Fairbanks Recycling Task Force report

The Recycling Task Force's Report to the Mayor has been completed, and was submitted to the borough mayor, Jim Whitaker, on December 30. The report is only eight pages long, but has a solid list of recommendations in five categories, along with thirteen principles. The principles include identifying stakeholders (all of us) and creating a Recycling Commission, enlisting political support and getting a budget, commencing a marketing campaign, developing a business plan, using source separation, promoting partnerships, and so forth.

Categories:

1. Stakeholders
2. Recyclable materials
3. Education
4. Logistics
5. Business/Financial plan

Here's the link (PDF) to the report, at Recycle Fairbanks.

Recycling at the Tanana Valley State Fair

Interior Alaska Green Star is partnering with the Tanana Valley State Fair, Wal-Mart, K&K Recycling, and SCAN Fairbanks to coordinate recycling of beverage containers (plastic and aluminum) at the fair in August, according to an alert sent out by Andrea Miller recently. Here's a copy of Interior Green Star's solicitation:

Are you tired of seeing recyclable items like aluminum cans and plastic bottles get thrown away? Would you like to know that aluminum and plastic are properly disposed of and NOT filling up the precious space we have left in our local landfill? You can make a difference this August but volunteering at the Tanana Valley State Fair. This year at the Tanana Valley State Fair several businesses and community organizations are teaming up to recycle plastic and aluminum during the Fair. To make this a successful effort we need a volunteer team to empty aluminum and plastic recycling containers on the fair grounds and take the bags to the dumpsters located at the back of the fair grounds. This is a large effort lasting 9 days which means we need at least 135 volunteers starting August 1st through August 9th.

Time: 3:00pm to 10:00pm (open until 11:00pm on Friday and Saturday)

Shifts: 3:00-6:00pm; 6:00-8:00pm; 8:00-10:00pm (August 1-2 and August 8-9 Friday/Saturday last shift of the day is 8:00-11:00pm)

Materials provided: gloves, wagons and plastic bags.

We will need your name as early as possible to provide you with a day pass to the fair on the day of your shift. Please respond to Darcie Warden at 978-9889 or darcie@iagreenstar.org.

Solar North Cooperative

As recently reported in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, a group of neighbors on Spinach Creek Road have started up a power cooperative that will generate electricity from the sun.

In an update e-mail sent out on Monday, Solar North described the results of their July 18 meeting. The group hopes to get more pledges for shares in the cooperative ($500 a share):

We are close to the final decision of building the largest solar panel (photovoltaic) system in Alaska.... A land lease is prepared, an ideal site is selected, permits are in hand, borough support is strong, an operating agreement has been prepared with the help of a lawyer, a management team is in place, 5 bids are in, the most appropriate materials are selected, etc. Under current assumptions (which are full of variables difficult to predict), the revenue for the share holders will not be very high (partly due to the increased number of producers in the SNAP program) and there may be years with a bit of a minus initially. However, this - we feel - is a very timely project and a great example of alternative energy in the land of oil.

For more information, contact the organizers at solarnorth@yahoo.com or call Franziska Kohl at 452 2916.

One of the problems the organizers are having is that if they build this year, then a 30% solar tax credit is available--until the end of 2008. This means that they have to raise the money AND build in a very short time frame. The tax credit was not renewed for 2009. This has Greens, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and sensible people everywhere hopping mad. The Solar Energy Industries Association breaking news page has information on an extension bill and other legislation that will help keep tax incentives to invest in solar power.

(cross-posted at The Ester Republic blog)

Sustainability Roundtables

SCAN Fairbanks has been sponsoring a series of community roundtables on sustainability in the Fairbanks area. The next one is in Ester, at the Ester Volunteer Fire Department on the evening of March 1, Saturday, at 6 pm, I think. (I'll check and amend this later tonight if need be.)

Mike Musick will be presenting The Natural Step for Communities.

ADDENDA: the meeting starts at 5 pm!

Dahr Jamail coming to Fairbanks!

Independent Journalist Dahr Jamail extends his national book tour to Alaska
Sunday, March 9
UAF's Bunnell Auditorium
Book Signing and Snacks at 7pm
Presentation at 8pm

Sponsored by
UAF Fairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice
Alaska Peace Center

Last Frontier Locavores

I discovered this interesting website the other day: Last Frontier Locavores, a Wetpaint wiki for those attempting to eat locally. It's just started up, about two-three weeks ago, and seems so far to be focused on the Fairbanks area. I'm not sure how widespread they want to go with it--Tanana Valley or all of Alaska?

At any rate, this effort fits right in with community economics and sustainable agriculture, and I thought it might be of interest to Greens in the Interior.

International Day of Action to Shut Down GITMO

This press release just in from the Fairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice:

Friday January 11, 2008
Farthest North Candle Light Vigil
Cushman Street Bridge
4:30 – 5:30 pm
contact: anna.godduhn@gmail.com

People around the world will act together to demand an end to torture and the indefinite, illegal, and immoral detention of men and boys at U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Actions will be taken in more than 40 cities around the world, with Fairbanks being the Farthest North. The Fairbanks event is sponsored by the UAFairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Alaska Peace Center, No Nukes North, and the UAF Chapter of Amnesty International.

Six years after the first hooded, shackled men were brought to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo, not a single prisoner has been convicted of a charge of terrorism. Many have been released because no evidence was found against them. Yet nearly 300 men remain in indefinite detention without hope of release. Today, thousands will stand up on behalf of the victims of the war on terrorism and for law and justice.

In Washington, DC, Witness Against Torture joins Amnesty USA, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and other advocates at a rally on The National Mall. They will then march to the Supreme Court wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, symbolically bringing Guantanamo's detainees to the high court.

At the Supreme Court, advocates will formally appeal to the nine Justices to affirm in Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush what all the rest of the world knows: that torture and the suspension of Habeas Corpus are not only immoral and unconstitutional, but are war crimes for which U.S. officials must be held accountable. Creatively, we will also make the torture and immorality of Guantánamo visible while asserting the humanity of the men imprisoned there. Outside the Court, human rights advocates will read testimonies and names of prisoners, perform street theater, and hand out information.

With these actions throughout the world, people of conscience and justice call on the U.S. government to:
• Repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore Habeas Corpus
• Charge and try or release all detainees,
• Clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else,
• Pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for violations of their human rights, and
• Shut down Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and all other U.S. prisons overseas, including secret CIA detention facilities.

The International Day of Action launches a concerted campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo. For more information on the International Day of Action, please visit www.witnesstorture.org.

A presidential debate that matters

The Green Party of Alameda County, California, is sponsoring a presidential debate with Green and Green-leaning candidates: Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader, and Kat Swift. The debate will take place January 13, at 2 pm California time (Pacific?) at the Herbst Theater in the Veterans Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness, San Francisco. Elaine Brown has withdrawn from the race.

Recycling groups meet!

The Fairbanks Recycling Task Force next meets at the FNSB Assembly Chambers on Friday, January 11 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

The Sustainable Community Round Table will meet on Sunday, January 13 from 1 to 6 pm at UAF in Gruening Building room 208 (that's in the basement). Parking is free on the weekends, remember. The discussion will be based on the Natural Step for Communities.

The borough will be hosting a recycling round table at the Wood Center Ballroom on February 2, from 1 to 4 pm for a community-wide discussion on recycling in the borough. The Recycling Task Force has started a blog at Recycle Fairbanks.