Bernie's 90 Green and Clean Editorials - South Burlington VT

             I publish images and commentary - stories and photos about caring, community, and contribution, inspiring people to maintain a litter-free environment. Why? Because stories make us care.                   

Columns written by Bernie and originally published in "The Other Paper", local newspaper of South Burlington, VT.  Published since 2009; click on any of the titles below to read the particular column.

Published Date: Title                 

May        2016  Farewell Click then go to Page 8 of The Other Paper (my last column after 7.5 years.)
Mar         2016  Partnership for Green, Clean; Beautiful S.B.
Mar         2016 Part II: SB City Center. Will it be Green and Clean?
Feb         2016   None

Jan          2016  Clean City: Ours to Lose or Keep

Jan          2015 Submerged (not published)

Feb         2015  I Love Chocolate (not published)

Mar        2015  None
Apr 11,  2015 Beautiful Nature Litter Free (Birds). Originally published in Watching Backyard Birds magazine, April 2015

Apr 30,  2015 Clean City Ordinance Proposal Presented to Council 

May 14, 2015 Green Up Day Highlights
June 11, 2015 Clean Branding Editorial (not published)

June 25, 2015 What is a Community Neighborhood?

July 23, 2015 Growing Young Gardeners 

Aug 27, 2015 Machia Wilderness Camp 

Sept 24, 2015 Our City's Image Today Builds the Brand of Tomorrow

Oct 22, 2015 Fall Community Harvests
Nov 2, 2015  Lens on Litter (Not published)

Nov 26, 2015 A November Blessing (Poem)

Dec 3,   2015 City Beauty Matters 
Dec 19, 2015 City Prepares for Santa (Not published)
Dec 23, 2015 Park Your Gift - Have Fun Outside

Jan   2014 January Pledge: Keep it Clean, Keep it Green (Not published)

Feb 27,  2014 What I've learned from Birds

Mar 27, 2014 SB Litter Patrol: Adopt-a-Block for a Cleaner Community

Apr 10,  2014 Green Up Day Competition Let the Games beginpage3

May 22, 2014 Insulation: Are you Trading Health for Energy Savings?

June      2014   One Bag Challenge (Not published)

July       2014  None

Aug 7,  2014 Smallest Sounds 

Sept      2014 None

Oct 16, 2014 Foliage Season Train 

Nov 26, 2014 A Tribute to Social Janitors

Dec 23, 2014 Sustainable Christmas (Short Story)  

  

Jan 10,  2013, What's Your Story?
Feb 14, 2013 The Heart that Gives, Gathers

Mar 14, 2013  March Awakens Us
Mar 28, 2013 Anti-Litter Guru Wins SBLT Award / My acceptance speech. 

Apr 11, 2013 Green Up Day: Tradition, Treasure Hunt, & Pink Bras. (Pending)

May 16, 2013, Clean & Green. (Green Up Day results)

June       2013 None

July 18, 2013, Picking up the pieces 

Aug       2013 Odd Road Markings Sighted

Sept 26, 2013 Who Will Speak For The Trees?

Oct 31,  2013 Ghosts, Goblins and Green Goodies 
Nov 4,   2013, What's so Great about Litter Picking? (not published)
Dec 13, 2013 Christmas - I look for a Reason to Believe. (not published) 

Dec 19, 2013, The First of the Season 

Jan 5,    2012 Let's Celebrate 2012 with Actions
Feb 2,   2012  In Memoriam 
Feb 7,   2012   Green Economy - Does it include you? (not published)

Feb 16, 2012 Happy Valentine's Day (To Mother Earth)

Mar 8,  2012 Everyone Can Play this All-Season Sport

Apr 12, 2012 Selling the Clean Brand
Apr 2,   2012   Solar Trash Receptacles -proposal to SB Council (not published)

May 17, 2012, What is Success?

June 14, 2012 Going for a walk with Dad (*Tribute to my dad)

July 19, 2012 Looking for the Four-Leaf Clover 

Aug 9,   2012 "The best things in life aren't things."
Sept       2012 None

Oct 11,  2012 What Goes Up... Must Come Down

Nov 1, 2012 Will S.B. Businesses Cultivate Clean Branding?
Nov 9, 2012 Cigarette butts - do they count as litter? (not published)

Dec 13, 2012 Letters From Home (Christmas Wishes)

Jan 13,   2011 Local man spots trash (Michelin and Stay puft marshmallow man)

Feb 10,   2011 Vermont man lost in Minnesota 

Mar 10,  2011 Vermont Files for Spring IPO
April      2011  Why are we tolerant of littered trash? (not published)

April 21, 2011 Green and Clean: Green Up Day 

May 12,  2011 Carry It with You (If roads could talk)

June 16,  2011 Bird Fever; you should catch it

July 14,  2011 Tell me Why

Aug 11,  2011, Why did the turtle cross the road?

