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The Power to Make a Difference, We All Have It
Brandon Marshall, ramblingtothesun.com
Brandon Marshall
Email: [email protected]
Website: ramblingtothesun.com
February 14, 2010; 12:00p.m. MST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE POWER TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, WE ALL HAVE IT
St. Augustine, Florida () March 14, 2010 — An energy engineer decides to leave his job in order to ride a bicycle across the United States. Why would he do such a thing? He has a message. His goal is to demonstrate that we all have the power to make a positive difference in the health of our natural environment, in the health of our communities, and in our own personal health.
Brandon Marshall, 37, will be part of a cross-country, van-supported bicycle ride with a Cycling Team of eight to thirteen participants. He will begin the journey on March 14, 2010, in St. Augustine, Florida, and arrive in San Diego, on May 10, 2010, three thousand ninety three miles later.
The Cycling Team is made up of a variety of people from retired professionals to renewable energy generalists with ages ranging from thirty to seventy. Members have previous experience in long bicycle tours both supported and unsupported and are coming together at the tour start point from various locales. “There’s a diversity of backgrounds and experiences but there is a common interest in letting others know that everyone has the power to make a difference with their everyday actions,” Brandon says.
The Cycling Team will be demonstrating bicycling as an environmentally friendly mode of travel and adventure, and as a means to improving one’s personal health. The Cycling Team will be using portable solar panels along the route to help power this effort and to demonstrate solar energy as an important part of a sustainable future, both environmentally and economically.
Brandon states “This is a big personal risk. I work in the renewable energy field and that position may not be available when this bicycle journey concludes. I’m willing to take that risk because I believe that I can do more to increase awareness of how powerful each of us is in making a positive difference in our own lives and in the lives of others.”
What was the tipping point for this decision? Brandon says he recently supplied a satellite phone provider with solar panels that went to the disaster relief effort in Haiti. “I thought of all the little things that ordinary people were doing in that effort to make a difference in the lives of the Haitian earthquake victims. It reminded me that we are all making a difference everyday in the lives of someone somewhere whether we realize it or not. I’ve seen it so many times before, the power that lies within each of us, that we can tap for positive change in our environment, in our communities, and in ourselves.”
Brandon mentions the familiar saying “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” then remarks “and in this case the journey of three thousand miles begins with a single pedal stroke. See, little actions do make a difference.”
Brandon invites those interested in his story to track him down on tour. His request: “Let’s talk about making a difference.”
(23 February 2010)
Oberlin Island
Bryan L Burgess
A few weeks ago I sat for two hours through a discussion on the impact declining fossil fuels and climate change will have on Oberlin’s future development. In the conversation it was said, “Oberlin is not an island”. I personally have referred to Oberlin as being in a “bubble” many times but never considered the island metaphor. Islands are physically detached from the mainland and their populations typically maintain only a limited attachment for the sake of convenience. When that attachment becomes necessary for the day to day survival of the island inhabitants, the confines of the island are replaced by perceived unlimited resources of the mainland. However, regardless of perception, the physical reality of geographic separation remains unchanged. Allow me to set reality aside for a moment and tell you the story of Oberlin Island.
Prior to the modern fossil fuel age, islands were largely self-sufficient and thus maintained population and commerce levels that were inherently sustainable. Examples that come to mind include the Polynesian, Japanese, Canary, and various Caribbean islands. Limited trade allowed for the exchange of high value items but the provisions necessary for daily living were all sourced within the borders of the island. Oberlin Island was no different back when a handful of enterprising individuals decided to get away from it all and moved their families from the Mainland to the center of Oberlin Island.
During those early years, Oberlin Islanders built their community with local trees for lumber, local clay for bricks and local stone for foundations. Their families were fed with both wild and domestic local grains, vegetables, and animals. Their homes were heated with locally harvested wood cleared from expanding fields around the central island community. By and large, Oberlin Islanders were self-sufficient and only imported high value processed items that could not be locally sourced such as metal hardware, glass, and paper.
An industry of education was established along with the small island community. Enthusiastic students from all over the Mainland made the crossing to Oberlin Island to experience the tranquil setting and receive world-class instruction in the arts and humanities. This type of community specialization became increasingly common in those days. Many examples of community specialization could be found on the Mainland such as Lorain built ships, Amherst quarried sandstone, Wellington processed cheese, and Elyria milled lumber. Specialization was made possible by the increasing availability and ease of transportation thanks to fossil fuels.
As coal powered transportation became more economical, Oberlin Islanders relied less on their natural resources and increasingly upon the specialty products from the Mainland. However, this mode of transportation was relatively slow and most food still came from farms around the island community. With the introduction of oil derived high-speed transport, the modern society we recognize today was born. By the 20th century, little (if any) food on Oberlin Island was produced locally. Few (if any) household items on Oberlin Island were produced locally. The people of Oberlin Island perceived the unlimited resources of the Mainland as having always been there. Memories of life before fossil-fueled transport all but faded away.
