News - The University of Montana

Our little colony of biking nomads completed our last morning in Helena today. Left behind was the historic downtown living we had grown so accustomed to, the one dollar laundry, and the political motion of the capital city. As we pedaled northward out of the valley, our physical and educational destination seemed somewhat more tangible. During the ride, I partook in a slow speed pile up, of which I came to realize I have participated in each of the last 3 crashes. A fear, equivalent to that of a quigacious episode, raced through me as I dreaded that my points would be taken from me, however such was not the case and we carried on gleefully.

This morning we listened to law professor Mary Wood on Public Radio. The subject was climate change and accompanying action to be taken by the citizen (us). Her approach, a paradigm shift on our current approach to action, is to treat the atmosphere (the medium for global warming) as a public trust that government has an obligation to protect for its trustees (citizens). The message was also that it is up to the citizens of our country and this planet to ensure that action is taken on the federal level to address and mitigate global warming. Solution-oriented policy that is imposed by the federal government is critical and will be spun from awareness and pressure from all citizens.

We were confronted by the awesomeness of the wind this morning. Big sheets of headwind came pounding down on us, mile after mile. It blew across the tall grass meadows and over the roads we travel sideways and upside down. As we rode on, north through the green grass valleys, the wind became a tailwind sailing our bikes onward.  A tailwind creates a stillness often unfamiliar to us bikers, the constant stream of air filling our ears is gone. It opens up the sounds of the grass blowing, the birds, nature, water moving and the tires turning. Only the bending of grass reminds me again that the world is not still at the moment.

We rolled on through the valleys with shale cliffs exposed red and awesome. Our English gent, Adam, whom we are traveling with, spoke fondly of the resemblance of these windy valley dirt roads to the English countryside, a rather pleasant thought indeed. Warm air, cool air, the wind carried the smell of sun-baked soil as the sun cooked on our backs. Pronghorns ran circles in the field and eagle crows passed above our heads. It was a welcomed ride and as I sit here beside the Missouri River, the sun is falling behind the hills. I can’t figure out why all education is not experienced like this. My mind rolled along right with the bike, blowing wind and past the hills today. I thought of energy in this country and policy; how will I fit in with my new outlook and knowledge I’ve harnessed thus far?

Devin Trainor, Humboldt State University

Exxon Mobile made more money in 2007 than any other American company, ever! That also means Americans are buying more gas and driving more miles than we have in the past. If Americans are willing to pay $3.50 and up than we should set the price that high, permanently. $4.00 gasoline. When the price fluctuates it will not be Exxon receiving the profits; the American people will be benefiting. Taxes will keep the price per gallon permanent and when gas is cheap the surplus will be divided between renewable energy and public transportation.

Expensive gas will certainly upset people; however, it will also make people think twice about the car they purchase and more importantly how often they drive that car. In addition it will keep record profits out of the hands of people at Exxon Mobile and allocate money to the renewable energy and public transportation industries that will be so imperative for future generations.

Now I realize I have not laid down a concrete plan for the future, but what I am trying to emphasize is the seriousness of the situation we have on our hands. Our planet is in peril and if we do not act now changes will happen that will not be remedied. To speak frankly, I do not want to see gas be $4.00 a gallon year round. Driving is necessary, especially with the lack of public transit in this country; driving is neither wrong nor irresponsible. What I am trying to impress on people is that if drastic measures are the only way to reach certain people and change their habits and begin to diverge from the path we are heading down (which will lead to catastrophic climate change and energy crisis) than drastic measures need to be taken. We are ALL going to need to make sacrifices.

I hope all who started this blog are still reading and I would like to make note of the fact that the rest will be of a lighter nature.

It is Saturday in Helena, Montana and Wild Rockies Field Institute students have the afternoon and evening off! Even on a course as enjoyable as this, it is very nice to have some time off. Believe or not we have had a very busy schedule and a relatively heavy course load even out in the field. This weekend in Helena is coincidentally Governors Cup; a big weekend in Helena with street fairs and a marathon. With some extra time on my hands, I decide to stroll through the walking mall adjacent to The Placer. As I wander I find not one, but two free spinal health assessments at the Heath Fair. What a unique city Helena is; most street fairs I have been to do not involve free health care, instead they offer expensive greasy food.

