Rhode Island Feeds

Could you define your level of consumption by quantifying how much stuff you possess?

I have been thinking about this a bit over the past few weeks and wanted to put that challenge out there in the form of our March Poll. In the ever-unfolding quest for simpler, more sustainable living, I have been enamored of late with a few great blogs on the minimalist lifestyle:

• Zen Habits
• Far Beyond the Stars
• Becoming Minimalist

These writers/motivators are helping to lead a revolution in down-sizing our lifestyles (but not our lives!) to focus on the most important things. While the green angle is not always the key driver, it goes without saying that the environmental benefit of a minimalist lifestyle is dramatic. Want less, buy less. Buy less, produce less. Produce less, plunder the earth's resources less. You get the picture.

As I think about the many woes facing humanity these days, consumption in one way, shape or form is at the root of darn near all of them. Our priorities are skewed. We have lost sight of what true happiness is and can bring. And along the way, lost our true sense of self.

Let's be clear, I have a LONG way to go to being a Superstar Minimalist, but it is about the journey for me. Letting go and eliminating what is no longer necessary to "be". Eliminating the clutter -- physical, digital, emotional or otherwise. Making way for simpler living at home and at work. Hopefully, using the process to help teach our kids about knowing what is most important in life.

But I would be remiss if I didn't answer the poll question for myself. For stuff that I alone use, I would put the count at between 100 and 250. This includes everything from books to tools and garden stuff to clothes. Perhaps I'll chronicle the liberation process from time to time. Clearly I have room to improve.

Where do you net out at? What is motivating you to do more with less?


[Image: jasontheaker via flickr]

You can never compost enough in my book. This clinic, offered through the URI Master Composter & Recycler program, should be great. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Over the past year I have had the privilege of co-leading the development of a new "green" team at work. Our group is focused on not only educating employees on environmental issues, but more importantly, initiating business activities that benefit the planet AND the bottom line.

With that, I thought I would pass along some tips for helping you form your own green team:

Make the Case for Greening Your Business
Saving the planet is great. Saving the planet AND driving value for your business is even better. Try building your business case and program around the "triple bottom line" of the Corporate Social Responsibility Model: people, planet, profit. Business doesn't have to operate in "value silos". Score bonus points if you can tie "green" or sustainable efforts to your business model, strategy, or value proposition in some way.

Create a Solid Plan
If you cannot demonstrate a clear action plan for achieving that triple bottom line your efforts will fall flat. Our annual plan is primarily comprised of two parts: Business Initiatives and Community Initiatives. The former allows us to identify and execute opportunities that drive business value (e.g., reduce electricity or paper usage); the latter enables us to connect with local non-profits with an environmental focus and help their efforts through volunteering.

Find a Champion
Otherwise known as getting buy-in from the top. Find someone senior in your organization who shares similar values to "sponsor" your efforts. This person can help forward your mission through public (and visible) support and the removal of organizational obstacles that might get in your way.

Measure, Analyze, Improve
Having solid numbers to drive the creation and ongoing execution of your action plan is invaluable. Take baseline measurements such as electricity usage, waste volume, and recycling rates to know where you are starting from. Then as you take steps to improve your performance, you can measure your impact. Regular measurement of your efforts can also help you identify ways to enhance your action plan along the way.

Benchmark and Network
More and more companies are embracing ways to make their business more sustainable. Learn from them what works and what doesn't. B Corporation, Climate Counts, and GreenBiz are excellent sites to start this process. If you find a few companies close to you, consider creating an ongoing discussion series to improve networking.

Be Inclusive
The more people in your company you can connect with who share the same values and enthusiasm for sustainable business, the better your chance of success. Consider creating a grassroots network of "green ambassadors" throughout your company to help spread the message, execute your action plan, and generate new ideas. Need leader buy-in on activities? Consider the formation of a "green council" to help steer efforts.

Be Patient
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your new and improved sustainable business. Don't take on too much too soon. Remember, you want to demonstrate the viability and value of your action plan. Early on, focus on the "low hanging fruit" -- those opportunities such as reducing waste and energy usage -- to score some early "wins". From there, you can focus on bigger, more complex things like greening your supply chain or manufacturing processes. Good luck!

Almost the end of February (already!). That means March will soon arrive and with that a new Book of the Month.

I could throw something out there, but I would rather our readers have a voice. It's a bit old school to try and get book discussions going -- especially virtually -- but I'm a firm believer in the power of books to open new doors.

So, any good "green" book ideas?

