Hope

Tonight's Ecological Footprint class featured a presentation by Charlie Stephens of Adjuvant Consulting. Charlie is a seventeen-year veteran of the Oregon Department of Energy and an expert on energy systems for homes. As someone in the class said to me afterwards, he should be where Al Gore is, giving his presentation to the masses. I learned a bit about heat pumps, phantom energy use, and how much it is going to take for everyone in America to avoid an energy crisis (50% reduction in space heating and cooling in our homes to begin with). A daunting task but something that we must get to work on now. Here is a link to a pdf of a similar presentation that he made.

I was pretty tired when I got home tonight, so I tried to go to bed after taking the dogs out. But I couldn't sleep because I was troubled by the enormity of the task of figuring out what to do to (pick one) (a) save the planet, (b) help starving children, (c) keep more of the kids in the US from being so idle that they turn to crime or drugs...

In my last post I challenged readers to state or to think about what they are or could be doing to give our children hope for the future. So here's my own answer. Although I have some technical skills with computers, the thing that I get most excited about is opening up possibilities for others. This can be in the form of tutoring a student in math, getting neighbors to think about the climate crisis, or contributing money toward the building of a theatre to give young artists in Cambodian villages a stable place to practice their art.

Tonight, after hearing Charlie Stephens describe several ways to enhance existing home hot water heating systems, I raised my hand and explained that this information was great for the twenty-five or so people there in the room who would take this information home and maybe think of applying it, but the real issue is how do we get the larger population motivated to do something about this? It is the answer to that question that motivates me. I can study how to improve my own house's ecological footprint but how do I not only reach a lot of people but actually help move them toward significantly reducing their footprints and embracing renewable resources?

This summer I was exposed to the slow food movement which led Maria and I to subscribing to an organic produce delivery service. Eating local, eating organic, they became a passion (they still are, just more routine now that we have a regular delivery). And I'm pleased with the progress that that switch to eating more local food is also reducing our ecological footprint. Taking this message to others, encouraging others to eat local and organic, is another way to feed the hope of our children. Geez this is almost sounding like one of those tv commercials about giving twenty dollars to feed a hungry child. But it feels real, even if it sounds cliche.

An Adventure in Reducing my Ecological Footprint

This past Tuesday evening I attended the second class in the Ecological Footprint class I'm enrolled in. As homework, we were supposed to walk, bike, or take public transit for at least one errand we would normally do by car. I chose to take TriMet's light rail from the Sunset Transit Center in Beaverton to downtown Portland and walk between there and the class over on 1st and Columbia. Although it took me a little longer to get to the class, it was far more exciting, educational and peaceful than driving Skyline to the Sylvan entrance to 26 and then 26 to Market Street in downtown.

I've taken the light rail several times before (in my eleven plus years in Portland, that's not nearly enough, I know!) but this was an adventure. When I arrived at the transit center I went up to one of the ticket machines to purchase my ticket. From the brief information I found on the machine, I figured I needed a two-zone pass, which is $1.75 for a two-hour ticket. As some people who know me locally know, I pay for most things with cash these days. With only a $20. bill and a $1. bill in my wallet, I put the twenty into the machine. Out came my ticket and my change: ALL in coins, mostly the new one-dollar coins shown below.

Since my train was scheduled to arrive at any moment, I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't count the change until later, when I realized that TriMet ripped me off on the order of two to three bucks! Geez! But no worries, it didn't upset me as much as notify me that I need to use more forethought when I'm about to buy tickets from those machines.

After my class, which focused on eating locally and eating less meat, both more sustainable than not knowing where your food comes from and eating lots of meat, I walked back to the transit mall area for the ride home. At the ticket machine (replica shown below),
I pressed the button for a $1.75 ticket and then tried to insert my newly-acquired one-dollar coins. The coin slot was blocked, didn't open. I tried forcing a coin in it and that didn't work. So I thought, well, maybe you place the coin sideways into this larger circular area and it slides down. Well, it sort of took my coin, but it didn't slide very far. Stupid me, I pushed it and eventually it slid down, somewhere into the belly of the machine. At that point a screaming and loud siren sound came blasting out of the machine! People gathered around me as I explained that all I did was try to insert a coin. The siren went on for about a minute I think after which it just stopped. No ticket, no indication that my one-dollar coin was used to deduct from the $1.75 charge for the ticket. Soon after a train came by but it was going to Gresham not towards Beaverton. I realized I was on the wrong platform and walked the two blocks to the westbound platform where I was able to buy a ticket from a "working" ticket machine! Whew!

The last part of this adventure was a thirty-minute delay near PGE Park where the train broke down. Fortunately I had a book to read.

Ecological Footprint

I went to my first Ecological Footprint class tonight. Offered by the Center for Earth Leadership in Portland, the class started out with a general overview of sustainability and what an ecological footprint is. Dan Bower, Transportation Options Policy Program Manager for the City of Portland then gave a very interesting slide presentation in which he explained why Portland is a model city for sustainable living. Focusing primarily on bicycling in the city, he explained the Bicycle Boulevard concept. Here's a quote from the Transportation Options website:

"Bicycle boulevards are not striped with bicycle lanes, so they are not always visible to new or potential riders as good bicycling streets. They do have amenities that make them work well for people riding bicycles, including crossing treatments at major intersections; traffic calming to keep auto speeds slow; and a stop sign pattern providing cyclists with a better flow along the street."

Bicycle commuting has increased dramatically in Portland since we came here in 1996. In that year about 5,000 bicyclists had crossed a group of four surveyed bridges in a day. It's now up to 14,000 cyclists! The city and some businesses offer cash benefits to employees who do not drive to work, bicycling, walking and/or taking mass transit instead. I'm curious if surrounding communities (Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham) have incentives for businesses to encourage their employees to not drive. There is a business tax credit available in the city of Portland.

Some interesting web links from the class: CarpoolMatchNW.org, GettingAroundPortland.org.