Relocalization Network › Big Sur Powerdown › News › Ideas for “Coasting” into Powerdown

Ideas for “Coasting” into Powerdown

Tue, 2006-08-29 13:11 — Linda Parker
Body: 




Big Sur Powerdown – Organization Committee Meeting
August 22, 2006


The Big Sur Powerdown – Organizational Committee met on Tuesday night, August 22, 2006 at the Esalen Institute. What follows is a summary of what was discussed at the meeting.

  • The group agreed to address organization related to the following two scenarios:
    • “Coasting” into Powering down, becoming more sustainable with food and energy and building local community now
    • Disaster situations such as road closure, food or energy delivery disruption, earthquake, etc.


Ideas for “Coasting” into Powerdown
Website

  • Really get website going and operating as a powerful tool for:
    • Sharing rides into town
    • Bringing people together for community building – social events – encourage people to be social locally
    • A yellow-pages of local non-traditional skills and traditional skills – It was suggested that we do an inventory of all residents of Big Sur and for those who are open to it, list on a website database who can do what (hard skills such as plumbing/nursing/solar/CPR etc and soft skills or interests such as belly dancing, musical instruments they play, art, etc.). We may also want to have a code for the level they would like to be involved with this group and the local community.
    • People to share information with each other (potentially through a Blog) about:
      • Solar – for energy generation, for heat generation, solar ovens, solar washers and dryers, etc.
      • Propane
      • Batteries
      • Growing Food
      • Food storage for emergencies – how much food lasts how long, containers to use, types of food to store, places to buy it, etc.
      • Biogas digesters
      • Hydropower
      • Wind Power
      • Energy Farm
  • Maybe we could do partnerships with vendors for volume discounts
  • Stan Russell may be a good resource for helping us to get our website where we want it.


Businesses

  • Encourage local businesses to stock more local products and encourage locals to buy these products in lieu of products from far away. The question was asked, what is considered local? The group agreed that local is as close as possible, but it is recognized that sometimes local will be San Fran or even Sonoma County, but this is better than the Midwest or China. It is relative and we want to encourage people to buy as local as possible.


Inventory

  • It was discussed that it would be good for us to do an inventory much like Willets did as Brian Weller shared with us on Energy, Water, Food, medical, fire, etc so we can get an idea of where our money is going and what our local resources are. Thomas Rettenwender and Juliet Johnson agreed to look into getting copies of the reports that Willets did and to start to develop an understanding / checklist of the type of information we will need to collect to do a similar inventory for Big Sur. Randall Wallace agreed to email them a copy of the Willets information. A group will eventually be formed to start working on the inventory. Will be a lot of work and too much for one or two people.


Microprojects – What can we do now?

  • It was suggested that we have parallel tracks going on at the same time, so while some people are working on the inventory, others can be pursuing other projects in their area of interest. This will be important to keep the momentum and keep things moving along.
  • It was also suggested that at the next meeting we empower people to think of “microprojects” they can begin. We can ask people to think about these in advance and come to the meeting ready to share their ideas and get support. These microprojects can be anything small (or big) that will help Big Sur move away from outside energy and food or help bring more community and preparedness. Examples of microprojects might be: increasing recycling/composting, getting stores to carry more local products, ways to reduce energy use or car trips, ways to reduce water use, ways to increase local food production or food storage or anything else that people are interested in. At the meeting people can propose their projects, enlist support of others and get ideas from others. At the following meeting, people can report back on successes or difficulties they had in implementing their microprojects. Perhaps we could make this into a competition or have awards for most effective, most unique, most fun microproject etc and have local businesses donate prizes.
  • In addition to Microprojects, others can take the role of “gentle helpers” to help people and businesses become more localized and powered down and/or to just let them know about this group and ask them to participate. We can explore more of what these gentle helpers can be doing.


