Kansas Sustainability Director Eileen Horn - Darby Minow Smith
Interview Notes
Kansas was once a hotbed for progressive and liberal ideology.
Only 3 democratic presidential candidates in last century since then though.
“office of the repealer”
Douglas County as an exception to this norm
Eileen Horn as sustainability director in 2010
funded through Energy Efficiency and Conservation block fund as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus bill)
“Ignore Kansas at your own peril.”
University of Kansas as a major influence on Lawrence in comparison to the rest of the state
Civil War history
history as trailblazers
conservative ethic, small c, in Kansas
slow to embrace the science, no problem embracing the solutions
healthy skepticism
Water issues in Kansas in 2012 (time of interview) lends credence to climate change
norm of extreme weather events
Two projects with energy efficiency
“Energy Smackdown” between fire stations during a four month contest over the summer
20% reduction in winning fire station
similar contest between rec centers
home energy audit and retrofit program
on-bill financing to do a retrofit project
yielded the Take Charge Challenge between Manhattan (Kansas State University) and Lawrence (University of Kansas) - Manhattan won, due to the per capita nature of the competition and not any concrete advantage in tactics
Importance of competitions in role as sustainability director in a conservative state
Kansas advantage - local farming endeavours
legislation/ordinances banning these operations were never enacted in Kansas in the first place
Many citizens are only a generation or two off of the farm
the key is getting small farms back and attracting younger generations into growing, primarily of fruits and vegetables
program stolen from Cleveland - four gardens and farms, two traditional community gardens one student farm that is a collaboration between middle school and junior college and a community orchard
School in DC, grad school work at UVM.
Kansas is where fuel and food comes from
motivating language that works in coastal communities is not effective in Kansas
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