Putting My Mouth to Work and Getting Paid to do it

Good morning loyal Greenies! I apologize for not getting in here sooner this week, with writing my novel for NaNoWriMo my time has certainly been sucked right out of me; its hard to believe its past mid November already!

I am writing with both some exciting local and potentially personal news as well. Over the summer I reported on the Cape Wind project having their permits approved and how exciting it was to consider the prospect of bringing that many jobs and megawatts of electricity right here to my home state.

Unfortunately many of the efforts have been blocked by people and groups who oppose placing these turbines off shore in the middle of the ocean. However there are groups fighting to keep the project on schedule and one of these groups is Environment Massachusetts.

I haven’t talked about these folks yet but about six months ago many of you may have noticed their link showed up on the sidebar. I receive regular email updates from them on all of their clean air, clean water and open space initiatives and their big thrust is going to Cape Wind right now.

Yesterday I started looking for a part time job and wouldn’t you know it, Environment Massachusetts is hiring for their grassroots initiatives! Hooray! I meet with them today to discuss the current campaigns and which one I might be working on. My understanding of the position is it’s a part time gig that involves lobbying, fundraising and face to face discussion of the campaigns. Right up my alley if I do say so myself.

I will let everyone know how it goes but I am super excited to be meeting with them and learning more about their efforts, then hopefully getting hired so I too can get my butt out there even more so to make a difference in my local area.

Wish me luck!

Sharing Is Caring

Last night we had my mom over for dinner and it was a fantastic night full of laughs and awesome conversation, catching up and sharing the daily happenings of all our lives. As a housewarming gift she gave us a copy of Christina Pirello’s vegan cookbook Cooking the Whole Foods Way which I must say I am already completely excited to tear into and start creating from because just about everything in it sounds fantastic and mom has made a dish or two for us already at her place and they were fabulous (Leaf Rating review to follow!). In addition to the book she brought a couple other goodies but let me back up to explain them all.

A few months ago I purchased tickets to see Jason Mraz on his upcoming Gratitude Café Tour when he comes through Boston. Because Matt has gone with me to a countless number of this man’s shows, not to mention that we will see him open for Dave Matthews a couple weeks before the Boston show, he declined going this time so I invited my mom. To somewhat prepare her for the experience I figured it was only right to let her borrow his most recent studio release We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things and give it a listen. She brought it back last night saying she may even buy it, that it is really good. I had a feeling she would have that reaction! As she handed it back to me she also pulled a couple other cd’s out of her bag.

Back in April my mom and her best friend Eileen hosted their own birthday bash at a shnitzy function hall complete with a cash bar, full buffet style meal and live entertainment. They kept the entertainment portion to themselves for months as a surprise. There was much guessing among us who the performer might be -- Five O’Clock Shadow, John Gorka, Vance Gilbert, Ed Gerhard or perhaps Christine Lavin? The night came and a musician I had never heard of before got up to sing and play his guitar and, along with everyone else in the room, he blew me away. His name is David Roth.

David is a folk genre singer with seven albums available and the songs he performed that night were upbeat and fun selections from his catalogue. One song in particular, “New House in Orleans”, stood out as it was all about construction of his home on Cape Cod; after completing a 3-1/2 year rehab ourselves it resonated with me and Matt. I had been meaning to pick up one of his albums since that night but had not gotten around to it. Well last night my mom pulled a few of his cd’s out of her bag of tricks and said I could have my pick of one; David had been kind enough to give both of the gals a box set as a thanks for having him and some of the discs were duplicates to her collection. Score!

I scanned the discs for the song and found it on his album Think Twice a two disc set. I was so excited to load the discs onto iTunes this morning and give this new music a listen so when I got to the second to last song on the first disc titled “What Can I Do” I simply smiled. I would like to share the lyrics here and encourage everyone to check out this talented singer and songwriter as well then get out and do something awesome for someone else today!

“What Can I Do”
by David Roth

I heard somebody had a hard day out there
I had a hard one too
We could count ‘em all up and see who wins
Who do you think would have more
Me or you?

Feeling sorry might work, but not for long
We don’t have that luxury of time
Got an idea, might help us both
And it starts with a question of mine

CHORUS:
What can I do for you today
How can I help in some small way
It would be such a gift to me, its true
If you’d let me do one little thing for you
What can I do

There’s a whole lotta things that I can’t make
I can’t build a house or meditate
But I know there’s one thing I can create
I can make some time

Tho the older I get, the faster it flies
I spend it like crazy, no surprise
But when my pockets are empty
And my credit’s declined
I’ll know that at least I gave you some time

CHORUS

Such a noisy and crazy Earth out there
We are neighbors in crisis everywhere
Just in case you were thinking no one cares
Someone may prove you wrong

People all over this world need love
Some won’t be lucky to get enough
That’s why I’m hoping that you’ll understand
How we’ll both get ahead if I give you a hand

CHORUS

Thanks for the inspiration David, can not wait to pick up more of your wonderful tunes. ♥love♥

Cape Wind Is Clear for Construction

Here in Massachusetts we have the area of the coast known as Cape Cod, a decent sized peninsula that hooks around north forming what looks like a bent arm at an elbow. The Cape, as it is called in these parts, is a fantastic place to vacation with lots of wonderful beaches, cutsie New England-esque shops and amazing scenery. Frequently bunched in with The Cape is most always The Islands. This refers to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, two small islands, just south off the coast. In the Nantucket Sound strong winds tend to gust and Cape Wind has been waiting patiently to make use of this natural resource.

On May 28, 2009 Governor Deval Patrick expressed his enthusiasm for the approval of permits across the state to begin construction on the 130 turbine project. The project is expected to generate enough power to provide electricity to upwards of 420,000 homes from the 420 megawatts of electricity generated by the wind power available in the Sound.

As the first fully operational, offshore, wind turbine farm in the United States, Cape Wind will be making history. There are many who are not too keen on the idea of creating that kind of historic mark however. Fishermen and wildlife experts are concerned of the possible displacement of marine life and the need to go further offshore to acquire these species. In addition many residents within eyeshot of the proposed farm site location are convinced it will cause a reduction in home values as they feel it will create an offshore eye sore.

Regardless of the opposition the approval of the permits is an exciting thing as this will create a whole slew of jobs in the Green Collar sector for a large mass of people who are greatly in need of one at this time. In addition it will make use of a fully sustainable, rapidly renewable resource to provide electricity -- wind power.

The Cape Wind website contains a plethora of information on this project. Everything from Press Releases to the benefits of using wind as a resource to an area specifically dedicated to how to teach our children about the benefits of using wind as an alternative to oil or even natural gas to power our lives.

Now that the permits are in place for Cape Wind I do truly hope it is done in a responsible way so as many natural resources as possible are protected as well as a creation of jobs is provided for so many struggling workers. I personally will enjoy every minute of watching those majestic blades spin this summer!