The theme of our recent Energy Fair was community energy security. Real energy security.

Most of us associate “energy security” with fossil fuel industry lobbyists who try to convince Americans that we will be more secure if we stop relying on imports of foreign oil and just let them expand drilling offshore or in the rural lands of America.

But is that really a plan that will make us more secure?  Consider this:

Energy efficiency has never polluted the Gulf of Mexico or slimed the shores of Alaska.

Solar panels never gave a child asthma or blew off a mountain top.

Wind turbines have never threatened millions with cancer-causing radiation.

Energy conservation has never polluted drinking water supplies or destroyed a rural landscape.

We’ll never be really secure if we continue to base our economy and our way of life on fossil energy.  We know it’s a tightening noose with constantly rising prices and amplifying environmental damages.

Even though President Obama and plenty of Wall Street investors believe that shale gas is a necessary and viable source of energy, we don’t think it will add up to be an overall advantage for our country – not when all the costs are factored in, and certainly not when we consider how justice is distributed.

Here in Tompkins County, we have a powerful coalition of citizen groups, local governments, businesses, nonprofits, and institutions all devoting considerable time and resources to energy efficiency and renewable energy investments.  We clearly have made progress toward community energy security, and we’ve got a lot going in the right direction, but it’s also clear that it is going to take all of us working together, and staying motivated, to reach our goal of a more enduring, safe, affordable, and fair system for powering our community.  We really are in this together, and together our community is poised to make a successful transition to a new energy system based on responsible use, and investment in a diverse mix of energy sources like geothermal, biomass, solar, wind, and hydropower.

We need to work both at the individual level and at the community level.  As we each take responsibility for our own fossil fuel consumption, we can feel good about “walking our talk” when it comes to opposing hydrofracking.

We will also be participating in plugging the leaks in our local economy that come from buying fossil energy imported to our community.  Instead we’ll be helping support our local economy by creating green jobs.

And as we convert more systems to biomass, our rural landowners can earn money from growing a self-renewing energy supply – a reliable, long-term source of income compared to the destructive boom and bust cycle of shale gas drilling.

Every county resident has the capacity to become a hometown energy hero.  To make your pledge on the Finger Lakes Energy Challenge.  To get the help you need from local energy experts.

But also to step forward and be visible in our community on this topic of energy security — to speak up and tell your energy story and inspire others to take the time and make the investments that will lead to our individual and collective energy security.

To be willing to say “this is important” and to act as a change agent in your family, at work, and with your friends.  To speak to your local elected officials about their plans for transitioning local governments and schools to a safer energy system.  To tell state and federal officials to act responsibly and treat us fairly when crafting energy and climate policy.

To be willing to donate and invest locally in helping other people achieve energy security, such as through the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, or simply by becoming a member of Sustainable Tompkins so that events like the Energy Fair can be offered to our community.

This is the path to community energy security.  Transitioning our systems and our lifestyles, and watching out for each other along the way.   It is not the goal of the fossil fuel industry to make us more secure.  We will have to do that for ourselves.

“I don’t understand why anyone would do that!” came the exasperated comment of a participant at a program on shale gas drilling. I’ve hear similar reactions from both opponents and proponents of gas drilling activity. As an environmental educator working toward building a more sustainable community, the sentiment worries me.

How different the comment would be if instead of incredulity there was curiosity and a wish to understand. Why does a person make such different choices? What does the world look like from another’s point of view? Seeking to understand another’s perspective does not necessarily mean having to change one’s mind or give up a deeply held belief. It can mean developing respect for someone with a different interest or belief. It can mean developing better decisions and building a stronger democratic process.

In the next several decades, shale gas drilling may take place in the Southern Tier at greater intensity than previous gas exploration. Other states facing a similar increase in gas extraction have experienced substantial changes in population, land use, environment, community and economy. The breadth of potential change is very large and there is controversy about how positive or negative the transformation may be.

