Oasis with Greywater, The
Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook, Solar
Water Heating, Planet
U, Planetwalker,
The
Oil Depletion Protocol, Biodiesel
America, and Towers
of Deception.
Be sure to check out our other titles in the following
categories:
Shop with the Solar Living Institute, and help support our
valuable work!
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Green Building Special |
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Did you know that in the United States, construction accounts
for:
36% of total energy use/65% of electricity consumption
30%
of greenhouse gas emissions
30% of raw materials use
30% of
waste output/136 million tons annually
12% of potable water
consumption
With the Solar Living Institute’s Intro
to Green Renovations and Intro
to Commercial Green Building, you can learn how to reduce the
devastating effects of building on the environment and dramatically
improve the air quality.
Take
both workshops and save $50! Limited space remaining.
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Billion Tree Campaign |
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Kenyan Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai announced a massive
drive Nov. 8 aimed at curbing global warming and related
environmental damage by planting a billion carbon dioxide-absorbing
new trees by the end of 2007.
"The
Billion Tree Campaign" will begin in January to combat rampant
deforestation, reverse desertification and reduce soil
erosion.
Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the
Greenbelt Movement she founded to promote human rights and
sustainable development by planting trees first in her native Kenya,
then throughout Africa and the world.
"In the year 2007 we shall target over a billion trees," said
Maathai, the first African woman honored by the Nobel committee,
noting that trees provide natural protection against the effects of
climate change.
"We want to commit ourselves to action and we want to call
the whole world to participate in this action," she said, calling on
people everywhere to get their hands dirty while diplomats haggle
over treaties.
"This is something that anybody can do," Maathai said.
"Anybody can dig a hole, anybody can put a tree in the hole and
water it and everybody must make sure that the tree they plant
survives."
Trees are vital to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere generated by the use of fossil fuels. Every year an
average tree converts 26 pounds of the gas into enough oxygen for a
family of four per year, according to the United Nations.
But replacing trees lost by deforestation over the last
decade would require planting an area the size of Peru, a task
equivalent to planting 14 billion trees every year for a decade, the
UN says.
Although trees may not be able to absorb all of the world's
emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for raising global
temperatures, they can also restore lost water catchment areas and
reduce erosion, officials say.
"The
Billion Tree Campaign" encourages not only groups to plant trees
in damaged forests, parks and public areas but individuals to place
them in private gardens and also seeks pledges of money, saplings
and seeds.
To date, pledges to plant over 25 million trees have been
received.
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World's Poor Ignored |
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Efforts to help developing nations adapt to the impacts of
climate change have been called "woefully inadequate" by a
UN-commissioned report, the United Nations Development Programs
(UNDP) Human Development Report 2006 entitled Beyond
Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis (7.8MB,
pdf). Rich countries have focused on ways to reduce carbon emissions
but have largely ignored helping poor nations cope with the
consequences, it says.
The authors say farmers whose crops are reliant on rainfall
are already having to cope with unpredictable weather. The report
says climate change "now poses what may be an unparalleled threat to
human development".
"It is not a region that has the irrigation capacity or the
water harvesting capacity to store water in ways that can smooth out
irregularities in supply," observed lead author Kevin Watkins. "More
than 90% of people living in rural Sub-Saharan Africa are dependent
on rain-fed agriculture, so what happens to rain and moisture
content in the soil has very profound and immediate implications for
poverty." He warned that crops yields could fall by a third or more
in some regions.
While the outcomes may vary from country-to- country, the
report said some "broad consequences" could be predicted:
- agriculture and rural development will bear the brunt of
climate risk
- extreme poverty and malnutrition will increase as water
insecurity increases
- more extreme weather patterns will increase the risk of floods
and droughts
- shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels will reduce access to
fresh water
Because industrialized nations have focused their climate change
initiatives on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases being pumped
into the atmosphere, support for adaptation in developing countries
has been "piecemeal and fragmented", the report says.
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Salt Lake Goes LEED |
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Salt Lake City, Utah, may soon be known for its green buildings.
