To My Grand-Daughter: I Am Sorry We Ruined the World for You

To My Grand-Daughter: I Am Sorry We Ruined the World for You

Now that grandchildren are being added to our family, my blood runs cold whenever I project out 50 years and imagine what their world will be like at middle age.

TomDispatch
March 27, 2012

Note: I became politically active and committed on the day 20 years ago when I realized I could stand on the front porch of my house and point to three homes where children were in wheelchairs, to a home where a child had just died of leukemia, to another where a child was born missing a kidney, and yet another where a child suffered from spina bifida. All my parental alarms went off at once and I asked the obvious question: What’s going on here? Did I inadvertently move my three children into harm’s way when we settled in this high desert valley in Utah? A quest to find answers in Utah’s nuclear history and then seek solutions followed. Politics for me was never motivated by ideology. It was always about parenting.

Today my three kids are, thankfully, healthy adults. But now that grandchildren are being added to our family, my blood runs cold whenever I project out 50 years and imagine what their world will be like at middle age -- assuming they get that far and that there is still a recognizable “world” to be part of. I wrote the following letter to my granddaughter, Madeline, who is almost four years old. Although she cannot read it today, I hope she will read it in a future that proves so much better than the one that is probable, and so terribly unfair. I’m sharing this letter with other parents and grandparents in the hope that it may move them to embrace their roles as citizens and commit to the hard work of making the planet viable, the economy equitable, and our culture democratic for the many Madelines to come.

March 20, 2012

Dear Maddie,

I address this letter to you, but please share it with Jack, Tasiah, and other grandchildren who are yet unborn. Also, with your children and theirs. My unconditional love for my children and grandchildren convinces me that, if I could live long enough to embrace my great-grandchildren, I would love them as deeply as I love you.

On behalf of my generation of grandparents to all of you, I want to apologize.

I am sorry we used up all the oil. It took a million years for those layers of carbon goo to form under the Earth’s crust and we used up most of it in a geological instant. No doubt there will be some left and perhaps you can get around the fact that what remains is already distant, dirty, and dangerous, but the low-hanging fruit will be long-gone by the time you are my age. We took it all.

There’s no excuse, really. We are gas-hogs, plain and simple. We got hooked on faster-bigger-more and charged right over the carrying capacity of the planet. Oil made it possible.

Machines are our slaves and coal, oil, and gas are their food. They helped us grow so much of our own food that we could overpopulate the Earth. We could ship stuff and travel all over the globe, and still have enough fuel left to drive home alone in trucks in time to watch Monday Night Football.

Rocket fuel, fertilizer, baby bottles, lawn chairs: we made everything and anything out of oil and could never get enough of it. We could have conserved more for you to use in your lifetime. Instead, we demonstrated the self-restraint of crack addicts. It’s been great having all that oil to play with and we built our entire world around that. Living without it will be tough. Sorry.

I hope we develop clean, renewable energy sources soon, or that you and your generation figure out how to do that quickly. In the meantime, sorry about the climate. We just didn’t realize our addiction to carbon would come with monster storms, epic droughts, Biblical floods, wildfire infernos, rising seas, migration, starvation, pestilence, civil war, failed states, police states, and resource wars.

I’m sure Henry Ford didn’t see that coming when he figured out how to mass-produce automobiles and sell them to Everyman. I know my parents didn’t see the downside of using so much gas and coal. The all-electric house and a car in the driveway was their American Dream. For my generation, owning a car became a birthright. Today, it would be hard for most of us to live without a car. I have no idea what you’ll do to get around or how you will heat your home. Oops!

We also pigged out on most of the fertile soil, the forests and their timber, and the oceans that teemed with fish before we scraped the seabed raw, dumped our poisonous wastes in the water, and turned it acid and barren. Hey, that ocean was an awesome place and it’s too bad you can’t know it like we did. There were bright coral reefs, vibrant runs of red salmon, ribbons of birds embroidering the shores, graceful shells, the solace and majesty of the wild sea…

…But then I never saw the vast herds of bison that roamed the American heartland, so I know it is hard to miss something you only saw in pictures. We took lots of photos.

