{"id":4511,"date":"2021-04-14T20:26:04","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T20:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/blog\/earth-month-2021-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T10:41:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:41:25","slug":"change-my-energy-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/change-my-energy-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Book Inspired Me to Change My Energy Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Vivian Lehrer Stadlin \u2013 4\/14\/2021<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently finished the single most important book I\u2019ve ever read: \u201cThe Overstory,\u201d the Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel by Richard Powers. It\u2019s a compelling, beautiful read \u2014 if you get no further in this article, here is my strongest book recommendation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Without spoilers, I can say \u201cThe Overstory\u201d catalyzed for me a worldview shift that was more healing and clarifying than years of therapy. I feel it now in my heart as much as my head: The natural world, of which we humans are just one part, is far more intelligent and alive than I realized. And the individualistic, commodifying mindset predominant in our society \u2014 in which we see the rest of the natural world as \u201cour resources,\u201d think of humans as the source of all meaning, and endlessly aim for convenience, growth and material affluence \u2014 is unsustainable to the point that our species may cease to exist, sooner rather than later.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was surprised to be so gobsmacked by this book, as I already considered myself fairly savvy about climate change and the existential crisis we face. But by helping me see from the expanded time scale of trees, the book reframed \u201cnormal\u201d for me. The \u201cordinary\u201d cities, highways, strip malls and backyards I\u2019ve seen since birth are, in fact, stretches of clearcut forest just a few hundred years old \u2014 a bare microsecond, evolutionarily speaking. Amazing as Weavers Way is, there is nothing normal about being able to get food and goods from anywhere in the world delivered to my doorstep in two days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Overstory\u201d suggests that if the earth\u2019s four-billion-year history were a 24-hour day, anatomically modern humans don\u2019t come onto the scene until four seconds to midnight, and the first cave paintings don\u2019t appear until one second is left.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in a thousandth of a click of the second hand,\u201d Powers writes, \u201clife solves the mystery of DNA and starts to map the tree of life itself. By midnight, most of the globe is converted to row crops for the care and feeding of one species. And that\u2019s when the tree of life becomes something else again. That\u2019s when the giant trunk starts to teeter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past few hundred years, he continues, we\u2019ve been \u201ccashing in a billion years of planetary savings bonds and blowing it on assorted bling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A character in \u201cThe Overstory\u201d reflects that the \u201cgreatest flaw of the [human] species is its overwhelming tendency to mistake agreement for truth\u2026. We\u2019re all operating in a dense fog of mutual reinforcement. Our thoughts are shaped primarily by legacy hardware that evolved to assume that everyone else must be right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking this cue, I want to signalboost Power\u2019s insight that now feels obvious: \u201cWe\u2019ve been looting natural capital and hiding the costs. But the bill is coming, and we won\u2019t be able to pay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people don\u2019t realize that the current pandemic is part of our looting bill. In a recent GQ magazine interview, Powers was asked how it was that he\u2019d been able to predict this pandemic. He explained that for both the current pandemic and the SARS-1 pandemic in 2003, the vector was animals whose behaviors had changed because of habitat loss. \u201cIt\u2019s not prophecy; it\u2019s memory,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we continue decimating forests and other animal habitats, we will shake free further novel viruses. Powers added that we\u2019re lucky COVID-19 hasn\u2019t proven even deadlier. \u201cNot many people realize we\u2019ve dodged a bullet,\u201d he said, referring to other human-unleashed viruses and blights that had 100% mortality rates for plant and animal species.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do I really believe any action I take will be able to slow, let alone stop, our belief in human exceptionalism and human dominance? The world\u2019s population is rising by the population of Des Moines each day, according to World Population Balance. Humans aren\u2019t evolved to think on long time scales. Species, forests and potable water continue to disappear. Fossil fuel use continues to climb. We have forgotten how to live in this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I like Bill McKibben\u2019s philosophy in the intro to his new book, \u201cFalter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?\u201d He writes, \u201cI live in a state of engagement, not despair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One personal silver lining to the pandemic, which I acknowledge comes from my tremendous privilege, has been a shift from commodity culture \u2014 where success is largely defined by what we own, and we receive messages of, \u201cBe all you can be! The world is your oyster!\u201d \u2014 to a way of living more where I am. I\u2019m enjoying cooking meals, being with family, and walking in the woods. The more meaning I can derive from community and connection, with people and other life forms, the more fully human I feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why my family and I switched our utilities suppliers from PGW and PECO to The Energy Co-op, so that the gas and electricity in our home comes from more renewable sources. We\u2019re investing in gentler, more hopeful technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n

The odds for our species may be increasingly long, but I consider the human game to be worth playing as inclusively as possible. Joining the Energy Co-op is one of the more impactful actions I can take in this direction. And I like that switching was extremely easy. I signed up on their website, but I still get my bills and autopay from PGW and PECO. There are no new online accounts; and there\u2019s no increased risk of service interruptions or other issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes \u201cThe Overstory\u2019\u2019 ultimately healing, even in the face of bleak truths, is how it helps us feel our place in the larger family of beings and in a larger scope of time. So I aspire to use my Energy Co-op energy in line with this idea from the book: \u201cWhen you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Originally published in Weavers Way Co-op\u2019s The Shuttle<\/i>, April 2021<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Energy Co-op member Vivian Lehrer Stadlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8636,"featured_media":4512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow a Book Inspired Me to Change My Energy Choices<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn more about our new Member Recruitment and Business Development Lead\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theenergy.coop\/test\/blog\/change-my-energy-choices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Book Inspired Me to Change My Energy Choices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn more about our new Member Recruitment and Business 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