A Self-sustaining Environ for Eliana in Chautauqua County, a faithful vision, or hopefulness in that which cannot yet be seen—the fruitful emergence of: lineal, cooperative, rural environs with urban densities, ecologically and economically self-sustaining, capable of attracting an additional 125,000 people to survive, work, and safely grow families despite the vagaries of erratic climate change and global warming

2. A Self-sustaining Environ for Eliana in Chautauqua County,
a faithful vision, or hopefulness in that which cannot yet be seen—
the fruitful emergence of:
lineal,
cooperative,
rural environs with urban densities,
ecologically and economically self-sustaining,
capable of attracting an additional 125,000 people to survive,
work, and safely grow families despite the vagaries of erratic
climate change and global warming

3. Why Eliana in Chautauqua County?
49% more Americans think they or,
56% of their family will be harmed by global warming.
65% more think global warming will harm people in the U.S.
Climate change in the
American mind: December 2018.
“Urban areas are at risk for large numbers of evacuated and
displaced populations…due to both extreme precipitation
events and recurrent flooding”(1)

4. As long as the fossil-fuel industry
continues towards its goal to burn every
last molecule of energy into CO2
“…wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea
levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk
of becoming uninhabitable;”(2)
“..There is no shortage of evidence of chaos..”(2)

5. “This really is
the most
devastating
flooding we’ve
probably
ever had in our
state’s history,”
Nebraska’s gov.
Nebraska March 19. 2019
Is living & farming
near large rivers
going to be
viable much
longer with Global warming ?
Midwest March 31, 2019

6. UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’;
Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’
“Transformative changes’ needed to restore and protect nature;
Opposition from vested interests can be overcome for public good
Most comprehensive assessment of its kind;
1,000,000 species threatened with extinction” (3)

7. .
Photograph by Facundo Arrizabalaga
What are we waiting for before we ACT?
“Greta Thunberg, the sixteen-year-old
climate activist, says that all she wants is for
adults to behave like adults, and to act on
the terrifying information that is all around
us”
“Avoiding climate breakdown will require
cathedral thinking,” Greta Thunberg said.
“We must lay the foundation while we may
not know exactly how to build the
ceiling.”(4)

8. I’m one of those adults who has not acted like an adult.mea maxima culpa
My decisions to buy certain stocks for my retirement
portfolio was filtered through quarterly returns with
little fore-thought toward the environmental
degradation such investments would generate.
As a voter I’ve repeatedly elected--in the past—
politicians for reasons that had nothing to do with
global warming.
I have to shamefully confess my past decision-making
does not bode well for my children and
grandchildren’s future

9. I’m especially worried about my youngest
grandchild.
Where will Eliana find a safe place to live
in 21 years when she is 28?
By 2040 where will she find things, I take for
granted?
Affordable healthy food,
Clean drinking water,
Reliable energy, and reliable job opportunities,
and a society where people care
about one another and their planet.
What have I willed Elina?

10. Survival will “require changes in
human behavior that have no
documented historical precedent” (5)
Each year erratic climate is becoming more and more of a reality &
like millions of others… I now believe

11. Where to find the future good life ?
LOCATION! Location! LOCATION!
Even in the US that means starting with:
Right Kind of Land
Survivable temperatures
Good potential sources of food & water.
Flexible lineal approach to rural/urban
environs
And the right kind of people
Avoid
Unsustainable
fantasies

12. Why Chautauqua County?
locate new urban environs in
places that are hilly;
with good drainage & not
adjacent to recurring river flooding
or rising oceans;
that has a potential for future
reliable rainfall with natural
catchment aquifers;
& a future livable climate with lots
of farms and undeveloped land
It makes common sense to:

13. Why Chautauqua County ? It has a good source of water both in
rain and watershed areas.
The County gets 46 inches of rain, on average,
per year. The US average is 39 inches of rain.
THE County averages 129 inches of snow per
year. The US average is 26 inches (6)
“The recent dominant trend in precipitation
throughout the Northeast has been towards
increases in rainfall...
Further increases in total precipitation
expected during the winter and spring but
with little change in the summer.”(7)
(8)

