DOERS Energy Fair to Inform, Inspire and Mobilize!

What do you think of when you hear the words “lecture on global warming?” Is it “Quick, where can I hide?” No one wants to hear scary stories about inevitable doom. Far better to see a funny movie, or sew a quilt, or have a drink, right?

We at DOERS feel the same way, which is why we didn’t organize a “lecture on global warming.” Instead we’ve organized something of an action-oriented extravaganza, in true DOERS style, to help us grapple with the demon that we’re all so afraid of.

We’ll start off the event with an illustrated talk by Dr. Jon Foley, atmospheric scientist and associate professor at UW Madison, on “Global Sustainability, Local Responsibility: Tackling global environmental challenges in your own life and making a difference.” Dr. Foley wants us to know what the problems are, but he isn’t out to depress us.

He’ll be sharing with us not only his scientific knowledge, but his personal experience in cutting back his family’s carbon dioxide emissions by 66%.

After the Q&A period, we’ll have the chance to change our good intentions into actions, by visiting the many booths at the sides of the hall. Home energy inspectors, renewable energy experts, businesses offering locally grown food, and utilities and government agencies encouraging energy conservation are among the many groups that will have displays. (See box on page 6.)

Denny Lochner of Meadowood Ace Hardware will be there selling the latest compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), including specialty bulbs like dimmers, 3-ways, and flood lights. If you think you don’t like the look of fluorescent light, maybe you haven’t seen the latest improvements. (cont. on pg. 2)

Light bulbs for refugees?

“A refugee aid group working to stop global climate change? What’s going on here?” That’s the kind of comment we’ve been hearing lately, and if you’ve been wondering the same thing, this article is for you! Everyone in DOERS feels wonderful when we can take collective action resulting in helping suffering people. If we can send a blanket to warm a cold refugee, or a school kit, so that an uprooted child can continue her education, we know that we’ve made a huge difference in someone’s life. We think, “If I were a refugee, I know how much I would appreciate this kind of help.”

But think how much better it would be if we could somehow turn the clock back, and stop the chain of events which led them to become refugees in the first place. Think of all the sorrow, terror, suffering and death that would be avoided if people could just stay at home in peace. But of course you’d need a time machine to manage that!

Right now a process is unfolding which will lead to millions, possibly even billions of people, to become refugees. It is called global climate change, and it’s caused by excess carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It will cause the oceans to rise by a meter in the next century, summers to reach dangerously hot temperatures, and semi-arid regions to turn into deserts. In the future, people will wish that they could jump in a time machine and zip back to the year 2003, so that they could stop this chain of events.

The great news is that we don’t need a time machine! We’re here now, and we have all the tools we need to stop global warming. We know how to make cars that get 50 mph, to make modern, comfortable homes that need no fossil fuels, how to organize food production to minimize transport of
(cont. on pg. 2)

After touring the booths, you’ll have the opportunity to join the DOERS collective goal of cutting down on our CO₂ emissions. If you do, you’ll receive a free ticket for the drawing. First prize, worth $300, is a home energy audit with a blower door test, the first step in making your home more energy efficient. The audit will be done by Ken or Christine Hulet, of Engineering Services, Inc., and will be paid for by MG&E. Second prize is a torchiere lamp designed for CFLs, and third prize is a package of 6 CFLs, both donated by MG&E.

You’ll also be treated to homemade baklava and Afghani tea, and the friendly conversation of DOERS’ members and supporters. After the drawing, you’ll be invited to stay and tour the exhibits and talk for as long as you want. Or take a test drive in a hybrid car!

We hope that you will leave with the knowledge and tools to be an active part of the solution to the challenges facing our planet and its most vulnerable citizens.

Wisconsin Focus on Energy

Focus on Energy currently offer a $3 per bulb rebate on compact fluorescent light bulbs, for homeowners, small businesses, apartment managers, and farms.

For more info about FoE’s incentive programs, visit www.focusonenergy.com, or call 1-800-762-7077.

List of Fair Displays (so far)
Madison Gas & Electric
Sustain Dane
Wisconsin Sustainable Futures
Zimbrick Honda
Meadowood Ace Hardware
Engineering Services (home energy audits)
Informing Ecological Design, LLC
Nook & Cranny Home Inspection (home energy audit)
Seventh Generation Energy Systems
Williamson St. Coop
Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC)
Family Farm Defenders
Research, Education, Action and Food Group (REAP)
Earth in Balance Interiors
Four Lakes Sierra Club

Light Bulbs? (cont.)

Though it isn’t always easy to do what’s right, DOERS aims to make it as easy as possible. When you come to our event on Feb. 15, you’ll be getting an education and the opportunity to immediately put your knowledge to work.

Please join us Sat., Feb. 15, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, 15021 Gilbert Rd., in Madison, as we come together to mobilize our knowledge, our good will, and our determination to stop global climate change!

CFLs: What’s the big deal?

Compact Fluorescent Lamps produce light, not heat. A 15 watt CFL is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent lamp. If every household in Wisconsin replaced just one incandescent bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified light bulb, it would be like:

• Preventing 79,213 tons of coal from being burned

• Removing the equivalent of 353,288,517 pounds of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere

• Removing 25,586 cars from the road.

