Last month, ten local governments in Centre County, Pennsylvania entered into a 15-year solar power purchase agreement. We will beat the price of the dirty grid. We will avoid 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. We are projected to save over $4 million over fifteen years with over $2.5 million in that savings going to our school district. We are heeding calls for political will with political action, especially from young people. This is an across-the-board win.
On this episode of Planet Philadelphia, I explain how we aggregated power and built this amazing cohort of governments working together. Sure, it’s technical. We talk about solar and governmental process, avoided emissions, and savings. But it’s also much more than that. It’s action taken together.
At around 20 minutes, I talk about the power of doing things together and the joy that comes with it. I talk about the power of playing music, being in a band, and singing along at a concert. If the climate is a concert, you have a role to play. Maybe it’s in solar. Maybe it’s in buildings. Maybe it’s in parks. Maybe it’s in food. Who knows? Whatever you do, don’t make perfect the enemy of the good and find joy by doing things with people you love in the place you love. So, as Pema Chodron would say, “Start where you are.”
I also get into the challenges. There are several. I walk through the formation of the working group, overcoming initial skepticism, communication, legal expenses, and bad-faith actors.
If you want to learn more about this, email me at thesearehemlocks@gmail.com or find me on LinkedIn.
Enjoy!
Peter Walks for Democracy 