Memorial Day 2023

For the past eight years since starting the Conserve-Prosper website, Memorial Day holds a special place in my heart remembering American military families, including my own family. The blog from 2021 provides a summary of remembrances sharing how my parents and all Americans wisely used resources during the war years which continued to be the custom in our home decades later. We commonly heard our parents say, “Waste not, want not” meaning if we use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance, we will never be in need. Conservation programs like rationing supplies of food, fuel, and paper became urgent during the war years. Due to the national war effort at home and abroad, the Allies won the Second World War and America prospered greatly.

Would you agree we can get by with less? Make it a game. See if you can find ways to save money and time by becoming more efficient in using resources. We can all be soldiers in the fight to protect nature from wiping us off the planet!

Cotton Mill Site Renewal

Poppy and I visited the small town of Saxapahaw, North Carolina. We came for a quiet hike on a rainy Sunday morning at the Saxapahaw Island State Park. We walked a mile around the 30 acre park in between rain showers enjoying the spring day - lots of birds and squirrels visible all around. The Haw River flows into the Army Corps of Engineer’s dam reservoir at Jordan Lake. I learned about this beautiful place after attending an Earth Day celebration last year and meeting dedicated volunteers with the Haw River Assembly who’ve been helping to protect the river system for over 40 years! There are many upcoming activities to join the group and in visit this interesting town.

A cotton mill began construction in 1844 and operated for 150 years until 1994 after a tornado damaged the mill. The Jordan family revitalized the mill site and restored the factory into restaurants, stores and residential buildings.

With only about 2,000 current residents living in the town, we were surprised at how many people came out for Sunday brunch. We couldn’t get a table at the Eddy Pub; luckily, we sat at the beautiful copper-covered bar and noticed the huge valves refitted to serve kegs of beer. The barkeep said people come from all over the state to visit Saxapahaw on the weekends. We need to go back for a river tour and visit the history museum. A sign at the park says the town got its name from the Sissapahaw Indians and an explorer in 1701 described the area as the “flower of the Carolinas.” A grist mill to grind cereal was built in 1768 prior to the cotton mill about 75 years later.

This area appears to be rich in history, perhaps a model for sustainability, but I’d be interested to hear from local Native Americans and descendants of slaves, who had to dislocate and labor in the cotton fields, likely will have different viewpoints for us to consider. From an environmental perspective, the current status is a great improvement over the conditions of working in the cotton mill or water pollution impacts on the Haw River. We’ve largely moved those impacts to Asian countries.

Happy Birthday Ben Franklin!

January 17th is Ben Franklin’s official Birthday! Actually, according to the Franklin Institute, he was born on January 6th but later Great Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and skipped 11 days. He was born in Boston in 1706, only 317 years ago. During a recent visit to Boston, as described in this blog, we noticed numerous memorials to his life even though he moved to Philadelphia when he was just 17 years old. One tarnished-looking memorial tablet, also called a plaque but not to be confused with sticky whitish deposits on teeth, close to the Paul Revere statue and North Church displays:

Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790

Printer, Scientist, Philanthropist, Diplomat and Statesman, A Man of Towering Eminence

As Publisher of Poor Richard’s Almanac, he provided America with a practical philosophy and enriched its common speech with a wealth of proverbs, his humorous, realistic, far-ranging mind, the liberalism of his political and social philosophy, the manifold services he rendered to his fellowmen, made him one of the greatest Americans.

I recall as a boy growing up near George Washington’s home that I loved to read about our Founding Fathers. One time I spent a week at home in bed recovering from an illness reading about Ben Franklin’s life. I loved memorizing some of his favorite expressions including:

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned!

Early to Bed, Early to Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

Haste Makes Waste.

Honesty is the Best Policy.

These and other expressions became like mantras that I often repeated for fun and inspiration. Here are some more quotes related to the theme of Conserve & Pro$per from the National Geographic Kids series Benjamin Franklin’s Wise Words: How to Work Smart, Play Well, and Make Real Friends, by K.M. Kostyal. Thank you Ben for inventing the first lending library so I could unexpectedly discover, borrow, read, and share interesting books:

Content Makes Poor Men Rich; Discontent Makes Rich Men Poor.

Time is an Herb That Cures All Diseases.

A Long Life May Not Be Good Enough, But a Good Life is Long Enough.

Don’t Throw Stones At Your Neighbours, If Your Own Windows Are Glass.

Tart Words Make No Friends: a Spoonful of Honey Will Catch More Flies Than a Gallon of Vinegar.

Eat to Live, and Not Live to Eat.

A Penny Sav’D is TwoPence Clear.