Make it Fun (and Sexy)

  • It was suggested that we make this process fun and use healthy competition as a way to get people involved. We could have competitions for most energy reduction (home and business), Big Sur vs. Willets, Esalen vs. Post Ranch, Deli vs. River Inn, etc.
  • It was recognized that sex sells and we should make this stuff sexy to get people involved and keep it interesting. This doesn’t have to be a burden or a drag. It can be fun and sexy!
  • The group discussed how to spread the word that there is great freedom and joy in the simple life, that life can be more rich and satisfying without a lot of stuff and consumption but with more community and sincere/rich human interactions. The message should be that having less doesn’t mean a more boring less fulfilling life, but it can be quite the opposite. Powering down can lead to a simpler, richer, happier and more connected life… with more sex (he he).
  • The group discussed having a big music festival that could be used to raise money for powerdown and share ideas/educate others about what we are doing and how they could do it to. We could attract big names in music and art. The group discussed where such a festival could be held, perhaps in the State Park or in the large field across from the State Park that is currently used as a leach field for disposing of wastewater underground.


Keep it local and learn from each other

  • People really liked the idea of keeping money in Big Sur that would otherwise go outside of the community. It was notes that Willets paid $30 million a year to PG&E for the electricity. It would be very sexy to be able to do some local energy generation and keep some of that money within the community. It was discussed whether neighbors could work together on power generation and one person who had lots of sun exposure could charge batteries for other neighbors etc. Or someone who was generating a lot of hydropower could transmit some of the energy to others. There is a lot to look at here and transmission losses may be significant. I know that Keith Harlan currently generates and distributes much of the energy for Lucia, so he could be a resource here.
  • It was suggested we could learn from:
    • Rancho Rico – much of that is off-the-grid
    • Clayton – Loma Vista Local Produce – Co-op
    • Tara’s mom – simple living and food storage
    • Magnus – Hydropower
    • Keith Harlan – Energy generation and transmission
    • Steve Beck – off-the-grid living and farming
    • Charlie Casio – off-the-grid living (bee’s, goats, solar etc)
    • Sharon Carey – disaster response and communication
    • Richard Wango – Energy generation
    • Many many others that we could list here. Let’s start putting this info together.
  • It was suggested that we look into ways to combine trips for commercial deliveries. For instance, it seems silly that large trucks come down to Esalen to deliver a relatively small amount of wine, and then an hour later another large truck comes down to deliver vegetables etc. It would be good to have a central drop station and then Esalen can pick up stuff from a central location or one vendor can carry the stuff down the highway. Good to find a way to combine trips. It was noted that Tassajara does something like this and Esalen has done this in the past where wine was dropped off at Nepenthe and then picked up on a town run trip.
  • The question was asked could Big Sur incorporate. It was noted that this has been discussed in the past and was a contentious issue. It would require Big Sur to have a police dept and fire dept etc.


Making it even more local - Tribeletts

  • After the meeting, someone suggested the idea of setting up little Tribeletts, where people organize based on where they live (for current situations as well as emergencies). It is thought that the Essellen Indians used to have one big tribe but also were broken down into subgroups or tribeletts. Individual groups could be organized for:
    • Partington Ridge
    • Clear Ridge
    • Pfieffer Ridge
    • Rancho Rico
    • Lucia to Pacific Valley (?)
    • Partington to Esalen (?)
    • Palo Colorado
    • Many others
  • More thought would need to be put into what these areas would be, but it makes sense for people to organize geographically in this way. Each group could meet together and develop a strategy for:
    • Key contact person /organizer
    • Resources within each group (skills and equipment)
    • Energy emergency procedures
    • Water emergency procedures
    • Food emergency procedures
    • Central Food storage location (?)
    • Central meeting location
    • Action plan for checking on each other in case of natural disaster
    • Ways to communicate with other Tribeletts in case of no power or phone
    • Other???


