This has been a week of good news and good networking!

I got a preview of our updated web design and it's great - such an improvement! It's a great design which makes all the important content easy to get to. I'll be making the big announcement when that goes online soon.

I met this week with Rep. Jennifer Callahan, representative to the Massachusetts State House for our town, Sutton. Rep. Callahan has been a strong supporter of the recent environmental legislation at the State House, including the Green Communities Act and the Global Warming Solutions Act. She's offered to help us network with schools and we talked about visiting the State House on Earth Day before we begin our cross-country journey. Carrick and I were also invited to give a presentation about our video project to the Sutton Board of Selectmen on January 20 at 7:00pm. It's great to have the support of our local government and their enthusiasm for our project.

I attended the Mass Climate Action Network (MCAN) annual conference at MIT on Sunday which affirmed for me the need to draw from many different groups for support of renewable energy and sustainability. As an environmentalist, I think we focus too narrowly on a single motivator like climate change and I think it's important to remember that issue is only one reason of many why people "come to the table" to work for a sustainable future. We won't succeed by trying to convince everyone about climate change - we don't have time and the work is too important. Van Jones of Green for All is a strong advocate of that broad-based appeal. Carrick and I are finding support from people of many different viewpoints - if we can do it then surely it can work on a much larger scale.

Be well,
Colin McCullough
www.OurRenewableNation.org

We've had a full week to report on!

Carrick and I did two presentations in the last week; one at Grafton High School and also to the Boston Vegetarian Society. At Grafton High we spoke in the auditorium and showed the kids some of our videos and talked about our cross-country video project. We also talked about how much of a hot topic sustainability/ renewable energy is on college campuses, and how attractive it would look on those college applications to have done that kind of work at Grafton High. At Boston Vegetarian Society we talked to an enthusiastic crowd, met some great people, and enjoyed a yummy vegan buffet at Grasshopper Chinese Restaurant in Allston.

Speaking of eating vegan, one of the challenges of our cross-country journey will be finding vegan and veg-friendly places to eat on the road. Fortunately, there are great online resources for veg travelers at http://www.vegdining.com/ and http://www.happycow.net/. They list vegan, vegetarian, and veg-friendly restaurants state-by-state, with user reviews. There isn't going to be room to pack much food in the Beetle, so we'll be eating out much of the time. There are great veg restaurants all over the U.S. that we've heard about, and now we'll have our chance to visit them!

We have a new video up about what we've done to make our house more energy efficient. Carrick talks about insulation, sealing air leaks, programmable thermostats, etc. The link to the video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAdv7h3AzE

This Sunday (November 16) I'll be attending the Massachusetts Climate Action Network conference at MIT in Cambridge. I'm looking forward to meeting folks there and continuing to make connections in the environmental community!

Be well,
Colin

It's worth taking a look ahead to our future plans once we're finished our cross-country journey and have finished our video. Here are some thoughts about the possibilities:

1. Once the video is finished, then the marketing and distribution really begins! Right now we can show some examples and talk about our plans, but the game changes when we can show the finished product.

2. We'll continue to give presentations in schools and to groups, focusing on our cross-country video project. Speaking fees and further donations will go towards DVD duplication and distribution.

3. We'll be developing an in-depth resource for actions kids can take to make their communities more sustainable. Most resources on the web focus on adults, missing a critical segment of the population - the most important for our future! We'll develop the site and actively collaborate with the other adult-focused resources online.

4. Writing a Book - Developing a resource guide on the web for kids focused on renewables and sustainability will give us the opportunity to go more in-depth, writing a book for kids. We can get more into the success stories of kids making sustainable changes in their communities.

5. 'Do-Gooder' is the project I was working out when I had the idea for Our Renewable Nation, and I'd like to get back to it and make it happen. The idea is for a monthly potluck community group that makes no-interest loans to people in the community to help people afford energy efficiency improvements in their homes and renewable energy for their homes. It's all about investing in communities to be more sustainable.