Notice how some of the phases have changed over time like the generic Man instead of Human or Person and “TwoPence Clear” means “a Penny Saved.” Also notice the contraction ‘Sav’D.’ I found another book at the same public library titled An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin and Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution by Beth Anderson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book describes how the two teamed up in 1786, when Noah was 28 years old and just four years before Ben passed away, to make American English easier to read and write. He proposed to match how words sounded by throwing away silent letters like c, j, q, w, x, and y and add aw, uh, edh, ing, and eth. He wanted to change DOG to DAG, FEATHER to FEHER, FISH to FIH, and TEETH to TEEH. It’s interesting to think how different a Boston accent is from the Southern dialect so finding one common way that all Americans could agree on posed a great challenge. I recommend reading this book to see how their proposal evolved into Webster’s Dictionary. Another great quote of Ben’s comes from this book which I think I will add to the bottom of my email footer:

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

The more I learn about Ben Franklin the closer I feel to his Spirit. On Election Day 2020, I posted a blog showing Ben Franklin on the $100 bill describing his pivotal role in creating our democracy and wondering how he would react to the election and political divides in our country. Turns out my connection to Ben is not only one of great admiration but also a family connection! I’m just learning in the recent days that we shared a common ancestor. Ben’s great grandfather John Folger came from Norwich, England to Massachusetts in 1638. My mother’s family connects to the Folger lineage making Ben my second cousin! Yep, I can see a family resemblance between Ben Franklin and my Mom, may they both Rest In Peace!

The Big Oak

We visited my brother Bob and family in Thomasville, Georgia for Christmas. Just down the street from his house lives the famous Big Oak tree. Amazingly the tree is 337 years old! That puts the date of the acorn seedling to the year 1685.

According to the Thomasville visitors center, “A must for every visitor is a stop at Thomasville's oldest and most cherished natural landmark, The Big Oak. This massive Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) grew from a tiny acorn beginning around 1685 and is one of the original members (#49) of the Live Oak Society, enrolled in 1936. Now over 337 years old, the Big Oak has a limb span of over 165 feet and a trunk circumference of over 26 feet! President Eisenhower was so impressed with the Big Oak that he personally photographed it during one of his frequent visits to Thomasville. Interestingly, the fern that grows along its branches does not hurt the tree and is called the 'resurrection' fern because it appears dead until a rain causes it to turn immediately to a lush green.”

During the few days of our visit, we walked around the tree taking photographs from many angles and lighting conditions including heavy fog on Christmas morning. People are protecting and propping up the tree with poles and wire due to careless truck drivers who caused damage according to reports.

Protecting and preserving nature is needed now more than ever. Driving from Raleigh to Thomasville we observed many wooded areas being destroyed - torn down and burned - for more farm land, housing developments, and wider roads. Please support groups that are working to protect nature!

Power Outage Tracker

This week I read an article discussing impacts to the electrical grid during the severe winter weather. PowerOutage.us provides regional information on electric customers without power. The U.S. map provides yellow labels for at least 10,000 customers currently without power in Colorado and Washington states. In addition, close to 60,000 customers are without power in Oregon. The interactive map allows for more information for each state and county.

The MSN news article describes how extreme cold weather in Texas caused excessive demand and under supply of electricity; so on Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy declared an emergency warning allowing the state regulator to boost energy generation from all sources including dirtier fuel oil releasing more pollution! So how much more?

The U.S. Energy Information Agency provides a list of carbon dioxide emissions indicating fuel oil like kerosene and diesel release an average of 162 pounds (of carbon dioxide per million BTUs) while natural gas releases about 117 pounds. This can result in many tons of carbon dioxide released to the air and other pollutants creating smog such as oxides of nitrogen, sulfur and organic chemicals.

The best way for consumers to help prevent or mitigate these emergencies is to reduce demand and support increases in clean energy supplies. We can turn our thermostat down by a few degrees, limit electric consumption, and add more layers of clothes.

The British are Coming, Again

Today, His Royal Highness Prince William, first heir to the King of England, is in Boston to award $1 million dollars to each of the five winners of his annual Earthshot Prize. He created the contest to promote finding solutions to climate change and felt inspired by John F. Kennedy’s space race to the Moon.

Last week my family took a Thanksgiving break to Boston and we stayed at the Revere Hotel located downtown near Boston Common. We visited many modern and historic sites including the Revere home and learned the history of his famous legendary horse ride to alert colonists that “the British are coming” which began the Revolutionary War. However, according to the Fondor’s Travel guide to Boston, Revere and others still considered themselves to be British colonists and he did not yell these exact words.

I took the cover photo at the Revere Hotel showing a “steampunk sculpture constructed out of recycled metals by a local artist,” according to Fondor’s Travel guide. A great example of the 3R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The hotel clerk jokingly said the rider is a statue of Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics; however, the current player wearing number 0 is Jayson Tatum.

We also learned about our family history on my father’s side - my ancestor sailed from England to New Hampshire in 1633, only 13 years after the Mayflower landed in Plymouth, MA. He was not a Pilgrim but a fisherman who acquired 40 acres, planted an apple orchard on 3 acres, and his son William built a 30 foot by 20 foot log home that served as a garrison for protection to the community and is now preserved at the Woodman Museum. So my family ancestors came from Britain near Liverpool and I’m learning of family connections including with George Harrison and David Bowie (who were 14th cousins) and other famous Brits! Too bad my musical ability is limited to my whistling.

