ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
September 9th, 7:00 PM-8:30 PM @ The Grind
236 Hightower Road
Girdwood, AK 99587
AUGUST 24th, 2010
Event Notice and Progress Summary, from Evan Cutler.
Hello All
It's time for an organizational meeting for Sustainable Girdwood, so that our efforts may continue with clarity of focus and dedication to action. We need your help.
Since our last organizational meeting, we've not been as organized as we should be.
None the less, with intermittent and sustained efforts from several score people we have accomplished much over the past six months. Just to outline 10 of our recent accomplishments which I'll share more detail upon via our website soon (and one of our frustrations):
1. Corporate: In February, Girdwood, Inc., a 501(c)3, approved our application to act as a non-profit parent (aka bubble) organization. They can accept tax deductible donations on our behalf. Thanks so much to Diana Livingston for encouraging and patiently walking me through that process!
2. Fundraising and Fun: Our March Benefit concert was a success! We raised over $1,000 at the door, and had just $550 in expenses. Exact numbers coming soon. Thanks again to all who performed between the three bands, the DJ, the fire circus, the advertising & PR folks, those who staffed the volunteer booth, and of course, all the friendly people at the Sitzmark and Alyeska resort!
3. Public Outreach and Input: Our early April meeting cosponsored by UAA Department of Civil Engineering, with over 30 students and faculty presenting, and over 30 local residents in attendance. There we got to see and hear the mid-semester reports from many clusters of students who have worked towards various aspects of our engineering for both the Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center and the Alyeska Creek Hydropower project. Thanks to UAA, students, faculty, and staff, and the excellent catering by Casa Del Sol for making this meeting a hit!
4. Communications: We produced our first video in late April (now over 700 views !), documenting some of our current vision for Girdwood, which can be seen in High Definition on our website or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AkFYFjE-w. Much thanks to Chris Flynn of Girdwood Television who gave us $1,700 of work for just $700, and with thanks to Gator, Christine, and the folks at the Girdwood Clinic for sharing their good words! I keep hearing excellent reviews on this video and am happy with it too!
4.5 A big thanks to Julie Dykstra of http://alyeskamedia.com and Brian Yanity for helping to set up this evolving website.
5. Engineering: We now have the finished reports from the student engineers, with over 300 pages of possible engineering specifications and permitting requirements and forms outlined, illustrated, and ready for feedback from the community. They should be online by the end of this weekend and will form the basis for real progress in these areas. Thanks to Brian Yanity, Rebecca Schaffer, Orson Smith, and all the faculty, students, and staff at UAA who put these reports together! They will form a good basis for ongoing efforts.
6. Greenhouses: Thanks to a grant from UAA and the volunteer labor provided by over 20 Girdwood residents and visitors, we built/repaired five and half greenhouses between May and July, in five locations and have four still standing and full of plants, some of which are producing produce regularly. Two of these greenhouses have sensors that are electronically recording temperature, sunlight, and humidity data which we will be able to upload to our website and use for planning in the future. Thanks so much to Sean Rollnick, Chris McCain, Julie St. Louis of Grrdwood Pets & Greengoods, Scott Capshaw & the Mission Crew, the Girdwood Chapel & Crew, Master Gardener Sheila DeNuptis & Crew, Jen & Franz Weits of Jack Sprats, Allison Rein of the US Forest Service, Girdwood Alaska Backpacker’s Inn, Sara Engretsen, Master Gardener Karen Montague, the folks at Forget Me Not Nursery in Indian, and Dion for all you’ve given towards this effort.
7. Data: Thanks to Brian Yanity and UAA, we've collected stream flow measurement data on three of the creeks in this valley, some going back to 2004 and most from 2009 and 2010, some of which is now available online at our website, (in rapid development).
8. Research and Brainstorming: A number of us have continued brainstorming and researching various ideas for sustainable energy and food production, sustainable work, recycling and reuse of materials, financing models, and so on.
9. Collaboration & Community Input: We created an imperfect but functional message forum on our website where you can share your ideas and constructive feedback on all of these issues. So far, only one person other than myself has posted there, but I'd like to see it evolve. You can post a non-spam thread on any related topic and share your ideas and help those of others evolve along with current members and those yet to join these efforts. The more you spark, the more comprehensive and intelligent our efforts may become.