The day off also meant the students were responsible for their own dinner. We all went out together minus the Green girls, whose company was missed. However, they had a chance to spend quality time with family in Helena.

As a final note, nearly three weeks into the course, I would like to take it upon myself to provide a theme. As a disclaimer though, readers should know this is my personal theme and has not been agreed upon by the other students. EFFICIENCY. I strongly encourage you to read Chapter 11 of Lester R. Brown’s Plan 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. This Chapter is titled Raising Energy Efficiency and parts are written for changes on the macro-scale and others on the micro-scale. It is a quick read and really inspirational; it is especially important for those who may have lost hope in the cause: We cannot lose hope, the world and its occupants are too beautiful.

Stephen Brown, University of Montana

Today, the cost of oil skyrocketed another $11 a barrel, a 13% price increase in 2 days- the biggest two day price gain of oil in recorded history. Today, Exxon Mobil profited more than $1300 per second- the highest profits ever earned by a US company. Today, the average American paid $3.99 to fuel up their car. Today, thousands upon thousands of scientists agree that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are severely hurting our planet. Today, America’s Climate Security Act (aka Lieberman-Warner Bill) got delayed, beaten and then died in the Senate. Oh yes today was quite a day. One might even say… it was off the charts.

Unfortunately it was off the charts in terms less than idyllic, which is why we found ourselves in (or rather sweated and strained ourselves 60+ miles to) Helena, the capitol of Montana, a place where the “big business” of politics takes place, talking to three very interesting and different “green” change-drivers: Richard Opper, Head of Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); Ken Toole, Montana’s District 5 Public Service Commissioner, and Ben Brouwer, AERO’s Renewable Energy and Conservation Manager.

Even with an incredibly sore butt on a really hard chair I found myself enthralled in the perspectives and solutions, these men had to offer, in terms of what role Montana was to play in the global solution to climate change. “I stay up at late at night wondering what issues I might not have addressed as the head of DEQ and my biggest worry is climate change,” confessed Richard Opper, who recently, with a climate change council put forth 54 recommendations for state law makers on how to move Montana forward in the name of this cause.

When explaining why only 15 of Opper’s recommendations are being considered by the law makers he replied “We are in a transition period, which requires a major shift in thinking. Change is a real pain, and a lot of people see addressing climate change as a threat to coal and Montana’s economic ticket.” Ken Toole agrees saying “we are in the fork in the road of how we are going to move forward… in our current state of severe social, economic, and environmental crises… we need to choose a path.”

All three of these men believe the only way to the this environmental and economic greener pasture (pun intended) is not through the traditional method of coal, oil and it’s greenhouse emitting gases but through three climate friendly steps:

1: Conservation! We need to use less energy.

2: Renewables: Wind, Solar, Hydro, Geothermal, biomass, biofuels and on and on…. We need to start building more of them and integrate them into our system.

3: Technology : We’ve got to invest time and money to better our technologies for these renewables, appliances, cars, etc. to be more energy efficient, cost effective, and sustainable.

However in order to accomplish these three goals we need to rethink our current system of how we obtain energy (moving from large centralized systems to a more sustainable local system) as well as what energy policies we have in place. Attacking the policy angle, Richard Opper believes, that if we create and implement new policies that restrict CO2 emissions, promote conservation and set goals of using more energy from renewable sources, such as Montana’s current policy of “15 by 2015″ (15% of Montana’s energy must come from renewables by 2015) then it will force the innovation of newer and better technologies. System wise, Ken Toole suggests that government subsidies, tax incentives, and government risk insurance would greatly assist in the development of changing our current mode of obtaining energy to work in favor of the development of sustainable and renewable energy in a smaller, decentralized, more sustainable and economical role.

