organizers

i'm realizing something about myself as i step into a more active role in the CCN: i don't regard project proposals for community activism in the same way as project proposals for scientific research.

when i think of a scientific research project, i zoom in to methodology. have a target question, have several collaborative methods of addressing that question, request funding for each of those methods, follow through with the implementation of all of those methods. my tiny, unexposed world is completely turned by the alteration of this process in sustainable community organization.

the NICE project (previous entry). this is an institute that was proposed and initially funded before my involvement. an incredible project was developed by my CCN comrades (and gurus) to work with the Sunnyside Neighborhood Energy (SunNE) group to research the feasibility of implementing a geo/solar thermal energy district, whereby community heating and cooling is provided not through individual water heater and cooling systems, but by a community source. the feasibility report would be used to convince a few engineering companies to invest in the geothermal energy district.

initially, the objective of the NICE project was to provide several college students with paid internships to head research groups in four areas of primary focus in the feasibility report: economics, policy, engineering and sociology. a new development as of this evening's conference call has required the alteration of funding distribution such that interns will no longer be paid. interestingly, the focus of the NICE project's direction seems to have been shifted almost entirely from research and the feasibility report to providing volunteer students with training/engaging/organizing experience. now, i whole heartedly support the necessity of such a direction. that being said, i feel that the SSC's Sprog was designed specifically for that purpose (previous entry). the NICE had incorporated Sprog into it's agenda so that student interns could take a break from their research to participate in these trainings. now that funding shortages have seemed to cause a refocusing of the project objectives to a part of the project that is already being provided by another organization... this is where i get a little knocked off my rocker.

in scientific research, you expect things to go wrong and cause a divergence from the original plan due to failed methods or unexpected data from a technique which causes a redirection to correctly answer the target question. in fact, you plan for things to go wrong. troubleshooting is the key to a successful laboratory... which is something that they don't emphasize in college, which was one of my critiques of the program upon graduation but that's entirely tangential and irrelevant to my rant. it's really not a rant so much as a pondering. nevertheless. despite the arise of obstacles, you remain focused on the original question. my discomfort with the alteration of the NICE project objectives is that in refocusing on student training we lose the original objective of the community energy research itself. it may be because i am so enthusiastic about the benefit of this project that i am not willing to accept the transition. but i would like to think it is a rational concern that the NICE seems to be transforming into a program to simply fund the participation of students in Sprog.

what i would like to come out of the next week or so is the restructuring of the NICE agenda in a way that keeps the focus on the community energy research and the collaboration of SunNE (previous entry) with NICE, CCN and the Sunnyside Elementary School. i prefer to not give up on acquisition of additional funding for individual interns, and to maintain the unique focus of the NICE project. i'm not as familiar as i'd like to be with the stipulations of the initial funding grant, but i maintain that they cannot be so different from those of scientific research that changing the objective of the NICE wouldn't have a negative effect on our credibility with our sponsors.

i can't tell yet if i'm even cut out for this kind of position.