follow up on gmail contact ;->

Hey, good news. I have now discovered on my Gmail page that there is a "button" labelled "Gmail" which can be clicked on to find a list of 2 things, contacts and tasks. HOORAY! i can find my address book again!!!

Kickstart Villreal Farm in StL City w/ me!

Hey, this is a cool project as far as i can tell, AND you are on the home run team if you join, with your contribution posted to your card very soon.

Testimony surrounding a landfill for coal ash in Labadie, MO

Yesterday evening 4 Sierra Club members from St. Louis and I drove to Union, MO. to attend the hearing held about proposed zoning requirements in the County related to a request by Ameren Missouri (formerly "UE"). The Corporation wishes to establish a 400 acre site in the floodplain of the Missouri River as a place to build a landfill for coal ash waste from the power plant in Labadie, Missouri. They have already purchased the land. Meanwhile, the Federal EPA has been examining whether coal ash (or "flyash") will be listed in the future as a hazardous material. Persons testifying were from Franklin County for the most part, with Labadie Environmental Organization in the lead of opposing such a plan. Members of Sierra Club also oppose it, especially the fact of planning it to be in the flood plain.

Some of us question why anyone would have considered such a plan as feasible. Residents of St. Louis County and City registered their opposition to such a threat to drinking water provided by the Missouri River all along the course of the River. A local physician, Dr. Friedman,  testified to the existence of heavy metals in coal ash, and strongly advised that if contamination occurred it could cause multiple disorders in adults and developmental disorders in children or fetuses.

Presiding County Commissioner John E. Griesheimer seemed to believe that the whole matter is a simple one that concerns only the County itself, although all testimony was courteously received. The weight of the testimonials suggested that residents of the two counties agreed that the concerns about the coal ash itself outweighed any common zoning matter.


http://www.franklinmo.org/index.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_985304e5-b592-544b-a3fd-ab82a4839cba.html

http://www.emissourian.com/news/top_stories/article_dff3a726-0252-11e0-bba0-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morning_call/2010/12/opponents-call-for-ameren-landfill-study.html 

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1737671/St..Louis.Public.Radio.News/Ameren.to.build.coal.ash.landfill.in.Missouri.River.floodplain.No.way..say.some.Franklin.County.residents

SOLAR WHERE WE LIVE

Here is an excellent article in Grist that spells out the difference in land depletion between the use of coal and the use of solar .http://www.grist.org/article/2010-11-17-which-has-bigger-footprint-coal-plant-or-solar-farm#c598963

Meanwhile, our friends in Labadie, MO are still working hard to convince the EPA that a coal ash dump site out there should not be allowed. It sits right on the Missouri River. Coal use has become a dastardly act in my mind, and Ameren UE is providing us electricity from its use. Well, what can we do?

Couldn't we simply install residence by residence solar that can be plugged into the grid? How long might this concept take to get into successful replacement of fossil fuel? How many panels per residence, etc.?

In a small town in Portugal a solar plant was established within range of the community. How was this worked out, I wonder-- as a countryside version of space use, or integrated into the town itself? These articles don't go into specifics to such a degree.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42351

http://us.oneworld.net/perspectives/peopleof2008/358732-jos%C3%A9-mar%C3%ADa-prazeres-p%C3%B3s-de-mina

We have so many flat roofed big box buildings in the USA that are nothing but wasted space in my own aesthetic mind. They have impacted some communities positively economically, but in other ways destroyed small communities in our urban towns that often were originally populated by poor or middle class home owners of specific minority or ethnic backgrounds. In some cases they have been positioned in close competition with other such stores, and have since gone out of business or relocated, leaving behind the empty large spread of a building surrounded by parking lots. This has been occurring so rapidly since the 1980s that they have virtually "paved paradise . . . ."

I can still remember the brand new Farmington Walmart filling up with wide-eyed country folk who looked up at the high shelves and the expanse of the whole place with wonder. Boxes and boxes of stuff. The small stores in small towns thereabouts were hurting over it.

My small daughter was fascinated until she saw a large aquarium filled with catfish. She was used to seeing them swimming free in a lake. She was furious that they were trapped them into such a small space in order to be fed to people-- thinking of them as beings.

Couldn't some of those buildings be advantaged into usefulness for the good of the community in a broader sense? A lot of us are still angry about this slow economy, & some will be suffering until it is really back in business. Perhaps some of us could come together in our own residential areas to stun up some responsibility out of especially the larger chain stores which do want to attract us to shop at their businesses. Couldn't they invest in solar panel gardens on their roofs and unused parking expanses? It would be a simple way for us to demand that they look at their bottom lines as dependent on their shoppers, remembering their good fortune, indicating that they can accept cultural responsibility for the greater good of all. Local ordinances might help. Utility companies could be regulated into cooperating with the right push from responsible legislators.

