A Premier Educational Event in Indianapolis for Food Consumers, Small Farmers, Gardeners, and Energy Users Who Want A More Sustainable Lifestyle.

This gathering will be a source of information about simpler lifestyles. Locate sources of food that is less processed, grown closer to home, constitutes a healthful diet and supports a clean environment.

Discover options for renewable energy technologies for your home. Watch a demonstration of biofuel production that anyone can do. Mingle with farmers that can supply food from local farms. Network with other like-minded people. Visit our trade show of resources and educational exhibits.  continue reading »

This blog entry is a repository of personal "action items" that I suggest when I give my talk entitled "Going Local: Building a Self-Reliant Richmond, Indiana," first presented in its current form in November, 2007. As I say in the talk:

• You may already know a lot of this stuff
• I don't like telling people how to live, and I very much still aspire to practice some of these things myself, so I don't offer these up with any sort of moral authority
• This can be thought of as a menu of possibilities, rather than a list of imperatives or instructions

If you're not completely sure why it might be a good thing for Richmond to become self-reliant or why these action items might help, then please invite me to give the talk for your group or organization. It's chock full of great information about the energy crisis, climate change, the economy, and the implications for life in Richmond and Wayne County, Indiana. I also tell some jokes.

Now, on to the list, which is largely centered on reducing our dependence on and usage of fossil fuels:  continue reading »

Learn how to live well using far less oil. Hear about tactics for helping your community make the transition. Each year this event attracts hundreds of educators, activists, and community leaders from around the country – including those who are making changes in their own lives.  continue reading »

Whitewater Valley REMC invites member participation in a public hearing to be held at the Union County 4-H Building, 411 Patriot Blvd., Liberty, IN, on July 10, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will consider the opportunity for REMC to support net metering, the practice whereby power customers generating their own energy (through alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power) can distribute surplus amounts of that energy back to the larger power grid, and receive financial credit for doing so. Some power companies have been traditionally resistant to this idea but are now considering it more openly. Please come share your thoughts on this important aspect of sustainability and energy independence.

As a part of a series of columns on agribusiness issues, Director of Wayne County Zoning and Planning Steve Higinbotham wrote an article today on the growing local interest in renewable energy sources and solicits feedback from the public on these issues.

The city of Richmond and its plan commission is currently updating its land use ordinances. The discussions have included regulations for wind towers, confined feeding operations and ethanol production facilities. The Wayne County Plan Commission has recently introduced these topics for discussion in its meetings as well. The Richmond/Wayne County Chamber of Commerce agribusiness committee will serve in a capacity to network, educate and address these specific issues. If you have a comment that could play a part in developing land use criteria for Wayne County, please contact any of these organizations, because there is no doubt that what was once old will be new again.

You can read the full article.

Local resident Sam Neff has an article in today's Pal-Item about how to replace your standard light bulbs with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. Neff says,

Compact fluorescents, in the shape of a swirly spiral, emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75-80 percent less electricity. If every one of 110 million American households bought just one CFB, took it home and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people.

Read the full article for more information.

The Indiana Energy Conference in Crawfordsville is designed for people to explore our culture's relationship with energy. The purpose of gathering together is to discuss our experiences, share ideas, explore action, and build community. Inspired by the Third U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions we will address issues of sustainable living, food production, population growth, modern culture, human relationships to the land and community building among many other things. You are invited to join us for several weekends of learning, connecting, sharing and doing!

The conference begins at 1:00 PM on Saturday January 6, 2007. Meetings are scheduled for the following 3 Saturdays. Activities will include: several film screenings, DVD presentations by various speakers, discussion, networking activities and more. See Conference Schedule for event details.

Paul Retherford has posted a talk by Phil Seybold from the Cope Environmental Center on sustainability:

[A] couple of things really stick out: 1) Reducing the energy requirements of your house, i.e. conservation, through the use of compact flourescent light bulbs, effective use of storm windows, and insulation will pay for itself very quickly - on the order of a year. 2) When accompanied by conservation, alternative energy solutions such as solar panels and wind turbines, are much more cost effective than you might think.

You can listen to the MP3 file from Paul's site. Thanks!

Local blogger Paul Retherford has some thoughts on reports that Wind energy is coming soon to Indiana. He cites a South Bend Tribune article that notes Indiana Michigan power will be placing test sites in East-central Indiana soon. Paul is excited about this.

This announcement comes on the heals of two others by companies planning wind farms in Benton and Allen counties...RP&L has sponsored a meteorological study of wind in northern Wayne county by placing wind measuring equipment on the Kicks96 towers on Tingler Rd. This is great news. The genie is out of the bottle. Will this push Indiana lawmakers to enact a Renewable Energy Portfolio?

LuAnne Holeva from the Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District has highlighted a long list of people who helped to make the most recent Tox-A-Way Day a major success. According to the Pal-Item article, "The program provided residents of Wayne and Union counties the opportunity to properly dispose of household hazardous waste items that may have been collecting around their house and property. Items collected were limited to paints, thinners, solvents, aerosols, herbicides, pesticides, flashlight-type batteries and most liquid wastes used around the house. There were over 300 residents that participated in this special collection day." Congratulations to LuAnne and all of the people and organizations participating.