Extension News: October 2006 Archives

Tom Fairchild, longtime UNH Cooperative Extension dairy specialist and 4-H supporter, will be presented with the Friend of 4-H Award during the 4-H Foundation of New Hampshire’s fall meeting October 18.

“The award celebrates Tom’s love for kids, cows, and 4-H,” said Wendy Brock, who heads the UNH Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development program. “It isn’t presented every year, but when the Foundation deems that an individual or group has provided outstanding volunteer, financial, or technical program support to the 4-H Youth Development program over several years. Tom Fairchild meets all three criteria.”

Called “the conscience of the state’s 4-H network” and “a New Hampshire agricultural icon,” Fairchild has worked with two generations of New Hampshire 4-H families. “Tom is certainly worthy of this recognition,” said recently retired UNH dairy specialist John Porter. “He’s been close to our farm families and advised them in their dairy management decisions as well as helping their children go on to UNH to further their education.”

A 1959 UNH graduate, Fairchild spent his career at the university. Over the years he served as an Extension dairy specialist, a UNH professor, chairperson of the department of animal and nutritional sciences, dean of the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, and interim UNH president.

He was instrumental in leading the fundraising effort to build the $1.6 million dairy teaching and research center, which UNH named the Thomas P. Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center in his honor.
 
After his stint as interim president ended in 1995, Fairchild returned to the UNH faculty and co-founded the university’s nationally recognized CREAM (Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management) Program, a hands-on course for dairy and non-dairy students to assume management responsibilities for the UNH dairy herd.

UNH has previously honored him for his achievements with the Alumni Affairs Award for Excellence in Public Service, the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture’s Teaching Excellence Award. He also was presented the 2001 Distinguished Service Award by the Northeastern Section of the American Society of Animal Sciences.

As chairman of the 4-H Foundation Board, in 2002 Fairchild led the group through a successful Centennial Campaign to raise an additional $100,000 for the Foundation. His efforts helped move the board into active fundraising activities and broaden the Foundation’s scope to support all areas of the 4-H youth development program.

“Tom has always promoted the 4-H program as a place for youth and adults to work together for common goals and new adventures,” said Tom Frangione, chair of the 4-H Foundation of N.H. “Even though he has retired, Tom helps present dairy judging clinics, serves as a resource whenever called upon, and encourages others in the industry to become involved in 4-H and UNH Cooperative Extension.”

Have volatile energy prices and concern about global climate change gotten you curious about how to add more energy efficiency into your own way of life?

Read on for an invitation to the 2006 NH Green Buildings Open House from UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener, Laura Richardson, who co-founded the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association and serves as its current president. Laura also writes for NH Outside and serves on UNH Cooperative Extension’s newly formed Energy Advisory Board.

The Green Buildings Tour will introduce visitors to a wide diversity of real-world energy-efficient building strategies, including superinsulation, envelope construction, thermosiphoning air panels, and earth-sheltering, as well as passive and active solar space-and water-heating heating systems, daylighting and energy-efficient lighting appliances, alternative vehicles, solar greenhouses, food gardens, root cellars. and more.

Living Green
My life changed on a sunny fall afternoon in 1998, and I’d like to think that the 2006 NH Green Buildings Open House event on October 7 could change yours as well. Eight years ago, I toured several homes with energy-efficient and renewable energy features. I saw that energizing our lives with renewable energy isn’t that complicated; it just requires a shift in perspective and priorities. I was aware that some folks had chosen an energy-efficient lifestyle, but before experiencing a “green building,” I’d never really thought about it in the context of my life.

On that day in 1998, two New Hampshire homes changed my perception of how to live. From the standpoints of aesthetics, comfort, and practicality, these homes were lovely. Visiting them released me from conventional ideas of what a house should look like or how it should perform, and helped me understand how my own choices could change our environment for good or for bad. One choice in either direction, when multiplied by a population, can have enormous impact.

The conversation about energy and environment has been part of New Hampshire citizens’ dialogue for decades. Climate and geopolitical instability, finite fossil-fuel resources, volatile energy costs, health problems: we face a confusing and paralyzing set of quandaries. We can solve them. We need ideas and leadership and action. New Hampshire people are full of ideas, and even leadership. Action is up to the rest of us. Making change on the personal level is empowering and the ultimate results can have an impact.

Let’s face it: every day we make energy choices, learn new habits, and acquire new products. As individuals, we can make better choices in where and how and on what to invest our time and money. Why not invest wisely and responsibly, when these choices can make us even safer, more comfortable, and ultimately happier. The catch: often we don’t know what we don’t know.

Take the 2006 tour
New Hampshire is participating in the 12th annual National Solar Tour this year, with 31 homes and buildings on our local Green Buildings Open House tour. The 10 a.m-4 p.m. event is free and open to the public, no reservations required. Check the New Hampshire Green House Open House for specific information about the sites and how to get to them.

Sites on the tour show technologies like solar electricity (photovoltaics), solar hot water (solar thermal), solar hot air, small-scale wind systems, and geothermal heating/cooling systems. Some sites are connected to the utility grid, and some are independent energy producers off the grid. Many are highly efficient, with state-of-the-art insulation techniques, efficient appliances, lighting, and heating systems. Most incorporate passive solar design into an effortless, free-energy system.

Homeowners share their experiences with “green living”
Some of these places look so “normal” you would never guess their energy use costs the homeowner next to nothing. Some sites have been around for decades, others are brand new. Perhaps you are interested in just seeing these homes out of curiosity or to pick up a few pointers on efficiencies. Either way, the homeowners are ready to share their experiences. Each home is different, just as New England architecture itself has incorporated a little of everything. This event is like a smorgasbord: you can pick up ideas from each site and add them to your energy or lifestyle plate.

All of these sites are hosted by generous people who, whatever their personal motivations, are willing to share their experiences with strangers, in the hopes that others will change their thinking, their habits, and ultimately their energy footprint; that they will experience the kind of paradigm shift that I had back in 1998. The people who invited me into their homes had no idea how their openness would affect me and how one day could catalyze my future. Based on anecdotal feedback, this type of event can be pivotal for many people, an eye opener, one of those fabulous “Aha” moments. I hope it happens to you.

Living off-the-grid since 2001 in a home powered by a 2.4 kW photovoltaic system, heated with a wood-fired boiler/gasifier, in a very efficient passive solar home, I have upgraded my lifestyle and my priorities. I did it willingly and have never regretted it. I encourage you to visit sites near you or more-distant homes with technologies that intrigue you. There’s no sales pressure and no commitment needed but an open mind.

Learn more about 30 other homes in the Green Buildings Open House Learn before you go about the energy- efficient features
you’ll find at each home on the tour.

NH Sustainable Energy Association’s Consumer Guide Products, services, and information for sustainable living in the
Granite State

By Laura Richardson, UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener and president of the NH Sustainable Energy Association