2012 upstate cooperatives summit

This event was held at the Syracuse South Side Innovation center. The center is sponsored by Syracuse University. They did a good job restoring the former warehouse into a nice looking business center. It's clearly a resource that has a need to balance community wants with the need for security and safety. To this end, they offer a card access system to members that allows access using an automated badge system. Here, a few of us can be seen gathering at the side entrance to be let in.

Inside, I found some glass enclosed cubical areas. The furniture, computers and carpeting seem reasonably new. The main part of the center appears to be a large main lecture hall surrounded by several business incubator offices. This large room and a smaller conference room were where the talks were held. There were other offices that I presume had shared resources that the tenants could use.

I was impressed that the hosts were able to offer low cost tickets (or no cost for unemployed people such as myself) and still put on a good show. After a short check-in period, the talks started. They were all interesting. Like so many events of this nature, I really wanted to be in two places at once!

There were several messages that I got from the event. Co-ops come in many forms.

• Worker Co-Ops, (can be for profit or not)
• Membership non-profit
• General catch-all
• Agricultural co-ops

Here's some other quick trivia. Co-ops are more popular in times of economic distress. Co-ops (including banks) do over two trillion dollars a year in business. Co-ops need at least 5 members. Owners are "members", each having one share and one vote. They have the same personal asset protection benefits of a corporation. The Bylaws define how the co-op operates and also specifies how it disbands should the members desire that. Dividends are legally limited to 12% of capital. Co-ops tend to have a better success rate than other business structures. A new development is that co-ops can now issue non-voting "preferred" stock for investors. I didn't catch the jurisdiction of this. So, it may be state based laws that govern this rather than national. When forming a co-op, it's wise to deal with lawyers and accountants that specializes in them.

While there was much more covered in the talks, here is my highly biased opinion of co-ops. In my opinion, a co-op member is essentially "buying" their job. The buy-in amount is typically quite large. However, members sometimes "buy their share" over time through salary deduction. This of course creates a large incentive for co-op members to succeed and reduces employee turnover. However, it also requires a great deal of trust since such a situation can lead to self-exploitation of co-op members.

Second, unlike corporations, co-ops are not legally required to make shareholder profit be a primary goal. Instead, they can choose to measure success in other ways. Since the co-op isn't a slave to maximizing short term profits, this is potentially a very powerful business structure!

Third, co-ops still need to provide a good "Value Proposition" to all involved parties. Just like any business, they need to succeed in terms of offering better prices, better quality or better variety. Working with "anchor institutions" such as universities seems to be a niche strategy that co-ops are uniquely able to do. Non-profits sometimes have "goals" that can be more easily achieved via a co-op rather than through a conventional profit oriented business. For example, minimizing CO2 in some operations may be a technique that conventional business cannot do since it would not be as profitable to the shareholders.

During the Q&A session, I asked if it was beneficial to start as another business structure then convert to a co-op. I then asked several other people about this. The consensus was, If a co-op is what is desired, then it should start that way. The one exception to this would be for an existing business to be bought by the employees while offering a fair deal to the former owners.

Other points I picked up was a review of how the federal government makes laws. This was during the discussion of the proposed law HR3367 which would provide funding for assisting the formation of new co-ops in urban areas. I had forgotten how much a law could be changed by going through various committees in both Congress and the Senate! Reviewing the lobbying process, I'm surprised any law survives even remotely in it's original form.

Finally, at the end, the "Dream Freedom Revival" performed for the group. They also involved the audience (I even got up on stage myself). It was performance art at it's best. Very motivational! The food was good too. It was served on reusable plates, was disposed of organically and dishes were cleaned with the help of the guests. Overall, the whole event was very well run.

The talks covered can be seen at http://cny.coop/schedule
There is an active discussion group at http://lanyrd.com/2012/cnycoop/
They also have a Facebook page
There is a directory in case you want to find a coop in NY state.
The main site is at http://www.cny.coop/

Why are humans the only animal that needs to "pay" to exist?

