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.

Green Party presidential hopefuls

From a recent news release at www.gp.org:

Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host (WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC), hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of communications studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland
JaredBall.com

Elaine Brown, 2005 Green candidate for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia; former leader of the Black Panther Party; organizer of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice and National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform
ElaineBrown.org

Jesse Johnson, 2006 US Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain Party in West Virginia (now affiliate state party of the Green Party of the United States); filmmaker
YouTube declaration

Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005 to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, 1988-1992
Run, Cynthia, Run

Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green presidential nomination; former president of Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer, alternative energy activist; California Green organizer
Mesplay.org

Ralph Nader, 1996 and 2000 Green candidate for President; 2004 independent candidate for President; consumer advocate (Howie Hawkins of the Green Party of New York State has consented to serve as a 'placeholder' candidate until Mr. Nader announces his intentions for the 2008 election)
Draft Nader.org

Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now
Kat for Prez

There's life in the old party yet!

Check out the new statewide website! We have a new webmaster, a new design, and are looking for feedback from Green Party members: what should we have on the site? Did you find any broken links or typos? Let us know!

the SNAP program

Garrison Collette, who works as an energy extension agent at the Cooperative Extension Service, sent around a message via e-mail exhorting people to help support the Sustainable Natural Alternative Power program at GVEA. It's a good idea, in my mind, and like him, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet (I've been looking into producing alternative energy, but the Republic is not there yet, alas). Here's what he said about the program:

[It] is the way our local utility gauges interest in renewable energy, and is also how it pays renewable producers.  Right now, SNAP has less than one thousand members.

I can't really complain about this small number, since until today, I wasn't a member of SNAP.  Many of us don't get an electric bill, or have it on autopay, or pay our electric bill to a landlord.  So we don't see a box that says "check here to become a member of SNAP."  Since I am one of those, I had to actually hunt down the link to become a SNAP member, and after I found the web page, it was really easy.  So, I'm including the link to the web page to sign up to be a SNAP member.  It's https://www.gvea.com/secure/snap.php. If every one of you signs up for SNAP as a result of this email, which is really just a reminder, then we will have doubled the number of SNAP members.  Think about that--Fairbanks' main renewable energy program could grow by 100% in the next few hours if you just click on the link below.

I signed up to donate $5 a month.  The minimum is $2.  I know we can all afford that.  It's more of a statement that, yes, the Interior cares about energy.  That's really all we can do right now; make a statement.  But I assure you that its a loud statement, and that there are a lot of people working to make sure that this statement doesn't go unnoticed.

Good on you, Garrison, and I think I'll take your advice.

Kevin Morford in deep trouble

This is one for the Green Party Gone Bad blog, I think. Kevin Morford, a writer, community activist, and legal beagle for the Green Party of Alaska on many occasions, has been arrested and charged with child pornography. The Anchorage Daily News interviewed Jim Sykes about the arrest:

Jim Sykes, a consumer advocate from Palmer and a former Green Party candidate for Alaska governor and U.S. senator, said he was completely surprised to hear of the charges against Morford.

"I find the accusation quite shocking and hope it's not true," Sykes said Monday night. "He's contributed a lot to the community." .... "One of the principles of the Green Party is taking personal responsibility, and I'm sure ... he'll take personal responsibility for them" if the accusations prove to be true, Sykes said.

Shocking is right. Morford has done wonderful things for Alaska, and if this is true, it shows how a person can be both admirable and despicable at the same time. If it's not true, it will still cloud his reputation and probably ruin his life for years to come, that being the depth of revulsion which any taint of this kind of crime induces in people.

You just never know.

The first key value

The first of the Ten Key Values of the Green Party of the United States is Grassroots Democracy:

Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.

Alaskans for Clean Elections is doing something about corruption in Alaska politics with its Clean Elections initiative. Money, as has become apparent, can have a corrosive effect on the moral fiber of our representatives.

Go check out this initiative, and add your name to the list of supporters!

