This is a quick note to let you know that I will be speaking at the 2018 Garden Expo This February 9-11. On both Friday and Saturday I will be speaking for about an hour about my adventure to Peru, but mostly about the Potato Park and the important work a group of 6000 indigenous people are doing to protect potatoes and the many varieties that originate high in the Andes Mountains. Would love to see you at one of the sessions I am leading.
Friday, Feb. 9, 4 p.m. Waubesa/Kegonsa room
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2:15 in Mendoda 5 room
Below is the program notes about my talk
Where 6,000 People are Protecting Potatoes for the World
Joshua Feyen
Madison Area Permaculture Guild
Josh Feyen visited Paru Paru, one of six villages in a uniquely-designated area high in the Andes Mountains. This is the birthplace of the potato, and Josh returned with video, photos and stories about a small group of people dedicated to growing, preserving and sharing potato plants, culture and knowledge. Learn about traditional planting and harvesting, and the Park's modern-day efforts to keep potato seed stock free from biotech company royalties, for humanity to share this amazingly adaptable staple crop. And photos of llamas and alpacas, because they're just cute.
See the full schedule here wigardenexpo.com
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Most significant moment in Paru Paru, Peru
The second week of my time in Peru was spent in the Cusco region, where the Inca wonders such as the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu are located. Just an hour outside Cusco is an entirely underappreciated region called "Potato Park." This video shares my impression that they are doing service work for the world. Yes, the entire world.
https://youtu.be/2utI7rzRHLM
https://youtu.be/2utI7rzRHLM
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
My most significant moment while in Arequipa
Yes - The Urbane Farmer has been away, far, far away. Like, Peru.
I spent three weeks in Peru as part of a three credit international engagement elective class for my Masters program. I don't have a lot of time right now so I'm simply going to share a link to a video that talks about the most significant moment I had while in our Arequipa, Peru, the first stop on our two week adventure.
Video one of three - visiting gardens in an unlikely place and the conflict the gardeners have with sharing their water supply.
YouTube video
I spent three weeks in Peru as part of a three credit international engagement elective class for my Masters program. I don't have a lot of time right now so I'm simply going to share a link to a video that talks about the most significant moment I had while in our Arequipa, Peru, the first stop on our two week adventure.
Video one of three - visiting gardens in an unlikely place and the conflict the gardeners have with sharing their water supply.
YouTube video
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Article on Unintended Consequences of Changes to the Automotive Industry
I read this article and want to share it with you and also hold onto it "for the record."
Cars and second order consequences
The article covers many of the (unintended) consequences of both electric vehicles and autonomous cars. Part of his argument is in line with questions I've asked about the impact on gas tax, and how road construction is actually paid for (TIP: it's not all about gas tax).
I hope you enjoy reading the article.
Cars and second order consequences
The article covers many of the (unintended) consequences of both electric vehicles and autonomous cars. Part of his argument is in line with questions I've asked about the impact on gas tax, and how road construction is actually paid for (TIP: it's not all about gas tax).
I hope you enjoy reading the article.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
My February Family Reunion
The Wisconsin garden Expo is a fundraiser for Wisconsin Public Television. That's the official explanation for this convergence of home and professional gardeners, landscapers, tchotchke sellers, non-profit organizations of all flavors (The Wisconsin Day Lilly Society! and many others) implement dealers, equipment sellers, and even the Mini dealership and a bathroom remodeler. Not quite sure how that last one fits...
Using permaculture principles to design an urban orchard, store water, reduce work and build community."
I have now attended the Expo for four years, and while I am by no means a seasoned veteran (I am sure there are people who have been attending for decades) I am now familiar enough with the rhythm that I have found my favorite way to attend.
Mark is Rodney's partner and also a very talented gardener. He's done what I've always wanted to do; asked and took over his neighbor's yard. |
Think of the rest of this blog post as my Valentine to the following amazing people, and my gratitude to the Wisconsin Garden Expo for bringing us together during a February weekend when we are all in the midst of cabin fever.
Petrovnia is new(ish) to gardening but oh my enthusiastic. Her quest for knowledge is infectious, we had a lot of fun bumping into one another several times this weekend. |
I met Patrick years ago at Friday Night Dinner. He and his partner Keith are two of the handiest guys I know and are always digging into or building something. |
Dave and Paul are long-time friends and I was lucky enough to run into them to add them to my Garden Expo album. |
Labels:
friends,
Wisconsin garden expo; Valentine
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
SUN PWRD
We finally received our vanity license plate today! I've always eschewed vanity plates, but guess I couldn't resist the confluence of new car + electric car + solar panels on the house.
We charge our car overnight at our house which (obviously) doesn't use electrons we make, but it does debit the "banked" electricity we made during the day. And when I drive the Volt to work, a few times a week I charge up at the Alliant Energy Madison headquarters where they have five free charging stations, and they are solar powered too!