I’m grateful for our ancestors and patriots who fought for freedoms that we’ve inherited. Learning about the hardships and challenges faced by previous generations, we’re so fortunate to be living at this time of modern conveniences. Now we need to find a sustainable balance to protect our Mother Earth, reduce consumption, waste, and stress especially during this holiday season. Protecting our planet and all inhabitants is a recipe for global harmony.

A Long Walk to Water

According to the World Health Organization WHO, 1 in 3 people globally lack access to safe drinking water! That huge number, over 2.5 billion people, are struggling to survive - truly a Humanitarian and Ecological Crisis! So many people tragically face daily barriers of consuming clean water that it’s hard to comprehend the magnitude of the problem. One way for an affluent westerner who grew up with clean running water at home such as myself is to read personal accounts by people with direct experience of the crisis and how they are working to fix the problem.

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park is based on a true story, actually based on the real events of two people in different places at different times - one in 1985 and one in 2008 - that come together at the end. I agree with the quote on the cover by Publishers Weekly that the book is “Tragic and harrowing.”

This book is assigned reading for seventh grade English students at Wake County Public Schools. For much of the book I felt shocked, horrified, saddened, and even questioning if this book is appropriate for children to read. However, I’m glad to have read the book to the end, fighting through the tears, to learn about their “triumphant climax” as reviewed by Booklist.

Here’s a very brief synopsis without giving away the ending and I highly recommend the book to all who want to be better informed and increase your compassionate concern for life.

Eleven-year old Nya lived in the Southern Sudan region of northeastern Africa. As recent as 2008, she must still walk for water about a “half a morning’s walk away” to a dirty “brown, muddy water pond" in the village. Walking for water, not just once a day but two trips a day for seven months out of the year. Then when the pond dried up completely, her Nuer-tribal family relocated during the rainy season closer to a larger dry lake bed but taking the added risk of tribal warfare with the Dinkas.

Bringing the empty container to the pond might have been easy except for the excessive heat, wounding thorns, and long hours. Carrying a heavy plastic jug on her head filled with water was truly arduous and sometimes Nya had the additional burden of bringing her five-year old sister Akeer. But that was better then when Akeer got sick from drinking the dirty water and needed medicine and prescribed to consume only boiled water after her illness. But that really was not practical when they lived by the dry lake bed as it would take too long to boil the small amount of water they obtained or when they walked to the pond and needed to drink right away. Eventually, their lives would change for the better in unexpected ways.

Eleven-year old Salva also grew up in Southern Sudan but 23 years earlier than Nya and from a different tribe. His family came from the Dinka tribe, at war with the Nuers for many generations, fighting over the land in close proximity to water. He learned Arabic in school, and his father was a well-respected judge and cattle owner. Life was okay until the war reached his village school - the rebels from south Sudan fought against the Muslim government to the north. Silva got separated from his family when rebels attacked his school, he became an orphan, and sent to live in rebel camps. Luckily, he was too young to be a soldier. The older people who were not useful soldiers in the rebel army rejected Silva as being a burden and adding to their starvation. He kept moving, being forced out of Sudan, encountered lions and mosquitos, retched hunger, disease and severe dehydration crossing the desert. He made his way with different people heading east to the Nile River which split through Sudan and crossed the river into the Akobo desert. Many died along the way through the desert heading into Ethiopia where they would find relative safety at the Itang refugee camp. Silva spent many years in refuge camps which got overcrowded or closed when broken governments could not handle foreign aid. He escaped back to Sudan and Kenya camps: Kakuma and Ifo, searching for a better life. His life changed dramatically when as a young adult he got adopted by an American family!

An incredibly inspiring book that shows first hand how perseverance to survive can spring forth beautiful, fruitful outcomes!

The Climate Diet

I found The Climate Diet on the new book shelf at the public library. The author Paul Greenberg offers, “50 simple ways to trim your carbon footprint.” The small concise book is an easy and fun read with many practical ideas that are easy to implement. Many of these ideas are well known but it’s worth being reminded and during this COVID pandemic many people are being forced to change their habits by staying more at home, eating less meat and diary, buying energy efficient appliances and electric vehicles, riding bicycles, telecommuting, gardening and planting more trees.

Some of the ideas that I had not heard about include how much money banks fund the fossil fuels industry. JP Morgan Chase held the misdirected distinction of being the top money lender providing almost $270 billion from 2016-2019. The top four banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Banks of America) loaned about $811 billion to the industry that created and exacerbates the climate crisis. As consumers we make choices on our banks, credit cards, investments, and insurance. This reminds me of a blog I wrote almost six months ago on ESG.

Another useful idea for new construction or when the air conditioner needs to be replaced is to use a heat pump. The author adds a resource section including advice on heat pumps from NRDC.