$ and energy savings with CFLs

Dinner profits used to provide artificial limbs.

Last May, DOERS sponsored an ethnic Afghan dinner, which raised $5751 to help refugees in Afghanistan. We sent it to the Mennonite Central Committee, which intended to use it for seeds and tools for Afghan farmers, returning home.

But nature has not cooperated, and the drought continues, making farming impossible in many places. Therefore we decided to donate the money instead to a prosthetics clinic in Zaranj, Afghanistan, which is helping people who have lost limbs due to land mines and other accidents of war.

Holiday Handicraft Sales Benefit Afghan Widows

Necklaces dripping with lapis lazuli and hand-tied woolen rugs were among the beautiful Afghan handicrafts offered to the public this last holiday season by DOERS. At two different craft sales, and on the website, we offered items from the store of Fahima Vorgetts, the Afghan-American woman who is the advisor to Women for Afghan Women. The lucky winner of our beautiful Afghan prayer rug was Donna Quandt.

We sold $1039 worth of handicrafts, and the profits went to HOOWA, the Humanitarian Organization for the Orphans and Widows of Afghanistan. Together with sponsorships totaling $628 from 7 generous donors, and the proceeds from our rug raffle, we were able to sponsor 15 widows to take the 3 month HOOWA course in sewing and literacy. With their newly learned skills and the sewing machine and work table which they receive upon graduation, they and their children will have the hope of a better life.

Fahima left for a visit to Afghanistan on Jan. 24. When she returns, she will bring photos and letters from the women we have sponsored. We plan to have a potluck dinner sometime this spring, for the sponsors and any others who wish to donate so that more widows can take the course. We will have the letters and photos on display.

We still have some jewelry and other handicrafts left, as well as some copies of the excellent anthology, Women for Afghan Women. All will be for sale at the Feb. 15 event. You can also still buy a rug through our website, http://doers.wi.homestead.com.

…Already the lowland coconut plantation farmlands of Tuvalu are being swamped by the rising sea. Nearby islets have vanished forever, while the invisible creep of saltwater contaminates precious drinking supplies and stunts crop growth. Next year Paani and his young family will abandon their homeland and take advantage of a gracious offer of a new start from the government of New Zealand. Paani has little choice. Within as little as 50 years Tuvalu is projected to slide beneath the encroaching waters – a high-profile victim of the industrial excesses of the West. All that will be left of Tuvalu will be its status as a graphic footnote to mankind’s folly in experimenting with the atmosphere….

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s forecast of a one-meter sea-level rise this century poses one of the largest dilemmas yet to face the human race. The prospect is particularly bleak given the fact that half the planet’s people are already crowded into coastal zones. Some 10 million of these people are at constant risk of flooding.

In Bangladesh alone a one-meter rise would uproot 20 million people. Then there are the vast rice-growing river floodplains of Thailand, Indonesia and India, among others.

Even the rich world must pay a price. There are devastating implications for nations such as Holland and Denmark, with the possibility of huge population shifts and waves of environmental refugees moving onto already cramped lands. …

The irony is that the developing world continues to be hit hardest by environmental degradation and human-driven climate responsibility for climate change. After all, the US alone spews out 25 per cent of greenhouse gases on behalf of just four per cent of the world’s population…

Doers Orchard Project Still in the Seedling Stage

DOERS has had some initial discussions with groups who might want an orchard planted, but so far nothing is final. If you would like to work on this project, either in the planning stage, or the planting stage, be sure and let us know! Indicate it on the enclosed coupon, or let us know when you come to the Feb. 15 event.

Our Vision

      DOERS mission statement says,
“DOERS’ mission shall be to provide material, humanitarian aid to victims of war, oppression, poverty and natural disasters. It shall do outreach to a broad spectrum of the public, and educate its members and donors about the causes and cures for the problems it addresses.”

      Our method of doing this is to organize projects and events which let the public actively do things to help victims and/or to prevent people from becoming victims. We do not aim to be a “think tank” or a top-down lobbying organization. We have a democratic, membership-controlled structure, and we seek to train and empower people to take on leadership roles.

      For our current campaign against global climate change, we are hoping to present organizers and would-be organizers around the country with a model of organizing which will inspire and mobilize ordinary people to do all they can. We hope that Feb. 15 will be a successful pilot project, which we and other groups can copy again and again.

      When our collective efforts have been shown to make a significant difference in CO2 emissions, and have engaged a significant portion of the population, we expect that the politicians will find the courage to jump on board the movement to save the climate.

This picture was taken by Doug Hostetter, the guest speaker at our dinner in May 2002. He is now working with the Mennonite Central Committee on a project rebuilding homes in the Shomali Valley of Afghanistan. He reports, “We did a Sept. 8th interfaith meeting here in Evanston (IL) entitled "A Time to Heal, A Time to Rebuild" modeled on your program in Madison, and raised enough funds to rebuild 6 homes at $935/house.”