Weaver and Miner to Speak on Sustainable Energy

Art Weaver and Dan Miner will be the speakers for the plenary session, Saturday, August 8, 9:45 am — 11:00 am, on the solar stage on the Alfred University Campus Green, Alfred, NY. Art will speak about "Renewable Energy, the Audacity of Hope, the Reality of Change." Dan Miner will speak about how to create a post-carbon economy. Carl Lundgren's musical performances will open and close the program.

Art Weaver is President of Renovus Energy, a renewable energy systems design and installation company in Ithaca, NY. Prior to founding Renovus Energy, Art was a staff scientist at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron, conducting research in x-ray biophysics and proteomics. The accelerating pace of environmental degradation and social upheaval caused by increasing global population, in conjunction with a diminishing global petroleum resource, motivated Art to establish Renovus Energy.

Dan Miner is the chair of the Sierra Club NYC Group, and founded its Beyond Oil NYC campaign. He is the organizer of the Peak Oil NYC Meetup, the NYC affiliate of Post Carbon Institute. Dan, an attorney, is Senior Vice President of the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.

Carl Lundgren is the Chair of the Bronx County Green Party and a member of the best (and possibly the only) country band in the Bronx, Troy Willy.

Celebrating the Elie Siegmeister Centennial

Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams will open the concluding session of Green Fest Sunday, August 9, 2009, at 1:45 pm in Alfred University's Howell Hall, Alfred, NY, with a program Celebrating the Elie Siegmeister Centennial and Other Music Relevant for Our Time. Their concert is dedicated to the memory of Susan Blake and
Maria Kuriloff.

Program (the music is by Elie Siegmeister unless otherwise noted):
A Song to Begin - by Gerhard Bronner (Helene Williams-Leonard Lehrman)
Johnny Appleseed (Rosemary Benet,)
Two Songs of the City (Langston Hughes):
Chalk Marks on the Sidewalk
Childhood Memories
A Dream Deferred - by Leonard Lehrman (Langston Hughes)
Abraham Lincoln (Rosemary & Stephen Vincent Benet, ed. Leonard Lehrman)
Conspiritor Reality - from ALGER by Leonard Lehrman & Kim Rich
Guns Don't Kill People - by So-Hee Youn (Jamie Jackson)
Harvest Time
Conscience - by Leonard Lehrman (Abel Meeropol)
John Reed (Abel Meeropol)
Why Am I Painting the Living Room - by Lou & Peter Berryman
Where Do I Belong? - If I Can't Dance from E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman - by Leonard Lehrman & Karen Ruoff Kramer
Elie Siegmeister (Leonard Lehrman)

Leonard Lehrman, the former Assistant Chorus Master of the Metropolitan Opera, founded and directs the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus. He is also the Co-Director of the National Committee to Reopen the Rosenberg Case, and Co-Author of the forthcoming bio-bibliography of Elie Siegmeister (1909-91), one of America's most prolific and socially-conscious composers. Leonard was Siegmeister's youngest and longest composition student (he also studied at Harvard, Cornell, Indiana, and with Nadia Boulanger in France), and has organized 23 of the 36 concerts honoring the Siegmeister Centennial this year, throughout the US and Europe, including this one. With Helene Williams, Leonard co-founded the Elie Siegmeister Society and Court Street Music in Valley Stream, Long Island. Leonard's own works (192 to date, including 10 operas) have been heard in 24 US States, 9 European countries, Russia, Israel, Australia, at the UN, and at the annual Northeast Naturist Festival in Moravia each August since2003. His current project is the opera ALGER, on Alger Hiss.

Helene Williams is co-founder of the Bronx Opera Company, Court Street Music, and the Elie Siegmeister Society. A faculty member at Queensborough Community College, she majored in Drama at CCNY and appeared Off-Off-Broadway and in summer stock, as well as on TV and in films. A professional concert, theater and opera singer, she has performed throughout Latin America, Australia, Israel; and all across Europe and North America in Leonard Lehrman's E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman, New World, and Superspy!: The S-e-c-r-e-t Musical. Since beginning to work with Leonard in January 1987, she has performed together with him over 400 times; they were married July 14, 2002. They have recorded for Opus One, Premier, Capstone, Albany, and Original Cast Records. A Bronx Council on the Arts Career Development winner, Helene founded and directs Accent Reduction in English Speech.

