Interesting news: "On Small Farms, Hoof Power Returns"

A big thank-you to my youngest nephew, Hannes, for sharing this article with me, which appeared many weeks ago but has only just made it into my orbit:

On Small Farms, Hoof Power Returns

By TESS TAYLOR – New York Times – Sheffield, Mass.
Published: May 3, 2011

ON a sunny Sunday just before the vernal equinox, Rich Ciotola set out to clear a pasture strewn with fallen wood. The just-thawed field was spongy, with grass sprouting under tangled branches. Late March and early April are farm-prep time here in the Berkshires, time to gear up for the growing season. But while many farms were oiling and gassing up tractors, Mr. Ciotola was setting out to prepare a pasture using a tool so old it seems almost revolutionary: a team of oxen.

Read on here.

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in the Emmental and Aaretal, the heartlands of Bernese Switzerland, farmers all around still used teams of horses or oxen to pull the plough, or the roller, or any of the other heavy implements needed to till the land, sow and reap. Horses or oxen were used to pull trees out of managed woodlands and shift other heavy stuff.

Just last Sunday, one of my walking friends told me her father never ever swore at his oxen, but when the new tractor came in, replacing the animals, he would kick at the tyres and swear at the temperamental machinery – she said the atmosphere on the farm changed completely – and not for the better.

Now that the price of fuel is rocketing, young farmers are returning to this much more natural way of life.

Greenpeace JugendSolarProjekt in Switzerland – Young people receive hands-on education about solar energy

Here's something that Scotland and its government(s) could emulate -- just in from Greenpeace Switzerland (original in German, translation by yours truly):


Welcome to YouthSolarProject


In 1998 the JugendSolarProjekt (JSP – YouthSolarProject) of Greenpeace Switzerland began to embark on new approaches to environmental education. Guided by the catchphrase "Actions are better than words", we have involved young people in the installation of solar plants on top of public buildings and/or social institutions. So far, over 10,000 young people have helped to install over 175 solar plants.

Today, Greenpeace Switzerland's YouthSolarProject (JSP) proudly presents its biggest solar energy project so far. For the past two weeks, apprentices from all over Switzerland installed a photovoltaic plant in Melchnau BE. With a surface area of 1,885 sqm, it is currently the country's biggest rooftop installation.

The project clearly looks to the future of energy supplies. A roof no longer simply provides weather protection – it is a power plant that produces a great deal more energy than is required for the actual building itself. The photovoltaic installation in Melchnau will produce enough electricity for 65 households.

A Swissolar study has shown that simply by making consistent use of appropriate rooftops, one third of the electricity needs of Switzerland can be met by solar energy. The transition to renewable energy is not a technological issue – it is a political decision to stand firm against producers of energy that has a negative impact on our climate.

This is the mission of Greenpeace and its YouthSolarProject. The time is ripe. Technologies are available. Switzerland can afford to invest into sustainable energy supplies. Join us in the fight for a sunny future – please support our work and the energy revolution.

Doors open to the YouthSolarProject and the photovoltaic plant in Melchnau BE
on 29th and 30th May, 2010 – come and see us!

Writing Competition to Raise Awareness of the Sustainable Environment

Raising Awareness of the Sustainable Environment:
A new writing competition is launched by the 29th Winchester Writers’ Conference, Festival and Bookfair

3-5 July [2009] at the University of Winchester

All writers are challenged to enter this competition to express their awareness of the dangers of climate change and their concern for sustainability of our environment

Specification:

Write an article, no more than 1000 words, on either or both, topics:

• A Moment of Illumination: Describe the time when you saw climate change in a different light and how this experience has changed your life.

• Extreme Climate Events: Picture a place that you know well. Imagine stepping into the future and visiting this place in 2039. Describe how the impact of extreme climate change has altered this place.

First prize £100. Second Prize £75. Third prize £50 and Three Highly Commended Awards

Adjudicator: Robert Hutchison, Chairman, Winchester Action on Climate Change

Sponsor: The University of Winchester

For details contact
Barbara Large
MBE Centre for Research and Knowledge Exchange
University of Winchester
Winchester
Hampshire S022 4NR

Tel 01962 827238
Email Barbara.Large@winchester.ac.uk or print your application from the
website www.writersconference.co.uk