green living

Saturday Posts . . .

This is both a fraud alert and an update.

First, the fraud alert. Someone is sending out bogus collection notices that claim to be from the US Small Business Administration. Everything on the letters looks legit, down to the email addresses and phone numbers – but they are being faked. I know this for a fact because they made one fatal mistake. They sent a collection notice to my wife about a loan so small that we could have paid it off from what we have in savings – except that we never applied for the loan in the first place. Even worse for them, for 22 years neither of us has ever signed any piece of legal paperwork without the other – and on the SBA loan application my name is nowhere to be seen. So, if you get anything from the Small Business Administration attempting to collect on a loan that you don’t recognize, the first thing you need to do is contact a lawyer. Contacting the local police, FBI, and posting fraud alerts on your credit reporting agencies are also smart moves.

Now for an update.

My wife and I have owned this property for slightly more than 12 years. During that whole time, we’ve known that the huge south-facing yard on our property was ripe for installing solar power. We even found a local company that we asked for an installation estimate from – but the guy they sent to do the estimate disappeared after talking to us, and nobody ever followed up.

About two months ago my wife found another company that does solar installations. After a few conversations with them, we got all the estimates, including the discount for the US Government’s “Green Energy” tax credit. Looking it all over, we realized that we could afford the loans, and signed the paperwork. Depending on weather (both here and wherever they already had pending installation appointments) we should be able to begin the install of our solar power system within about 2 months. The completion of that project will make us about 97% off-grid for electrical power – on a yearly average.

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Global Warming . . .

At this point, I don’t think there are very many intelligent, well-informed, people left on the planet who would dispute the idea that the average temperature of the planet is getting higher. What the actual cause of that warming is, well, that is still up for debate.

However, a couple of months ago I watched a documentary that I’ve been meaning to post about on here. That I didn’t post about it earlier was mostly due to all of the other distractions we’ve had going on. Still, I think it is of sufficient importance that I’m forcing myself to go ahead and post about it now.

The name of the documentary is “Kiss The Ground” – and if you have access to Netflix Streaming it is still available on there.

The amazing thing about this documentary is the very simple solution it offers to the problem of Global Warming. Almost every solution I’ve seen suggested involved complex ideas that were either capitalistic or industrial in nature, and relied on heavy-handed governmental intervention. “Kiss the Ground” proposes a solution that any farmer or gardener can implement right on their own property – and could even be used to reclaim land that has previously turned to pure waste.

If you have even a couple of hours of free time between now and the end of the year, you owe it to yourself (and the planet) to watch this documentary. If you agree with me after you’ve seen it, buy a copy for every elected official in your area and mail it to them, if for no other reason than getting us out of the complicated schemes proposed by people who would take advantage of a global crisis for personal gain.

US Jury condemns Monsanto product. . . .

A US jury has rendered the verdict that Monsanto’s weed killer is “substantially responsible” for a man’s development of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  This is the 2nd  such jury award in the last week, with both jury’s awarding in excess of $280 Million USD.

It seems that Monsanto has been aware of this for a very long time.  They even accepted a $66 Billion buyout from Bayer just to loose the Monsanto name while continuing to sell a product that has faced adverse scrutiny around the world.

Here is the BBC article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47633086

Monsanto going down?

Several times in the past I’ve written about the benefits of non-GMO foods, and effects of heavy pesticide use on the environment, and other things on that line. Of course, Monsanto and it’s army of lawyers have maintained all along that there was no PROOF that any of this is true – all while using PR campaigns to make claims that Monsanto is “feeding the world.”

On Wednesday, 3/15/2017, all of that changed. The New York Times has published an article that literally rakes Monsanto over the coals. Rather than telling you about it, I’ll just share part of the text, as quoted in an email I got from the Organic Consumers Association:

Today, the New York Times reported new explosive evidence showing how Monsanto gets away with selling dangerous pesticides and GMOs into our food supply.

As horrifying as this news is, even for those of us who aren’t surprised, it gives consumers a little more leverage—and we intend to use it.

According to the NYT, while farmers and children exposed to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide were dying from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a high-level EPA official was colluding with Monsanto behind the scenes to hide the truth.

And he actually bragged about it.

Newly unsealed court documents reveal that former EPA official Jess Rowland let Monsanto ghostwriters write the toxicology reports that would form the basis for a government investigation into whether or not Roundup causes cancer.

“If I can kill this I should get a medal,” Rowland reportedly told a Monsanto executive, who shared the comment in an email.

Wow.

The only way we will stop Monsanto, and other corporations, from this kind of ruthless disregard for public health is to keep the pressure on—through boycotts, through relentless demands for accountability, and through the courts.

We may have lost the battle to label GMOs. But make no mistake—the years of educating consumers about the risks of GMO foods, and the poisons used to grow them, are paying off.

• Monsanto is facing more than 20 lawsuits from victims who say they, or a family member, have non-Hodgkins lymphoma because of exposure to glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. Lawyers for the victims say Monsanto knew all along that its flagship herbicide causes cancer.

• Just this week, a California judge ruled that the state can require Monsanto to label Roundup sold in retail stores as a “possible carcinogen.”

• On April 18, judges who presided over the International Monsanto Tribunal will assemble in The Hague, Netherlands. They will tell the world what they found, after six months of poring over testimony delivered by more than 30 witnesses, including victims of Monsanto’s poisons, scientists, doctors and lawyers. The testimony was delivered during a 2-day citizens’ tribunal, held in October, in The Hague.