Here is what the publisher says:

“ABOUT THE CLIMATE DIET

A celebrated writer on food and sustainability offers fifty straightforward, impactful rules for climate-friendly living

“Some strong and rational suggestions for reducing your personal impact here–and when you’re eating smart, you’ll have the energy to do the movement building we need to change systems too! This book integrates the individual and the societal in a powerful way.”–Bill McKibben

We all understand just how dire the circumstances facing our planet are and that we all need to do our part to stem the tide of climate change. When we look in the mirror, we can admit that we desperately need to go on a climate diet. But the task of cutting down our carbon emissions feels overwhelming and the discipline required hard to summon. With The Climate Diet, award-winning food and environmental writer Paul Greenberg offers us the practical, accessible guide we all need. It contains fifty achievable steps we can take to live our daily lives in a way that’s friendlier to the planet–from what we eat, how we live at home, how we travel, and how we lobby businesses and elected officials to do the right thing. Chock-full of simple yet revelatory guidance, The Climate Diet empowers us to cast aside feelings of helplessness and start making positive changes for the good of our planet.”

Going Solar

Today I applied to the Homeowners Association (HOA) to approve installing solar panels on our home. The process to choose installing solar has been much more challenging, although less expensive, than buying a PHEV car last year as I previously described in this blog. While I’ve bought many automobiles in the past, this is the first time choosing a solar company to purchase and install panels. With the new Inflation Reduction Act allowing for 30% tax rebates and declining costs of solar panels, the time for homeowners to install solar could never be better!

We purchased our home in February 2022. About a dozen neighbors out of a couple of hundred homes have installed solar panels so far. However, the HOA just took over the 5-year old community after the builder completed the development. Our next door neighbor, who needed to signoff on our request, was able to install panels on their rear south facing roof and some homes were “grandfathered” allowing them with panels facing the front of the house. The new HOA requirements do not allow panels to be visible from the front of the house which eliminates many homeowners from installing solar if the front of their home faces the south.

So we may be the first to test the new architectural review committee (ARC) process, which just this month added solar to the guidelines: “Solar Panels are allowed and should be installed by a licensed professional with the proper architectural application approval. Panels should be installed on the sides or back of the roof and not front street facing to appeal more to the overall look of the home.”

We are requesting the ARC to approve our plan for installing 18 panels on the west facing rear roof and 4 panels on the south facing roof. Our neighbor in charge of the ARC informally suggested we get the most efficient and install the fewest number of panels we can.

I spoke with several neighbors who’ve installed solar panels in our neighborhood by knocking on doors or checking the Facebook group learning they used at least four different companies. Before contacting companies I wanted to get better informed on the options so I found this book to be very helpful as an introduction:

How to Solar Power Your Home by Martha Maeda, 2015 Atlantic Publishing Group

The author describes motivations for going solar, active and passive systems, evaluating if solar is right for you depending on where you live, energy efficiency, designs and selecting components, rebates, and maintenance.

After reading the book and reviewing some helpful websites including energysage.com, solarreviews.com, solarpowertalk.com, and nuwattenergy.com, I compiled lists of solar providers, ratings, reviews, manufacturer technology, and costs. I then contacted companies on the top list and got estimates over the phone after providing our monthly electric usage.

I compared bids from six companies that proposed to install panels from several companies including AlphaPure, QCell, REC, Solaria, and SunPower. So it’s important to learn about the actual panel technology in addition to selecting the company to install the panels. Some of the installers were locally owned companies and some were national. I spoke with sales people from several other states and only one person wanted to meet in person. I looked at solar panel specs including efficiency, duration (panels lose power over time), cost per watt, and warrantees. Many of the installation companies were willing to share how they could beat the competition.

The process to select a solar company took me several weeks, it will take several more months to get the panels installed, and we probably won’t know for many years or perhaps decades if we made the right decisions so far. But we can feel good today that we are trying to make a difference in going green!

Fed Climate Actions

Today there were two historic actions by the U.S. Federal Government responding to the climate crisis: President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Department of Interior imposed new water restrictions on the Colorado River.

The IRA law according to the White House makes the largest investment in clean energy by:

Lowering Energy Costs

• Families that take advantage of clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits will save more than $1,000 per year.

• $14,000 in direct consumer rebates for families to buy heat pumps or other energy efficient home appliances, saving families at least $350 per year.

• 7.5 million more families will be able install solar on their roofs with a 30% tax credit, saving families $9,000 over the life of the system or at least $300 per year.

• Up to $7,500 in tax credits for new electric vehicles and $4,000 for used electric vehicles, helping families save $950 per year.

• Putting America on track to meet President Biden’s climate goals, which will save every family an average of $500 per year on their energy costs.

Building a Clean Energy Economy

• Power homes, businesses, and communities with much more clean energy by 2030, including:

  • 950 million solar panels

  • 120,000 wind turbines

  • 2,300 grid-scale battery plants

• Advance cost-saving clean energy projects at rural electric cooperatives serving 42 million people.

• Strengthen climate resilience and protect nearly 2 million acres of national forests.

• Creating millions of good-paying jobs making clean energy in America.

Reducing Harmful Pollution

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 gigaton in 2030, or a billion metric tons – 10 times more climate impact than any other single piece of legislation ever enacted.

• Deploy clean energy and reduce particle pollution from fossil fuels to avoid up to 3,900 premature deaths and up to 100,000 asthma attacks annually by 2030.

Federal water restrictions on the Colorado River are being imposed on seven Western states and Mexico. The crisis did not begin with current droughts and result largely from the original 1920’s compact that overestimated available water supplies.

