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Quote of the Week
“The fact is, putting coal miners back to work is no more possible from a
business standpoint than putting telegraph operators back to work
taking Morse code or putting Eastman Kodak employees back to work
manufacturing film rolls.
Politicians who ignore these market realities and make promises to
coal communities they can’t keep are engaged in something worse than a
con. They are telling those communities, in effect: The best hope they
have, and that their children have, is to be trapped in a dying industry
that will poison them.
I don’t believe that’s true."
— Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (opinion piece for the Washington Post)
The Art of Conservation
Sightseeing in Nature
by Olivia Schroeder
"I took this picture while on a walk in a meadow in the middle of my
neighborhood. Normally, I walk my dog here, but when I went with the
purpose of taking pictures for a theme of “discovery”, I began to see
things differently. I didn’t realize how many trees there were in the
meadow and I didn’t see the pure beauty of nature before. I’d never
walked there to actually look at the nature. It was eye-opening."
Olivia was one of six Special Distinction winners in the 2017 edition of our high school art contest. View the rest of the entries, then check out the Winners' Gallery, complete with written descriptions by the artists themselves!
Conservation Calendar
Make Your Own Tote Bag
Sunday, Jan. 28, 1:00-4:00 pm, West Tisbury.
BYOB in style after attending this sewing workshop led by Sarah Vail at
the West Tisbury Library. Free, but registration is required, and you
must bring your own materials ( details at library website). For adults and kids accompanied by an adult with some knowledge of sewing. To sign up, call the library at (508) 693-3366.
Full Moon Owl Prowl
Wednesday, Jan. 31, 5:30 to 6:30 pm, Edgartown.
After dark, bats–Earth's only mammal capable of true, sustained
flight–may be everywhere around us while remaining hard to notice. Join
Felix Neck for a full moon walk to get a better look and listen to these
amazing creatures. $10 (members $5), for more info see website or call (508) 627-4850.
In the meantime, read all about our local owls and check out more amazing photos by Lanny McDowell in this 2014 MV Magazine story.
Land Bank Winter Walk
Sunday, Feb 4, 1:00 pm, Oak Bluffs.
Land Bank staff lead a guided walk from Trade Wind Fields Preserve to
Farm Pond in Oak Bluffs. The walk will last from 1 to 2 hours, and is
held rain or shine, so dress for the weather. For directions and more
information, see Trade Wind Fields at Land Bank website or call (508) 627-7141.
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Local News
Discovering Your Sense of Wonder
A whale of a creation by Bo Fullin using materials found along the West Chop beaches (photo by Signe Benjamin)
A frozen beach, hot cider, and cool crafting were the attractions at
last week's Winter Walk. VCS teamed up with Sense of Wonder Creations in
Vineyard Haven for an adventure in nature exploration and art. If you
missed it, check out the photos!
Our next Winter Walk will be a return trip to the Frances Newhall Woods Preserve on Sunday, Feb. 11. We hope to see you there!
Zero Waste Event: Community Dinner & Movie
This Friday, join us to celebrate the world premier of Everything Connects
with a zero waste dinner, activities, and games at the West Tisbury
School. Workshops during the event will show families how they can save
the planet through shooting hoops, mixing cosmetics, decorating produce
bags, making beeswax wraps, and more. For the brave, there will also be a
chance to tour the plastic "House of Horrors" created by students at
the WT School. For younger kids, there will be a screening of Papa Cloudy's Orchestra.
Don't forget to bring your own place setting for a special Zero Waste
dinner. Josh and Angela Aronie's Food Truck will have tomato soup and
grilled cheese for sale, there will be hot chocolate and coffee from
Chilmark Coffee, and treats from the WTS Student Council Zero Waste bake
sale.
Our special guest will be Dylan D'Haeze, the creator of Everything Connects. The fourteen-year-old filmmaker, who has previously produced a series of documentaries called Kids can Save the Planet,
is coming from his home state of Washington to join us for the event.
His newest film explores how communities can develop zero waste
strategies, and looks at building a sustainable lifestyle for today and
for future generations.
The entire evening is in support of the Zero Waste movement underway at
the West Tisbury School and elsewhere on Island. The event is
co-sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival, Vineyard
Conservation Society, Sail MV, Island Grown Schools, Vineyard Land
Surveying, Cronig's Markets, Vineyard Herbs, Plastic Free MV, The Food
Truck, and Straw Free MV.
The event is free and open to the public, from 5 - 7 pm at the West Tisbury School. See poster for more details.
Other News
Baker & Trump Administrations Throw Shade on Residential Solar
Photovoltaic solar power is undoubtedly a crucial part of the transition to any future energy supply system. All methods
of electricity generation, including renewables, come with
environmental drawbacks (which is why conservation is paramount), but
when properly sited in the built environment (such as on rooftops,
parking canopies, and highway medians), solar is arguably the closest to
harmless. (For the VCS response to a poorly-sited solar proposal, see the second story here.)
That is why this week’s news of a two-pronged attack on residential
solar is so disappointing. In a big win for Eversource, the electric
utility has successfully convinced our state regulators to allow their
proposal to charge homeowners with solar panels
more than $100 per year for the privilege of remaining connected to the
grid. (Electricity supplied through the grid is a natural monopoly, the
market for which is granted to Eversource – but with regulatory
oversight, presumably to protect consumers and the environment.) The
publicly-stated rationale for the charge is that people who get most of
their electricity from solar aren’t paying their fair share for the
benefits they receive by remaining connected to the grid: the ability to
draw more than their panels produce during peak times, a backup power
source in case their solar system fails, and a method for distributing
their excess solar production to other users (and being paid for it).
As the Boston Globe story linked above rightly points out, a
case can be made that Eversource is underappreciating the value of
distributed electrical production. What the Globe leaves out, though, is the bigger picture. Eversource is engaged in a long-running political campaign to decrease incentives for residential solar (for one example, last summer’s reductions in “net metering credits,” the amount solar owners receive for selling excess power back to the grid), sometimes even co-opting legislation originally intended to support residential solar toward their own ends. Taking into account the company’s broader pattern of behavior,
one could be forgiven for concluding their newly-approved “demand
charge” is not purely motivated by feelings of sympathy for the ordinary
folk who can’t afford solar panels.
Making matters worse, now fewer of those ordinary folk will be able to
afford them, thanks to Monday's announcement by the Trump administration
of new tariffs
on imported solar panels. Here, the stated rationale – protection of
domestic producers of panels, and thereby manufacturing jobs – comes off
not so much as disingenuous as merely foolish. Far more people are
employed in the installation of solar projects than in manufacturing, so
the ultimate effect of raising prices for American customers will
probably be a net loss of jobs. Of course, another effect is to
encourage our continued reliance on fossil fuels; however, given the
administration’s public statements, this too seems more foolish than
deceptive, though that may be a matter of opinion.
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