This is one of my favorite interviews from our cross-country eco-video
project, when we met Cliff Etheridge in Roscoe, Texas, home of the
world’s largest wind farm.
The way Cliff explained, the rural town of Roscoe was dying out, and
once the Dairy Queen left town they knew they were in trouble. Cliff
had just retired as a cotton farmer and knew about the wind farms in
nearby Abilene and Sweetwater, and was interested to find out if
Roscoe could have a wind farm too. There is both plenty of wind and
plenty of open space in Roscoe. He brought in wind experts to assess
whether or not a wind farm would work there, and then got the support
of the townspeople for the idea.
A few years later, the world’s largest wind farm now stands in Roscoe,
Texas with 631 wind turbines producing enough electricity for 250,000
homes. Farmers and landowners are paid by the company who owns the
wind turbines for leasing their land, and they continue to farm around
the turbines. In a rural farming community, that extra money really
helps keep the local economy going. As we saw in so many places,
there are a variety of reasons to support renewable energy: the
environment, the economy, national security, etc. In fact, the week
before we arrived in Roscoe, Cliff won ‘Environmentalist of the Year’
from the state of Texas!
Standing in a field of 631 massive wind turbines was an amazing
experience. It was actually very quiet - just the noise of the wind
blowing. It made me wish that everyone who opposes wind farms could
stand where I was to experience it for themselves. They are quite
majestic, in my opinion. Our local newspaper just featured an article
on building wind turbines here in central Massachusetts, speaking of
the several that have been built in the last two years, and others
that are on the way. I read the online version of the article and it
was of course followed by comments on the website about how wind
turbines are noisy, kill birds, are a bad investment, etc. People may
not like how they look, and that's their opinion of course. I've
heard some complaints about wind turbines being noisy but I've never
experienced that myself with the turbines I've been close to. I know
the smaller residential wind turbines are are noisier. Many studies
have been done about bird mortality with wind turbines and it's
generally found that wind turbines kill about 2 birds per year. Cats,
windshields, and plate glass windows are a far greater menace to bird
populations than wind turbines. As far as wind turbines being a bad
investment, our first video in the ORN series features the wind
turbine at Holy Name High School which has a 7-year payback and then
free heat/electricity for years afterward. The Roscoe wind farm was a
business decision, to boost the economy of a rural town that was
dying. People can argue the numbers all day but in the meantime that
doesn't stop people from investing in renewable energy and
experiencing the very real benefits. If you hear or see these
arguments I encourage you to help counter them and try to correct some
of the misinformation out there.
Enjoy!
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Monday, April 19, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
ORN#5 Cellulosic Ethanol
Hi friends,
Before I get to the newest video, I want to say thanks for the ratings and reviews on ITunes! If you haven’t yet, please check us out on ITunes and leave a rating and/or review, which helps us get notice in a very large ITunes world. Just do a search for Our Renewable Nation in the ITunes store.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nHLctl761k
Our latest video, ORN# 5 Cellulsoic Ethanol, is Carrick’s tour of Verenium’s demonstration plant in Jennings, Louisiana. Verenium has been developing a process of using high-energy crops and native plants to make cellulosic ethanol to fuel cars and trucks.
Ethanol has been a controversial alternative fuel to gasoline, with a lot of headlines and politics involved for the last several years. Much of the gasoline now sold in the U.S. has a blend of 10% ethanol, which is being made from corn. Making ethanol from corn really gets into a whole host of issues, like growing food crops for fuel. Corn is an energy-intensive crop to grow and farmers end up using a lot more energy to grow and harvest the corn than we get from using the ethanol in our cars. Then there’s the problem of rising food prices because the corn is being used for fuel instead of food, and corn is in A LOT of food we buy (watch the movie King Corn or read the book ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ by Michael Pollan for more on that). Plus, even planting every acre of land available in the U.S. with corn to make ethanol wouldn’t get us anywhere near what we use for transportation fuel in this country.
Cellulosic ethanol can be made from native plants and grasses that need very little help to grow abundantly, and from crops that are able to produce many times more ethanol per acre than corn. One of the big challenges with producing cellulosic ethanol is breaking down the cell walls to get at the sugars trapped in these plants materials. Verenium has developed a process of conditioning and pressurizing the plant materials then adding enzymes to break down the cell walls, making it possible to yield a much greater amount of ethanol from plants than the process of producing corn ethanol.
On our cross-country journey we were given a rare opportunity to visit and tour Verenium’s cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant in Louisiana. This is not a place that is open to the public. In fact, no kid has ever walked through the facility before Carrick. There is a lot of money invested in developing this process and a handful of other companies are in the race to perfect the secrets to making cellulosic ethanol. Naturally, they are selective about how many people they bring through, so we were very lucky!
You may notice this is a short video, shorter than normal. During our tour of Verenium I couldn’t imagine how we were going to take a subject as complex as cellulosic ethanol and make a 5-minute video for a broad audience including kids. There was so much to show and tell, and so many issues involved that in the end I decided to keep it short and not overload it with information. There is a lot of discussion and debate about ethanol on the internet, so our video serves as a “taste of” and anyone interested can do more poking around on their own.
