A Martin Luther Day Reflection on American Dreams, Values, and Way of Life

This week we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a week that would have seen the civil rights hero celebrate his 77th birthday. It's also one of the few holidays that Madison Avenue has yet to shamelessly co-opt. Of course, now I've probably jinxed it and will turn on the radio tonight to hear a loud salesman scream "King Day Blowout sale: white Hummers, black Hummers, same low price." Then he'll switch to that 'small print' voice and speedily say, "taxes, tags, gas fill-ups, and extra large parking space not included."

But until that happens, I'll just give thanks that the ad shills are steering clear of one of the 20th century's great opponents of extreme materialism.

"Now hold on," you say, "I thought Dr. King stood up to racial inequality and trigger-happy politicians?" You'd be right, of course, but he actually spoke of three intertwined problems -- racism, militarism, and materialism -- that needed to be overcome if his beloved United States was to fulfill the promise of the American Dream.

The promise of the original American Dream was rooted in core American values such as freedom, security, justice, community and opportunity. It held that everyone should be able to pursue a good life. Unfortunately, in the second half of the twentieth century these core values began to be replaced by more materialistic priorities. Dr. King saw this corruption, recognized the disconnect between "enough for all" and "excess for some," and spoke out.

In his 1967 "Beyond Vietnam" speech, he attested:
"We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

This speech was not unique. Others referred to "the triple evils of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism." Interestingly, he also sometimes spoke of "poverty, racism, and militarism" in the same way. King's interchangeable use of "materialism" and "poverty" is telling -- he clearly understood that we live in a world of finite natural resources and supported Gandhi's principle that there is "enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed." Were King alive to celebrate his 77th birthday, one can imagine that he might tout the recent findings of researchers at the University of British Columbia that we would need the resources of four additional planets for everyone on earth to live the lifestyle of the average North American.

While he tackled issues of overwhelming proportion, Dr. King's legacy is all about empowerment. He reminds us that when we rise up and put our nation's core values of freedom, justice, and community ahead of materialism and ad-driven hyper consumption, then we will be well on the way to making his dream a reality. When the world seems out of control, King reminds us that we are citizens of the United States and "America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values."

Drip, Drip, Drip -- the Sound of Money Going Down the Drain     by Erika Mitchel

 Randy Bright

As petroleum costs soar to seemingly new record highs daily, and the effects of global warming are becoming harder to ignore, more and more people are looking for alternative ways to fuel their cars.  Many people are turning to vegetable oil or biodiesel  to reduce or eliminate using fossil fuels.

The first thing you’ll need to enjoy the benefits of either biodiesel or waste vegetable oil is a car or truck  that runs on diesel.  Once you’ve got one of those, the next step is to decide which approach will work best for your particular situation.  If you plan to run on biodiesel, you won’t need to may any modifications whatsoever to the vehicle.  Biodiesel is actually used or virgin vegetable oil (most often from soybeans) that has been treated to allow it to run through any diesel engine.  Several filling stations around the state have begun offering biodiesel at the pump, in mixes with petroleum diesel of 5-100% (the most common is a 20% mixture, or B20).  While there are none yet in the immediate Montpelier area, there are stations in Richmond (Lucky Spot on Rte. 117), St. Johnsbury (Portland St. Valero), Charlotte (Steve’s Citgo on Rte 7), Bridport (Boise Citgo at Rte 22A & 125), and Brattleboro (Fleming’s Shell on Canal St.).

On the other hand, if you’re a pretty major do-it-yourselfer, have some spare room in you garage or shop, and are willing to set aside at least a few hours a week, you can actually make your own biodiesel.  You can put the kit together yourself, or purchase any of a number of pre-made kits available on the internet.  One of the simplest to set up and operate (and thus most popular) is the Appleseed processor, but there are many to be others found by a Google search.

 More and more fueling stations are carrying biodiesel every week, so hopefully it won’t be to long before we get more local options (keep checking http://www.vermontbiofuels.org/wheretobuy/wheretobuy.shtml for new retailers).  As with every other commodity, though, retailers will respond to the law of supply and demand.  I make it a habit to call around to stations currently carrying petro-diesel and asking that they carry biodiesel instead, or in addition.  I encourage everyone to join me in this quest (politely and respectfully, of course!) so that those of us who live in the Montpelier can contribute to the growth of biofuels and the same time keep our dollars in the local economy.

