To place our current energy and climate crisis in context, our relationships with our energy systems have dramatically changed over the past few generations. Government and industry have worked together to build a networked energy system to supply passive consumers who are not only disengaged from the energy life-cycle and its resultant environmental impacts, but who also do not have an understanding of the risks involved.

To adequately understand the steps that must be taken for sustainability, we need to reverse this trend and reconnect with our energy system. This requires education, so that we can learn what the numbers and symbols on our utility bills actually mean, where our energy comes from, how to reduce our consumption and lower our energy costs through efficiency and conservation, and what happens to our environment when we make energy choices.

Photo credit: Amy Roe