The day I bought my small farm in New Hampshire, USA, I worked all afternoon digging out some shaggy looking yew bushes from in front of the 210 year-old farmhouse. The bushes had been broused by hungry deer all winter when the snow depth reached about a metre.

Not far from the farmhouse was a thick stand of hemlock trees growing in a boggy area. Once the ground was frozen and the snow depth started to increase, the deer “yarded” under the hemlocks for shelter at night.

During the day, the deer spread out looking for food. From this perspective, my yew bushes were like the fish n’ chips shop down the street, only without the tomato sauce.

But possession day, 1^st June, 2000, was sunny and warm. An afternoon of digging and rooting with a pick axe earned me a tidy front garden, a sore back that lasted three days, and a sunburn that lasted a week.

The first day at my second property in Castlecliff also left me with a sore back and a sunburn, but for completely different reasons. Yes, a squatter had been “yarding” in our lounge over the southern winter, but my lumbar pain had nothing to do with fixing damage he/she had done.

The salt air had perforated the iron roof of the villa with a thousand and one holes, many in the form of little halos around the lead head nails. The first order of business of our eco-thrifty renovation was to put on a new top-of-the-line roof, which meant tearing off the old iron sheet by rusty sheet. Twelve hours later and I was ready for fish n’ chips, aloe vera soothing cream, and a good night’s sleep.

Partly as a result of our eco-thrifty renovation project in Castlecliff, our blog with 400 posts documenting the process from soup to nuts, this weekly column in the Chronicle, and the education work we have done in the community, I have taken a position in another provincial city. It is an amazing job for which I am well suited, but the travel takes a toll on me, my family, and the planet. In order to shorten the distance traveled we have shifted to a new home.

The bad news is that we have to leave our beloved home in Castlecliff after three and a half years of blood, sweat, tears, blisters, sunburn, laughter, dancing, singing, home-birthing and love. The good news is that our new home – a 1930s bungalow – is also in need to eco-thrifty renovation that may fill this column for many months to come.

The other good news is that on my third property I have finally wised up enough to avoid sunburn and a sore back. After shifting furniture and sundries with the help of many friends, I set myself to the real work of the day: changing the light bulbs.

Don’t laugh, there were a lot of energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs that had to be swapped out, and the bayonet type socket can be tricky to insert into a hanging ceiling lamp. After about a dozen bulb swaps, my back was a fresh as ever, although my wrist may have been temporarily fatigued. With age and a herniated disc in my back I have wised up and taken on new ways.

And speaking of new, I am happy to report that I have made my first purchase of LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. But at around $15 each, I want to be assured they will last a decade and save me over $100 each in power. What if they burn out early? What if they are of low quality?

Here is a little trick I have done with my CFL lightbulbs in the past and will continue to do with the LEDs. Take the cash register receipt and staple it to the folded up box with the bar code. Stash this away in that drawer where you keep warranty forms, insurance policies, instruction manuals, etc. If at any time you feel the bulbs have not lived up to their potential, dig out the receipt and head back to where you bought them. 

In Wednesday’s Chronicle, we saw some local examples of innovation. But innovation, like many things, is in the eye of the beholder.

When we think of the term innovation, we might think of things that are “new and improved,” or represent “a breakthrough” in technology or thinking. It all sounds like a bad advertisement on talk radio: “New and improved! A breakthrough in technology! Call in the next 30 seconds and we’ll add a second for half price!”

In many cases the breakthrough turns out to be a minor tweak of an existing product, and the innovation is actually in the OTT marketing of it. (OTT is, in and of itself, an innovation in communication technology!) From this perspective, innovation appears to be more about getting people to buy things they may or may not need than improving lives or advancing humanity toward a more positive future.

Fortunately, there are other perspectives on innovation, one of which is about doing something better. For example, coming up with a medical diagnosis technique that is less invasive for patients by using medical imaging rather than exploratory surgery. While the imaging technology would have a high up front cost, a hospital would save money over time by scheduling fewer and fewer costly surgeries. Win-Win.

Ironically, many innovations that improve some people’s lives result in a net loss of jobs by replacing other human beings with machines. While the example of replacing surgeons with MRIs and CT scans is a poor one, I recall another innovation from my childhood on the outskirts of Detroit when robotic arms began replacing auto workers and causing high unemployment in the Motor City. The next innovation by General Motors was to close plants in Detroit, Pontiac and Flint, Michigan and open plants in Mexico.

This type of innovation often enriches the innovators but impoverishes many others, and adds to the large and widening wealth gap by increasing income inequality. False narratives from self-proclaimed “Job Creators” have been proven wrong by objective analysis, but the narratives remain among the hard right just as Trickle Down Economics is still embraced despite no robust research ever confirming this weak economic theory actually works.

This all begs the question: What type of innovation actually creates jobs and keeps dollars circulating in the local economy?

I’m sure that Chronicle readers may come up with a few, but of those, which would actually lead to net job creation rather than simply employing six people in a new way only to un-employ eight people in an old way? Don’t get me wrong, I am all for creating jobs in Whanganui even if it means jobs lost in other centres. It’s just that we need to look at innovation from a holistic perspective if we want to be honest about it.

From a holistic perspective, I cannot think of a better innovation than the Eco Design Advisor Service offered by the councils of Auckland, Hamilton, Kapiti Coast, the Hutt Valley, Nelson, Invercargill and Palmerston North.

The service helps owners and renters make their homes warmer, dryer and more energy efficient. The service offers independent, expert one-on-one advice free of charge to all residents. It was created by the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) to inform and empower anyone who lives inside of a dwelling to make the best decisions regarding energy performance, comfort, water conservation and materials. It is not hard to see how this service would help create jobs in these communities and keep dollars circulating locally.

Innovative, eh? Seems others agree. The Eco Design Advisor Service was recognised in April with the Carter Holt Harvey Innovator of the Year Award from the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ). Two more councils are looking at adding the programme as it goes from strength to strength.

New! Improved! A breakthrough! Act now!

Peace, Estwing