Rasmussen and Mychelako to speak on the Politics of Sustainability

Virginia Rasmussen and Cyril Mychelako are the speakers for the opening plenary session of Green Fest, Friday, August 7, 2009, 7:00 pm — 9:00 pm in Nevins Theater in the Powell Campus Center at Alfred University, Alfred, NY. Virginia will discuss who has the power to implement sustainability and the political changes that need to be made if we are to achieve real sustainability. Cyril will talk about rights for nature, including the rights to nature clauses in Ecuador's new Constitution, the challenges Ecuadorians face in seeing them upheld, and the lessons for activists here in the United States. Deborah Magone's musical performances will open and close the evening.

Virginia Rasmussen is a principal with POCLAD, the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy and co-founded the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Corporations v. Democracy campaign. She previously directed the Education Program at the New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod and headed the Environmental Studies Program at Alfred University, Alfred, New York. Virginia lives in Alfred and is a trustee of the village of Alfred.

Cyril Mychelako is an editor at www.UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering politics and activism in Latin America. He won two Project Censored awards this year for his critical coverage of the "Rights to Nature" clauses in Ecuador's constitution and for an article about the Bush Administration withholding lifesaving aid from Haiti. His writing and analysis has appeared in publications such as the BBC, The New York Times Online, The Miami Herald, New Politics, www.CommonDreams.org, NACLA online, and Z Magazine. In 2006, he worked as an Intag Solidarity Network human rights observer - working in solidarity with communities resisting mining in Ecuador. Cyril worked in the Southern Tier in the summer of 2007 to end the war in Iraq. He serves on the board of the Canary Institute, a transnational collective of individuals engaged in research, writing, teaching, solidarity, and action that address the problem of catastrophic systemic collapse.

Deborah performs solo and with her rock band, The Deborah Magone Band. Deborah's CD, "Blues, Boogie & More......", was chosen as "2004 Best Blues CD" by Walkin' Willie of WDYN 90.1 in Rochester. Her television show "Greenline" aired on Greece, NY Cable Access Channel 12 and Rochester RCTV Channel 15. Her show, Iraq: War of Choice, can be viewed on Google Video.

Maria Kuriloff

The Green Fest planning committee and the Green community lost a key member on Wednesday. Our deepest sympathies to Ron.

I always enjoyed working on projects with Maria, but it took a few years of working with her for me to realize how well Maria worked with everyone. In her good-natured way, she treated everyone in a friendly, respectful manner and got everyone to work together and get things done. Maria made things happen. She contributed tremendously to the Green Party at every level. Just one example: It was Maria who convinced Malachy McCourt to be our gubernatorial candidate in 2006.

We will have a tribute to Maria at Green Fest in August. Please bring your remembrances to share and post them now on the website set up by her son Matthew, http://www.mariakuriloff.com/.

Green Fest will Use Solar Stage

Many of the programs and performances at Green Fest will take place on an outdoor stage with amplification provided by the portable solar sound system created by Crow Weaver and the Native Earthling Band in affiliation with the Center for Environmental Sustainability in Ithaca.

The solar sound system collects sunlight via three photovoltaic panels. Each SunWize SW115 panel outputs 115 watts of power, for a total of 345 watts. The panels provide direct current at 16.7 volts. The SunWize panels have a "rated" working life of about 50 years, at which point the cells will still put out 85% of their design power.

The solar panels are wired into a charge controller that regulates the current supplied to the battery. This is the heart of the Solar Stage. The charge controller keeps the battery topped up while protecting it from being damaged by overcharging. The life of the battery is directly impacted by the quality of the charge controller. The Solar Stage uses the Solar Boost 2000E from Blue Sky Energy.

