Big City, Small Neighbourhood

Uptown Waterloo may be the centre of a city of 100,000 people, but it still feels like a neighbourhood. I like this about Uptown, and I guess it's not unusual for neighbourhoods that border on a university campus. St. George campus in Toronto feels the same way. You meet people! Yesterday on my bike going to work I met no fewer than 4 people who have some level of significance in my life.
First it was Mary-Lou Klassen, calling a greeting as we met going opposite ways in the bike lanes on Father David Bauer. Then, a minute later I recognized the slouching shoulders of Tim Corlis from behind as he walked along the gravel path in Waterloo Park. He was on his way to teach a class and tells me that he, Sara, and Claire, are leaving Waterloo so that he can begin a PhD at UBC in the Fall.
Then I encounted Will Winterfeld as I often do coming the other way on the path through North Campus.
Lastly, there was Richard Janzen, waiting at the lights at Bearinger Dr.
This is the great thing about a bikeable/walkable city...you meet people and have the choice to interact with them. Sure it's a little slower than a car, but I think the quality of life aspect far outweighs simple speed. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I would rather spend 25 minutes on a bike in the morning, getting my heart rate up in the fresh air of an uncongested city than 15 minutes in a car breathing filtered air in heavy traffic. (Blogger doesn't recognize "uncongested" as a word. I guess I really am in the minority... Like the Inuit with their words for snow, you think we'd have a few words for traffic jam.)
On the way home I saw Tierney and Steve from Grebel. I saw Leah coming home from work on my way to yoga. It turns out that my yoga instructor Andrew has a PACS minor from Grebel. Connections abound.... Then in the evening, my actual neighbour Mohrgan and I walked to the band shell at Waterloo Park for Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall 1971.
Somehow two days morphed into one there, but that gives you the idea. We live in a wonderful little city. Hopefully it'll hold its character as Waterloo becomes even more the hub of technology, leading research, international and peace studies. It'd be hard to find a better place to call home.

Transition

I learned today that despite my best efforts to repair past relationships at ARISE, there won't be a position for me in the Fall after all.
I guess I have to accept that ARISE wasn't a great fit, though it was a very good one at times, and one that I felt, and still hope, will carry me into a field where I'll continue to find meaningful work. The projects I've been involved with at ARISE have surpassed what I imagined and hoped for when I started here 14 months ago. Working in downtown Toronto, with a community of capable, committed, volunteers who truly care for the earth. This is in many ways an ideal job... and I remember that, despite the sour note of losing my position at ARISE in the midst of the work going very well (strange irony). This isn't to say I haven't learned a lot and had some major growth in other areas of my life in that time. In a way, the end of my romantic relationship parallels the loss of my job. I can see things that done differently could've put me in a better position now...but I did what could as the person I was. It's funny how songs just pop into my head at the most appropriate times. "I did what I did..." says BB King.
Sometimes blogging feels a bit self-indulgent. I might spend this time studying, or out for an espresso with Matt and Mohrgan. But tonight things suddenly feel a lot more complex and I'm glad to take the time to reflect. Tonight, Mohrgan, Matt and I may read each others' blogs and sip espressos in virtual company...

Environmentalist without a cause

Pulling into my driveway at 8:30 after another long day in Toronto selling and coordinating the selling of solar power systems, I feel strangely empty. What good is solar power without people to celebrate the fresh air and overall sense of global-responsibility with? As a salesperson, or even an industry rep, people are always on guard, even just a little. You can't relate to them on a conflict-free level, simply enjoying the process of making clean energy a reality in Ontario. There's nothing more disheartening than spending my Saturday evening with a customer in Etobicoke arguing over a calculator, and then to be told that I may as well be selling anything because ARISE is really just about making money without regard to the environment. And what can I respond? In some ways, it's true.

