No more toilet paper

This Tuesday night, find out what it’s like to live without TV, cars, take out, or toilet paper.

My friend Mike at MinusCar and I (actually, Sioux Falls Green Project) are hosting a FREE movie on December 8 called No Impact Man. The show starts at 7pm at Augustana College (Gilbert Science Center Rm 100), and I hope you’ll come. No Impact Man tracks the one-year experiment of Colin Beavan and his family, when they swore off all the Earth-hating stuff most of us do every day without thinking much about it, just to see if they could do it.

What they found was a happier, better, more meaningful life.

I’ve been a reader of Colin’s blog since early in his experiment, and have learned a ton from him. I think you would too. Right before the movie starts, we’ll be Skyping with Jamie Horter, live from the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, to see what she’s up to.

So, if getting smarter is your thing, or you just want to get away from something/one for a couple hours, RSVP here (Facebook) or here. If you come, please bring a cup from home. We’ll provide the toilet paper.

Here’s the movie trailer:

Hopenhagen

OK, it’s time to talk climate change. I know it’s a touchy topic for some bartblog readers (and I love you anyway), but let’s just get something clear: climate change is happening, fast. And it’s mostly our fault.

All the really smart scientists say so, and so did South Dakota legend Tony Dean. And experts say it’s worse than we first thought, especially those who study the poles first hand (like Minnesota uber-explorer Will Steger). If we keep up the status quo, our changing weather will be particularly painful for lots of South Dakotans, like hunters and farmers (and people who like to drink water). So enough about some sort of debate about wether climate change is for real. (It’s as silly as a “debate” about evolution.) The only worthwhile and super-important debate is how we (as in humanity) should do something about it. There, now that’s out of the way…

Leaders from all over the planet will be gathering in December at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  One of those leaders will be my friend and intern–if we all pitch in to help get her there.

Jamie Horter works with me at the Sioux Falls Green Project. She’s also a senior at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Jamie was picked by Will Steger to be part of his foundation’s Expedition Copenhagen, a group of Midwest youth who will travel with him to the Climate Change Conference next month. Jamie has been interacting with kids and grown ups around South Dakota, gathering up hopes and dreams for our state’s future. She’ll be our messenger in December, talking about stuff near and dear to our hearts here in good ‘ol SD. Things like our place in the clean energy future, and our love of the land, rural communities and agriculture (see her video on YouTube). You can get more details on a blog post I wrote for the Green Project here.

Please help Jamie get to Copenhagen. She’s too shy to ask you, so I will. We need to raise some bucks to cover her travel expenses from South Dakota to Copenhagen and back. Her travel is not covered by Will Steger, and she’s a college student. You can drop a dime or two here, or give me a shout. Every dime will be used to help Jamie connect us to the talks in Denmark December 7-13. If you can’t chip in, that’s OK. Just help me spread the word, and this link: http://jamiehorter.chipin.com. I promise she’s way worth it.

We can’t all go to Denmark. If you live in the Midwest, please connect with Jamie to share your message. If you live somewhere else (or not), there’s a really cool project out there gathering up hope from all over the world and plastering it on the leaders who will attend the conference in Copenhagen. Please share your dreams and hopes and fears at Hopenhagen.

Above is a shot of one of the awareness campaigns Jamie recently helped organize. Check that stunning little activist in the colorful hat on the far right!

Greenwashing

Sometimes you just need to laugh at stuff. There’s so much bullshit out there that real good stuff gets lost a lot. Thanks for calling it out Jimmy.

Following up the VP

I was part of a panel of four speakers last night for an organization called Repower America. At least it was supposed to be four of us. 

The day before the panel, we found out former Vice President Al Gore would be joining us by conference call at the beginning of the meeting (he’s chair of the We Campaign, which is the parent organization of Repower America). Al spoke for about 15 minutes about the Cap and Trade bill that is making it’s way through congress right now (you can tell your congress representative what you think very easily by calling 1-877-9-REPOWER, no matter where you live). It was a national conference call with members of Repower America, and we just happened to be holding our event at the same time. So, he gave a shout out to Sioux Falls. 