We use SO MUCH gasoline in this country for transportation that it’s hard to imagine any one source of fuel that we can produce to take its place. That’s not to say it can’t be done, it’s just to highlight the tremendous challenge any alternative fuel faces. Making vehicles more fuel-efficient is one way to help meet that challenge. Also, the idea of a Chevy Volt-style hybrid with a fuel-driven range extender would dramatically lower our use of fuel by letting us drive on electricity most of the time and only use fuel when driving farther than 50 miles.
Before I close this out I want to mention the upcoming sustainability fair in Hull, Massachusetts by our friends at Sustainable South Shore, who helped sponsor our project. We went last year and it was great – here’s more info:
7th Annual Earth Day Sustainable Living Expo
Sat., April 17, 2010 at the DCR Mary Jeanette Murray
Bathhouse, 204 Nantasket Ave., Hull, MA 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
FREE. See website: www.sustainablesouthshore.org
for details about last year's Festival vendors and organizations
plus updated information for the 2010 Sustainable Living Expo.
40 Table spaces, inside and outside, of sustainable living related
companies and organizations. Sponsored by Sustainable South
Shore Inc. (18 So. Shore Towns), a Chapter of MCAN,
www.massclimateaction.net.
Info.: 781-925-9066 nancy@sustainablesouthshore.org
Hull Wind 1 Turbine tours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Before I get to the newest video, I want to say thanks for the ratings and reviews on ITunes! If you haven’t yet, please check us out on ITunes and leave a rating and/or review, which helps us get notice in a very large ITunes world. Just do a search for Our Renewable Nation in the ITunes store.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nHLctl761k
Our latest video, ORN# 5 Cellulsoic Ethanol, is Carrick’s tour of Verenium’s demonstration plant in Jennings, Louisiana. Verenium has been developing a process of using high-energy crops and native plants to make cellulosic ethanol to fuel cars and trucks.
Ethanol has been a controversial alternative fuel to gasoline, with a lot of headlines and politics involved for the last several years. Much of the gasoline now sold in the U.S. has a blend of 10% ethanol, which is being made from corn. Making ethanol from corn really gets into a whole host of issues, like growing food crops for fuel. Corn is an energy-intensive crop to grow and farmers end up using a lot more energy to grow and harvest the corn than we get from using the ethanol in our cars. Then there’s the problem of rising food prices because the corn is being used for fuel instead of food, and corn is in A LOT of food we buy (watch the movie King Corn or read the book ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ by Michael Pollan for more on that). Plus, even planting every acre of land available in the U.S. with corn to make ethanol wouldn’t get us anywhere near what we use for transportation fuel in this country.
Cellulosic ethanol can be made from native plants and grasses that need very little help to grow abundantly, and from crops that are able to produce many times more ethanol per acre than corn. One of the big challenges with producing cellulosic ethanol is breaking down the cell walls to get at the sugars trapped in these plants materials. Verenium has developed a process of conditioning and pressurizing the plant materials then adding enzymes to break down the cell walls, making it possible to yield a much greater amount of ethanol from plants than the process of producing corn ethanol.
On our cross-country journey we were given a rare opportunity to visit and tour Verenium’s cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant in Louisiana. This is not a place that is open to the public. In fact, no kid has ever walked through the facility before Carrick. There is a lot of money invested in developing this process and a handful of other companies are in the race to perfect the secrets to making cellulosic ethanol. Naturally, they are selective about how many people they bring through, so we were very lucky!
You may notice this is a short video, shorter than normal. During our tour of Verenium I couldn’t imagine how we were going to take a subject as complex as cellulosic ethanol and make a 5-minute video for a broad audience including kids. There was so much to show and tell, and so many issues involved that in the end I decided to keep it short and not overload it with information. There is a lot of discussion and debate about ethanol on the internet, so our video serves as a “taste of” and anyone interested can do more poking around on their own.
We use SO MUCH gasoline in this country for transportation that it’s hard to imagine any one source of fuel that we can produce to take its place. That’s not to say it can’t be done, it’s just to highlight the tremendous challenge any alternative fuel faces. Making vehicles more fuel-efficient is one way to help meet that challenge. Also, the idea of a Chevy Volt-style hybrid with a fuel-driven range extender would dramatically lower our use of fuel by letting us drive on electricity most of the time and only use fuel when driving farther than 50 miles.
Before I close this out I want to mention the upcoming sustainability fair in Hull, Massachusetts by our friends at Sustainable South Shore, who helped sponsor our project. We went last year and it was great – here’s more info:
7th Annual Earth Day Sustainable Living Expo
Sat., April 17, 2010 at the DCR Mary Jeanette Murray
Bathhouse, 204 Nantasket Ave., Hull, MA 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
FREE. See website: www.sustainablesouthshore.org
for details about last year's Festival vendors and organizations
plus updated information for the 2010 Sustainable Living Expo.
40 Table spaces, inside and outside, of sustainable living related
companies and organizations. Sponsored by Sustainable South
Shore Inc. (18 So. Shore Towns), a Chapter of MCAN,
www.massclimateaction.net.
Info.: 781-925-9066 nancy@sustainablesouthshore.org
Hull Wind 1 Turbine tours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Special Announcement and Our Newest Video
Hi friends,
We just finished and uploaded our latest eco-video, but first I have a big announcement and a request for a little help!