So even though it may appear that we are in a dark cloud in our nation’s history, considering our current state of the environment and the economy, the silver lining is that this seemingly bad situation forces people to take a second look. Energy conservation and renewable technology will play a role which in turn will greatly benefit all of us in the long run making this era but a small blip in our nations history.

–Lauren Green, graduate of the University of San Diego

We awoke to a charge of electricity. With the luxury of walls to block out the morning light, our morning czar Patrick had no choice but to resort to a flip of the light switch to get us up. After two weeks of subtle awakenings by the emerging sun, a fluorescent light bulb instantly shining in my face was not exactly welcomed, no matter how efficient the thing was. After packing, mopping and a last minute dough nut face stuffing, we cycled out of Townsend and headed to Canyon Ferry Dam.

Thirty-four miles began with a truly cherished stretch of flat valley and into the equally beautiful but less appreciated steep rolling hills. Huge osprey nests, forested hillsides, buffalo, prong horns, old farmsteads and changing vegetation were all fully appreciated by our smooth cycling pace and a long awaited wash of sunshine that replaced the previous day of rain.

Rain.

The sun scoops you out of the ocean and you fall onto our mountains and valleys to grant us valuable drinking water, irrigation, recreation, much appreciated showers and power. My Oregon roots have given me conflict over hydro power. Dams block ancient spawning grounds for salmon, change fragile habitats for riverside species while inundating lands and displacing people and animals from their homes. All the while, the power produced is cheap, renewable and climate neutral. right? Maybe not. I was shocked that even hydro can have large climate changing potential. By inundating vegetated lands, organic matter rots under water and produces carbon dioxide, methane, and sometimes nitrous oxide at amounts that recent studies suggest are comparable to other forms of electricity.

So, we cycled out onto the dam, and had a long warm and sun filled talk with Chuck McGraw about everything Cycle the Rockies is about: energy, climate, policy, and how Montana and the other western states are gearing up for the challenge. An interesting hydro point caught my attention. Unlike fossil fuels, which have been stored away for millennia, emissions from rotting plants are in the current carbon cycle. This makes a difference in the future of sequestration. We cannot take back coal emissions by putting coal back in the ground, but hydro is different. When a dam is no longer valued and is removed, re-exposed grounds can begin to again support habitat and vegetation that will sequester much of the emissions previously released and perhaps give us another tool in abating climate change.

 Okay, sounds like a full, well traveled, well educated day right? Of course! So naturally we continued another 26 miles to our lovely apartment in Helena where we collapsed upon the carpet. The day was drawn to a successful and contented close by the consumption of copious amounts of home made pizza and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Yes Phil, I also love Vermont.

 With another flip of the switch – Lights out.

–JJ Green, University of Oregon

Ill admit we’ve been getting soft lately. Free time yesterday, libraries, twizzlers, geothermal pools to soak in and sun photons to warm us and provide potential power for the long awaited charge on Cory’s headlamp have been putting us in good sprits.Today we figured we would start off with some excitement. So Phil Fandel pulled a Phil with a hands first dive into the barrow ditch after a wheel kiss with my back tire. In checking his ID photo for a visual pre-crash comparison, it was determined the crash might have improved the condition of Phil overall.

Today we had the honor of a certain Tom DeLuca, a local soil scientist who shared his knowledge on biofuels and soils with us. It became apparent that in dealing with the use of biofuels, mainly ethanol production, one must be aware of the big picture of how these fuels came to be. Are people willing to understand and get involved beyond filling up their tanks and then driving to the destination of their choice? Biofuels seem to hold a potential for a source of energy, but our mentality and conventional approach must also change as we move in new directions.

Today provided us with a 42 mile scenic tour and 1200 feet of elevation loss to our advantage. It also happened to be one of those days where people in cars complain about the miserable wet, cold, gray conditions that they had to drive through. The good old weather was not good for solar today, yet I believe a wind turbine and geothermal would have endured just fine. It was one of those cold rains that make the face sting, feet feel far far away and those prized opposable thumbs as useful as a pair of lobster claws at the end of our arms. I find that I kind of like that feeling of finger-worthlessness when you can’t even tie your shoes from numbness, as it makes for a good laugh about all humans and well, I guess we must respect the world that exists outside of human influence too.