14. Why Chautauqua County ? Cassadaga Creek Watershed is
Considered one of the principal
valley-filled aquifers in upstate NY
with a 34 square mile watershed area.(9)
Pollution might eventually be a
problem that needs a solution
A 2002 study stated all sites on
Cassadaga Creek were assessed as
slightly impacted. “Nonpoint nutrient
enrichment from…agricultural
runoff is the likely source.” (9)

15. It has the most farms in New York State
• There are 235,858 acres in farms, 35% of
• the county’s total acreage.
• The average size of a farm is 142 acres.
• There are 1,648 farms.
• Livestock account for 58% of the total
agricultural sales. Crops account for 42%.
• The average sales per farm is $83,581 in
2009 .(10)
Why Chautauqua
County?

16. Daily waste = is 1,883 tons per day.
County use = 500 tons per day+/- for its use.
Remainder comes from out of County.
$300,000 per year “tipping fees” pay for cost
of the Landfill.(11)
Could not handle an increase
population of 125,000 people +/- and
only has about a total of 20 +/- more
years of capacity at the rates it is going
.
Why Chautauqua County ? Its Solid Waste Landfill is a Problem
in Need of a Solution!
Waste Management Landfill area in Ellery

17. Why Chautauqua County ? A source of wind power
80 miles of shoreline running along Lake
Erie offers a reliable wind resource for
spinning wind turbines.
The Arkright Summit is the first approved
and operating windfarm in New York State
with 48 high-capacity wind turbines.
installed capacity of 78.4 megawatts
(MW)—enough to power approximately
35,000 average New York homes with clean
energy each year.

18. Why Chautauqua County?
The county has 1 junior college
tat could grow to support the
technical skills to build,
Chautauqua Institute—
Famous foundation of
culture, arts, and learning
for 145 years.
Could grow with Eliana’s
urbanized environs.

19. Jamestown: Largest town in the County
with a pop. of 30,000+/-.
Former industrial/commercial city on
Chautauqua Lake.
Was famous for furniture building.
Has a SUNY Junior College
Eliana Environs could spread lineally
North and West beyond the city limits
Why Chautauqua County?

20. Its geographical potential for Lineal
Urbanized Environs:
• Existing farms and fields are near
the roads.
• Most of the County has Large tracks
of undeveloped second-growth
trees between farmed areas.
• 4% of these wooded areas would be
adequate for housing, schools, &
commercial/lite industry for
125,000 people +/-
Why Chautauqua County?
house
field
Wooded area
Road House Field Woodlot Woodlot House-field Road

21. Why Chautauqua County?
Large lots of undeveloped non-farm land
available for lineal urbanization:
125,000 people would need 13,000 acres+/-
for roads, housing, commercial & industrial
facilities, schools, medical facilities, etc.
• About the size of Lake Chautauqua.
• County =680,000 acres total;
• 235,858 acres in farms,
• At least 300,000 acres of woodlots.
Eliana environs would cover less then 4% of
woodlots.

22. Advantages to Chautauqua County Residents:
• By working to protect their aquifers,
• By being open to growing more diverse foods
with enclosed vertical farming technology (35)
• By staying open to renewable energy strategies
Chautauqua County could attract urban pioneers
seeking self-sustaining, lineal, cooperative,
rural/urbanized environs as havens against erratic
climate change.
These urban pioneers would bring with them a growing diversity of year-round
good paying jobs and businesses beyond seasonal farming and tourism.