10. Organization: We’ve held several meetings attempting to hash out how to make the group more effective. Thanks to Lorna & Derek for generously hosting and feeding us at several meetings in their lovely Dancing Bears Bed N’ Breakfast (http://www.girdwoodhotel.com/). Thanks also to the Girdwood Community Center, Casa Del Sol, and Maxine’s Glacier Bistro for hosting other meetings, and for everyone who helped get the word out and/or attended these meetings.
11. Unfortunately, despite trying, I've been unable to gain any media coverage on our successes and near successes since before the March benefit concert. I'd love to see that change in the future. Please lobby the Turnagain Times & KEUL Glacier City Radio to send their reporters our way.
Now What Comes Next?
I hope YOU do! To our next meeting and beyond!
Frankly, I've been honored to have served as a volunteer facilitator/organizer for 18 months now. As imperfect as I am or have been in this role, I've taken a turn. Unfortunately, changes in my professional and personal life require me to commit even more of my time elsewhere and less of my time to Sustainable Girdwood. Yes, I'm still in this for the long haul, but there is only so much I can contribute with 10 hours maximum per month.
I'm afraid I need someone or some several ones to take the baton and carry it on without me as the primary facilitator, at least for a year or so. I'll still help, but this task requires more than I can offer with my current skills, commitment, energy, and grace or lack thereof.
That is what this meeting is about--in what directions and with what energy these efforts should and will continue (considering that I must withdraw from being the main facilitator for the time being)
Together, we've done what we could to help build a good foundation for continued and increasing success. Our ultimate rewards will benefit everyone in this community, inspire many who visit us, and will have rippling and most positive repercussions across the world. That is no exaggeration, for when we learn to live sustainably, we will no longer be responsible for destroying the global ecosystems upon which we depend. Instead, we will once again, though in a radically new way, become a part of them. I long for that day, know many of you do too, and just ask you to come and take a focused and committed turn at it like I have. If I could help facilitate so many people to make all these baby steps, then I'm sure with more of you taking turns, we can grow those steps into something far more significant, real, good, and lasting.
The meeting will start Promptly at 7 PM and I promised Gator who donated the use of The Grind for our meeting that we'd be finished by 8:30 PM. Those of you who wish to continue can plan another meeting for as soon as you are ready.
The Agenda for this meeting includes a whirlwind review of progress, group discussion, and self-nomination and election of officers for the 6 month terms commencing at the end of the meeting.
Thanks so much to all of you who have helped and encouraged these efforts, even more so if I neglected to name you in this already long message,
Most Sincerely,
Evan Cutler, Facilitator (for two more weeks)
Sustainable Girdwood
783-3826
PS Check the website frequently in the coming days. We hired artist and designer Matthew Bower to add a bunch of information to it over the next two weeks.
Our Meeting Spot:
Video on The Girdwood Grind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENSXKvmivu8
Website for The Girdwood Grind http://www.girdwoodgrind.com/
...
Event Notice and Progress Summary, from Evan Cutler.
Hello All
It's time for an organizational meeting for Sustainable Girdwood, so that our efforts may continue with clarity of focus and dedication to action. We need your help.
Since our last organizational meeting, we've not been as organized as we should be.
None the less, with intermittent and sustained efforts from several score people we have accomplished much over the past six months. Just to outline 10 of our recent accomplishments which I'll share more detail upon via our website soon (and one of our frustrations):
1. Corporate: In February, Girdwood, Inc., a 501(c)3, approved our application to act as a non-profit parent (aka bubble) organization. They can accept tax deductible donations on our behalf. Thanks so much to Diana Livingston for encouraging and patiently walking me through that process!
2. Fundraising and Fun: Our March Benefit concert was a success! We raised over $1,000 at the door, and had just $550 in expenses. Exact numbers coming soon. Thanks again to all who performed between the three bands, the DJ, the fire circus, the advertising & PR folks, those who staffed the volunteer booth, and of course, all the friendly people at the Sitzmark and Alyeska resort!