For a little inspiration, you may want to consider the Top 10 Books on the Environment for 2010 from Book List Online. (Thanks, Kathy!)

And remember, when you're ready to read tap into our Ocean State Inter-library Loan system through Essex/Union. Why buy when you can borrow?

[Image Credit: bluemaria via flikr]

Coming off the Avatar post I’ve been doing quite a bit of catching up on deep ecology. Through our inter-library loan program, I picked up a wonderful book, “Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings.” It’s a collection of small essays by thought leaders in the deep ecology movement.

While I could write a post on any and all the points discussed in the book, there is one presented by John Seed that has struck a chord with me that I would like to share.

It is about perspective.

Up to now, the modus operandi for most of the green movement has been about protecting the environment in a way that sets humans apart from it. Like we sit outside the eco-sphere some how and in our classic anthropocentric way, need to save it for future use by us. At the end of the day, nature, the environment, and everything within the biosphere exists for the sole purpose of meeting our needs.

Now, what if you were to turn all that inside out? What if the human perspective shifted from one of being apart and above the environment to being an integral part of it? The human species as just another organism in the intricate tapestry of life here on Earth – no more special than any other that breathes the air, drinks the water, lives, dies, and passes its energy on to the next living thing.

So instead of working so hard to protect the environment as some stand-alone entity, we, as being one with the environment, would be working to save ourselves from our own self-destruction.

That’s a game changer, isn’t it?

The analogy of using a 24-hour day to track the 4.5 billion year lifespan of the planet is one that resonates well with people. It is used in “Thinking Like a Mountain”, but in context of the other writings within it is more powerful than ever. Not to spoil it, but modern-day humans only come on the scene at 11:59:59 PM.

Yet, in that one proverbial second, we have systematically eradicated much of the natural resources that came to be in the last several billon years: Mined, drilled, cut, dug, burned, flooded, and pumped the carbon lifeblood on or below the surface; cultivated, bred, factory farmed, genetically altered, and/or drove to extinction that life which grew, swam, slithered, walked, or flew above the crust. We have designed ways to all but eliminate our species from existence with the touch of a button.

When you take a step back and try to look holistically at the trajectory we’re on, it’s questionable what the end of this ride will bring.

But could a shift in perspective on the grandest of scales change that trajectory? How possible is such a notion? Look around at everything happening in front of you: The people, the places, the “problems”. How could such a shift in perspective – in consciousness – even take root, let alone thrive and bear fruit when there are so many day-to-day distractions?

The obvious answer: One person at a time. I just don’t know if there is enough time left to reach all 6.8 billion of us that call this little corner of the solar system home.

So what would you do – how far would you go – to save yourself?

[Image: jasontheaker via flikr]

This past Wednesday evening about twenty-five people attended the Tiverton Economic Development Committee’s regularly-scheduled meeting to hear first-hand where the proposed 650-acre “green” development was in its evolution. While the crowd gathered inside the Judson Street Community Center was small, it was far from silent.

Attending on behalf of The Rhode Island Renewable Energy Cooperative (RIREC), the energy systems development wing of the eCo Industrial Park, was CEO Gerald V. Felise, VP of Energy James P. Sweeney, and lead consultant Andrew C. Dzykewicz.

The formal presentation was part vision, part education, but mainly a sales pitch to the town. While prior media coverage of the project has touted the master plan for this development – complete with commercial, residential, and energy production components – the RIREC team focused solely on the latter on Wednesday night. As they put it, if the first phase of the project (energy systems development) can’t move forward, there is no value in the rest.

The driving force behind the RIREC is the allure of what could be a lucrative renewable energy facility boom in the East Bay area thanks to the recently formed East Bay Energy Consortium. Currently comprised of Bristol, Warren, Barrington, East Providence, Portsmouth, Little Compton, Tiverton, Middletown and Newport, the Consortium aims to basically develop renewable energy facilities in bulk, and then reap the resulting energy production benefits by leveraging current net metering laws. Such laws allow municipalities to be paid (by National Grid) the full delivered price for energy produced at town-owned facilities up to a certain limit.

The resulting RIREC business model is relatively simple: Aggregate all Consortium-related development into one location to take advantage of economies of scale and keep development costs at a minimum. Finance, build and maintain the facility for participating EBEC member municipalities at no upfront cost to the towns. National Grid then purchases the energy from the Consortium members at a fixed rate. In turn, Consortium members contract with RIREC and pay a set of monthly fees for lease of the energy equipment, ongoing operations and management of the facility, and an overall management. Some of these fees are fixed, others variable.

