Notes from the Pittsburgh Book Tour Stop
Editor’s Note: From time to time, we at TSE come across a book (or a movie, song, documentary, etc.) that we think our Crew members might want to know about. Below are notes by the author from his book tour…
Jon Biemer is on a book tour with Our Journey to Sustainability: How Everyday Heroes Make a Difference. The following is adapted from his September 17 Facebook post from Pittsburgh, PA.
Q. Why read this book?
A. Our Journey to Sustainability looks under the radar. There we see women and men everywhere, of all ages, who are taking care of the planet. Heroes. Within their stories and tips we find hope.
Q. Are we going to turn this thing around before Climate Change overtakes us?
A. Joanna Macy tells us that we create the future with every step we take. Here are a few of the mission-impossible stories where we’ve succeeded. We saved bison from extinction. We banned DDT. We closed the hole in the ozone layer over the South Pole. We’ve cleaned up Thames, Rhine, Danube, Hudson, Cuyahoga, Willamette, and Los Angeles Rivers. We passed the Superfund Act to clean up 1300 toxic waste sites. If you were an odds maker, you would not have bet on any of these current realities.
Quote from an auto mechanic: “I hate EV’s. They don’t break.”
Q. What was the toughest chapter to write?
A. Chapter 13 about Indigenous country. The press doesn’t report much about Indigenous Country, but I wanted to make sure their efforts to establish sustainability were not marginalized. I also needed to recognize that most success stories have a back story of abuse and/or genocide which should not be ignored. The originally planned massive solar array for the Northern Cheyenne would have been yet another case of resource extraction, at around three cents a kilowatt hour, with little benefit for The People. The Tribe instead chose to create its own distributed solar utility that would first benefit elders paying 14 cents a kilowatt hour. I was updating that story the day before I submitted my final manuscript.
Q, What are some of the interesting discussions around the economics of sustainability that you have run across?
A. New ways of doing something are often more costly than the existing resource intensive or degrading ways. And persistence pays. The Jack Southworth’s family ranch was a million dollars in debt in 1978 when he returned from college with his bride. In 1984 he started implementing the principles of holistic management (a form of regenerative agriculture). Forty years later their ranch and a hundred others, managed similarly, are thriving. They sell their beef at a premium as a result of carefully developed branding and market development.
C16 Biosciences are introducing “Palmless oil” from a fermentation process instead of “palm oil” from destroyed tropical forests. They started with high profit/low regulation cosmetics while they run the gauntlet of food and drug regulations. Suppliers like Walmart and Whole Foods are not-so-patiently waiting.
More well known: In the decade between 2009 and 2019 research and field experience has driven down the cost of solar electricity by 89 percent and on-shore wind electricity by 70 percent. Wind and solar electric energy are now the least expensive new sources you can install.
Q. What if my small town has a lousy recycling program?
A. In McMinnville, OR the local activists successfully lobbied the county to include glass recycling in their curbside service contract with Recology. The ratepayers pay the cost difference.
In Truth or Consequences, NM, we’re still trying to get glass recycled, but hauling it from a remote town is a challenge. In the meantime our motley collection of activists convened a recycling art fair. Make interesting items out of trash, display them at participating art galleries, sell them to raise money. I love the raincoat made from bird seed sacks. Collect donations while you’re at it. The committee chose to split the $2000+ raised between a high school team who travels to the Envirothon competitions and a $1000 scholarship for a senior with a major in environmental science or equivalent.
You can carpool recycling to the big city collection dumpsters. City rate payers would subsidize you; so using less stuff, especially plastic, is still the best option.
Q. Why do environmental issues go in and out of vogue?
A. For many the environment is not a fundamental value, like family, health or religion. Also, many of us are short-term oriented. Today, this week, this entertainment, this convenience. Therefore, many of us tend to forget about the environment in the absence of front page news or a charismatic leader. I say “many of us” but not “all of us”. My recent book is filled with stories of people for whom the environment is a front-burner matter. Put simply, they care – the first of the 3 C’s of sustainability. Helping more of us care is part of the work of those who do care.
Jon Biemer is registered as a professional Mechanical Engineer in the state of California and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He is the author of Our Journey to Sustainability: How Everyday Heroes Make a Difference. His previous book is Our Environmental Handprints: Recover the Land, Reverse Global Warming, Reclaim the Future. Both books can be purchased from on-line booksellers. His website is www.jonbiemer.com.