The next chapter in Oberlin Island’s history is being written and it starts like this…
In the early years of the 21st century, Oberlin Islanders could sense that something was wrong. Reports were coming in from the Mainland of unusually severe droughts causing widespread crop failures and forest fires. Unusually severe storms leading to flooding and destruction of entire cities. Unusually severe heatwaves causing the deaths of thousands of Mainland inhabitants. Any of these single events would be considered a tragic but isolated incident. Taken together, a disturbing trend of climate instability was beginning to emerge. Fortunately, the island inhabitants thought, the chaotic events were happening on the Mainland and would not affect Oberlin Island.
During the same period, a slow but unmistakable rise in the cost of fossil fuels became apparent. Unlike previous supply/demand cycles, these higher prices were not quenched by new inexpensive supplies. As oil became more expensive, Island residents began to notice higher prices on Mainland produced goods in the grocery store. As the price of coal continued to increase, Island residents experienced a sharp spike in the cost of Mainland produced electricity. Residents using Mainland supplied natural gas found it difficult to affordably heat their homes. In a community so reliant on imported goods, this incessant increase in prices was disturbing indeed.
A rift emerged between those residents who thought circumstances would return to “normal” and residents who thought “normal” had never been sustainable to begin with. These opinions were shared by many Mainland residents who by now were suffering through the worst economic downturn in living memory. But in a world where economic growth is based upon growing supplies of energy, a shrinking supply of energy would inevitably lead to economic contraction. In an effort to buttress the failing economy, Mainland government officials embarked on the largest debt fueled spending spree in history. This was controversial to say the least but the alternative was unthinkable.
On Oberlin Island, the decision was made to quickly but methodically become more self-sufficient. Energy generation, food production, local industry and a gradual decrease in consumption of all sorts maintained a desirable quality of life and made Oberlin Island the envy of the Mainland. Communities everywhere took notice and wanted copy the promising model of Oberlin Island. Ultimate success is not assured but the Oberlin Island residents have history on their side. Oberlin was largely self-sufficient once and can be again.
And now a return to reality. Oberlin is not an island. My community is integrally woven into the global economy and highly dependent on goods produced thousands of miles away. We could no more extract ourselves from this global dependence as I could painlessly extract a tooth. But decay of the fossil fuel based economy and climate stability has necessitated that we discuss our options of extraction or at least filling the cavity left by empty storefronts and abandoned houses.
I am proud of our commitment to renewable energy and rejection of long term commitments to coal fired electricity. Based on contracts signed and those in-progress, Oberlin will be over 75% renewably powered by 2012. I am proud of our walkable & bikable neighborhoods that provide residents the opportunity to work and shop locally. I am excited that residents have taken up gardening and that surrounding farms supply a diverse and growing farmers market. I look forward to the opening of a new LEED Gold certified live/work commercial block in the center of downtown. Solar and wind power manufacturers now occupy space in our industrial park once held by automotive suppliers. Recreational opportunities are greater than ever with the recent expansion of the metro parks complex. An expanded and remodeled LEED Gold certified fire station will be completed this year. Oberlin College continues its aggressive building schedule of world-class facilities built to LEED standards including a new dorm, jazz center, and a new green arts district currently in planning. For all these reasons and more, Oberlin has been insulated from the worst effects of the current economic crisis.
Our city’s commitment to a renewably powered and sustainable economy has been recognized as Oberlin was recently named a Climate Positive City by the Clinton Climate Initiative. This distinction encourages other communities to model their policies and development projects after Oberlin. I find it both exhilarating and terrifying that the eyes of the world are on my small town. We have a saying here that “Oberlin is peculiar in that which is good.” This has been true throughout our history and I hope our efforts ensure is remains true for years to come.
Bryan Burgess is a member of the Oberlin City Council (Oberlin, OH) and runs an electrical contracting business specializing in renewable energy systems.
(19 February 2010)
The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union, and It’s Catching on Quickly
Harry Kelber, alternet
It’s been only a month that a union for the unemployed has come into existence through an ingenious grass-roots organizing campaign. In case you haven’t heard about it, the union’s name is “UR Union of the Unemployed” or its nickname, “UCubed,” because of its unique method of organizing.
UCubed is the brain-child of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), whose leaders feel that the millions of unemployed workers need a union of their own to join in the struggle for massive jobs programs.
The idea is that if millions of jobless join together and act as an organization, they are more likely to get Congress and the White House to provide the jobs that are urgently needed. They can also apply pressure for health insurance coverage, unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits and food stamps. An unemployed worker is virtually helpless if he or she has to act alone.
Joining a Cube is as simple as it is important. (Please check the union web site: www.unionofunemployed.com). Six people who live in the same zip code address can form a Ucube. Nine such UCubes make a neighborhood. Three neighborhood UCubes form a power block that cntains 162 activists. Politicians cannot easily ignore a multitude of power blocks, nor can merchants avoid them…
(24 February 2010)