23. Self-sustainability starts with people in Community
The Eliana project would need to appeal to urban spirits
willing to embark on a great collective venture
to create self-sustaining, non-intrusive, urban environs in the wooded hillsides of Chautauqua County,
People emotionally healthy enough to be seeking an opportunity to migrate to an emerging
community that will be of their making,
to courageously demonstrate a proof of project—see “Eliana from zero to a 1000”
that it is possible for a large group of humans (upwards to over a 100,000 families)
to live out their daily vocations, be it childcare, farming, carpentry, the arts, or the practice of the
STEM sciences—
while simultaneously reducing the erratic chaos of global warming
by the way they live and interact with each other
in their effort to protect, improve and utilize their local ecological resources
in harmony with the UN Sustainability Goals.

24. Self-sustainability starts with energy conservation building:
By implementing PASSIVE HOUSE building codes, and contractor
training programs, any new construction for the Eliana environs
would reduce home, school and commercial heating and cooling
by about 80% compared to existing Chautauqua County housing stock
https://www.slideshare.net/richardpedranti/karpiak-mulhall-
passive-house?next_slideshow=1
https://passivehouse.com/index.html

25. Moving toward a self-sustaining cooperative community:
Crop Diversification &
Extending Growing Season:Balancing a
new world grid:
• Produce food crops year-round
• Source production closer to the
point of consumption
• Reduce input costs
• Control growing conditions
with precision

26. Solar and wind farms should constitute
about 50 % of the energy needs of Eliana
Toward the end of its grow out.
Solar farms could be built as part of each
residential / commercial development
on 10-acre tracks
Wind turbines to be located in
isolated area at highest possible
elevation and at least 1250 feet from
any existing or proposed residence.
Self-sustainability will require local
renewable sources of energy:

27. Build infrastructure to support a synergy among three important clean
energy technologies: variable renewables (solar & wind) and electric cars
Create an EEC company to lease two-way charging electric cars to
act as MESU (Mobile Electric Storage Units) One car per household- eventually
125,000 vehicles+/-
.
Self-Sustainability will require stabilizing variable renewal energy:
Average American car is only
driven about 30 miles per day
for a total of 1.4 hours

28. To promote local, year-round supply of varied food groups and farm
employment.
Create a year-round CO2 “sinks” linked to carbon recapture technology
To capture waste heat from waste-to-energy electric systems
https://www.wur.nl/en/wageningen-university.htm
Self-sustainability will require symbiotic greenhouse farming:
Vertical greenhouses
growing with LED lighting
Aquaponics
cycle…

29. Establish a member owned Electric Cooperative
(EEC) under the Consolidated Laws of New York,
Rural Cooperative for the benefit of future
members or their heirs.
Create an Eliana Cooperative Capital Fund(ECCF)
to leverage borrowing with long term muni loans.
To construct and maintain new physical
infrastructures to make the Eliana environs of
Chautauqua County as self-sufficient as possible.
Jump-Starting a self-sustaining environment
with an Eliana Electric Cooperative (EEC)
and an Eliana Cooperative Capital Fund (ECCF):

30. Self-sustainability via Eliana Electric Cooperative (EEC):
The Eliana Electric Cooperative (EEC)
would be structured like earlier rural
electric cooperatives with one difference;
• investors, or their heirs, in the ECCF
would be entitled to a first right of
refusal to directly benefit from the
facilities the EEC would build and
maintain. (within a 25 to 30 year
period)

31. To raise funds to for the Eliana Electric
Cooperative (EEC). To build, maintain and,
populate self-sustaining environs in
Chautauqua County.
To promote new cultures to facilitate the
physical lineal interweaving of rural/urban
environs into Chautauqua County
Affirm cooperative, self-sustaining, egalitarian
community, over disparities created by global
capital accumulators.
Accept that not all the residents of the County
would want to participate in the ECCF
Self-sustainability through the
Eliana Cooperative Capital
Fund (ECCF):

32. Creating Self-sustainability with ECCF Resources:
Finance land purchases, EIS’s, new energy efficient codes and planning
standards for housing, commercial, educational facilities, etc. and
approvals from agencies having jurisdiction.
Finance the stabilization of renewable-energy sources such as wind, solar,
using MESUs (mobile electric storage units) in Chautauqua County for
members of the Eliana Electric Cooperative (EEC) and profits to ECCF
Finance Waste-to-Energy facilities in Chautauqua County with waste disposal
benefits for all residents and power benefits to bond holders of ECCF
debt.
Finance energy projects designed to protect the land, air, and water in
Chautauqua County from destructive pollutants with residual energy
benefits going to members of the Eliana Cooperative Capital
Fund(EECF)

