Mike Haasl

Shoot, I was really hoping to meet you Christopher.  

It looks like Sam Thayer will likely lead a foraging walk as well!  With the tickets sold so far, we're looking at around 100 attendees.  We're even hiring a cook :)

8 days to go!!!  I'd love to see all of you in beautiful northern WI next weekend. Some of the workshops include:
Syntropic Agriculture
Rocket Mass Heater project finish
Survival Arts
Wildlife Tracking
SKIP
Rope making
High density/diversity plantings
Seed savings
Swamp utilization
Forest bathing
Profitable permaculture
Biochar
Mushroom foraging
Fly fishing
Confronting elephants
Storing your bounty
Wool
Going low tech

Plus Sam Thayer keynote!!!

Thanks Christopher and J!  Here are some answers:

All the sessions are open to everyone, we tried to balance the types of workshops at every time slot so hopefully that helps spread the load.

Good catch about session listings, we added a track but didn't put those on the site.  I've asked the web guru to do that.

No, the RMH workshop during the convergence is open to all.  It will likely be more of a cob finish session but it depends on how the build went up to that point.

As I understand it, Take 5 is a thing where people sit in a big circle and they can stand up and talk for up to 5 minutes about something they're working on.  I guess it's a great way to learn who's into what so you can geek out on different subjects during dinner.  I've never been to one so I hope I'm explaining it well.  I also asked the web guru to put something on the site about it :)

Yes, meals are being planned to have options for many diets.

I'm sure there will be a way to pay at the gate if you need to!

Thanks J!  I'm not sure if next year's will be this awesome...  We'd love to have you swing by.  I'm hoping it goes well enough that the convergence will come back north again in the next 5 years.  

Bump - It's only 2 weeks away and the offerings keep getting better due to healthy ticket sales: https://www.wisconsinpermacultureconvergence.com/

The 2025 Convergence is only two weeks away!!!  The website is fully updated: https://www.wisconsinpermacultureconvergence.com/

Due to healthy ticket sales, we've added a fourth track of workshops so now there are 24 to choose from.  It will be non-stop fun, networking and education at a wonderful resort alongside a lake.  

To recap:
6 meals
3 musicians (Brett Winters, Paco Fralick, Fox)
24 workshops (animal tracking, biochar, survival skills, wool, permaculture planting, mushroom foraging, rope making, food storage, swamp management, etc)
Access to full resort amenities (pool, bar, coffee shop, sauna, beach, 1000 acres of woods)
Free camping
Discounted hotel rooms or cabins if you want a bit more luxury
Sam Thayer (famous forager) keynote
Tours of cranberry farm, healing nature trail, community garden that I helped start, grass fed pasture beef operation
7 pre convergence workshops the week leading up to the event
Only $99

You could even come to Rhinelander for Labor Day and spend the week doing permie stuff in the Northwoods!  

I'm glad you're back at WL!!  The potatoes may have just finished their life cycle and if you can find where they were, dig up a bunch of spuds.

I asked the interwebs and it gave this AI type answer that seems to ring true.  It looks like powerplants aren't multitudes more efficient than internal combustion engines.  They seem to be better for efficiency and pollution but not show stopping better.

Comparison of Pollution: Cars vs. Power Plants
Tailpipe Emissions

   Gasoline Cars: Produce significant tailpipe emissions, contributing to air pollution and greenhouse gases. On average, they emit about 400 grams of CO2 per mile driven.

   Electric Vehicles (EVs): Have zero tailpipe emissions. However, emissions are generated during electricity production, depending on the energy source.

Lifecycle Emissions

   Gasoline Cars: Manufacturing a gasoline car generates approximately 6 to 9 metric tons of CO2 emissions over its lifecycle.

   Electric Vehicles: Manufacturing an EV can create more than 10 metric tons of CO2 due to battery production. However, over their lifetime, EVs typically result in lower total greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline cars.

Energy Production Efficiency

   Power Plants: The efficiency of power plants varies by fuel type. Coal-fired plants lose about 68% of energy as waste, while natural gas plants are more efficient. Even with these losses, a coal plant is still more efficient than a gasoline engine, which loses around 80% of energy.

Overall Impact

   Electric Vehicles: When charged with cleaner energy sources, EVs can significantly reduce overall emissions compared to gasoline cars. In regions with renewable energy, EVs have a much lower carbon footprint.

   Gasoline Cars: They consistently produce emissions throughout their operational life, making them less favorable in terms of long-term environmental impact.

In summary, while both cars and power plants contribute to pollution, the type of vehicle and energy source significantly influence the overall emissions. Electric vehicles, especially when powered by renewable energy, tend to have a lower environmental impact compared to traditional gasoline cars.

I've started seeing and hearing crickets in the last couple weeks so I must just now be learning how nature works.  They probably just had to hatch and grow and that took til August...

Matt McSpadden wrote:what about the loss of electricity during transmission (which lowers the efficiencies of whatever source that grid has)? What about the efficiency of the grid generators themselves? While there is a lot of renewable generation... there is still an awful lot of coal/gas generators.

Transmission loss is a thing (I think around 10%) but grid generation is dramatically more efficient and clean than an internal combustion engine.  I have a little electric car now and it goes around 35 miles on a dollar of electricity.  At $3 gasoline that's the semi-equivalent over 100 mpg.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Also, what about the big electric tractor trailers they are building? ..... I'm just not sure we have enough electricity for that. I'm also not sure we have the ability to build renewable generators that fast... which brings us back to the question of efficiency of the coal/gas generators.

They will most likely power semi trailer charging stations with coal or natural gas.  Once again, that is several times more efficiently than those trucks can convert diesel to power.  Imagine how much money and tech they can pack into a car/truck to make it efficient.  Compare that to the millions of dollars of tech they put in a powerplant to make it efficient.  Side note, if they can get enough power for AI data centers, they can get enough power for cleaner transportation.  

Yes, they can get better at generating power.  Yes the batteries will get better.  Yes they should make them more recyclable.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't work ourselves away from dinosaur juice.   Massive shifts in a technological field rarely happen in one big jump.  Usually it's a shift to something a bit better and then people tweak and fiddle with it until it's clearly better.  The early cars were enough better than a horse that people eventually adopted them.  Now we (most of us) couldn't imagine maintaining a horse to ride to work every day in winter.

That sounds odd bally to me!  Food Prep tasks aren't allowed for oddball but since it's more animal careish, I think you're ok.