Be Prepared!

David Pogue’s book How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos compiles key resources for climate impacts and important steps we all need to take. With the help of 50 experts the book contains great advice on topics including where to live and invest, how to build and insure, and preparing for all kinds of increasingly frequent disasters. Many of these topics provide links to government resources or other well documented historical events as a guide to future predictions.

Despite the myriad of concerns we face with a changing climate, the book does offer hopeful solutions to reducing our carbon footprint that we can do at home, as we shop, as well as encouraging our elected officials.

Drinking-Water Awareness

Being aware of what’s in our water is essential to our health and survival. With that awareness there are many things we can do to improve the water we consume. But what if individuals or large groups of people are not aware that they are consuming contaminated drinking water? Environmental laws are usually enacted to stop some adverse pollution but that does not make it all go away overnight. Some chemicals never go away and are labeled ‘forever chemicals’ or lack scientific data and are classified as ‘emerging contaminants.’

People must take action to help themselves, their family, community, to gain awareness. Cleanliness is next to godliness and fortunately by the grace of God there are people in the world willing to fight for safe water. The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit organization spreading awareness of what’s in our food and water for almost 30 years. To find out what’s in your drinking water and what types of filtration systems can be used to treat the water check out EWG Tapwater.

They also provide an interactive map in the U.S. on hexavalent chromium (Cr +6) contamination popularly known as the ‘Erin Brockovich’ chemical listed as tainting the tap water of 251 million Americans.

You may recall the movie staring Julia Roberts portraying Erin Brockovich in her quest for helping a small California town become aware of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) contaminating people’s drinking water.

It’s an amazing true story and I have some related personal experiences to share. For about one year I worked as an environmental scientist contractor to PG&E which was about five years after the movie was released. Because of the largest civil lawsuit in history costing PG&E $333 million as well as tremendous damage to their reputation and harm caused to many people, I observed they became very proactive in cleaning up remaining contaminated sites. I did not work on Cr +6 issues related to gas compressor stations but focused on electrical substations and transmission systems in the San Francisco Bay area. I led a team to remove underground pipelines containing transformer cooling oil that potentially contained PCBs. We removed contaminated soil containing arsenic that was used as an insecticide in the mid 1950’s. Power transmission lines built on landfills were subsiding needed urgent repairs. I monitored air quality at a substation construction site next to a school to make sure semi-volatile compounds disposed many decades ago in the soil did not spread.

Check out the recent Brockovich book (which I did at the local library) and found it very informative and relatable on why water supplies get contaminated, how they are affecting peoples health, and what we can do to take action. Here’s an interesting NPR review of the book.

Timber

For the past four months, I frequently drove by this old structure noticing the contrast between the old wood building and new multi-million dollar homes. I wondered about its history: who built it, when it was built, who lived there, and how much longer would it remain standing? One morning I took a walk around the site before construction workers arrived and noticed the large amount of lumber being used for these new homes. But the contrast of the old structure in front of the new homes caught my eye and lens the most. How do we preserve our history while the world is changing so fast? As a newcomer the the area I’m not attached to the history like people who grew up here but am curious about the stories - if only the buildings could speak!

The next day after taking photographs I drove by and was shocked by seeing a bulldozer knocking down the old wood house! Maybe some saw this place as an “eyesore” which might devalue the expensive mansions. Perhaps it would have been a safety hazard. But before it vanished I would have liked to have known more about the history of the area.

One of my previous jobs was to prepare Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments for commercial property. Banks would hire my employer to research, inspect, and complete the report within one week. We needed to review the history of the property and surrounding one-mile radius going back to the first development or at least back to 1940 using air photos, telephone directories, and other documents. We were mostly focused on environmental hazards such as gasoline stations with leaking underground tanks and dry cleaners using PCE chemicals. Most farms had diesel tanks that might cause some local contamination. These hazards could pose a liability for the real estate owners and if we found anything of concern we would recommend collecting samples in a Phase 2 investigation.

Third Year of Community Garden

In July 2019, I posted a blog about a new community garden located in Grand Junction. How have they been able to support the community over three summers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic? Ann and Walt Trout, who are the directors and primary gardeners of the non-profit known as Two Fishes Farm, have incredible experiences over the past three years and likely have kept many people alive by donating food to the Grand Junction Community Food Bank!

The first year of getting the organic garden started focused on improving the silty soil by adding nutrients and compost as well as developing the irrigation system. Very few people volunteered to help at first due to the new location. Despite the light turnout, the Trout’s persistence demonstrated the potential and provided a decent harvest which prepared the community for the unforeseen pandemic.

Last year with Covid-19 raging, people wanted to get outdoors and the community garden saw a great influx of volunteers. That allowed for more planting, weeding, and harvesting to support many more people. However, increasing seed prices incentivized creating heirloom tomatoes. Instead of buying tomato plants, the farmers save unpatented seeds from the prior year and new plants are grown and pollinated naturally. Other challenges involved finding better solutions for crop irrigation.