This is a proposal that I am just thinking up by myself, but if you would like to consider working towards a similar goal for a more sustainable urban environment I hope my good karma will carry me toward you in the coming months, while I am also tending to the home fires of my health and, hopefully, some new residential address that works better for me.

You might notice more and more solar panels have been installed on private residences in the inner suburban town where I live, Maplewood, MO. Most of them are on the older homes of relatively prodigious size that were built a century more or less ago. Homeowners are definitely looking for solutions to their heating and energy costs.

More to come.

Opinion Sharing with my U.S. Senators on Climate Bill

Dear Senator (Bond & McCaskill):

Information from news sources suggests that a clean energy and climate bill is ahead of immigration on the Senate agenda.

My suggestion is that the bill for our future environment be passed with stringent controls on air pollution that are enforceable. Hopefully this Administration and the Congress of the United States will continue to favor sustainable and passive energy sources rather than fossil fuels. Even biofuels will not be as welcome to the citizens as wind and solar are. Carbon based fuels will continue to be a threat to the atmosphere and climate change, while passive energy ultimately decreases that difficulty. This is my impression from many informed sources as well as friendly opinion. Missouri in fact could be gradually served by a combination of solar and wind sources as fossil fuels are phased out.

Let me remind you that the small town of Rockport, Missouri has been fully powered by wind for the past year or two, as an NPR story features.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93208355

That small town is also thriving on the income generated by this plan. In Europe such systems as plugging home based solar panels into the electrical grid have enabled individuals to receive small dividends while participating in local energy production. Many of the local difficulties with providing passive energy could be solved by intersecting existing utilities with local production of passive source energy. Control at the local level could therefore enhance local environment and economy. You are probably aware that the Reverend Larry Rice works with poverty level individuals to provide wind turbines that are small enough for a roof or a garden.

We have an exciting future ahead of us if we work together to insure that the future climate change is an addressable problem. Planting trees and protecting forests internationally will be an ongoing step along with reducing the use of carbon based fuels. We can work with Mother Nature rather than trying to fool her as usual.

Bless you for your service to the citizens of Missouri.

Messy Business in Arrowrock

This story in the RFT hurts me. It took me back to a trip several years ago out to the Silver Mines area of the St. Francois River. That was the time that I found the water to be smelling of fecal matter. I had noted a huge passel of piglets nursing huge sows alongside the curvy road which I once loved when living out that way. Likely those pigs belonged to a farmer I had once known, who pulled me out of a ditch after an ice storm. Or maybe the farm had been sold to another person or family. My purpose was to visit the River, a healer of my spirit. A Forest Service trail runs along the river for two to three miles over moderately challenging terrain.

When Jay Nixon, during his candidacy for Governor, supported Koster (over Margaret Donelly) for Attorney General I had suspicions about this recent party switcher being described as an excellent prosecutor and a friend. Koster is, btw, from Harrisonville, MO., the small Cass Co seat, population around 8,000. His connection with farming is not specifically known to most of us, is it? But he is probably voting with the farmers.  Here is another approach to the problem that might help legislators and other power people to rethink the issue, from a farming publication. http://nationalhogfarmer.com/environmental-stewardship/01-environmental-steward-nominations-open/ Maybe the farmers are beginning to recognize, from articles like the one in the RFT and the one linked in that story to the Wall Street Journal, that public relations are as important as other particulars in running a business.

Another group, Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation, which is working currently on a puppy mill issue, might be interested in exploring how to figure out what to do about the messy business of corporate farms. Corporate animal farming is disturbing as an issue of humane animal treatment as well as being environmentally nauseating.

Meanwhile, considering the puppy mill petition and how previous petitions have fared in our state, MO needs an amendment to its Constitution which rules out legislation that overturns public petition issues which are voted in by the citizenry. Our conservative legislative branch has in the recent past reversed both gun control laws and campaign finance reform that were voted into place on state wide ballot. Isn't that counter intuitive to the representatives and senators working for us?

The Sierra Club also has looked at the issue of CAFOs. http://www.sierraclub.org/faces/thomas_brown.asp 
 
Perhaps re-establishing democracy-- by voting sanity in-- will be a state by state process, like women's suffrage once was. Reducing the corporations back to their previous status under anti-trust laws may take longer than most of us can imagine, yet we older folks know it has to be done.