So that's a glimpse of the future possibilities - who knows what will happen! There will be many doors that open up once the video is completed, I'm certain. We have several big events coming up in the next week, so I'll report on those next week!

Be well,
Colin

Here's the idea:

Seaside communities in Southern California need power and water.

Propose:

Solar, Wind and Tidal Powered Plant provides power and desalinates water and has storage for heated water for community. Desalinated water to be stored in elevated reservoir and pumped up hill during day. At night plant runs from tidal energy and stored water coming downhill through turbines to lower reservoir. Pipes both uphill and downhill are covered with solar panels.

The water stored uphill acts like a battery of stored energy to use when wind and solar aren't online. You would need twice the power generation during the day but you would store power without toxic effect.

NewsMatthews.com

rejig

robert kennedy said, "each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

that's an idea about having ideas that "improve the lot of others".

kennedy's motivation is the same as any miner, hunter, farmer or fisher. you have to reach out and seek your treasure: one answer can bring an answer to millions. most questions (mine included) are designed to fill-in a pre-manufactured conclusion or summations. when the answer works our conclusions are appluaded. when it doesn't work we then suffer with what we have munched together rather than approach the alternatives. sloth and greed in pursuit of the creatures of habit.

welcome to spitball with the other chris matthews.

i present a solution courtesy of a dictionary. And don't get me wrong, dictionaries are guilty of a great deal of elitism as verbiage is garbage unless understood by the masses. (that goes for the law and our legal system too - you shouldn't need a lawyer to know the law.) here's the word: "rejig". it's a great word and those in manufacturing know all about it. it is not the same as retool. rejigging is what you do when your factory products are out of date or are producing a unviable commodity. i.e. the flint ford plant went through a rejig on internal combustion powered vehicles that performed poorly at the pump and now produce __________? gee, I don't know? electric cars and trucks? maybe solar panels or undersea turbines?

more than anything else we need cheap, sustainable, and environmentally friendly energy. from there you tackle the rest of the infrastructure. sun, water, wind, geothermal, hydrogen energy are the prizes. we must ween ourselves from the really bad eggs. we need many baskets for many good eggs from many chickens that do not cease producing energy. power that we can all share like air. i omit nuclear because those in love with pounding atoms still have yet to answer what to do with the waste. bury it? okay, where? and coal and crude are about as clean, friendly, and finite as torched port-to-let. and bio-fuels are made from farms which grow food for eating so people don't starve. bio-fuels also have emissions. do we have the ability to implement clean technologies now? yes. the US could turn the page entirely in 2 years. the world in 10. it's about desire and recognition of need and about what technologies we have at our disposal right now.

what's stopping us? profitability, speculation, traditional roles in the work place, fear of change, political and corporate leadership, but mostly it's the people making money from fossil and nuclear fuel providers and users. these are the brakes of status quo. a plan is required for the whole of society. the goal should be free energy, locally produced. "try not. do." sayeth the yoda. "force yourself" sayeth the harrison of ford. the plan is to turn over all of those closed factories and towns whose onetime promise has been shipped, shipped, and shipped to far, far, and away, and bring them back online to produce what we need and then what we want as soon as possible.

open the old foundry, plant and mill.

rejig factories throughout the country to supply a new, mutually owned and shared power grid. there is sound hardware to manufacture; the wind and water turbines, portable spin generators, solar panels, tide generating floats, and artificial reefs from mothball fleets and demolished properties which could serve as hurricane swell dissipators and levy fodder. local factories to produce lightweight and renewable batteries, electric motors, power gauges, and cabling. we could also rewire the streets so that power can go straight to the vehicle. ever seen a slot car or a cable car? employ everyone from the designer, to planners, accountants, geologists, meteorologists, miners, production managers, and installers from to materials to parts to installation to maintenance.