We thought we were pretty smart because we walked a man on the moon. Our technology is indeed amazing. I was raised without computers, smart phones, and the World Wide Web, so I appreciate how our engineering prowess has enhanced our lives, but I also know it has a downside.

When I was a kid we worried that the Cold War would go nuclear. And it wasn’t until a river caught fire near Cleveland that we realized fouling your own nest isn’t so smart after all. Well, you know about the rest -- the coal-fired power plants, acid rain, the hole in the ozone...

There were plenty of signs we took a wrong turn but we kept on going. Dumb, stubborn, blind: Who knows why we couldn’t stop? Greed maybe -- powerful corporations we couldn’t overcome. It won’t matter much to you who is to blame. You’ll be too busy coping in the diminished world we bequeath you.

One set of problems we pass on to you is not altogether our fault. It was handed down to us by our parents’ generation so hammered by cataclysmic world wars and economic hardship that they armed themselves to the teeth and saw enemies everywhere. Their paranoia was understandable, but they passed their fears on to us and we should have seen through them. I have lived through four major American wars in my 62 years, and by now defense and homeland security are powerful industries with a stranglehold on Congress and the economy. We knew that was a lousy deal, but trauma and terror darkened our imaginations and distorted our priorities. And, like you, we needed jobs.

Sorry we spent your inheritance on all that cheap bling and, especially, all those weapons of mass destruction. That was crazy and wasteful. I can’t explain it. I guess we’ve been confused for a long time now.

Oh, and sorry about the confusion. We called it advertising and it seemed like it would be easy enough to control. When I was a kid, commercials merely interrupted entertainment. Don’t know when the lines all blurred and the buy, buy, buy message became so ubiquitous and all-consuming. It just got outta hand and we couldn’t stop it, even when we realized we hated it and that it was taking us over. We turned away from one another, tuned in, and got lost.

I’m betting you can still download this note, copy it, share it, bust it up and remake it, and that you do so while plugged into some sort of electrical device you can’t live without -- so maybe you don’t think that an apology for technology is needed and, if that’s the case, an apology is especially relevant. The tools we gave you are fine, but the apps are mostly bogus. We made an industry of silly distraction. When our spirits hungered, we fed them clay that filled but did not nourish them. If you still don’t know the difference, blame us because we started it.

And sorry about the chemicals. I mean the ones you were born with in your blood and bones that stay there -- even though we don’t know what they’ll do to you). Who thought that the fire retardant that kept smokers from igniting their pillows and children’s clothes from bursting into flames would end up in umbilical cords and infants?

It just seemed like better living through chemistry at the time. Same with all the other chemicals you carry. We learned to accept cancer and I guess you will, too. I’m sure there will be better treatments for that in your lifetime than we have today. If you can afford them, that is. Turning healthcare over to predatory corporations was another bad move.

All in all, our chemical obsession was pretty reckless and we got into that same old pattern: just couldn’t give up all the neat stuff. Oh, we tried. We took the lead out of gasoline and banned DDT, but mostly we did too little, too late. I hope you’ve done better. Maybe it will help your generation to run out of oil, since so many of the toxic chemicals came from that. Anyway, we didn’t see it coming and we could have, should have. Our bad.

There are so many other things I wish I could change for you. We leave behind a noisy world. Silence is rare today, and unless some future catastrophe has left your numbers greatly diminished, your machines stilled, and your streets ghostly empty, it is likely that the last remnants of tranquility will be gone by the time you are my age.

And how about all those species, the abundant and wondrous creatures that are fading away forever as I write these words? I never saw a polar bear and I guess you can live without that, too, but when I think of the peep and chirp of frogs at night, the hum of bees busy on a flower bed, the trill of birds at dawn, and so many other splendorous pleasures that you may no longer have, I ache with regret. We should have done more to keep the planet whole and well, but we couldn’t get clear of the old ways of seeing, the ingrained habits, the way we hobble one another’s choices so that the best intentions never get realized.

Mostly I’m sorry about taking all the good water. When I was a child I could kneel down and drink from a brook or spring wherever we camped and played. We could still hike up to glaciers and ski down snow-capped mountains.

