Our Energy Future: Lessons from the Heartland

In America's Heartland, where many if not most are skeptical about climate change, a tiny nonprofit has successfully promoted energy solutions. While we certainly wish to change policy, we know that policy alone is not sufficient – the will to implement must be steadfast as well. So we have worked from the ground up and the top down to connect with citizen's core values, to identify shared goals, to raise the voices of local champions, and to take action together. Our Take Charge Challenge – an energy efficiency contest between communities – harnessed the competitive spirit and transformed efficiency from "sacrifice" to "win." Energy forums, an economic development tour, a workforce development survey, and booths at the Kansas State Fair in additional to legislative briefings and endless testimony transformed wind energy from "pipe dream" to "a key part of the energy mix." The Climate & Energy Project seeks to set new defaults for energy use, identifying efficiency as the obvious first fuel and renewables like wind as cost-effective options that "just make sense."

Speaker: Nancy Jackson is the founder and chair of the Climate & Energy Project, a four year-old Kansas nonprofit that received the Governor's Commendation for Achievement in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in 2009.

NVIDIA Auditorium