Developers funded by city money will be required to erect buildings
certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, city
council members decided unanimously on Nov. 7. The new ordinance is
"a tremendous first step toward encouraging in every way possible
greater efficiency in design and material used for buildings in our
community," said Mayor Rocky Anderson. This summer, Anderson issued
an executive order mandating that municipal buildings meet the LEED
silver standard; the city hopes to move toward providing incentives
to all developers, city-funded or not, to build LEED-certified
buildings.
The ordinance doesn't yet affect the city's Redevelopment Agency
or library projects. Nor does it apply to single-family homes,
though the U.S. Green Building Council is working on residential
standards, and the City Council has shown interest in adopting them
before the city's undeveloped northwest quadrant starts to grow. The
city is in the midst of creating a master plan for the quadrant.
Under the ordinance, developers and the city have to meet the
standards if the new or renovated buildings are larger than 10,000
square feet. The city will grant waivers if the buildings are
temporary, serve a limited function or when LEED standards prove to
be impractical. But if developers agree to meet LEED standards and
don't, they will forfeit a $10,000 "good faith" deposit and may have
to repay some or all city funds.
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U-M Campus Car Sharing |
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University of Michigan Parking and Transportation Services
has partnered with Zipcar,
a North American car sharing company, to provide six vehicles for
University of Michigan faculty, staff and students—as well as
community residents—to access for an hour or a day for personal use
or University business.
Prospective drivers, who must be 21 or older, can complete a
one-page, online application to join Zipcar. For U-M people, the
annual fee is discounted to $30 Local residents can join for $75
($50 annual fee plus a one-time $25 application fee). Zipcar members
have access to U-M Zipcars for $8 per hour or a maximum of $60 per
day. The cost of the vehicle, maintenance, insurance and even gas is
covered by Zipcar.
The U-M partnership marks Zipcar's entry into Michigan,
extending its network to 13 states and provinces. Zipcar members can
reserve any of the company's 2,000 vehicles, including at 34
colleges and universities.
For more information:
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Auburn: Green Roof |
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When Dean Anna Gramberg of the College of Liberal Arts was
recently approached with a request to fund a speaker on the
environment, she countered with a call for action instead of talk.
The result was the student-led Auburn Sustainability Action Project
which gave Auburn University’s Haley Center an
environmentally-friendly cover of potted plants. The area is now
known as the Green Roof.
Gramberg approached Lindy Biggs, AU professor of history and
director of the Auburn
Sustainability Initiative, with an offer to fund a project that
students could get involved in and would improve the
environment.
Biggs’s idea was a sustainability class for a small group of
students chosen through an application process who would receive
internship credit for the class. Gramberg approved the proposal and
out of the 40 students who applied, 14 were accepted.
A team of students in the sustainability class designed the Green
Roof, which is made up of rows of specially potted native plants
that will provide environmental benefits such as reducing
atmospheric carbon dioxide and controlling stormwater runoff and
sewage.
“The average roof reaches temperatures of more than 120 degrees,
while plants never become warmer than 80 degrees. So by insulating
the roof with plants, you are effectively cutting down on energy
costs,” said Biggs. “The plants will absorb significant amounts of
water and prevent polluted runoff from going into the drains and
sewage systems,” said Valerie Grupp, a political science major who
worked as an intern with the Auburn
Sustainability Initiative.
For more information:
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Solar: California |
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With a $3 billion state budget, the promise of 40,000 new jobs
and more than $325 million in venture capital from Silicon Valley
investors, California's solar industry seems poised for stellar
growth.
A growing demand for cleaner, cheaper and arguably safer forms of
energy is turning what was once considered a cottage industry into
big business in California. Landmark legislation to fund the
nation's largest solar program goes into effect early next year,
bringing with it rebates and financial incentives to spur consumer
and commercial use of solar technologies -- and the promise of more
jobs and economic growth for the state. Sensing big opportunity,
investors are pumping hundreds of millions into solar innovation for
Silicon Valley startups.
The California Solar Initiative (CSI), signed into law last
August as part of the Million Solar Roofs Initiative, or Senate Bill
1, is expected to generate not only 3,000 megawatts (MW) of solar
energy by 2016 but also close to 40,000 operations and maintenance
jobs (assuming one year of duration for each job) in California
alone. After expenses, the energy gleaned from the solar
installations over 10 years is expected to save the state at least
$6 billion in avoided energy costs.
