7 Oct
7 Oct
6:07 p.m.
Love this thinking!
Here's my story: With our local dance 3.2 miles from my house, I seldom travel very
far to dance. However, I do log a lot of miles traveling throughout Maine for family
visits and for various sorts of calling jobs (dance leadership work is my primary
income).
I drive a 2014 Corolla, which can display a bar graph of the trip's mpg (in five
minute increments). One thing I've recently noticed, related to the 75 mph speed
limit in parts of Maine, is that when I amp up the speed, my fuel efficiency drops
precipitously. If I drive 55-65 mph, I can get over 40 mpg. Over 75 mph, and it's
more like 25-30mpg. (!!) Given this data, I've taken to purposely driving slower,
choosing elevated MPG (and safety!) over reducing my drive time for a few minutes
overall.
And I've also taken to sharing this story with others. In my narrative, I always
mention the fact that there used to be political will for lower speed limits, and a
massive public campaign to support it. "55 saves lives (and gas)" was the
mantra in the late 70s and 80s here in Maine. Not so, now. Makes me wonder whose idea
these high speed limits are, and why they got approved. It's less safe, less fuel
efficient... There have always been people who will exceed the speed limit, but I suspect
a higher percentage of "Speed Racers" are going above 80 mph these days. These
days, that's seldom me.
And yes, the binding-together, or community-building, and the inclusiveness that seem to
be ideals aka unspoken tenets of traditional participatory social dance are such a plus --
not just in the microcosm of our own individual hearts and minds, but in the larger scheme
of things. The more the better!
Cheers,
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast ME
6:54 p.m.
Hey all,
This is a long email, as it includes three posts.
First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing,
callers and musicians list here, as I think
we can collectively bring about a major shift
in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence.
I am including the original two posts near the top of
this email, so callers/musicians list people can
see where this started. PLEASE feel free to
cut out the original lengthy posts when replying.
First:
On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I'm a believer that climate change is a real
threat.
I'm also a believer that our culture desperately
needs activities
that bind people together rather than fractures them apart, and
I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that.
(sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...)
I've mentioned the issue of how do we change our
contra culture
to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local
contra
dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years
(she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country).
Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's
"to" list) posted on Facebook
about her trying to alter her contra
lifestyle to minimize her contra
carbon footprint.
Cut-and-pasting from her post:
> I've spent years with a contra habit that
takes me to roughly one
dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was
83 miles
away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an
incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes
a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more,
as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. My
lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt
when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although
we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still
consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes
even more.
> I think I'd like to work on decreasing the
amount of out-of-town events
I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there.
Carpools are great
and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this
weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole
band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south
(I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really
admirable and more people should consider something like this. This
ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get
worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change
the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to
have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find
carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am
fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I
can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation.
I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their
use is so incredibly terrible for our environment.
> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in
the face of climate
> change?
I believe that we, our contra community, needs to
openly start discussing
this issue.
I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions.
Sincerely,
Heitzso
http://atgaga.com
Finally, my reply:
Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion.
On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed
at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house.
I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda,
and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing
the hydrogen station. I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort.
I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both
Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars)
that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these
cars anywhere but in CA. To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI),
there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us),
Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure
there are others nearby that I'm not aware of. Perhaps you know
of others you could add to this?
CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told).
Someone mentioned OR. I called dealers there, and no luck.
SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry
(car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet
on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives. It pisses
me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home). But
honestly I don't know where to take this from here.
After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05)
which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to
a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy
about the carbon footprint.
Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to
old for that now), and public transportation is also a great
alternative. However, just for an example, I believe there
is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA,
where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least
10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly
lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become
the rule of the highways. Their exhaust is water, and being lighter
than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape,
as gasoline would do, should there be an accident. Oh, and the
Hindenberg? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few
seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag.
Grrr!!!:-)
These lists rock,
Paul
7:07 p.m.
These are some really important things to consider. There are easy ways to reduce our
carbon footprint without avoiding travel
Carpools are wonderful - more efficient and a great opportunity to bond with other
dancers
There are lots of more fuel efficient cars that make a real difference. Outside out local
dances it is starting to look like a Prius dealer's lot - those get near 50 mpg. All
electric or plugable hybrids do even better - but are relatively new and expensive right
now. Trains and buses take a little planning but better for the environment..
only slightly related question: Why is it offensive to call a dance figure a gypsy but
not offensive to be a dance gypsy?
Mac McKeever
On Monday, October 7, 2019, 01:55:01 PM CDT, Paul Wilde via Organizers
<organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hey all,
This is a long email, as it includes three posts.
First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing,
callers and musicians list here, as I think
we can collectively bring about a major shift
in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence.
I am including the original two posts near the top of
this email, so callers/musicians list people can
see where this started. PLEASE feel free to
cut out the original lengthy posts when replying.
First:
On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I'm a believer that climate change is a real
threat.
I'm also a believer that our culture desperately
needs activities
that bind people together rather than fractures them apart, and
I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that.
(sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...)
I've mentioned the issue of how do we change our
contra culture
to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local
contra
dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years
(she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country).
Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's
"to" list) posted on Facebook
about her trying to alter her contra
lifestyle to minimize her contra
carbon footprint.
Cut-and-pasting from her post:
> I've spent years with a contra habit that
takes me to roughly one
dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was
83 miles
away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an
incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes
a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more,
as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. My
lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt
when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although
we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still
consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes
even more.
> I think I'd like to work on decreasing the
amount of out-of-town events
I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there.
Carpools are great
and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this
weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole
band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south
(I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really
admirable and more people should consider something like this. This
ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get
worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change
the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to
have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find
carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am
fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I
can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation.
I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their
use is so incredibly terrible for our environment.
> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in
the face of climate
> change?
I believe that we, our contra community, needs to
openly start discussing
this issue.
I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions.
Sincerely,
Heitzso
http://atgaga.com
Finally, my reply:
Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion.
On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed
at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house.
I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda,
and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing
the hydrogen station. I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort.
I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both
Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars)
that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these
cars anywhere but in CA. To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI),
there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us),
Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure
there are others nearby that I'm not aware of. Perhaps you know
of others you could add to this?
CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told).
Someone mentioned OR. I called dealers there, and no luck.
SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry
(car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet
on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives. It pisses
me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home). But
honestly I don't know where to take this from here.
After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05)
which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to
a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy
about the carbon footprint.
Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to
old for that now), and public transportation is also a great
alternative. However, just for an example, I believe there
is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA,
where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least
10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly
lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become
the rule of the highways. Their exhaust is water, and being lighter
than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape,
as gasoline would do, should there be an accident. Oh, and the
Hindenberg? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few
seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag.
Grrr!!!:-)
These lists rock,
Paul
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list
Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
9:45 p.m.
New subject: [Callers] contra dance gypsy & fuel consumption
While I make no representation as to quality/frequency/speed of the MBTA,
there's train service to within about a half mile of the Scout House. This
line connects folks to the greater MBTA system in Boston and towns along
the route as far NW as Fitchburg.
http://concordscouthouse.org/pages/map-directions.php .
On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 2:54 PM Paul Wilde via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
<snip> However, just for an example, I believe
there
is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA,
where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least
10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. </snip>
8 Oct
8 Oct
5:03 p.m.
Hi all,
This is a timely discussion because we are looking to implement something
concerning this topic at Butterfly Whirl 2020. We are looking into
establishing a non-profit to team up with other brick-and-mortar
non-profits to install solar panels at their sites. Our main idea for
funding is to essentially allow dancers at our weekend to donate to this
non-profit entity. The framework would essentially involve asking all
dancers to put in how some information voluntarily during event
registration that will let them calculate how much CO2 their travel would
produce to get to our dance (and we'd also calculate how much we create
hosting the event). We could then give dancers the opportunity to donate
enough to offset their carbon footprint. If this is successful, we would
love to be able to get other dance organizers to participate in this
program, especially since it would be a grassroots contra-based
organization that wouldn't have to rely on a third party's claim that they
are performing actions to better the environment.
Best,
Jonathan Roveto
Owner/Member
Fair Oaks Holdings, LLC
Cell: (559) 961-7497
PO Box 131
Smyrna, GA 30081
On Mon, Oct 7, 2019 at 3:07 PM Mac Mckeever via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
These are some really important things to consider.
There are easy ways
to reduce our carbon footprint without avoiding travel
Carpools are wonderful - more efficient and a great opportunity to bond
with other dancers
There are lots of more fuel efficient cars that make a real difference.
Outside out local dances it is starting to look like a Prius dealer's lot -
those get near 50 mpg. All electric or plugable hybrids do even better -
but are relatively new and expensive right now. Trains and buses take a
little planning but better for the environment..
only slightly related question: Why is it offensive to call a dance
figure a gypsy but not offensive to be a dance gypsy?
Mac McKeever
On Monday, October 7, 2019, 01:55:01 PM CDT, Paul Wilde via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hey all,
This is a long email, as it includes three posts.
First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing,
callers and musicians list here, as I think
we can collectively bring about a major shift
in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence.
I am including the original two posts near the top of
this email, so callers/musicians list people can
see where this started. PLEASE feel free to
cut out the original lengthy posts when replying.
First:
On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
wrote:
I'm a believer that climate change is a real
threat.
I'm also a believer that our culture
desperately needs activities
that bind people together rather than fractures them
apart, and
I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that.
(sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...)
I've mentioned the issue of how do we change
our contra culture
to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local
contra
dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years
(she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country).
Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's
"to" list) posted on Facebook
about her trying to alter her contra
lifestyle to minimize her contra
carbon footprint.
Cut-and-pasting from her post:
> I've spent years with a contra habit that
takes me to roughly one
dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was
83 miles
away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an
incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes
a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more,
as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable.
My
lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt
when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although
we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still
consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes
even more.
> I think I'd like to work on decreasing
the amount of out-of-town events
I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get
there. Carpools are great
and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this
weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole
band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south
(I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really
admirable and more people should consider something like this. This
ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get
worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change
the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to
have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find
carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am
fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I
can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation.
I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their
use is so incredibly terrible for our environment.
> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits
in the face of climate
> change?
I believe that we, our contra community, needs to
openly start discussing
this issue.
I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions.
Sincerely,
Heitzso
http://atgaga.com
Finally, my reply:
Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion.
On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed
at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house.
I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda,
and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing
the hydrogen station. I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort.
I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both
Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars)
that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these
cars anywhere but in CA. To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI),
there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us),
Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure
there are others nearby that I'm not aware of. Perhaps you know
of others you could add to this?
CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told).
Someone mentioned OR. I called dealers there, and no luck.
SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry
(car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet
on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives. It pisses
me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home). But
honestly I don't know where to take this from here.
After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05)
which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to
a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy
about the carbon footprint.
Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to
old for that now), and public transportation is also a great
alternative. However, just for an example, I believe there
is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA,
where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least
10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly
lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become
the rule of the highways. Their exhaust is water, and being lighter
than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape,
as gasoline would do, should there be an accident. Oh, and the
Hindenberg? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few
seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag.
Grrr!!!:-)
These lists rock,
Paul
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list
Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list
Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
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6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Chrissy Fowler -
Don Veino -
Heitzso -
Jonathan Roveto -
Mac Mckeever -
Paul Wilde