What is on the table for this Tiverton location is a multi-faceted energy systems development comprised of approximately twelve 2-megawatt turbines, 24 megawatt’s worth of photovoltaic solar panels, and 96-megawatts of energy storage capability. Spread out over the entire 650-acre footprint, these elements will only occupy about 10 percent of the total land area. According to data gathered by RIREC, these combined energy systems will generate 83,522 megawatts of electricity when fully operational.

The turbines would be built first, aided by on-site manufacturing of the towers in to-be constructed facilities. Of particular note was the claim from RIREC that these towers would be constructed out of a new, lightweight carbon fiber instead of the traditional steel. Details about this were scant, only that RIREC was currently in discussions with a company for licensing this technology.

What does Tiverton get with this deal? According to the high-level financials provided, as host to the project the town stands to gain significant amounts of revenue through annual corporate contributions from RIREC, property taxes, operating income from the energy production units, and indirect income gained through activities related to the construction phase such as jobs and in-town business spending. All total, revenue over the life of the project is slated to be around $23 million. If it also participates as part of the Consortium, Tiverton stands to gain an additional $669,000 in revenue annually for at least twenty years through net metering.

If such dollar signs didn’t make the deal sweet enough, RIREC delivered the equivalent of icing on the green economy cake with the promise of sourcing jobs to Tiverton residents and businesses first. What could not be filled in Tiverton would then be sourced out to participating Consortium members.

The price tag for all of this: About $120 million according to RIREC. The entire amount will be privately funded and is in place. All that is required to move forward with construction is the review and approval of the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board (and the subsequent signing of all those contracts and related paperwork). According to RIREC, this decision is slated for April 16, 2010. And while the project does not need the permission of the Town of Tiverton to move forward, having the Town issue a statement of partnership would greatly add to the collaborative model RIREC is hoping to forge with Consortium members. The project has already been endorsed by Governor Carcieri.

All that said, those in attendance peppered the three RIREC executives with plenty of questions. From clarifying wind data to pressing the validity of the stated financials to calling bluff on RIREC’s claim that the entire project could be online and operational by the end of 2010. Not shying away from the robust Q & A, the executives did their best to quell the curiosity. Only the facilitation of Tiverton Economic Development Committee members kept the discussion from lingering on.

At the conclusion of the presentation, members of the Tiverton Economic Development Committee stated that they would deliberate on the discussion and consult with the Town Council on how best to move forward.

My personal thoughts: On paper, it is quite a sell. As a strong proponent of renewable energy development I have a natural bias. But this is big – really big – with the potential for more ups and downs than this small town is used to. But that’s no reason to not continue the exploration and dialogue.

Unanswered questions in my mind include: How will claims by RIREC to keep much of the 650 acres in conservancy play out over the course of the entire multi-phase development? What is the potential impact to the Stafford Pond area on the eastern edge of the acreage? How will the town weigh the potential risk of lower energy prices (which would chip away at the revenue it stands to gain) in its deliberations?

Enough of what I think? What do you have to say?

If you’re interested in PDF copies of the RIREC presentation of business case, email me and I’ll send them to you.

(Photo Credit: Evan McKern via Flikr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/evanmckern/1092730012/)

Remember the proposal for a massive 650-acre "eco-development" off of Fish Road that hit the papers in late 2008?

Well, the developer is attending this week's Economic Development Committee meeting and presenting his updated plan. The public is invited to listen and ask questions. Details:

Tiverton Economic Development Committee Meeting
Thursday, February 11, 6:00 PM
Location: Tiverton Community Center, Judson Street

(Thanks to Garry for the heads-up on this.)

In classic fashion, I'm once again late with the poll update. That said, January's poll results were fantastic -- thank you to everyone who took the time to lend their voice.

We asked: What should the top sustainable community agenda items be in 2010?

Education & Engagement topped this list, followed closely by Renewable Energy Investment and Agriculture & Food. In the middle of the pack was Local Economic Development. Rounding out the list with only a few votes were Land Preservation, Transportation Alternatives and Zoning & Related Planning.

While I try to plan some sort of face-to-face gathering in the Tiverton/Little Compton area, you may be interested in checking out one a these local "education & engagement" resources:

• UMASS Dartmouth's Sustainability Office has an amazing spring line up of events. From films to speakers to workshops, there is a lot of great work going on over there. (Thanks to Nate over at biodieselnow.com for the heads-up.)
  