but you may say, half the problem with new technologies is actually the patent process and funding? where's the quick profit? okay? where are blue chip stocks? bonds can get the job done especially well when you offset taxes based on bonds purchased. the intellectual property and expertise isn't cheap either, but eminent domain and proud civl service seemed to solve those problems when we needed a railroads, bridges, hydroelectric power, highways across the land, or wars overseas. the turnover from what even the government will save without relying on fossil fuels would pay for a national project in 10 years. open or 'light' license the patents so that this shared commodity could be locally produced. place our new technologies astride current sustainable infrastructure and actually produce energy and public benefit from previous eminent domains during and since the gilded age. from steel to rail to steal to energy from rail and road to take back.

think of what we already have in place and let the new technology accentuate: wind generators atop bridges. wind generators combined with watch towers and water storage pocketed throughout our forests. wind generators and daisy chain solar panels near our borders and over transportation corridors. solar panels lining the lanes and walls of our freeways and major thoroughfares. railroad tracks turned into new levies with high speed rail lines to combat air travel's fossil consumption. entire lengths of the tracks could be fitted with solar panels that would be serviceable by rail. those same panels could power the rail and have the curious advantage of already reaching into population centers.

don't just dump a billion cars in the junk yard at once. remove the carbon engine and insert two large batteries in it's place. replace each wheel with an electric motor built into the hub. then plug it into the freeway, the garage, or the safeway parking lot - the car be reborn. think now and act now. the future will present itself. if we don't act now we can be terribly certain as to what we should expect. is there any reason in the world why a gym needs to consume power? everyone inside is busy creating it. work the problem from community to community with one global objective. a net to power our mobilization and transportation and live beyond communication lines sharing a power grid enabling commerce, education, farming, construction and useful employment.

take oil pipelines and turn them into wave generators. new levies we will need in the midwest and california and the south could be fitted with solar panels and tidal paddles. take our water and sewage lines and make the waters effort pay back: water flows through your pipes and drainage and there's force in that flow. rivers don't have to be dammed in order to take advantage of current: ever heard of a paddle wheel? work the problem from minutiae to major. we know how corporations have evolved to nickel and dime the consumer. turn that concept around and nickel and dime away our shared energy needs.

when someone makes a film they build entire sets, run generators 24/7, and mobilize a fleet of vehicles that can stretch for blocks. and that's just a start. those lights ain't running on honey. don't build a film set. build a new community. don't run diesel generators 24/7. take those grip trucks, star trailers, catering trucks, cranes and booms and rejig them to become mobile sun, water, and wind power sources. take a bite out of planned obsolescence too - light bulb.

why aren't buses, cruise ships, skyscrapers, strip malls, parking lots, rooftops and rv's just covered with solar panels shutters and wind turbines? why has the bicycle remained a vintage crank and pulley system? there is such a thing as returned mechanical energy. if a bike loses power stopping at a light then make it so when the brakes are applied a coil spring is wound tight only to be released as forward momentum upon the light turning green. that would take the pain out of the stop and start. it's about flow - all of it. turn the gas stations to self-powered hydrogen plants. why do we ship everything from everywhere when it can be produced under license in the state, county or block in which you live? provide the product or service you seek while buttressing your local economy. create a system that can be proven at home and implemented internationally.

you know you have a banged up plan of action when a dixie cup logs more miles in just six weeks then most people do in a lifetime. you can't rely upon the banks for vision or investment in the long term. capitalism is rather willed. it's vision is limited to what has been already accomplished and proven profitable for the bank and investor: a disposable economy based on assumed value of effort and asset in the short term. make that dixie cup over and over again. it doesn't matter to the banks. they make their cash on the factory end, in the shipping, and your purchase. banks should provide for the community they serve at large not just provide for the community that is liquid enough to invest. the world is not flat. it is lumpy.

and if you live in a flood plain or astride coastal waters do what your ancestors did and put your house on stilts or least make it float. global warming can't be stopped but it can be limited. we should aim to assure the next generation will have a clean environment, a working infrastructure and a sound constitution (grumble-grumble). "the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - george bernard shaw. you have heard it before, but now there's a reasonable man wondering if he's being reasonable with status quo?

rejig. think small to big and work smart to smarter. problem then solutions shared (check the u.s. department of energy website). start with small systems to matriculate to major infrastructure tied to a real future. rinse and try a different condition until you’re satisfied with the result and flow. '...and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'

We’ve all heard about how much transportation and electricity increase our carbon footprint, but there is one topic that has not had as much attention: and that is composting! So in the interest of mitigating climate change, let’s bring awareness to this easy and under-utilized method of dealing with organic waste. The total number of pounds of CO2 removed from composting may not seem like much, but like so many other things, if we all do it - it can really add up. The amount of greenhouse gas sequestered through composting is larger than what most of us realize.