3. Public Outreach and Input: Our early April meeting cosponsored by UAA Department of Civil Engineering, with over 30 students and faculty presenting, and over 30 local residents in attendance. There we got to see and hear the mid-semester reports from many clusters of students who have worked towards various aspects of our engineering for both the Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center and the Alyeska Creek Hydropower project. Thanks to UAA, students, faculty, and staff, and the excellent catering by Casa Del Sol for making this meeting a hit!
4. Communications: We produced our first video in late April (now over 700 views !), documenting some of our current vision for Girdwood, which can be seen in High Definition on our website or on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AkFYFjE-w. Much thanks to Chris Flynn of Girdwood Television who gave us $1,700 of work for just $700, and with thanks to Gator, Christine, and the folks at the Girdwood Clinic for sharing their good words! I keep hearing excellent reviews on this video and am happy with it too!
4.5 A big thanks to Julie Dykstra of http://alyeskamedia.com and Brian Yanity for helping to set up this evolving website.
5. Engineering: We now have the finished reports from the student engineers, with over 300 pages of possible engineering specifications and permitting requirements and forms outlined, illustrated, and ready for feedback from the community. They should be online by the end of this weekend and will form the basis for real progress in these areas. Thanks to Brian Yanity, Rebecca Schaffer, Orson Smith, and all the faculty, students, and staff at UAA who put these reports together! They will form a good basis for ongoing efforts.
6. Greenhouses: Thanks to a grant from UAA and the volunteer labor provided by over 20 Girdwood residents and visitors, we built/repaired five and half greenhouses between May and July, in five locations and have four still standing and full of plants, some of which are producing produce regularly. Two of these greenhouses have sensors that are electronically recording temperature, sunlight, and humidity data which we will be able to upload to our website and use for planning in the future. Thanks so much to Sean Rollnick, Chris McCain, Julie St. Louis of Grrdwood Pets & Greengoods, Scott Capshaw & the Mission Crew, the Girdwood Chapel & Crew, Master Gardener Sheila DeNuptis & Crew, Jen & Franz Weits of Jack Sprats, Allison Rein of the US Forest Service, Girdwood Alaska Backpacker’s Inn, Sara Engretsen, Master Gardener Karen Montague, the folks at Forget Me Not Nursery in Indian, and Dion for all you’ve given towards this effort.
7. Data: Thanks to Brian Yanity and UAA, we've collected stream flow measurement data on three of the creeks in this valley, some going back to 2004 and most from 2009 and 2010, some of which is now available online at our website, (in rapid development).
8. Research and Brainstorming: A number of us have continued brainstorming and researching various ideas for sustainable energy and food production, sustainable work, recycling and reuse of materials, financing models, and so on.
9. Collaboration & Community Input: We created an imperfect but functional message forum on our website where you can share your ideas and constructive feedback on all of these issues. So far, only one person other than myself has posted there, but I'd like to see it evolve. You can post a non-spam thread on any related topic and share your ideas and help those of others evolve along with current members and those yet to join these efforts. The more you spark, the more comprehensive and intelligent our efforts may become.
10. Organization: We’ve held several meetings attempting to hash out how to make the group more effective. Thanks to Lorna & Derek for generously hosting and feeding us at several meetings in their lovely Dancing Bears Bed N’ Breakfast (http://www.girdwoodhotel.com/). Thanks also to the Girdwood Community Center, Casa Del Sol, and Maxine’s Glacier Bistro for hosting other meetings, and for everyone who helped get the word out and/or attended these meetings.
11. Unfortunately, despite trying, I've been unable to gain any media coverage on our successes and near successes since before the March benefit concert. I'd love to see that change in the future. Please lobby the Turnagain Times & KEUL Glacier City Radio to send their reporters our way.
Now What Comes Next?
I hope YOU do! To our next meeting and beyond!
Frankly, I've been honored to have served as a volunteer facilitator/organizer for 18 months now. As imperfect as I am or have been in this role, I've taken a turn. Unfortunately, changes in my professional and personal life require me to commit even more of my time elsewhere and less of my time to Sustainable Girdwood. Yes, I'm still in this for the long haul, but there is only so much I can contribute with 10 hours maximum per month.
