Whom Do We Serve? (part two)

Years ago, my sister came up with the idea of a bumper sticker that would say just those four words. I wish that I had begun printing them then. Some ideas are so valuable that they need to be put into public consciousness and action immediately. The very act of asking this question brings far more to the table than many are willing to bring up, think about and share with others. These are the sorts of questions that are [pure gold in the realm of human evolution. If we refuse to think about these concepts, then we must be willing to relinquish the very freedoms that our founding fathers worked so hard to secure. The servitude that I am  bound to is due to my "business" with Wells Fargo Bank. Their recent re-finance of our debt will "save" two hundred dollars per month, but the time cost of that relief means that I will be paying Wells Fargo Bank an extra 10 thousand dollars, nearly half a year of the salary I collect for doing my job. I was so naive when the banks got their bailout after crashing the economy, I thought the gravy train was a one time thing. Sorry! The bank bail out continues and their freight is being paid by the few who were doing everything possible to stay afloat on the world-wide economic collapse that followed. In essence I was one of their "best customers". I have never been late on a single payment and whatever I had to do to meet my obligations, I did. It is a lasting sting, like an un-scratchable  itch, that I voluntarily entered into a social contract, I would domicile within the city limits of Green Bay, Wisconsin, serve my community, commit to a long-term relationship with neighbors, etc. I am but one of about 100 thousand people who are willing to live under the coal dust that blows through our neighborhoods, in an area where the fish can't be eaten safely, alongside petroleum tank farms and pipelines, coal piles and fly ash, we are actually paying the very real costs of all the toxic compounds in our environment, while faraway billionaires reap the benefits of our out-dated fossil energy system.

This view of the back of our rental shows another project in process. First I had to build a frame for the sun shade, next we are going to mount it over the upper porch which gets searing hot. My original plan was to utilize the solar collector behind the sun screen as an awning for the second floor, but it is way too heavy to lift up there with just a handful of friends. The solar panel was built in 1974 and has been providing 1/3 of the heat for the building for nearly ten years. This one piece of equipment has allowed me to pass fossil fuel savings on to dozens of renters who just want to feel warm in the winter. Some don't care if the heat comes directly from the Sun or from fossil energy. Those who do, like me, really love it.

On the bumper of a car, it relates directly to the fossil fuel addiction that requires us to serve people who frack, explore and "drill baby drill"! Not to mention the toxic emissions from refineries, waste land that is created, or the boom/bust economic effects of the fossil fuel industry. I have to state plainly that I have a problem with the word industry. Industry in my mind creates, fossil fuel exploitation can only, by its very nature, destroy. The only sensible possible future will use electric vehicles that are solar rechargeable.

I serve humanity generally by my teaching about biochar. When soils become healthier, so do the people who feed on the products of that soil. I once thought that buying an old quarry would be the best way to do organic agriculture, because all the soil in your beds would have to be created, so you would know the source of your compost, so you could keep it relatively clean. My soils, here in town contain lead, from the years that we were first using the automobile. Even after the petroleum distillers knew that the lead was poisonous, they fought to keep lead in gasoline un-regulated for several generations. I have to be aware of how much parent soil I add to my compost pile and the quality of the soil before I add it to food/flower beds. I do not want to introduce lead into the places I grow food and as long as I have control over what soil goes where, I can be especially careful not to add contaminated soils to my beds. Generations to come will benefit because I take the time to heal the soil, build it and enrich the native creatures who call the soil home. Serving these creatures pays back dividends that are undeniable, but hard for some to fathom. When the soil is healthier, the air is fresher, as the soil gets healthier, it holds more water, moderating temperature changes. The cascading feedback loops that are created between the soil and the organisms who inhabit it, create waste products that are literally food for plants. Serving the bottom of the food chain influences the health of the higher organisms who live around them.

If I had a dollar from every one of my pageviews, I could purchase a twenty acre parcel and begin to restore virtually all of it! Serving the future is the only hope we have. Those who claim that it is "too late" are just looking for an excuse to not put our money where our mouths are. Whom do you serve?

Merry Christmas, The Latest On Welfare for the Wealthy

I "own" two homes. At least the mortgages I pay indicate that some day I will own them...if... Well, I have been very interested in doing the "right thing" as anyone who has been reading my posts knows. This year I have installed a metal roof on one of my homes, installed two on-demand water heaters, produced even more food than last year on my own property and driven less miles than ever before. I have also invested in both insulation, air sealing and electrical energy saving devices. Because I am poor enough that I receive all of my Federal Taxes back, there isn't a single cent of incentive to help me with my energy-saving purchases. My biggest issue with this is not, as you might think, my own pocketbook. Although I would like a little help with the thousands that I have spent over the years out of my own pocket, my concern is for the affluent who are being subsidized in their quest for lower utility bills.