Ideas for Disaster Preparedness and Response

  • It was discussed that there used to be an extensive networks of CB radios in Big Sur that people communicated with. These would be good for a disaster situation. It was thought that many people still have their radios.
  • It would be good to establish a phone tree.
  • In past emergencies, the businesses became a focal point for gathering spots.
  • The group discussed food storage. It would be good to encourage people to store food in their homes (potentially a one year supply of food like the mormon church suggests for all its members). It would be good to put information on the website about food storage, the best kind of containers to use (rodent and weather proof) and the best types of food to store. Seed storage might also be appropriate for those who can grow food. It may not be necessary to store dehydrated meals, sometimes just flour (wheat and white), honey, dehydrated milk, rice, beans can go along way.
  • It would be good to understand how much medical supplies we have in the area for emergency situations. How much is stored where and how might this be disseminated in case of emergency?
  • It was recognized that the website will not likely be accessible in case of a large emergency so there will need to be another way to communicate.


Other Items

  • The group discussed zero point gravity and the arguments for and against its existence.
  • It was suggested that the energy solution would be 90% reduction and 10% alternatives.
  • The group briefly discussed the concept of an Energy Farm – would be good to learn more about this.


Next Big Sur Powerdown Meeting Ideas

  • Ideas for the next Big Sur Powerdown meeting were discussed. The question was asked whether people want to hear talks from other outside people, or do we want to hear and learn from locals. It was suggested that it might be nice to have a bit of both at meetings in the future, some focused on local and others bringing in experts from the outside.
    • NEXT MEETING - It was suggested that the next meeting be us learning from people in Big Sur who are doing stuff around energy and/or food independence. Maybe ask locals who are off the grid and/or grow their own food to talk to us about what they do, how, and what obstacles they have had to overcome. It was also suggested at the next meeting we introduce the ideas of microprojects and get people going on them.


Next Organization Committee Meetings
o The next two meetings of this group were set for:
o Wednesday, September 6th at 7:30 PM at Esalen
o Wednesday, September 20th at 7:30 PM at Esalen
Everyone who is planning to attend the next two meetings needs to RSVP in advance to Juliet Johnson or Laura Doherty in order to get on the list at the Esalen Gate. Call 831-667-3029 to RSVP or email

Teaser:

Meeting for the Big Sur Powerdown Organizational Commitee


Body:



Big Sur Powerdown – Organization Committee Meeting
August 22, 2006


The Big Sur Powerdown – Organizational Committee met on Tuesday night, August 22, 2006 at the Esalen Institute. What follows is a summary of what was discussed at the meeting.

  • The group agreed to address organization related to the following two scenarios:
    • “Coasting” into Powering down, becoming more sustainable with food and energy and building local community now
    • Disaster situations such as road closure, food or energy delivery disruption, earthquake, etc.


Ideas for “Coasting” into Powerdown
Website

  • Really get website going and operating as a powerful tool for:
    • Sharing rides into town
    • Bringing people together for community building – social events – encourage people to be social locally
    • A yellow-pages of local non-traditional skills and traditional skills – It was suggested that we do an inventory of all residents of Big Sur and for those who are open to it, list on a website database who can do what (hard skills such as plumbing/nursing/solar/CPR etc and soft skills or interests such as belly dancing, musical instruments they play, art, etc.). We may also want to have a code for the level they would like to be involved with this group and the local community.
    • People to share information with each other (potentially through a Blog) about:
      • Solar – for energy generation, for heat generation, solar ovens, solar washers and dryers, etc.
      • Propane
      • Batteries
      • Growing Food
      • Food storage for emergencies – how much food lasts how long, containers to use, types of food to store, places to buy it, etc.
      • Biogas digesters
      • Hydropower
      • Wind Power
      • Energy Farm
  • Maybe we could do partnerships with vendors for volume discounts
  • Stan Russell may be a good resource for helping us to get our website where we want it.


Businesses

  • Encourage local businesses to stock more local products and encourage locals to buy these products in lieu of products from far away. The question was asked, what is considered local? The group agreed that local is as close as possible, but it is recognized that sometimes local will be San Fran or even Sonoma County, but this is better than the Midwest or China. It is relative and we want to encourage people to buy as local as possible.