I was scheduled to go first on the panel, to talk about the Sioux Falls Green Project and changing the way we talk locally about sustainability. So, with the late addition of the Vice President, I got to follow up Al Gore. Crazy.

It was a good event, and I learned some things and made great new friends. Others on the panel were my friend Randy Parry from the Rural Learning Center, Matt McClarty from the Environmental Law and Policy Institute, and Ned from Repower America. Plus Al Gore…

Truffles for Breakfast and Human on a Stick

Jaim and I took a weekend trip to the Twin Cities to catch the Living Green Expo at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. A research trip (I call ‘em ‘learning journeys’), with the extra perk of spending a weekend with my wife, while the kids hung with Grandma and Grandpa (mostly being chased around the yard by a bottle calf…).

We stopped at a snazzy little Food Coop in St. Peter, MN along the way. Bought some “glad corn” and groceries for breakfast. What’s glad corn? I wondered too–lucky for me they were hocking samples. It’s just kernels of organic field corn, roasted until it turns into a cross between corn nuts and those wonderful half-popped kernels in the bottom of the popcorn bowl. The breakfast was super fab–Saturday and Sunday: a loaf of crunchy multi-grain, some strawberries and a block of this legendary gouda with truffles. Legendary, because it’s made in France and shipped to Minnesota to age in the caves near St. Peter. Or so the story goes. Whatever the truth, it’s some damn tasty cheese. My first ever truffle experience. Those three flavors and textures where a heavenly mix. Twice.

Saturday we hit the fairgrounds for some serious greeny magic. No disappointment. This event rocks the hiz-ouse. I met a new friend who loaded me up with info and ideas about becoming a vegetarian driver (that means I’d burn used vegetable oil in my tank instead of gas), watched as a kid made biodiesel right before my eyes (see the pre-diesel mush above), saw a bunch of ways to compost–with and without worms (saw a dude crazier about worms than me), studied a real green roof, got to know an author of books for kids on the environment, learned how to ‘do it green,’ and so much more.

Oh, and of course I had to get on the Segway Personal Transporter and tootle around like a human on a stick. Wicked cool–you cannot fall off, you just lean a little here or there and that thing reads your mind…

Hawk's solar oven

I also met ‘Hawk,’ a rough around the edges missionary and peddler of solar ovens, and his sidekick. And now I’m cooking with the sun. (More on that later.) I rode a stationary bike and turned on a bunch of light bulbs with human power (though the hair dryer totally kicked my ass sideways). Met lots of friends–some new, some old.

And met this guy, who laid on the floor the whole time shooting pictures of people. I hope he was getting paid.

It’s Spring, so let’s Drink

A new friend of mine and I are starting a Green Drinks chapter in Sioux Falls. Green Drinks is an international thing, in cities all over the planet. People interested in green stuff gather for a brew once a month, and talk greenie things.

March 20 is the first day of Spring–sounds like a great reason to tip a few back and talk some eco-love. Join us at Latitude 44 in Sioux Falls beginnning at 4.30p–on the corner of 8th and Weber Ave.

Get all the skinny here, or join our Facebook group.

Another Hero in the White House

 

photo courtesy vanjones.net

 

 

I just got an email from Van Jones, founder of Green for All and green jobs superhero. He’s heading to Washington to work for President Obama as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under the White House Council on Environmental Quality. 

“My job will be to help shape the administration’s energy and climate policy, so that climate solutions produce jobs and justice for all Americans.”  (excerpt from Van’s email.)

Got to love it. Go Van! You can read his full announcement here.

Greening the budget

If you’re a regular bartblog reader, you know we’ve done some things over the years to try to lighten our footprint on Mother Nature around our house. You also know that we are pretty strict Dave Ramsey-ish budgeters around here. We craft a new plan every month and tell every dollar what to do ahead of time and on purpose.

