Appalachia--Science in the Public Interest

Fall 2002 Number 73

ASPI Board Votes to Retain Laurel County Land

The vote was unanimous on the issue of whether to try and retain the Laurel County land we bought earlier this year to save it from a local logger. The original idea was to sell it to the Daniel Boone National Forest, but a number of issues have made us reconsider and we have decided to make our best effort to hang onto the land.

First, the purchase of the land required that we emptied funds used for self-insurance, vehicle maintenance and other things important to our functioning and peace of mind. Second, the US Forest Service land acquisition process usually takes one to three years to complete, leaving us vulnerable for a long period of time. Third, the land fits perfectly on the inside of our “U” shaped curve in the river, giving our land a more regular, contiguous footprint in the valley. Fourth, this will allow us to actively monitor and address off-road-vehicle destruction on both sides of the river and insulates us from the potentially negative effects of ever-changing federal forest management policies.

We will begin to write grant proposals to foundations that fund land acquisition in our area. Our hope is that we can piece together enough to cover the $43,225 we paid out for the two parcels ($47,825 minus the $4,600 generously donated by Frank Fritsch) from a combination of grant funds and special gifts to a new Land Acquisition Fund. If anyone would like to make a donation to this fund, please mail it to us and specify that it is for the Land Acquisition Fund. Donations for this fund will help us greatly in securing grant funding for the balance of the monies expended on the land. As always, we will give a calendar for each $100 donated, but any size gift is appreciated and we are happy to show the land to anyone interested in donating.

We will not use general donations or Thanksgiving Drive funds for the land purchase, as we cannot afford to use these funds both for land acquisition and our ongoing projects, so please give only what you can afford to give above and beyond your regular donation level. If we cannot raise enough to cover the purchase by Spring 2003, we will begin the process of selling to the US Forest Service, and the Land Acquisition Fund will remain in place for the next time an important parcel of land comes on the market in our area.

State Fair Visitors See the Light

Our participation in the August 2002 Kentucky State Fair helped spread the word about the work of ASPI and the Kentucky Solar Partnership. Over the 10-day event, many contacts were made. About 200 people signed up to receive ASPI’s newsletter and a petition was signed by about 200 people eager to see net metering passed in Kentucky at the legislative level. For those unfamiliar with net metering, it is a means for utility customers to receive full credit for their own renewable energy generation in a “grid-intertied” arrangement, using the electric grid as a backup for storage of excess generated energy. This means that when the solar system is producing more energy than the building is using, the excess electricity is fed back into the electric grid (no batteries required) for use by other customers. For more information, go to www.a-spi.org/solar.

More than 1000 people stopped to take a spin on the Energy Cycle. In return they got a crash course in energy efficiency. The Energy Cycle, owned by Berea College, is a wonderful tool for comparing the efficiencies of different lighting technologies. Participants power a pedal-powered generator to see how many energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs they can light up compared to inefficient incandescent bulbs. Many were surprised to see how much effort it took to light up just one energy-hog incandescent bulb. Many more stopped by to ask questions and pick up information on solar energy.

We sold 20-Watt (equivalent light output of a 75-Watt incandescent) and 26-Watt (equivalent light output of a 150-Watt incandescent) fluorescent lights to offset some of the cost of the booth. In all we sold about 60 light bulbs, which will save about 42,000 KWHs (Kilowatt Hours) of electricity over the lifespan of the bulbs and about 54,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming) from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Al Fritsch Honored at State Fair

It was a welcome surprise to see an exhibit at the fair honoring the land stewardship work of Al Fritsch, ASPI’s co-founder and director for 25 years. His photograph and a number of quotes were displayed, along with five other Kentuckians noted for their dedication to land stewardship. The display was designed and presented by the Louisville Courier Journal.

National Solar Tour Visits ASPI

On Saturday, October 5, 2002, solar homes and buildings across the U.S. open their doors for the 7th Annual American Solar Energy Society (ASES) National Tour of Solar Buildings. The public is invited to see and learn about the solar applications in featured homes and buildings, and door prizes will be awarded for farthest distance traveled, automobile with the most passengers, and most efficient and cleanest vehicle used to attend. Anyone who is interested is welcome to visit between the hours of 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

ASPI’s Mt. Vernon office will be showcased for the first time. Our new 20-panel, 1500 watt solar system has been reducing our electric bill by over 50% since it was installed in March of this year. We will also have the ASPI electric car on hand for rides and viewing.

Two homes will also be showcased in outlying Rockcastle County communities. The Livingston ASPI home is passive solar heated, with many south facing windows. The Disputanta home is a round geodesic dome. Both homes get electricity from solar panels. Please visit www.a-spi.org/solar or call the ASPI office for directions to the sites.