Clean, crisp, cold, fresh water is life’s most precious taste. A life-giving gift, all water is holy. I repeat: holy. We treated it, instead, as if it were merely useful. We wasted and tainted it and, again in a geological moment, sucked up aquifers that had taken 10,000 years to gather below ground. In my lifetime, glaciers are melting away, wells are running dry, dust storms are blowing, and rivers like the mighty Colorado are running dry before they reach the sea. I hate to think of what will be left for you. Sorry. So very, very sorry.

I’m sure there’s a boatload of other trouble we’re leaving you that I haven’t covered here. My purpose is not to offer a complete catalog of our follies and atrocities, but to do what we taught your parents to do when they were as little as you are today.

When you make a mistake, we told them, admit it, and then do better. If you do something wrong, own up and say you are sorry. After that, you can work on making amends.

I am trying to see a way out of the hardship and turmoil we are making for you. As I work to stop the madness, I will be mindful of how much harder your struggles will be as you deal with the challenges we leave you to face.

The best I can do to help you through the overheated future we are making is to love you now. I cannot change the past and my struggle to make a healthier future for you is uncertain, but today I can teach you, encourage you, and help you be as strong and smart and confident as you can be, so that whatever the future holds, whatever crises you face, you are as ready as possible. We will learn to laugh together, too, because love and laughter can pull you through the toughest times.

I know a better world is possible. We create that better world by reaching out to one another, listening, learning, and speaking from our hearts, face to face, neighbor to neighbor, one community after another, openly, inclusively, bravely. Democracy is not a gift to be practiced only when permitted. We empower ourselves. Our salvation is found in each other, together.

Across America this morning and all around the world, our better angels call to us, imploring us to rise up and be as resilient as our beloved, beautiful children and grandchildren, whose future we make today. We can do better. I promise.

Your grandfather,
Chip Ward

Chip Ward, a TomDispatch regular, co-founded HEAL Utah and led several grassroots campaigns to make polluters accountable. He wrote Canaries on the Rim and Hope’s Horizon, was an administrator of the award-winning Salt Lake City Public Library, and then retired to the canyons of southern Utah. His latest work, just published, is Dance, Don't Drive: Resilient Thinking for Turbulent Times. His essays can be read at chipwardessays.blogspot.com. He can be written at moonbolt3@hotmail.com.

The Pizza Box Recycling Mystery

The Pizza Box Recycling Mystery
Courtesy of Earth911

Many people assume that pizza boxes are recyclable. In fact, most boxes have recycling symbols on them and are traditionally made from corrugated cardboard. They are, in and of themselves, recyclable.

However, what makes parts of them non-recyclable is the hot, tasty treat that comes inside them, specifically, the grease and cheese from pizza that soil the cardboard.

So there you have it, pizza boxes that are tarnished with food, or any paper product that is stained with grease or food, are not recyclable - unless you remove the tainted portions.

But why is this? And what are the implications for the general, pizza-loving public? Mmmm.... pizza.

How it Gets Recycled

Food is one of the worst contaminants in the paper recycling process. Grease and oil are not as big of a problem for plastic, metal and glass, as those materials are recycled using a heat process. But when paper products, like cardboard, are recycled, they are mixed with water and turned into a slurry. Since we all know water and oil don't mix, the issue is clear.

Grease from pizza boxes causes oil to form at the top of the slurry, and paper fibers cannot separate from oils during the pulping process. Essentially, this contaminant causes the entire batch to be ruined. This is the reason that other food related items are non-recyclable (used paper plates, used napkins, used paper towels, etc).

"The oil gets in when you're doing your process of making paper," said Terry Gellenbeck, a solid waste administrative analyst for the City of Phoenix. "The oil causes great problems for the quality of the paper, especially the binding of the fibers. It puts in contaminants, so when they do squeeze the water out, it has spots and holes."

But what about other things regularly found on paper products, like ink? "Most inks are not petroleum-based so they break down fast. Food is a big problem," he said.

Also, be mindful of adhesives that may be on the pizza box (coupons, stickers, etc.) as those are contaminants. Known as "pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs)" these can ruin the recycling process just as much as oil or food remains.