  
• The Green Drinks series continues in Newport and Providence. These monthly gatherings bring good food, good drink, and great conversation together in a nice neat package.

Now, on to February's poll.

This month, we're asking about steps you are taking to save energy (and money) at home. With the thick of winter upon us, furnaces firing, and the electric meter spinning, there is never a better time to take some simple steps to make your home more energy efficient.

Well, it’s coming: Pay As You Throw (PAYT).

With the Tiverton Town Council voting to implement PAYT as a tactic for extending the life of our landfill, boosting municipal recycling rates, and putting away funds for the eventual capping, folks from across town are undoubtedly going to get themselves in a tizzy over it.

According to the Sakonnet Times article last week, we won't see the program start for months while all the details are worked out. That should give everyone plenty of time to get ready. To help, I have taken the liberty to throw together an unofficial list of things you can do to prepare. Good luck!

Number One: Get Educated

Municipalities across the country (including several in RI) have been implementing PAYT programs with success. The U.S. EPA has a great website with all the ins and outs. Or read this great article covering all the pros and cons along with lots of impressive stats.

Number Two: Buy Less
The less you have, the less you have to figure out how to throw away. Take PAYT as that opportunity to start doing more with less, differentiating between ‘need’ and ‘want’, and reducing all that clutter in your life. Need some motivation? Watch the Story of Stuff.

Number Three: Get on the Freecycle Bandwagon

For all that stuff that is still in good shape and could use a second life with someone else, there is freecycling. We are signed up with the Yahoo! Group Freecycle Newport. With thousands of area people using it, you’re bound to find someone who wants your stuff.

Number Four: Pre-Cycle
When you shop, look for packaging that can be recycled. Glass, aluminum, Number 1 and 2 plastics, and paper-based materials can land in your blue and green bins instead of your trash barrel. And remember that buying in bulk can also cut down on the amount of packaging you consume.

Number Five: Start a Compost Pile
Around twenty-five percent of household waste is organic material (e.g., vegetable and non-meat food scraps, lawn and garden clippings, etc.) and can be composted. The whole brown-and-green-layering thing couldn’t be easier and the end result (compost) is the absolute best thing you could ever put in your garden. Check out this great composting resource from URI to learn more.

Number Six: Seize the Teachable Moment with Your Kids
If you haven’t already given your kids the Recycling 101 class, now is the time. Our experience is that the sooner you show kids how to separate recyclables from trash, and tell them why we do it, the sooner they will be helping you without your asking. Make a game out it. Fun stuff rocks.

Number Seven: Get to Know Your Neighbors
Not so long ago, we actually talked with our neighbors. That led to all sorts of great things: From borrowing a cup of sugar to lending a hand with the kids to keeping an eye on each other’s house when you weren’t around. Neighbors use to let each other borrow things big and small. History could repeat itself here. Remember the magic equation: Borrow More = Buy Less = Throw Less Out.

Have some old paint or cleaners laying around the house? What about spent batteries or CFL bulbs? Or maybe even that old radiator fluid you flushed out last summer?

Eco-Depot, the household waste disposal service from the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation, has published their 2010 schedule. Monthly drop-offs happen at their facility in Johnston (at the Central Landfill) with mobile units hitting various cities and towns throughout the year. Roadshows closest to us:

• April 17 // Second Beach in Middletown (e-waste included at this event)
• June 5 // Portsmouth High School
• July 17 // Department of Public Works in Tiverton

To drop off items, you have to make an appointment in advance. See the RIRRC website for details.

Image Source: RIRRC website

Local Sogkonnite Living blogger, Kristin Silveira, recently attended the "Agriculture on Aquidneck Island" event over at the Pennfield School. Given all the cool stuff that her and her family are diving into, her perspective on the event is great. Thanks again, Kristin!

I had the pleasure of attending the lecture, Agriculture on Aquidneck Island, last week at Penfield School. It was moderated by Ted Clement of the Aquidneck Land Trust and had four local farmers on the panel. Peter Borden of the Swiss Village Farm and SVF Foundation, John Nunes from Newport Vineyards, Louis Escobar from Escobar’s Farm and Rhody Fresh Milk and Barbara vanBeuren from Aquidneck Farms. Luckily for us (we have four cherubs) they had some of the school’s upperclassmen in another room to watch the children. The event was very well attended, even though it was lightly snowing that evening. In fact, they even had to put out more chairs for all the attendees.