Alternative (and renewable) technologies, such as the biomass boiler that we saw today at the Townsend Public School, takes a willingness and determination to make it work. It’s clear that a great determination and perseverance is needed to adopt appropriate alternatives to conventional energy sources, as such alternatives are not without trials and errors. Fueled by the knowledge and maturity that these efforts are for a good cause, these pursuits are a cost effective and necessary step in the right direction for our society.

And here I’ve got to confess, it has been a lifelong dream of mine, since the 3^rd grade to ride my bike up and down the halls of a school. And did I ever think it would come true? Maybe, but not today, we are here sleeping inside the classroom, with a basketball, a dinner, a chalkboard of our very own and our bikes to cuddle up with tonight. Bike touring is rather enjoyable after all.

–Devin Trainor, Humboldt State University

Every time I get on my bike I learn something new about riding long distances. As a touring cyclist beginner, I’m coming to find I enjoy steady up-hill climbs. I now know how to pack my panniers so I don’t spend twenty minutes looking for my peanut butter. I know how to fix a flat tire. Two weeks into this course, viewing life from atop two spinning wheels feels almost natural, but what I’m still best at, what I continue to relish and excel in, is breaking. No, not breaking in the sense of squeezing the levers attached to your bike when flying down a hill at 28 miles per hour, but breaking in the sense of enjoying a day where the schedule does not include spending hours on a bike. Having a layover in White Sulfur Springs today was a breaking at its best. I spent the afternoon alongside my program mates traipsing around town, checking email, grocery shopping, and laundering clothes in dire need of a wash. All in relative sunshine, too. What bliss!

Besides some time to ourselves, we also had a class In the morning to discuss the previous night’s reading on geothermal and solar energy. We spent some time hammering out the technical details of the two power sources — to my great benefit. I am exceedingly terrible at understanding anything to do with wires, magnates, or electrons, tending to focus more on policy, ethics, and…feelings. Damn my staunch liberal arts education – and then went on to examine A Grand Solar Plan from Scientific America by Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis. In the article, the authors outline a plan to provide 69 percent of the United State’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy, including transportation, with solar power by 2050. The plan includes the development of massive solar power plants through heavy federal support, and even allows for a one percent annual increase in energy use.

A Grand Solar Plan got my mind meditating on issues of scale throughout the day, especially after a conversation in the late afternoon with Gene Gudmundson, owner of a acupuncture and chiropractic clinic as well as a hot springs spa and motel. On a tour lead by Gene, we saw how he powers 10 – 15 percent of his business with electricity from two solar panels and a wind turbine (which is currently broken, though he has plans to repair it). This may not seem like much, but for someone who pays $1000 per month energy bills, it makes a difference. Besides using solar and wind power for electricity, Gene uses the sulfurous water from a well practically right outside his door to fill the two geothermal soaking pools at his spa, as a source of heat for his home, clinic, and his motel’s 21 hotel rooms. He estimates that about 50 percent of the total energy he uses is from renewable sources, lowering his carbon footprint.

In the face of global climate change and the rising cost of oil (have you checked your local gas station lately? I hope you don’t drive a diesel, for your pocketbook’s sake), the United States (and the rest of the world) needs to utilize renewable resources such as solar power. But is the solution to build utility size renewable power plants such as A Grand Solar Plan suggests? Or, should renewable power be used on a community or individual level like Gene is doing? I tend towards being an advocate for small scale power production. Allowing people to connect more intimately to their power source and understand the process behind their constant flicking of a switch might make them more aware of the resources producing their energy. Sending renewable power from a large power plant to consumers far away does not allow for this. Then again some urban environments may be unable to survive off small scale renewable power.

The issues are, of course, not simple or complete for me or anyone else. And that’s rather frustrating, for I’d like for my ideas to be tied up neatly in a bow. But I know that’s impossible. For now, I’ll hope for a steep learning curve.