For more information about the solar stage, visit http://nygreenfest.org/solarstage.html

SEEDS Festival at Earthdance Community

Rafter Sass, who is doing a Liberation Ecology workshop at Green Fest 2009, will be participating in the SEEDS Festival Sunday, June 14 - Thursday, June 18 at Earthdance Community, Plainfield MA. Rafter's workshop in June will combine the participatory exploration and design studio of the Liberation Ecology workshop, with the mushroom-centric permaculture of Mycoscaping.

We'll weave back and forth between tools for designing healthy, abundant landscapes, and strategies for creating the vibrant and just society that can care for those landscapes. Social design and ecosystem design will enrich and empower each other.

This four-day participatory workshop gives participants the tools to start reclaiming ecological and social health - from specific techniques to broad strategies. Come prepared for a hands-on experience - we’ll be wrestling with hard questions, and going outside and getting our hands dirty!

In the Mycoscaping stream, we'll be learning about - and implementing - a variety of mushroom species and cultivation techniques in the landscape. We'll be looking at growing food and medicine everywhere, enriching the health of our veggie gardens and perennial plantings with fungal polyculture, bioremediation, wild mushrooms and forest ecology, and more.

In the Liberation Ecology stream, we'll be learning how to design collaborative projects that support the health of vibrant, whole communities. We'll map our relationships with natural and human communities, and create strategies to methodically connect our own desires for change with large scale transformation.

We'll all be collaborating to discover the emergent patterns and principles that arise from this hybrid workshop.

Introductions to Permaculture, to edible forest gardening, and related topics, will be incorporated along the way.

For more information, visit http://earthdance.net/seedsfest.htm

Workshops and Panels

As of today, we have about 30 workshops and panels scheduled for Green Fest. This schedule is likely to change, so please check back.

Fri., Aug. 7, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm, Session 1

48 hour Rap on Sustainability and Green Politics, Chris Defendorf
Gas Drilling and Local Sovereignty, Rachel Treichler
Earth Oven Building Workshop

Fri., Aug. 7, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Session 2

Progressive Video Workshop, Wilton Vought
Green Media Panel: Deborah Magone, David Doonan
My Name is Allegany County discussion, Gudrun Scott

Sat., Aug. 8, 8:30 am - 9:30 am, Session 3

Nut Tree Workshop, Tom Potts
Activism for Social Change, Paul Zulkowitz
Learning from Abandoned Houses, Jane Pearson

Sat., Aug. 8, 11:15 am - 12:15 am, Session 4

Zero Waste Workshop, Chris Burger
Liberation Ecology, Rafter Sass
Poetry Workshop, Mike Czarnecki
Economics as a Cultural System, John Doscher

Sat., Aug. 8, 1:45 pm - 2:45pm, Session 5

Green Media Panel: Sander Hicks, Ann Link, Lyn Gerry, Steve Welzer
Tickletown Sustainability Projects, Lois Hilton
Out of Time: Global Warming, Extinctions and Energy, John Doscher
Importance of Political Theory, Darin Robbins

Sat., Aug. 8, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Session 6

Build Your Own Wind Turbine Workshop, Barry Miller
From Empire to Earth Community, Tim Bancroft
Sustainable Gardening, Carol Doscher
It Ain't Easy Being Green, Carl Romanelli

Sun., Aug. 9, 8:30 am - 9:30 am, Session 7

Tofu Making Workshop, Sam Weinreb
Building Local Community, Tony and Mary Lipnicki
Third parties and the U.S. experience, Tony Gronowicz
What is Sustainability? Douglas Clarke
The Spiritual Basis for Green Living, Bill Huston

Sun., Aug. 9, 11:15 am - 12:15 am, Session 8

Pollitical Organizing on Campus, Peter LaVenia, Jane Pearson
Living off Grid, Steve Nicholson
Panel on Third Party Barriers: Carl Romanelli, Rome Celli and Jerry Kahn
Sustainable Cities, Dan Miner, Carl Lundgren, Bob Kehoe

Draft Schedule for Green Fest 2009

Here is our draft schedule for Green Fest 2009. As of today, we have 46 confirmed presenters.

