New Dream Blog » Thoughts from Bob

It’s the New Economy, Smarty!

Bob — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:05:17 +0000

Over the next months (and even years) folks will be increasingly hearing about what is becoming known as the “New Economy.” At this point most are probably saying: Oh no, another term to be confused by. But this is an important one to grasp. The new economy is defined differently by different people but it has at its heart a change from business as usual (BAU) and an understanding that all people matter just as much or more than profits and that the environment needs to be considered in the business equation. Another core concept is that this economic model tends to be more regenerative in that it seeks to rebuild communities and local networks, restore quality of life, and diminish the negative impacts of economic activity.

OK, this is all fine in the abstract, but what does it mean on the ground? It means that banks “too big to fail” are part of the old and credit unions and local banks making loans within the community are part of the new. It means that big box stores, mega-salaries, and derivatives are part of the old and farmers’ markets, time banks, and local CO-Ops are part of the new. It means being more in touch with the goods and services you use as well as the people who provide them. It means living more sustainably within your locale—minimizing global trade in stuff and optimizing trade in ideas. And it means time—more time for you, family, friends and community.

The New Economy is much more than I have stated above, but let’s leave it here for now, because we will be talking much more about this in the future.

Strong Feelings About Bags

Bob — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:04:13 +0000

My wife took me out to dinner the other night and while we were walking back to the Metro in DC, we decided to do some grocery shopping. And then the panic hit us. We did not have our canvas grocery bags. So what should we do? Should we hop onto the Metro and risk getting back to the market after it closed? Should we just throw caution to the wind and use a couple of store bags? Should we not shop and not have cereal in the morning? In truth, it really did not matter what we decided. The more important fact was that we were thinking about the concequences of our actions. We were considering our potential impact and searching for the best ways to mitigate–not eliminate–our impact. (We eventually ended up shopping for little, getting a single bag and then making a commitment to fully use the bag once it became ours.)

To finish out the evening we decided to watch a DVD from Netflix, but thought that we would also–as our version of a featurette–watch a bit of one of the Bioneers presentations prior to the main feature. And we picked a piece of Annie Leonard’s talk– (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-2Iejh691k). We were gratified that she too talked about the feelings and internal debates associated with being a concious consumer. We felt commonality and urge others to: Think On!

Are You Brave Enough?

Bob — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:54:03 +0000

My wife and I woke early this AM, anxious about many, many things from the environment to the economy and back again. But we were also excited about today because October 24th will be a day for folks to demonstrate for a positive new beginning. They will be coming together at more than 5200 events in 181 countries to show their support for the concept of actually doing something about climate change. For some that means supporting the regulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, but for others it also means a commitment to change in their personal lives. For this latter group it means leading a less impactful life, perhaps not as radical as No Impact Man, but making significant cuts nonetheless.

I don’t know what others are doing, but for us this less impactful life means less driving. But it also means careful shopping. Last night for instance, we were making decisions on produce based not only on whether or not they were organic but where they came from and how they were packaged. We find it a little offensive, for instance, to buy organic spinach that has traveled 3000 miles and is housed in a plastic tub. Seems to defeat the whole intent of growing organically and purposely disconnects us from farmers.

Likewise, our new toothbrush choice was influenced by whether it was recyclable or not. Milk and apples went though the same decisional screens as well. As did our purchase of two cans of wild caught salmon where the debate centered on price per pound, can size and potential waste. Clearly, this type of conscious consumerism is a change from the Supermarket Sweep type of grab and throw cart-stuffing engaged in by most Americans. The end result being we did not buy much and did not have to carry much to the Metro and that is OK.

So go to the International Day of Climate Action event nearest you (www.350.org) and brave the crowds, but that is only part of it. You also have to be brave enough to change the way you live and consume.