Somebody asked me why humans are the only animal that needs to pay to live. To understand the question, one must first understand what "payment" is, which is usually the exchange of "money". Money has become very complex stuff. Most people would say the $20 dollar bill in their wallet was money. Trading a $20 for a tangible item at a convenience store happens countless times a day. Doing the same with a check or credit card is effective too. In fact, if the store owner thinks you are trustworthy, you may even be able to swap an IOU note for an item or two. Yet nature doesn't care about money or pricing at all. A wild hungry animal is as likely to eat you as not no matter what your credit score is. If you're trapped alone on an island, you'll be just as hungry with or without a knapsack full of gold or hundred dollar bills. So, money is apparently a human construct.

Money is simply one of many relationships two or more humans can have. For example, suppose you were to go back in time to become a peasant in ancient Japan. Suppose a Shogun warrior then shows up demanding tribute as was common in that time. Here's a guy who has state of the art weaponry, armor and training of that day. As a peasant, you have a choice. You can either fight him and likely be destroyed or pay him to leave you alone. You could offer him chickens, rice or perhaps an IOU for part of a future harvest. This is the ultimate basis of taxes. Someone, be it the IRS, the Sheriff of Nottingham, or your local mafia group wants a payoff. If it's a government, the payoff happens to be called a "tax".

Furthermore, since wealth is frequently too bulky to conveniently be carried away, they want their tax represented in a form such as an IOU, gold, check or most often paper currency. That way, YOU eventually provide the physical wealth or service to them when and where they want it in exchange for more money to pay more future taxes. This special form of money is referred to as "paper currency." In return, a government usually enforces real-estate laws, maintains the transportation infrastructure and has a police force to protect not only it's existence but the existence of wealth producers among other services (all making the populace more efficient to either be taxed more or at least not protest as much when they are taxed). So, there you have it. In a nutshell, the primary value of currency is for paying taxes. Since nearly everyone pays taxes either directly or indirectly, government currency has developed into an indirect wealth storage system of sorts. Other forms of "money" such as IOUs or gold still exist but currency seems to be the way most forms of money exist today.

Many people in the U.S. have found having a "job" is the easiest way to attract currency to pay taxes. Most citizens pay property tax (or rent, which is property tax + profit), sales taxes, income tax and plus assorted usage taxes from automobile registrations to building permits. Along the way, opportunists such as bankers or business people profit from manipulating this system in their favor. Some common ways of doing are by simply by buying low then selling high, charging interest or issuing credit. The video "Money as Debt" explains how bankers profit from controlling the monetary system in more detail. That video is one of the easiest ways to understand how money works today.

So basically, this is why humans appear to "pay" to live. Each, a person has a choice. Either pay off their warlord (or government) or become the government. Once in charge, the new government will often issue their own "currency" for property tax enforcement since that is the essence of government power. However, being the person in charge is lots of work and the position can sometimes have very crappy job security. Other people will try assassinations (or elections) since they think they can do a better job. In addition, other governments will be trying to take over the territory either through military or economic action. So, being in charge isn't always good. If it were possible to ask Saddam Hussein about this, I think he would agree.

Resources for the newly unemployed

Here are some job loss tips that may be helpful.

Get registered with the unemployment system as quickly as possible.
Keep in mind that you may not qualify for benefits. Many job categories such as sales jobs or temp jobs prevent you from getting any benefits at all.
In most cases owning your own business also disqualifies you too.  However, before giving up, meet with a counsler. You may find benefits such as having civil service exam fees waived or special categories you fit into that might give you some indirect benefit.  If nothing else, there are usually reasonably priced computers, copiers and faxes available. 

• For a regular layoff, no problem. In fact some cheap companies have their seasonal employees go on unemployment as part of their business plans.. 
• For a firing or "letting go", expect a fight.  They will likely try to deny you benefits. Reviewing the case might take up to 8 weeks. So, have some savings to live on. They will eventually contact you to review your case but only if you register with unemployment ASAP! 
• If YOU paid into the system via a deduction on your paycheck, you have a strong claim that shouldn't be dismissed because your former employer wants to save some money.
• Some jobs don't qualify you at all! Self employment falls into this category. However, being a board director of your own company might still allow you to collect. So, when setting up a company, give yourself a  parachute in case your company fails!

