Similar Posts

  • |

    Subscriber Service Revived

    I hope this reaches those who had been subscribing to my blog by email. I have been desultory in my efforts to address technical glitches with the website in recent months, the last of which is offering the ability to get posts by email or otherwise in a feed.

    I hope if this does reach you by email that you will want to continue to subscribe and also perhaps sometimes reply or comment directly on the website. I am always interested in reactions.

    I expect to be posting a couple times a week. May what I offer be of value in these intense times and with so many calls for our attention.

    Wishing you peace, health, and joy. And if you have not yet voted, please make a plan for Election Day.

  • |

    Keystone XL tar sands pipeline White House sit-in

    Here is some information about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline White House sit-in.  I am not prepared at this time in my life to get arrested, but I have participated by raising my voice and donating money to organizations more actively engaged than I think I can be.  Please participate at the level you believe is appropriate for your current life and how much you care.  I hope you care.

  • | | | |

    “Reality is Unforgivingly Complex”

    Yesterday, the first of the year, I pulled off the shelf and opened at random Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird.”  I’d found it used some time ago and was interested,  but other things got ahead of it on my reading pile.  The page to which I opened seems highly topical for what is coming this year:

    For instance, I used to think that paired opposites were a given, that love was the opposite of hate, right the opposite of wrong.  But now  I think we sometimes buy into these concepts because it is so much easier to embrace absolutes than to suffer reality.  I don’t think anything is the opposite of love.  Reality is unforgivingly complex.

    May we find enough love to suffer well the complexities to come this year.  For me, I know that deepening and recommitting to my practice will help me find what more I can offer.

  • | | | | |

    “What Is It?”

    As I squatted on the brick sidewalk to take this photo during my lunch time walk, a nice-looking older man stopped and asked “what is it?” He was quite tall and standing at an angle that would not have showed the shape as well as from where I was positioned.

    “Stand on this side; what do you see?” I asked. He looked from my perspective. “A leaf,” he said with a quizzical expression, wondering why a dessicated bit of English ivy would have captured my attention sufficiently for me to take a photograph.

    “Look again,” I suggested. “Can you see anything else?”

    “Ah,” he said with delighted recognition: “it’s a heart.”

    “Yes. I see them and other interesting shapes in all sorts of things–litter, blackened chewing gum, the pavement itself.”

    “Everything has more than one form,” he rejoined. “You are blessed.”

    And thus we went our separate ways, having brightened our day with this small connection. If he lives in the neighborhood, no doubt we will recognize each other enough from this encounter, at least to smile and say hello.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

  • | |

    Good News for Solar In DC

    I received this email last night that I wanted to share.  If you own a house in the District and haven’t gone solar, think about it.  If you rent, write your landlord.  If you live in another jurisdiction, work with like-minded citizens and work for alternative sources of energy.  FYI, since my solar panels were active, my highest electricity bill was $20 (and for the past two months, the meter has run backwards).

    Here’s the full text of the email (with a link on how to get involved at the bottom):

    Today, thanks to your hard work the Distributed Generation Act of 2011 (19-10) passed the DC Council.   The vote was unanimous!!!  We only await the Mayor’s signature for the bill to become law.  Although, there may be a lag of up to a year for SREC prices on the spot market to recover–we expect the bill to create a strong vibrant solar market in DC for the next DECADE!! In response to the expected improvement in market conditions SOLSYSTEMS announced today the availability of an upfront SREC payment through its installer partners of $1,200/kw installed.  This means for example, that you could get $4,800 up front for a 4kw system!

    Many many people worked on the bill! Many of you showed up to testify! More than a thousand of you signed the petition in support of the legislation. http://signon.org/sign/build-dc-solar-dont-let?source=s.em.cr&r_by=118605    Many of you sent emails or made phone calls. Many of you showed up to deliver our petition to each of the Council Member’s offices. Many of you turned out to create a field of sunflowers–in the Council Chamber during the first reading of the bill! A special shout out to MDVSEIA that worked hand and hand with us throughout the process!

    It is important that the DC Council understand that this bill has very strong, and broad support from across the city. We want them to feel good about passing this bill and feel good about passing similar legislation in the future.  This bill will create the market mechanism to allow homeowners, churches, community organizations, businesses and government buildings to go solar! While there is much left to do to make solar affordable and accessible to every DC resident—this bill is a very important step.

    PLEASE write to the DC council today and THANK them for their support!    dccouncil@dccouncil.us    A quick email, a quick thanks! Thank them for leading DC toward a solar future.

    Anya Schoolman
    President
    DC Solar United Neighborhoods

    Thinking of Going Solar? Want to Get More Involved ? Become a DC Sun Member– Join the Discussion at

    http://sites.google.com/site/dcsolarunitedneighborhoods/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.