I have set up our eco-video series, Our Renewable Nation, as a video podcast on ITunes. ITunes is the premier online music store and directory for podcasts, so being listed as a podcast there is a BIG DEAL and exposes our videos to a much wider audience, potentially. On ITunes, people can subscribe to our videos to play on their IPods, IPhones, or on their computers, updated as soon as each video is online. There are very few environmental video podcasts listed on ITunes, so we don’t have much competition.
ITunes can give a podcast a lot of publicity by listing it as a featured podcast, but in order for them to notice it the podcast needs to have a lot of good ratings and reviews. If you use ITunes, could you help give us a boost? Do a search in the ITunes store for Our Renewable Nation, and our podcast will come up. A quick rating and/or some comments about the videos would be a big help! If you don’t already use ITunes, you can download it free from www.Apple.com – I very highly recommend browsing through the available podcasts, all free and an endless source of brain food. Really, my IPod was one of the best purchases I ever made; I listen to podcasts for hours every day and learn so much.
OK, now our newest video, ORN#4 Solar Decathlon 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPVyrGeSMLM) We visited the Solar Decathlon in October down in Washington DC; it’s a competition of homes from universities all over the world that are completely powered by the sun. The homes are assembled on the National Mall for 2 weeks and are open to the public to show just what’s possible. When built specifically with renewable energy and energy efficiency in the design, there are amazing possibilities for zero energy homes. For example:
-Team Germany’s house is almost completely covered in solar panels, both traditional PV and new thin-film panels on the siding of the house, which generates several times more electricity than the house uses (selling the rest back to the electric company!).
-The University of Illinois house is so energy efficient that it could be heated with a single hair dryer.
-Team Spain’s house features the first-of-it’s-kind tracking solar roof that follows the sun throughout the day.
-Team California’s house has computerized lighting, heating, and cooling controls that can all be changed on-the-go using an IPhone.
As you’ll see in the video, these are very high-tech houses featuring solar technology for electricity and heating, super-insulation, passive solar heating with south-facing windows, etc. The Solar Decathlon houses stand in strong contrast to the very low-tech zero-energy homes we visited in Taos, New Mexico, called Earthships. Very different approaches to building! Stay tuned for our upcoming video about Earthships!
There were 20 houses at the Solar Decathlon and we filmed each one, but in this video we covered 5 of the most interesting and high-scoring houses. I want to put together a few more videos that cover the other houses but that would take weeks, and I want to move on to the other exciting videos that are next in line. Maybe once the video series is finished I’ll return to these remaining Solar Decathlon houses and make some ORN web extras. In the meantime, you can visit the Decathlon website, www.SolarDecathlon.org, which has plenty of information about all 20 houses, plus lots of pictures and videos of the competition.
In the 2009 Solar Decathlon, there was a focus on how much it would cost to build these houses. For example, Team Germany’s house cost roughly $750,000 to build (it features some very cutting-edge technologies). Some things to consider about the costs though:
1. 1. You’d never have an electric bill or heating bill again.
2. 2. You could get paid for the excess electricity you produce.
3. 3. State and federal credits can make solar technology much more affordable.
4. 4. These are prototype homes; if they were mass-produced the cost would be much lower.
We hope you enjoy our latest video! As always, feel free to leave comments on YouTube and rate the videos.
Thank you everyone for your support!
Be well,
Colin & Carrick--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
We just finished and uploaded our latest eco-video, but first I have a big announcement and a request for a little help!
I have set up our eco-video series, Our Renewable Nation, as a video podcast on ITunes. ITunes is the premier online music store and directory for podcasts, so being listed as a podcast there is a BIG DEAL and exposes our videos to a much wider audience, potentially. On ITunes, people can subscribe to our videos to play on their IPods, IPhones, or on their computers, updated as soon as each video is online. There are very few environmental video podcasts listed on ITunes, so we don’t have much competition.
ITunes can give a podcast a lot of publicity by listing it as a featured podcast, but in order for them to notice it the podcast needs to have a lot of good ratings and reviews. If you use ITunes, could you help give us a boost? Do a search in the ITunes store for Our Renewable Nation, and our podcast will come up. A quick rating and/or some comments about the videos would be a big help! If you don’t already use ITunes, you can download it free from www.Apple.com – I very highly recommend browsing through the available podcasts, all free and an endless source of brain food. Really, my IPod was one of the best purchases I ever made; I listen to podcasts for hours every day and learn so much.
OK, now our newest video, ORN#4 Solar Decathlon 2009. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPVyrGeSMLM) We visited the Solar Decathlon in October down in Washington DC; it’s a competition of homes from universities all over the world that are completely powered by the sun. The homes are assembled on the National Mall for 2 weeks and are open to the public to show just what’s possible. When built specifically with renewable energy and energy efficiency in the design, there are amazing possibilities for zero energy homes. For example:
-Team Germany’s house is almost completely covered in solar panels, both traditional PV and new thin-film panels on the siding of the house, which generates several times more electricity than the house uses (selling the rest back to the electric company!).
-The University of Illinois house is so energy efficient that it could be heated with a single hair dryer.
-Team Spain’s house features the first-of-it’s-kind tracking solar roof that follows the sun throughout the day.
-Team California’s house has computerized lighting, heating, and cooling controls that can all be changed on-the-go using an IPhone.
As you’ll see in the video, these are very high-tech houses featuring solar technology for electricity and heating, super-insulation, passive solar heating with south-facing windows, etc. The Solar Decathlon houses stand in strong contrast to the very low-tech zero-energy homes we visited in Taos, New Mexico, called Earthships. Very different approaches to building! Stay tuned for our upcoming video about Earthships!