In order to run your car on straight vegetable oil, first you need to convert the vehicle into dual-fuel (add another tank, install additional fuels lines and modify the cooling system).  While this approach offers more direct environmental benefits than running commercial biodiesel, it requires installation and maintenance that may exceed the average do-it-yourselfer’s capability and desire.  In short, it’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in finding out more, a good place to start your research is online at http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html.

Heating: Are There Any Cheaper Options?

Erika Mitchell

With energy prices running at record highs, heating bills this year will be outrageous.  What are our options?

According to a 2004 US Census survey, most Vermonters heat with oil (46%).  Others use propane (12%), wood, (7%) or electricity (4%). Some use coal, wood pellets, geothermal, or solar energy.  In the Oct. 2005 Vermont Public Service fuel price survey oil was $2.60/gallon, propane $2.25/gallon, wood $170/cord, coal $242.50/ton, wood pellets $210/ton, and electricity averaging $.13/kW hour.  The price of cleaner-burning biodiesel, (an alternative to heating oil), tends to run a little higher than oil.

Different fuels contain different amounts of energy, measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units).  The efficiency of furnaces and stoves also varies, with electric heaters 100% efficient, oil, propane and wood pellet furnaces averaging 80%, and coal and wood stoves 60%.  Factoring in efficiency, cordwood provides the most BTUs/dollar, at 78,000, followed by wood pellets (62,000), coal (59,000), oil (43,000), propane (34,000), and electricity (26,000).

But there are also environmental costs, especially particulate and greenhouse gas emissions.  Electric heaters have no emissions from your home, because the emissions are produced at the electric plant.  Propane furnaces have the lowest particulate emissions, with about 2 pounds/season, followed by oil burners (12 pounds/season), coal stoves (48 pounds/season), and wood stoves at (56 pounds/season).  However, particulate emissions from wood stoves can be dramatically reduced by using new technology stoves which meet EPA emissions standards.  These stoves require a lot less fuel since they are much more efficient. In terms of greenhouse gases, wood has the lowest emissions, with about .6 tons per season, followed by propane (1.3 tons),  oil (1.5 tons), and coal (1.9 tons).  Coal has the highest emissions of acid-rain producing substances.  Of all of these fuels, only wood (both cordwood and pellets) comes from a renewable source.

Some Vermonters heat with geothermal pumps, which use the heat of the earth to warm (or cool) their houses.  Unfortunately, these systems are expensive to install and require considerable electricity to run the pumps, whose annual cost may be comparable to heating with cord wood.  But it’s clean heat since there are no household-level emissions!  Other Vermonters rely on solar energy, which is both clean and renewable, but not always available.  Still, even passive solar energy collected from carefully oriented windows can reduce heating needs dramatically.

If you’re thinking about switching heating systems, run the numbers first. If you have electric heat, Efficiency Vermont can help you determine whether making a switch would make sense.  Getting at least some of your heat from wood or wood pellets can save a bundle, provided you use new stove technology, not a fireplace or older stove. If your furnace breaks down, replacing it with new efficient technology or switching fuels may be cheaper in the long run than repairing the old furnace.  In the meantime, simple conservation techniques, such as installing a programmable thermostat and fixing drafts can pay for themselves in just weeks, and save big bucks in the long run.

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How Green is Your Grass?

Randy Bright

When we use the phrase “the grass is always greener...”, we are strictly referring to its color.  However, more and more the term “green” is becoming synonymous with “environmental” or “healthy.”  So how does the phrase fit in with this new dynamic?  Well, that depends on many factors, some of which I’ll touch on in this column.  Let’s start with the concept of landscaping in general.

The most environmentally friendly way to minimize the impact of our landscaping choices is to ensure that all the plants we choose are native species--species that don’t require any extra watering, feeding, herbicides, pesticides, or mowing in order to thrive.  Of course, though, going native is not always an option, and the simple fact is that most native species do not provide the same benefits as a lawn.  So the trick is to find a balance, plan landscaping in a way that is equally friendly to the environment and to our human recreational pursuits.

To start, minimize the size of your lawn to the amount of grass that you will actually physically use during the season, and let the rest return to its natural state.  A good way to determine the appropriate size of your lawn is to ask yourself how much time you like to spend  mowing it.  Then, for the areas where you will be maintaining grass, choose a grass seed that is hardy and slow-growing that can go for a while without being watered.  Also choose a seed variety that will not need additional herbicides or pesticides to grow in this climate—any chemical that you put on your lawn will invariably make its way into contact with your pets, your home, your sidewalks, and your children. 