Each gave a short presentation enhanced by video and slides on their ventures. Peter Borden spoke about the work they are doing to save rare and endangered breeds of livestock via germplasm (embryos, semen and genetic material). The Swiss Village sits on 35 acres in Newport, RI, formerly the Edgehill Rehab Center.  John Nunes discussed the history of his family’s land and the development into a large successful vineyard. His beautiful video showed the various parcels around the island they farm and a tease of how they operate -- he encouraged everyone to attend the vineyard for the full tour. Louis Escobar gave a passionate history of inheriting the farm along with the million dollar tax bill. This is when he became connected with (as are Newport Vineyards and Aquidneck Farm) the Aquidneck Land Trust to save the farm. He also talked about how he had to diversify when the price of milk dropped about a decade ago, beginning his corn maze. Barbara van Beuren discussed her grass fed beef, a herd size of about 120 head. They have also begun to raise pastured poultry, in chicken tractors. This is very familiar to me from Joel Salatin’s methods, although she did not specifically state this. In the summer the herd is rotationally grazed and the winter the herd is fed their own dried hay or grass silage. 

Around the room were tables set up with various vendors. Present were the panel’s farms in addition to Sweet Berry Farms, RI Livestock Association, and the Aquidneck Growers Market. All had representatives from their organizations, and various literatures to take home. I was pleased to meet Kim from the livestock association with whom I have many email and phone conversations. My kids were most impressed with the Rhody Fresh milk table as he gave them each a chocolate milk and a key chain. I am sorry to say they we don’t carry this milk at their school, he explained that some companies were reluctant to serve their milk as it was more expensive.

Here are some other upcoming events we learned about. This Thursday, Jan 21st, at URI is “An Economic Development Framework for Sustainable Agriculture" lecture from 10-12. It is sponsored by the van Beuren Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation, and University of Rhode Island. The speaker is Michael Hamm, CS Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, Michigan State University.

Aquidneck Land Trust is hosting their 20th annual meeting Thursday, February 4th at 6pm at the Atlantic Beach Club. Public welcome, complementary buffet and cash bar.

The SVF Foundation’s Annual Visitors Day Saturday June 12th from 9:30-3:00. There is free parking at Fort Adams State Park with a trolley shuttle and free admission to SVF. I really hope to be able to attend this event as the farm is usually closed to visitors for bio-security reasons.

http://www.svffoundation.org/

http://www.newportvineyards.com/

http://www.aquidneckfarms.com/

http://www.escobarshighlandfarm.com/index.html

Sara and I finally succumbed to the ranting and raving and checked out “Avatar” over the weekend. I have a natural pre-disposition to sci-fi-esque movies, so I went in there biased. But what I left there thinking was more than skin deep.

While the story is somewhat predictable, any let down in plot was offset by the amazing quality of the production. Accolades abound and it will surely set the bar even higher for Hollywood. Clearly, that is part of the draw – and its reaping of over one billion dollars world-wide so far.

I agree with the critics that there is significant commentary on many fronts – political, social, environmental. But I see nothing wrong with that. Allowing creative expression – regardless of the muse – to be a vehicle for social commentary is nothing new. It’s healthy and needed.

So what does Avatar have to do with this humble little blog?

The film caused me to remember some research I had done years ago on the topic of ‘deep ecology’. A Google search will turn up more pages than you can shake a stick at. In a nutshell though, the deep ecology philosophy is one that places human kind on equal footing with the rest of the ecosphere. We are not above the environment or anything that calls it home (an anthropocentric view) but just another thread in the fabric of life. As such, the exploitation of nature for the gain of humankind is a fatal error that will lead to eventual demise.

Deep ecology sets forth eight basic principles around which the philosophy/movement is grounded*:

1. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
2. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.
3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs.
4. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
5. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
6. Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.
8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.

Such a platform challenges most modern (in particular, Western) thought, living, religious belief, and supposed strategies and tactics for economic “progress”. 

This equality, balance, and interdependence within the ecosphere is nothing new, however. Native peoples have ascribed to it for millenia (clearly, the inspiration for James Cameron's Na'vi people). The Buddhist concept of ‘interbeing’, often espoused by famed monk, author, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, also points us towards such a view. But alas, Western culture marches to the beat of a different, more ego-centric drum.

Of course, deep ecology has its critics and detractors. But at the end of the day, the details of who’s really ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ doesn’t matter. What’s important is the dialogue that surrounds it. Because no matter how you look at it, there is no way humans can keep on multiplying and consuming at the pace we’re at and not tap this proverbial well dry. My opinion is that we’ll start to see the beginning of this unraveling in my lifetime; our kids and grandkids – that’s a whole different story.

