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We launched our
new website on Dec. 12 to better serve and inform you. We're
continuing to add content daily -- including our
2007 workshops. We strive to improve the quality and quantity of our
programs so you get the best possible education in sustainable living.
Please feel welcome to provide us feedback.
We depend upon your comments.
This is Winter Solstice week at the Solar Living Center. Join us on
Thurs., Dec. 21 from 2:00 to 7:00 PM here at the Solar Living Center south
of Hopland, CA, for a
ceremony of music, fire, poetry, singing and cider. From 2:00-4:30 PM
will be music by Kristine Robin and Bob Laughton and from 5:00-7:00 PM by
the Frey Brothers. At 4:30 PM, Jini Reynolds will conduct our Solstice
Ceremony.
As we near the end of another year, I would also like to encourage you
to support
us again as we ready for 2007. Your generosity at the beginning of
this year after we were devastated by a 75-year flood helped us get back
on our feet. We couldn't have done it without you. Now it's time to make
2007 an even better year. To do that we continue to need the support of
your donations
and partnerships.
Thanks to all of you for your support and caring in 2006. It's been a
truly incredible year here. As always, together we not only can make a
difference, we are making a difference!
Bob Gragson, Executive Director
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New Website! |
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On Tues., Dec. 12 at 3:40 PM, our
new website was launched. It's the culmination of weeks of
planning and design to bring you, our customers and supporters, a
better and more vibrant experience. We hope you enjoy it.
Our new site is not only better organized so you can find
what you want more quickly and easily, but also includes numerous
photos of our programs and the Solar Living Center. Our
new site completely integrates our webstore into our website
making it a better shopping experience with real time shipping
calculation and easier search. It also provides an automated listing
of our upcoming workshops and a "what's new" section on our home
page. Our new
2007 workshops are now completely searchable by month, topic, or
location making it easier and faster for you to find a workshop that
meets your needs. New features on the site also include a FAQ,
a SolFest
photo gallery, a Solar
Living Center photo gallery, a forward-a-web-page feature, and
much, much more. In the future, we will be bringing you a virtual
tour of the Solar Living Center, streaming video, and more.
So please spend some time with us on our
new website and feel welcome to let us know what you think!
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Support the Institute |
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While you are checking out our new website, please support
our work and our vast array of programs with a
one-time or monthly donation, a gift to our endowment fund, or
becoming a partner.
We continue to strive to provide an exemplary learning experience
for you and others promoting sustainable living through
inspirational environmental education.
Make a gift to the Solar Living Institute - an independent,
educational tax-exempt nonprofit organization - and you help educate
thousands of people each year with the skills necessary to make a
sustainable future a reality.
It is your generosity that makes the Solar Living Institute work
for all of us. Your gift will enable us to add more educational
offerings, produce SolFest
XII in 2007, educate 500 school children on Earth
Day for Kids at the Solar Living Center, feed our interns,
add more interactive displays on site, expand our biodiesel
education program, further develop our organic farm project, and
more.
Please give generously. Your gift is so very important for us to
continue making more people aware of the critical importance of
renewable energy and sustainable living for our survival and the
health of our planet.
Please don't delay. Send your end-of-year contribution TODAY.
Thank you for your support!
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Workshops 2007 |
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Be sure to check out our newly listed 2007
workshops now posted on our new website. This year you can
search workshops by date, topic, or location right from our calendar
page.
Be sure to also see the new photo and biographical section of our
workshop
instructors, our new workshop
photo gallery, and a list of nearby
accommodations for our Hopland workshops.
This year we will not only have workshops in California in Albion,
Hopland,
Sacramento,
San
Francisco, San
Jose, and Los
Angeles, but will also hold workshops in New
Jersey for the first time.
Select a topic below for a listing of workshops in an area of
interest to you:
As of the writing of this newsletter, about 90% of our
workshops are listed on our website. By Wed., Dec. 20, our
entire 2007 workshop calendar will be posted. Be sure to check
back often too, because we usually add some workshops later in the
year.
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Holiday Book Sale! |
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All books in our
new bookstore are on sale this Holiday Season at prices 10-50%
off with FREE SHIPPING for book purchases of more than $100.
It's our best book sale yet!
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!
Be sure to check out our books in the following
categories:
Many of our book categories have more than one page, so be
sure to use the next arrow at the bottom of most book pages.
Shop with the Solar Living Institute, and help support our
valuable work!
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Driving Less |
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For the first time in 25 years, Americans are driving less. A
study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates finds that the average
American drove 13,657 miles in 2005, down from 13,711 in 2004, or 54
miles less per year average -- not much, but at least in the better
direction. Last year also saw SUVs comprise a smaller chunk of
new-vehicle sales; even though gas-guzzlers still account for more
than half of such sales.
