Dear Friends: 

      It's that time again to send out the list of special projects, every year I pick 10 items I don't usually do & get them going.  Previous years have included; care of old trees, promotion of CO-housing & shared bike programs, education on the need for return of rail service, amphibian crossing issues, promotion of organic milk in returnable bottles & even building a cordless electric solar charged ironing board vehicle. 

    Some projects from last year got finished some will be completed this year.  Several disappointments last year, seems there was no interest in environmental singles, (guess I'm the only single still out here) or tracking recyclables (but a company from Holland has started doing this).

    So, Here Goes:

 

"My role to weave the thread"

10 years ago at my Dad's funeral, I spoke of this, to connect past & present, my Dad introduced "Indian Hemp" to me & I've often gathered it.  For the spring project, I want to make a break to crush the stalks & make some rope, Helen at Camphill has already offered to spin the thread.  The goal here is education on uses of native fiber plants & education on the need to return hemp as a farm crop to Pa. So far I've collected information on making rope from Native Hemp, the break is started & I've collected a lot of information on legislation related to permitting growth again of European Hemp, once grown here. 

 

Promotion of car share

This concept is growing big time, there are places where 1 car is owned by 75 people.  Here's the research:  

Car sharing is a revolution in personal transportation - urban mobility for the 21st century. About 75% of North Americans live in cities. Many of them simply don't drive enough to justify the expense and hassles of owning a car - yet can't give up the freedom of driving a car when they want to. Car Sharing provides flexible wheels for an urban lifestyle. It's instant-access to a network of cars throughout the city, 24 hours-a-day, paying-per-trip, without commitment or inconvenience: as EASY as hailing a cab, the FREEDOM of your own car, as AFFORDABLE as a latte, FASTER than renting, and lets you KICK the CAR HABIT "Get online" with a car sharing network and you'll get convenient access to a fleet of vehicles (cars, vans, trucks) in your neighbourhood and across the city - and pay only when you use them. Reserve the vehicle - by phone or Internet, 24-hours-a-day - that best suits your needs, and use it for a few hours, or a week. Pay per trip, and never have to worry about repairs, insurance or monthly parking again. And when you feel like it, grab a taxi, take the train, walk, ride a bike or take the bus. If you drive less than 12,000 km (7,500 miles) a year and you don't need a car for work every day, car sharing will likely save you thousands of dollars a year, give you greater mobility - and actually reduce pollution. 'If you live in a city, you don't need to own a car.' William Clay Ford Jr., Chair, Ford Motor Company Ltd. Car Sharing, launched in 1987 in Switzerland and later in 1988 in Germany, came to North America via Quebec City in 1993. As of July 1, 2008 - based on data provided by Susan Shaheen, University of California, Berkeley - 18 U.S. carsharing programs claimed 279,174 members sharing 5,838 vehicles, and 14 Canadian carsharing programs claimed 39,664 members sharing 1,667 vehicles. Car sharing is great for cities Transportation is the life-blood of any economy. And yet, our fast-growing urban centres are faced with increasingly clogged arteries. Car Sharing is the "missing link" in our urban transportation systems. The biggest determinant to vehicle use is vehicle ownership. Car Sharing helps people kick the car-owning habit, without going cold turkey, and with the financial reward of saving money. Car Sharing should be an important option in every major urban centre. While not a magic bullet to solve all traffic and air quality problems, especially commuter-related issues, it is an important new tool that can deliver real benefits quickly from primarily market-based capital. Best of all, across North America, city governments & transit agencies have finally begun to understand. Cities like Seattle & Washington,DC have always had strong transit support for car sharing; Philly & Berkeley have replaced part of their city fleet via car sharing; and others are providing on-street and other parking support. The past and present City RFP list may be helpful to cities and CSO's. Download a great overview from news articles here. Some Stats 1 shared car replaces 8+ individually owned cars Members giving up a car when they join - 15% Members not buying a new one because they joined - 25% Car Sharing increases transit usage: AutoShare Stats: Members using Transit MORE - 27% Members using Transit LESS - 7% S.Shaheen @ UC Berkley Stats: Trips made by transit Before joining - 35% Trips made by transit AFTER joining - 53% Car Sharing increases other forms of travel: Members biking/blading MORE - 25% Members biking/blading LESS - 8% People drive less Swiss Energy Dept. 2000 stats: Ave. driving reduction, former Car owner - 72% Ave. driving reduction, all car sharing members - 55%+ Misc. Stats The average N.A. car is driven just 66 minutes a day Household income spent on cars: 1998 - 14.8% 1990 - 13.2% # cars made-but-NOT-SOLD in 1998:..... 20,000,000 # people who could share these unsold cars:... 300,000,000   Where can I find car sharing? http://www.phillycarshare.org/index.php (Just Philly area) http://www.zipcar.com/ (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Philly, Portland, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, all over, also university towns)   http://www.connectbyhertz.com/home.aspx (New York, more locations coming soon) http://www.ithacacarshare.org/ (Ithaca, NY) http://autoshare.com/index.html (New York and Toranto) http://www.igocars.org/ (Chicago) http://www.mycitywheels.com/ (Cleveland, OH) http://solarcarshare.org/ (Sebastopol, CA) More complete list on http://www.carsharing.net/where.html Info found on http://www.carsharing.net/

 

Micro Enterprise projects:

 

 There it is, please contact me if you have interest in any or all of these. JimCrater@aol.com   More details to follow on the web site.  http://www.recyclingservices.org/       Jim Crater  / Recycling Services, Inc. 365 Elm St. Pottstown, Pa. 19465     610 323 8545