I'm afraid I need someone or some several ones to take the baton and carry it on without me as the primary facilitator, at least for a year or so. I'll still help, but this task requires more than I can offer with my current skills, commitment, energy, and grace or lack thereof.
That is what this meeting is about--in what directions and with what energy these efforts should and will continue (considering that I must withdraw from being the main facilitator for the time being)
Together, we've done what we could to help build a good foundation for continued and increasing success. Our ultimate rewards will benefit everyone in this community, inspire many who visit us, and will have rippling and most positive repercussions across the world. That is no exaggeration, for when we learn to live sustainably, we will no longer be responsible for destroying the global ecosystems upon which we depend. Instead, we will once again, though in a radically new way, become a part of them. I long for that day, know many of you do too, and just ask you to come and take a focused and committed turn at it like I have. If I could help facilitate so many people to make all these baby steps, then I'm sure with more of you taking turns, we can grow those steps into something far more significant, real, good, and lasting.
The meeting will start Promptly at 7 PM and I promised Gator who donated the use of The Grind for our meeting that we'd be finished by 8:30 PM. Those of you who wish to continue can plan another meeting for as soon as you are ready.
The Agenda for this meeting includes a whirlwind review of progress, group discussion, and self-nomination and election of officers for the 6 month terms commencing at the end of the meeting.
Thanks so much to all of you who have helped and encouraged these efforts, even more so if I neglected to name you in this already long message,
Most Sincerely,
Evan Cutler, Facilitator (for two more weeks)
Sustainable Girdwood
783-3826
PS Check the website frequently in the coming days. We hired artist and designer Matthew Bower to add a bunch of information to it over the next two weeks.
Our Meeting Spot:
Video on The Girdwood Grind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENSXKvmivu8
Website for The Girdwood Grind http://www.girdwoodgrind.com/
...
March 9, 2010
Sustainable Girdwood Makes Progress on Renewable Energy & Food Production,
by Evan Cutler - Written for Turnagain Times, but not published.
Sometimes growth is a silent process, with much happening unseen while all the right parts are coming together. This has been the case with the local grassroots group, Sustainable Girdwood. While Girdwood endured the pain of rainstorm after snowstorm in what was beginning to seem an endless cycle, dozens of people have been working quietly behind the scenes to gather momentum towards making Girdwood more energy and food independent.
Some might say the momentum began with a $1,000 gift from Alyeska Resort owner John Byrne, a check made to “Sustainable Girdwood.” The problem was Sustainable Girdwood was just a name with no corporate shell, so how would we cash this check?
Without knowing this answer, presentations were made to Girdwood 2020, Girdwood Rotary Club, and Girdwood Lions club, explaining the mission and goals of Sustainable Girdwood and requesting some matching support.
The goals are ambitious, but the plans to reach them are realistic. The mission, as the name implies, is to make Girdwood a sustainable community. To do this we need to transition from a consumerist, unsustainable, internationally codependent community, to one that is sustainable in every respect. This is a “think global, act local” path towards a responsible and guilt free existence.
Mid-term goals include developing renewable energy opportunities so that Girdwood is energy independent, and creating a year round greenhouse to grow 80% of the produce we consume.
Real progress is being made.
In past articles I outlined the $20 million Girdwood Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center we wish to build in partnership with the University of Alaska. Work on this is progressing with current focus on building design and site selection.
The big news is that UAA’s Department of Civil Engineering has now assigned students from two senior engineering design courses to work on this project during the current Spring Semester. In order to graduate, these students will develop engineering designs for several possible micro-hydroelectric plants on Alyeska Creek, and the building design of the Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center. The latter will be a place where students, scientists, and residents will work together towards all of the goals of Sustainable Girdwood. Several students from a graduate course in environmental regulations and permitting will be assisting these efforts to start a UAA center in Girdwood, as well as assessing the permits required for the micro-hydroelectric systems being proposed across the valley.
At 7 PM on Thursday, April 8th, the students and their mentors will present their preliminary engineering designs to Girdwood at the community center. You are invited to attend.