Friday, August 7, 2009

10:00 am — Registration opens
12:00 noon — Exhibits open
1:45 pm — Workshops and Panels, Session 1
3:00 pm — Workshops and Panels, Session 2
4:15 pm — Swimming, hiking, yoga
5:30-6:30 pm — Dinner in Dining Hall
7:00 pm — Forum on the Politics of Sustainability

Saturday, August 8, 2009

7:30-8:30 am — Breakfast in Dining Hall
8:30 am — Workshops and Panels, Session 3
9:45 am — Forum on Sustainable Energy
11:15 am — Workshops and Panels, Session 4
12:30-1:30 pm – Lunch in Dining Hall
1:45 pm — Workshops and Panels, Session 5
3:00 pm — Workshops and Panels, Session 6
4:15 pm — Swimming, hiking, yoga
5:30-6:30 pm — Dinner in Dining Hall
7:00 pm — Forum on Politics and Nature
9:30 pm — Music and Dancing

Sunday, August 9, 2009

8:30 am — Workshops and Panels, Session 7
9:45 am — Forum on Regionalism and Sustainability
11:15 am — Workshops and Panels, Session 8
12:30-1:30 pm – Lunch in Dining Hall
1:45 pm — Forum on Visioning a Green Future
3:30 pm — Adjourn

For more information, visit http://nygreenfest.org/

Green Fest 2009 will use a Solar Stage

Green Fest will use the portable solar sound system created by Crow Weaver and the Native Earthling Band.

The Band's solar sound system collects sunlight via three photovoltaic panels. Each SunWize SW115 panel outputs 115 watts of power, for a total of 345 watts. The panels provide direct current at 16.7 volts. The SunWize panels have a "rated" working life of about 50 years, at which point the cells will still put out 85% of their design power.

The solar panels are wired into a charge controller that regulates the current supplied to the battery. This is the heart of the Solar Stage. The charge controller keeps the battery topped up while protecting it from being damaged by overcharging. The life of the battery is directly impacted by the quality of the charge controller, so this is not a place to skimp. The Solar Boost 2000E from Blue Sky Energy is a pretty good one.

The inverter takes 12 volt direct current from the battery and converts it into standard 120V alternating current to run our gear. The band has considered running directly off 12V DC, but has found it difficult to find gear that can do that without major modifications to the power supplies. Their inexpensive Whistler PP300AC inverter does a pretty good job. It will shut down automatically if the battery voltage drops too low, preventing the batteries from being discharged completely.

The two batteries are sealed lead-acid gel cell batteries (Type 8G8D) with a capacity of 265 Amp-hours at a nominal 12 volts. These batteries are designed for deep discharge cycles, unlike the battery in a car, which are optimized for the big surge of power needed to start it.

Even on an overcast day, diffuse sunlight is enough to charge the system's battery.

New Blog for Progressive Video Workshop

Wilton Vought has created a blog for the Progressive Video workshop he will give at Green Fest. Wilton's workshop, How to Produce Videos for Public Access TV and the Internet, will be held Friday, August 7 at 3:30 pm.

Surviving — and Thriving in — the Green Future

Paul Glover, who was a Green Fest presenter in 2003 and the Green Party candidate for mayor of Ithaca in 2005, has a great new article in the Philadelphia City Paper about surviving — and thriving in — the green future. Glover now teaches metropolitan ecology and green jobs at Temple University. He is founder of the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), Ithaca HOURS local currency, Citizen Planners of Los Angeles and other groups. He is the author of Green Jobs Philly, Health Democracy and Hometown Money. More information about Glover's projects is available at paulglover.org.