Buffy Sainte-Marie video from Democracy Now/ Amy Goodman

we create lines of distinction between ourselves

A Valentine for You

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16944

Tallest snowman

Day before yesterday in the morning I noticed out my window that the snowman had disappeared entirely. It took three full grown young people and a few other helpers three days to build him right after that snow that fell last of January, first of February. The ground there is probably more soaked than anywhere else in the park. They started out using plastic square milk crates packed with the snow, emptying them like bricks into the inner wall. Then they showed up with a ladder and wheel barrows full of snow, and when the bottom ball had taken shape it was time to start the trunk of the body. The snow was so solidly packed that they climbed up onto it to begin again with the snow bricks before arriving at the sculpting of the outer round layer.

Finally the head was placed, and other decorations for eyes, buttons, arms and hat. By then kids from all over the neighborhood wanted to see it, help carry snow and have their pictures taken with him, the tallest snowman in the world.
http://iwitness.stltoday.com/mycapture/photos/JXImage.aspx?ImageID=467053&CategoryID=21355&EventID=202597&CollectionID=384
Will the violets bloom more thickly on that spot than anywhere else?

Senate Stimulus Bill needs a nudge from constituents

Dear Friends and Readers,

In a previous email I informed some of you that the Senate economic stimulus bill appropriates $50 billion to new nuclear power plants. Since then I have learned that Senator Kit Bond is in fact a member of the Appropriations Committee, and also that this will not be introduced to the full Senate until sometime this coming week.

Therefore, I urge you, if you have not already done so to write and/or call him to let him know that the use of nuclear power is a defunct and expensive idea which few people support anymore. You should have time to do this for the next week, but the sooner the better.

Below is my version of a letter with links to further info.

_________________________________________________

Dear Senator Bond:

The news that the Senate Appropriations Committee has added fifty billion dollars ($50,000,000,000) to it's proposed stimulus package for the building of new nuclear power plants shocked and disappointed me. Perhaps the Committee is not adequately informed about nuclear power. It would take years to get around to doing this even if it were a good idea.

The facts are that even the study done by Congress itself shows that nuclear power is extremely expensive. Given the additional dangers of accidents it only presents us with further environmental and security dilemmas for our own and future generations.

The nuclear industry will, of course, tell a different story. Here in Missouri we are concerned with keeping the "no construction work in progress" (No-CWIP) provision in Missouri law so that Ameren UE does not imagine that it can add another power plant by charging its customers for an advance loan. This would be on top of a recent rate increase. The idea that the Federal Government would subsidize new nuclear plants is essentially the same thing, leaving a burden of debt that can perhaps never be repaid, dragging us down further. You are surely aware that the problem of storing spent nuclear waste remains unsolved. The only permanent storage solution proposed is Yucca Mountain, a venture too dangerous for towns and cities on the route there and for the tribal nations living near the mountain.

Even the newest thinking that existing nuclear waste can possibly be reused is simply conceptual at this point. How much more would it add to cost? In all my reading on the subject the only sources that support more building of nuclear power plants are ones from inside the nuclear industry. And other writers suggest that even the most conservative estimates of total costs could be less that the ultimate reality.

So-called "clean coal" is in essentially the same position-- there really is no such thing yet as "clean coal" and we will need to replace the coal power plants we already have with passive and renewable power sources. In the House Recovery Bill that was just passed 2.4 billion dollars are appropriated to carbon capture technology. From what I have read this is an iffy proposition. Comparing our own to European efforts to reduce carbon based air pollution, which contributes to climate change, we would be better off changing to the available passive sources, e.g. wind and solar. Some success has been achieved with hydro devices as well which are minimally intrusive to the environment.

The realized use of corn as a biofuel has demonstrated that it is also more expensive and polluting than was first predicted. At least it does not leave radioactive waste behind, but farmers who want to plant fields of biofuel are now looking into switch grass and other more efficient plant sources. This is an emerging science, not one that is established with well tested outcomes. Renewable fuels are an improvement over mining which further decimates the environment.

What we need right now are community based manageable alternatives that provide long term and acceptable solutions. This description usually refers to solar and wind power, which are already emerging in Missouri. But additionally using different building specifications including tighter insulation and more efficient use of square footage, with built-in passive energy capture and biologic additions such as roof gardening will be an already proven route to decreasing domestic energy consumption. Also we must retrofit buildings in our existing urban areas, as recommended by Van Jones and some social justice organizations. If such projects were subsidized by the stimulus plan now in Congress they could probably be in place relatively quickly, with ready labor in neighborhoods that were underemployed before the current depressed economy. Retrofitting rental properties that are Section 8 eligible is covered in the House Bill, and I support this proposal.