Instead of using traditional drip irrigation with a emitter at every plant, the garden adopted a new method this year for irrigation. Flexible fabric hoses connected to main water lines are placed along rows. The fabric hoses have holes at regular intervals of one to four feet allowing for planting at each hole. That eliminates the need for emitters and is buried in the roots but clogging can occur if the water is turbid. Therefore, the main water supply is treated with a sand filter and other chemicals may be needed to remove dissolved solids.

This year the community garden is struggling for volunteers as people are getting out of town. Ann and Walt show up most every day to keep up with the many needs but feel their inspired service making a huge difference to many people. Small grants of about $1,200 have been provided by Western Colorado Community Foundation to support purchasing seeds and weed control fabric.

Just this year so far over 200 pounds of vegetables and eggs have been grown and more than half donated to the food bank! If you would like to support the community garden with your time, labor, or donations please contact Ann Trout at atrout@twofishesfarm.org.

Update August 9, 2021

Ann Trout provided totals of donated vegetables for the three years:

Year 1, 3,400 pounds

Year 2, 6,400 pounds

Year 3, 500 pounds so far this year with an estimate of about 6,000 pounds of vegetables to be donated.

So the total estimate for the three years is 15,800 pounds of vegetables. It is recommended we eat 3 cups of vegetables per day. One pound equals about 1.9 cups so 15,800 pounds equals over 30,000 cups which translates to 10,000 daily servings of vegetables!

Coder Dojo

I met the CoderDojo team at the Earth Day celebration in Apex, NC. According to their website:

“CoderDojoApex NC is a volunteer-led digital making and coding club with a mission to inspire children to learn, make and express with technology. We meet every Saturday from 10:30a-12:30pm ET(regular session). We welcome children from ages 7-17 years old and all levels of coding experience from beginner to advanced. Attending a session is free of charge, however signup is necessary. Register on the CoderDojo website to reserve your tickets and become a member of this community.”

Initially my wife and I got excited to learn about the CoderDojoApex group for our son to improve his computer programming skills as well as my sharing the opportunity with kids I meet as a substitute teacher at the public schools. When I heard they are currently creating projects on environmental sustainability I got even more thrilled and they asked me to judge the presentations held last Saturday! Our son is still on a baseball team so we hope he will get involved later this summer.

Group presentations of sustainability projects were judged based on factors created by the organizers for Coolness, Complexity, Presentation, Design and Usability.

Six groups of three or four children presented their projects that they had worked on for over a month. Some groups presented posters, PowerPoint slides, and many wrote Scratch programs. Topics included finding ways to improve growing food at home, sharing information to reduce fossil fuel consumption, protecting wildlife, conserving water, reducing plastic pollution, and preventing forest fires. The winning team programmed soil moisture sensors to water plants using Arduino and they came up with a great title and presentation: “SPLP Sustainable Planting for Lazy People!”

I also liked many of the Scratch games that the students created. The group from Kenya created a game to promote awareness for saving White Rhinos from illegal ivory poaching.

When I see the enthusiasm, concern, creativity, and willingness to sincerely address world problems and create positive outcomes gives me great hope for the future of humanity. For more on the #CoolestProjects Jam event and future events check them out on Facebook!

Watch Out!

Isn’t there a joke about why did the geese (or chicken) cross the road? As I drove the car through a Cary, NC shopping center, our son noticed and photographed this family of Canadian Geese crossing the road. We can assume the chicks were too young to fly strutted in between the parents. Drivers sped by the busy road as the geese tried to find a gap to cross searching for a nearby pond.

This photo reveals the danger that nature faces everyday surviving in the expanding human environment. It also shows how we humans need to be vigilant of nature surrounding us to avoid collisions.

Most parents will do everything they can to protect their children. Even Middle East peace is possible as President Carter negotiated with the leaders of Israel and Egypt by showing photos of their grandchildren while asking what kind of world did they want for their progeny.

So what kind of world do we want for current and future generations? Flourishing in a healthy world abundant with natural resources that sustains all life in balance is the goal of sustainability. The laws of nature strive to continue this balance and people can either realign by becoming defensive drivers in the world environment taking responsibility or acting selfishly wreaking havoc by exploiting nature like road rage maniacs.

Watch Out! With every purchase we make we can ask if this product is sustainably benefiting us and nature. We must reduce our demand on resources like oil, gas, water, food, clothes and more. Conserve and use the minimum necessary or become more efficient in using resources - make it a fun game with your family to get by with just enough. It’s like buying car insurance - we all need it to drive - and the lower risk drivers pay less for their insurance. Prosper — the result of needing and using less, minimizing expenses, and maximizing profits!

Sustainable Fishing

The Wake County (North Carolina) Public School System’s sixth grade science classes are reading World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky. Published in 2011, the author states that on the current trend most fish we know of could be gone in 50 years! Even worse, since all life is interconnected, including on land and in oceans, loss of fish populations will affect other wildlife like birds as well as threaten the food web and human existence.

