It is usually about this time of year, that our old house is most filled with visitors and this year was no exception.

One set trekked up from Florida and made a welcome Pottstown stop-over on their way to see family in New York.

The others, members of my family, came down from New York to spend Christmas.

And it is at times like this (Christmas and visitors) that I think a lot about George Bailey, the unwilling hero of "It's a Wonderful Life."

A recent piece in The New York Times mocked the movie, arguing that it was not an inspiration but a dark morality tale about abandoning your hopes and dreams and that Bedford Falls would have been better off as Pottersville.

I won't address the merits of this argument (as that is not what this blog is about) other than to say I was not introduced to this movie until I was an adult and went right out and bought a copy. (I confess to regularly misting up when the whole town gets together to bail George out. That's the kind of bailout I can get behind.)

No, what brings George Bailey to mind is the way the nob at the bottom of the banister of his old house keeps coming off in his hand, causing him to curse the old lurking hulk of a house.

While the love/hate relationship I have with my house, built in 1916, is more complicated than this, I certainly understand the impulse, and even more so when we have guests.

Those who wish to shower must be taught how to adjust the hot and cold water to ensure the flow is slow enough so as not to outpace our oil-burning furnace which heats our water all year long through the winter/summer hook-up.

And, when my step-mother is in the house, a woman whose body-fat ratios may well approach negative numbers, we must wrestle with how high to turn the thermostat, this in a year in which we managed to lock-in our oil price when it was the highest in human history, just before it went through the basement floor.

As a result of which, This article in The New York Times caught this George Bailey's eye.

Were we to abandon our old house, impossible to do with our love of the vintage hardwood floors and built-in cabinetry, we might consider the kind of house featured in this article.

It is called a "passive house" and it makes use of free heat.

Much of the heat comes from two free sources, the sun and our own body heat. That, combined with heat generated by the appliances, provides much of the heat necessary in a house hermetically sealed against drafts and heat loss.

(Certainly, a draft-less house would have been welcomed as my friend and I sat in the breakfast nook one night and played cards in sweaters and fleeces, the cards moving every time the wind kicked up.)

The houses are very popular in Germany and their popularity has driven the price differential between "passive houses" and conventional houses down to 5 to 7 percent.

Because those necessary components are not yet commonplace in the U.S., the price differential is significantly higher here.

However, the more popular the idea becomes, the more the price of the two housing types will converge here as well. The idea of a house that requires no oil, gas, coal or electricity to heat will certainly be attractice once the price of oil goes back up, as it inevitably will.

And the environment we all share will benefit as well.

For more information, visit The Passive House Institute Web site.

This Bullock's Oriole was spotted and photographed during last year's annual bird county in Lewiston by Bob Moul. Photo is posted on the Audubon Web site.

So the BIG day has come and gone.
The 20 minutes of euphoria has given way to the reality of cleaning up the mess of wrapping, molded plastic and general overall mayhem the holiday has caused in your life.

You need a change of pace, something to take your mind off the dinner you have to cook, something that helps you re-connect with nature.

How about counting birds?

No, we're not kidding, we're totally serious.

December is the month the National Audubon Society conducts it's Annual Christmas Bird Count, or bird census if you want to be all official about it.

This is no small deal. The count, going on from now through Jan. 5, is the 109th and enlists the help of tens of thousands of volunteers across the country.

"Each year, volunteers brave snow, wind, rain or bad traffic to take part in the Christmas Bird Count, and they have made an enormous contribution to conservation to help guide conservation actions," according to Dan Brauning, who is with the Pennsylvania Game Commission's wildlife Diversity Section and whose quote was provided through a release from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental protection.

"The data collected through this effort -- which is the longest running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations -- allows researchers, conservation biologists, to study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America," Brauning said.

"when combined with other surveys, such as the Breeding Bird Survey, it provides a picture of how the continent's bird populations have change in time and space over the past hundred years."

The count takes place within "count circles," which focus on specific geographical areas and are led by a "count compiler" who is en experienced birdwatcher. That means even if you don't know what you're doing, you can help.

And if you live inside one of these circles, you can help just by looking out the window.

In this area, the "Audubon Count Circle" includes Montgomery and Chester counties and is led by Edie Parnum. She can be reached via e-mail at eparnum@comcast.net to by calling 610-964-8331.

There is also an Elverson Count Circle, also in Chester County, led by Robert Cook, who can be reached via e-mail at dunlin@dejazzd.com or by phone at 610-286-9919.

Also, there are two counts in Berks County. One, called the Hamburg County Circle is in Berks and Schuylkill counties and is led by Laurie Goodrich, who can be reached via e-mail at goodrich@hawmtn.org or by calling one of the two following numbers: 610-756-6961; or 570-943-3411, Ext. 106.

The other Berks County count circle is called the Bernville Circle and is led by Ed Barrell. He can be reached via e-mail at hawkman501@yahoo.com or by phone at 610-962-2962.