There were 20 houses at the Solar Decathlon and we filmed each one, but in this video we covered 5 of the most interesting and high-scoring houses. I want to put together a few more videos that cover the other houses but that would take weeks, and I want to move on to the other exciting videos that are next in line. Maybe once the video series is finished I’ll return to these remaining Solar Decathlon houses and make some ORN web extras. In the meantime, you can visit the Decathlon website, www.SolarDecathlon.org, which has plenty of information about all 20 houses, plus lots of pictures and videos of the competition.
In the 2009 Solar Decathlon, there was a focus on how much it would cost to build these houses. For example, Team Germany’s house cost roughly $750,000 to build (it features some very cutting-edge technologies). Some things to consider about the costs though:
1. 1. You’d never have an electric bill or heating bill again.
2. 2. You could get paid for the excess electricity you produce.
3. 3. State and federal credits can make solar technology much more affordable.
4. 4. These are prototype homes; if they were mass-produced the cost would be much lower.
We hope you enjoy our latest video! As always, feel free to leave comments on YouTube and rate the videos.
Thank you everyone for your support!
Be well,
Colin & Carrick--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
ORN# 3 Reusable Shopping Bags
Hi friends,
Our latest video, ORN#3 Reusable Shopping Bags, is ready for viewing! Click on the blue title or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8U6vxJu1tI
We visited the ChicoBag Company in Chico, California to learn more about reusable shopping bags and the reasons they are a more sustainable choice than paper or plastic. Carrick interviewed Andy Keller, the president and founder of ChicoBag, and it was a great interview with a lot of great points. In fact, I decided to make this video a 2-for-1 special; ORN#3 Reusable Shopping Bags is the “official” video of our visit, and I also put together a second video, ORN ChicoBag Extended Interview, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP7nDSrVlQk) which is a longer version of our interview that includes a lot of Q&A not in the ORN#3 video. Andy gave such a great interview with a lot of great points that couldn’t make it into the shorter format for our video series, so if you like the “official” video then go ahead and watch the extended interview.
I think of this video as the sister video to our last, ORN#2 Stainless Steel Water Bottles. Both videos talk about sustainable alternatives to disposable items we use every day. Stainless steel water bottles and reusable shopping bags are two easy ways to reduce our environmental footprint – Andy told us that the average American uses on average about 500 disposable shopping bags every year! He gave lots of amazing statistics that will be sure to surprise you.
ChicoBags are unique among reusable bags because they are designed to be smooshed down into the small attached pouch with a drawstring, which make them easy to carry and keep where you need them, like in the car, purse, etc. Our family has been using canvas bags for years but they are bulky to carry around and they get stained after a while. ChicoBags are more convenient and are easy to clean. Also, they are popular for fundraising because they can be printed with whatever logos and ads necessary and sold to help raise money.
After the interview there is a scene we shot that is probably the most bizarre thing we filmed in the entire two months: a fight scene between the Paper Bag Monster versus the Plastic Bag Monster. Andy & company came up with the Plastic Bag Monster costume a few years ago as a great visual example of the disposable bags used every year – they took 500 plastic bags and tied them all together into this big, rustling, bizarre costume. They rent the costumes out for events and festivals to draw attention to the issue of plastic bags. Some great videos are on YouTube that feature the Plastic Bag Monster, just do a search. We wanted to incorporate the Plastic Bag Monster in our video but do something different from what’s already online. Fortunately for us, Andy had just finished the week before a new Paper Bag Monster costume, and we filmed the WORLD DEBUT. Hats off to Andy for going above and beyond what we asked him to make our video fun! So in the supermarket battle between paper vs. plastic, we settle the score once and for all. Both paper and plastic bags have significant environmental impacts and neither is a sustainable choice.
At the very end of our video, make sure to watch the credits to see a funny blooper reel of Carrick working on the video intro. He and I have a fun time making the videos – there’s a lot of goofing around that you don’t usually see. I showed him the blooper collection and he thought it was great – it’s just him being a goof. I occasionally get comments that I “force my poor kid” to do these videos. Some of the comments we get on YouTube are…interesting, usually aimed at me the parent who is obviously brainwashing my son and mentally abusing him with nonsense about renewable energy, sustainability, climate change, etc. If you feel like posting responses to the cranks please feel free: www.youtube.com/carrickgareth.
I had a big challenge with this and the water bottle video: getting good visuals. I try to add interesting things to look at during an interview, because even with the most compelling speaker it can be hard to watch someone talk for 5 minutes straight. The video we made about the wind turbine at Holy Name High School, ORN#1 Wind Over Worcester, had plenty of footage of the wind turbine, on top of the interview audio. That was easy. Finding good visuals for water bottles and shopping bags was harder. Sometimes we’ve used images from the internet, which are free to use if given credit. Other times we use (hopefully) funny bits to break the interview up, like the Abe Lincoln animation from the last video. We do what we can to make the videos fun for kids and grownups!
