Brenda Barnes and Samantha Barnes discuss preparing for the climate emergency

00:02 All right. Hello. So my name is Samantha Barnes, and I'm here with my mom, Brenda. And we're going to start talking about the carbon neutrality plan and how the neighborhood successfully got there. So I just want to make sure that you're okay with me recording this interview.

00:26 Yes, I am.

00:27 Okay, perfect. So we'll get started this morning. It's an envisioning exercise where we're just thinking about what it was like if it was 2030 and your neighborhood had fixed the climate crisis and reached a certain point where you're carbon neutral. And I just want to know about what process your neighborhood took and how you guys got there, some of the challenges and what it looks like today. So I'm going to start off with the question of, I'm wondering what specific process did your neighborhood use as they prepared to respond to the climate emergency?

01:06 Okay. So one of the things that we did is we got together to purchase, got together as a group so that we could have better buying power. So we all got together and got a solar company to come in and evaluate all of our homes, and we each then purchased solar panels with them. So we, you know, 100% plus power our homes with the solar energy. We also did the same thing when with electric cars. So we all went to Toyota and, you know, came up with a plan for all of us to get the lowest possible price to, to buy the electric cars. And so, so both of those things alone, buying electric cars is. Is one thing, but also we're talk to our local government to try to get more bike paths so that we can bike more into town, get groceries, things like that. And so we've been, not only do we have electric cars, but we've been using them a lot less. So we've been biking a lot more. And, you know, also we have a program where if one person's going to the store, you know, like the people in our neighborhood could call in and get orders and then one person picks it up rather than us all driving to the, to the store. So different things like that that we've done, we've also you trying to really reduce waste by which we have a community garden, so we grow our own vegetables and we compost all the remains of the food. And we're buying a lot less from Amazon, so we don't have as much cardboard and boxes and things like that. So we're really trying to reduce the amount of waste that we all have.

03:33 That's really interesting. I like that you are collectively working on buying power because I think that that's a big thing that people. A big hurdle that people have to go past is, you know, it's an expensive investment to start, but long term, it'll end up being more significant. So that's definitely something that we've learned about a lot, is just getting over the mindset of constant growth in order to invest in something important today to see results later on.

04:08 Yeah, Like, I think it just made people feel better knowing that we were getting a good price, you know, like. Right. Rather than having to each of us get quotes from, you know, multiple people, we were able to, you know, we knew that we were going to get the best price by. By doing it collectively.

04:29 Yeah. And putting in people's mindsets. Like, everybody has different backgrounds and different knowledge in different areas, different expertise. So being able to incorporate everybody's skills in order to come up with the best solution for the whole community, I'm sure that that was definitely important and just bringing people together. Were there any challenges that you found when you were trying to collectively get together to envision this future? Were there? Was it difficult to get people on board? Was it difficult to hurdle, you know, that first step of creating a collective idea, or do you think that having the support from other people just made that easier?

05:10 Well, I think everybody was supportive of the idea, but everybody was at different places in terms of, you know, not everybody wanted to buy a car right away. So, you know, that kind of came online over time. Not everybody, you know, could really afford solar right away, but they make it so that it's not really that much of a difference between what you're paying for electricity versus the lease payments to lease the solar panels. So we kind of had. It was a process to convince people to do that, and. And then, you know, getting the government to make bike lanes and throughout the town to make it easier for. For people to bike more, you know, took a little bit of time. But I think that in general, people were on board and I think we had enough momentum that everybody wanted. Wanted it done. So, you know, again, over time, it wasn't just like from one day to another. It was just a process that eventually worked out.

06:16 Yeah. And I think that that's something we talk about now is that since it takes so much time, you end up having, like, you have to start now and you have to start doing those immediately. And I think that people get deterred knowing that it's going to take a good amount of time, but as long as you stay consistent and you're relying on other people that just Ends up getting collective action. If you're, you know, working together instead of feeling lonely, feeling separated, feeling like you're doing this on your own, having that neighborhood, it seems like, allows you to get a lot more done in a lot smaller amount of time, which is important.

06:52 Yeah.

06:54 So just finishing this up, we only have another minute or so. I was just wondering if you could give some advice about neighborhood preparation for young people who are now facing the next stage of the climate crisis. You know, what would you say to younger people who are trying to get the same positive action that you were able to in your community?

07:17 Well, just, you know, you have to be organized and also have answers to people's questions, like kind of anticipate what people are going to be, you know, things that they're going to be against and, you know, just be prepared for not everybody to come on board right away and not everybody to want to do what you want to do. So, you know, you kind of have to work with them and understand that everybody's coming from a different perspective. So.

07:53 Yeah, absolutely. And envisioning, that's one of those skills that we have been talking about that not a lot of people have a lot of practice with. And so it's taking away the, you know, you may not want to pay for a car, you may not want to switch everything over. You have to envision a future where all of the different hurdles and obstacles are eliminated and just like what would be the perfect scenario and then trying to have step by step answers in order to get to that place. So I think that that's a big part of it is just, you know, what's, what does the future look? What do you want the future to look like? Not what are the obstacles in the way of getting there. And that, that positive mindset I think is a huge part that people tend to forget about.

08:39 Right. And also just like not an us versus them mentality, you know, because you're always going to have doubters. So just kind of understand, try to understand where they're coming from and yeah, you know, work with that.

08:52 Yeah. Because it's the whole community and going local is a huge part that we've talked about too. I think a lot of people know that aspect of it. So you have to all be on the same board in order to actually get a community that can exchange in that way and, you know, be able to support themselves locally. You have to all be on board. So I think that that's, that's definitely a huge aspect of it that is really interesting and I love hearing about those. Those comments that you were making. All right, so I think we're coming close to the end of the time. I really appreciate you talking to me today about this, and it was really interesting to hear of, about the successes of your neighborhood.

09:36 Sure. Anytime. Good luck with your project.

09:39 Thank you so much. Bye.