Memorial Day Festival

Missouri Renewable Energy is having its annual
Memorial Day: Free Energy Festival, this Monday, May 28th, from 10am-4pm,
in New Bloomfield, Missouri.

Rain or shine, we will be there and we are planning on Barbecuing!

Hope to see you then!

Green Priorities?

Image (c) Fred First www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com

Recently my wife and I have enjoyed conversing with a new acquaintance in Columbia: Monta Welch, founder of the Columbia Climate Change Coalition (check out the CCCC's online group). One especially thought-provoking conversation in particular has reopened, at least for me, the question of “green priorities.” As we – as green-minded Missourians, Americans, and earth-dwellers in general – continue to moved toward a united voice and mission, we must ask ourselves, “What for?” Why find and expand our “green community?”

Some of the ready answers are powerful in and of themselves. First, of course, clichéd though it may be, we are a stronger force together than we would be alone – in lobbying, in outreach, in mutual encouragement. We educate one another; we stretch and challenge each other’s perceptions. There is something good – something both utilitarian and ‘holistic’ – about all of this. All things “green” have their value; all green actions have their place.

And to be sure, we should indeed avoid the temptation to hold as more “valuable” any one ecological interest over another: One person’s goal to protect a fragile, local ecosystem is not more “valuable,” per se, than another’s focus on harnessing wind power or teaching conservation to children. But here’s the thing: all “values” aside, are there not, in this hour, some issues more pressing – more worthy of our combined energies and passions as a green community?

If the climate scientists are right, the answer, it would seem, is a resounding “Yes.” The Climate issue, that is, is strikingly “pressing” in that the rivers, the forests, the ice-caps and endangered species, the coastlands, and all that we are trying to protect, are themselves “endangered” by the prospect of what might come in the next few decades if we as a species don’t change our course.

To be sure, whatever we have already been doing, we need to keep doing it, and with no less fervor --- whatever our passions (rivers or forests, alternative energies or endangered habitats) we should not let them go. But for those of us whose main environmental concern has NOT, to this point, been global warming (and I count myself as on that boat), the time has passed for passing the responsibility to “someone else.” If we have no more room on our “front burners,” then clearly we need a bigger stove.

Nathan First
Missouri Renewable Energy

Earth Day is approaching!

If you live near the Columbia area, don't forget about the Earth day event on April 22nd,
MORE Energy will be there, so stop by and say hello!

And if you live near Marshfield, Missouri, MORE Energy will be having a free energy festival from 10am-4pm. We hope to see you there!

Advancing Renewables Conference, March 28

A friend of ours in the area's sustainability society, David Mars (more on him, and them, soon?), tells us this conference in Columbia is a don't-miss event for the renewable-energy savvy (or for those of us who'd like to be...). Something like 200 people made it to last year's all-day event, and it looks like they've got another impressive line-up of speakers for this one (the keynote speaker this year is Julia Judd, executive director of SEPA -- Solar Electric Power Association).

Still, I look forward just as much to milling around during coffee breaks, seeing what's new on the "renewable" market, and meeting other likeminded folk.

See you there?

A New Renewable Group Starting

Missouri Energy Survival

February Renewable Energy Workshops

We had a great time at our Winter Energy show on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007! About a hundred people were able to make it, despite the very cold temperatures. If you were unable to make our winter show, we want to invite you to our Spring show, on March 25th from 1pm-4pm!

We also want to invite everyone to check out our workshops going on in February and March. The workshops provide hands-on information and instruction on a variety of Renewable Energy topics. Also included in the workshops is a dvd/video and/or handouts on the material. We hope to see you soon at a Renewable Energy workshop! If you are interested in saving money on the workshops we invite you to become a MORE member. Details on workshops and membership are all found on our website or call 1-800-228-5284 for more information.

FREE Winter Energy Show

This Saturday we want to invite everyone to attend our Free Renewable Energy show!

Located at 9810 State Road AE, in New Bloomfield, Missouri
Saturday, February 3, 2007 From 10AM- 4PM

The show is indoors, however dress warm to walk between the various buildings. We will have demonstrations and various resources for the public. There will also be a bake sale for breast cancer survivors.

We hope to see you Saturday!
For more information call 1-800-228-5284