Glover says, "Imagine . . . that, 20 years from now, Philadelphia's green economy enables everyone to work a few hours creatively daily, then relax with family and friends to enjoy top-quality local, healthy food. To enjoy clean low-cost warm housing, clean and safe transport, high-quality handcrafted clothes and household goods. To enjoy creating and playing together, growing up and growing old in supportive neighborhoods where everyone is valuable. And to do this while replenishing rather than depleting the planet. Pretty wild, right?"

From "Yes We Can" to "Now We Do"

FOOD: Grow it here

Challenges: Like an army camped far from its sources of supply, Philadelphia trucks food from hundreds and thousands of miles away, especially in winter. Costs of harvest, processing and distribution rise, raising prices. Fertile soils were scraped bare. Thousands are hungry here. Relax, though, we're not riding a spoon to the mouth of doom. An urban food army is marching.

Next steps: Philadelphia has 40,000 vacant lots. Their best use is now for growing fruits, berries and veggies. Same with many of our 700 abandoned factories: These are prime sites for vertical and roof farms, hydroponics, aquaculture, mushrooms. Plant the parks, too. Greenhouses extend seasons. Land breathes again when abandoned parking lots are depaved. Edible landscaping blooms meals. Edible community centers process neighborhood yields. Fallen leaves stay in neighborhoods to become new soil. Feeding kitchen scraps to worms (vermiculture) builds the food of food.

Local heroes: Mill Creek Urban Farm, Greensgrow, Weaver's Way Co-Op Farm, City Harvest, Youth 4 Good, Philadelphia Orchard Project, Neighborhood Gardens Association, Philadelphia Urban Farm Network, Farm to City, edible landscapers, Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership, Henry George School, Philadelphia's greenhouses, Community Supported Agriculture.

World champions: Beijing grows all its vegetables within 60 miles. TerraCycle manufactures organic soil. Guerrilla Gardeners throw seed bombs. Sites: cityfarmer.org, urbanagriculture-news.com, spinfarming.com. Books: Food Not Lawns, The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping. Keywords: depaving, urban land reform, solar envelope zoning.

Big picture: Philadelphia can become a giant orchard and year-round garden, housing and reliably feeding more people than live here today.

FUEL: Who lights your fire?

Challenges: Within 20 years Philadelphia businesses, homes and agencies that waste energy will close. Philadelphia Gas Works CEO Thomas Knudson recently declared that natural gas is a "transitional fuel" beyond which this city must evolve. The price of coal tripled last year. PECO rates will leap within two years. Electric shut-offs rise. So we'll rebuild Philadelphia rather than fade.

Next steps: Establish independent neighborhood utilities with wind, passive solar and micro-geothermal. Employ thousands to build and install these. Employ multitudes more to manufacture and install insulation made with newsprint and fly ash (a residue of coal combustion). We'll get free winter warmth from 500,000 solar windowbox heaters. District heating and cogeneration reduce fuel need. Municipal utilities reduce grid costs. Tree shade reduces cooling costs: Plant a million.

Local heroes: Energy Coordinating Agency, Bio-Neighbors Sustainable Homes, Roofscapes, Philadelphia Green, Philly Tree People, Urban Tree Connection, green contractors. Harold Finegan's gym needs no fossil fuel for heating and cooling.

World champions: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Rocky Mountain Institute, Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Book: Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-It Ourselves Guide.

Big picture: Philadelphia can function even better with one-tenth the fossil fuel. Our lives will be more secure.

HOUSING: Stand your ground

Challenges: Absentee ownership and unemployment discourage repair and foster blight. Gentrification, foreclosure and taxes pressure humble homes. More middle class become homeless daily. Whether rowhouse or condo, homes won't be affordable unless massively insulated. And hey, river wards, both ocean and sewage, are rising. '

Next steps: Renters become homeowners through right-of-first-refusal (landlords offer sale first to renters) and sweat equity credits (renters swap community work for houses). Enforce law requiring absentee owners to have local agents. Shift to Land Value Taxation, which places tax burden on land rather than homes. Equitable development is a legal movement that' prevents gentrification through restraints and incentives. Enforce the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires lending in low-income neighborhoods (not sub-prime) and prohibits racial lending. Cease evictions based on dishonest loans. Evict shady lenders. As heating bills rise we'll move underground, because deep dirt is the best insulation. Not just elites to bunkers (Bill Gates lives inside a hillside), but all of us into pleasant, sunlit ecolonies. Big solar windows catch winter heat. Amend building codes for green innovation.