What Happens in the Valley..Is Heard Round the World

Bob — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:04:40 +0000

It is said in Las Vegas that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The implication being that whatever poor behavior you exhibit in the city will stay secret so come and sin. But shouldn’t the opposite be true elsewhere? I think so. My wife and I recently moved to DC from a very special Valley in Vermont where the river is mad and the people do extraordinary things. And one of those things is coming together as a community and opening up a local food coop. It took them nearly two years to pull off this monumental feat but starting soon folks will once again be able to buy local organic vegetables in this historic school building which also houses the 100 watt non-profit radio station and is surrounded by a graveyard and community gardens. So if you ever find yourself in the Mad River Valley and are near the legendary Prickly Mountain in what is known as “Deep” Warren and have a hankering for a real country store experience, this would be the place to go. And if you happen to be there on a Tuesday at mid-day you’ll also have the pleasure of hearing Sprawl Talk hosted by world renowned architect Dave Sellers on WMRW. But what would you expect from a Valley with a chamber of commerce that actually acknowledges global warming and has a “buy local” kind of attitude and runs one of the most progressive 4th of July parades you will ever see. We miss you guys and congratulations!

Of Edelweiss and Metro Passes

Bob — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:46:19 +0000

I felt a little like Heidi’s grandfather today as I grabbed my backpack and two canvas bags and headed off to do my basic weekly shopping. Yes I know that he started in the foothills of the Swiss Alps and I took the elevator down from our studio apartment. And I know I wasn’t humming Edelweiss underneath my breath as I hopped onto the Metro with my Obama Smartrip card for the short ride to Silver Spring. But when I got to the store, I was likely making the same sort of decisions Grandfather made…this is too heavy or that is heavy but I really need it or it is my one treat. When you are not driving and have to haul it all by foot your view of what works and doesn’t changes. I love apples this time of year, but I need five for lunches this week, so do I really want the biggest I can get or the best? And beverages too. I have to get milk, but beer and wine seem pounds away from feasible. Then there is packaging too. Boxes, bottles, and jars often lose out to bags, mixes, make your own, or do without. I am hoping the lessons I learn in this process will stick with me, just as I hope that the drops in America’s carbon footprint resulting from the economic downturn will stick with the nation.

Of Pipe Wrenches and Shorter Showers

Bob — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:16:43 +0000

When I was very young my father had an on-going battle with my older brother about the length of his showers. My dad was and is very much a product of the Great Depression and we were very much a “turn off the lights and close the doors to avoid using excess energy” sort of family. Dad was a terror on waste so he devised a system whereby he would scoot out to the garage when my brother hopped into the shower and after about five minutes or so he would take a wrench and slowly turn off the hot water feed from the water heater. I am not sure that my brother ever caught on, but it was a pretty effective deterrent to long showers. Dad had pretty much broken off the valve handle by the time that I started my voluntary bathing era and the general attitude at that time was shifting to one of looking after energy use. My point in all of this is that often times it takes something to get us to behave the way we should. For my brother it was a pipe wrench and for me it’s remembering the Santa Clara Valley before and after urban sprawl. Sometimes it is something small like reducing the size of your garbage pail in the kitchen to remind you to recycle more and throw less away. And sometimes it is something big like seeing a fish kill or sea bird wandering around with a plastic soda can ring encircling its neck, to make you be more conscious of your home chemical use or beverage container choice. Find the things and signals that help you improve your behavior and celebrate them.

Don’t Go With The Flow

Bob — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:31:26 +0000

We are often told to go with the flow. Just go with the flow. While this is likely good advice on a lot of life’s fronts, we have to ignore it when it comes to water use. Here it is: Go with the low flow. Low flow shower heads and faucets save money and water. They along with dual-flush toilets, flushless urinals, composting toilets, drought resistant landscaping, and the concept of clirty clothing (it’s not clean and it’s not dirty so I can wear it again) are all tools in the effort to save water.