33. Oakridge Condos Westchester, NY: a study in density
340 units ( about 850 people)on 43 areas +/- which included a 6 acre pond, pool
complex, tennis courts, common areas, preschool, sewage treatment plant and &
10 acres of retail/commercial office space.
Self–sustainability will require controlled growth.
EEC can control growth by “when and where” they extend utilities
EEC can limit impact on the value of farm lands by only supporting development
in timber areas while preserving integrity and bucolic beauty of a
rural community
Oakridge 23 people per acre
Chautauqua 5 people per acre

34. Self-sustainability requires active regulated attention to reduce pollution
of the County’s land, air, and water and active infrastructure construction
such as:
ECCCF funded & EEC maintained Waste-to-Energy Plants
anaerobic digestion, which breaks down organic matter into
something called raw bio-gas. The bio-gas is then collected
and upgraded to RNG – at pipeline quality – and can be used
as electricity, heat or transportation fuel.
• Full cycle anaerobic digestion of
biowaste-to-energy facilities.
• Full cycle of human waste-to-energy plants
for all new housing and commercial
development .
• Full cycle solid waste-to-energy with carbon
recapture and greenhouse sinks to replace
existing landfill area.

35. Tampera, Finland population 236,000, Waste to
Energy Plant provides district heat (310 GWh) and
electricity (90 GWh) with a capacity of 150 000 tons/year
of waste
Leverage ECCF resources to finance Solid Waste-to-Energy Plant:
• Could process 400,000 tons per year of waste
(enough for 140,000 Chautauqua residents plus
Eliana’s 125,000 proposed population).
Cost $260,000,000+/-for building it, would be paid
with a 30-year muni bond.
• To offset this cost the plant would generate between
54.75 to 65.70 MWh of electricity: enough to
power 26,577 to 31,893 homes ( 66,442 to 79,732
people) or provide about 50% of the residential
needs of Eliana.
• It would be more environmentally friendly for
everybody than what presently exists.

36. Converting Chautauqua County’s Landfill into an Energy-Mountain:
262 ac. actively
used for Landfill
operations
Additional 1350 ac. in
square mostly wooded
owned by County and
private owners
Isolated area for Wind turbines;
area to collect farm and bio-waste for
Anaerobic Digestors to reduce aquifer pollution.
A Waste-to-Energy plant to handle all future solid waste needs of County and
Eliana. Greenhouses for sequestering CO2 and utilization of excess heat.

37. Water treatment and distribution;
Small natural gas microturbines; limited to
viable available carbon recapturing
facilities and vertical greenhouses “sinks”
Reforestation and managed growth of owned
timber areas to increase carbon
sequestration.
Build and maintain a city-wide intra-net and
server farm to support the above goals,
and Internet/telecommunication fiber-
optic cable system.
Other ECCF investment projects:
https://www.wbdg.org/
resources/
microturbines#app

38. Want to confront your sense of personal
powerlessness to change erratic weather??
Help lead the grounding of a faithful
vision in Chautauqua County as a safer
environ for the Eliana’s in your life
Help start the Eliana Cooperative Capital Fund (ECCF)

39. “Don't let this beautiful
weather fool you into
thinking everything’s fine”
The New Yorker (May 20, 2019) p 40.
Jeffrey vreeland
vreela1@yahoo.com
(914) 523-6664
Slide share link