Green business caucus

Check out the article in Green Pages, "Walking the walk: Green business owners positioned to make a difference":

As a caucus within the party, Green business owners could start a meaningful discussion about how best to utilize the skills and resources we bring to the Party. We can set an example of what "business" can be, and what it looks like when a moral compass and a little vision are added to the mix. We all talked about our desire to see a network form that would unite Green business owners nationwide and help Greens communicate with each other to help grow the party.

If you are interested in helping to form such a group or caucus, please contact mattfuniciello@earthlink.net

For a while, the TY-Green website had a Green Business page, with lots of information on community-based economics. Here's some information from Synthesis/Regeneration on the topic, in two articles by Steve Welzer. The journal also has a page of links to articles on Green economics.

For some local writing on this, there's my own recent editorial on community currency, and two articles by Phil Loring over at The Fireweed on local agriculture.

GPAK website redesign

Well, folks, I am redesigning the Green Party of Alaska website, but at the moment I am wrestling with uploading to the server. I'm using Fugu, and learning as I go, and so far am flummoxed. But we should have a nice shiny (but short) new website up in a week or so. Stay tuned!

51 ballot lines by 2008

The national Green Party wants to get every state and the District of Columbia on the ballot by the November 2008 election, which will be a tall order here in Alaska. The only way we can do it here is with a registration drive, since we're off the ballot for this year.

I suppose the first order of business is getting our statewide website back up and running.

Fairbanks Critical Mass Bike Ride

It's summertime, and the critical mass bike rides are on again! On the last Friday of the month,

Fairbanks Critical Mass will celebrate the midnight sun while promoting awareness of bicycles and bicycle safety on the road. Critical Mass is a national program where cyclists exercise their right to ride on the road. Cycling is the most efficient, least carbon-emitting form of transportation known to man. Come show your personality by dressing up in this month's midnight sun theme, and show your commitment to a healthy world.

Bring a helmet, and meet at Beaver sports at 5:30 this Friday, or call Garrison at 474-2402 for more information.

The Critical Mass Bike Rides are on:

June 29
July 27
August 31

and go from Beaver Sports east on College Road. Dress up in costume, bring banners, horns, bells, and a smile!

Rules:

Don't just blindly follow the person in front of you--you are responsible for your own actions.
Wear a helmet (Alaska has helmet laws)
Ride in the road and obey all trafffic laws (STOP on YELLOW as well as red!)
Stay in the far right lane (don't take up two lanes)
Be friendly to motorists.

Clean Campaigns

The disgust level has finally risen across the nation to the point that clean campaign initiatives are popping up all over, even here in Alaska. The Publc Campaign Action Fund has an Alaska campaign, Alaska Public Interest Research Group is supporting a clean campaigns initiative, about which the Anchorage Daily News wrote a story in May. Interestingly, in that article, the reporter quoted Randy Reuderich, that paragon of probity and trustworthiness, as saying:

"Equal funding is an incumbent-protection policy," Ruedrich said. Sitting lawmakers have the advantage of name recognition, giving them an edge over challengers even if they are equally funded as clean-election candidates, he said.

"I'm more for a system of no limits to funding and full, immediate disclosure, so voters know right away who is backing a candidate," he said.

Uh, right. So is he claiming that it's not easier right now for incumbents to get oodles of cash for their campaigns? So when big money owns a legislator, they aren't going to back 'em? Naah. I'd say it's a better bet that clean campaign laws will return those incumbents who AREN'T BEHOLDEN TO BIG MONEY, but will throw out the bums who are in the pockets of lobbyists.

Nice try, Randy.

The Green Party of Alaska has long supported clean campaign and election legislation, but I guess preventitive measures didn't sink in. It takes really slimy dealings before everybody else gets on the bandwagon. Anyway, this Green is for endorsing the clean campaign initiatve AkPIRG's supporting.

Wednesday peace walks

Every Wednesday on the UAF campus, there is a peace walk from noon to 1, starting at the UA Museum of the North. Bring your own signs if you can, and exercize for peace! Contact Abel Bult-Ito for more info, ffab [ at] uaf.edu or 474-7158.