Many people think that composting is just for gardeners. Not so! Anyone who cooks or has even the smallest amount of yard or lawn can compost. While taking on something new in our daily lives is always a challenge, this is one thing that really needs to be at the top of the list for everyone concerned about global warming and the health of the planet in general.

The benefits of compost are many and well known, but the mitigating effects for the climate crisis are underestimated. Composting can reduce green house gases in the following ways:

Reduces landfill methane generation
Reduces use of N20 fertilizers and energy intensive pesticides.
Sequesters carbon in soil.
Improves soil health, mitigates damage to soil caused by climate change.


To get you motivated here are some stats:

It takes one inch of compost applied to land to increase the organic matter by one percent.
Increasing the organic matter of 10 square ft. by just 1% percent locks up 3 pounds of CO2.
Increasing the organic matter of 1 acre of land by one percent will lock up over 38 tons of carbon! That offsets 5 years of the average American’s personal carbon emissions.
Heavily composted soil with a high organic matter content will sustain much more growth than poor soil with a low organic matter content, sequestering yet more carbon in all the green stuff growing above the soil as well as in the extra humus beneath the surface.
Once applied, compost increases micro-organisms in the soil, thus allowing for more respiration in our atmosphere, which results in a reduction in CO2 levels.
Compost acts as a bio-filter for many pollutants, thus helping to clean groundwater.


Of course this list is not inclusive. There are many benefits not listed here.

And it’s not necessary to understand the entire process from a microbiologist’s perspective. If one is able to maintain the discipline to carry food scraps and yard waste to a specific location on a consistent basis, then composting is simple and easy.

So start a compost pile! Already have one? Tell us what kind of stuff you compost and how you use it. Let’s get a conversation going on this. We may not save the world exclusively by composting, but it’s a start. Buy organic. Organic methods utilize compost rather than energy-intensive chemical fertilizers. One method helps the planet and the other hurts it. Seems like a pretty easy choice to me!

And by all means, if you have questions on how to start, just ask!

Here’s to all the rot-watchers!

I have to admit I haven't looked at my account for a while and haven't added much content, but that doesn't mean I haven't lost interest.

I signed up for Google News alerts on Personal Rapid Transportation (PRT) and am enlightened every week as I read more and more about this fantastic transportation solution. It makes so much sense and would work so well it astonishes me that the idea is met with so many non-believers.

Take a look at them. Google PRT or Podcars and you'll find out what I'm talking about. If anyone has any advice on how I can get involved in getting projects like these started I would definitely be interested.

Murrells Inlet Environment and Marsh Ecology Did you know that 90 percent of near-shore marine species use the saltmarsh at one time or another during their lifetime as a nursery, feeding or breeding ground, or as a place of refuge? The Inlet offers much, but respect is what it needs the most. It's up to the residents and visitors who love it to ensure its protection. The creek is Murrells Inlet's most precious resource. Preserving and protecting it is this community's top goal.

There are many ways we all can help keep the creek healthy:


• Pick up trash.
• Practice "Plus-One Boating" (What you take out, bring back- Plus One).
• Don't flip cigarettes into the water or onto the roadway.
• Recycle your oyster shells.
• Limit boat wakes because they cause erosion.
• Avoid running boats into the marsh grass.
• Use only non-toxic or "phosphate-free" cleaners.
• Avoid fuel and oil spills into the water.
• Scoop after your pets. Their waste gets into the creek through storm water runoff and is one of the largest pollutants of the creek.