Inventory

  • It was discussed that it would be good for us to do an inventory much like Willets did as Brian Weller shared with us on Energy, Water, Food, medical, fire, etc so we can get an idea of where our money is going and what our local resources are. Thomas Rettenwender and Juliet Johnson agreed to look into getting copies of the reports that Willets did and to start to develop an understanding / checklist of the type of information we will need to collect to do a similar inventory for Big Sur. Randall Wallace agreed to email them a copy of the Willets information. A group will eventually be formed to start working on the inventory. Will be a lot of work and too much for one or two people.


Microprojects – What can we do now?

  • It was suggested that we have parallel tracks going on at the same time, so while some people are working on the inventory, others can be pursuing other projects in their area of interest. This will be important to keep the momentum and keep things moving along.
  • It was also suggested that at the next meeting we empower people to think of “microprojects” they can begin. We can ask people to think about these in advance and come to the meeting ready to share their ideas and get support. These microprojects can be anything small (or big) that will help Big Sur move away from outside energy and food or help bring more community and preparedness. Examples of microprojects might be: increasing recycling/composting, getting stores to carry more local products, ways to reduce energy use or car trips, ways to reduce water use, ways to increase local food production or food storage or anything else that people are interested in. At the meeting people can propose their projects, enlist support of others and get ideas from others. At the following meeting, people can report back on successes or difficulties they had in implementing their microprojects. Perhaps we could make this into a competition or have awards for most effective, most unique, most fun microproject etc and have local businesses donate prizes.
  • In addition to Microprojects, others can take the role of “gentle helpers” to help people and businesses become more localized and powered down and/or to just let them know about this group and ask them to participate. We can explore more of what these gentle helpers can be doing.


Make it Fun (and Sexy)

  • It was suggested that we make this process fun and use healthy competition as a way to get people involved. We could have competitions for most energy reduction (home and business), Big Sur vs. Willets, Esalen vs. Post Ranch, Deli vs. River Inn, etc.
  • It was recognized that sex sells and we should make this stuff sexy to get people involved and keep it interesting. This doesn’t have to be a burden or a drag. It can be fun and sexy!
  • The group discussed how to spread the word that there is great freedom and joy in the simple life, that life can be more rich and satisfying without a lot of stuff and consumption but with more community and sincere/rich human interactions. The message should be that having less doesn’t mean a more boring less fulfilling life, but it can be quite the opposite. Powering down can lead to a simpler, richer, happier and more connected life… with more sex (he he).
  • The group discussed having a big music festival that could be used to raise money for powerdown and share ideas/educate others about what we are doing and how they could do it to. We could attract big names in music and art. The group discussed where such a festival could be held, perhaps in the State Park or in the large field across from the State Park that is currently used as a leach field for disposing of wastewater underground.


Keep it local and learn from each other

  • People really liked the idea of keeping money in Big Sur that would otherwise go outside of the community. It was notes that Willets paid $30 million a year to PG&E for the electricity. It would be very sexy to be able to do some local energy generation and keep some of that money within the community. It was discussed whether neighbors could work together on power generation and one person who had lots of sun exposure could charge batteries for other neighbors etc. Or someone who was generating a lot of hydropower could transmit some of the energy to others. There is a lot to look at here and transmission losses may be significant. I know that Keith Harlan currently generates and distributes much of the energy for Lucia, so he could be a resource here.
  • It was suggested we could learn from:
    • Rancho Rico – much of that is off-the-grid
    • Clayton – Loma Vista Local Produce – Co-op
    • Tara’s mom – simple living and food storage
    • Magnus – Hydropower
    • Keith Harlan – Energy generation and transmission
    • Steve Beck – off-the-grid living and farming
    • Charlie Casio – off-the-grid living (bee’s, goats, solar etc)
    • Sharon Carey – disaster response and communication
    • Richard Wango – Energy generation
    • Many many others that we could list here. Let’s start putting this info together.
  • It was suggested that we look into ways to combine trips for commercial deliveries. For instance, it seems silly that large trucks come down to Esalen to deliver a relatively small amount of wine, and then an hour later another large truck comes down to deliver vegetables etc. It would be good to have a central drop station and then Esalen can pick up stuff from a central location or one vendor can carry the stuff down the highway. Good to find a way to combine trips. It was noted that Tassajara does something like this and Esalen has done this in the past where wine was dropped off at Nepenthe and then picked up on a town run trip.
  • The question was asked could Big Sur incorporate. It was noted that this has been discussed in the past and was a contentious issue. It would require Big Sur to have a police dept and fire dept etc.