Man, the scope of all of this hurts my head. Where do we go from here? Maybe Hollywood can help. ;-)

Some additional resources for deep ecology:
Wikipedia
Foundation for Deep Ecology
“Introduction to Deep Ecology”, Context Institute


* Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_ecology#Principles 

Want to save $50 in 15 minutes? Read on.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to become more resourceful on the home front when it comes to the DIY (do it yourself) category. I’m not usually all that handy – as my friends and family can attest to – but 2010 is the year to change all that!

Why? For me, it’s part environmental, part financial, and part this crazy notion of wanting to be a suburban homesteader. At the end of the day though, if a person can learn a new skill, lessen their impact on the planet, live a bit more simply, AND save a few dollars in the process, then it’s worth the while.

So the first “how-to” I wanted to share is DIY laundry detergent.

We were reaching the end of our economy size bottle of store-bought detergent and I figured, what the heck, let’s see what we can do. There are a ton of resources out there for making the stuff and clearly I’m not breaking new ground here, but nonetheless, let me give you the tutorial. (I made a liquid-based detergent because of our high-efficiency washer, but you can find a powder recipe here.)

Most, if not all, of the recipes out there are based on three, easily-accessible ingredients:

•    Basic bar soap (preferably a low-suds, low-fragrance variety)
•    Washing soda (a.k.a, soda ash or sodium carbonate; I used an Arm & Hammer brand).
•    Borax (a.k.a., sodium borate; I used the 20-Mule-Team brand) to brighten and de-odorize

Add to that the following materials:

•    5-gallon bucket (preferably with lid)
•    Liquid measuring cup
•    Dry measuring cup
•    Large sauce pot
•    Box grater
•    Large stirring spoon
•    An empty and clean one-gallon jug


Just about everything you need to get started

Now, for the tutorial:

1.    Measure 4 cups of water, place it in the sauce pot, and bring to a boil

2.    Grate one bar of basic soap into small shavings. I used Ivory because it is low-suds, doesn’t smell all that much, and is cheap. Remember, the cleaning action is not from the volume of suds. In fact, if you have a high efficiency (HE) washer, the less suds the better.



3.    Slowly add the soap shavings to the boiling water, stirring until everything is dissolved and combined. Lower heat and keep it on simmer.



4.    From there, add 3 gallons of warm-to-hot tap water to the 5-gallon bucket

5.    Add 1 cup of the Washing Soda

6.    Add ½ cup of Borax

7.    Add the dissolved water/bar soap mixture; stir all the contents well with the spoon


Everything combined and ready to be capped

8.    Put the lid on the bucket and allow the mixture to stand for 24-hours.

9.    After 24 hours, check out your mixture. Depending on the temperature of where you stored the bucket you should have anything from a liquid with small gelatinous chunks to a full gelatinous mixture akin to a semi-hard Jello. We had the latter because everything is in the basement. Just take your spoon and give it a good mixing. The mixture will break apart and become more liquid-y in the process.


It's tough to see, but our mixture had quite a gelatinous consistency when we first pulled off the lid. It broke up easily when stirred.

10.    When you’re ready to do a load, measure 1 cup of the mixture and add it to your wash as normal


Ready to roll. The little chunks easily dissolved in the wash.

We’ve run a few loads so far and we can tell no difference. If we had something with a stain, I’d probably still try to pre-treat it. But the clothes come out feeling, smelling, and looking fresh. I’m sure you could add some natural oil essence to the mix if you wanted to enhance the olfactory experience a bit.

Now for the dollars and cents (or should that be sense?):

For the DIY laundry detergent:

• Total cost for all the ingredients (including tax) was $10.04 ($2.99 for the Washing Soda + $3.99 for the Borax + $2.58 for the 6 bars soap). Using the above measurements, we will get 6 complete batches with some Borax to spare.
  
  
• Each batch provides 52 liquid cups of detergent. Multiply by 6 batches and that gives you enough detergent for 312 1-cup loads.
  
  
• Cost Per Load = $10.04 / 312 = $0.03

For the traditional laundry detergent:

Let’s use Tide 2X Ultra Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergent Original Scent (150oz bottle; 96 loads per bottle) -- something we've bought in the past. At Stop & Shop’s Peapod site, this retails for $19.99. You would need 3.18 bottles of this to give you 312 loads of detergent – the amount we get with our DIY version. For the sake of simple math, let’s round down to 3 bottles.

