Central Vermont Public Service is pioneering Cow Power, which turns cow manure into electricity. The five farms currently in the program produce anywhere from 1.3 million to 3.5 million KWH per year.

How it works: Cow manure is fed into an anerobic digester which creates biogas to power an electrical generator and provide heat. Excess power goes into the grid. The remaining dry, solid waste is odorless and can be used as sawdust or as bedding for animals.

So, rather than having a huge disposal problem from all that manure, it is now completely recycled.

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This version of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda is masterfully done by Liam Clancy and Robbie O’Connell.

In the song, an Australian soldier is badly wounded in WW1, losing both legs.

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, “What are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question.

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… is to insure there will be no more of them. End the wars. Bring the troops home now.

Photo by Will North of Arlington West at Santa Monica Pier.

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Family members and friends come to Arlington West, find the cross for their fallen soldier, and leave remembrances on it. Some are written and are quite moving. The crosses are handmade and set up by volunteers from Veterans for Peace every Sunday at Santa Monica Pier. The remembrances are of course saved and accompany the cross whenever it is set up again.

This video was taken April 1, 2007. They used to have a cross for every US soldier killed until there were too many, so they now have 1,000 crosses to represent all of them.

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