That’s a wrap on reusable shopping bags, now onto the next video! There are a few time-sensitive topics we filmed that I will jump to next, like the Solar Decathlon, the Chevy Volt, and cellulosic ethanol. As usual, you’ll be the first to know!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Our latest video, ORN#3 Reusable Shopping Bags, is ready for viewing! Click on the blue title or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8U6vxJu1tI
We visited the ChicoBag Company in Chico, California to learn more about reusable shopping bags and the reasons they are a more sustainable choice than paper or plastic. Carrick interviewed Andy Keller, the president and founder of ChicoBag, and it was a great interview with a lot of great points. In fact, I decided to make this video a 2-for-1 special; ORN#3 Reusable Shopping Bags is the “official” video of our visit, and I also put together a second video, ORN ChicoBag Extended Interview, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP7nDSrVlQk) which is a longer version of our interview that includes a lot of Q&A not in the ORN#3 video. Andy gave such a great interview with a lot of great points that couldn’t make it into the shorter format for our video series, so if you like the “official” video then go ahead and watch the extended interview.
I think of this video as the sister video to our last, ORN#2 Stainless Steel Water Bottles. Both videos talk about sustainable alternatives to disposable items we use every day. Stainless steel water bottles and reusable shopping bags are two easy ways to reduce our environmental footprint – Andy told us that the average American uses on average about 500 disposable shopping bags every year! He gave lots of amazing statistics that will be sure to surprise you.
ChicoBags are unique among reusable bags because they are designed to be smooshed down into the small attached pouch with a drawstring, which make them easy to carry and keep where you need them, like in the car, purse, etc. Our family has been using canvas bags for years but they are bulky to carry around and they get stained after a while. ChicoBags are more convenient and are easy to clean. Also, they are popular for fundraising because they can be printed with whatever logos and ads necessary and sold to help raise money.
After the interview there is a scene we shot that is probably the most bizarre thing we filmed in the entire two months: a fight scene between the Paper Bag Monster versus the Plastic Bag Monster. Andy & company came up with the Plastic Bag Monster costume a few years ago as a great visual example of the disposable bags used every year – they took 500 plastic bags and tied them all together into this big, rustling, bizarre costume. They rent the costumes out for events and festivals to draw attention to the issue of plastic bags. Some great videos are on YouTube that feature the Plastic Bag Monster, just do a search. We wanted to incorporate the Plastic Bag Monster in our video but do something different from what’s already online. Fortunately for us, Andy had just finished the week before a new Paper Bag Monster costume, and we filmed the WORLD DEBUT. Hats off to Andy for going above and beyond what we asked him to make our video fun! So in the supermarket battle between paper vs. plastic, we settle the score once and for all. Both paper and plastic bags have significant environmental impacts and neither is a sustainable choice.
At the very end of our video, make sure to watch the credits to see a funny blooper reel of Carrick working on the video intro. He and I have a fun time making the videos – there’s a lot of goofing around that you don’t usually see. I showed him the blooper collection and he thought it was great – it’s just him being a goof. I occasionally get comments that I “force my poor kid” to do these videos. Some of the comments we get on YouTube are…interesting, usually aimed at me the parent who is obviously brainwashing my son and mentally abusing him with nonsense about renewable energy, sustainability, climate change, etc. If you feel like posting responses to the cranks please feel free: www.youtube.com/carrickgareth.
I had a big challenge with this and the water bottle video: getting good visuals. I try to add interesting things to look at during an interview, because even with the most compelling speaker it can be hard to watch someone talk for 5 minutes straight. The video we made about the wind turbine at Holy Name High School, ORN#1 Wind Over Worcester, had plenty of footage of the wind turbine, on top of the interview audio. That was easy. Finding good visuals for water bottles and shopping bags was harder. Sometimes we’ve used images from the internet, which are free to use if given credit. Other times we use (hopefully) funny bits to break the interview up, like the Abe Lincoln animation from the last video. We do what we can to make the videos fun for kids and grownups!
That’s a wrap on reusable shopping bags, now onto the next video! There are a few time-sensitive topics we filmed that I will jump to next, like the Solar Decathlon, the Chevy Volt, and cellulosic ethanol. As usual, you’ll be the first to know!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Monday, December 14, 2009
Our first eco-video is ready!
Hi friends,
At long last, our first video from our cross-country eco-video series is ready and uploaded to Youtube for your enjoyment:
This first video is an interview with Jeff Cresswell at Klean Kanteen, a company in Chico, CA that makes stainless steel water bottles. Jeff talked to Carrick about the benefits of using stainless steel water bottles over the disposable plastic ones. This is a really interesting topic with lots of angles, but we are focusing on the question of sustainability.
We have a handful of Klean Kanteen bottles at home and use them constantly, so I can attest first-hand that they are very durable and convenient. We also have several SIGG bottles, which are aluminum and haven’t held up quite as well. We got a recall notice lately from SIGG, saying that their bottles have an inside lining that contains BPA (Bisphenol A), a controversial ingredient in some plastic that is thought to be potentially hazardous, so we sent the old ones back and we are getting new ones without the BPA lining (gee, I feel so much safer). Klean Kanteen, on the other hand, is made from stainless steel and has no lining – it’s an inert material that doesn’t need a lining. I’m seeing metal water bottles pop up all over the place in catalogs and stores now, so you may want to look closely before you buy to see what kind of metal the bottle is made from. If you see a big metal water bottle for $1.99, be aware of what you’re buying.