Gliding along

I'm feeling very happy with the direction this WISE project is taking me. Just in the course of working through the challenges of implementing residential PV in a tight little urban neighbourhood has given me an excellent idea for a graduate thesis, looking at the feasibility of distributed micro-generation in urban retrofit applications. It even sounds like a plausible grad thesis! These community projects are the most successful current model for getting systems out there into the residential setting. But they're seriously lacking data to assess their efficacy in meeting Ontario's goal of narrowing the electricity supply/demand gap.
I think a thesis along these lines would score highly for relevance and researchability.

I haven't mentioned it yet in my blog, but one of the joys of working on the WISE is the residents I get to visit. They often have interesting insights into energy issues. I enjoy being invited into their homes and seeing the different ways people express themselves in the place they live. It's also a chance to hone my people skills.
The second resident I met with on Friday was ARISE's VP of Corporate Development, Steve V. After giving him the presentation, I mentioned the Nomad he purchased for his cottage last summer, and he came back with the comment that Africa could hold opportunities for our little solar-power systems. In fact, he has a niece working for an NGO in The Gambia.

Really...? How exciting to hear a senior executive at ARISE reflecting the vision for micro-solar in Africa that I've been working on for a year with the interest and support of West African partners.

And lastly, I'm continually crossing paths with prof. Chris Mills, who teaches in the UW Health Studies Dept, and is an active advocate for pedestrian-friendly urban planning. She rides a neat little belt-drive bicycle and runs a new music concert series out of her home. She offered Mathmatikos a spot to play in the Fall. Our first paid gig!

Now, onto the details of making all this happen...

Sand in the clay - sales and stewardship in a complex environment

Sometimes I wish I was more of an academic and could live away from the miriad conflicts of interest that exist for someone who makes a living selling a product on moral grounds instead of financial or other more tangible factors. Fortunately in solar, there's feel good and "coolness" factors as well to lighten things up a bit.
It's one thing to sell cars or insurance, but to mix selling with your core beliefs.... I used to think it was a beautiful marriage - sell something you believe in, you never have to overspin, you rarely have to compromise. And I think it can be done, but it's treading on dangerous ground when you start to mix ethics and selling. I think one solution is to make sure you're as technically competent as possible, and leave the ethical arguments to the David Suzuki's and Al Gores of the world.
This is a good reason to stay politically neutral in sales, but it's also a good reason to live below your means. As a champion of sustainable living, no one will point fingers at you for being in business just to make money if you live simply and know your stuff.

The overlaps can be good too. It's not a bad feeling to walk into a room of like-minded characters, (and everyone in this field is a bit of character), who hang out and talk about their day-jobs like it was a hobby. In the environmental field, you can do meaningful work and live your philosophies in very practical way. This is definitely something to be grateful for, even if it's tough to navigate.

The blog title comes from something I heard at the Green Neighbours 21 meeting yesterday in Toronto. Jeff, who's Program Director for Water Efficiency at the City, was telling a story about a woman who called him up concerned about her garden. She'd done a number of things to 'improve' the fertility of her clay soil, which wasn't yielding despite best efforts. She told him she'd tried to do the right thing, tilled and compost-fertilized etc. Then she acted on something she'd read about sand being porous and good for low-water plants. She poured a bed of sand on top of the clay and then planted. Jeff said with a wry smile, "What happens when you mix sand and clay...you get cement. "

When you're out of school and there's no right or wrong answers anymore, no black and white, it's hard to know whether you're making the difference you want to. I've thought about grad school and whether it would be better to pursue these goals in a more neutral, research-focused context. But I'm not ready to give up on sales yet. There's a core of people who have put a lot into the West Toronto initiative, and they're counting on ARISE to deliver. At least for the next few weeks, I'll be committed to building on their efforts and working on our collective belief that this is a means to a cleaner, more people-friendly environment.

Caring for the earth and each other

I'm becoming aware of a much deeper connection between love of the earth and love for people, a connection that has been largely overlooked in my search for spiritual environmentalism to date. On Monday mornings, I do yoga and so I guess I'll have to wait to explore the topic in a later blog.