Cohousing-L Mailing List: Plug-In Hybrids & Cohousing: Talk w/author Sherry Boschert (Pleasant Hill, CA, 9/13 Mon eve)

[Raines Cohen (rc3-coho-L]

Hybrid cars and cohousing neighborhoods go together like ducks in a
pond - it's a natural environment for them to flourish in. The same
progressive instincts that lead to co-creating cooperative communities
-- values found in Cultural Creatives and Lifestyles of Health and
Sustainability(LOHAS) consumers -- lead cohousers to become early
adopters of innovative technologies that help them minimize their
environmental impacts on the road, as well as at home. In many
California Cohousing neighborhoods you will already find a significant
percentage of vehicles that are hybrids of various flavors, as well as
the solar panels that could help power them if they convert existing
hybrids to plug-in hybrids.

With the Nissan Leaf soon to be released, and various tax credits
available this year for installing solar charging stations, some
California cohousing neighborhoods are considering adding panels or
expanding existing systems, adding charging stations and other
infrastructure and social systems that support further conversion.

Several area cohousers will host a talk exploring this nexus next
Monday with special guest Sherry Boschert, author of "Plug-In Hybrids,
The Cars that will Recharge America." (read more about the book and
Sherry further down on this page)

This timely discussion will be held at Pleasant Hill cohousing (PHCH),
the easternmost (and most suburban/"classic" model) cohousing
neighborhood in the East Bay (and the only one with a pool).

Note: This event is NOT a tour. Please don't disturb the other
neighbors in the community or park in their lot - please use the
unpaved lot by the bike trail, just before the PHCH entry, or bike
(just a mile from BART) or use buses. PHCH offers open houses/tours
every month, on the first Sunday; register via the EBCOHO MeetUp group
for the next one October 3rd.

RSVP here (free East Bay Cohousing membership/MeetUp registration required):
http://www.ebcoho.org/calendar/14685548/
________________________________
Other upcoming East Bay Cohousing events:

9/9 Thurs PM: Rethinking Home - Brown-Bag lunch w/Sustainable Economy
Law Center (Berkeley)
9/11 Sat PM: Congregate Housing and other models for community living
(Berkeley)
9/12 Sun AM: First-ever Solano Stroll EBCOHO PARADE FLOAT (Berkeley/Albany)
9/18 Sat AM: Intro to Art of Group Facilitation for Cooperative Living
(Berkeley)
9/19 Sun AM: EBCOHO Orientation & intro to cohousing (Berkeley)
9/19 Sun PM: Picnic at potential instant-cohousing site (Pacifica)
9/27 Mon PM: Focus Group for first senior cohousing in Bay Area (TBD)
9/29 Wed eve: Tales from the Trenches: community founders speak out (Berkeley)
10/1 Fri PM: Cohousing & Coworking presence at Art Murmur (Oakland)
10/3 Sun PM: Pleasant Hill Cohousing monthly tour/open house
10/3 Sun eve: Cooperative Housing Film Festival (Berkeley)
10/30 Sat: Sacramento/Davis cohousing bus tour (Oakland)

Learn more about all these and RSVP via the EBCOHO calendar
http://www.ebcoho.org/calendar/
________________________________
Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America
(New Society Publishers, 2006)

A politically polarized America is coming together over a new kind of
car - the plug-in hybrid - that will save drivers money, reduce
pollution, and increase national security by reducing dependence on
imported oil.

Plug-in Hybrids points out that, whereas hydrogen fuel-cell cars won't
be ready for decades, the technology and infrastructure for plug-in
hybrids exist today. Unlike conventional hybrid cars, which can't run
without gasoline, plug-in hybrids use gasoline or cheaper, cleaner,
domestic electricity - or both.
________________________________
About Sherry Boschert, in her own words

I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles in the era of the worst air
pollution – the 1960s. On the few days each year when storms washed
away the thick yellow haze, the startling sight of glorious mountains
ringing the L.A. basin reminded me that the toxic soup we lived in was
not normal. I knew that car exhaust caused most of this pollution, but
living in L.A. also meant living the car culture, and enjoying the
freedom and mobility that cars provided.

The counterculture trends of the 1960s and ’70s taught me to question
the status quo. The first Earth Day, the environmental movement, the
peace movement -- these helped shape who I am. I became interested in
journalism as a way to make a difference in the world, fueled by the
Watergate scandal and expose. (President Richard Nixon resigned on my
18th birthday. I gained the right to vote and lost a corrupt president
on the same day!)

In my life and my work I seek out truth, justice, and a healthy,
balanced way of life for both myself and the planet. “Think globally,
act locally” is not just a slogan to me. These principles have taken
me on a variety of paths, the most recent one being a journey toward
clean, sustainable cars.

When my partner and I installed solar photovoltaic panels on our home
in 1998 to lighten our footprint on the planet, I began longing for an
electric car. This seemed the next logical step to reduce pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, the major automakers were
beginning to lease electric cars in response to the California Zero
Emission Vehicle Mandate. Driving our leased Ford Th!nkCity and making
electricity with our solar panels was like driving a car that ran on
sunshine. The U.S. already had fought one war over oil (Gulf War I),
and we wanted as little to do with oil as possible.

Three years later, a lawsuit by the car companies eviscerated the
Mandate, and Ford (like all the other automakers) demanded the return
of leased electric cars, to be destroyed. They refused to sell them.
Instead they crushed them. This outrageous demand spurred me to become
active in the movements toward clean transportation and clean,
sustainable energy.

Meanwhile, conflicts related to oil supplies generated terrorist
attacks and another U.S. war in the Middle East. The evidence for
global warming became overwhelming. Yet car companies keep feeding us
only gasoline cars. Even conventional hybrids, while an improvement,
cannot run without gasoline.

It’s clear to me that we already have at hand the technology to
produce a new kind of car that will greatly reduce pollution, wean us
off our dependence on oil, and please American consumers – the plug-in
hybrid. Its success depends on your actions, and mine. Find out more
in my book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America.