It is a well established fact that energy costs will continue to rise as we begin to include higher costs of procurement, negative effects of coal mining, transport and "end-use", as well as the ecological harm that results from oil and gas production, transport and use. We are past peak with regard to oil, and natural gas. 2010 saw the cost of energy rise for the first time with a concurrent drop in production. Utility companies are well aware of the fact that it is cheaper to reduce the need for more energy than to produce any additional watts, BTUs or therms. Hovering, as I do, near the poverty line, there is little to inspire my actions except for my own personal responsibility. Sometimes, doing the right thing is it's own reward. If I were rich enough to pay taxes, I would qualify for up to (what equals for me) more than a month's wages! Perhaps then I could afford to take a vacation. The ultimate benefit is financially accruing to energy corporations who reap the rewards of reduced demand. More and more of their income is based on fixed charges, service fees and procurement costs, so that they can deal with selling less energy for a higher cost. Many wealthy families might barely notice, the $1,500 Energy Tax Credit. It would hardly register on their family budget. For me to spend nearly ten percent of my annual income on energy savings means far more than someone in a 3,000 square foot drywall castle adding a few more inches of insulation to their attic. In their defense, what they save might equal my total use, but as a percentage of their bill, the savings would be minute. Surely less than running their gas fireplace for the holidays or the cost of heating the hot tub.

My investments in conservation rest solely on my shoulders. I bear the burden of their costs and reap the rewards of smaller utility bills. Several years ago, I installed what uppity solar techs call a "scorched air" furnace. It's basically a box that has double glazing on the south (sunny) side, insulation on the north (shady) side. Cool air from the house goes in on one end and warm air comes out on the other, as long as the sun is on the panel. Two automatic dampers isolate the box from the house when the sun goes down and a thermostat turns on a fan to blow cool air into the unit when the box warms up. It is a simple and elegant system that many people don't even notice sitting out behind the back porch. The solar panel cost four hundred dollars, used, and it cost about $1,000 for the installation. Right from the start, the system saved me about 1/3 of the heating bill. This unit has been producing heat sine 1972 and shows a bit of age, but works well. The system paid itself off in less than two years and now saves us nearly $1,000 per year. The way I see those avoided costs is that they help to fund my next round of improvements. Over the years I have found 30-50% energy savings easy to get from each and every home that I have owned. the problem is that very few people understand or can conceive of why these issues are important. I rest easier knowing that in fifty or more years, when my roof needs replacing, the material that comes off can be recycled. I also delight in the fact that I don't have to keep a giant container of hot water in my basement anymore! When you live in 680 square feet of space, a water heater wasting space from floor to ceiling (even if it is in the basement)seems way bigger than I have space for. The small, suitcase size, on-demand water heater that replaces it and hangs on the wall is much better suited to my small footprint lifestyle. An added benefit is that it fits our lifestyle on multiple levels. Installing a through the wall venting unit allowed us to eliminate our chimney opening up nearly four square feet per floor for living space. Efficiency isn't just about energy savings, it is about living a better lifestyle with the resources that you have on hand, spending less on resources from far far away and appreciating what is all around us all the time.

The fact is that energy providers make money on every bit of energy they sell, the hot water that flows down the drain and away from your house is money in their bank. The light left on overnight is accruing to their bottom line and the wasted trip that you took to the store that advertised one thing but ran out before you got there, helps put the children of the CEOs of some faceless energy giant corporation through ivy league university. The rules are set so that they never lose money on waste and inefficiency. It's all just a write off for them. In fact the systems that we establish to "save energy", though somewhat effective reward those who should be paying for these things themselves while the folks who are least able to afford the upgrades are stuck paying the lion's share of the bills, living in drafty old buildings and wishing that they could find a way to keep the lights on for another month. I have seen folks too poor to afford glass put cardboard up in place of a broken pane. There will always be people too poor to pay attention, but when folks like me are ready and willing to make whatever changes are needed to reduce energy use, subsidizing the changes for the well-to-do just doesn't make sense. The ultimate winners are the utility companies. Financially, the table has been set for them with all the trimmings. The poorer classes, can only hope to scrape together an ort or two for a meager holiday dinner of scraps.