Once you have the size of your lawn set, maintain it by hand.  Use hand tools to keep it beautiful, cut, and useful.  For instance, avoid using a leaf blower when a rake will usually do just as good a job, while getting you out into the fresh air for a longer period of time.  The EPA estimates that up to 5% of the ozone-forming hydrocarbons produced in this country come from small engines like lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws.  If you don’t want to maintain your lawn by hand, consider purchasing and using rechargeable electric tools—while producing the electricity for them produces some electricity, it’s not as much as their gas-powered counterparts produce to perform the same work.  There are even solar chargers becoming available for recharging equipment totally emission-free.

If you must use gas-powered equipment for landscape maintenance, make sure that the equipment is in good shape and is well-tuned to manufacturers’ specifications.  Change the oil and replace the air filters regularly.  Sharpen any cutting blades at least once a season.  Consider purchasing newer, cleaner-burning machines to replace older units (and take the old ones to a recycling center to be rendered into raw materials for re-use).  Handle gasoline and oil carefully, to avoid spillage.  Ensure that the oil-to-gas ratio (for the engines that require a mix) is correct.  Treat your gas landscape equipment, basically, as you would treat your car.

This article is but a primer to get you on your way to greener landscaping.  Go to  http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/ for more information and helpful hints.

Randy Bright is a lifelong environmentalist currently working in energy efficiency. He lives in Montpelier.

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Leaving the Car at Home

Becka Roolf

Since moving to Vermont, I've been much impressed with the care most Vermonters (native and transplants alike) give to the environment. Vermont is a green oasis in the U.S., in more than one sense.

But when it comes to transportation, Vermonters act like we have no choice.  People shrug their shoulders and say 'but it's a rural state.'  Of course we're going to drive.

Vermonters, on average, drive about 17,000 miles per year, according to the VT Agency of Natural Resources – well above the national average.

Do you really need to drive this much?  Deciding not to drive requires some preparation, a deliberate choice, a challenge to our dominant car culture. 

Consider the concept of 'appropriate transportation.'  I don't want to give up my car, either, but I try to use it appropriately for long-distance trips, and to walk or bicycle locally.  This pays off – in increased personal fitness, reduced environmental pollution, and less money spent on gas.

Walking: The First Mode

We are all pedestrians, most of us having mastered the art of walking at about age one.  (Even those in wheelchairs are legally classified as pedestrians.) 

As you look around at your daily travel needs, consider the question "how far is reasonable to walk?"  Consider: a teacher in Richmond who walks about 6 miles each way to and from work; a General Dynamics retiree in Shelburne who used to run about 7 miles each way. Walking for fitness is all the rage – but can you go somewhere while you're at it?

Bicycling; The Most Efficient Mode

Adding the mechanical advantage of the wheel to your human power means you go further, faster.  Bicycling is 5-6 times more efficient than walking. The humble bicycle still holds a 100+ year record as the most efficient form of human transportation (miles per calorie) – it's the original Sport Utility Vehicle.

Many Vermonters live in the hills, and work in towns in the valley.  This means an easy AM bicycle-commute with a minimum of sweat – and a nice workout on the way home.  When biking, you consider a different route than when you drive.

A few safety tips:

·   Wear bright clothing & use lights at night.

·   Ride on the right-hand side of the road – it's the law, and it's safer, too.

·   Riding on the sidewalk can be dangerous and is illegal in many downtowns.

·   Follow traffic laws just like when you drive – including stop signs & red lights. 

·   Make sure your helmet fits correctly – snug and level on your head.

Check out more 'Bike to Work' tips on the VT Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition's website:  www.vtbikeped.org

With a few basic skills, you can glide along smoothly – enjoying feeling alive.  Even on a grey or rainy day, I feel better once I'm on my bike.

If you haven't been on a bike in a while – check out your local bike shop.  There's a bicycle for you – one with a cushy seat, or lighter than a feather, or with pothole-proof shocks.

A Culture of Sustainable Transportation

We live in a culture where it's OK to drive "5 minutes" to the corner store to get a quart of milk.  How often do you hear estimates of distance as time – a cultural bias that assumes travel by car.  Could you walk or bike that mile instead?  Here's some ways to challenge yourself:

1. Mark a map of your home and/or workplace with two circles – a half-mile radius for walking and a 1-3 mile radius for bicycling.  How many trips within those circles can you make on foot or bike?

2. Look for creative ways to carry the load.  Consider transporting: a Christmas tree, your recycling, groceries, x-c skis, your kids or dog? How about a trailer or jogging stroller?  Could you get a kids' tandem attachment, and drop your kids off at school on the way to work?