You don’t know if you have a low flow shower head or not? Not a problem if you have a watch with a second hand, a ready to be reused gallon-sized plastic milk jug, a large measuring cup, and a permanent felt-tip marker. First you carefully cut around the top of the jug and make an opening large enough for the shower head to fit inside. Then you pour a quart of water in the jug and make a mark at the water line. Add another quart and draw another line and then do it one more time. Dump the accumulated water on a house plant or two and then you are ready to go. Now, stick the jug under the showerhead and turn it on for 15 seconds. At four quarts to a gallon the number of quarts you gather in 1/4 of a minute translates to gallons per minute of flow. If in 15 seconds the water reaches halfway between the second and the third mark or lower you are in business and have a low flow shower head. If you are between the first and the second mark, you have an ultra-low flow shower head. And if you are above both you might consider a trip to the hardware stop for a low or ultra-low flow option. Good news is that the shower heads pay for themselves soon, but get some Teflon tape to seal the threads and be careful not to scratch the chrome or other anti-corroding finish on your new showerhead with the teeth of your pipe wrench or water pump pliers. And go with the low-flow.

Waste Not…Simple as That

Bob — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:38:56 +0000

When we look at a lot of what of is troubling in our world in terms of the environment and economics a whole lot of progress could be made on all levels by simply cutting out the waste. Andrew Revkin’s article on leaking methane is a great example of simple, economically feasible steps we could take but are resistant to. And while it is convenient to grumble at the oil and gas companies–and we should–we also need to look at our own lives too. We should be pushing the EPA to regulate these leaks just as hard as we push ourselves to take shorter showers, hunt for energy vampires at home and work, and try to cut our car travel. No Impact Man encourages us to do this and have fun at the same time and I think that is true. Have a family meeting where you go over your power bills and collectively look for potential savings. Maybe make a chart on the wall to track your progress monthly and seasonally. Have scavenger hunts to find where you are wasting power. Think of the fun you might have and the money you might save….

Export Ideas not Exhaust

Bob — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:23:43 +0000

Moving constantly over the past 6 years has taught me many lessons in regards to what to keep and what to shed. That which is heavy must be cherished and used to be kept. Similarly doing grocery shopping on foot or by bike has made both my wife and I more considered shoppers. Here too the heavy must be something special and worth the shoulder, back, and foot strain. In a similar fashion, my work with community-scale agriculture, the localvores, various peak oil networks, affordable housing and the like has taught me the need for other decisions screens. The interesting thing is that most of the decisions are based on similar approaches. Take the localvores’ dictum eat locally, spice globally, for instance. That is basically a “don’t transport the heavy stuff long distances, but enhance your life with small amounts of the exotic” message. Localizing investment via a credit union, personal loan to a community member, or putting funds in a local food operation as advocated by the slow money movement are also about keeping what is dear and important near you. And when you really ponder this, our old friend “act locally and think globally” is really about not transporting your “heavy” self but rather your ideas.

At New Dream we work to practice these principles, in part, by really watching our travel and our travel budgets. In fact, less than one percept of our budget this year is allocated for staff travel expenses. But at the same time our ideas travel millions of miles. We are particularly gratified when we see evidence of this like when we hear that a New Dreamer is using our materials to build lesson plans or the recent note I received from a person in Brazil who was excited that New Dream founder Betsy Taylor’s book “What Kids Really Want That Money Can’t Buy” had been translated into Portuguese. He wants to form the first New Dream chapter in South America. While this is a nice thought and we appreciate his enthusiasm, we think that all of you who subscribe to our messages and strive to reduce the impacts of consumption, respect the planet and its support systems, and seek joy in your lives are our chapters. And we appreciate your efforts to spread our shared ideas across the US and globally. Dream on!

New Dream at GreenFestival DC–Telling the Story

Bob — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:59:13 +0000

New Dream staff descended on GreenFestival DC this weekend to pitch our less stuff, more fun message which seemed to be well received by all. This was a wonderful venue for our work as thousands attended the event to visit booths like ours and see headliner speakers ranging from Lester Brown and former economic hitman John Perkins to Theory U developer Otto Scharmer from MIT and farmer extraordinaire Joel Salatin. Great talks and a wonderful audience.

