It Can Be Done!

One of the questions I like to raise on this blog is, "what would you be willing to do? What sacrifices would you be willing to make?" In the absence of definitive action against the threat of climate change, our decisions are left under the control of that great invisible arbiter, The Market. And for Juneau, Alaska, the market dictated that they cut power consumption, pay insanely high prices for it, or go dark.
Due to avalanches that took offline their access to cheap hydroelectric power, rates in Juneau jumped five-fold in short notice. Life in Juneau is hard enough already- it is inaccessible except by boat and plane, and expensive to live in as a result- to say nothing of the extreme environmental pressures of such a cold climate. Yet as a tribute to their independent spirit and latent pioneer attitude, Juneau adapted- and within a week, power consumption was down as much as 30 percent. Most of this was driven by common citizens, being proactive about their energy consumption.

Heidi Graves said her 16-year-old son, Levi - the one who never would turn off his Nintendo - was the first to get onboard. He was worried that the family of six would have to cancel its vacation next August.

Levi multiplied the electric bill by five and came up with $950. "It's more than our house payment," said his mother.

Now members of the Graves family eat dinner by candlelight, do dishes by hand, plan to dry their clothes on a rack by the wood stove and limit their time on the computer.

"My husband has bruised himself and tripped over the dog just to keep the lights off," Graves said.

Graves also ordered a history of past electrical use so the family could ferret out which appliances were the real power hogs, and they learned how to read their own electric meter, which they are now doing several times a day.

Now we know what the residents of Juneau are willing to sacrifice to make things work. Clearly, the financial incentive of reducing consumption was able to have a remarkable effect on the city. Perhaps we would do well to remember these lessons the next time someone talks about how hard it would be to reduce consumption. When you need to, you can do it. What other choice is there? There may be many more lessons like this coming 'round the bend- we would definitely do well to remember what Juneau has taught us.