A Change in Thinking

We have a long way to go before we start living in harmony with our planet, but not every step along the way has to change the world. I came across this fascinating article in the New Yorker called The Island in the Wind. Here is a story about a small Danish community that was able to shift their paradigm of energy consumption. In just a decade, this island community in the North Sea changed their perceptions and eventually their actions. Through conservation, ingenuity, and a somewhat strange contest put on by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy, the community now produces ten percent more energy than it consumes.

The story told in this article is important not because it provides a blueprint for all communities, or because of the overall reduction of CO2 emissions in Denmark. Instead, it shows how a self-professed ‘conservative farming community’ can re-think something as basic as energy consumption. Once the framework is readjusted, change not only follows—it flourishes.

Reading about the pride that a farmer in Denmark feels when he climbs the ladders of his own turbine makes me optimistic. Small steps, to be sure, but steps nonetheless.