I recently read Daniel Goleman’s book, ‘Ecological Intelligence’ which talks about life cycle analysis of different products, and what products are really “green” and what is “green-washing”. He talks about stainless steel water bottles and isn’t so enthusiastic – he claims that because of the energy needed to produce a stainless steel water bottle and transport it to the store, it would need to be used 70 times before having a lower eco-impact as disposable plastic water bottles. There are lots of variables that go into that analysis so I take it with a grain of salt. We’ve used our Klean Kanteens hundreds of times and they keep right on going. One of the major benefits of the stainless steel water bottles is that they are 100% TRULY recyclable, meaning they can be melted down and reused again and again to make new stainless steel water bottles, not downcycled like plastic bottles. If the bottles were made from recycled steel and made in the U.S., that statistic of using the bottle 70 times would be very different.
One thing I really wanted to make sure we covered in this video is drinking water from the tap and public drinking fountains. I’ve seen many times people advocate tap water instead of buying plastic water bottles, but nobody seems to acknowledge that in so many parts of the country the water tastes awful! I know – we drove it! One of the first things I did when we got home to Sutton was drink several glasses of water – I take for granted that our wonderful home well-water just comes in endless supply for us to drink. Fortunately, different kinds of water filters for the whole house, sink, or a water filter pitcher are easy ways to make tap water taste much better in places where it’s not good.
Another issue is convenience – buying a bottle of cold water on a hot day is a relief! The bottled water companies don’t hesitate to point that out, and they’re right. If bone-chilling cold water is what you want then it’s a lot less convenient to bring your own bottle. It’s also interesting to consider that most of what convenience stores sell for drinks, like soda, juice, iced tea, etc is really bottled or canned water, with flavoring and sugar added.
As a side note, many companies that sell disposable plastic water bottles officially recommend NOT reusing their bottles. That’s not just because they would rather keep selling you new bottles; disposable plastic bottles are not designed to be reused. They were never meant to be refilled and used again. There’s a lot of media online about plastic from bottles leaching into the water. Personally, I find that water in plastic bottles usually tastes like….plastic water. I don’t need studies to tell me it’s leaching, I can taste it.
In the interview at Klean Kanteen, Jeff also talked about how the company got started – it was interesting but I ended up leaving it out of the video. It began as a response to reusable plastic water bottles, such as Nalgene bottles, that were a big trend 5-10 years ago but became a big controversy with…our old friend, Bisphenol A again. You may remember hearing about BPA found in plastic baby bottles and that caused a big stir in the media. Klean Kanteen was started to offer stainless steel as an alternative and was marketed more to the sports enthusiasts at stores like REI. As disposable plastic water bottles became more of an environmental concern, Klean Kanteen has been getting more recognition from the green movement.
So, I hope you enjoy our first video from the trip. Now that I have the basics of using the video editing program, Final Cut, things should move much more quickly and we should be putting the videos out regularly. The Klean Kanteen video is also on the OurRenewableNation.org website, embedded from www.GoGreenTube.com instead of YouTube so that all you teachers can access it in schools (schools generally block websites like YouTube).
Thanks again for all your support in making this eco-video series happen! Please send this email to friends and family who you think would enjoy our video, and encourage them to sign up for our email list so they can get the videos as soon as they go online, just like you!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
At long last, our first video from our cross-country eco-video series is ready and uploaded to Youtube for your enjoyment:
This first video is an interview with Jeff Cresswell at Klean Kanteen, a company in Chico, CA that makes stainless steel water bottles. Jeff talked to Carrick about the benefits of using stainless steel water bottles over the disposable plastic ones. This is a really interesting topic with lots of angles, but we are focusing on the question of sustainability.
We have a handful of Klean Kanteen bottles at home and use them constantly, so I can attest first-hand that they are very durable and convenient. We also have several SIGG bottles, which are aluminum and haven’t held up quite as well. We got a recall notice lately from SIGG, saying that their bottles have an inside lining that contains BPA (Bisphenol A), a controversial ingredient in some plastic that is thought to be potentially hazardous, so we sent the old ones back and we are getting new ones without the BPA lining (gee, I feel so much safer). Klean Kanteen, on the other hand, is made from stainless steel and has no lining – it’s an inert material that doesn’t need a lining. I’m seeing metal water bottles pop up all over the place in catalogs and stores now, so you may want to look closely before you buy to see what kind of metal the bottle is made from. If you see a big metal water bottle for $1.99, be aware of what you’re buying.
I recently read Daniel Goleman’s book, ‘Ecological Intelligence’ which talks about life cycle analysis of different products, and what products are really “green” and what is “green-washing”. He talks about stainless steel water bottles and isn’t so enthusiastic – he claims that because of the energy needed to produce a stainless steel water bottle and transport it to the store, it would need to be used 70 times before having a lower eco-impact as disposable plastic water bottles. There are lots of variables that go into that analysis so I take it with a grain of salt. We’ve used our Klean Kanteens hundreds of times and they keep right on going. One of the major benefits of the stainless steel water bottles is that they are 100% TRULY recyclable, meaning they can be melted down and reused again and again to make new stainless steel water bottles, not downcycled like plastic bottles. If the bottles were made from recycled steel and made in the U.S., that statistic of using the bottle 70 times would be very different.