Ace intern Chris Mastin (at left in blue shirt) telling the New Dream story surrounded by the hustle and bustle of GreenFestival DC 2009.

For me it was also very nice to engage in face-to-face conversations with old New Dreamers and bring new New Dreamers into the fold. And it was also terrific to wander among the other booths and share ideas and run into old friends. These sorts of events fill our creative ink wells and help us to remember that part of what we promote is the creation and enhancement of relationships and communities. And network we did. Thanks to all who visited our both and to staff and volunteers who gave up chunks of their weekend to make the Planet a better place.

It is OK to be Frugal.

Bob — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:00:42 +0000

In trying to foment a change in culture we often meet resistance to change. Some of this resistance is logical and some of it not. For the logical friction points there are many times easy solutions such as economic incentives for the adoption of solar technology or green roofs in areas with runoff issues. But the illogical, fear-based ones are tougher. Over the past several days I have observed several friction points and many of them are based on a fear of being poor or perceived as being poor. For instance, in the debate over whether or not laundry lines should be allowed in neighborhoods an oft cited excuse for not doing the right thing is that laundry lines equate in some people’s minds to poverty (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/us/11clothesline.html?_r=1&th&emc=th). The thought being that you only dry clothes on lines when you cannot afford a clothes dryer. Since clothes dryers are a recent relatively recent invention, it seems unlikely that this is a DNA issue but rather a taught and learned perception. Therefore, it needs to be untaught and unlearned.

I also was reading the paper this weekend and stumbled on to an article about pinching pennies in ways that will not embarrass you. The article put forth the argument that mail-in rebates might be preferable to coupons because they were more anonymous. Again, saving yourself the heartbreak of being perceived as poor because you took an action to save money and preserve your hard earned money. Kind of like kids teasing each other for picking up pennies dropped in the street when I was a child. We need to get over this and work to make sure that the behaviors of future generations are not driven by this same fear.

It kind of makes me wonder at times how much of our consumption of all things is driven by our fear of being perceived as poor rather than a genuine need for a particular product. It is something to think about as we reach for that credit card or buy that extra gift.

Hot (Hope) Day for Solar

Bob — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:35:02 +0000

My wife and I just spent the afternoon at the Solar Decathlon here in DC. Good day for it because temperatures were rising towards 90 and the solar panels on these houses were producing like crazy. Never heard of the Solar Decathlon? The decathlon is in essence an architectural and energy design competition where teams, mostly from architecture schools, build small solar powered houses that generally create just as much energy as they make. It is all pretty wiz-bang with LED lighting, counter-current heat exchangers, and local or low impact materials. It is so inspiring and a lot of fun to watch the students eyeing their power meters to make sure that they stick to their energy budgets. It was good to see the enthusiasm exhibited by the students and visitors alike. How does this work? Where did you get that? What is the cost per square foot? Great questions as well as wonderful and informative answers.

Folks Touring the Solar Decathlon on the Mall in DC.

At some point about half way through the exhibits, I felt washed with hope for America. Here all around us was a racially and economically diverse crowd of intelligent and inquisitive people working towards making America better and dealing responsibly with the environmental and economic challenges we all face. The crowd—an estimated 500,000 over the week—were well behaved, happy, and polite. They were well informed about solar energy and green building and engaged the exhibitors and others in lively and positive conversations. Some of this comes from being in that magic zone between the Washington Monument and the Capitol, but the hope and can-do attitude was here in abundance.

