Today I was reminded of the 1970 movie “Cold Turkey” starring Dick Van Dyke. It was the fictional story of Eagle Rock, Iowa where the entire community pledged to quit smoking. Their reward should they succeed? $25,000,000.
In the Senate Energy committee today, we heard from the students and community members of Rothsay, Minnesota who, with the help of Ottertail Power Company, hope to reduce the entire community’s energy use by 15% over the next 5 years.
Since April of 2009, this town of 500 and home to the world’s largest Prairie Chicken, has been conducting energy audits for businesses and homes, analyzing bills, providing education workshops and consultations, and providing low interest financing to meet their goal. Smart monitors have been placed in residential homes. School curriculum has been created to help students lead community wide efforts to get pledges and information to community members. Ottertail Power is making community and school connections while providing resources and tracking information to its new community partners.
Seeing middle school and high school students take leadership roles in this endeavor is one of the most satisfying aspects of the project. Changing existing behaviors (both adults and students) seems to be one of the biggest challenges. While Minnesota’s Next Generation Act looks to increase energy efficiency goals statewide, we are anxious to hear more about the Rothsay Community Energy challenge. We hope to apply lessons and solutions learned on a much larger scale. Decreasing our nation’s energy demands is a great example for not only small town America, but for our nation and our precious planet. The rewards are immeasurable.