• OCA, along with another organization, will soon file our own lawsuit against Monsanto—details to be made public soon.

Be aware, though. This turn of events isn’t the end of the story. For the last few years, Monsanto has been actively courting mergers with European corporations that it could hide behind, using a new name to continue playing dirty politics while getting entry to European markets that have outright BANS on Monsanto’s products.

More House Maintenance…

Well, we knew it was coming.

Nearly 7 years ago when we bought this house, we were told that the HVAC and water heater were both old. An average water heater has a life-span of 10 years, and the one in the house was already 18. I’m not sure what a normal life-span for an HVAC system is, but I’m pretty sure 45 is pushing it. This one was installed in 1973.

Anyhow, in the last 18 months we’ve had 4 service calls on the heater, so we knew it was about to go. Day before yesterday, we had to have another visit, and after spending 2 hours cleaning burners and electronic ignition switches, he stated that he’d done all he could and it was still uncertain. So, I asked him to have someone from his company come by to give us an estimate on a complete system. That night, the heat failed to light yet again.

The fellow who came to do the estimate was quite impressed that this old thing lasted so long, and said we’d definitely see some energy savings from getting the units replaced before summer arrived. As an added bonus, there will be an actual place to put the filters, so they won’t rub up against the blower motor anymore. It will be easily changed, too. After measuring this, that, and a few other things, he tallied the bill to – – – – $4600, installed.

So, my wife and I spent some time last night looking at how to juggle some plans and savings arrangements, and figured that it is doable. Certainly not the way we wanted to do it, but we can do it. Oh, and we got the bill in the mail for the water heater installation, too. It was just under $700.

So, a quick recap of the last 6 months of home maintenance:
$3500 Fireplace insert
700 Water Heater
150 Security light
4600 HVAC system

I certainly hope that’s enough for a while.

Shutting down . . .

Well, having accomplished what I set out to do with this blog, I think it is time to shut it down.

The reason I’m doing this now it simple:  I had 90 days to renew my domain registration when they informed me that WordPress has decided to force a 2-stage authentication process that requires a form of verification that I literally can’t provide – a cell phone number.  Since I do not have a cell phone, and wouldn’t tie it to my blog even if I did, it is time to quit WordPress.  Besides, I’ve done what I set out to do with  this blog, by laying personal claim to ideas that were hugely influential in the outcome of the 2016 election for the USA.  Everything else was gravy.

So, I’m transferring all of my files and blog posts to my original blog at:  http://mr-spock.livejournal.com/ and asking that if you want to continue to follow my journey of self discovery, you’ll bookmark that page or subscribe to it.  I’ve been blogging on that page since 2004.

Thank you, one and all, for making this page feel like a resounding success.

House maintenance update . . .

There are a few people reading this who probably remember earlier blogs where I described the house we live in and what challenges we deal with in trying to “go green” with it.  However, since I get about a new subscriber every week, I’ll do a brief recap.

First, our house was built in 1930.  It is solid brick – by which I mean that the exterior is brick, the interior is brick, and the only wood is the floor, roof, and interior paneling.  There is no insulation or dry wall.  The electrical outlets are almost entirely built into the floor, like they were an added afterthought – quite likely since indoor electricity and plumbing weren’t particularly common in 1930.  The house inspection listed our water heater as “approximately 18 years old” – and the HVAC system was installed in 1973.

So, one of our focus points on investing in our house has been looking for ways to improve the energy efficiency.  We’ve replaced about half of the windows with energy-efficient double-pane vinyl windows – with good results.  Every window we replace shows an almost immediate reduction in our utility fuel use.  We have also planted nearly a dozen trees around the east and south borders of our home, to eventually provide shade in the summer.

But, one of the things we’ve been keeping an eye on was that hot water heater.  Knowing that the average water heater lasts around 10 years, ours was nearly 2x expectancy when we bought the house.  So, we started a special savings account just for putting aside money against the day it would fail.  That day arrived – today.  I first suspected a problem when I went to make coffee at 0300 (3AM for those who don’t work with international time) and it seemed to take a very long time for the water to warm up at the kitchen sink.  Later, when my wife got up and started getting ready for work, she couldn’t get any hot water for her shower.  She tried 3 different water faucets with no hot water, and pronounced a state of emergency.  So, I called our plumber at 0800.  After I described the situation, he said that it did indeed sound like the unit had finally failed, and told me that he’d stop at the store on the way over to get a new one.  He’d be here within an hour.

He left here, job completed and all trash cleaned up, at 1030.  He didn’t even give me a bill – saying, “We’ll mail it to you.”

Then, completing the cycle of spending this year’s income tax refunds, we had our electrician come over to give us an estimate on upgrading our outside security light.  The one we currently have uses mercury-vapor bulbs, which (besides being an incredibly BAD idea for the environment) drink electricity like a drunk goes through beer.  We’re going to have him replace the fixture the mercury-vapor bulbs go in with one that uses standard light bulbs – which would be an energy savings in itself.  But we’re not going to use standard bulbs, which would still use about 200 watts.  We’re going to put in an LED bulb, which will use about 40 watts for the same amount of light we get right now.  He thinks he can get this job done within the next week.  His fee?  $35 plus parts.