I suspect that most people younger than me have no idea who Johnny Appleseed was, and that most people of my generation, or older generations, are well aware of at least the outlines of his legend.
He was the person responsible for spreading apple cultivation into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. His name was John Chapman, and you can read a pretty good sysnopsis of his activites on this Wikipedia page.
I've long been convinced that solar technology has reached the point that it's the best prospect for powering our future, but that the advantages are so remote from the experiences of people's daily lives, that it's fodder for becoming little more than a political football.
I've written an article about my decision-making process about what to sell on my e-store at http://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.com/larrystore/2012/01/theyll-all-be-ground-to-sausage-meat-in-dunderbecks-machine-or-what-product-do-i-market-.html
Read it, and tell me what you think. If a practical system for capturing enough solar power to run a refrigerator could be marketed in the $200 range, it could be the start of more widespread interest in the possibilities of solar energy. I haven't found that perfect system (or a manufacturer who can pull it off) yet. There is a popular system marketed which nearly gets there, but it doesn't quite make it. But that's my goal.
I'd love to be the Johnny Appleseed of that movement.
