Finding Home

Last year the local climate change solutions group I am a part of started a local arts and writing showcase for our community. The goal was to boost the number of people imagining and sharing their ideas for what a positive, sustainable future would look like on the local level. My submission last year was a story about two teens learning that they are not as alone as they think they are:

https://www.mitown-climate.org/finding-home-stephen-howard

If you think your own community would be a great place for a similar event, feel free to get in touch with us, or take the idea and run with it. The concept is free to use and we’d love to see it spread to more places.

A Springtime Departure

Originally submitted to Solarpunk Magazine’s “Solarpunk in the Sky” microfiction contest:

Natalia's son has named all of the survey drones. Rafa dubbed the one she is preparing for flight “Mira.” He drew smudgy little characters on its long, tapering fuselage when it was first printed. “Friends,” he said. “So it won’t get lonely when it’s working.”

Natalia and her partner Esme finish checking wires, actuators, joints, and sensors. They carefully fold Mira’s four solar wings along its back, and lock its sensor gimbal for launch. The drone is longer than Natalia is tall, and it takes both adults to secure it into the cradle.

Rafa's eyes light up when Esme hands him the starter button. He jabs it with both thumbs. The launch arm spins gradually faster until, singing, it flings Mira into the sky. In moments, the drone is out of sight.

Gliding silently, Mira and its siblings will survey the landscape from above. Software will shift their wings to catch the currents that keep them aloft for two weeks as they gradually spiral back home again. They will taste the composition of the air, feel the fluctuations in microclimates, and watch the land with eyes wide to light we cannot see. It’s one of the ways we care for our neighbors: the animals, the rivers, and the trees.

Many of Natalia’s other Caretaker friends obsess over data collected on the solstices, but she favors equinox launches. They are times of transition, when the world becomes new again. She looks down at her son, still peering up at the sky.

I remember

I wasn’t going to post today.

Of course I remember where I was. I remember not quite understanding what was happening at first. I remember finding out friends of mine knew people who, just a few hours south of where I sat, barely made it out alive. Or didn’t.

But I also remember before. I remember an America that wasn’t scared. An America that didn’t see a world full of impossible problems and hidden enemies. I remember when we, perhaps with a tad too much pride, had the optimism and drive to work with the rest of the world with our sleeves rolled up and our eyes on a bright future.

What is the legacy of 9/11? Why do we let the loudest voices in the national monologue reopen this wound year after year in the name of remembrance? Does this patriotic posturing honor those who perished? Those who serve? It’s trite at this point to say that by staying fearful and angry that we have let the terrorists win. 17 years on, we are doing this to ourselves.

We need to heal. The loved ones of those who were lost that day need us to heal. Our children need us to heal, or the world we leave them will be meaner, colder, and dimmer than they deserve.

Of course we remember. But what have we forgotten?

Starting to Face Climate Change in a Small City

These are my notes for a citizen town hall organized in June 2017.  We were asked to bring a topic or topics of concern to share with the group. The process turned to be less formal than was originally planned, and I did not have a chance to share all of these thoughts, so I am posting them here for future reference:

Monmouth needs to take steps to help minimize and prepare for the effects of climate change.

Not that I think that our small town can single handedly solve climate change. Partially it’s because I believe we all have a duty to leave a more livable and prosperous world for our descendants. More immediately, though, is that these steps can make Monmouth a more affordable, desirable place to live. One that can attract more economic activity, and one that will be better prepared to manage the state and federal regulations that are bound to arrive when our nation’s leadership gets serious about tackling climate change.

We have two distinct advantages that give us an edge:

First, the electricity that the city buys is almost entirely fossil-fuel free.  While hydroelectric power and the tiny bit of nuclear power that feeds our grid have their own problems, they do not pose a climate risk.

Second is that we are an unusually compact community for a city of our size.  This is a key driver in the amount of materials and energy we use to go about our business.

As a small city we also have some challenges. We have fewer resources at our disposal to implement big ideas. A small population size makes it harder for businesses to establish themselves here and maintain a profit. And subsequently, many in our community have to leave town every day for work. Not only does this increase their carbon footprint, but it impacts their quality of life with a commute, less time with their families, and a sizable cost to their budget.

There are many things we can and should do, but here are some short term suggestions:

• Work with public works and the bike/ped committee to revise the city’s transportation system plan to implement a complete bike network that feels safe enough for kindergartners to use.
• Complete sidewalks on all arterial and collector streets.
• Work with the CARTS bus service to address the last-mile problem in our own and surrounding communities to make transit a more viable option.
• Make sure our building codes and approval processes encourage the construction and refurbishment of homes and buildings that are energy efficient and mixed use.

I believe the first and biggest step for Monmouth to come to grips with climate change is finding smart, desirable ways for us to spend less time in our cars. The risks of not doing so are great, and the benefits of taking action are many.  I hope we can provide an example for all the other small cities in the U.S. that taking on climate change leads to a brighter and more prosperous future.

Monmouth Oregon 2017-2018 budget, visualized

A handful of years ago I became aware of someone who put out a poster of the federal budget he affectionately called “Death and Taxes”.  To better understand Monmouth’s finances, I thought I’d try my hand at doing a similar visualization of our city’s budget.  I often find it can be easier to see a visual representation of a whole bunch of numbers instead of mulling them over in a spreadsheet.