Sneaks

Many people admit trying to "sneak" their pizza boxes in with cardboard boxes and such. In reality, this does more harm than good as the contaminated cardboard could ruin the whole recycling batch.

In fact, contamination in the recycling business is a big problem. Some estimates put the costs of irresponsible contamination in the neighborhood of $700 million per year industry-wide. Gellenbeck estimates that for the City of Phoenix, contamination costs them around $1 million annually, because of damage to machinery, disposal costs for the non-recyclable material and wasted time, materials and efficiency. With the City processing 129,000 tons of materials in 2008 (around 7 percent of this is cardboard), money is an important factor as to why residents should know what their municipalities do and do not accept.

So, What Do I Do?

The easiest remedy for this problem is to cut or tear out the soiled portions of your pizza boxes and trash them. For example, you can tear the top of the box off, recycle that and throw away the bottom part containing the grease. If the entire box is grease-free, the whole box can be recycled with a guilt-free conscience.

Another option to recycling cardboard is to compost it, although the grease rule still applies here as well. "Even with oils, you shouldn't compost [greased cardboard]. It causes rotting, you get more bugs and smell and it's just not good for the plants," said Gellenbeck.

Most importantly, being well-versed on what your local recyclers accept, can make the biggest difference. "It all depends on where your processor sends your paper, too," said Gellenbeck, whose authority applies only to the City of Phoenix. "If you can keep a particular thing like the food out, the plastics out, all those things that really shouldn't be there, it would help."

Repurposed Billboard Chipotle Lunch Bag

These lunch bags are made from upcycled Chipotle billboards. Billboard Ecology collects these materials, and with Loomstate’s design direction, transforms what would be waste into ultra-durable, one-of-a-kind bags. Made from a nearly indestructible waterproof polymer, it has reinforced side seams and handle, a classic top-roll Velcro strap closure, and a convenient extra-large side pocket. In celebration of 'Earth Day', when you purchase our repurposed billboard lunch bag, from 3/26-4/14, you'll get a FREE BURRITO CARD to be redeemed on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd. All proceeds will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. Supplies are limited. Please note that each bag is as unique as the billboard it is made from. Therefore, the graphics and colors on the side insets of the bag you receive will vary slightly from the images shown here.

Produce Your Own Electricity

Produce Your Own Electricity

Clean renewable energy has never been so easy. You can own a small wind turbine that hooks up to your home, cabin or boat and lets you produce your own clean renewable electricity right where you need it. And with no money down and low monthly payments, it’s within reach.

For your home

• Cut your electric bills

• Stay grid connected

• As low as $147* per month

• Fully installed with tower

• 5 year limited warranty

Products you can finance for your grid-connected home:

1. Skystream 3.7  http://www.windenergy.com/products/skystream/skystream-3.7

2. Skystream Hybrid 6 http://www.windenergy.com/products/skystream-hybrid/skystream-hybrid-6

For your cabin, shed or barn

• Charge batteries for lights and appliances

• As low as $32** per month

• Includes tower

• Five year warranty

Products you can finance for your off-grid cabin, barn or shed:

1. For your cabin: AIR 40 http://www.windenergy.com/products/air/air40

2. For your barn or shed or hobby: AIR 30 http://www.windenergy.com/products/air/air30

To learn more, get your free wind energy assessment: http://windenergy.com/assessment
Or if you want to speak with someone on the phone, call (928) 226-6300 M-F, 8am - 5pm Arizona Time http://phoenix.about.com/library/blphoenixtime.htm

*Subject to credit approval. Payment is calculated by submission for an Advantage 20 application at an approved term of 240 months and interest rate of 6.95% for a secured loan (equity and appraisal not required).

**Subject to credit approval. Payment is calculated by submission for an Advantage 10 application at an approved term of 36 months and interest rate of 7.95% for a secured loan (equity and appraisal not required).

Say It Loud, I'm Warmist and Proud!

Say It Loud, I'm Warmist and Proud!