One thing I really wanted to make sure we covered in this video is drinking water from the tap and public drinking fountains. I’ve seen many times people advocate tap water instead of buying plastic water bottles, but nobody seems to acknowledge that in so many parts of the country the water tastes awful! I know – we drove it! One of the first things I did when we got home to Sutton was drink several glasses of water – I take for granted that our wonderful home well-water just comes in endless supply for us to drink. Fortunately, different kinds of water filters for the whole house, sink, or a water filter pitcher are easy ways to make tap water taste much better in places where it’s not good.
Another issue is convenience – buying a bottle of cold water on a hot day is a relief! The bottled water companies don’t hesitate to point that out, and they’re right. If bone-chilling cold water is what you want then it’s a lot less convenient to bring your own bottle. It’s also interesting to consider that most of what convenience stores sell for drinks, like soda, juice, iced tea, etc is really bottled or canned water, with flavoring and sugar added.
As a side note, many companies that sell disposable plastic water bottles officially recommend NOT reusing their bottles. That’s not just because they would rather keep selling you new bottles; disposable plastic bottles are not designed to be reused. They were never meant to be refilled and used again. There’s a lot of media online about plastic from bottles leaching into the water. Personally, I find that water in plastic bottles usually tastes like….plastic water. I don’t need studies to tell me it’s leaching, I can taste it.
In the interview at Klean Kanteen, Jeff also talked about how the company got started – it was interesting but I ended up leaving it out of the video. It began as a response to reusable plastic water bottles, such as Nalgene bottles, that were a big trend 5-10 years ago but became a big controversy with…our old friend, Bisphenol A again. You may remember hearing about BPA found in plastic baby bottles and that caused a big stir in the media. Klean Kanteen was started to offer stainless steel as an alternative and was marketed more to the sports enthusiasts at stores like REI. As disposable plastic water bottles became more of an environmental concern, Klean Kanteen has been getting more recognition from the green movement.
So, I hope you enjoy our first video from the trip. Now that I have the basics of using the video editing program, Final Cut, things should move much more quickly and we should be putting the videos out regularly. The Klean Kanteen video is also on the OurRenewableNation.org website, embedded from www.GoGreenTube.com instead of YouTube so that all you teachers can access it in schools (schools generally block websites like YouTube).
Thanks again for all your support in making this eco-video series happen! Please send this email to friends and family who you think would enjoy our video, and encourage them to sign up for our email list so they can get the videos as soon as they go online, just like you!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Monday, October 19, 2009
Our Latest Video News in October
Hi friends,
It’s been some time since my last message so I wanted to give an update on where we’re at with our eco-video series.
We got a great computer as a result of the grant from EFI that I mentioned before – it’s a Mac tower that is ridiculously fast and has plenty of hard drive space, which you need if you’re going to be doing a lot of video work! I’ve been spending hours transferring all the video footage onto the computer to begin editing – it’s a long process.
In the meantime, we’ve been continuing to film more interviews over the last month!
Several weeks ago we visited Silvermine Farm, a family-owned farm in our hometown of Sutton. Carrick interviewed farmer Martha Cole about the sustainability of local farms vs. large agribusiness, and what CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) are all about. Our family joined the CSA that Silvermine is part of in Sutton and we got a tasty supply of fresh veggies throughout the summer - we know where it came from and who grew it. Carrick also talked to Martha about the debate over buying local food that may not be organic vs. organic food that is grown and shipped thousands of miles.
We recently spent the long weekend in Washington DC to visit the Solar Decathlon 2009, a competition of 20 universities from around the world to design and build the best solar house. They set up each house on the National Mall and open them up for 2 weeks for the public to come tour. Carrick and I visited in 2007 (it happens every 2 years) and filmed a video compilation that turned out to be the only video overview of the competition on the internet. We toured again this year and shot plenty of video footage to include in our eco-video series. It’s such an inspiring sight to be there, seeing these homes that get all their electricity, heat, hot water, etc. from the sun. You can learn all about the Solar Decathlon at their website, www.SolarDecathlon.org.
While in Washington DC, Carrick also interviewed Bracken Hendricks about the government’s role in supporting renewable energy and sustainability. Mr. Hendricks works at the Center for American Progress and co-wrote the book ‘Apollo’s Fire’ with Congressman Jay Inslee, which proposes to move forward with clean, renewable energy with the same speed and urgency that we Americans were challenged with putting a man on the moon in 10 years.
This last weekend Carrick and I drove out to Great Barrington in western Massachusetts to interview Bill McKibben, who is one of the leading authors on climate change and organizes international actions to support climate change legislation. We’ve found along our travels that people support clean, renewable energy for a variety of reasons, whether environmental, national security, the strength of the economy, religion, etc. I thought it was important to have someone to speak to each of these reasons, and for climate change it would be hard to find anyone more qualified to speak to the issue! What I found after our cross-country journey was that we had filmed many great examples of the solutions that are happening all over the U.S., but we needed more context, the ‘why’ we should care about these issues, not just the ‘how’.
So that’s the latest – we’re still filming and transferring all the video footage. Breaking my ankle really threw a wrench in the works but now that I’m walking without crutches or cast and can drive again we’re moving forward. I’m excited to get editing now that we have so much footage ready on the computer – you’ll be the first to know when we have videos ready to show!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
It’s been some time since my last message so I wanted to give an update on where we’re at with our eco-video series.
We got a great computer as a result of the grant from EFI that I mentioned before – it’s a Mac tower that is ridiculously fast and has plenty of hard drive space, which you need if you’re going to be doing a lot of video work! I’ve been spending hours transferring all the video footage onto the computer to begin editing – it’s a long process.