While you're in your first week of unemployment.

• Contact all people references you intend to use. Give them a call. Make sure their contact info is current.
  
• Update your resume with what you've been doing recently. Collect past awards, certificates and attaboy awards. You may have more experience than you think!
• Do an immediate search of the area for similar jobs. If you are lucky, you may just slide into another job without even drawing unemployment!
  
• Take time to visit the dentist, doctor, optometrist, barber and auto repair. Do long term things you would normally take time off to do.  Your next job will not give you time to do these tasks.
• Deal with your 401K. You hopefully will be fully employed so you won't have time to do that in your next job either!

Some unemployment issues to consider
At least in NY, you only have 28 weeks of benefits. However, you don't need to draw on that claim right away. So, you can take on high paid work without losing your claim if the work is only for a specific period of time (eg. 3 month contract) Just make sure you TELL the unemployment people this work is of a fixed period. If you QUIT, you lose your original claim. However, if your contract isn't renewed, you can keep your original claim for up to a year.

• If, after the second week, you aren't getting a check, make an appointment with an unemployment job counselor. They may not be too useful in finding a job. However, they would know of most benefits you can qualify for.
  
• If you DO get benefits, life is good. You can take a job that's really challenging and you'll have a temporary safety net for up to a year. Perhaps taking a job at a shaky start-up company is something you want to try. Maybe you want to try your hand at direct sales (which normally doesn't qualify for unemployment benefits). Just insist on a fixed probation period when you'll be assessed.  If you succeed, that's great! If you fail, you still have your original claim as a safety net.

If you have a 401K or 403B, grab it quick to put it  somewhere else safe even if its in a moneymarket at your bank.

• Your local credit union or bank can assist you with that transfer. Put it somewhere safe & short term. Perhaps a 6 month CD so you don't need to deal with thinking about it right away.
• The penalties and taxes for drawing from 401K or retirement are severe enough (20% plus early withdraw penalties plus you pay taxes right away) that it competes with credit card debt as to which is worse. It may be that taking on high interest credit card debt makes better financial sense.

After the first two weeks, you may be facing longer term unemployment. If so, here are some things to check.

Welfare - Unfortunately, you need to be incredibly poor for this to be an alternative.

• "temporary" welfare still exists. However, be prepared to say goodbye to good credit. Also, say goodbye to everything else too. I found out as a single person, having a house or car and over $100 in the bank or $400 in assets disqualifies me for virtually every program.  There is also a two month wait even if I did qualify. Not to say it shouldn't be checked out. However, don't expect much. If you have no car, no possessions and have an eviction notice, it's worth checking out. Before doing that,  close your bank account. You won't be needing that, perhaps ever. Oh, and in the spirit of "workfare" you must take a job they say and keep any job assigned, regardless of what it is.
  
• Welfare is divided into different services. Qualifying for one makes it easier to qualify for another. For example, getting home heating assistance (HEAP) usually makes it easier to get food stamps. Getting foods stamps makes it possible to get Medicaid and so on.
• Look into income based programs such as assistance with home repairs or insurance subsidies. You may temporarily qualify for them!

 Review cash sources

• Savings
  
• Unemployment
• Rental or storage space income
  
• Tax rebate
  
• Consider selling items that have high value but low use such as recreational vehicles 
  (unless living in one is a fallback plan)
  
• Potential loan sources such as credit cards, friends or family
• Cash advances from credit cards.
  

Review cash drains

• Anticipated legal costs (if any)
• Anticipated medical (if any)
  
• Get dental work, visit optometrist, get checkup. (If you plan to re-enter workforce)
  
• Mortgage payment (May be able to refinance, but it hurts your credit)
• auto-withdraw for IRA (turn it off)
  
• Health club (keep it. Keeping healthy helps morale)
  
• Home & car insurance (consider a monthly plan if paying yearly is too much)
• Anticipated property taxes (can sometimes split these payments up too)
• Fees from late payments.

