By Diana Calla, communications intern, Fresh Energy

As a native and lifelong resident of New England, my summer with Fresh Energy marks my first foray into the Midwest. Thus, you can imagine the novelty of my experience, and to some extent, culture shock, as I write today in Bismarck, North Dakota.

I’m here for the Prairie Climate Stewardship Conference, and in only a few hours this morning, have already been impressed by the earnestness of those who are gathered to discuss some very important issues.

One observation that I think is relevant is that here in North Dakota, even in one of the largest cities in the state, they do not appear to have conquered nature in the same way that I have seen in other parts of the country. True, there are certainly big box stores and asphalt expanses, but developments seem to be interspersed with nature, as opposed to the other way around.

The second thing was noted by one North Dakota state senator, Rich Wardner. He described one legislative district that spanned a rather large area, and acknowledged that while those from other areas of the country may think there’s nothing there (I stare at the floor), every rancher in that district knows one another.

“They know there’s something there,” he added. “There’s a community.”

My intention is not to paint too rosy a picture or to indulge my own idealism too much. These first few hours of the conference have also exposed some areas of contention—what role coal will have in a clean energy future and how to manage the environmental impacts of renewable energy, to name a few.

Nevertheless, after time I have spent reading various blogs, where it seems people give voice to all manners of extreme and occasionally counter-productive opinions, it is encouraging to be in a group where there is a clear consensus that something must be done. And not only is there agreement that we must take action, but multiple speakers have identified behavioral limitations as being more of an impediment right now than technological or economic ones.

Thus, the community emphasized by the North Dakota legislator is, in my view, the single most productive way to approach energy policy specifically, but all public policy more broadly.

We’re all in this together.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 3:25 pm by Fresh Energy and is filed under Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.