Environmental stresses such as climate change and pollution and fishing fleets using drag nets to meet consumer demand are leading causes for species depletions and extinctions. Biodiversity is the key to success for all life which would be threatened if fish species decline. For example, overfishing bluefin tuna would harm dolphins and cause other species like jellyfish to expand. Seabirds that eat fish would also die out causing problems on land. Reptiles would not have food that is discarded by sea birds.

It’s interesting to read how many scientists in the late 1800’s thought fish populations could not diminish due to abundant egg production and fisherman would never intentionally impact fish populations. They misused Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” by not considering new inventions like the steam engine and monofilament plastic nets that allowed for deeper bottom fishing. People mistakenly thought fish in the deep oceans were as abundant as along coastal waters.

Humpback whales and herring eat krill - shrimp-like creatures which eat microscopic phytoplankton. White meat fish include cod, haddock, flounder, and halibut can swim near the bottom of the ocean and swim to the surface to eat smaller fish and shell fish. These fish are prized in commercial markets. Middle ocean depth fish include sardines, anchovies, herring, mackerel, and tuna have darker flesh and contain oily fluids.

Mr. Kurlansky aptly points out the sad story of the Orange Roughy that only 50 years ago became too popular and within a decade diminished by 90% in Australia due to a lack of scientific understanding. These red fish are found at depths of 5000 feet and turn orange when they die. They can live for 150 years but do not begin reproducing until age 20 so catching juvenile fish harmed the entire population.

Fish farms may not be the answer for sustainable fishing due to related problems. Ships the size of factories net and grind up fish for feeding farmed fish. The book shares that four pounds of fish meal are needed for one pound of farmed salmon. Farmed fish confined to small overcrowded areas develop weaker muscle tissue as well as increase water pollution.

The best solutions for sustainable fishing are for consumers to buy fish labeled as “certified sustainable seafood.” Higher prices to fisherman are going for line-caught fish like white albacore tuna and we can avoid buying other fish higher on the food chain such as bluefin tuna and shark. Lower food chain fish are more abundant and sustainable including sardines, anchovies, and herring. Other suggested actions include becoming active in environmental groups and promoting international relations to change consumer demand.

Sustainable Blogging

Today’s the last day of February 2022. I last posted a blog just after the New Year. Since starting the Conserve-Prosper website in May of 2015, I’ve consistently posted at least one blog every month for 80 months. So now I have just a few hours left today to add a blog for this month.

During the month of June 2019, I challenged myself to post a blog every day of the month. Typically writing a blog and finding the relevant photograph could take up to four hours to complete.

It’s been a great privilege to express my First Amendment freedom of speech, particularly in the last few years after retiring from the federal government. We see dictatorships that prevent free speech but does your employer (teacher, spouse, parent or child) block you’re expressing diverse points of view? Perhaps it’s ironic that I am borrowing the “Blogging” photo from a .gov website!

With the crisis in Ukraine, I feel shock, dismay, helplessness and confusion. It brings back memories from 43 years ago as a college student spending a semester in Germany when we visited East and West Berlin before the fall of the Soviet Union. After a week in West Berlin, we passed through the Wall at CheckPoint Charlie and spent three days in the communist country. There were many Russian tourists that we could not meet but our tour guide shared his misery living in East Germany and he desperately wanted to escape to America. The dictatorship government claimed they wanted to prevent western ideas from contaminating the minds of their people. I heard during this time Putin was stationed with KGB nearby in Dresden.

The most amazing memory was on a Saturday evening at 9 pm we walked out near the Wall and could see West Berlin from the Eastern side. The nightclubs blasted disco music and neon lights lit up the sky. In stark contrast, the East Berlin side was dark and quiet with a curfew at 10 pm. It seemed to me that East and West Berlin were at two extreme ends of the spectrum before the Wall came crashing down ten years later.

The fight in Ukraine between a democratic system and crazy Putin’s dictatorship is all about freedom of individual rights such as free speech!

So pray there is a peaceful resolution to this and many other crises. Everyone needs to find a way to express themselves and force free speech around the world. I consider each blog like a message in a bottle hoping some will be read and make a difference in the world. Writing these blogs has made a difference in my life so thanks to everyone who takes the time to check it out and feel free to post a comment.

Asphalt Garden

My sister-in-law Val at her home is planting grass on top of asphalt, small trees by punching holes drilling through the surface and painted cinderblocks to plant vegetables!

Driving Across the USA in our PHEV

This year we purchased and enjoyed driving across the United States, from Los Angeles to North Carolina, in our plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Our experiences are teaching us about making the energy-efficient transition from gas to electric motors and this blog is not a plug for any particular brand.

Almost six years ago I described our positive experience purchasing a 2016 Toyota Rav4 hybrid. We sold that car after five years to travel to Thailand one year ago. Over there we attended the 42nd Bangkok International Motor Show entitled “Shaping the Next Chapter” to compare several PHEVs. All the major brands were represented including new models by Audi, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, MG, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Volvo allowing us to sit inside many cars all in one location. We also watched many videos of people test driving the new vehicles. In the end, we chose our most familiar brand hoping to make the sixth purchase of a Toyota vehicle. The challenge was being able to find the new Rav4 Prime with only about 3,600 vehicles projected to be made during the pandemic due to supply-chain battery and chip shortages. In July 2021, we found several dealers in Los Angeles had one or two Primes available per week with more customers than cars. Our dealer in Grand Junction, Western Slope Toyota, said they only had one Prime for the entire year and sold it quickly! We found out later that it was a friend of ours who bought that vehicle.

