Energy Stories

You've probably heard so-called "public service announcements" on radio and TV advising you to save energy. They tell you to replace your lightbulbs, turn your thermostat down, drive less, etc.

You've also undoubtedly seen news reports about climbing energy prices, melting glaciers and ice caps, record setting weather patterns, loss of worldwide tree cover, ocean pollution, extinction of species, and so on.

It's enough to leave you feeling both guilty (did I do enough to save energy today?) and panicked (will we ever be able to turn this around?)

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The coal and oil and gas companies are running ads on TV these days, saying that we still need them or they have the solutions to our problems. We hear news of government programs sponsoring biofuels, energy from ocean waves, huge wind farms, etc.

But when General Motors announced the closing of four assembly plants in June of 2008 it wasn't in direct response to an act of government. There were no massive street demonstrations against General Motors that forced them to do it. We just stopped buying the product.

We are so much more powerful and adaptable than any government or corporation. It is we as individuals, families, neighborhoods, who will inevitably adapt our lives and our culture to save ourselves on this planet. After all, we cannot save the planet itself. It will still be here. Instead, we are trying to find ways to live that cut down on the amount of damage we are doing to ourselves and all of life around us.

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And so, Energy Stories is born. This is designed to be a place where people who are taking action in their daily lives can share with each other what they've done and what they're doing to be more compatible with nature. This is the place for our stories, rather than recommendations repeated to 'the public' by faceless agencies, organizations, or business firms. These are our energy stories.

- Glenn Koenig, 6 July 2008

To get started, I recommend you take a look at The Story of Stuff for some background.

Once you've done that, I invite you to take a look at some of the other pages here:

Our Intro Video is meant as a direct follow up on The Story of Stuff, once you've watched that.
The Topics pages provide some additional information and covers some issues.
The Stories page has the Stories themselves. The story "Our House" tells about our conversion from oil to solar.
The About Us page is where we tell you a little about us.
Please Support Energy Stories if you can. Even very small contributions will help us bring you more energy stories.

This site was last updated 26 August 2008. The next update is planned on or before 29 August 2008. Revision History.

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