So here's to a happy, sun-powered new year for us and many others.
I recently wrote two series about our electric car that you might enjoy reading.
One is about gas tax and electric vehicles, and the second is about our decision to buy an electric car and install solar panels on our house.
Part 1 - How Volkswagen is Helping us Repay the Planet for Its Sins
Part 2 - Our Search for a Cleaner Car
Part 3 - Buying a Used 2016 Chevrolet Volt
Part 4 - A Lesson on Creating Clean Energy at Home
Part 5 - Making the Decision to Add Solar to our Urban Roof
We charge our car overnight at our house which (obviously) doesn't use electrons we make, but it does debit the "banked" electricity we made during the day. And when I drive the Volt to work, a few times a week I charge up at the Alliant Energy Madison headquarters where they have five free charging stations, and they are solar powered too!
So here's to a happy, sun-powered new year for us and many others.
I recently wrote two series about our electric car that you might enjoy reading.
One is about gas tax and electric vehicles, and the second is about our decision to buy an electric car and install solar panels on our house.
- Part 1- Introducing the Tricky Question of Electric Vehicles Paying Their Fair Share
- Part 2 - Changing Trends Include Far More Than Electric Vehicles
- Part 3 - Gas Tax 101
- Part 4 - Are Electric Vehicles Making a Dent in Gas Tax revenues NOW?
- Part 5 - Actual Impact of Electric Vehicles
- Part 6 - Some States Experiment With New Ways to Fund Roads
- Part 7 - The Truth is, Gas Taxes Don't Actually Paying for Road Construction and Repairs
- Part 8 - Conclusion
- BONUS - The Electric Vehicle Owner’s Talking Points
Part 1 - How Volkswagen is Helping us Repay the Planet for Its Sins
Part 2 - Our Search for a Cleaner Car
Part 3 - Buying a Used 2016 Chevrolet Volt
Part 4 - A Lesson on Creating Clean Energy at Home
Part 5 - Making the Decision to Add Solar to our Urban Roof
Labels:
Chevrolet Volt,
photovoltaic,
solar panels
Saturday, December 31, 2016
BONUS - The Electric Vehicle Owner’s Talking Points
This is the bonus in my series on gas tax, roadbuilding and electric vehicles. You can find links to the other parts at the bottom of this post.
- The gas tax does not fully fund road building and maintenance.Since the interstate highway system was implemented in 1947, U.S. spending on highways has exceeded the amount collected from fuel and vehicle fees by more than $600 billion.
- Most of the deficit is made up with local, state or regional bonds or municipal property taxes. So even if a person doesn’t drive, if they pay state or federal taxes, they’re paying for road construction and maintenance, a type of infrastructure that only cars, trucks and buses can use.
- Roads within cities are generally financed through local, property, and sales taxes. They do not get any of the gas tax collected at the pump.
- Electric cars not paying the small amount that purchasing gas contributes to road maintenance is a bit of a non-issue. Society is subsidizing roads big time.
- When Congress enacted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, they mandated auto manufacturers to improve the fuel economy across their vehicle fleet. Most people agree this is a good thing. As vehicles become more efficient, they put more miles on roads per gallon of fuel, reducing their per mile contribution to the road tax. This is what's really killing the Federal Highway Fund and state fuel taxes collected at the pump.
- Hybrids vehicle sales account for 2.2 percent of overall vehicle sales, and have yet to hit four percent in a given year. This indicates that the problem of gas tax revenue lost through these vehicles is negligible compared to the decrease in tax collection that has resulted from the nation’s drastic drop in overall fuel consumption.
- As of August 2015, the lost gas tax revenue from electric vehicle sales of 365,000 vehicles is shown to be $71.9 million or a loss of 0.23 percent. That's two tenths of one cent of every dollar collected. Cut a penny into 10 parts, remove two of them. Not much.
- Current assessment is that in 15 to 25 years EVs could make an impact on revenue. This means that now is the time to come up with a new way to tax vehicles for road construction and maintenance.The Highway Trust Fund has experienced a continuing shortfall that is attributed to three major factors:
- more fuel efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles,
- the fact that federal gas rates has not risen since 1993 and
- the increased cost in highway construction and repairs.
- Part 1- Introducing the Tricky Question of Electric Vehicles Paying Their Fair Share
- Part 2 - Changing Trends Include Far More Than Electric Vehicles
- Part 3 - Gas Tax 101
- Part 4 - Are Electric Vehicles Making a Dent in Gas Tax revenues NOW?
- Part 5 - Actual Impact of Electric Vehicles
- Part 6 - Some States Experiment With New Ways to Fund Roads
- Part 7 - The Truth is, Gas Taxes Don't Actually Paying for Road Construction and Repairs
- Part 8 - Conclusion
- BONUS - The Electric Vehicle Owner’s Talking Points
Labels:
electric car,
electric vehicle,
EV,
gas tax,
highway trust fund,
talking points
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