Try to reduce the costs you have

• Do laundry at friends instead of at a laundromat (you'll find out who your good friends are)
• Heat/Electric. Wear sweaters and   convert to fixed rate pricing. 
• Water bill (install a flow reducing shower head - about $15)
• Cable - dump it. Replace CATV and Internet with a prepaid smartphone.You'll need both phone and data for job searches (Just make sure the phone can teather or perform as a hotspot)
• To conserve fuel and car maintenance walk, bike and bus more. Don't be stupid about it. Drive to job interviews. That way, you'll look and feel your best.
• Start a table top garden. It's low cost and VERY good therapy.
• Although single people don't usually qualify for food stamps, they can still visit a food pantry with only minimal questions asked. When your finances are better, donate back so they stay around.
• If you rent and cannot pay, the eviction process is usually 30-45 days but it can sometimes be drawn out beyond that. If you think you'll be unemployed for the long term,  get a legal packet from your court house to see what the eviction process is (as if you are evicting someone yourself). That information will tell you what your landlord can and cannot legally do.
  
• If living in a house, foreclosure can give you time but once started, it cannot be stopped!  After all, the bank wants your equity.
  

What you'll probably find is that you can't live on savings forever. However, you can usually go longer than you think. It's critical to give yourself enough time to think about career options. You're now outside the box. Time to start thinking like it!

We're all temporary employees now

No matter how well you do your job or how many years you do it, there are only two tiny words that separate you from the street. Those two words are "You're fired". It recently happened to me (downsized) but I'm not alone.

It has happened for millions and will continue to happen for a multitude of reasons. The cause could be from an oil shock, financial meltdown, a change in a workplace business model or in my case, office politics. This post isn't about what can be done to prepare for such a loss. Rather, the main theme of this post is to reinforce the fact that nobody has a "permanent" job.

Managers have realized that firing people rarely means an end to business. The managers themselves are interchangeable too, maybe more so since their turnover seems to happen at a greater rate. Even owners can be indirectly "fired" by customers. In fact, the "permanent" employee is now a rare find. Keep in mind that any given building can be full of people who were not there twenty years ago and won't be there 20 years from now. They key isn't to be able to resist change, it's to be able to successfully react to it.

So, it's always important to be prepared for an unexpected job transition. It can happen at any time for most any reason. Always try to develop a set of portable skills that can be immediately useful to another employer. Also, try to build enough financial security to be able to shop carefully for another place to use your skills. Also, keep in mind when one door shuts, several more now can open. Choose carefully and today's tragedy can transform into tomorrow's bounty.

A summary of the peak oil situation - in cartoon form

Below is a link to a video with the world's best summary video of resource depletion with the world's worst title. If it wasn't recommended to me, I would not have bothered watching it. However, if you can ignore the title, it's worth a watch.

There's no tomorrow

As a contrast to addressing the problems and solving them, check out

George Carlin's view of Global Warming.

Hot showers, clean clothes

As energy depletion takes hold, some things we have access to now such as cheap automobile travel will disappear. Other "luxuries" we take for granted such as warm showers, washing machines and modern soaps will be hard to get or not be available at all. However, these are no longer luxuries but necessities. These tools have proven their worth over time as they wash away disease, pests and parasites. Many people have found ways of "surviving" without a car. However, fewer people have given up the use of laundry services for extended periods. In fact, one person has made the case that the washing machine may even exceed the bicycle as the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution. Fortunately, washing machines generally don't take too much energy to operate as long as hot water is available. Washer boards work too. Clothes lines take even less energy. One person demonstrating how little energy a washing machine takes has made his human powered!

When it comes to renewable heat and hot water systems for washing machines be they washboards or bicycles, they should have hot water. Hot water is usually well below food and drinking water on the list of "must have" items any amateur survivalist says you should have. However, heat and water are very important. The fact is, hypothermia can kill in hours and poor hygiene can decline to disease carrying levels within days. An off grid hot water system is something to consider when prioritizing how to react to various disaster scenarios.

