Forum teaches residents 'Being Green'

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Monday, February 25, 2008

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Less than a third of Rapid City residents recycle household goods. For every one ton of paper recycled, 17 trees are saved. Australia soon plans to ban incandescent light bulbs.

The facts were fast and frequent at the second public forum titled "What Every Citizen Needs to Know: Being Green" held at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Sunday.

The event, hosted by Bridges for Intercultural Understanding, included a History Channel film on Oil Crisis and Energy Alternatives, a discussion with Sen. Tom Katus-D and Rep. Mark Kirkeby-R on energy-related issues in the 2008 legislature, and displays from Rapid City Solid Waste, Democracy in Action (DIA) and the Sierra Club.

The forum was in honor of the late Bill Hughes and included Mike Chase of Black Hills Electric Co-op, and Mutch Usera, director of Black Hills Corporation; Fred Thurston and Heather Krafka of FourFront Design talked about building "green;" and Jerry Wright, Rapid City Solid Waste Management Superintendent, who discussed the philosophy and economics of solid waste management related to energy conservation.

"I hope people understand that we need to think about energy consumption all the time," said Donna Fisher, a member of the event's planning team. "It takes work to recycle ... but it's just stupid to be wasting this precious energy and water because we're too lazy ... there's no excuse."

Kirk Murphy, owner of A to Z Shredding parked his shredding truck outside the building for people to get a closer look at the process of recycling and shredding office paper.

In the last seven years, the business has grown to more than 700 customers in the Black Hills area. A to Z picks up binfulls of office paper, shreds it, and ships it to a Wisconsin mill where is recycled.

Murphy attributes the growth of his business to an increase in privacy regulations for businesses like hospitals, which are required to adhere to HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy rules.

"You're welcome to watch us weight and shred it," he said. "There's a lot of piece of mind with that."

But maybe people are becoming for conscious of the environment too, he added.

"I believe in the recycling of (the business)," he said. "But it takes more than one person. Everybody's got to get onboard together."

Sierra Club members handed out compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) before the forum and encouraged people to switch to the CFLs from the traditional incandescent light bulbs that take more energy.

Sierra Club member Mahala Bach said she replaced all of the light bulbs in her house with the CFLs and saw her energy bill drop 25 percent the first month. She said people are getting the message that making energy-efficient lifestyle changes is not simply the latest trend.

"I think we've gotten past the "cool" faze and people realize it's a necessity," she said.

More so, she said, money talks.

"For most people, it's about money in the pocket," she said. "And in general, when people are informed about environmental issues, they want to do the right thing."

Katus and Kirkeby said that's why they attend forums like this one.

"That education and new ideas, that's how any legislation gets passed," Kirkeby said.

Katus said that he sees many opportunities for energy-efficiency growth in the state, especially after a recent trip to a garbage plant in Fargo, N.D. The plant uses a bio-gas collector, which works by converting the gas into a gas line, which a generator turns it into electricity. The electricity is then sold to MDU.

"They're making $400,000 or $500,000 a year income from boiling garbage," Katus said. "I don't see why we couldn't do it. There are some exciting things that could happen locally."

Tom, Bodensteiner, owner of Bodensteiner Beamworks, expressed his frustration that the state government isn't open to energy-efficient ideas unless it can be exported out of the state.

"Sometimes we lose site of the big picture because we can't be the savior of the nation," he said. " ... They're (worried about) what we're going to be doing for the rest of the world; they forget, we're the rest of the world."

Bach said it's important for people to know that they don't have to make a major lifestyle change to be more energy efficient.

"You don't have to be overwhelmed," she said, setting her hand on the stack of boxes holding the CFLs. "This is an easy way to do the right thing and it's a lasting change."

The School of Mines, BHC Governmental and Public Affairs Department and The Journey Museum cosponsored the forum in cooperation with the Rapid City Weekly News.

A third forum in series, "What Citizens Believe: Do Spiritual and Cultural Values Shape Energy Policy," is scheduled for March 30.

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com