3.  Prevent wimp-out.  Find a fellow biking or walking commuter to compare notes and challenge you when it's rainy, snowy, or cold. Vermonters go outside to ski, hike, fish, hunt – in all weather.  We can handle it.  Keep your gear by the door – helmet, raingear, crampons (for winter walking), sunglasses, bike lock.

4. Track your miles, and calculate your fitness goals.  Can you break 1000 miles for the year?  Can you lower your resting heart rate by 10 beats per minute?

5. Put a "question your need to drive" sign inside your car, right on your steering wheel.  Think before you start – could you be walking or biking?

I challenge you to wake up to the world of appropriate transportation – and appreciate Vermont's great scenery, listen to the birds, enjoy the cool forests, and breathe our clean air – while you're doing it.

Becka Roolf is the Executive Director of the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition, and has commuted primarily by bicycle, foot, or skis for the past 14 years.

Let’s Have A Brighter, Cheaper Holiday

Erika Mitchell

Money is tight, but that doesn’t mean the holiday season has to be dreary.  By making use of a little technology and a creativity, it’s possible to have a bright Christmas while saving money and being kind to the planet, too.

Bright light displays add to the wonder of this darkest time of the year.  The downside is that they consume a lot of electricity, so they cost a lot to run--$18.00 a month for a display of 500 bulbs.  Fortunately, there is now an alternative.  New LED Christmas lights use 95% less electricity.  That same 500-bulb display in LED lights costs only $.19 per month, practically free!  LED bulbs also last longer, and if one burns out, the remaining bulbs won’t be affected.  LED Christmas lights are great investments, and would also make great gifts for holiday decorators.  If you’re not ready to switch to LED bulbs yet, at least consider putting your Christmas lights on a timer.  Why pay for lighting up the neighborhood during daytime hours or when everyone’s asleep?

The holiday season is a time when we celebrate abundance.  Unfortunately, our abundance extends all the way to the landfills, where 5 million extra tons of trash accumulates between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  Take a drive around town on the first trash collection day after Christmas, and you’ll see some amazing piles of bulging sacks.  Many of those sacks are filled with wrapping paper and ribbons.  Why do we spend so much money on stuff that we’re just going to throw away? 

When my mother was growing up, her family didn’t have much money to spend on Christmas frills.  They exchanged homemade presents, which they unwrapped very carefully so that the paper could be re-used.  This paper-saving tradition was handed down to me and my sister when we were quite young.  When my sister was two, it could take her five minutes to pry up the tape on her package, but she never considered tearing the paper to get at her gift quickly.  Everyone we knew took their time opening their presents, admiring the choice of paper and ribbons and recalling other gifts that had been wrapped in the same paper.  Sometimes it seemed the paper was more important than the gift itself. Well used paper may begin to look a bit ratty, but it takes on a history, and today we use the oldest, rattiest, paper of all for our most special gifts.  One prized piece is known for its poinsettia leaves and cardinals.  It dates back to 1978, when Grandma Mitchell and Aunt Jeanie spent the holidays with us.  They’re both gone now, but the paper reminds us of the wonderful time we shared together that Christmas Eve.  My little sister is thirty-five now with small children of her own, who are learning family Christmas stories by admiring their wrapping paper. Though it started as an austerity measure, this holiday tradition has grown into one of the most meaningful of all for our family.  And it greatly decreases the amount of post-Christmas trash that goes to the curb.

Propane, natural gas, and fuel oil—what’s the difference anyway?

Erika Mitchell

“It really doesn’t matter whether you burn propane, natural gas, or oil—they’re all the same!” That’s what I overheard someone say in a recent discussion about fuel options.  In some ways, she’s correct: All three are fossil fuels and products of the petrochemical industry.  But they also have some differences.

Propane is a gas produced as a by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining. Consumers usually buy propane in the form of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), a mixture of gases that includes propane (85%), butane and propylene.  About 85% of the propane used in America is produced at US petroleum refining and gas processing plants.  The rest is imported from Canada or other oil-producing countries. Propane provides 3-4% of the US’s energy.  In the Northeast, it’s used mainly for cooking, but in the Midwest, it’s a common heating fuel.

Natural gas is mixture of gases, mainly methane (80%), ethane, propane, and butane.  US natural gas reserves may last 60 years.  Although supplies of natural gas used to be almost all domestic, we are now importing natural gas through pipelines from Canada and in the form of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) from overseas.  Natural gas provides about 25% of the energy used in the US.  It’s the third most popular fuel for electric power plants, after coal and nuclear, and more than 90% of new power plants run on natural gas.  Approximately half of US homes use it for heating.

