Jan Spencer, culture change advocate, at Traditions 7/28/07

Terra Commons presents,

A fascinating evening with

Eugene, OR ~ culture change advocate

Jan Spencer

July 28th, 2007 7pm

Traditions Fair Trade Cafe

300 5th AVE

Jan will weave together aspects of economics, urban land use, US foreign policy, global trends, Permaculture, and human potential in a unique analyses the concludes unprecedented eco logical culture change is highly recommended.

The presentation will show how many assets and allies of culture change already exist, some of them closer than we might think. Spencer will explain the term ‘culture of cohesion’ and how reinventing the urban landscape can be a catalyst for helping bring about this new paradigm.

Jan is currently writing a book about Eugene and Cascadia 30 years into the future and 15 years into recovery. Copies of Jan’s book ‘Global Trends - local Choices – towards an Eco Humanist New Culture’ will be for sale. To see Jan’s place and articles and essays Jan has written along with a YouTube video tour of his property, go to: www.suburbanpermaculture.org

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Sunday, July 29th

Permaculture Garden Bike Tour

Bring your bike and come see what amazing Permaculture gardens are growing right here in Olympia.

Please Call (360) 866-1331 for more information and to sign up to ride.

Contact:

(360) 866-1331

terracommons@riseup.net

www.oly-wa.us/terra

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Terra Commons is a non-profit network. We serve communities by researching, designing, and practicing habitat restoration, sustainable agriculture, and natural building. We believe that our patterns of land use and habitation are directly connected with the health of our biosphere and that of generations to come. Through our connections, we share in the responsibility of positively affecting the balance of economic, social, and ecological systems.

Big Solar's day in the sun

This is not the same old pipe dream. The economics -- and the technology -- of turning light into electricity have changed. Business 2.0 has the inside look at the industrial-strength power plants coming soon to a grid near you.

By Todd Woody, Business 2.0 Magazine assistant managing editor

June 3 2007: 9:48 PM EDT

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Clouds hang low over the New Mexico desert, deep inside a military reservation a dozen miles south of Albuquerque. A breeze stirs the air; tumbleweeds roll by. Then the sun shines through and a low whirring sound breaks the silence.

Six mirrored solar dishes that look like giant flowers with 15-foot stamens come to life. They pivot in unison, slowly tilting to face the sun rising over the jagged peaks of the Manzano ranges. A total of 468 mirrors -- 78 on each flower --capture the sun's rays and concentrate them into beams of light intense enough to melt lead.

At each flower's focal point, suspended on metal struts, is a Stirling engine -- a heavy, piston-driven heat engine whose design dates from the Steam Age but is now coming into its own, thanks to the grim calculus of rising oil prices, global warming, and the threat of government-imposed carbon taxes. As the tips of the engines glow white-hot, 150 kilowatts of greenhouse gas-free electricity flows into a power grid.

Welcome to the proving grounds of Sandia National Laboratories, a nine-acre field of dreams for solar entrepreneurs and a launching pad for the next era in energy technology: the age of Big Solar

More:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050990/index.htm