My First Solar Post
Attention Toxified Earthlings: This is my first solar posting. I am writing to you by the grace of sun power. My southern exposure is reeling the meter backwards as I write.
It is: intensely satisfying. Please do come over and turn something on.
I'm on a roll. Where is my next biodiesel hippie schoolbus? Call me now! I feel so impatient to revamp everything.
As ecology diarists may remember from my earlier post, I left Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth movie with more of a whimper in my heart than an ecstatic bang. I needed stronger stuff!— where could I find it?
I know many of you have found the movie a great turning point for disbelievers, or kooks who think there are "two sides" to global warming... I'm all for their conversion.
But for myself, I've been searching for a radical ecology documentary that would lift my spirits and give me some fresh spunk. Mainline me, baby!
Well, I found it, courtesy of Andrew Leonard at Salon.
Meet community architect and designer William McDonough. Behold his video from a speech he made at the 2000 Bioneers conference.
It's the complete opposite of Gore's movie. The production values are terrible— it's someone's camcorder set up in a dreary conference room. The view alternates between dull-colored charts, and John's un-made-up face, the talking head.
What is he says, however, is electrifying. His ideas: mind-expanding. His wit: sheer bliss.
He's thrillingly controversial, and global in a whole new way: "When are we all going to start thinking of ourselves as indigenous people?" he asks.
He pooh-poohs "sustainability"— "If I asked if you were married, and you said 'Yes,' and I said, 'How is it?' and you said, 'Sustainable' — does that sound very promising?"
McDonough wants to go way beyond sustainability. He wants a fecund, thriving ecological life force. He wants to make "large!" thumbprints— that leave vast wetlands. Instead of telling you to bike or pray harder, he talks about his case histories with companies and communities that take on vast undertakings where their whole culture will be changed for an environmentally sensational, (not just sustainable) future.
You know, I bet environmentalist Al Gore privately thinks this guy is remarkable too... how 'bout making another fancy movie and talking about these ideas?
I'm posting the film here. It's a half-hour or so... which i realize is a long time when you're web surfing.
It's largely a listening experience, where the visuals are not that important. (Although some of his "charts," like the one on "stuff and time," are very funny). Bake a cake and listen in!
I'm sorry, but that guy sounds to me like an idiot. What exactly is so boring about sustainability? All it means is using things at or below the rate at which they regenerate. It's supposed to be descriptive, not exciting. The exciting comes from the HOW. Sustainability is the WHY. You wouldn't describe a marriage as "sustainable" because, well, it's not - someday you will both die. So you can use the resources of your marriage (whatever those are) faster than they regenerate and it won't cause a long-term problem.
Newsflash to idiot guy: they way you get a thriving fecund ecological life-force is through SUSTAINABILITY! There is no beyond sustainability. The entire concept of it is broken hyperbole. That would be like being "more than perfect" or "better than the best" or "giving 110%". We should leave terms like that to idiot sportscasters. I prefer to live in the real world.
Posted by: Xta | July 26, 2006 at 08:31 AM
That sounds fabulous. Thanks for blogging it!
Posted by: Sarah de Vries | July 26, 2006 at 10:05 AM
"Sustainability" is merely a ten dollar word which, loosely translated means "Gee, it would be so nice if the planet remained liveable throughout our lifetimes, those of our descendents, etc." When Jimmy Carter was president, he had solar collectors installed on the roof of the White House. Ronald Reagan had them taken down, thus sparing regressive derrick-heads George and George W. Bush the trouble of doing so.
Congratulations on the installation of your solar power gear, Susie. I remember seeing a presentation put on at the local university back in the late 70's/early 80's by a Brooklyn co-operative which acquired and refurbished an old tenement building through "sweat equity". They set up solar electricity generation, and ran their own meters backwards too, all within sight of Consolidated Edison's smokestacks. The public library in Ithaca, NY went solar about 10 years ago, although last year's construction of a 10-story downtown parking garage (!) right next door blocked off a good portion of the light reaching their collectors. Ironic, isn't it? The late, great Whole Earth Review/Co-Evolution Quarterly had alternative-energy articles and product reviews with practically every issue, back in the days when the energy crises of the 70's were still fresh in peoples' minds. How maddening it was to see how easily the oil commissars could suppress alt-energy technology.
Oh, one last thing, Susie, could you please post a downloadable version of that film, or an MP3 of its soundtrack so I can watch or listen to it on my home-entertainment appliance? For some reason, the downloadables at Google video never work right.
Posted by: C.S. Lewiston | July 26, 2006 at 12:57 PM
This is amazing! It is wonderful to know that this kind of design is not just an eutopia but that is being practiced today and for big corporations like Ford no less. It gives me hope that all is not lost. Thanks for posting this Susie!
Posted by: Sandrino | July 26, 2006 at 02:55 PM
I'm so envious of you and your solar power. Recently there was an ad in Mother Earth News for a portable supply that would supply 40 kilowatts of power. Not enough to power my house, unfortuntately, but with 3 of them, maybe.....
Smart move for you in any case, especially with what your power costs in California. Frankly, our power is so cheap here it's kind of hard to justify the change. But if things keep going the way they are, you may find yourself with lots of company.
Posted by: Steve | July 28, 2006 at 05:29 AM
Suze --
Here's a nice little portable solar panel, that touring cyclists use... This little unit (folded dimensions of 9” x 5” x .5”, unfolded it's 29.5” x 9” x .03”) has grommets on the top and bottom, which makes it handy for tying to the top of your tent, your handlebars, almost any place you can think of.
http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/PROD/SPT/GSE65
Paul
Posted by: Paul | July 28, 2006 at 06:55 AM