Sustainable Girdwood is also organizing some short-term summer-season greenhouse projects this year, to experiment and collect data on temperature, sunlight, humidity, and other factors that affect plant growth. One greenhouse has been donated so far for this, and it seems likely the materials for another will be donated, if enough of the carpenters around here will volunteer to help assemble it. The new greenhouse will be constructed at the site of the Community Gardens at the Girdwood Chapel off Timberline.
Sustainable Girdwood is seeking volunteers to help with greenhouse construction this spring, and to tend and grow vegetables and herbs this spring, summer, and autumn.
This experience will position Girdwood competitively to secure the funding for a $10 million year-round greenhouse system to provide most of the produce this community consumes.
Thankfully, Girdwood Inc., the same 501(c)(3) that acted as the fiduciary umbrella organization for such great projects as the Roundhouse Museum, the Skate Park, and the Girdwood Playground, accepted Sustainable Girdwood’s application for temporary umbrella status. People and organizations can now make tax deductible donations for these projects payable to “Girdwood Inc.” with “Sustainable Girdwood” in the memo/notes section.
Another way to support these efforts (and have a good time) is to attend the Thursday March 25th, Sustainable Girdwood Spring 2010 Benefit Concert at the Alyeska Sitzmark.
Performers at this benefit include JunioR, Melissa Mitchell & Friends (Including Spiff, Tony Restivo, Jon Dykstra, James Glover & More), Loose Gravel, with DJ Militant, the “AK Fire Circus” (spinning fire), and other supporters offering between-set entertainment. It’s going to be a real locals show, but tickets are limited to capacity.
There is more to share than can fit in one short article, but residents are encouraged to check out the new website for these projects, at www.SustainableGirdwood.com. It’s a site in development, and has little content online, but that will change quickly. Also, it has a Community Forum area so YOU can review all the ideas being presented and chime in with your own two cents.
In this writer’s opinion, Sustainable Girdwood is more than a grandiose idea. It’s a community imperative. When our community becomes sustainable, we will be doing justice to all fellow inhabitants of this Big Blue Marble, aka Earth. We hope you will help us make it so.
Evan Cutler
Facilitator, Sustainable Girdwood
(907) 783-3826
PO Box 1276
Girdwood, AK 99587
Some might say the momentum began with a $1,000 gift from Alyeska Resort owner John Byrne, a check made to “Sustainable Girdwood.” The problem was Sustainable Girdwood was just a name with no corporate shell, so how would we cash this check?
Without knowing this answer, presentations were made to Girdwood 2020, Girdwood Rotary Club, and Girdwood Lions club, explaining the mission and goals of Sustainable Girdwood and requesting some matching support.
The goals are ambitious, but the plans to reach them are realistic. The mission, as the name implies, is to make Girdwood a sustainable community. To do this we need to transition from a consumerist, unsustainable, internationally codependent community, to one that is sustainable in every respect. This is a “think global, act local” path towards a responsible and guilt free existence.
Mid-term goals include developing renewable energy opportunities so that Girdwood is energy independent, and creating a year round greenhouse to grow 80% of the produce we consume.
Real progress is being made.
In past articles I outlined the $20 million Girdwood Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center we wish to build in partnership with the University of Alaska. Work on this is progressing with current focus on building design and site selection.
The big news is that UAA’s Department of Civil Engineering has now assigned students from two senior engineering design courses to work on this project during the current Spring Semester. In order to graduate, these students will develop engineering designs for several possible micro-hydroelectric plants on Alyeska Creek, and the building design of the Renewable Energy Research & Discovery Center. The latter will be a place where students, scientists, and residents will work together towards all of the goals of Sustainable Girdwood. Several students from a graduate course in environmental regulations and permitting will be assisting these efforts to start a UAA center in Girdwood, as well as assessing the permits required for the micro-hydroelectric systems being proposed across the valley.
At 7 PM on Thursday, April 8th, the students and their mentors will present their preliminary engineering designs to Girdwood at the community center. You are invited to attend.
