By Tom Braford
We have come to expect temperature spikes in July and August, but last month’s early heatwave in St Louis has a lot of people asking the questions, “Are longer, hotter summers in St Louis, along with frequent polar vortex, arctic temperature dips in the winter, the new normal?” “Is there anything we can do about it?”
Sizzling summer heat in St Louis is nothing new. Prior to the advent of air conditioning, during hot summer nights, thousands routinely slept in Forest Park.
Now we typically stay inside and crank up the AC, but as the mercury climbs, our utility usage soars. As long as we are dependent on 85% coal-fired electric, we are only contributing to the problem.
In St Louis, the Board of Aldermen wisely passed a resolution recently committing us to 100% renewables by 2035. As we work to accomplish this, what about the CO2 we have already put into the atmosphere? It will continue to make the situation worse for some time, even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow.
Intentional community development may sound like a strange answer until you consider the power of combined action, intelligence and resources and the fact that any solution currently being proposed will not be fast enough, so we have to consider remediation sooner rather than later anyway.
At Arizmendi Ecovillage, we will do our part by going beyond 100% renewables to carbon sequestration right now and to remediating the microclimate around our homes and businesses by creating seasonally enclosable temperate zones. This lowers the heating and cooling loads on the buildings, lets us grow food year-round in these spaces, improves air and water quality, provides pleasantly habitable semi-outdoor space year-round and, just to take the edge off seasonal extremes, it uses minimal energy by primarily using the earth under the site, water that falls on the site and natural convection currents to moderate seasonal extremes.
To find out how we can accomplish this affordably, please come to an open house potluck with our design and development team at 5:00 pm on Saturday, July 21.
Contact: braford@sbcglobal.net
www.ArizmendiEcovillage.com