"They don't know I'm alive, and I like it that way."

Monday, June 04, 2007

From an article by Chad Dally in The Daily Press, Ashland, WI:

Each mild winter, extended drought and severe storm gradually adds credence to climate change, while every spike in gas costs reminds motorists of the need to move away from dependence on fossil fuels.

But there are ways northern Wisconsin can deal with disruptions to our daily routine and the ecological footprint that follows us, said Steve Kozak, renewable energy instructor at Lac Courte Oreilles Community College and director of its Sustainable Living Institute.

Kozak shared his perspective about sustainable energy during a presentation on Wednesday at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.

Kozak's own tipping point into action came when he heard that villagers in the Arctic community of Shishmaref, Alaska, where Kozak taught in 1979, began to abandon the village in 2005 because of instability of the ice underneath them due to climate change.

Thanks to passive and active solar systems installed at his home outside of Hayward, Kozak is now energy-independent, living completely off the power grid.

"They don't know I'm alive, and I like it that way," he said.