These folks can tell you how it works and what you need to do.

If you read The Thin Green Line from outside these areas, you can click here to access the Audubon Society's newsletter which has a full listing of all the state's county circles.

Have fun.

To view instructions on how to search for a circle and sign-up for an open count, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on “Wildlife” in the left-hand column, and then choose the “Christmas Bird Count” icon in the center of the page. Information also can be obtained from Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count website (http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/), or on the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology’s December newsletter (http://www.pabirds.org/Newsletter/PSO_Newsletter_2008_04.pdf).

This New York Times photo shows how cardboard once bound for recycling is piling up as a result of the crashing recycling market.

For a while there, it looked like a stagnant economy would be a recyclers best friend.

With energy prices sky-rocketing and the price of raw materials going through the roof, making things with with other things was starting to look like a smart move economically as well as ecologically.

But what an economic slow-down giveth, a full-blown recession can take away.

Just as Pottstown tries to bolster its struggling budget bottom line by recycling its way to garbage pick-up parity, it looks like you can add recyclables to the list of markets bottoming out in this God-awful economy.

Many green types, like those populating the corporate offices of The Thin Green Line, have always argued municipalities should recycle because its the right thing to do, reducing the amount of trash we bury in zip-locked landfills, ecological time-bombs we've kindly set for future generations.

Then the economy went crazy and suddenly, there was a whole new argument for increasing recycling, it would save you money like crazy. This was the kind of argument even the most landfill-loving politician could get behind.

But the market is a harsh mistress and now, um, not so much.

According to this Dec. 7 article in The New York Times, "trash has crashed."

"There are no signs yet of a nationwide abandonment of recycling programs. But industry executives say that after years of growth, the whole system is facing an abrupt slowdown.
Many large recyclers now say they are accumulating tons of material, either because they have contracts with big cities to continue to take the scrap or because they are banking on a price rebound in the next six months to a year," the newspaper reported.

“We’re warehousing it and warehousing it and warehousing it,” said Johnny Gold, senior vice president at the Newark Group, a company that has 13 recycling plants across the country. Mr. Gold said the industry had seen downturns before but not like this. “We never saw this coming.”

Poor guy is starting to sound like an auto industry exec.

In the meantime, poor Pottstown is gearing up to increase its recycling stream, preparing 65-gallon toters for distribution around down and preparing what they're saying will be a massive public education campaign to increase participation.

The selling point has been that the more we recycling, the less we landfill, the lower our trash bill will be; all of which makes sense so long as there is a market to take the recyclables to.

Sadly, if the market stays collapsed so too will that argument, and just as people are being urged to recycle more to save money, it won't save money and that extra motivation will evaporate just at the moment when people's habits stand to be most permanently changed.

I suppose it's too much to hope for that recycling will increase simply because it's the right thing to do.

Hybrid, hybrid, hybrid.

That's all you ever hear from us snooty green-types.

Meanwhile one of The Thin Green Line's most loyal readers, Thomas Mounce of Birdsboro, has been the voice in the wilderness for clean diesels.

Every time I wax on (and on and on) about my Honda Civic Hybrid (46 m.p.h. until I got stuck in snow traffic in Reading Saturday, tanking my average) I would get a note or a comment from Tom about how his Volkswagen diesel gets as good or better.

We would smile in our superior "also ran" green way and mumble something patronizing like "I'm sure it does, but hybrids are the way of the future!" (trumpets peal and echo in the background).

Well in a tip of the hat to not knowing a good thing when its staring you in the face we announce, in case you missed it, that a clean-burning diesel Volkswagen Jetta was named the Green Car of the Year at the L.A. Auto Show.

You can read all about it in this Reuters article.

"The Jetta TDI beat out finalists including BMW's 335d diesel sport sedan, Ford Motor Co's Fusion Hybrid passenger sedan, General Motors Corp's crossover Saturn Vue 2 Mode Hybrid, and the smart fortwo mini car," according to the article.

We would tell you more, but we're too broken up by the destruction of our arrogant-but-apparently-misplaced sense of superiority.

Congratulations Mr. Mounce.

Now pardon us while we go weep in our carrot juice (made from locally grown carrots of course.)

It's Christmas, and the paper, and the packaging, and the idling through the parking lot looking for a spot, and the schlepping from store to store, and the catalogs...

OK, so maybe you've guessed that being asked to come up with the 10 Best Green Gifts for the holidays put us in touch with our inner Scrooge.

And then it dawned on us, advise people to give the gift of -- nothing.

Let's face it folks, none of us have any money this year and, more important, we all have more crap than we could ever use.

So how about this year, we get in touch with what the holiday is supposed to be all about, you know, good cheer, kindness toward others, good will toward men.

So, with this theme in mind, let's explore how we can find nothing under the tree this year and still be merry.