Yesterday, while putting together our January household budget, we decided to create a new budget line called “Green Steps.” It was inspired by a heftier-than-ususal water bill for December. This month it will be replacing our shower heads with shiny new ones that use less than half as much water (now if Hope and I can both just learn to take shorter showers…), and a rechargeable battery set to fire up those AAs powering our Wii remotes and other nonsensical toys (inspired by my annual smoke detector battery replacement on New Years Day).

1/4/2009 UPDATE:

A note on those CFL bulbs (Listen up, Sis)–if you break one, be careful. But don’t panic. Here are some helpful links:

• Sierra Club: Don’t throw those CFL’s in the trash
• Popular Mechanics: Don’t lick your hand
• Treehugger: Not likely to hurt you or your family

Kick That Bottled Water

I just pledged to carry a reusable water bottle with me instead of drinking out of bottled water (thanks to No Impact Man for the tip). This is a cool campaign–those plastic bottles are really bad stuff. Sure, it seemed like a good idea, made it convenient and all. But those bottles use up resources, contribute to global warming and are piling up in landfills and ditches all over the world (I picked up four littered bottles on my hike this morning). Worst of all–that water in the bottle is no better than the water in your kitchen tap. So, you might as well drink from a reusable bottle for a fraction of a penny instead of throwing down  a buck or two.

This is one of those changes that we as humans–particularly Americans–should be able to change without giving up much comfort. It’ll make a huge impact. So, please join me in this pledge, and ask your friends and the grocery stores and restaurants where you spend money to do the same.At over 5 bucks a gallon, that bottled water you just bought is more expensive than gas!

Here’s the pledge:

I pledge to Break the Bottled Water Habit by Thinking Outside the Bottle and using a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. I also pledge to support the efforts of local officials to stop spending public funds on bottled water and prioritize strong public water systems over bottled water profits.

Here are a few stats on bottled water, from water.newdream.org. And below that is a youtube video from the 20/20 news tv show.

Why you should take this pledge:

Everything we consume has a climate impact, but manufacturing and trucking water bottles to homes with clean tap water seems particularly wasteful. The Beverage Marketing Corporation reports that Americans consumed 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006 – nearly 9 liters per month for every man, woman, and child.

Manufacturing all those bottles requires 900,000 tons of plastic, the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, and emit more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Trucking around all those heavy bottles emits even more greenhouse gases.  Beyond the climate impact there’s the massive waste – 86% of water bottles aren’t recycled — and water bottling is also, ironically, a very water-intensive endeavor. The Pacific Institute tells us that it takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water!

Alternative Mulch and that Compostable Cup

Hope, Zoey and I were out helping Grandpa Pat on the farm for a little while last night. While Dad was knocking the frame off the big shed door (you can ask him for details), I was gathering up a big pile of soybean straw that Duane emptied out of his combine while fixing something earlier in the day. This was a jackpot for me.

I tried a little mulching experiment last fall that I learned from my friends at the Prairie Arboretum in Freeman, SD. I went out to the bean field where the guys were combining and gathered up the soybean straw that is a byproduct of the combining process. So, this nice big pile right in the middle of the farm yard made it much easier this time. Turns out the stuff works pretty well. My biggest problem, being a windy hill dweller, is keeping my mulch in place instead of down in my neighbors’ yards. I even reused some emptied feed sacks from the silo shed, so it was a green project. Good price (free), recycled packaging, and local and renewable materials. Oh so green goodness…

recycled bags, soybean straw mulch

old stuff from last fall

the end game

emptied composter

the lid, three months later

that supposedly compostable cup

I also turned the compost in my homemade composter this morning (I dump it out once int he process to stir it all up and put it back in the barrell). This is the compost containing that supposedly compostable cup from Oscar’s Coffee that I put in there on June 22. Well, still looks mostly like a cup to me. The jury’s still out, I guess.