Local heroes: Hundreds of local organizations fight for and finance affordable neighborhoods. Women's Opportunity Resource Center, Women's Community Revitalization Project, Philadelphia Housing Task Force, Community Land Trust Corp., Project H.O.M.E., People's Emergency Center, African-American Business & Residents Association, Henry George School, Habitat for Humanity, Green Roof Philadelphia, Ray of Hope Project, churches. Major underground buildings in Philadelphia include Franklin Court Museum, Wilma Theater, Penn Center shops.

World champions: Germany requires R70 insulation — three times tighter than the typical U.S. home — in new buildings. National Community Reinvestment Coalition, United for a Fair Economy, Earthships, Boston City Life/Vida Urbana, Equitable Development Toolkit, Shelterforce. Book: The Earth-Sheltered House: An Architect's Sketchbook.

Big picture: Everyone living in Philadelphia in 50 years will be living in earth shelters. Green means we'll all be comfortable. No behind left chill.

HEALTH CARE: Healthy rebellion

Challenges: Corporate insurers raise costs, limit choices, resist paying. They block reform legislation. Premiums rise beyond the reach of millions. ' Taxes rise to cover city employee benefits and indigent care. Thousands of Philadelphians are stuck in jobs they dislike, to keep insurance. ' Philadelphia's 140,000 uninsured avoid care and die earlier, or go bankrupt paying more. Medicaid's waiting list grows. Hospitals close; free clinics lose staff. Toxic air and chemicals, junk food and lack of exercise cause much disease. Grassroots action will heal city and citizens.

Next steps: While pushing for universal health care (less bureaucracy, lower cost, free choice), gaps can be filled by genuinely nonprofit regional self-financing systems. Fraternal benefit societies and member-owned co-op health plans create independent safety nets and preventive care clinics. Medical centers can barter, accept Philadelphia MediCash.

Local heroes: Thousands of holistic and allopathic healers, Health Care for All Philadelphia, Catholic Worker Free Clinic, Esperanza Health Center, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Planned Parenthood, Philadelphia Urban Solutions, Philadelphia Community Acupuncture, Philadelphia FIGHT, Philadelphia Health Care Center, PhilaHealthia, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Shriners Hospital for Children. Dozens more at philllyhealthinfo.org.

World champions: Mutual Health Organizations, Ugandan Health Cooperative, Ithaca Health Alliance, Dr. Patch Adams, Healthcare-NOW!, Book: Health Democracy.

Big picture: When sickness is big business, free healing requires insurrection.
MONEY: Give yourselves credit

► Challenges: Extreme capitalism and extreme socialism trample humanity. Lack of cash and credit kills businesses, jobs and homes. Some folks still have lots of money, but most of us have less. Dollar power dwindles because dollars are backed by less than nothing: rusting industry and $10 trillion debt. So we'll print real money — neighborhood currencies — backed by real people.

Next steps: Mutual enterprise systems (neither Wall Street nor Red Square) celebrate the spirit of regional enterprise when it serves community and nature. They applaud innovations — public and private and personal — that meet real needs. Local trading credits based on local land, skills, time and tools refresh the economy. Poverty is lack of networks more than lack of dollars, and Philadelphia has thousands of networks — business, professional, technical, fraternal, neighborhood, church, union, electoral, senior, youth, racial, sexual, athletic, hobby, family, friends. Woven together they're a powerful base of regional trust, trade and wealth. Take your pick of neighborhood and sector currencies. Cities may not issue them but may accept them for taxes.