Green Drinks - Wall Street to Main Street

There were some interesting conversations at the last Green Drinks. One that really stood out was from one of our business leaders, Robert Ellis. He's the director of the Wells College business program. He liked the idea that the "occupy wallstreet" people now refer to themselves as the "99 percenters". Since he's worked with some of the wealthy 1%, he' s seen the enormous difference between them and the rest of us. He's also written about how hedge funds are taking advantage of churn in the equity markets to make enoromous profits from retirement funds by shorting securities held in IRAs. It truly was a revealing look into the stock market.

Another idea floated was the idea of a state declaring bankruptcy from their mandates. Alabama likely will be the first state to do this, followed closely by New York. When this happens, every obligation from pensions, bonds or worker contracts would be up for re-negotiation. It would be a huge disruption. Of course, one way of avoiding that fate might be to have a sales tax for transactions in the secondary market. The idea is simple. The only stock sales that could possibly create jobs for people are stocks issued by the company itself. Further price increases don't go to a company, only to speculators. Since such sales in the secondary market are just speculation, they should have a straight sales tax. By doing this, there would be more "buy and hold" investing rather than speculative investing.

Other conversations seemed more normal for the group, having to do with issues such as energy, food and health. Ideas were exchanged, contacts were made and a good time seemed to be had by all.

An unconventional threat to the homestead - Gentrification

Imagine that you've created your dream Doomstead which is practically a castle. Maybe it's built from stone with castle like features. It's got it's own water supply, electric, great garden and may even have anti-radiation features. All fine and good.

However, there are other threats to consider. Specifically, the assessor. You see, the nicer your home base is, the more the surrounding area will tax you. While YOU may have enough of everything, chances are, the poor Mayor in your town doesn't. To avoid a fire and pitchfork scenario from a populace that keeps him in power, he's going to need to tax and redistribute to stay in power. Same is true of county, state and federal politicians. It's a fact of life. Either be the head warlord (lots of work, crappy job security) or make sure you have a way to pay your taxes to whomever has conquered the area such as say, the U.S. Government.

Climate disruption will create massive migrations. However, the people coming to your area (or leaving) will not be just poor hobgoblin types. If your area still has a reasonable climate and some governance left, some wealthy people, may eye your location as a good place to run the remains of their business empire from. If they don't outright make an offer for your home, they may just build their home (or gated community) nearby. Then, they will likely demand services that they can pay for and you can't. The effect will be to increase the neighborhood property taxes since they can afford higher taxes to provide the things they want such as better schools, better roads and of course more police protection. This process is called gentrification.

So, how do you deal with the threat of gradually being priced out of your own neighborhood? An interesting question. Does one simply get better at participating in the "Great American Rat Race" or is there a better answer out there?

3d printing using only solar power.

If you have a big enough magnifying lens, you can melt sand into glass. If you have a computer controlling movement of the focal point, some interesting manufacturing possibilities emerge. Here is an example of such a device. The primary energy source for this device is solar. The energy takes the form of focused heat, provided by the Fresnel lens on top of the structure. The device also uses solar panels for powering the electronics that controls movement of the platform.



This device has the desirable feature that the products can be made exclusively from materials found in the immediate surroundings. For example, the bowl on the upper right was made with fused together sand. While it's clear this particular system isn't built for long term service, it does show that direct-solar manufacturing for some items could be possible.

Diminishing returns of complexity

One task I have is to make sure a computer room stays below a correct temperature. The room has a history of overheating due to air-conditioner failure. So, I need an alarm for when this happens. The alarm system already exists. I just need to replace the old thermostat simply closes a contact if the temperature rises above a set point. Since I only need the feature of closing a contact if the temperature rises above a set point, I purchased the cheapest and most basic thermostat model I could find.

Silly me. I thought this would be a rather basic product. It turns out that some enterprising engineer decided that an electronic means of measuring temperature was the way to go. The result is an overly complex circuit board made in a large overseas factory, with lots of tin & lead solder runs, lots of individual parts and powered by a non-renewable button cell battery. Apparently, the environmental cost of engineering, assembling, packaging, marketing and shipping all this made sense to someone.