Sept 8,   2011 Sharing Summer Vacation (A play in one act)

Oct 27,  2011 Let's Not Disappoint Them
Nov       2011 None

Dec 8,   2011 Chipmunks Pick Up Their Trash

Jan 14,  2010 Will we Throw it all Away 

Feb 11, 2010 Creative ways to celebrate Valentine's Day

Mar 11, 2010, S.B. Businesses, beware the Ides of March

Apr 8,   2010 Tradition

May 13, 2010, Terra Firma

June 10, 2010 Walking Home (*tribute to my dad)
June       2010 Beware the Litter Ides of March (not published)

July 15, 2010 Sleuthing

Aug 12, 2010, The Dog Days of Summer

Sep 9,   2010 Who Is Responsible For This Mess?

Oct 21, 2010, The Power in Numbers

Nov 18, 2010 Intensive Care

Dec 9,   2010 Mark your territory

Feb __, 2009 Bait in Styrofoam Containers
Jan __, 2009 New Year's Resolutions

Mar 12, 2009 Volunteers are in demand

April _, 2009 Litter With a Story To Tell (Pink Bra)(PENDING)

May __, 2009 Litter Prevention

June __, 2009 Misconceptions about Cigarette Butts

July __, 2009 With Freedom comes Responsibility

Aug__, 2009 Finding Hot Spots

Sept __,2009 Green and Clean Back to School: A field guide to Litter 

Oct __, 2009 The Importance of Green and Clean Main Street

Nov __, 2009 Giving Thanks

Dec__, 2009 Christmas Wishes

Bernie publishes commentary and photos reflecting Vermont values of Green and Clean and Community. View images of South Burlington beauty at http://bit.ly/1SE0zc4 and follow on Facebook @ South Burlington VT - Photos.

Don’t just change what people think, change what people feel, then change what they do.  ~Bernadette Jiwa

Author profile (2009)

 Hello, please find below a little insight into who I am and why I contribute my Green and Clean thoughts to The Other Paper. 

         My wife and I are proud parents of four children, an Army Sgt. Recruiter and recipient of the Army's recruiter ring, a daughter married and living in Sweden, a son managing a store in Kansas, and our youngest son graduating from UVM this spring.  I attended Champlain College 2001-2006, earning a Bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Some of my core values are personal expression through writing finding meanings and possibilities, harmonious relationships, and hard work. My temperament is towards a humanist culture. My motto is "Laugh, dream, try and do good".  I enjoy personalized writing, to quote Joan Didion “I write to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see, and what it means".  My hobbies include quiet water paddling in a kayak or canoe, reading, bird watching, and camping.

South Burlington's The Other Paper is exemplary of our shifting expectations from newspaper media providing focused, detailed, local investigative reporting, and S.B. community social interests, all with an optimistic and influential flair. The Other Paper, by publishing a growing number of local contributors is expanding a community town hall type of discourse and refreshing what might otherwise be stagnant waters by exposing us to diverse S.B. citizen's visions, and dreams.

Sharing stories and ideas while offering encouragement to individuals to influence and take action in our city government and in our city culture is personally rewarding. The opportunity I relish when writing green and clean articles is rallying fellow residents towards a year-round litter-free environment.

How would you like people to react after reading your essays? Be intolerant of litter every day, every place. Rally for clean up wherever and whenever you see litter.

Bernie urges us all to maintain a litter-free environment through caring, contribution, and community in order to protect our water, wildlife, and human health. 

Park Your Gift - Have Fun Outside

     According to the World Happiness Report, from a money, happiness and satisfaction study in 2012, Denmark was at the top in life satisfaction and work-life balance and

17^th in income. The United States ranked number 1 in income but ranked 12^th in life satisfaction and 29^th  in work balance. This holiday season, how can we find the sense of happiness found in Denmark?

     This reminds me of the Bobby McFerrin singing, “Don’t worry – be happy. Put a smile on your face”. Also reminds me of the Cyndi Lauper singing, “Girls just wanna have fun”. Perhaps those references are showing my age. However, that is okay, as WebMd advises that people are happier, less stressed, and feel better about themselves after age 50. With increased age comes wisdom and emotional intelligence. Well I feel happier, less stressed, so two out of three isn’t bad!

     Now WebMd seems to caution about extremes. “Sure, pleasure is great and you need plenty of it, though there is more to happiness than racking up pleasurable experiences. Psychologists studying the effects of positive emotions say gratitude can boost our sense of happiness if we turn it into a conscious and regular practice. Feeling gratitude, they say, is something you do (such as expressing gratitude or keeping a gratitude journal), not something you wait for!”

     I think I will start by shopping for a Christmas tree. Now in past years, when our children were little, this was a mix of fun, and agony. The fun was the idea of the family outing, decorating the tree, fresh pine smell. The agony was my choice of Charlie Brown trees in an effort to squeeze dollar bills.

     This year I think I will (frequently) visit South Burlington parks and natural areas to shop for the Christmas tree experience. I will take photos of Christmas trees- no messing with tangled light cords, non-functional bulbs, no spilling water, no sweeping pine needles, no worrying about money.  The live growing pine and spruce trees, the natural trees of green releasing aroma like pheromones make me feel happy, alive, refreshed, and thankful we have such a spiritual and pleasure giving place to boost our sense of happiness.   