Making it even more local - Tribeletts

  • After the meeting, someone suggested the idea of setting up little Tribeletts, where people organize based on where they live (for current situations as well as emergencies). It is thought that the Essellen Indians used to have one big tribe but also were broken down into subgroups or tribeletts. Individual groups could be organized for:
    • Partington Ridge
    • Clear Ridge
    • Pfieffer Ridge
    • Rancho Rico
    • Lucia to Pacific Valley (?)
    • Partington to Esalen (?)
    • Palo Colorado
    • Many others
  • More thought would need to be put into what these areas would be, but it makes sense for people to organize geographically in this way. Each group could meet together and develop a strategy for:
    • Key contact person /organizer
    • Resources within each group (skills and equipment)
    • Energy emergency procedures
    • Water emergency procedures
    • Food emergency procedures
    • Central Food storage location (?)
    • Central meeting location
    • Action plan for checking on each other in case of natural disaster
    • Ways to communicate with other Tribeletts in case of no power or phone
    • Other???


Ideas for Disaster Preparedness and Response

  • It was discussed that there used to be an extensive networks of CB radios in Big Sur that people communicated with. These would be good for a disaster situation. It was thought that many people still have their radios.
  • It would be good to establish a phone tree.
  • In past emergencies, the businesses became a focal point for gathering spots.
  • The group discussed food storage. It would be good to encourage people to store food in their homes (potentially a one year supply of food like the mormon church suggests for all its members). It would be good to put information on the website about food storage, the best kind of containers to use (rodent and weather proof) and the best types of food to store. Seed storage might also be appropriate for those who can grow food. It may not be necessary to store dehydrated meals, sometimes just flour (wheat and white), honey, dehydrated milk, rice, beans can go along way.
  • It would be good to understand how much medical supplies we have in the area for emergency situations. How much is stored where and how might this be disseminated in case of emergency?
  • It was recognized that the website will not likely be accessible in case of a large emergency so there will need to be another way to communicate.


Other Items

  • The group discussed zero point gravity and the arguments for and against its existence.
  • It was suggested that the energy solution would be 90% reduction and 10% alternatives.
  • The group briefly discussed the concept of an Energy Farm – would be good to learn more about this.


Next Big Sur Powerdown Meeting Ideas

  • Ideas for the next Big Sur Powerdown meeting were discussed. The question was asked whether people want to hear talks from other outside people, or do we want to hear and learn from locals. It was suggested that it might be nice to have a bit of both at meetings in the future, some focused on local and others bringing in experts from the outside.
    • NEXT MEETING - It was suggested that the next meeting be us learning from people in Big Sur who are doing stuff around energy and/or food independence. Maybe ask locals who are off the grid and/or grow their own food to talk to us about what they do, how, and what obstacles they have had to overcome. It was also suggested at the next meeting we introduce the ideas of microprojects and get people going on them.


Next Organization Committee Meetings
o The next two meetings of this group were set for:
o Wednesday, September 6th at 7:30 PM at Esalen
o Wednesday, September 20th at 7:30 PM at Esalen
Everyone who is planning to attend the next two meetings needs to RSVP in advance to Juliet Johnson or Laura Doherty in order to get on the list at the Esalen Gate. Call 831-667-3029 to RSVP or email