–Leora Stein, Whitman College

(To the tune of Don McClean’s song “American Pie”)

Now that I have finished my plagiarism of the great Don McClean, I suppose I could elaborate on the adventures of our clan. We set out bright and early from the hospitality of Randy Reinhart’s abode and set out on the open road (this was accomplished after we swam our way through the passive-aggressive army of sheep).

It was a quick 10 miles to our first stop, the Martinsdale Hutterite colony. A fellow by the name of Mike gave us a quick overview of how wind power has been developing on the colony. A doctor out of Billings interested in wind energy leases land from the Hutterites and has erected 250 and 65 kilowatt wind turbines. These are connected to transmission lines that provide power to surrounding communities (a separate turbine contributes directly to the colony’s power requirements) and provides royalties to the colony through the leasing of the land.

72.5 additional MegaWatts (MW) are available to the colony, increasing their royalties. Any additional power provided by wind turbines would require a substation upgrade. However, this substation upgrade and larger turbines may be planned for the future. Such developments are promising advances to Montana’s current 164 MW of wind power; wind power has been limited by transmission lines, substation capacities, purchase agreements, and local resistance to the apparently damaging nature of wind turbines to aesthetics. These limitations are being beaten as a result of various State environmental requirements (e.g. 15% of power produced must be from renewables) and the competitive drive of both foreign and domestic investors. Times up! Back on our trusty steeds into the mid-day sun!

Devin Trainor. This legendary mammal has performed the equivalent of open-heart surgery on my battered bicycle. And like every good doctor (In Canada at least), his work is perfected, but more importantly… free of charge (that is for now Dr. Trainor… your reward awaits you in Missoula). The 50 mile trek included many pleasures, but most notably:

1. Roadside gymnastics (courtesy of Nicky, JJ, and a rambunctious Phil)
2. Candy toss competition (on the pitching mound we had Patrick, with our notable stars of the day being Dave, Devin, and Phil)
3. Checkerboard (name of a town) lunch-break (essentially a spontaneous fiesta erupted this modest establishment into pool games, signed dollar bills, video games, and a guitar accompanied kum-by-ya session).
4. A sporadic Gaelic windstorm for our final mile (similar to having 101 industrial fans blowing 1 meter from your face).

Secure and sheltered at our new campground we intend to indulge in the best thing White Sulphur Springs has to offer, the geothermal spa at the Spa Hot Springs Motel. Just a brief note before I hurry off to the tub myself; geothermal energy can provide continuous baseload power, so feel free to substitute ‘geothermal’ for ‘hydro’ in my initial tune (that is, if your tongue can rattle that off so quickly).

–Cory Zyla, University of British Columbia

From now on when I think of June, images of this morning will bring me back to our campsite in Harlowtown. I awoke amidst lush grass and scattered dandelions that mirrored the color of the beaming Montana sun as a light breeze tickled my bare feet, birds sang their morning songs, and Cory shouted in my face, fulfilling his duty as the Morning Czar.

Our lackadaisical morning saw us enjoying breakfast, patching tire tubes, writing blogs, or completing readings before our class started. The fact that we move at a comfortable pace while being productive and getting everything done on time has made this course easy to enjoy. I have never felt like we are being rushed; we get where we need to be and get our business done, but still have time for a basketball game, a Frisbee toss, or a good ol’ fashion chin wag. This can be accredited to Nicky and Dave’s scheduling, but also to their relaxed yet professional attitude.

After purchasing my future lunches of Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese, French bread, Twizzlers, and sardines, I joined the cue of cyclists as we headed westward to the sheep farm of Randy and Jing Reinhart in Two Dot, to talk to them abut the local wind farm.

It was the first we heard of small scale wind farms. The owner, Dr. David Healow has been spending part of his time developing wind power in Montana since the late 80s. Despite the Two Dot wind farm’s minuscule output compared with that of Judith Gap, the energy produced is still renewable and profitable as it is sold to NorthWestern Energy. Manufactured in Denmark, the windmills operated in Iowa for a time, then were eventually grounded in big sky country in 2001 after David purchased and refurbished them.