We ruminated over taking the risk to fly to LA and look to buy our dream car compared to going home to Colorado first. We took the gamble and within a few days in LA found that Carson Toyota provided the best deal in LA. Our credit union website facilitated our search and selection by making online offers for vehicles in advance of arriving at the dealer. However, the dealers charged an extra premium for the low inventory and for the first time we paid above the manufacturers suggested retail price MSRP.

Another decision we needed to make was choosing between two trim levels: SE and XSE. We chose the better package mostly for the SofTex® instead of fabric seating. According to Toyota, “SofTex® is a synthetic leather seat material designed for wear, easy cleaning and resisting spills. Soft to the touch, SofTex weighs about half as much as genuine leather. The way it's made generates around 85% fewer CO2 emissions and 99% fewer Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) than conventional synthetic leather.”

The Toyota Rav4 Prime mid-sized SUV features a 2.5 liter, 4 cylinder gasoline engine rated at 40 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. The better fuel efficiency around town is a function of the hybrid battery capturing energy from the braking system. The 2021 hybrid improves efficiency over the 2016 Rav4 Hybrid which got 34 mpg city and 31 mpg on the highway.

Front and rear electric traction motors are linked to the powertrain hybrid system providing 42 miles of range from its 18.1-kwh lithium ion battery pack. The electric fuel efficiency is rated at 94 MPGe which is quantified by EPA in kilowatt-hours (kWH) per 100 miles. This is unit of volume per unit of distance, which is exactly the opposite of MPG. Basically, with kWh/100mi, lower numbers are better; with MPG, higher numbers are better. According to the EPA, burning one gallon of gas produces 115,000 BTUs (British thermal units). To generate the same amount of heat by way of electricity, it takes 33.7 kWh. Kilowatt-hours is the standard energy unit for electricity. In simplified terms, if an electric vehicle can travel 100 miles on 33.7 kWh of electricity, the EPA rates it at 100 MPGe. As you can see, this would be a very efficient vehicle, because a gas car would have to travel 100 miles per gallon to be equivalent.

Driving our new Prime off the lot in Carson, CA we caught the interstate and noticed the electric charge running out quickly in EV mode so we switched to HV gas mode. The EV is more efficient to use in town and the HV mode on the highway. Our trip along I10 to I15 took us from a morning of coastal rain into the rain shadow Mohave Desert with July temperatures rapidly increasing from 60 degrees at the coast to over 100 degrees F by the time we reached Barstow. We spent overnight at Lake Las Vegas meeting my brother and his wife for an enjoyable dinner. However, we did not find a charging station at the hotel and continued the next day running mostly on gasoline.

Employing the full-speed range dynamic radar cruise control (DRCC) became the biggest surprise of the trip. Before setting the cruise control I noticed a slight grab by the steering wheel to stay in my lane and when changing lanes only by using my turn signal would the steering wheel release the tension. When setting the cruise control on the interstate, the steering wheel takes over using the radar system to by guided by the traffic lines. This worked okay on straight roads but I did not trust the car to let go of the steering wheel and it seemed to weave left and right as if I was intoxicated. I also noticed cross winds made going straight more challenging. The DRCC slows the car down when getting close to a vehicle in front and I needed to anticipate sooner then normal to go around slower vehicles. Guess I still like to feel in control of the driving and using technology to supplement but not automate my driving experience.

We stayed in Grand Junction from July until November running primarily on EV mode. We could plug-in to the 110v outlet in our garage and full recharge took about 12 hours. We ran the gas engine once per week to keep the fluids moving and after four months only consumed about a half a tank or 5.5 gallons of gasoline. It seemed amazing that we could drive all around town and very rarely need to go more than 42 miles on one change. Luckily, the battery range improved over time and we noticed an improvement up to about 50 miles on one charge.

We got our first free service check at four months. We only put on about 2,500 miles and service is recommended before 4,000 miles or at four months. I asked about gasoline degrading after time and they suggested a BP fuel additive to clean the engine every 10,000 miles. I asked about the ability to recharge the electric battery using the gas engine but the mechanic was not aware of this feature.

Driving on our move from Grand Junction to the east coast, my wife discovered that by holding down the EV/HV button for five seconds allows the gas engine to recharge the electric battery up to about 80% or 32 miles. Using the extra energy stored in the battery helped when getting off the freeways and avoid idling at traffic lights. We still averaged 36 mpg for our trip so perhaps recharging the battery with the gasoline engine does not improve fuel efficiency overall. I still have more to learn and in the next blog will share our experience now that we are staying in an apartment with commercial plug-in charging stations.

In preparing this blog, I learned that Toyota in the second half of this year greatly accelerated supply for the Rav4 Prime and delivered about 20,000 vehicles to the marketplace overall this year. That should help reduce costs at the dealer and offer consumers more choices.