1) Junk the Junk -- Hey, nobody likes Junk Mail, but at holiday time, you could build a house with the stuff that comes through the door. So instead of using it to buy a gift for that special someone, give the someone the special gift of getting rid of it -- permanently.

A company called 41 Pounds provides a service that stops 85 to 90 percent of the mail you don't want, for $41 for five years.

2) Adopt Something that Needs Your Help -- Rather than try to compete, let me (again) crib shamelessly from Grist Magazine which advises you can "adopt endangered animals -- and even parcels of rainforest land -- in someone's name. For the greenie who has everything, look past the charismatic megafauna to sting rays, Hellbender salamanders, and vampire bats -- because nothing says happy holidays like poisonous stingers, cannibalism, and blood sucking." Ah, don't you just love the holidays?

3) Provide a Service -- Everyone knows someone who has a child who needs watching, a foot that needs rubbing, a garage that needs cleaning or even a portfolio that needs advising. These things cost money too, and buying or providing them gives your receiver the most important gifts of all, time and piece of mind.

4) Have a Good Time -- Some years ago, old friends of The Thin Green Line agreed to stop buying crap and instead, decided to devote the money to something worthwhile -- drinking! To be specific, we would make a holiday date and all go out and spend quality time together.

While alcohol is certainly not required (although advisable in moderation), good times are to be had a-plenty at Christmas time. Right down on High Street, the TriCounty Performing Arts Center is staging its premiere performance of "Miracle on 34th Street."

Up in equally lovely East Greenville, The Grand movie theater, remodeled to look as it did in 1924, will continue it holiday tradition showing "Scrooge," starring Albert Finney, starting Dec. 12. Also premiering will be the theater's historic 1923 Marr & Colton Theater Pipe Organ. Admission is only $5 and, on Dec. 17, admission is free!

Also free is the concert that will take place on Dec. 5 for Phoenixville's First Friday. The free concert will be at the Steel City Coffee House on Bridge Street from 6 to 9 p.m. One week and one day later, come and see the Holiday Luminaria set up at Lock 60 at the Locktender's House run by the Schuylkill Canal Association, also from 6 to 9 p.m.

5) Remember the Second R -- For that person on your list who just won't take "no stuff" for an answer, remember what comes after reduce and recycling. (It's "re-use" dummy! Don't you have your Tree-Hugger Manual handy?) Any-hoo, if there's one thing Pennsylvanians are good at it's re-using, they being so ... thrifty. That's the word. So go to the church bazaar or the antique store and give the gift that's already been given. In many cases, you can find something that's been locally made, involves little or no plastic and may even benefit an organization in your community.

6) Speaking of Helping a Community -- Help your own or someone else's. Our mother, never a fan of crap, decided to teach our little green liners about the real spirit of Christmas and rather than sending crap, sends them a note about a village in Africa that is getting a goat instead of them getting another PlayStation game. Local organizations, like the Green Valleys Association, abound. Or go far afield and help communities in the Third World develop sustainable practices.

7) Give the Gift of Knowledge -- My wife and I have long bemoaned the fact that no one would pay for us to go to college. We had been doing it for 17 years and had become quite good at it. But if you can't get paid to go to class, maybe you can cover someone else's costs. Both the Gallery on High and TriCounty Performing Arts Center have classes right here in Pottstown, as does the Pottstown Parks and Recreation Department, the YMCA and YWCA and, or course, the Montgomery County Community College's West Campus. All right here in Pottstown.

8) A Taste of the Holidays -- Put your stove to work. For years, my wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law put together a collection of Christmas cookies, candies and sweets that still has people asking for more when they send Christmas cards (which are, of course, printed on recycled paper.) Yes, it takes time, but that's the idea. If time is money, making plates of cookies to give as gifts is perhaps the most expensive gift you can give.

9) A Gift That Gives Back -- You can also combine suggestions six and two. Consider that many organizations whose goals include helping your communitity and its environment sell items as a way to raise money. For example, the Berks County Conservancy sells a fleece jacket for $42 or, if that's to pricey, a $21 watercolor print of a painting called "The Oley Hills," identified as one of the most pristine areas of the the Highlands.


10) Explore Your Inner Crafter -- So perhaps, like those of us here at The Thin Green Line, the only handicraft ability you have is to buy them. But even you can put together a photo album, re-live that time the two of you got lost in the woods for two days and descended into savagery -- ah good times. If not, consider making something for some of your more recalcitrant recyclers, like a bin for their plastics. Or peruse the selection at RSI, where they specialize in sustainable gifting with things like rugs made from old jeans, or more useful things like battery re-chargers, used books (we once found a complete works of Shakespeare there for $5!) and even an electricity monitor.

Whatever you decide, remember that Christmas has always been about new life and the fewer things that get killed in order to celebrate it are in keeping with the spirit of the holiday.