Register now for the workshop of your choice before it sells out. Response to our workshop program this year has been overwhelming. Almost all workshops offered to date have sold out. So register early.

With over 200 workshop days offered in 2007, our program has grown substantially. We are offering a variety of workshops in Southern California in both Los Angeles and San Diego, and we have started to expand to the East Coast where new incentives are making solar an attractive investment. We are also now offering workshops in Tlaxcala, Mexico (see below), and continue to offer workshops in San Francisco, San Jose, Hopland here at the Solar Living Center, and other locations.

Select a topic below for a listing of workshops in an area of interest to you:

• Basic Building Skills
• Biofuels & Alternative Transportation
• Green & Natural Building
• Green Careers & Business
• Local Sustainability
• Permaculture & Organic Food
• Solar & Renewable Energy
• Sustainability for Educators
• Water Security
• Women's Learning Series

Learn how to grow your own delicious mushrooms and remediate contaminated soil, cultivate a biointensive backyard garden to provide local fresh produce for your dinner table, and learn to prepare delicious organic meals with your fresh produce!

Join us at the Solar Living Center for three days of workshops:

• May 25: Mycoremediation: Grow Your Own Delicious Mushrooms
• May 26: Biointensive Backyard Gardening
• May 27: Eat Organic For Less

Sign up for two or more classes and save $20 on each! Call us at 707-744-2017 to register today.

Now you can give money to the Institute without paying out any money!

We would like to introduce you to a new online search tool that raises money for the Solar Living Institute at no cost to you. It's called GoodSearch, and it is an online search engine that will donate one cent to the charity of your choice (such as the Solar Living Institute) for every search you perform.

GoodSearch is partnered with Yahoo, so your searches are as good as any other. Using GoodSearch is simple - just go to this page and you will automatically be contributing to the Solar Living Institute. Make it your homepage, one of your home tabs, add it to your Favorites, or download it for your toolbar, and it will be even easier to support our programs.

If everyone who reads our newsletter used GoodSearch for their online search needs, it could generate over $100,000 for our programs here at the Solar Living Institute. Thanks for your support!

In our bookstore we have an area that lists the latest titles that we have added.

We provide FREE shipping on book and DVD orders totaling $100 or more.

Be sure to check out our books in the following categories:

• Biofuels
• Climate Change
• Ecological Design and Planning
• Ecovillages
• Environment and Economy
• Food and Permaculture
• Fossil Fuel Depletion
• Natural and Green Building
• Progressive Leadership
• Renewable Energy
• Sustainable Living
• Waste Composting
• Water, Water Collection, Greywater Systems, and Ponds

Shop with the Solar Living Institute, and help support our valuable work!

We have an opening for our Site Manager position here at the Solar Living Institute. If you are interested in the position, please read the job description and apply for the position. It will remain open until filled so submitting your application -- a cover letter and resume -- sooner rather than later is encouraged.

We know many of you are interested in green careers from the feedback we receive from you. Put our 2007 Green Career Conference in San Francisco on Nov. 17 on your calendar now.

For energy and environmental positions throughout the world, the following are some good websites for your review:

• Green Dream Jobs
• Environmental Jobs & Careers
• Environmental Career Opportunities (EcoJobs)
• EcoEmploy.com
• Idealist.org
• Orion Grassroots Network
• EnvironmentalCareer.com
• Green Energy Jobs

Gordon Brown, the man likely to replace Tony Blair as prime minister of Britain this summer, has made headlines with a splashy green announcement. Brown, currently the U.K. finance minister, said he intends to create five eco-towns that would meet a demand for affordable housing. The carbon-neutral communities would be powered by locally generated clean-energy sources such as wind and solar, and would feature bus routes and bike lanes. "If we are to meet the aspirations of every young couple to do the best for themselves and their children, then we need to build new homes, and we need to deliver well- planned, green, and prosperous communities where they will want to live," said Brown.

The eco-towns, the first of which will be in the south- east of England to ease chronic housing shortages there, will be modelled on the eco-villages proposed by the Prince of Wales in Cornwall. They will each hold between 10,000 and 20,000 new homeowners, with a total of 100,000 new homes.

The first proposed eco-town will be built on the abandoned Oakington Barracks in Cambridgeshire, which was recently bought by English Partnership. In common with other new housing developments, the eco-towns will provide a mixture of private homes and social housing for the less well-off. They will be built on 'brownfield' sites, mainly derelict land, which will allow the Chancellor to reassure voters that he is not planning to destroy cherished 'green belt' land.