• Total Cost = $19.99 x 3 = $59.97 (not including tax)
  
  
• Cost Per Load = $59.97 / 312 = $0.19

Now, I bet you could get the ingredients cheaper (I bought them at Stop & Shop) thus lowering your per-load cost. But even with these numbers, we’re saving $0.16 per load across the six batches (312 total loads) for a total savings of $49.92. Not too shabby for 15 minutes worth of work.

Financial benefits aside, we’re using ingredients that are free of petroleum byproducts, further lessening our oil dependence and eliminating toxins from our home. When you stop and take stock of all the things in your home that uses a petroleum by-product (e.g., plastics for starters), even this very small step feels good.

Good luck making your own! Be sure to drop a line and share your results!

There's a new voice for green news in Rhode Island.

ecoRI, the brainchild of veteran reporter Frank Carini, is publishing twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) with original stories you won't find anywhere else. I've spoken with Frank and his ambitions are noble. More importantly though, the stories at ecoRI are original, well researched, and superbly written.

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Best wishes to Frank and the ecoRI team!

So, after a long delay I'm finally up on twitter. Come follow me at twitter.com/RhodyGreen. See you around!

How would your life change if gas cost $4.00 per gallon? $8.00? $12.00? $20.00?

That’s the premise of the new book by Christopher Steiner. While many books on the prospect of higher fuel costs driven by lessening supply and increasing demand are typically of the doom-and-gloom variety, the premise of $20 Per Gallon is that our lives will actually change for the better.

Each chapter looks at the impact of our American lifestyle at ever-increasing per-gallon price points ($4.00, $6.00, $8.00… all the way to $20.00). It’s an interesting and thought-provoking ride through a number of well-research scenarios of what will be lost and gained as we spend more on fuel. Historical perspectives that helped shape our current situations add context, while first-person interviews with field experts help ground the proclamations. Consider the following key game changers from the book:

• At $6.00 per gallon the SUV dies and we drive fewer miles by the billions. Fewer lives are lost to traffic fatalities and as a society we begin the great Slim Down.
  
  
• At $8.00 per gallon, air travel as we know it goes the way of the dodo and the airline industry is stripped of all but the most savvy players. This drives families and friends to re-localize to a smaller geographic area.
  
  
• At $12.00 per gallon suburbia begins to wither on the vine as more and more people relocate to cities to live more energy efficient lifestyles and take advantage of all that higher density living has to offer.
  
  
• At $16.00 per gallon food shipped from half way across the globe is a thing of the past. Localized food systems based soundly on organic growing principles (no fossil fuel derivative fertilizers here!) take center stage. Processed foods begin their fall from grace as people continue to evolve their healthier lifestyles.
  

I won’t spoil the "cliff-hanger" $20.00 scenario for you. Now, of course WHEN we see this dramatic rise in gasoline cost is the Million Dollar Question. Mr. Steiner does not get into that. He doesn't have to. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Why? Consider peak oil.

Prior to reading the book, I was already a committed believer of peak oil and the inevitable changes (good and bad) that will ensue as the world’s demand for carbon-based fuels far outweighs the supply. When you consider all of this through the lens of our suburban Sakonnet community, I began to feel a growing sense of urgency. An urgency to engage our community – from elected officials to businesses to citizens just like you and me – to start the discussion of just how we should be proactively planning for that inevitable time. We all need to be a part of this process.

You may remember the post on Saving Suburbia through the creation of a Transition Town movement. I picked up the “handbook” through the inter-library loan system and am giving it a read-through. It’s all about just that – putting aside the typical short-term thinking of municipal affairs to start engaging the broader public in a collective think-tank for creating solutions for evolving and sustaining our communities in the face of peak oil and climate change.

But when I step back from the eco-pulpit, I look out and see very few people out there with that same sense of urgency. As a society, we have forsaken the long-view for the more instantaneously gratifying shorter variety. Proactive planning is a long-lost art. Yes, some of the new recently-passed business zoning laws start chipping away at this, but that is no silver bullet.

The inherent design flaws of our own municipal government structure are a case in point: We are so wrapped up in the (sometimes important, sometimes not) minutiae of day-to-day operations we can never take the time or effort to look out five years, let alone 15 or 20. Few of our elected officials are willing to risk even small-scale political careers on such big and often complex ideas. Further, our simpleton financial process, with its 12-month birth-death cycle, will never allow for long-term planning and investment in serious and substantial community change initiatives. The broader community lacks the necessary context for an informed vote in that knee-jerk, group think arena known as the Financial Town Meeting.