Shale gas drilling is an important issue with potentially far-reaching consequences. If our community becomes deeply divided over the issue, that could also have far-reaching consequences. Can we use the issue as a way to work towards building community rather than fostering divisiveness? For those of us interested in sustainability, I hope the answer is a resounding yes. Finding ways to build community through understanding different perspectives should be part of what we strive for.

Accurate information is needed as the foundation. It allows people to engage in dialogue and make sound decisions that anticipate, shape, and respond to complex challenges. But information alone is not enough. There needs to be a venue for people to talk about sticky issues, like shale gas. Those conversations need to go beyond the people who agree with each other to include people with different points of view.

Even if opinions are not changed, there is value in being able to understand perspectives contrary to one’s own. In his speech at University of Michigan Commencement, President Obama stated, (A) “ way to keep our democracy healthy is to maintain a basic level of civility in our public debate. These arguments we’re having … should arouse people’s passions, and it’s important for everyone to join in the debate, with all the rigor that a free people require.

But we cannot expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. ….It undermines democratic deliberation. It prevents learning… For if we choose only to expose ourselves to opinions and viewpoints that are in line with our own, studies suggest that we will become more polarized and set in our ways. … But if we choose to actively seek out information that challenges our assumptions and our beliefs, perhaps we can begin to understand where the people who disagree with us are coming from… in the process, you’ll help make this democracy work.
(Quotes from the text of Obama’s speech as posted on www.huffingtonpost.com.)

Engaging with and building a strong community appears to be in one’s own self interest as well. A recent study of people in more than 150 countries revealed five universal elements as determinants of wellbeing over the course of one’s lifetime. Financial and physical wellbeing was expected but the fifth was a surprise to the Gallup researchers: community wellbeing. Community was one of the five elements that were universally necessary. Let’s use shale gas as an opportunity to learn how to tackle tough issues and strengthen rather than divide community. Progress we make can be applied to other far reaching issues like energy transitions, food security, racism and more.

What you can do:
Seek out people with different points of view and listen in order to understand. Assume the other person has good motives and ask questions to deepen your understanding. Look for interests that are in common, sometimes referred to as finding common ground. This may lead to defining the problem differently, which in turn can lead to different possible solutions. Be open to reconsidering and broadening your own opinion. Intervene when you perceive a person’s integrity rather than idea is being questioned.

Later this year, Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County intends to offer a forum to bring people together to civilly dialogue about shale gas. If you are interested in learning more or in serving on a planning committee, contact Sharon Anderson, Environment Program Leader, ska2@cornell.edu or 607-272-2292.

Sharon Anderson is the Environment Program Leader at the Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

Horwitt is the author of Environmental Working Group’s recently published “Drilling Around the Law”, a report on drinking water supplies from Pensylvania to Wyoming and how gas drilling has affected them.

Dr. Steve Penningroth will introduce Mr. Horwitt and address local concerns in regards to water quality and gas drilling.  Dr. Penningroth is the Executive Director of the Community Science Institute, a nonprofit organization that includes a certified water quality testing laboratory in Ithaca, New York. Previously Dr. Penningroth was an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a Senior Lecturer in Toxicology at Cornell University in Ithaca. He recently authored a textbook entitled “Essentials of Toxic Chemical Risk: Science and Society,” which is being published by Taylor & Francis this month.

Please join us. All are welcome.

Drinking Water and Gas Drilling: What are the Risks?
April 18th, 7PM
Unitarian Universalist Church, 306 North Aurora Street, Ithaca
Speaker: Dusty Horwitt, JD, of the Environmental Working Group
Introduction by Dr. Steve Penningroth of the Community Science Institute

Sponsors: : Social Justice Council of the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, Sustainable Tompkins, Community Environmental Defense Council; Citizens for Healthy Communities; Shaleshock Action Alliance; GDACC (Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County); People for a Healthy Environment, Inc.; Schuyler County Environmental Management Council; NYSESS (New Yorkers for Sustainable Energy Systems Statewide), Marcellus Accountability Project