While consumption continues to rise, demand grew at a rate of
only 0.3% last year and 1% for the first 11 months of 2006, compared
to 1.6% per year from 1990 to 2004. High prices were a critical
factor with gas sucking up about 3.8% of average U.S. household
spending. The graying of the population has also contributed, as
older drivers tend to drive less.
For more information:
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Record Carbon Emissions |
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In 2005, carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels
climbed to a record high of 7.9 billion tons, an increase of some 3%
from the previous year. Annual global emissions have been increasing
since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late
eighteenth century, when humans first began burning fossil fuels on
a large scale to produce energy. Since the early 1900s, emissions
have been rising at an increasingly rapid pace. Annual emissions
have grown by a factor of fifteen since 1900, advancing nearly 3% a
year over that time.
Half of all energy-related carbon emissions come from only four
countries. The United States, with less than 5% of the world’s
population, accounts for 21% of carbon emissions. It is followed by
China, which emits 18%. Both countries are heavy users of coal, the
most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Russia accounts for 6% of carbon
emissions, just ahead of Japan, which produces 5% of the global
total. Other major contributors to global carbon emissions are
India, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Italy.
The United States, Australia, and Canada each emit roughly 5 tons of
carbon per person each year. This is five times the figure in China
and 17 times that in India.
Some 40% of energy-related emissions come from the burning of
fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, to generate
electrical power. The transportation sector is the second-largest
source worldwide, responsible for 20% of all carbon emitted.
Residential and commercial buildings account for roughly 15% of the
total, and the industrial sector, another 15%. The remaining 10% of
energy-related emissions come from a variety of minor uses,
including fuels burned by sea-going ships.
As global emissions of carbon increase, they raise the levels of
carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The average atmospheric
concentration of CO2 reached 380 parts per million by volume in
2005, up 2.2 parts per million from 2004 levels and up 103 parts per
million from pre-industrial times. The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), a global body of some 2,000 scientists,
estimates that the current atmospheric CO2 concentration has not
been exceeded over the last 420,000 years and probably not during
the past 20 million years.
Experts predict that the effects of global warming will be far
more dramatic if carbon emissions force atmospheric CO2 levels above
550 parts per million. Beyond this threshold, widespread flooding,
droughts, and storms will be more severe. If carbon emissions
continue to increase as projected, this level is likely to be
reached in the second half of this century. To prevent this from
happening, scientists estimate that carbon emissions must be cut by
some 70%.
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Ice Shelf Collapse Near |
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Scientists working in Antarctica fear the Ross Ice Shelf, an
ice platform the size of France, could collapse quickly and trigger
a rapid rise in sea levels. A research team drilling in the frozen
continent has recovered three million years of climate history, New
Zealand newspaper The Press reported Nov. 30. An analysis of
sea floor samples near Scott Base suggested the Ross Ice Shelf had
collapsed before, probably suddenly.
Scientist Tim Naish, a sedimentologist with the Institute of
Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said the sediment record gave
crucial evidence about how the Ross Ice Shelf would react to climate
change. "If the past is any indication of the future, then the ice
shelf will collapse," he told the newspaper. "If the ice shelf goes,
then what about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet? What we've learnt from
the Antarctic Peninsula is when once buttressing ice sheets go, the
glaciers feeding them move faster and that's the thing that isn't so
cheery." Antarctica stores 90% of the world's fresh water, with the
the West Antarctic Ice Sheet holding an estimated 7.2 million cubic
miles.
In January, British Antarctic Survey researchers predicted
that its collapse would make sea levels rise by at least 16 feet,
with other estimates predicting a rise of up to 55 feet. Mr. Naish
said, "We know from the Larsen Ice Shelf [which collapsed on the
Antarctic Peninsula in 2002] that they go extremely quickly," he
said.
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Renewables: 700 GW |
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The U.S. renewable energy industry collectively tallied its
future deliverable energy capacity at 550 to 700 gigawatts (GW) in
Washington, DC yesterday. At such a GW-production rate, the U.S.
could produce, at a minimum, 25% of the country's electrical energy
requirement with renewable energy by 2025.
According to Michael Eckhart, American Council on Renewable
Energy (ACORE) president whose organization hosted the 5th annual
national policy conference "Renewable Energy in America: Phase II
Market Forecasts and Policy Requirements" in DC Nov. 30, this is the
first time a panel of renewable energy experts has assembled such a
combined production capacity forecast.
"The industry panel identified 550GW - 700GW of renewable energy
potential that can be built within the next 10-20 years -- even at a
50% discount -- this makes the "25X25" proposal feasible,
reasonable, and doable," added Eckhart. The 25X25 is a popularly
touted policy goal of 25% renewable production by 2025, yet the
estimate coming from the conference could potentially double that
production.
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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.
For other energy and environmental positions throughout the
world, you might also check out these websites:
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