It is also essential that we increase green spaces and local gardens, something that has already been initiated in urban Missouri as well. Providing support for these sorts of efforts, helping neighbors to help their neighbors by planting vegetable and permaculture gardens, makes infinitely more sense, since it is based on readily initiated and time worn actions. These ideas could be implemented by nonprofit efforts or by local small businesses that would also spring up quickly if loans were available. They would add longer term jobs to the already conceptualized infrastructure repair projects.

One more area of concern is mass and distance transit. Both Kansas City and St. Louis could use funds to complete planned light rail projects. Also backing up passenger and freight rail would make far better sense economically and ecologically than new development of highways. To me it would be worthwhile to add a public information campaign that would promote rail over private automobile for distance travel.

Please discuss these ideas carefully with your fellow Senators of either party. We must address the economic crisis that is continuing, but certainly we have choices about how to do that. Wasting the money, even if it is only freshly printed paper, would be foolish. Most of the ideas I have presented will create jobs as well as reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Nuclear power and coal of any sort belong to the previous century.

Thank you for your attention to these issues, and for your work on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Undoubtedly it is difficult to stay up to date on every issue without a great deal of information input.

Sincerely,

write2bheard

Dream State of Mind

We are driving down a brown country road,

no town in sight, just low earthy mountains,

when we are stopped by the soldiers waiting for us

as though we are expected.

Everyone jumps out-- except me

because I'm not able. Yes, i'm vulnerable.

The officer looks in on me.

All the guns in the world can neither protect

nor threaten me. All that can is my state of mind,

the one thing I pack with me wherever I go, even to this dream.

We cannot mine for love the way we do for diamonds.

We cannot drill for forgiveness in the desert of our souls.

The sins of our forebears since industry revolted

are moving in with us like unwelcome relatives.

What is this monster we have called commerce,

power, or yoke? Aren't garage sales more fun and wondrous?

We have so much stuff here it threatens to choke us.

At least I know I do, but none of it's worthless.

Unless, that is, we add it to landfills, or flush it down drains.

Or continue buying more plastic water bottles

We need to be realistic, together, as we

wage our war against borders, barriers, walls,

tall buildings hemming persons in and others out.

Turn it around one plot of ground after another.

Plant gardens on our roofs, in our neighborhoods,

in our minds and spirits, our expectations, inspirations, artistry and work.

West Coast forests are slowly turning brown & dying--

why is a mystery. What are we doing in Afghanistan?

No one can lead us anywhere, forward or back,

to the right, to the left, up or down, without our consent.

We can never know precisely what will grow well

until it comes up. But we do have some clues.

The question now is where will the rain fall?

How many of us can these rains save from earth on hell?

Or relegate them there? Not just you and me, them over there too.

We have to pull in, downplay the spaces in between,

live a little more snugly, simply, interchangeably,

keeping reason, knowledge and skill among our riches.

Each of us is stronger than all the others in some way.

When we share our unique gifts, well, in unity is strength.

While we do nothing to face the conclusion

others remain in their fateful collusion.

Some sustainable energy solutions in Missouri

This article is promising a revolution of sorts. They have made kits for local start ups to manufacture solar panels. Do any of you have some business expertise? This could provide jobs as well as help the transition, although Taiwan is across the globe somewhere.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cranking-out-pv-panels&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend

Another person who has been active in establishing some work on renewables in St. Louis is the Rev. Larry Rice, most known for his homeless shelter downtown. He has TV spots on his channel, 24? about solar panels, as well as wind turbines that are small enough to put on a roof.
Do any of you St. Louisans know any more about this? Could a renter install a wind turbine? How much power would it provide, for what cost, etc.?
http://moreenergy.org/main.htm

We also have a wind farm in NW MO., only one I have heard about so far.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/EBDFFCB0634D549686257492001CAF6C?OpenDocument

Actually what I find the most exciting is the relatively new project being worked on at SIUE (Southern Illinois University--Edwardsville) across the river from here. I think they may also have a connection with Washington University. The Green Roofs concept has been used widely in Europe from what I have read. It not only provides great insulation, especially for all these old flat roof buildings like I am currently living in, it also increases green space with benefits to the air, etc. Done properly, established rooftop gardens require very little maintenance since the plants are ones that live well on existing rainfall and tolerate a wide range of temperatures.