So, I'm returning it and searching for a purely mechanical thermostat. Not because it doesn't work. It's because I don't want to encourage the use of overly complex solutions for solving simple problems.

May meetup - Green Drinks

The last meetup had a small turnout. However, as always, there's always something new to learn. There are many ways people can make our economy more sustainable than it is right now.

For example, in the image on the right is a gentleman who's holding up a blacktop substitute made of recycled tires! Not only does it save waste material from going into our landfills, the roadway surface itself has some rather unique properties.

Since the material is made of former rubber tires, it retains it's shape well. That means vehicle indents due to being set in a parking area are self-repairing. It also is a material that is less susceptible to freeze damage. If water freezes, asphalt is damaged. However, the crevices in that material can allow for ice expansion without being damaged. Also, due to being porous, it passes water through to the underlying ground. This eliminates the need to build water runoff evaporation areas for parking lots. As for cost, it's a bit more per foot than average blacktop. However, areas covered in this surface need less maintenance.

Anyway, it demonstrates that it's sometimes possible to re-purpose former waste materials into something useful. Not only is it sometimes possible, but it's sometimes even profitable!

Media Politics 101. If too many turnout, repeat forum.

There may be some local media bias when it comes to the decision to allow hydrofracking in the area. For example, here's a photo of what appears to be a presentation by our mayor Quill with our former mayor in a place somewhat resembling a city hall like building. However, it wasn't city hall at all! It was at Willard Memorial Chapel. The photo showing empty pews suggests that nobody is interested in the issue. However, the turnout at the last city hall meeting suggests otherwise.

The recent public forums may be related to governor Patterson's final legislative act before he left office to have the DEC investigate hydrofracking and issue permits no earlier than June 2011. So, politicians all around New York are testing public tolerance to the idea of trading renewable water for a short term budget boost.

The fact is, even if pure distilled water were used, the hydrofracking idea is inherently dangerous. No matter what liquid is used, there are going to be nasty things forced up along with the gas. Substances that currently are in an inert state will be disturbed and be introduced into the groundwater. There is no safe way. Doing so is simply a trade of long-term groundwater for short-term money.

Not that the local economy would get much of that. An assumption by politicians is that operations such as this will at least be a temporary a boom to the local economy. However, former oil towns, coal towns and gas towns suggest resource extraction rarely benefits the community. In town after town, the money goes away but the pollution stays. Put it this way. If only your neighbor were to get rich from a hydrofrack lease and you only got potholes in your roads, polluted water and a property tax increase to fix it all, would you still be in favor of it?

Hydrofacking and city hall

In an ideal world, one would take turns governing and being governed. So, I decided to take a trip down to City Hall to see how things were going. Rumor had it that hydrofracking was on the table for discussion.

The first issue was a presentation of a petition to the council to stop accepting tanker trucks full of hydrofrack water into the municipal water treatment system. The woman presenter spoke of the dangers of hydrofracking. They include brackish water (salt), suspended metals and in some cases radio nucleotides. For evidence, she urged the council members to view the movie "Gasland." She also submitted a petition to the council.

Then an opportunity for comment was offered. After the mayor asked again if anyone wanted to speak to the whole council, this was the only time to do so. So, seizing the opportunity, I decided to do an impromptu comment on the matter of energy depletion. I stated I didn't know all the issues behind hydrofracking but from what little I did know, it sounded like a really bad thing. (I also offered to add my name to that petition). However, I wanted to state how it was important to let people know that there are alternatives to home heating. I suggested that heat pumps might be a reasonable alternative to burning natural gas and incentives (or at least lack of penalties) should be in place to encourage their use. They would reduce the need for energy and also potentially stimulate the local economy due to a local company selling them plus there would be a need for local labor to install them. To the mayor's credit, he did point out that some government buildings were heated in this way.

Then, on to scheduled business. The next gentleman named Terry Cuddy got more specific on what he wanted the council to do. He wanted, with the support of a long winded petition, to stop the practice of the city accepting hydrofracking water for processing. Reaction by the council members was to have a closed door session. No resolution was introduced nor voted upon but it did show the council was taking the matter seriously. I also found a major mystery to me was solved. Turns out the Green Drinks I host is at the same time this organization meets. Not that it's a bad thing. However, it might mean Green Drinks may go to another time.