• BBC News, May 13, 2007
• Reuters, May 13, 2007
• The Guardian, May 13, 2007

We are already in full swing in preparation for SolFest XII to be held Aug. 18-19, 2007. Amy Goodman, Alice Walker, Bruce Cockburn, Dar Williams, and others will appear this year on the SolFest main stage.

For those of you who want to exhibit at the event this year, we anticipate brisk booth sales and encourage you to line up your booth early.

For more information on being an exhibitor at this year's event, continue to check the Exhibitor page on our website. To reserve your booth, call Travis O'Guin at 1-888-821-2132 ext. 113. This year's exhibitor site map and exhibitor brochure are downloadable from our website.

Tickets for this year's SolFest will be available soon. Get your tickets early for SolFest XII which promises to be the best SolFest yet!

A survey released by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) identifies new geothermal power projects in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. These projects, when developed, would provide between 2,500 and 2,900 MW of new electric power capacity for the grid, roughly doubling US geothermal power capacity to almost 6,000 MW.

This would be enough electricity to meet the needs of about six million households. Together, the new and existing geothermal power plants would meet the household energy needs of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles, combined.

According to the GEA's new report, as of May 2007 there were 75 new geothermal power projects underway in 12 states. This is an increase of 14 projects in an additional three states compared to a survey completed just last November.

The U.S. continues to be the world leader in online capacity of geothermal energy and the generation of electric power from geothermal energy. According to state energy data, in 2005, geothermal energy provided approximately 16 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity -- 0.37% of the electricity consumed in the U.S. As of May 10, 2007, geothermal electric power was generated in 5 U.S. states: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah, with Idaho and Wyoming soon to be added to the list.

The full text of the May 2007 Update on Geothermal Power Production and Development is available on the GEA web site.

Partners, who support us through annual dues and our growing continuous-giving program, are essential to funding the Solar Living Institute. The financial support of folks like you, which can range from as little as $35 a year to $2,500 or $10,000 a year, helps us continue to grow and thrive.

The Solar Living Institute is growing rapidly. Your contributions are critical to help us to continue to grow since our work is far from over! If you have never been an Institute partner, or if your partnership has lapsed, won't you please join us in inspiring and educating people about sustainable living? Even the smallest contribution can help.

Find out more about our partnerships, and some of the many thank-you gifts you can receive for your support.

The Solar Living Institute is proud to be partnering with Proyecto San Isidro, a natural building and sustainable living school in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. Join us this year as we explore sustainability in a fascinating international context.

During the first week of these unique workshops, foreigners (typically from the U.S., Canada and Europe) convene for an immersion in regional Mexican culture. The area surrounding Tlaxco, with its millennia-long history of natural building and cultures rooted in the land, will be your classroom. Through field trips, classroom exercises and hands- on "practices," participants will learn and experience various techniques and get an overview of regional, Mexican, and indigenous cultures rarely experienced by visitors. During the second week, participants from México join the group and the bulk of the coursework focuses on hands-on practices.

• Land Restoration & Ecological Living (July 24 - Aug. 4, 2007)
• Natural Building & Traditional Architecture (Nov. 20 - Dec. 1, 2007)

For more information about this unique opportunity, visit our website at www.solarliving.org or call the Solar Living Institute!

The Solar Hot Water Efficiency Act, AB 1470, would create a rebate program for solar hot water systems on homes and businesses throughout California.

Environment California's April 2007 report is titled "Solar Water Heating: How California Can Reduce Its Dependence on Natural Gas." In the report, written by Bernadette Del Chiaro, of the Environment California Research & Policy Center, and Timothy Telleen-Lawton of the Frontier Group, the authors explain how "solar hot water could save California 1.2 billion therms of natural gas a year, the equivalent of 24% of all gas use in homes."

California's reliance on natural gas is a growing problem. More electricity consumed in California comes from natural gas than any other source. California consumes even more natural gas than gasoline; oil is not the state's only fossil fuel addiction.

Today, California relies more heavily on natural gas imports than it ever has in the past -- more than 85% of California's natural gas now comes from out of state. Solar hot water systems can save more natural gas in California homes than any other technology.

Tragically, the technology is severely underused in California, despite abundant sunshine. Austria, for example, with a climate similar to Minnesota, installed over 40 times as many solar hot water systems as California in 2005, despite having less than a quarter of the state's population.

The global rush to switch from oil to energy derived from plants will drive deforestation, push small farmers off the land and lead to serious food shortages and increased poverty unless carefully managed, says the most comprehensive survey yet completed of energy crops by the United Nations. It also says using biofuels for heat and power is a better and cheaper way to cut greenhouse-gas emissions than using them for transportation.