Sustainable Girdwood is also organizing some short-term summer-season greenhouse projects this year, to experiment and collect data on temperature, sunlight, humidity, and other factors that affect plant growth. One greenhouse has been donated so far for this, and it seems likely the materials for another will be donated, if enough of the carpenters around here will volunteer to help assemble it. The new greenhouse will be constructed at the site of the Community Gardens at the Girdwood Chapel off Timberline.
Sustainable Girdwood is seeking volunteers to help with greenhouse construction this spring, and to tend and grow vegetables and herbs this spring, summer, and autumn.
This experience will position Girdwood competitively to secure the funding for a $10 million year-round greenhouse system to provide most of the produce this community consumes.
Thankfully, Girdwood Inc., the same 501(c)(3) that acted as the fiduciary umbrella organization for such great projects as the Roundhouse Museum, the Skate Park, and the Girdwood Playground, accepted Sustainable Girdwood’s application for temporary umbrella status. People and organizations can now make tax deductible donations for these projects payable to “Girdwood Inc.” with “Sustainable Girdwood” in the memo/notes section.
Another way to support these efforts (and have a good time) is to attend the Thursday March 25th, Sustainable Girdwood Spring 2010 Benefit Concert at the Alyeska Sitzmark.
Performers at this benefit include JunioR, Melissa Mitchell & Friends (Including Spiff, Tony Restivo, Jon Dykstra, James Glover & More), Loose Gravel, with DJ Militant, the “AK Fire Circus” (spinning fire), and other supporters offering between-set entertainment. It’s going to be a real locals show, but tickets are limited to capacity.
There is more to share than can fit in one short article, but residents are encouraged to check out the new website for these projects, at www.SustainableGirdwood.com. It’s a site in development, and has little content online, but that will change quickly. Also, it has a Community Forum area so YOU can review all the ideas being presented and chime in with your own two cents.
In this writer’s opinion, Sustainable Girdwood is more than a grandiose idea. It’s a community imperative. When our community becomes sustainable, we will be doing justice to all fellow inhabitants of this Big Blue Marble, aka Earth. We hope you will help us make it so.
Evan Cutler
Facilitator, Sustainable Girdwood
(907) 783-3826
PO Box 1276
Girdwood, AK 99587
Year Round Food Production with LED Grow Lights
by Evan Cutler, November 2009, Publish in the Turnagain Times
Last issue, I shared a bit of the vision for a year round food production facility here in Girdwood. To grow plants anywhere on earth, you need at least four things: Seeds, nutrition, proper temperatures, and light.
In this article we will explore the issue of light.
Depending upon who you ask, the shortest day in Girdwood, December 21, may be about four hours and twenty minutes long. In any case, it’s too short for growing harvestable vegetables in winter. If we want to be growing plants to produce food year-round, we will need to use artificial light to supplement what is naturally available.
The visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for most humans ranges in wavelengths from around 400 nm (violet) to 700 (red) nanometers. When sunlight is sent through a prism, or a misty sky, to separate the light in order of wavelengths, we interpret these frequencies as a rainbow.
Gardeners have been using full spectrum grow lights to grow everything from tomatoes to marijuana indoors for decades now. This technology works fine, but results in a very expensive electric bill, because those lights burn hot.
While humans need full visible spectrum to see as we prefer, plants can grow very well with just a few colors of light. It turns out that plants are sensitive to a few peak ranges in the blue, yellow, orange, and red parts of the spectrum, and that they need a different balance of these light energies during different parts of their growing cycle. There has been quite a lot of scientific research in this area lately.
The past few years have seen a wave of new breakthroughs in the design and production of Light Emitting Diodes, known as “LEDs.” It turns out they are now being mass produced with increasing efficiency, and will ultimately become less expensive to manufacture than traditional lighting as time goes on.
What’s really interesting for us, is that LEDs can be made to emit the specific wavelengths that plants need to grow.
By using LED lights in our greenhouse, we will be able to provide all the light our plants need, and none of what they don’t need. Better still, they require a fraction of the energy traditional grow lights need, so we won’t need as much electricity to grow our plants. LEDs are part of our path to making Girdwood Sustainable.
We hope you will join us at our public meeting, in the Girdwood Community Center meeting room (library building) at 4 PM this Saturday, Nov 21.