Guest Columnist: Ann Marie
March 15, 2012

In response to an article recently published in The Huffington Post entitled, "Say It Loud, I'm Warmist and Proud!", http://www.huffingtonpost.com/d-r-tucker/climate-change-denial_b_1319271.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=2796854,b=facebook , I would just like to share a personal observation.

We've had no winter here to speak of, in all places, O-H-I-O. It's been 80 degrees or near there for several days in this month of March and will be for several more days into at least Tuesday of the coming week according to our local long-range weather forecast.

Last month our State, along with several other mid-western states, experienced an outbreak of 95 tornadoes in one day. I am 50 years old, a fact I'll freely admit. But in the life cycle of the planet earth that doesn't even warrant the flutter of an eye.

So, to say that a measly 45 years ago, I quite clearly remember 1-2' of the white stuff sometimes by Thanksgiving and ice skating most of the winter on ponds that were covered by ice several inches thick, won't hold much water for a lot of you scholary folk. But that, to my recollection, is the season that is known as "Winter" and is very often symbolized by a snowflake;

as Fall is symbolized by a leaf,

Summer; a sun,

and Spring, with its life-affirming, lovely flowers.










This should be a glaring fact, and not an opinion, in the point of this whole matter of global warming, climate change or whatever label or "ism" that the group of the day may choose to slap on it.

Having pointed out what seems to my generation of humankind to be the obvious "Four Seasons", I'd just like to share something with my readers something that has so clearly stayed with me since Sixth grade science class.

It is the day when I first heard this whole concept that populations would grow, manufacturing would increase to supply the demand for goods, leading to more pollution. Our air would become poisonous and harder to breathe, making us sick and even killing us. There was a great speculation that all of this excess waste being broiled into our air would block out our sunlight and create changes in our atmoshpere. It was pointed out that eventually, we wouldn't have all of that beautiful (and fun!) snow that we were seeing right outside of our classroom windows and that our perfect litte patch of planet earth would be more like the State of Florida than the lush, green Ohio that we knew and loved.

Sixth grade science class. That was a defining moment in my life and it has stuck with me to this day.

I have looked outside my window all Winter and watched the virtually unchanging occurences in what would normally be the "changing of the seasons", and I've thought, "For the last several years, I have been witnessing a self-fulfilling prophecy. There simply is no time left for government to argue over whose politics are going to either "change" OR "deny" the very facts right in front of us. Our lives are simply not as simple. Our lands are simply not as fertile and abundant. Our natural resources are simply no longer pristine or readily available. Our planet has simply been altered. It is a simple fact that simply cannot be denied."

The Slow Death of The T12

The Slow Death of The T12


The very slow death of T12 magnetic ballast has been a long time coming. The beginning of its demise dates as far back as 1975.

....but lets first start in the year 1992.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1992 (EPACT) amended The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) by setting minimum lamp efficiency standards for some incandescent reflector lamps and some general service fluorescent lamps. Importantly, EPACT also gave the Department of Energy (DOE) authority to amend these standards if they were warranted.

On December 19, 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) was signed into law. Among its many provisions, EISA implements new efficiency standards for certain Incandescent Reflector Lamps (IRL) and directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to undertake new energy conservation standards rulemaking for incandescent reflector lamps and general service fluorescent lamps.

With its new found power, the DOE issues its Ballast Ruling which prevents the manufacture or import of 1-lamp and 2-lamp F40T12 and 2-lamp F96T12 magnetic replacement ballasts after July 1, 2010. To this day, distribution companies are allowed to sell T12 ballasts but only until their inventories run out.

When “Green Business” Isn’t Enough

When “Green Business” Isn’t Enough

Marc Gunther
March 7, 2012

Into my inbox every day come press releases about this company putting solar panels on a roof or that one making its fleet more efficient. These incremental steps are laudable but also (1) boring (2) old hat and, most importantly, (3) unlikely to get us the environmental change we need.

Transformational change, by contrast, usually requires entire industries or groups of industries to work together, often with NGOs, sometimes with government. That’s been going on for years–Unilever and WWF organized fisheries, NGOs and companies to form the Marine Stewardship Council back in 1997 to promote sustainable fishing practices–but lately, there seem to me more of these cooperative but complicated efforts. That’s reason for optimism.