Anyone want to talk my landlord into installing one? ;-> Then I would not have to move. They are still a relatively expensive investment at this point, but perhaps eventually they will be helped along by government grants or something.
http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=454
http://www.green-siue.com/
http://www.stop158.org/2008/2008-02-18-Edwardsville.htm

To me it seems obvious that we will have to take ahold of moving forward to such methods ourselves on local levels in order to reduce our dependence on foreign resources as well as the least desirable fossil fuels that continue to pollute and increase global warming. This will require a lot of political cooperation, but I do think that people are more ready now than ever. Ultimately it is one of the most helpful ways to work for world peace.
It is great to know that a lot of ecological approaches have been initiated in Missouri, and enthusiasm is building toward actual solutions instead of the same old denial arguments.

Sustainability bubbles up from the grassroots.

(Dear yahoo group:)
My personal blog, which is due for another post , received a comment from a HopeDance webmaster that I needed to update their link. So, while there, I looked at the Transistion Town Initiative, which led me eventually to the Transistion MO page where you had posted this yahoo group. I decided to start with the yahoo group since I am already a member of several other y-groups.

Some of these ideas are ones that I have been mulling over during the past year. My blog, which I started in June, has been focused mostly on actions related to politics and peace. However, in truth, I would like to refocus it more concretely on environmental concerns, and the now emerging new reversal of the old slogan to "Think locally, act globally."

Prior to starting the blog I spent about three years as webmaster for Missourians for Honest Elections.Then the webserver was attacked by some mysterious vector or hacker and all my work for the previous six months was lost. That was when I decided to change my focus to a broader scope. This article expresses a point of view that I agree with in terms of the voting reform movement. Continued oversight is needed, but without civic participation casting our vote is worth less than we think.

The small community I live in is Maplewood, MO., an inner suburb in St. Louis County with a diverse working class population. We have a large number of reasonably priced apartments besides some more upscale residential neighborhoods, and the area has experienced an economic boom during the past few years. So we have a busy business area that extends across into The City. Since the economic slump the thought of a local community exchange has crossed my mind. I first heard about the concept regarding some town in the North East, maybe in Vermont. In that case the currency was based on work hours, e.g., one hour of gardening in exchange for an hour of cooking. Or fifteen minutes with a doctor for fifteen minutes of car repair. Some people that I have had conversations with in the coffee shop on the corner have said we might have to resort to bartering at some point, so I think it is a good idea for individuals to polish the skills they have and learn some of the older arts which we have largely left behind.

My own little place is on the third (top) floor across the street from a one block square park through which the Gateway Arch and the city skyline can be seen from the west, beautiful at sunrise and moonrise. (It is more usually photographed from the Illinois side of the river.)

Much of the news around the world is tragic with events outside my control, although I believe we must let our legislators and leaders know our points of view. To my thinking the emerging climate crisis is the cause of much of the conflict, poverty and migration, which is based on corporate greed for resources without regard for humanity. Still I see signs of new realizations, such as the Portugal town where solar power has been installed as a source of income.

We do have people around here who are interested in the slow food movement, with the local taproom/microbrewery/restaurant, Schlafly's, being their meeting place. No, I haven't yet been to one of their meetings, but it is something I hope to do eventually.

Also, in the City of St. Louis, we have a number of community gardens, more than I even realized until I started to look online. The idea of starting up a community garden (besides the one that Schlafly's grows) appeals to me, although I have some personal limitations that would require help from more able-bodied friends. These are just thoughts that are in no way yet actualized.

Meanwhile I need to focus on whether I can continue to live in this small apartment by convincing my landlord it needs serious modifications-- or if I will be able to move to one that is more conducive to my health. Besides the stair climbing to do laundry, the roof has virtually no insulation so it is cold in here in the winter and hot in the summer. Since I do not have a car I spend more time close to home than the average person. But there are buses and the MetoLink train within walking distance.

Over a decade ago I lived at a small communal living space out in the country near the St. Francois River. We did have a community garden there which was quite wonderful. It fed us as well as guests who came there for weekends. We recycled all our vegetarian garbage into the compost pile. This sort of work, I believe, is extremely useful to the planet as well as local communities in the most urban of spaces because gardening is something of a mystical experience besides contributing to decrease in use of fuel for shipping, agribusiness, etc.

Currently my gardening is limited to house plants and "cat grass," although I do have a back fire escape where I can keep a few containers during the warm months.

So, for the time being my presence on this group may be as something of a lurker, since I need to attend to personal needs before initiating a lot of other changes in my life.

Thanks for setting up this group as well posting on the Transition MO page. We are living in exciting times when change does indeed seem possible-- indeed, essential to survival. Let's not just hope but work in each our own ways to actualize the responses to climate changes which will definitely require both individual and group efforts.