Eleven of us took the Green + Solar Tour by bicycle on Saturday. There was a good crowd at Pringle Creek Community for Nathan Good's talk at 9am.
We had great side conversations as we biked and also saw other houses and streetscape features we found interesting. It was very sociable: People don't know how much fun they are missing!
The place of planned communities was an interesting side theme. Pringle Creek, of course, is planned. So is McNary Estates, where we looked at a solar installation.
A golf course community is not the most obvious place to look for green practices - however attractive the putting green! - so this made the installation in many ways the most interesting of those on the tour.
Its owner, a retired judge, spent a significant amount of time talking about his journey through the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions, and the eventual approval of the installation by the Architectural Committee. Part of the work was creating a process for future installations.The group visited several other sites, and a couple of those are worth a separate discussion.
Much of the movement is still more about having - and consuming - "sustainable" stuff than doing things sustainably. Sustainable transportation is still off the radar. Most people drove, and the parking lot and side streets were littered with cars. The lack of Saturday bus service compounds the difficultities. Still, biking to the lecture and assembling carpools would be a good step! Fortunately the pricing is by car, not person, and this encourages full car loads.
Thanks to Jeff and Patrick for planning and leading the bike tour! It was a great start, and hopefully even more people will bike next year!
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