Last fall, for example, I attended a Starbucks “cup summit” at the MIT Media Lab where the company, with the help of business guru Peter Senge, brought together paper companies, NGOs, government officials and rivals like Green Mountain coffee to figure out how to design a system to eliminate waste from coffee cups. [See The Starbucks Cup Dilemma in Fast Company.] Now Alcoa, with the help of sustainability consultant BluSkye, leading a broad and even more ambitious effort to drive up recycling rates across the US.

Reclaiming (valuable) aluminum cans

To learn about the Alcoa initiative, I met last week in San Francisco with Jib Ellison, the founder of BluSkye, and talked by phone with Kevin Anton, Alcoa’s chief sustainability officer.

The problem, as they both described it, is simple: Between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of aluminum cans end up in landfills each year.

Now that’s waste!

In 2008, Alcoa, which is the world’s biggest aluminum company, said it would try to lift the recycling rate for aluminum cans from about 52% to 75% by 2015. It has inched up to about 58% since then, but Kevin’s not impressed.

“We’re moving in the right direction, but if you contrast that with the rest of the world, we’re definitely lagging behind,” he told me. Globally, aluminum recycling rates average about 73%; they exceed 90% in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and Switzerland, partly for cultural reasons, partly because those countries have better recycling infrastructures.

Cans that end up in trash are not just a waste of money, but an entirely unnecessary environmental problem. Aluminum is “the perfect recycled material,” Kevin says. Cans made from recycled aluminum require 95% less energy and generate 95% less emissions that aluminum made from bauxite, and aluminum is almost infinitely recyclable. According to Alcoa, 75% of aluminum ever produced since 1888 is still in use. Who knew?

Alcoa promotes recycling and it has, until recently, pushed for bottle bills–they drive up recycling rates–but, as Jib told me: “That’s not going to happen for a bunch of reasons, mostly political.” The company’s customers–Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the big beer companies--strenuously oppose bottle bills through their trade group, the American Beverage Association. The soft-drink and beer industry favor a more systemic and inclusive approach to the trash problem is required.

That’s what Alcoa and BluSkye are seeking, using a technique they call getting “the system in a room.” Last month, nearly 80 business, government and environmental leaders met for two days in Dallas to see if they could figure out ways to push recycling rates higher.

Participating companies included Waste Management and Owens-Illinois, along with folks representing “more than 70 percent of the soft drink industry, 90 percent of the glass container market and all of the aluminum cansheet industry,” according to the trade magazine Resource Recycling. (Neither BluSkye nor Alcoa would say who attended.)

To help drive consensus, legislative approaches including extended producer responsibility (EPR) and container deposit systems were ruled out from the start. But all other options were on the table.

Jib Ellison

“It’s a bit chaotic, at times, but it’s about rapid-cycle prototyping, feedback, presenting, sorting out the actual work streams.,” Jib says. “Our role is to drive, drive, drive and keep the pressure on.”

It’s too soon to say what will come of this first meeting, but the plan is to break the problem down into pieces that will then be attacked by groups of companies, governments and NGOs.

Waste haulers and municipalities, for example, will look for ways to drive up rates of curbside recycling, by offer positive incentives like the rewards at RecycleBank or negative ones like charging homeowners for what they throw away. “You can put five gallons or 95 gallons of waste out there and pay the same,” Kevin notes. Dumb.

Others will focus on office-based recycling, or focus on public places like sports arenas, college and corporate campuses. The packaging industry will be asked to streamline the confusing array of plastic containers. Social marketing will surely come into play.

Jib and his colleagues at BluSkye have becomes masters at this kind of change-making. They’re best known for their work at Walmart, which put together “sustainable value networks” of suppliers and NGOs to help shape its green initiatives.

More recently, BluSkye has worked with the battery industry and the dairy industry to lower their footprints, and it played a key role in putting together the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a group of companies that together will measure and report on the footprint of clothing and footwear.

The idea is to push beyond the limits of what any one company can do. “Most companies have changed the lightbulbs by now,” he says. Of the work with Alcoa, he says: “This is not an incremental project. We’re looking for a breakthrough.”