Long Live Un-Products

Bob — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:30:43 +0000

I once went to a conference and heard Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation speak about the need to develop products that improved the environment. These are not simply products that have a lesser impact but that actually improve our environmental condition. He challenged the attending crowd to think of any examples of these type products and we were stumped. When we broke up into small groups we cogitated on this, but we only came up with potential areas such as agriculture or waste management where something like this could emerge. As a consequence, this thought exercise has been stuck in some subroutine in my brain. What are truly good products. And I still do not have an answer, but I do know that there are a few un-products out there. By this I mean products that can be purchased or made that greatly reduce the need for other commonly used products. Two un-products come to mind. The first is the stainless steel water bottle. You buy it once and it becomes your constant companion, sort of a traveling oasis. Stack that on one side and a year’s worth of bottled water on the other side. The savings in terms of dollars, natural resources, and environmental impact are incredible. Similarly, canvas shopping bags are another notable un-product. Think of the trees or oil saved for avoiding paper or plastic. So what are the un-products in your lives? Do you have a favorite?

Hope from the Skies

Bob — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:50:46 +0000

Last night my wife and I went to a play at the Smithsonian called Fishing Gone. It tells the story of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake and how the waterman’s lifestyle is going by the wayside for a number of reasons. As I used to work in that arena, I was happy to see the story told in a balanced manner, but that was not the most exciting thing. My walk from the Metro to the Museum of Natural History was made a little more difficult by construction on the Mall. And I couldn’t have been more pleased with what I saw.

What I witnessed on my walk were the early stages of set up for the Solar Decathalon. It was so inspiring to see this virtual town of great, solar-powered home designs being assembled before our very eyes. I was happy to see this all materialize and hope sprang from seeing folks working together in harmony–the way we wish they always did. It was a treat to watch and I particularly remember watching a pair of truckers–one a woman about 5′2″ with a pink construction helmet and the other a man who looked like a refugee from a Brawny commercial–standing next to their newly delivered structures and beaming at what they had helped to make happen. The whole thing smelled of promise and a new day. Solar Decathalon and GreenFest in DC all in one week–a pretty exciting time. Where to start? Where to start?

To Communities and Being Settled

Bob — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:25:46 +0000

I grew up in a neighborhood/community. (What a minute, didn’t we all?) You did if you knew your neighbors, had block parties, shared tasks, joys, and sorrows. You did if you felt comfort rather than rage when someone walked on your lawn or came to your front door. Somewhere along the line, I lost that feeling and my various homes became houses–mere containers for our things and protection from the weather. That changed when my wife and I moved to a small community in Vermont. The day we stepped off the train in the rain on the way to my job interview someone came up to us and asked: Can I help you? And we knew we had found a home. Since then our life consisted of work–to be sure–but it was also filled with book club, neighborhood parties, locally produced plays, town hall meetings and a richness of life. Then we moved to DC. We felt an incredible hollowness and longing for what we had months ago. We were unsettled and it seemed to impact every bit of us.

Last weekend we moved into a modest studio apartment in the District a stone’s throw away from the Metro station and roughly a hundred yards from our new home of Takoma Park. We are close enough now to feel the pulse of our new town. We walk so we see all. And slowly we are becoming a part of our new community. We know the neighbors on each side of the house that will be ours in a month. We are getting to know the farmer’s market and the CO-OP as well as some restaurants and the library. And this weekend we will go on the Green Homes Tour in Takoma Park and to our first social event with our soon-to-be neighbors. We hope that as we are doing this others in the New Dream community will think about ways that they can build that sense of community where they are and become settled too. It is all a process that we can share.

New Dream in the NYT–Are We Becoming Main Stream?

Bob — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:56:20 +0000

New Dream’s board co-chair Juliet Schor has the lead off spot on an opinion piece in the New York Times Absolutely a New Dreamy and we are absolutely pleased that Juliet got to deliver this message. She has been with New Dream since the begining and works tirelessly for us. Great piece and thank you Juliet!