40. References and Resources
(1) Climate change in the American mind. (December 2018) https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/ p 671.
(2) 2018 U.S. Climate Report. https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/ “the effects of a changing climate on the economy,
health, & environment of the US will be droughts & forest fires in the West and Southeast. Crop failures in the Midwest &
crumbling infrastructure in the South. Disruption of American exports and supply chains.Agricultural yields falling to 1980s
levels by midcentury.”
(3) UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates (2019) ‘Accelerating’
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/
(4) Knight, S. (4/024/2019) The Uncanny Power of Greta Thunberg’s Climate-Change Rhetoric. The New Yorker
(5) Leonhardt, D. (4/14/2019) The Economist’s Dilemma. The New York Times Magazine.
(6) Aquifer data sourced from https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr82113
(7) https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/ (p 671)
(8) http://www.planningchautauqua.com/watershed/index.htm
(9) information sources about pollution https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr82113
(10) Information taken from website of the Cornell Extension. (original document published about 2009
http://chautauqua.cce.cornell.edu/resources /chautauqua-county-farm-facts-brochure

41. (11)data on landfill
(12) http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/faq.html
good source for cost of energy production
(13) https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/electricity-on-average-do-homes/
Average use of energy by state
(14) https://www.swa.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/Renewable-Energy-Facility-2-11
Link to Tampera Finland data
(15) International energy Conservation code zone map puts Chautauqua in zone 5
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IECC2015/chapter-3-ce-general-requirements?site_type=public
(16) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMmFnP4PRs video on aquaponic growing
(17) https://www.lumigrow.com/superior-fresh/ lights for aquaponic growing

42. (18) Dealing with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from Anaerobic Digestors https://www.evoqua.com/en/brands/adi-systems/Pages/
biogas-treatment-and-utilization.aspx?stc=ppc300203&utm
_term=biogas%20from%20anaerobic%20digestion&utm_campaign=Industrial+-+ADI+Systems&utm_source=adwords&utm
_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=3118474098&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_cam=1475129676&hsa_ad=282841122867&has
_kw=biogas%20from%20anaerobic%20digestion&hsa_grp=60789078447&hsa_mt=b&hsa_ver=3&hsa_src=g&has
_tgt=kwd-298575830061&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo-mby8X_4QIVwiaGCh1iIgasEAAYAiAAEgLNQPD_BwE
Biogas treatment and Utilization removal of H2S before burning to create electricity ​BENEFITS OF UTILIZING BIOGAS:
​Reduce your plant’s energy costs; Replace conventional non-renewable energy sources; Improve your company’s carbon
footprint; Produce heat and/or electricity on-site under your control: Sell excess electrical power from gen-sets to the
local grid for profit: Create a reputation of being environmentally responsible: Potential to receive financial incentives
to produce green energy. BIOGAS TREATMENT APPLICATIONS: ​Internal combustion engines; Gen-sets; Microturbines;
Fuel cells; Boiler and steam generating systems; Sludge dryers​​​
(19) https://www.regenis.net/features/food-waste-digesters page has a good video on all cycles to compost and fertilizer
(20)Serverson, Kim. From Apples to Popcorn, Climate Change Is Altering the Foods America Grows (April 30, 2019)
New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/dining/farming-climate-change.html?em_
pos=small&emc=edit_clim_20190501&nl=climate-fwd&nl_art=1&nlid=35152681c%3Dedit_clim
20190501&ref=headline&te=1