Other issues were brought up and voted upon that probably would qualify as "regular business". Among them, initiatives to encourage tourism. Also, a new program to put "Trisha" on the road to sell businesses the idea of having their activities in Auburn.

After the meeting, I met with Gilda from the city council. She seemed very bright and very responsible which was refreshing to see. Apparently she felt really strongly against the Iraq war. That alone scored major points with me! I think she feels as I do, that the best way to affect government change is from within. So, we started talking about the issues.

I learned a few things. Potentially the most interesting finding was how much money the gas companies offer the city to truck in their water! In some cases, hundreds of thousands. So, the temptation is understandably great to process some waste water to make the city budget balance a bit better. However, what was more interesting was finding out sampling is only taken from specific locations at specific times for what goes in the processing plant. No monitoring, specific to hydrofracking contamination, is done on the output. Very interesting that they have that restriction. Other issues are that the Owasco lake outlet is used both for releasing treated water and also for clean water. I suggested that rules, being what they were, may not sit well with the public. Although the city needs to comply with DEC and EPA rules, it might also be wise that the city verify water quality using an independent source such as a university since there are many people (myself included) that don't totally trust the influences of government. Even if not official, it would probably lend credibility to monitoring. The GIS program at CCC also has access to satellite remote sensing data. I suggested that data could be gathered now to used to monitor environmental changes. Right now, we could establish a baseline.

I also talked a bit about my renewable experiments (of course). She also listed some renewable activities Auburn is doing such as using digesters for methane and experimenting with using dried sewer sludge pellets as a possible power source rather than being trucked to another landfill as is currently the practice. She sensed that I might have some good ideas so she told me of an organization called "Ignite". This organization (or maybe another one) is helping the city review under used properties that could be cleaned up with the assistance of grants (perhaps for brownfield locations). If so, it sounds like a very good organization to be involved with. So, on her advice, I'll probably be checking it out.

Sustainable Skill Share visit

One of the newest buildings in Syracuse was the location of an event called Sustainable Skill Share. This event was sponsored by ESF of Syracuse. One thing that is rather unique about this building is that it's roof is covered with vegetation! Since it was early spring, the plants were still dormant. However, it won't take long before the roof is totally covered in vegetation!

Inside, there were 12 sessions so it unfortunately wasn't possible to go to all of them. However, here's a sampling of some of them.

Mycology (study of mushrooms). Lots of talk and lots of images. There are apparently lots of tasty mushrooms in the area along with some deadly ones!

Riki relaxation, if delivered by a trained Riki person, seems to work. It's truly amazing!

A Spirituality session is a good way to appreciate how fortunate we are when it comes to having the gift of life.

The highlight of the day was...composting! First, gathering compost from kitchen scraps need not be a smelly exercise. There are kitchen vessels of stainless steel that have carbon filters built right into the top cover!However, these containers look quite expensive. So, for those who are value shopping, it's also possible to construct a "worm box" out of peg board. Just load up with food scraps, newspaper and some "red wiggler" worms. Of course there's more than one way to process scraps into nutrients. The favored way is simply to make a big pile in a yard and it will usually attract bacteria, molds and other creepy-crawly creatures to break down the pile. Then, it's VITAL that these finished components are separated and sit for about a month before being used anywhere else. Ideally, in a dry well ventilated location. That way the Bugs/worms/bugs/weeds eventually starve and don't infect plants where the compost will eventually go.

The last exhibit was a static display. While there was no presenter for this, there was some literature that gave some clues to what this device did. It looks like it uses small water cooled elements at the focal point of several Fresnel lenses that track the sun. Together, an array of these looks like they could absorb both water and PV energy with a minimum of rare earth materials. The photo on the left shows what appears to be a test set of these. A much larger array of these units are mounted to the side of the building. Maybe this approach will be basis of energy technology of tomorrow or it might be a boondoggle. Time will tell. Either way, it shows that smart people are giving alternative energy some serious thought!