We are changing.
For the better.
Maybe we can save our butts yet...?
I go back and forth over whether it is too late to get us all out of the Hummer before we head off the cliff. Every new "faster than predicted" or "worse than expected" data point that shows more melting, more dead species, or more climate instability drags me down. Jim Hansen recently had me losing sleep over the data.
But then some days look brighter. This week was one of those times. People really are acting--in several important and tangible ways--to change the status quo.
Actually, it was a series of otherwise unrelated things--all published in the Boston Globe, which all hit me over a few days. And I realized the important thread they provided.
On Friday I gave an interview to a reporter who was trying to get at ways to conserve electricity in these hot summer months. Apparently my comments are on the cutting room floor (although I think the part about ceiling fans was me :) ) I couldn't give the whole conservation gestalt--it was a short and targeted interview. But I tried to make some points. But more interesting to me was the increased demand for energy audits that the NStar guy talked about. Check it out:
Cheap? Cool.
This summer's hot trend: Cutting back on energy use
....As a result, some customers are seeking cheaper ways to stay cool. NStar and National Grid, the two main providers of electricity in Massachusetts, said enrollment in their energy-efficiency programs remains robust as summer begins, a time when interest typically wanes....
...."We are still keeping our auditors busy," said NStar spokesman Michael Durand. "Summertime is typically when they get vacations, and they are still getting them. But they are just working a little harder before and after."
My energy audit changed everything--changed my house physically, and my energy usage (at least 20% down immediately on natural gas, more like 30% now with additional efficiencies). And I know from talking with people that my story got a bunch of other people to do the same thing to their homes. So people are acting--they are signing up for energy audits and committing to the changes. They are changing their ways.
This week I saw a couple of more things that I thought were very compelling. One is that we are growing grain in New England again.
Catching an amber wave
More Vermont farmers are seeing a world of potential in a grain of wheat
....Spurred to action by sharply rising prices for transportation and animal feed, and surging consumer demand for locally grown foods, more farmers in New England are deciding to grow grains....
In the last two years, other factors have further fueled demand for local wheat, especially the sudden, explosive growth of the local food, or "localvore," movement. Increasingly, local food is seen as a safer, more reliable source. More and more Vermonters, from all walks of life, are turning to locally grown foods, farmers and bakers said, creating new markets for, among other products, Vermont-grown wheat for making flour and bread.....
What does this mean? Demanding local and safe food has made a difference. And we may actually be able to thank this administration for making fuel prices skyrocket with a weak dollar, endless war in the Middle East, and inability to grasp peak oil--the high costs are helping us to relocalize. Our choices about how to use the land are changing.
A booming business in 'low-mileage lettuce'
....The start-up farm, called Locally Known, is trying to capitalize on soaring fuel costs and growing consumer demand for local, organic foods by offering fresher lettuce at competitive prices....
But with an investment from a group of entrepreneurs under the age of 30, along with a $250,000 grant from Maine's agriculture department, Locally Known built a processing plant that washes, dries, and packages the greens to meet industry standards....
Young entrepreneurs and farmers, investing in local food--not just dot coms? Competitive "green" jobs and low mileage food to scale? Hot damn.
And then I saw this:
House hunting in the age of $4 gas
Analysts say commuters may move closer to work
....With gas now $4 a gallon, the software executive is no longer willing to pour $500 worth into his tank each month, an expense he attributes mainly to his 34-mile commute each way to work in Wilmington, or farther, to Logan International Airport for out-of-town meetings. He is looking to buy a home closer to his employer and the airport.
"I love, love, love my place, so it's bittersweet," Benoit said. But the commute is "just getting too expensive." ....
In a survey of its agents by real estate brokerage Coldwell Banker, 81 percent said they are seeing more interest from prospective buyers in urban living because of high gasoline prices. Fifty-four percent said access to public transportation is more important to their clients now....
What's that I hear? Thoughtfully choosing to live closer to work and ranking public transportation as desirable? Less driving? More use and ultimately demand for public transportation? Out of suburbia and into more walkable lives?
And then political actors--actually acting:
A bright idea: Democratic delegates to help global warming, local families
.... But this year, Massachusetts delegates to the August Democratic National Convention in Colorado – billed as trying to be the most environmentally-sustainable convention in history – are being asked to engage in an offset program that, if it does what it says, makes a lot of local sense.
Delegates and their supporters can offset travel, hotel and food by replacing incandescent light bulbs in local low-income homes with far more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs. The program cuts down on carbon dioxide, the key global warming gas – and saves families money....
One of my biggest gripes about the actions that we need to take is that they are often out of the budgets of people who could benefit the most. This is a case where they are actually making the right choice the easy choice for people who might otherwise not be able to do it.
It is happening. Our neighbors are making changes--substantive and real changes. Maybe I was wrong, and it won't require a Triangle Shirtwaist Moment. Maybe Katrina was it. Maybe it will come on little cat feet.
Wrenching the keys out of the hands of the Republicans driving this Hummer by November is crucial. But I am delighted to see measurable and substantive changes happening ahead of the leadership--us. We are getting our word out--evangelizing on how to make changes. We are asking for local foods. We are breaking out of suburban sprawl. We are using our dollars to support local agriculture and green jobs. Some politicians are working creatively to broaden the reach of conservation efforts. I think this bodes well.
Maybe the leadership will follow us after all....
Now, I'm not saying this is true everywhere. I can see in the climate crisis threads that some of you aren't seeing any evidence of this in your neighborhoods and workplaces. A Siegel actually got punched. But if we have some early adopters and some ideas that work, word will spread. And as they start doing the math on why their gas and food prices are so high, it will catch on. I know the wait is frustrating for those of us used to the immediacy of the way things happen on the intertoobz, but I think things are turning our way.
Good work, team. Keep it up!
on little cat feet