43. (21) Resnick, Brian & Amaria, Kainaz Updated 3/19/2019,
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/3/18/18271101/nebraska-flooding-photos
(20) Smith, Mitch & Schwartz, John. (March 31,2019 ‘Breaches Everywhere’: Flooding Bursts Midwest Levees,
and Tough Questions Follow: NY TIMES. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/31/us/midwest-floods-levees.html?
action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
(21) https://www.regenis.net/features/ dairy-farm, biowaste anaerobic –digesters
(23) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcYApKfHuY video from Bloomberg news on vertical farming and the kale-filled
facility at vertical farm startup Bowery Farming, it’s a piece of proprietary software that makes most of the critical decisions
-- like when to harvest and how much to water each plant. But it still takes humans to carry out many tasks around the farm.
Katie Morich, 25, loves the work. But as roboticists make gains, will her employer need her forever? This is the fourth
episode of Next Jobs, a series about careers of the future hosted by Bloomberg Technology's Aki Ito. Host, Producer: Aki Ito
Camera: Alan Jeffries, Brian Schildhorn Co-Producer: David Nicholson Editor: Victoria Daniell Writers: Aki Ito and Victoria
Daniell
(24) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLbDOMgtcA Aquaponics is a system for farming fish and plants together in a
mutually beneficial cycle. It solves two major problems facing society, the increasing scarcity of farmland and fresh water.
The Lucky Clays farm in Norwood, NC is taking the science of aquaponics to an amazing new level. 7.55 minutes
(25) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB7RYIlS6LQ Promotional video for Nature Fresh Farms in Leamington, Ontario.
This video shows the entire process, from sanitization, to planting, picking, and packing. It also shows some of the advanced
technologies used at Nature Fresh, as well as their high safety standards.

44. (26) https://soilwater.org/about-us/ good data on land use: responsible for erosion control: flood prevention; water
conservation and use; wetlands; ground water; water quality andquantity’; nonpoint source pollution; forestland
protection; wildlife; recreation; waste water management and community development
(27) Chautauqua County Land Area: has a total land area of 680,000 acres, or about 1,062 square miles. The New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation manages about 18,000 acres of land used for reforestation and wildlife
areas. Also, Chautauqua County manages about 1,500 acres as county reforestation areas and parks.
(28) Farming and crops grown in Chautauqua County. The County is in two contrasting physiographic provinces, the Erie-
Ontario Plain province and the Allegheny Plateau province, and thus it supports two different kinds of farming enterprises.
In the plateau province the principal agricultural enterprise is dairy farming. Corn and hay are the main crops, but some
small grain is grown. In 2004, about 38,700 acres was used for hay, 22,400 acres for corn, and 3,866 acres for small grain,
mainly oats. In 1945, contrast, 22,065 acres was used for small grain, 18,912 acres for corn and 104,642 acres for hay.
A moderate temperature, a long frost-free period, and good soils help to make the lake plain province and outstanding
agricultural area. The main agricultural enterprise in this region is growing grapes; however, substantial areas are used for
vegetables, orchard crops or small fruit. Chautauqua County is the leading grape-producing county in New York, with
19,166 acres of vineyards.
In addition to these products, maple syrup is an important commodity in the survey area. Chautauqua County currently is
rated eighth among the counties of New York in the production of maple syrup, with an average annual output of about
15,000 gallons.

45. More than 50 percent of Chautauqua County is woodland; therefore, commercial timber production is a viable industry.
Most of the natural stands are represented by mixed hardwoods dominated by sugar maple, red oak, black cherry, white
ash, and American beech. Many wooded areas have been harvested several times for timber production.
(29) Vertical farming video https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000005080478/aerofarm-vertical-newark.html
Also Aero farm self-promotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woo_kg43RVo 2.37minutes
(30) Alternative to cement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWPzERdNh50 This cement alternative absorbs CO2
like a sponge. Also Dutch are using recycle plastic as prefab pavers for road for roads.
(31) Carbon cure entraps carbon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeKUlEOJ0p0 and makes concrete stronger with
less material
(32) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvh62AFYk9A Turning CO2 into oxygen: Scientists change carbon dioxide to
ethanol using the sun – TomoNews. would be good if edited down
(33) maps of Chautauqua Lake Waterfront Revitalization Areas ( WRA) https://docs.dos.ny.gov/opd-
lwrp/LWRP/Chautauqua_Lake/Original/Maps/Chautauqua%20LWRP%20Maps.pdf

46. (34) County planning information ( some good maps) http://www.planningchautauqua.com/index.html
(35) Climate Change Facts: Farming success in an uncertain Climate. ( 201) Cornell Cooperative Extension.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.cce.cornell.edu/attachments/1173/climate_and_farming_copy.pdf?1405496387