Local heroes: Philadelphia's 83 credit unions, Valley Green Bank, e3bank, Equal Dollars, barter exchanges and gift economy, Philadelphia Regional and Independent Stock Exchange, Philadelphia Fund for Ecological Living (PhilaFEL).

World champions: Ithaca HOURS, Berkshares, LETS, Time Banking, National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, Permaculture Credit Union, Grameen Bank microlending, Kiva, Robin Hood Ventures.

Big picture: Dollars control people; local currency connects people.

WATER: Go with the low flow

Challenges: Millions are spent to sanitize polluted river water and pump it to homes. Then we poop into it. Storm drains carry sewage and garbage back to rivers. Sewage treatment does not remove all pharmaceuticals. Old chemical tanks poison groundwater. Sinkholes undermine houses. Bottled-water scam drains local economy. Climate change brings frequent flood and/or drought. ' But new technologies will protect our liquid assets.

Next steps: Amend code to permit filtered graywater yard use, and waterless compost toilets. Install watersaving devices. Collect rainwater in rooftop tanks, barrels and swales. Plant xeriscapes. Depave driveways and abandoned parking lots. Start Progressive Street Reclamation, converting least-used streets and alleys to playgrounds and gardens.

Local heroes: Philadelphia Water Department taxes pavement, rewards depaving, distributes rain barrels. Friends of the Wissahickon installs compost toilets in the park. These convert turds into clean, sweet-smelling garden soil.

World champions: Swedes collect urine from apartment houses, store it six months, then use as fertilizer (EcoSanRes). Mexicans collect urine from city hall and schools to fertilize fields (TepozEco). Zimbabweans plant fruit trees atop privy muck (ArborLoo). Book: The Humanure Handbook.

Big picture: Clean water is becoming more valuable than gold. Nobody shits on gold.

TRANSPORT: Be here now

Challenges: Philadelphia's rail system was ripped out for cars, which clog streets and slow emergency response. Cars smash, kill, maim. They inhale paychecks and taxes, exhale rotten air. They compel war for oil. We'll become stronger and sexier as pedaling bipeds.

Next steps: To risk your life for your country, ride a bike. Hop on the bus. Revive street rail with ultralight passenger cars. Restore regional freight routes. Raise transit funds with local gasoline tax. Make pathways for bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, Segways, scooters and wheelchairs. Restore canals. Zone for mixed use, to reduce travel needs. Live near your work. Employ multitudes making mosaic sidewalks. Convert paving to playgrounds.

Local heroes: PhillyCarShare, Bike Share Philadelphia, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Neighborhood Bike Works and Bike Church, Critical Mass bike rides, bike shops, Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, Pennsylvania Transit Coalition, PenTrans. Even SEPTA: Trains are clunky and late, but they're there.

World champions: Carfree Cities conferences, carfree.com, World Naked Bike Ride, Urban Ecology.

Big picture: The first cities rebuilt for proximity rather than speed will win this race.

JOBS: The full employment economy

Challenges: Philadelphia has lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs in 50 years. Now we import stuff once made here. Today, millions of American jobs depend on servicing bad things rather than good things. Car crashes are 8 percent of the GDP. How many jobs would end if criminals went on strike? What jobs would be lost if people ate healthy fresh food and exercised? What if we were content with what we owned?' We'll advance from jobs managing damage to jobs creating a beautiful city worthy of beautiful children.

Next steps: All skills can rotate greenward. Philadelphia needs at least 100,000 green-collar jobs to rebuild, retrofit, plant, harvest, manufacture and repair the homes and tools of the future. Arts and healing arts are green jobs, too.

Local heroes: Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, American Cities Foundation, Penn Future, Ray of Hope Project. Green Jobs Philly, Neighborhood Environmental Action Team, Green Labor Administration, several City Council members.

World champions: Blue Green Alliance (enviros and unions united), Green for All, Apollo Alliance, D.C. Greenworks, Sustainable South Bronx.

Big picture: We'll develop new definitions of career, success; build green safety nets.