Driving dramatic changes in recycling rates won’t be easy. Others have tried before. But the economics make sense–almost no one benefits from waste. A robust recycling industry will save money, create jobs and reduce costs. What’s not to like?

The Wind-Solar Fusion: Creating A Hybrid System

All Solar purchased their Whisper 200 nine years ago. The business is completely off-grid, not relying on any utility. The turbine, which is hoisted on a 40-foot guyed tower, generates the power and is complimentary to 640 watts of photovoltaic (PV) energy derived from solar panels.

Running A Successful Off-Grid Business

The 1000-watt turbine collects the wind and sends it to the Whisper Charge Controller. The direct current (DC) is carried in from the turbine and is protected with a safety brake, which can be used if power needs to be immediately shut down. The Whisper Charge Controller, designed by Southwest Windpower, then takes the DC and pushes it into an Outback 3524 inverter that morphs the energy into an alternating current (AC). That AC power is then pushed into the “load,” or the stored energy that can be used for every day appliances like microwaves and TVs. The solar panel system that Rodriguez partners with the turbine, works similarly—using a Xantrax 5548 inverter and charge controller constructed for a solar network.

“The system is designed what it is advertised to do,” said Rodriguez, who has been satisfied with the Whisper 200 since he purchased the product. He has never had any major issues with the turbine, he said, and has only taken it down twice in its lifetime for routine maintenance.

The Wind-Solar Fusion: Creating A Hybrid System

The Whisper turbine supplies about 20 to 30 percent of power to the office building, which uses approximately 5 to 8 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per day. When the shop needs power, the Rodriguez’ don’t need to worry, it’s always at the ready stored in batteries. When there is enough wind in Penrose, the entire business can be run off the turbine sans the help of PV energy.

“We chose Whisper because of reliability, brand awareness– [the] brand name is there. Of course, living with a turbine at our house has been helpful in selling it,” said Rodriguez.

Growing Up Off-Grid

The couple’s two children had a valuable experience of growing up off-grid. The family lived on 10 acres of land, which allowed them to run their household entirely away from the utility company for six years, until they moved into a new home that is on-grid.

Exposing their children to renewable energies in the home–both wind and solar–conservation became a way of life.

“It’s was a great experience for the kids to grow up off-grid, because if the power went out, we didn’t know it,” he said. “We still had lights.” He noted that they were more aware of turning off the lights as they left a room, a habitual lesson that is now ingrained.

With his personal application of renewable energy at his home combined with his business sophistication, Rodriguez uses an exemplary sales pitch as an advantage when discussing system options to his customers. His testimonies and anecdotes allow customers to see the versatility of clean energy systems. The framework can be altered for different objectives, but the core never changes; it’s a step closer to a cleaner and more efficient environment.

“The best part is that we’re not buying any power from the grid,” Rodriguez said. “It’s free power.”

Tips From a Pro

He advises those seeking to purchase a turbine to be mindful of its siting. Correctly placing the turbine varies on the location it is placed in.

Rodriguez uses Sitelook™ specifically for Southwest Windpower’s Skystream 3.7™, his second turbine; however, the tool can be used for Southwest Windpower’s AIR and Whisper turbines as a general guide to properly site your turbine.

Looking Into The Future

Looking into the future, he sees a general shift in renewables-- with the expanding market and available products, such as Southwest’s Skystream 3.7, a grid-tied turbine.

“That’s been a huge improvement in wind power,” he said. “Just having a unit that can actually be grid-tie and basically plug it in. I see more and more people looking for ways to get off the grid or at least supplement the grid.”

Tell Amazon To Ban Sale of Whale and Dolphin Meat

Last week, public outcry forced Amazon.com to pull over one hundred whale and dolphin meat products from its Japanese site. Consumers were outraged that the world's largest online retailer supported the killing of whales and dolphins -- and Amazon.com listened.But now, Amazon.com is refusing to put a permanent ban in place to protect these animals in the future.