In the meantime, we’ve been continuing to film more interviews over the last month!
Several weeks ago we visited Silvermine Farm, a family-owned farm in our hometown of Sutton. Carrick interviewed farmer Martha Cole about the sustainability of local farms vs. large agribusiness, and what CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) are all about. Our family joined the CSA that Silvermine is part of in Sutton and we got a tasty supply of fresh veggies throughout the summer - we know where it came from and who grew it. Carrick also talked to Martha about the debate over buying local food that may not be organic vs. organic food that is grown and shipped thousands of miles.
We recently spent the long weekend in Washington DC to visit the Solar Decathlon 2009, a competition of 20 universities from around the world to design and build the best solar house. They set up each house on the National Mall and open them up for 2 weeks for the public to come tour. Carrick and I visited in 2007 (it happens every 2 years) and filmed a video compilation that turned out to be the only video overview of the competition on the internet. We toured again this year and shot plenty of video footage to include in our eco-video series. It’s such an inspiring sight to be there, seeing these homes that get all their electricity, heat, hot water, etc. from the sun. You can learn all about the Solar Decathlon at their website, www.SolarDecathlon.org.
While in Washington DC, Carrick also interviewed Bracken Hendricks about the government’s role in supporting renewable energy and sustainability. Mr. Hendricks works at the Center for American Progress and co-wrote the book ‘Apollo’s Fire’ with Congressman Jay Inslee, which proposes to move forward with clean, renewable energy with the same speed and urgency that we Americans were challenged with putting a man on the moon in 10 years.
This last weekend Carrick and I drove out to Great Barrington in western Massachusetts to interview Bill McKibben, who is one of the leading authors on climate change and organizes international actions to support climate change legislation. We’ve found along our travels that people support clean, renewable energy for a variety of reasons, whether environmental, national security, the strength of the economy, religion, etc. I thought it was important to have someone to speak to each of these reasons, and for climate change it would be hard to find anyone more qualified to speak to the issue! What I found after our cross-country journey was that we had filmed many great examples of the solutions that are happening all over the U.S., but we needed more context, the ‘why’ we should care about these issues, not just the ‘how’.
So that’s the latest – we’re still filming and transferring all the video footage. Breaking my ankle really threw a wrench in the works but now that I’m walking without crutches or cast and can drive again we’re moving forward. I’m excited to get editing now that we have so much footage ready on the computer – you’ll be the first to know when we have videos ready to show!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Broken Ankle, New Computer
Hi friends,
It's been some time since I last sent anything out, and you'll remember that I had broken my ankle several days after we came home from our cross-country trip. Broken ankles sure take a long time to heal! I'm in a removable cast now and I should be able to put weight on my foot in a few weeks. Needless to say, the broken ankle has put a serious wrench in the plans to continue filming for the project in New England, at least until I'm all healed.
At least I could get a good start on editing all the video footage from the trip, right? Ah, technical difficulties. I wasn't able to transfer the footage on my Macbook, but we were lucky enough to get a grant from Energy Federation Incorporated here in Massachusetts (www.efi.org) and we were able to use it to buy a Mac tower that has enough power and storage to transfer the video and do all the editing I need. I just got the grant check last week and bought the Mac tower online, so it's on the way! I applied for the grant before we left for the trip, so it was great timing. EFI is a company in central Massachusetts that sells energy conservation products and teaches the public ways to use energy more efficiently.
The other piece of news to share is that we got a sponsorship donation from Sustainable South Shore, a chapter of Massachusetts Climate Action Network. They have been a big supporter of our project by having us at the Hull Sustainable Living Expo back in April (which was fantastic!) and promoting our cross-country journey on their website, www.sustainablesouthshore.org. Many thanks to Sustainable South Shore for their support for our work!
That's all for now, I just wanted to check in and let you know where things are at for us. We should have something ready for you soon!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
It's been some time since I last sent anything out, and you'll remember that I had broken my ankle several days after we came home from our cross-country trip. Broken ankles sure take a long time to heal! I'm in a removable cast now and I should be able to put weight on my foot in a few weeks. Needless to say, the broken ankle has put a serious wrench in the plans to continue filming for the project in New England, at least until I'm all healed.
At least I could get a good start on editing all the video footage from the trip, right? Ah, technical difficulties. I wasn't able to transfer the footage on my Macbook, but we were lucky enough to get a grant from Energy Federation Incorporated here in Massachusetts (www.efi.org) and we were able to use it to buy a Mac tower that has enough power and storage to transfer the video and do all the editing I need. I just got the grant check last week and bought the Mac tower online, so it's on the way! I applied for the grant before we left for the trip, so it was great timing. EFI is a company in central Massachusetts that sells energy conservation products and teaches the public ways to use energy more efficiently.
The other piece of news to share is that we got a sponsorship donation from Sustainable South Shore, a chapter of Massachusetts Climate Action Network. They have been a big supporter of our project by having us at the Hull Sustainable Living Expo back in April (which was fantastic!) and promoting our cross-country journey on their website, www.sustainablesouthshore.org. Many thanks to Sustainable South Shore for their support for our work!
That's all for now, I just wanted to check in and let you know where things are at for us. We should have something ready for you soon!
Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org
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