Let the Sunshine In

The Fifth Dimension told us in 1969 that The Age of Aquarius was upon us. Their song assured baby boomers that we were entering an enlightened, optimistic era.

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I remember peddling my bicycle down a gravel road with the song rolling through my 14-year-old brain.  The sun was on my face, the wind was at my back, the sky was blue, and the constellation Aquarius was my destination.  I believed then that I was living at the advent of a great moment in time.  

Turns out, I was.

Looking back, I can’t imagine a better time to be alive than the past 70 years. We never achieved all of the utopian precepts The Fifth Dimension envisioned, but we made more scientific and social progress than any generation before us. We also made some mistakes. 

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We put a man on the moon in 1969, then boomers expanded space technology enabling mankind to explore the farthest reaches of the universe.   Our generation cured polio and a hundred other diseases.  We created and managed a digital revolution, sequenced the DNA molecule, and perfected a worldwide communications network, which made interaction among us, and with distant nations, possible.

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We did all this great stuff, but we made some mistakes, one in particular. 

We screwed up on the environment.  We didn’t pay enough attention to what was coming out of the tailpipe of all those cars we made.  We didn’t recognize the environmental cost of cutting down forests, and burning hydrocarbons to heat our giant homes, and we didn’t place enough emphasis on managing the consumer waste we created.

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While we were doing all the great stuff, we made a bit of a mess.  But if anybody can fix it, boomers can.  We might need some help from our kids, we are all getting old, but we must, and will, get the ball rolling.

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My first major attempt at reversing the environmental damage done by me, and our generation as a whole, is converting our home and ranch[1] to solar power and reducing hydrocarbon emissions in the process. 

[1] We call it a “ranch”, but I got out of the cow business a few years ago and don’t intend to go back.  Our entire livestock herd currently consists of one old cat.

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The panels on the roof will (theoretically) generate 110% of our annual electrical power needs so we don’t have to fully rely on carbon-based energy.  The project needs a final electrical inspection, scheduled for Thursday, and we will go live. 

This time next week we will …

… Let the Sunshine In.

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In future posts I will update you on how much power we are generating (there is an app for that).  I will also provide insight on the economics of the project and suggestions for improvements that could have been made.

I also intend to delve into other ways this old boomer and anybody else, can right the wrongs of our generation by reducing reliance on conventional energy.

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