The topic of small scale wind brought up questions of the feasibility of implementing wind energy systems in residencies like the one we saw at the Wallace’s or even at a community scale like in Two Dot. While the Wallace’s turbine aided their consumption needs with 1 kw, the seven in Two Dot were a bit larger at 65 kw each, which was being fed back to the grid for Montana consumers. At this point in the course I think that students are starting to think of what we can do to increase our home energy efficiency, especially after seeing what is required and the benefits gained. It was also inspiring to hear how an anesthesiologist in Billings turned his interest for renewable energy into a legitimate and rewarding hobby that did exactly what the Judith gap wind farm was doing, but on a smaller scale with 7-11 smaller turbines scattered over three properties along the Musselshell River.

The last week has been mostly visits to ranchers and residences in the area we bike to. Seeing the lifestyle that ranchers live is intriguing to me. It is always fun to hear about what they do and how they operate, especially while sipping some peppermint tea in their living room. The Reinharts shared everything with us and more, from sheltering our bikes to offering some home cooked burgers, once again making it hard to leave without many sincere goodbyes and thank yous.

-Phillip Fandel, University of Vermont

Last night, cycling to the Peterson’s ranch through the small town of Judith Gap, I noticed what appeared to be an old airplane without wings, randomly plunked down on the side of the road. I was slightly puzzled by it for a short while, but the strange image quickly left my mind, as I was preoccupied with completing the last few miles of a ride that we started over eight hours before. However, the object was mentioned in conversation later, and I realized then that it was actually not an airplane, but the blade of an enormous wind turbine, similar to those that we would see later at the Judith Gap Wind Farm. The blade symbolizes the large (positive) impact that wind power has had on the area.

This afternoon, after a relaxed morning touring the ranch and comparing sunburns from the previous day’s ride, we made our way to the Judith Gap Wind Farm amidst bright sunshine and gusts of wind (thankfully mostly pushing us forward). As short a ride as it was, it is one I definitely won’t forget-cycling along flanked by plains and mountains, with a forest of giant turbines standing around me silently waving their arms in unison. I was awed by the beauty and immense scale not only of the turbines, but of the whole scene surrounding me.

Once we reached the entrance to the wind farm we followed the plant manager, John Bacon, to the foot of one of the turbines where he explained to us the details of the wind farm and answered our probing questions about wind power. I was hoping to also be allowed to climb up the inside of one of the turbines, but when the time came the sky threatened inclement weather, and I had to be content just looking up towards the the top from the base floor.

The wind farm consists of 90 turbines, each 262 foot tall with three blades sticking out 126 feet from the hub. Each turbine produces 1.5 MW of electricity, and has a lifespan of 20-25 years. Seemingly randomly scattered about the plains, the turbines were all put up in less than a year, and are actually specifically placed where they will work most efficiently as determined by an engineer and a meteorologist. Due to the wind farm’s location between the mountains, the turbines receive high and consistent winds which allow them to produce power 90% of the time (though they tend to only reach full generating capacity 30-35% of the time). The blades spin when the wind is blowing about 20-55 mph, and the entire top of the turbine faces the wind to maximize efficiency. The wind power produced here costs only 3 cents per kilowatt hour-less than coal or natural gas-and, unlike with fossil fuels this price remains steady.

