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The Company We Keep

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

For updates on South Mountain's second act, subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.

Cape Wind

Clearing a Path to Energy Independence

February 25, 2015 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

The Vineyard remains uncommonly chilly.  Snow on the ground since late January, more last night.  The other morning it was 6 below zero, the coldest since we arrived 40 years ago.  Mal Jones told me the last time it was colder than that was in 1961.  Quite a winter.  But if we’re going to live in Vermont, I think we oughta get to have some mountains!! No such luck.

Recently Julie Wells, the editor of the Vineyard Gazette, asked me to write an article about the demise of Cape Wind.  Reasonable request, but I declined.   What I could do, I suggested, is include a few thoughts about Cape Wind in a larger context.  She agreed to that, and here’s the piece that emerged, published in the Gazette on February 5, 2015.

On the Gazette website there were many comments about the article, both positive and negative.  My favorite, from someone in Oak Bluffs, who called himself (or herself) BS:  “I’m tired of shoveling all this global warming from my driveway.”

That was the only one I responded to.  I said:  “Hah, BS, I’m tired of it too – you shovel mine and I’ll shovel yours. But you’re not shoveling Global Warming, it’s Climate Change you’re shoveling, which brings, over time, greater weather extremes – more precipitation, more drought, colder temps, warmer temps. Some even call it Global Wilding.”

Onward.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Energy, Martha's Vineyard Tagged With: Cape Wind, Climate change, Julie Wells, Mal Jones, Vineyard Gazette

A Bright Investment (& Stop ‘n Shop Update)

June 13, 2014 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

The postscript to my last blog entry about Stop and Shop is that they withdrew their application!  They heard the concerns, saw the writing on the wall, and pulled back.  Our hope is that they will come back with a new plan that more addresses the wishes of Vineyarders and works for them too.

*                                   *                                   *                                    *

The following is a re-print of a piece Nis Kildegaard wrote for his Sounding column after a long chat with Rob Meyers, our Energy Services Manager.  It appeared in the Martha’s Vineyard Times on June 5th.  I thought he did a fine job with it.

 

A BRIGHT INVESTMENT

Maybe you never heard the news about solar power, or it was drowned out by the noise of the 13-year controversy over the Cape Wind project on Horseshoe Shoal.

But if you still think that putting solar electric panels on your roof is a prohibitively costly way to declare your environmentalist bona fides, it’s time to think again.

I sat down for an eye-opening tutorial last week with Rob Meyers at South Mountain Company (SMC) in West Tisbury. Meyers is manager of the company’s fastest-growing department, energy services. Here’s some of what I learned.

Read More about A Bright Investment (& Stop ‘n Shop Update)

Filed Under: Energy, Environment, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Cape Wind, Eliakim's Way, Green Communities Act, Jenney Way, Martha's Vineyard Times, Nis Kildegaard, NSTAR, South Mountain Company, SunPower

A Happy New Year for All

December 31, 2010 by John Abrams 1 Comment

This year is all done.

That’s good.  I feel like I’ve “been rode hard and put away wet.”  I’m ready for  the New Year.  Here are some random things I hope for  in 2011:

•  Health in my house. . .  and yours.

•  To remember that there are two parts to a crisis – reacting to the immediate with urgent solutions, and adapting long term to the new reality that results from the initial crisis.

•  Rewarding work for all.  Paul Hawken once said, “We are the only species without full employment.”  Isn’t there anything that needs to be done?

Read More about A Happy New Year for All

Filed Under: Design, South Mountain Company Tagged With: Backshoring, Cape Wind, Griftopia, Kurt Vonnegut, Paul Hawken

Final Decision

May 6, 2010 by John Abrams Leave a Comment

I had to take a break from writing, and haven’t said a word since March 18th – too much on my plate.  Business is challenging at SMCo right now, but all is well, projects are good, everyone’s busy, and we’re all in it together, working hard to keep working.

But the Cape Wind announcement in Boston last Wednesday took my mind off that and inspired me to get back to this.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a lot about Cape Wind.  But the best thing he said was, quite simply, “This is the final decision of the United States of America.”  Final Decision.  Good decision, great decision, unequivocal decision – by the United States of America!  How rare is that?

Read More about Final Decision

Filed Under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard Tagged With: Alex Steffen, Bill McKibben, Cape Wind, Eaarth, Jim Gordon, Ken Salazar, Vineyard Power, Worldchanging

Windtrigue on the Vineyard

December 14, 2009 by John Abrams 7 Comments

While the eyes of the world focus on Copenhagen, here at home on Martha’s Vineyard wind energy has been receiving a mighty dose of attention – more than ever before.  Are we making progress?  Maybe some. You be the judge.

Wind has been in the local news in four distinctly different regards at once:  the release and reaction to the draft Massachusetts Oceans Management Plan, the public coming-out of a new organization called Vineyard Power, the continuing saga of Cape Wind, and the adoption of a new wind by-law in Aquinnah.

Before diving in, some context might be useful.

Read More about Windtrigue on the Vineyard

Filed Under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Martha's Vineyard, Politics Tagged With: Bill McKibben, Cape Wind, Cuttyhunk, Down to the Wire, Hull, Lester Brown, Let Vineyarders Decide, MA Oceans Management Plan, NREL, Plan B 4.0, Vineyard Power

All Is Forgiven

August 30, 2009 by John Abrams 1 Comment

I managed to get through the Martha’s Vineyard summer attending only one fundraiser.  That’s a record.  And, for the first time in at least a decade, I did no fundraising for the causes I care about.  I must admit it felt good.  Fundraising is hard.

The single event I went to  – for our Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick – was a good one,.  It happened to be scheduled for the day after we found out Ted Kennedy died.  Deval spoke about Kennedy.  He said, “ I knew him before I ever met him because my mother used to say, to no one in particular” (and here he slipped into a drawl), “I just love me some Kennedy.”

Read More about All Is Forgiven

Filed Under: Energy, Martha's Vineyard, Politics Tagged With: Cape Wind, Deval Patrick, Martha's Vineyard, Ted Kennedy

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