Fuel oil is a petroleum distillate that is exactly the same as diesel fuel, except that diesel must meet low sulfur content regulations.  To distinguish the two, fuel oil is died red.  Fuel oil is produced at US oil refineries from both domestic and imported crude oil.  Overall, oil supplies 40% of the total energy consumed in the US, and fuel oil represents 20% of oil usage.  Most fuel oil is used for transportation, but here in the Northeast it is popular for home heating and electricity generation. 

Fuel oil contains the most energy of the three fuels, with 140,000 BTUs per gallon. In comparison, natural gas supplies 100,000 BTUs per therm, and propane 92,000 BTUs per gallon.  If we convert these figures to BTUs per dollar, natural gas usually comes out the cheapest (84,000 BTU/$1), then fuel oil (53,000 BTU/$1), then propane as a distant third (43,000 BTU/$1) (prices based on Sept. 1, 2005 Vermont Public Service survey).  Unfortunately, here in Vermont, natural gas is only available to some households in Chittenden and Franklin counties, so most of us don’t have access to this fuel.

By far, diesel is the most common alternative fuel for vehicles.  Diesel contains more energy than gasoline, and diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines, so diesel vehicles get better mileage.  However, propane and natural gas are cleaner burning alternatives, and there are 350,000 propane and natural gas vehicles in use in the US. 

Biofuels are becoming viable options for both diesel/heating fuel and natural gas uses. In addition to fueling vehicles, biodiesel, made from vegetable oil, can also be used in place of heating fuel, either as a mixture or in pure form.  Biogas (methane) can be derived from natural decomposition. Washington Electric Coop customers get their electricity from several sources, but the largest source comes from their new landfill gas plant in Coventry, VT. CVPS (Central Vermont Public Service) electricity customers can choose to buy their electricity from biomethane plants on dairy farms in Addison County.  While biofuels are often more expensive than petrofuels, they produce lower emissions when burned and do not consume our fossil fuel reserves.

Erika Mitchell lives in Calais.

The Hundred Dollar Way to a Happier Holiday

Erika Mitchell

In his recent book, The Hundred Dollar Holiday, Bill McKibben describes how his family has adopted a hundred dollar spending limit for celebrating Christmas.  Did this move result in rebellion or revolution or tears?  No! Instead, McKibben tells us that holidays with his family have actually become less stressful and more enjoyable since instituting the spending cap.

McKibben points out that our contemporary traditions of focusing the holiday season on gift-giving goes back only about 150 years.  Before then, Christmas celebrations had centered more on food and wassailing. In fact, St. Nicholas wasn’t even associated with Christmas until Clement Moore wrote him into the holiday with his famous poem “’Twas the Night before Christmas.” These days, thanks to commercial pressures, family and friends get so wrapped up in buying gifts, they become completely oblivious to the joys of the season.

To re-gain the true spirit of the season, McKibben suggests that we ask ourselves and our family members to identify the parts of the holiday season that we enjoy the most.  For me, it is the fellowship of friends and family, the foods, and the music.  Exchanging gifts is important, but what makes it enjoyable is the anticipation, the surprise, the humor, and the unveiling of the gifts in the loving presence of family.  When I think back on gifts I’ve received over the years, it’s the homemade ones that I still remember years later. I’ve asked my family what they want to do this Christmas.  They say they would like to attend a Christmas Eve church service, sing carols, eat a great meal, but most important, take time out of their busy lives just to be together as a family. 

In the past, my family was infected with the commercial fever of the season and, spent the last few days before Christmas rushing from store to store purchasing last minute gifts, then had to spend endless hours alone wrapping. This year, I’m hoping to spend those last few days doing activities together as a family, like holiday decorating, caroling, cookie baking, card making and writing, visiting or helping neighbors, or practicing random acts of kindness.  These will certainly bring a lot more joy to all of us rather than fighting with the throngs of short-tempered last minute shoppers. 

McKibben is the first to admit that the Hundred Dollar figure is just an arbitrary limit.  He stresses that the point of setting a limit on spending is not in adding up the receipts or even in saving money.  Instead, setting a monetary cap helps everyone in the family remember that the focus of the holiday season should be on creating a mystical, moving experience.  As for Christmas fulfilling our children’s material dreams, McKibben reminds us “…if we make that the center of the holiday, we help school [the children] in the notion that transcendent joy comes from things.”  Re-establishing holiday traditions that focus on togetherness will enable us to re-capture the magic of the season.