As I lie awake now under a clear sky full of stars, I ponder the question: will wind energy ever replace fossil fuels? We have met at least one couple who uses wind power to successfully produce at least part of their energy, and with wind power rapidly expanding and becoming available at a cheap cost and without the negative environmental or health impacts of fossil fuels, a future in wind power should seem hopeful. But the general consensus right now seems to be that wind power by itself is not, and may never be, completely sufficient to meet all of our energy needs. The main reason for this, first cited to us by the representative of the Corette coal-fired power plant and later by the manager of the Judith Gap Wind Farm, is the fact that wind does not supply a steady source of power, and so must be supplemented by another source such as hydro or natural gas. An article we read, however, suggests an innovative solution to this dilemma which involves simply connecting a large number of wind farms to the same large grid. The variability of each farm would greatly reduce/eliminate overall inconsistency, making wind power much more reliable and efficient as a base load source of power. (L. Brown, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, p 244-245) So perhaps there is a future in wind power after all. I like to think so anyway. At the very least, it will continue to supplement our other sources of energy. A cool breeze touches my face and rustles the leaves of a tree above my head. I realize wind is energizing even in small amounts. With technology what it is today, we should have no problem switching to wind to satisfy many of our energy needs.

–Patrick Walden, University of British Columbia

Ahh…Montana. You have always captured my imagination and been somewhere I have wanted to visit…big skies, big ranches, big mountains and wide open spaces. Sounded beautiful. And so I have spent the first week of the trip thinking of how lucky I am to be seeing it at last, and to be seeing it from such a unique perspective…over the top of a set of handlebars, and powered (not so quickly) by my own two legs. I can now think of no better way to see this beautiful state as the slower pace of a bike affords extraordinary views of the big sky country Montana is famous for. You also feel more connected to the countryside you ride through without a windshield to sever the connection.

Today we were particularly “connected”. Connected to the wind, the rain, and every last one of those 54 miles. We have also been fortunate enough to connect with come of the wonderful people of rural Montana. We got up this morning at the home of the Wallace’s to be served a complete cooked breakfast by our wonderful hosts. Country hospitality is alive and well. We had class in their living room, under the natural light that their well – designed house affords. Last night we had eaten under the light of compact fluorescent light bulbs which were not only using a quarter of the energy of regular light bulbs, but in this case were powered by the very sun and wind we have been riding through. Our class today focused on the possibilities of renewable energy. The example of the Wallace’s house provided a perfect example of how people living in rural areas have a unique opportunity to harness renewable energy directly, bypassing the grid system.

Ben Peterson, whose ranch we were so hospitably accommodated at that night, also hopes to install a couple of wind turbines to provide energy to their 7,000 acres ranch. Unfortunately, Ben said, their local rural power co-operative won’t allow their continued access to the grid if they install their own turbines. So because of this, at this stage the turbines are simply unfeasible. Power is one of their biggest costs though, so the Peterson’s are keen to investigate these possibilities. The Peterson’s strive to “do as much in – house as (they) can”, so supplying their own power is in keeping with the aims of their ranching operation. Farmers and ranchers are typically “takers” in a market dominated by external factors. Supplying their own power is thus an exciting possibility for those on the land to decrease their reliance on external power whose costs are only going to rise.

Another exciting application of renewable energy technology exists in the third world. 40 million roof top solar water heaters have recently been installed in China, some in villages that previously had no access to electricity. This by – passing of a grid system allows these people to go straight to self – sufficiency and provides opportunities for the rural poor that would be unavailable if they were to wait for a national electricity provider to get to them. In exporting our technologies to a rapidly industrializing developing world, it is critical that we are exporting our solutions, not merely including them in our problems. Renewable, localized energy technologies could provide a large part of this solution.

Today’s 54 mile journey ended up taking the best part of 9.5 hours. Flat tyres, loose panniers and the strange phenomenon that no matter how far we pedaled that afternoon we always seemed to have “20 miles to go” left us exhausted, wet, cold and hungry, however despite all this it was one of the best days riding we have had thus far. The scenery could only be described as epic and as we rolled into the Peterson’s at 9.30pm we were welcomed once again by the amazing hospitality of rural Montana. After Ben fed all 11 of us and pointed us in the direction of the showers, I fell asleep in a bed (yes, BED) pondering my thoughts from the day. Montana is indeed a beautiful state. The big sky and the big hearts of the people make this a truly special place. As the western states of the US are set to be most affected by climate change it struck me just how much this state had to offer, and just how much it was set to lose should the impacts of climate change become apparent due to our lack of action now.

–Felicity Anderson, University of Queensland