As we say in the Inlet, litter makes us crabby!

Winner of the 1998 Crown Communities Award

Area residents and businesses volunteer to help preserve the water quality of the creek and clean up the environment through organized group efforts. Land and water litter clean-ups are conducted regularly. A group of community volunteers staff the inlet water quality monitoring program. Committees help educate the public about the delicate balance of the wetlands ecosystem. The local Civic Association works with businesses and agencies to ensure that the architectural vision of the fishing village is maintained in new construction. County government enforces stormwater drainage plans implemented to protect the creek. We are an involved community dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of our surroundings for future generations to enjoy.

Murrells Inlet 2007 is a non-profit organization formed in 1997 for the betterment of our community. It operates through a variety of funds, including private an corporate donations, sale of various items such as plaques, grant and foundation awards, and specific project funds which flow through county governments. Click here to learn more about MI2007. We appreciate your time, expertise, donations and support for our efforts. To find out how you can help, please call our office at 843-357-2007, or e-mail info@murrellsinletsc.com.

I believe that I share the vision of which President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden spoke during their brilliant campaign. After reading Senator Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, I became convinced that his values are in line with many of my own. His knowledge of the workings of government and his insight into the character of the politicians he has worked, disagreed and socialized with was not only informative but thoughtfully conveyed. I became convinced that Barack Obama is genuine in his love of the country and its people.

Vice President Gore's support of Barack Obama is also in line with my thinking. I became even more concerned about the state of our Earth after watching "An Inconvenient Truth", which has inspired more than one of my paintings.

In order to reach the goals cited by Vice President Gore and echoed in the campaign, we the people need to be instrumental in the process of rebuilding this nation and salvaging our planet. I am prepared to do my part. In fact, I have already begun.

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My sites

http://notforcapital.com/
http://the-global-community.org/
http://unit-unity-community.com/
http://iscando.com/
http://roseandclem.com/

Hello:

Watch for the bumper stickers.
PRIME THE PUMP!
http://notforcapital.com/Prime-the-pump.htm


PRIME THE PUMP!

What a wonderful idea. I can't see any problem with this. Just think about it. Hundreds or thousands of nuclear power plants the size of a hot tub all over the country. What could possibly go wrong?

No terrorist groups would ever think to raid them for their radioactive fuel or waste. Noone could possibly make a dirty bomb out of that material. Who would think to grind it in to a powder and disperse it from a private plane over populated areas, effectively poisoning millions of people and contaminating thousands of square miles of property and water supplies.

Are these people morons or is it intentional destruction of the human race? Are these the same idiots that scream about national security while they rape other countries for profit and foment terrorist organization? WHEN WILL WE WAKE UP? None of the problems we face occur in a vacuum. As long as we continue with these self-destructive policies we are threatened with annihilation.

The main reason that I started looking at this site was because of Al Gore. I am not a social dissident and my years of social protest ended in the sixties. I do believe that we can still make this country, this planet a nice place to live. I believe this is going to take a lot of work, and surprisingly enough we seem to have a lot of people out of work. This seems to me to be a perfect fit. I have a lot of ideas about companies, green jobs, and help save the planet in the process. We are so many years behind on almost all the programs we should've been running in the last 20 plus years and if we started them all today by the time we got them completed we would be 50 years behind. Nonetheless, we still need to think about them. I remember Ronald Reagan's star wars defense system. This never happened but it was feasible enough to stop the Cold War. What ever you reason is to be reading this, your heart is probably in the right place. If you have anything to add, please do so!

Let's Repower The World Not Just America

My roommate and I had a energy bill of $25 for our apartment. We just aren't satisfied with that, it is low, but not low enough. lol So we decided to set a goal of getting our bill below $20.

Here is what we are doing:

• put the TV on a powerstrip
• put our computers and printers on powerstrips
• turn off all of the lights when we don't use them
• unplug everything when it is not in use
• give each other some grief when we waste any energy 

I just got our bill this month at it was 20.13!  We are so close.  I guess we will just have to not watch any TV.  lol