California also raised its net metering cap -- the dollar amount
paid to solar customers for the extra energy they contribute to the
grid -- from .05% to 2.5% to make solar an even more attractive
energy choice for residents and businesses, and passed new
environmental legislation in 2006 requiring businesses to reduce
pollution-causing carbon emissions by 25% over the next 15 years.
The real boon to California's economy is likely to come from the
expansion of the solar industry itself. With political and financial
incentives now in place, higher prices for fossil fuels, and an
increasing public awareness of the need for renewable energy
sources, companies that manufacture solar equipment are ramping up
for a jump in demand.
"California has one of the most aggressive solar programs in the
country," said Chris O'Brien, vice president of strategy and
government operations for Sharp Electronics' Solar Energy Group. "It
[CSI] has had a tremendous psychological impact on the industry,
giving [solar] companies a much longer planning horizon to work
with, greater confidence in making investments, more volume and
market growth, and ultimately a faster pace of innovation."
In fact, the solar energy industry is expected to grow from $11
billion in 2005 to $54 billion in 2015, according to market research
firm Clean Edge Inc., with much of that growth coming from companies
based in California's Silicon Valley.
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The End of Suburbia |
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The
End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American
Dream (DVD or VHS)
WE OFFER THE BEST PRICES ON THE INTERNET
Order from us (standard
case at $16.25 or cardboard
case at $13.95), and help support our work. ALSO AVAILABLE IN
SPANISH: El
Fin del Sueño Americano
The
End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its
prospects as the planet approaches a critical era and as global
demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak
and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now some
scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary. The
consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are
enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy
prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of
suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs
destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW,
individually and collectively, to avoid The End of
Suburbia?
This DVD, or VHS, is an excellent introduction to the issue of
oil and natural gas depletion coming soon to a neighborhood near
you. If you haven't picked up a copy of this riveting documentary,
do so today! You won't want to miss it!
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Post-Petroleum Survival |
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The
Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for Changing
Times by Albert K. Bates
Over the coming years we will need to move from a global culture
addicted to cheap, abundant petroleum to a culture of compelled
conservation, whether through government directive or market forces.
The
Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook provides useful
practical advice for preparing your family and community to make the
transition.
This book takes a positive, upbeat, and optimistic view of "the
Great Change," promoting the idea that it can be an opportunity to
redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each
other. The many rifts that have grown up since oil became the
world's prime commodity can be mended: between cities and their food
sources; the design of the suburban built environment and its
car-oriented sprawl; runaway greenhouse warming, clearing of forests
and toxification of rivers, oceans, and land. Topics covered
include:
- Rebuilding civilization
- Changing your needs
- Water and waste disposal
- Energy and transportation
- Equipment and Tools
- Food storage and First Aid
Also including light-hearted, playful recipes -- some using
basic, wholesome foods, some illustrating food growing or
preservation, and all emphasizing organic, flavorful and locally
grown produce that readily substitute one for another -- this book
is about having your catastrophe and eating it too.
The author, Albert Bates, has been Director of the Global Village
Institute for Appropriate Technology since 1984 and the Ecovillage
Training Center at The Farm in Tennessee since 1994, where he has
taught sustainable design, natural building, permaculture and
restoration ecology to students from more than 50 nations.
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Green Jobs |
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We're hiring here at the Solar Living Institute. We have two
position openings:
Full Charge Bookkeeper: This new position reports to our
Executive Director. Review the job description for the Full Charge
Bookkeeper position to be posted soon on our website and send your
cover letter and resume to our Executive Director, Bob Gragson, at
bob.gragson@solarliving.org.
The position is open until filled.
Administrative Assistant: This position reports to our
Executive Director. Review the job
description for the Administrative Assistant position and send
your cover letter and resume to our Executive Director, Bob Gragson,
at bob.gragson@solarliving.org.
The position is open until filled.
Workshop Coordinator: This position reports to our
Workshop Director. Review the job
description for the Workshop Coordinator position and send your
cover letter and resume to our Workshop Director, Lindsay Dailey, at
lindsay.dailey@solarliving.org.
The position is open until filled.
For other energy and environmental positions throughout the
world, you might also check out these websites:
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