New Ginseng Research Site and Ginseng Leaf for Sale

ASPI has opened a new research site for ginseng in North Carolina. Leaves from organically grown ginseng plants have been supplied to the Research Lab at Livingston, Kentucky where Dr. Jack Kieffer does Thin Layered Chromatography (TLC) to assess the ginsenoside content in the leaves. Jack has already produced a TLC plate on the first batch of leaves from the new site and sent it off to Dr. Laura Murphy at Southern Illinois University, who is conducting groundbreaking cancer research using Ginseng. This brings the number of research sites monitored by ASPI to three, including the one at Stanton, KY on Syl Yunker’s property.

ASPI is presently exploring the possibility of offering organically grown ginseng leaves over the internet in powder form. We currently have about ten, ten-gram portions that we are selling for $10.00 each in an effort to gauge the interest in such a product. Please call, write or email if you are interested in purchasing some. For more information on our ginseng project go to www.a-spi.org/agf/.

Nature Center Director Hired

We have now moved into Phase IV of the Nature Center project and have hired Andri Kukas as our part-time Nature Center Director. She’s a graduate from the University of Kentucky’s Natural Resource Conservation and Management program, an experienced environmental educator, and an environmental justice activist. Andri is bright, energetic, and has an abundance of ideas for the center. In fact, Andri says the hardest part so far is choosing among the many options for exhibits.

She explains that, “Through an ecosystem approach, we will emphasize biological diversity, healthy forests, naturalist skills, human relationships within the natural world, and stewardship.” This will be accomplished through interactive programs and exhibits focusing on wildlife, plants, and ecosystems of the Rockcastle River drainage and the Cumberland Escarpment. She is currently working on a “living machine” (constructed aquatic ecosystem), a bird blind, and a non-point source pollution exhibit. In addition, at the end of August, we received a Kentucky PRIDE grant to create an interpretive booklet for our nature trails, and interpretive signage for our solar applications, cordwood buildings, cisterns, organic gardens, composting toilets, and other demonstration projects.

Our programs will be geared toward school-age kids and teachers will appreciate that our programs comply with Kentucky’s Core Content for Science Assessment. Our nature trail and other exhibits will include multiple levels of interpretation so that visitors of all ages will be challenged. Andri will begin tours of the new exhibits by appointment in spring semester 2003, so call now and set up a time for a visit. Our current exhibits and 5+ miles of trails will be open throughout the Fall, and tours of our solar applications, cordwood buildings, gardens, and other appropriate technologies will be available as always.

ASPI Employee Series: Spotlight on Martha Bond

For those of you that haven’t had the experience of calling ASPI and having Martha answer the phone, you are missing something. I have no doubt that many callers make small talk just to hear the easy-going cadence and soft Southern Appalachian inflection in her voice a little longer. Her’s is a voice that says come on in, set a spell, and tell us what we can do for you. Those that fall under the spell of her easygoing manner, however, will soon be caught off guard by her quick wit and sense of humor. She’s quick to laugh, and even quicker with a good comeback.

Martha was born in Brodhead, KY in 1941, and has lived all of her life in Rockcastle County. She has one older brother who is now the pastor of a Baptist Church in Lebanon, VA. In 1952, her family moved to Livingston, KY where she graduated from Livingston High School in 1959. She married Ott Bond in 1970, tossed her five children from a previous marriage in with his four children, and they had one more together, making an even ten. It was like the Brady Bunch on steroids, but there was no Alice to help around the house!

Ott worked as an electrical technician at local army depots while Martha took care of the home front. From gardening and canning, to cooking and sewing, to mothering and helping with homework, there was never a dull moment. She is also an accomplished quilter and made the quilted window shades in the ASPI Nature Center. The kids all had chores such as helping with canning, gardening, cleaning, cooking, ironing, etc, after which they were free to play. Church has always been a big part of her family life. She grew up in the Baptist Church and currently attends Livingston Pentecostal Holiness Church, where she taught Bible School for many years before asthma and high blood pressure began to slow her down.

She was hired by ASPI under a grant that promoted the hiring of people with Native American ancestry (her great, great grandmother was Cherokee). Martha took to the work at ASPI with the same energy and competence she employed in raising her children. She particularly enjoys the calendar sales season because she enjoys writing thank you notes to our loyal calendar customers and donors. She also shares many of the ideals embraced by ASPI. She conserves water, recycles, and is particularly angered by people’s disregard for the air that we breathe, due to her asthmatic sensitivities to airborne contaminants.

Calendar Reminder

Just a reminder that our best-ever, enlightenment-inducing 2003 ASPI Simple Lifestyle Calendar is hot-off-the-presses and ready to ship to the location(s) of your choice. Please call, write or e-mail if you haven’t received a calendar brochure/order form and help support our work while treating yourself to the coolest calendar in Appalachia. Don’t forget that the holiday gift-giving season is just around the corner, so order a hundred or so for your close friends and family.

Three new technical papers will be available by early winter:
TP 67 The Lilongwe Solar Box Cooker: A Construction Manual by Elesani Zakochera and Mark Schimmoeller;
TP 68 Hermitages in Appalachia by Al Fritsch, SJ; and
TP 69 Masonry Rockwork in Appalachia by Al Fritsch, SJ and Eddie Stallsworth.

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