I have been watching this windmill spin in the Forrest Hills Extension neighborhood of The City for some time now.  I think it takes some big hairy balls to be willing to erect one of these on your block, and I approve.  This is radically unknown territory for your average home owner, and not every contractor, electrician or even inspector from the Department of Building Inspection is going to know what to do with a home windmill.  Obviously though, it can be done, and in windy locals it makes sustainable sense.   One big disadvantage to Solar Panels like the ones I have on my house is that they do not work at night.  But the wind can blow 24/7, so having the capacity to generate at all times is great.   Now my electrical bills with a 2.3 Kilowatt solar system is $11.22 for this past month (PG&E bill just came) but this has been summer with longer days and up to 2,000 watts generate each hour.  I know it will drop when winter comes, and something like a windmill would is a tempting addition.  Not 100% sure what the wife will say though…

For people living in San Francisco these are the incentive levels for residential solar installations as of Feb 1 2009.

Basic…$2,000.00

City Installer…$3,000.00

Environmental Justice…$3,500.00

Workforce Development…$4,000.00

The 2009 Goldman prizes for Grassroots Environementalism have been announced.  Honoring 6 individuals from the 6 inhabited continents, the prize recognizes “a group of fearless grassroots leaders taking on government and corporate interests and working to improve the environment for people in their communities.”

Real grassroots achievements, not things like last weeks bullshit “tea parties” hosted by Fox News, but dedicated, local community activists working on local problems that touch global lives…this is what the Goldman Prizes salute.  The achievements of true grassroots leaders like  Maria Gunnoe demand not only recognition, but also admiration.

Maria has lead the fight against mountaintop removal – a practice of literally blowing up mountains to harvest the coal beneath them.  To date close to 500 mountains have been blown up; the millions of tons of toxic debris dumped into the Appalachian watershed in the form of valley fills as casually as someone throws a plastic water bottle into a garbage can.

Maria has defended her great state of West Virginia and the Appalachian mountains because she loves her home and cannot stand idly by while the rest of us destroy it by our collective indifference, but her efforts have come with great personal cost:

“Observers confirm that mine managers point to Gunnoe as an enemy of mine workers and their jobs, and have encouraged acts of harassment. Gunnoe has received numerous verbal threats on her life, and her children are frequently harassed at school. Gunnoe’s neighbors recently overheard people planning an arson attack on her home. Her daughter’s dog was shot dead, and “wanted” posters of Gunnoe have appeared in local convenience stores…”

Her “crime”?  Pointing out the catastrophic environmental damage done to her home by corporate profit whores bowing at the altar of the dollar, environment and community be damned.  But her environment, her community, is also ours.    And the damage done belongs to us all.  As Maria says, “when you flip the switch on  there is a 52% chance you are destroying the water, air and land of where I live.”

You know, little stuff.

So if you still have an incandescent light bulb in your house, honestly, at this point, what the “F” is wrong with you?

It always strikes me how dissassociated our homes can be from the environemental damage done to feed them with power, water and building material.  If you have ben to this site before you probably know that water consumption is a serious topic with me.  I honestly do not care if it is a gallon or an acre foot, it is all on you, me, all of us, to really address our run away use of water.  A typical 3rd world citizen uses 3 gallons of water a day.  You flush that much every time you use the toilet.  And it is not just some “person” living in Africa, Latin America, Asia or wherever that sees the effects of water shortages, though their effects are more profound.  California Schinook Salmon Runs Suspended Again read the headline for yesterday’s paper.  There is a direct line from the decline of our fisheries to your tap.  I do not have a website like Ilovemountians for our fisheries, but maybe one of you will make one.  We need to be real about our water use, because as population increases, and water supplies remain, at best, constant, something has to give.  And that something must, must be consumption.