Exporatory pathfinders blazing new trails towards a sustainable lifestyle in an world with a hell bent dependancey on non-renewable energy resources, clinging to outdated energy prinicipals as firmly attached to the myth as a barnacle is to the bottom of a sea going vessel. We have all been subjected to the uber-hype surrounding the need for oil, petroleum, and coal. An addiction that has a strangle hold on the western worlds economy. America will do anything, at any cost, including that of spending the expendable currency of human lives as payment during an invasion of any number of countries to secure what America needs, or at least what we are told we need, by big government and big business. It's time to kick the habit Amiga y Amigo Greeno's. The gears of the "machine" have been grinding and groaning, defeating and depleting for decades. As eco-awareness increases, the desire to escape the grip of the grid increases and many have decided to toss the national notion of dependence on non-renewable energy resources into the trashbin of obsolescense.
Sustainability requires dedication, and with a plethora of information filling the eco-galaxy to a point of an overflowing cistern, there is a need for clarity and education. Time go go back to school and pay attention and to stop shooting spit wads at the blonde cheerleader in the front row just get her attention and ask her out on a date.
Northern California has given organic birth to a sustainable institute of higher solar learning in Hopland, California, nestled in the bosom of redwood and wine country just south of the town of Ukiah. I call it "organic academia" and refer to the dedicated student body as "Hop Heads" and only in the kindest terms. Hopland is home to a vibrant collection of Victorian homes and architecture, an abundant supply of art galleries, and a half dozen or so wine tasting emporiums to sample the fruit of the vine, but the crown jewel in this compost pile of art and culture is the non-profit Solar Living Institute .
The Solar Living Institue, or SLI, is a demonstration center spread out like a comfortable 12 acre quilt of sustainability. It's a project on a mission, not impossible, to instruct those in the eco-revolution about the importance of introducing and incorporating clean renewable energy sources and pracitices into our daily lives. It's sustainable message has attracted more than a half a million eco-visitors over the course of the years.
The SLI main building is Ingrid Bergman-esque with it's graceful style and curves. In the words of the SLI, "The building is so adept in it's capture of the varying hourly and seasonal angles of the sun that additional heat and light are nearly unnecesary during the summer months. The building is kept cool through a combination of overhangs and manually controlled hemp awinings. Cool night air floods the building and is stored as "coolth" in the six hundred tons of thermal mass of the buiddings columns, floor and strawbale walls. Outside grape arbors shield the building from the intense summer sun and a central fountain with drip ring provides evaporative cooling."
Solar power is diverse with many applications that transcend merely the heating of a home or office building.Solar power is ture grid free power to the people. It generates electricity and can power solar water pumps. The SLI, no surprise, is solar powered and the town of Hopland is home to Solar 2000, Northern Californias largest grid tiered solar arrays.
The SLI garden is a living organic textbook of responsible stewardship of the Mother Earthship. The SLI garden of solar Eden produces edible crops, and the variety of other plantings maximize energy efficiency. It includes fruits, herbs, grasses and a perennial bed to highlight what can be produced on a smaller level of a sustainable home-based garden economy. Art and Agriculture are not strang bedfelllows and instead, combine to create a Garden Guggenheim through the use of "Living Structures" which add architectural beauty. There is a agave cooling tower, where the "Adam and Eve in Eden" visitor can escape from the long hot summers heat and enjoy a "misty" experience in the protective bosom of the vines.
Mother Natures working organic organisms, help to organise organism produced organics. There's a mouthful! . Healthy veggies need great American manure, and the SLI is supplied by a local micro-brewery and the seeds donated by Synergy Seeds. Remember that solar water pump mentioned early in the article? Yep. One is used to irrigate the gardens by transporting water from a pond to the farm. SLI is staffed in part by interns and they need to be fed so the actual grown produce and the sales from it are used to help feed them.
Back to the Future with Biodiesel! It's one of the earliest turn of the 20th Century fuels in use for an emerging motoring public. Gas and oil replaced the sustainable products, but, biodiesel is back with a vengeance ready to exact it's revenge on behalf of Mother Earth. It's simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. It can be used in existing diesel engines with no noticeable loss in performance and is proven to reduce unhealthy emissions associated with petroleum.
There is seasonal camping available on-site for volunteers and workshop students. You are encouraged to bring your own camping supplies. RV's are welcome although space is limited so make reservations early. Camping information is available by contacting their office at (707) 472-2450. There are plenty of off-site camping locations as well with some locations having rustic tent sites, RV sites and cabins.
Planet Earth is a sustainable entity that regenerates itself constantly. Mankind has generally interfered and mucked it up a bit in an effort to subdue natural forces. Everything from rape of the vast praries of the continent that created dust bowls to the smog laden skies of our cities. humankind has not been very kind to Mother Nature, as we gave it a punch to the solar plexus, but now it's time for solar flexes of the muscle of sustainabilty to land a knock out punch to the unnatural order of things, and the wayward path we have been following. It's time to re-think our place in natures scheme, and to become a working partner with nature, and not an adversary. The Solar Living Institute in Hopland is the Harvard of all things solar and it's cap and gown time, and time to take action to live solar, live free!