Melissa Sehgal, an Amazon.com customer, is in Taiji, Japan -- the site of an annual dolphin hunt that was exposed in the documentary The Cove. Every day she is witnessing how dolphins are captured and killed, and she wants Amazon.com to help stop it. That's why Melissa started a petition calling on Amazon to never again sell meat from dolphins and whales.

Sign Melissa's petition asking Amazon.com to permanently ban whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat from its sites. http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-amazon-com-to-permanently-ban-the-sale-of-whale-dolphin-and-porpoise-meat?utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert

Tens of thousands of dolphins, whales and porpoises are captured and killed for their meat every year in Japan. The method by which they are killed is gruesome. "Rods are hammered into (dolphins) spinal cords to paralyze them," Melissa says. "And then they are dragged by their tails to the butcher house."

But Amazon.com has responded positively and quickly to consumer feedback before. Melissa also knows that further action from the online retailer could impact the trade in dolphin and whale meat since hunts are happening right now. Without an official policy, Amazon.com could start selling whale and dolphin meat again at any time.

Sign Melissa's petition to ask Amazon.com to put a permanent ban in place against selling dolphin, whale, and porpoise meat on its sites.

Thanks for being a change-maker.

Southwest Windpower Employees’ Whisper Turbine is The 'Cat’s Meow'

THE ART OF DEAL MAKING

Southwest Windpower was founded in a garage back in 1987 by David Calley and Andy Kruse; a garage that Bo Culton used to call home. It could be irony, coincidence or serendipity—either way, Culton is a tried and true wind person.

Culton realized he needed renewable energy in order to sustain an off-grid lifestyle in rural Arizona, northeast of Flagstaff. Culton bargained his labor with Southwest Windpower for a Whisper 100. That was 13 years ago. The patented side-furling turbine continues to sing into the wind at his cabin, a melody that invariably makes Culton smile. And Southwest Windpower is still very much a part of his life. “Glad to this day I still have one,” said Culton, a technical support representative for Southwest Windpower.

UNPLUGGING

Culton has not watched TV from his cabin in over a decade, but he is more cognizant of his energy consumption. Inspired after helping a friend install solar panels on his cabin in the woods, Culton moved out of the garage and into his own cabin. He said since a gas generator was not an option at the time he had no choice but to quickly transition into the renewable industry— a virtuous, intuitive shift that began with the Whisper 100 and solar panels.

“I would not consider my system complete without one,” he said. He produces enough energy that if a utility company wanted the power, which Culton says he would decline, he could sell it to them if he wanted to—a goal many residential wind turbine owners strive for.

The soft-spoken turbine can produce up to 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month in moderate to high winds. The top-selling small-wind turbine in its class offers Culton efficient current delivery to batteries in the desert’s high-wind environment.

LESS IS MORE

You could see Culton’s life as the epitome of a “green” lifestyle; living on only what he needs. Having such a little impact on the earth, Culton’s grounding into wind energy has unified his professional and personal life.
 

Even in Arizona’s high wind months, Culton has never had a problem with his Whisper 100 despite varying desert weather conditions. The Whisper’s presence has become entrenched in his day-to-day as a silent partner that is reliable, dependent and productive.

“One thing I’ve learned off-grid is to be aware,” said Culton. The cost of installing renewable systems can be an offset; however, Culton suggests that accommodating two power sources of wind and solar is “the cat’s meow.” His combined hybrid system and power conservation tactics have intrinsically conceived a surplus in power, allowing him to finally get a refrigerator.

“It’s not an easy life,” he said. “It’s a simple one, but it’s not easy.” Common appliances like a hot water tank are luxurious items for Culton, but something he continuously builds toward with the steadfast consistency of the Whisper 100 as a foundation to his system. “I’m extremely happy with it [the Whisper 100],” said Culton.

THE TIME AHEAD

His words of wisdom: “It’s sad, but I don’t think it’s heard: Conserve,” said Culton. During the day you can find Culton at Southwest Windpower’s headquarters in Flagstaff, Arizona answering customer questions in the support center. By night he is enjoying the Grand Canyon state’s sunset looking up at his Whisper 100 knowing where his power is coming from and how to control it.