With demand exploding, 17 countries have committed to growing crops like palm oil, corn, and soy on a large scale. But, the UN warns, that could lead to erosion, nutrient leaching, and -- if the crops replace forests -- "large releases of carbon from the soil and forest biomass that negate any benefits of biofuels for decades." Biofuels do hold the promise of making clean energy available to millions, but the UN recommends a certification program for an industry that is moving fast, disorganized, and with misinformation.

The United Nations report, compiled by all 30 of the world organization's agencies, points to crops like palm oil, maize, sugar cane, soya and jatropha. Rich countries want to see these extensively grown for fuel as a way to reduce their own climate changing emissions. Their production could lead to higher commodity prices for the poor.

Last year more than a third of the entire US maize crop went to ethanol for fuel, a 48% increase on 2005, and Brazil and China grew the crops on nearly 50 million acres of land. The EU has said that 10% of all fuel must come from biofuels by 2020. Biofuels can be used in place of gasoline and diesel and can play a part in reducing emissions from transport.

For more information:

• The Guardian, May 9, 2007
• BBC News, May 9, 2007
• Reuters, May 8, 2007
• Grist: A Special Series on Biofuels

The biotechnology firm ArborGen has asked the USDA for permission to extend, and allow to flower, an experimental field trial of genetically engineered cloned eucalyptus trees in Alabama. The trees have been genetically engineered for cold tolerance and for delayed or reduced flowering. The trees have also been engineered with an unknown "confidential" marker gene.

As it did with GE alfalfa USDA failed to conduct and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to comprehensively address all the relevant issues related to the proposed eucalyptus field trials. ArborGen's Baldwin County, Alabama field trial site is prone to severe storms, including tornadoes and hurricanes that could blow GE eucalyptus seeds miles farther than the 100 meters USDA assumed possible. USDA failed to evaluate these severe storms when it reviewed the proposed field trials. The agency should have performed a complete EIS to fully evaluate the high risk of genetic contamination of natural trees due to the regional weather phenomena on the field trial location.

Contamination of natural trees by GE eucalyptus could pose a severe environmental threat. Eucalyptus grow well in warm climates, so engineering them to tolerate cold temperatures removes the only barrier to their unrestricted spread. In some places where eucalyptus have been introduced, they are well known for escaping and colonizing native ecosystems. For example, eucalyptus is listed as an invasive species and a costly plant pest in California.

Despite recent federal court decisions that USDA failed to address the risk of contamination and other environmental risks from genetically engineered plants, like GE bentgrass and alfalfa, USDA seems poised to push ahead with this dangerous proposal.

The annual gathering that is the Harmony Festival convenes once again in the heart of Northern California to bring together the best of leading-edge music, art, and culture.

This year, for the first time in it's 29-year history, the Harmony Festival celebrates for three full days and nights, with expanded shows and venues, more on- site camping, and the best musical lineup ever. The "Harmony After Dark" nighttime shows feature three separate venues of music in one epic party zone, all for one price. This year's theme is "Promoting Global Cooling."

The Solar Living Institute will be sponsoring this year's EcoVillage, and we will be there all weekend presenting workshops on natural building, solar power and more in the Green Living Workshop zone. Stop by and say "hi"!

When: June 8 - 10, 2007
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, CA

Music:
BRIAN WILSON - ERYKAH BADU - THE ROOTS
MOE- UMPHREY'S MCGEE - RICKIE LEE JONES

Speakers:
AMY GOODMAN - ARIANNA HUFFFINGTON
Edwin Black - Van Jones - Rabbi Michael Lerner - Rob Brezney

400+ EXHIBITORS and 20 Attractions

View complete schedule and ticket information at: http://www.harmonyfestival.com.

The Solar Living Institute is proud to announce our Urban Sustainability Educational Partnership with our friends at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society! The San Francisco Botanical Garden is offering friends of the Solar Living Institute a free year long membership to the Gardens and an $80 discount when you enroll in the upcoming Urban Permaculture Design Certification Course. Get ready to transform your life with this summer course, co-taught by several of our favorite Solar Living Institute instructors and the Associate Director of Education for the Botanical Gardens.

Sign up now and you'll receive two years of membership to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens for just $60. In addition you'll receive an $80 discount on the eight weekend Urban Permaculture Course ($870). You get the two year membership and the whole course for a total of $930. You save a whopping $140, and a free ticket to SolFest is included!

A big thanks to the San Francisco Botanical Garden for their ongoing commitment to sustainable living! Call Kirsten at 415-661-1316 ext. 354 to register and mention that you are a friend of the Solar Living Institute.