     My wish list to Santa is to have more residents feel pride and a claim of ownership and display a maternal caring attitude and behavior towards our public landscape - both the cityscape and the natural areas. For love of community, may we take thankful pride and ownership in our public places-especially our natural places?

     Santa, for those not yet familiar with nature parks: Red Rocks, Wheeler, Underwood, Dumont, Centennial, Winooski Gorge Overlook, as well as the Awasiwi trail, Muddy Brook Natural area, and regional WVPD parks, I ask that you leave an invitation in their stocking; an invitation to park their gifts for a little while, and go have fun outside.

     It is not too late to give a gift of an outdoor experience - to a loved one and to yourself.

* Storywalk: Take a walk in the Wheeler Nature Park to view the current story walk, Let's Have a Tree Party by David Martin, Jeff Manders and John Manders. See photos @ http://bit.ly/1OkmrWg

* The Secret to Danish Happiness: The Five Rules of "Hygge".

* A Map of Happiness Around the World

*Denmark is Considered the Happiest Country. You'll Never Guess Why.

#Optoutside REI's Black Friday pledge

View Bernie’s images of South Burlington nature parks and more @ http://bit.ly/1SE0zc4 and follow on Facebook @ South Burlington VT - Photos.

Many a snowmen are waiting for you to bring them back to life.

Bring along a thermos of hot chocolate to sip while you watch and listen to nature.

South Burlington Solar Farm Tour

The South Burlington Energy Committee hosted the Celebrate Solar Tour at the South Burlington Solar Farm, located at the end of Dubois Drive, off of Hinesburg Road. (June 20, 2015)

South Burlington, VT Photos

Follow that plane. Oops, I mean follow the sun, all you solar trackers.

Sunscreen not required. 

Our host, David Blittersdorf, Pres./CEO of allEarth Renewables.

         
Dave related to us that this 

25 acre Solar Farm was built in 2011, has 382 solar trackers, creates 2.13 mega watts of electricity and provides enough electricity to power about 450 homes. Mr. Larkin owns the land and has an option to purchase the installation (solar trackers). 

In comparison to this Solar Farm 2.2 megawatt output, the four turbine wind-farm in Georgia, Vermont can create 10 MW of electricity. (Source: Green Mountain Community Wind). For another comparison the  McNeil generating station (wood burning plant) in BTV creates ~50 MW of electricity.

Electricity generated on this solar farm is sold under the Vermont *standard offer program  to Green Mountain Power. (*A state program to encourage the development of renewable energy sources in Vermont.)

Vermont gets about 11 to 12% of all its energy consumption from renewable energy. 
The Vermont Public Service Department, in its Comprehensive Energy Plan in 2011, calls for 90% of the state's energy needs (electric, heating, and transportation) to be met with renewable energy resources by 2050.

David advised that brush-hog work is done in late July - after bird nesting season so as not to disturb the bird's nests. 

This solar farm installation's price tag - $12.6 million. Today's cost for an equivalent sized solar farm- estimate of $7.6 million. Panel prices dropped to 10% to 15% (85%-90% reduction in price) in the last ten years in part thanks to investment and volume production by China.

The panels are made from the same material as computer chips - silicon. 

The solar farm contract and state permit extend for 25 years. The panels degrade about 0.4% per year. The projection is that in 25 years, the panels will still provide about 85% of their original production capacity. 

Each tracker has its own GPS with a sun table. By tracking or following the sun, these units are able to provide about *30% more energy than fixed ground- mounted systems. *Ref: allEarthSolar

Since each unit works **independently of the others, if one goes off line, the others can continue to produce electricity. **Ref: Solar Pro

No concrete was used in the foundation of these units. They are literally screwed into the ground, about eight feet down. The electrical wires inside of HDPE conduit (more environmental friendly than PVC) were buried underground in a narrow trench. 

Permitting for a project this size takes about six months currently, while installation takes about four to eight weeks.

The trackers dump snow in the winter by going to a vertical position. 

The power from this solar farm is sold at a fixed price for 25 years, at which time the contract and permit must be re-negotiated. 

The anemometers measure wind speed. In winds over 30 mph, the panels move to a flat position. 

A state regulatory agency required the fencing. The entire site is monitored via remote camera.

To be fenced in or out, that is the question.

References:
allEarth Renewables
allEarth Renewables press release for SB Solar Farm completion
South Burlington Energy Committee
Georgia Mountain Community Wind
Vermont’s Sustain-ably Priced Energy Enterprise Development (SPEED) standard-offer program
Vermont's Standard offer subscribers
Vermont Public Service Department State Renewable Energy Goals
Read more details about this solar farm installation @ Solar Pro
Vermont's 2015 Renewable Energy Standard Bill (H.40)
2015 forecasted 'big year' for solar (globally)

Bernie publishes short stories and photos reflecting Vermont values of Green and Clean and Community. He urges us all to pick up litter in order to protect our water, wildlife, and human health. 

Bernie resides in SB, Vermont.