Mattresses and Butterflies

Bob — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:16:47 +0000

My wife and I have a rule about purchases: Anything that has a couple 00 in its price needs to be discussed and considered. This rule is not budgetary as it does not apply to entertainment, donations, or gifts. But if we are going to bring something into our lives we want to make sure that: 1) we need it, 2) it is the right one to buy, 3) we like it. Once we start considering, then we go into full research mode. Where was it made? How was it made? Who made it? What do other folks who own it say about? Is it energy efficient? Does it off gas? And on and on and on.

Our most recent purchase was a mattress. Lots of research–both upright and prone. We finally settled on our target, but the only place we could get exactly what we wanted was about 125 miles away. We could have had it delivered, but we wanted to test it prior to purchase, so we made a trip of it. And a good thing too, because along the way we stopped at a botanical garden in Fredricksburg, VA and spent a delightful 1/2 hour in a greenhouse filled with tropical butterflies–little fairies floating in the air. So we got a great mattress and also had a wonderful time and isn’t that the way it should be?

Of C-Cycles, N-Cycles, E-Cycles, and B-Cycles

Bob — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:03:39 +0000

A recent study by a group of scientists at Yale and published in the magazine Nature makes the argument that human life as we know it on the Planet has biological and chemical boundaries which we should not exceed if we want to live happily everafter. The bad news is that we have busted way beyond these safe thresholds on three of these factors. Two of the three have been highly covered in the news. The first being our relationship with carbon (c-cycle) and our destructive habit of taking carbon that was sequestered below the surface of the Planet and burning it. The second has to do with our relationship with our fellow inhabitants on the sphere and how as we have multiplied other life has become extinct (e-cycle) at a faster than normal rate. The third one has gotten a little less press and that is our messing with the nitrogen cycle. So much of what we do in transportation, industry, and agriculture seems to involve taking atmospheric nitrogen and transforming it into compounds or substances that do damage to us and natural systems. The list is pretty long but includes: ammonia, nitric acid, nitrates, nitrites, urea, urine, etc. These three are huge problems, but what about the fourth cycle in the title that was not mentioned in the article?

The fourth one–b-cycle–is what you ride to the farmers’ market to buy organic produce in your attempts to lower your contributions to altering the carbon, nitrogen, and extinction cycles. Ride on New Dreamers.

And the Survey Sez!

Bob — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:56:59 +0000

I started out this morning by taking the New Dream Survey. I thought that since I worked here for a little while and been a supporter for half a decade that my opinion mattered as well. Turns out I was not alone in my actions as hundreds of folks took the time this morning to give us feedback.

I am not sure folks understand how important hearing from New Dreamers is to us (better still when we see you communicating with one another). And while it is wonderful to get feedback and we will certainly put it to good use, the fact that folks are taking the time to communicate with us within the context of this virtual community of New Dreamers is perhaps even more important.

I suspect that there are times when each of us at New Dream who posts on these pages feels a little like the scientists who are searching for extra-terrestrial life by sending out radio messages. We send out messages and listen with a hopeful ear for our thoughts and contributions to echo or resonate with all of you. And occaisionally we hear that one of Kim’s poems or inspirations brought a tear to someone’s eye or Dave’s whit elicited a guffaw or giggle. We cherish these interactions. So if you haven’t already done the survey, please do and, if you can, send it on to a friend who might enjoy being part of our community too . And keep communicating with us.

Car-free Care-free

Bob — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Yesterday was car-free day. It was good to see more folks walking and more bikes cruising along. Made me think about how nice it is that parts of Times Square are now closed to cars and how cool it is to walk on the Mall here in DC or, digging back in my memory, La Rambla in Barcellona. All wonderful urban walking experiences. Now for the car-free, care-free part–contrast the above with nearly any urban parking experience in terms of quality of life, time, and visual pleasure. So stressful. Maybe fans of Eastern Sprituality are right: That your soul can travel no faster than an ox cart. You may get there lickety split, but that core part of you takes a little longer. In a sense, walking gets you there in one package. Something to think about….