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY: Luxuriate in the Necessities

Challenges: America has been outstanding at pouring concrete, going fast and throwing things away. But high costs of raw materials, manufacture and trucking are causing consumers to quit consuming for the sake of consumption. Our Next Great Economy will sell more of durable value. We'll all have enough.

Next steps: Regional manufacture will resume as transport costs grow. Top niches will be basics: housing, energy, clothing, housewares. Orchards and gardens and food processing. Holistic healing will grow. Likewise, handcrafts. Everything energy-efficient.

Local heroes: Sustainable Business Network, Buy Local Philly, White Dog Café, Provenance Architecturals, Re-Store, flea markets, farmers markets, materials exchanges, repair shops, recycling.

World champions: Socially Responsible Investing. 'Magazines: Green Business Journal, Adbusters.

Site: storyofstuff.org.

Big picture: Smart money invests to raise all boats.

GOVERNMENT: The land is the law of the land

Challenges: Many bureaucrats trained in obsolete systems resist change, defend their turf. City's health insurers and pensions drag city down.

Next steps: Government welcomes grassroots innovators by passing laws facilitating greening of economy and neighborhoods: urban land reform, urban agriculture, sanitation and water codes, building codes. When urgent change is resisted, citizens underthrow the government.

Local heroes: Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, PWD, streets guys who dig on rainy nights.

World champions: City of Curitiba, Brazil, encourages experimentation and welcomes mistakes. Magazines: Governing, Planners Network.

Big picture: Good government takes risks, makes change easy. "Make no little plans" —Daniel Burnham.

PUBLIC SAFETY: Just be sure to let that happen again

Challenges: Whenever people are hungry, cold or fearful due to unemployment, crime rises. Isolated resentment becomes street protest or riot. Racism flares. Taxpayers cannot hire enough police to escape chaos. Public safety is secured by creating safety nets for food, fuel, housing and health care.

Next steps: Jobs fight crime. Decriminalize marijuana locally. Hire ex-offenders. Neighborhood watch instead of neighborhood watch TV.

Local heroes: Block captains, Men United for a Better Philadelphia, Ray of Hope Project, City Harvest, People Against Recidivism.

World champions: Time Dollar Youth Court, Rainbow Police. Book: Defensible Space.

Big picture: People who are respected, loved and secure do not kill. '

EDUCATION: Keep it real

Challenges: Curriculums are less relevant to getting jobs or fixing society. Forty-five percent of Philadelphia high-schoolers drop out. Students are graded like eggs.

Next steps: Respectfully teaching skills of neighborhood management will make learning fun. Teach creativity rather than consumerism.

Local heroes: Thousands of dedicated teachers, Neighborhood Enterprise Schoolteachers, magnet schools, Waldorf School. Newspaper: The Notebook.

World champions: Paolo Freire; free university education in Europe.

Big picture: Loving learning is the first lesson.

CULTURE: Life gets highest ratings

Challenges: Media that's cynical about grassroots power features crime and celebrities.

Next steps: Empower average people to make music, art, dance, theater. Revive street-corner singing. Bring back vaudeville. Parachute clowns into parks.

Local heroes: Mural Arts Program, Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas, Spiral Q Puppet Theater, 373 groups listed at philaculture.org. Locally made homecrafts. Philadelphia's 2,800 murals feature children, heroes, nature.

Whether you're a student, job seeker, employee or retiree, there are thousands of ways to connect to Philadelphia's green movement. You're the one we've been waiting for. Check the ever-growing list of local green-jobs Web sites (start with greenjobsphilly.org/future.html). Visit local green businesses and groups. Time to bring those murals to life.

Green Fest 2009

Plans are shaping up for Green Fest 2009. This will be our third Green Fest. For 2009, we are moving to the campus of Alfred University in the picturesque, small village of Alfred. Alfred is in rural Allegany County, 80 miles south of Rochester. The Short Line Bus runs several buses daily between Alfred, Westchester, New York City and Long Island.

For more information about Green Fest 2009, visit our website http://nygreenfest.org/.