I ask for your honest opinion: Do you sense the same urgency for engagement and planning? Why or why not? Is the vast majority of the population just bogged down by the day-to-day to even care? If you've read this book, how has it changed your perspective on things?

“There’s an app for that…”

Thanks to Amy over at Mariah Power, manufacturer of the Windspire turbine, for the heads up on Windspire Me, their new (free) iPhone app. I haven't downloaded it (sorry, no iPhone in my pocket), but the feedback at the iTunes Store shows that a few folks have been interested in getting their wind on.

This is a great example of leveraging new(er) consumer engagement technology and trends to connect with potential customers and bolster your business. The Windspire Me app exudes a pretty decent "cool" factor too.

What to do after you thrust your iPhone in the air and find you’re in a sweet spot for wind? You can check out Mariah’s dealer listing for starters. I put “02878” into the zip code finder and the closest dealer was Rhode Island Power in Middletown.

With that in mind, it’s good to remember that federal and state tax credits and rebates are out there for residential renewable energy projects. The federal government provides a tax credit of 30%. Overviews of state-level financial incentives for residential projects are here for Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Are you thinking about renewable energy project for your home? Installed a solar array, solar hot water unit or turbine lately? Leave a comment and tell us about the process and outcomes!

Passing this along as FYI. Sounds like a great discussion. Click on the image to enlarge.

Because of the weather today, we decided to hang back and not head up to Pawtucket for the Wintertime Farmers' Market. With the market closed last week due to the holiday, we were bummed knowing it would be another week before being able to get some local fare.

That got me thinking: Why not a more locally situated wintertime farmers' market? According to Farm Fresh RI, there are three wintertime markets running in the state each weekend: the one in Pawtucket has the north part of the state covered; the Coastal Growers Market in North Kingstown and its counterpart in South Kingstown/Peacedale handle the southern end of things. Something in the Sakonnet/Aquidneck area would do wonders for the eastern part of the state.

A good number of the growers/producers in Pawtucket each week are from Sakonnet/Aquidneck area (list here). Enough to surely cover the gamut of wintertime offerings. Honestly, it's probably more a factor of two things: demand and logistics.

Could enough traffic be drummed up to drive sales at a level that makes it worth while for the growers? And where is there an indoor facility suitable for housing the market? Pawtucket has both of these covered nicely.

While I have nothing to substantiate it aside from observations at the Aquidneck Growers, Sakonnet Growers, and Colt State Park markets, I think there is enough interest and demand for local food to warrant a wintertime market in these parts. As for location, why not tap one of our local schools? The "cafetorium" at the Tiverton Middle School comes to mind as a great open space.

I know there are a few readers of Sustainable Sakonnet close to the Sakonnet Growers Market. Any thoughts on this? I would be willing to lend a hand in thinking it through if you're interested.

How about other readers? Would you like to see a wintertime farmers' market closer to home?

Hard to believe it's a new decade, but here we are. What next?

I'm optimistic about 2010, both personally and at the community level. There is a lot going on and even more in the pipeline.

On the home front, I'm committed to doing even more to lessen our environmental footprint -- and sharing what we're doing with all of you. Be on the lookout for a new blog series I'm going to call (for now, anyway) "Back to Basics" -- a forum for learning a sharing some things both big and small to help live more simply and sustainably.

In the community, there is much to be done with many things starting to make their way to the forefront -- from Pay as You Throw to municipal renewable energy projects to long-term economic development opportunities. What should the agenda be with our elected officials? Take the January Poll (at right) and start to lend your voice.

2010 is also the year that I hope to make Sustainable Sakonnet more than just a blog. There are many like-minded folks out there and ample opportunity to help connect us a bit more -- to share, to learn, to organize and galvanize our community around topics that are important to the long-term vitality and sustainability of our little neck of the woods.

As for the blog, we'll keep trucking along. This Blogger platform is becoming a bit limiting so I'll be exploring other options (e.g., Wordpress) to enable better organization of the content.

In the meantime, I'd like to try a few new "features" to further seed the dialogue: Up first, a "Book of the Month". Sounds hokey, yes, but why can't the good ol' fashioned book club concept work here too? Stimulating thought provoking (virtual) conversation has never been a bad thing. Check it out (at right). I'll be getting a post up soon to serve as the discussion chain. Perhaps a Movie of the Month is not far behind.

So until next time, I wish you and yours the best for the New Year. Thanks for your support of Sustainable Sakonnet! As always, I love to hear from you -- your thoughts and ideas are always welcome and appreciated!