Starting the Renewable Energy Journey: Actually in Finding Mindfulness and Meaning

Are you like so many that want to take advantage of renewable energies?  To utilize technology to produce clean energy?  To save money?  To be more energy independent?  Or are you interested in the whole spectrum of efficiency and sustainability options and are concerned about your carbon footprint and your impact on the environment?  You could recognize that you’re one out of 7.7 billion people on this planet and be asking yourself, what difference can you make?  What impact would the driving of an electric car have on the overall problem of environmental disasters, irresponsible consumption of resources, carbon-emissions, and the whole host of problems that accompany modern civilization, if so many others do nothing to help?  Nevertheless, you decide that you’re going to do your part, to contribute in a positive way through your choices; you’re going to be more sustainable, efficient, and more harmonious with the ecosystems around you.  The question you might be asking yourself now is “Where do I start?''

In a perfect world, we could flip a switch for you and you would suddenly have a net-zero house (a house that produces enough energy to cover its energy needs), you would drive an electric car, and every consumable item you use in your daily life would be sustainably, ethically and responsibly sourced.  Or, the very fabric of our society could change such that the sharing of resources through small cooperatives would cut down on our need for so much resources in the first place, not to mention how the increased cooperation would strengthen the bonds of community.  But, in reality, you don’t have the $50,000 it would take to convert to a net-zero house and no carbon footprint.  And you’re not quite ready to move into a housing cooperative to share resources and completely abandon your current lifestyle.  But you want to change and contribute.  Confronted with the overall problem, and the wide range of possible actions, this is a place that feels very overwhelming, paralyzing even.  And, as so many of us do, in this place of overwhelm and paralysis, we continue on as normal, running the same old programs and habits.

If you’re looking at beginning this journey, it is indeed a journey of transformation.  Where does every journey start?  Where you are right now.  How does every journey start?  With the first step. 

I think the first step is a combination of two things: admitting there’s a need for change and recognizing that your decision to change has meaning.  Faced with a problem as big as saving the world, any effort on our part can seem hopeless.  But the fact is that more and more people, more and more sectors of the economy, are joining in the healing and repairing of our planet and energy systems.  In that context, your decision to start making mindful choices absolutely has meaning, and you can feel the shared energy and support for positive change.  We don’t live in vacuum and our decisions are not made in a closed system, separate from the rest of the world.  Your decision to change does have an impact, it does have meaning.  The most immediate step to take is to begin to become mindful of your energy consumption, your gas consumption, your product choices, and your lifestyle choices.  You’re journey may someday include a net-zero house and an electric car, within a house cooperative, but for now, it will begin with a simple change in consciousness.  And know that your decision comes from a place of love and compassion for the rest of existence.  Then, the next time you turn off a light in your house, or car pool a couple days a week, your tiny contribution really does have planetary consequences.  And for all of your mindful decisions, big and small, allow me to say “thank you.”