the other day, i asked chris hornsby (sewanee class of 2019), left, to tell me his story. here’s what he had to say:

when asked to define my purpose in life, i have stated it as such: may i live with vision of a world which i may work to create, and ensure that the work of my hands may always be building this future. to explain this vision, let me begin with a bug.

this is the larvae of a black soldier fly (or bsf), raised in sewanee, tennessee, at the university farm that i work for.

using this insect, we can convert large quantities of food waste into a feed for chicken and fish. the bsf is native to most of the western hemisphere, and in its two week larval stage, it has the capability to eat twice its weight in a day. they are fed food waste from our dining hall and, in peak production, we plan to be taking 500 pounds of food waste a day.

after this two week phase, the larva will eclose into an adult fly with no mouth, so it is neither a disease vector nor a crop pest. before eclosion, we will feed a majority of these larva to chicken and fish being raised on the university farm, which in turn will be a food source for the students in sewanee. this closed-loop system has the capability to fulfill a service and create an agricultural product.

my dream, however, extends beyond sewanee. consider this: at a bare minimum, two people are required to run this system. one with a knowledge of bsf waste management, and one with a knowledge of how to finance and run a successful business. these two people will support themselves off the income of the business, deciding together what their allowable expenses are and where to reinvest profits. now, in the current status quo of entrepreneurialism and corporate hierarchy, these two individuals would become managers, and hire wage-labor employees. minimum wages flow downward, and maximized profits flow to the top.

i challenge this system as a fundamental source of capital inequality in our society, which produces an impoverished labor force, and a politically influential corporate elite. this is the nature of a consumerist society, as to further our own progression, we must constantly be encouraging economic growth and consumption of goods. this system has created a workforce surviving paycheck to paycheck, told to invest in the economy and buy useless goods in order to foster economic growth, while the elite enjoy the true profits of a subdued workforce.

rather than following this path toward inevitable inequality, the onus placed on any member wishing to join this model will be such: how will you work as a member to expand the income of this group to support your own financial needs? the possible answers to this question can be diverse, meeting a range of needs of the pre-existing group. an applying member may offer access to a wider customer base (those paying for waste service removal), thus increasing the monetary income of the group. or, they may offer the service of food preparation or cultivation, thus providing a non-monetary source of income.

at a time when this group continues to grow, they may decide to purchase some land, and grow their own food. thus a self-reliant community is born.

if any member of this group does not perform their function to the best of their ability, the community will fail. for example, if the individual running the business puts in foul labor, the community will have no monetary income. if the agriculturalist does not grow adequate food, the community will be hungry. if the home-builder fails to build adequate living space, the community will have no shelter. the interdependence of such a community is reinforced through mutual need.

therefore, all roles hold equal importance in overall success, and all members hold an equal voice in the decision-making process of where to allocate scarce resources, and what the needs of the community are. such a horizontal democracy extends beyond arbitrary divisions of race, class, and gender. through this model, the inequality and hierarchy of corporate america could be virtually eradicated. with communities producing their own food, the industrial agricultural complex will die, as its consumer base and workforce disappear into their own communities.

this model is applicable with any skilled trade as a means of providing income — imagine a community of doctors, trading with a community of waste managers to meet mutual needs. goodbye to the monopolistic healthcare industry. communities of educators teaching the children of america skilled trades, and how to live in a society that values wellbeing and happiness over success and wealth. goodbye to the state-sponsored education of robotic and bureaucratic laborers.

i wish to note, that purposefully, this community will not have great amounts of excess wealth, for this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. the needs of the community will be met, and nothing more. there can be no desire to waste precious resources on the unnecessary overconsumption of goods and services which meet no need. a community of this type also lacks the financial wealth to pay for swaths of land to be deforested for timber harvesting, or for oil to be mined, or for residential or commercial development, protecting the integrity of our land, our watersheds, our forests, or lifeblood, which we share with the diversity of creatures on earth.

to conclude, i would like to warn those who are seeking some glorious revolution to herald in a new age of equality and justice. refer to a history book on the subject, and you can clearly see (the) perpetual unfolding of such revolutions, in which the middle class usurps the lower class in order to establish themselves as the elite, then abandons their promises of liberty and freedom, and a new demographic is found to be oppressed. when power is used to disrupt power, control is lost. the victim of power is annihilated, and the user is intoxicated. thus, a true revolution will be a complete rejection of power as a means to dominate others, and total investment in the power of the tribal community.

rather than use violent means and political warfare to establish itself, community power will spread like wildfire with the strength of vision. this is not a revolution of words, but one of action. i invite you to invoke your own vision, and work with others to create a powerful, self-sustaining community.

q: hi nate, thank you for answering some questions for planet forward! first off, what would you say is the goal of sewanee’s forest management?

a: the goal of sewanee’s forest management is to create forests that will be resilient to a changing climate, provide high quality habitat for a myriad of wildlife species, and maintain the biodiversity that is a cornerstone of our region. 

q: what are some of the most unique characteristics of sewanee’s geology that define this area?

a: as with just about any other location on the planet, we are dictated by our geology. the cumberland plateau was able to form because of an impervious sandstone cap that allowed the plateau to remain intact while the surrounding landscape eroded. so it is really this sandstone cap that establishes the geology and dictates the topography, both of which provide for the unique microhabitats and microclimates that enable such a high level biodiversity here on the domain.

q: how does sewanee manage the use of local timber resources for new development projects?

a: one of the sustainability goals laid out in sewanee’s sustainability master plan is to use local wood as a means of helping students and the community better understand our interconnectedness to the natural world. we have tried several different approaches, including using wood harvested from our local wood basket, middle tennessee. recently, we have been trying to showcase, from tree-to-finish product, how we can harvest on the domain and use sewanee-sourced timber in our buildings. the biggest project we have undertaken is harvesting for the sewanee inn flooring, all of which came from the domain. we would like to be offsetting new projects with wood harvested from the domain to come as close to replicating a closed-loop cycle as possible.

q: how have students contributed to past or ongoing management practices on the domain?

a: students participate in lots of different ways. we have had forestry students work on timber sale preparation and administration, eco-bio students work on wetland restoration projects, and students from a variety of disciplines have cataloged invasive species, carried out prescribed burns, and performed invasive species removals on the domain. generally, there is a lot of cataloging, including performing vegetation and tree inventories, and inventorying rare threatened and endangered species for both plants and animals.

q: as domain manager, one of the problems you face is controlling for exotic invasive species. what are some of the strategies for limiting and mitigating their growth on the domain?

a: as with any property that has had over 150 years of european inhabitation, there are a lot of exotic species on the domain. so, we try and differentiate between those exotic species that are pernicious invaders, and are able to really knock the ecosystem off kilter, and those that seem to present less of an immediate threat to the larger ecosystem processes. and that is an imperfect science. but in general, we manage and eradicate aggressive plant species such as garlic mustard and kudzu, species that can rapidly take over an area. with so many exotic invasive species, the naturalization of some is inevitable. it is a matter of choosing our battles.

q: how does sewanee plan for and manage prescribed forest burns, and how do these contribute to forest restoration and regrowth?

a: using dendrochronological records and historical land records, we believe that some fire has played a part in the landscape over the last several thousand years. so, we are working to reestablish fire on the landscape. we believe fire played a role in the oak-hickory forest that dominates our landscape today, and we know that through a process called mesophication, we are losing those forests, and prescribed fires are one tool we are using to counteract this. prescribed fires also help to promote new growth in the understory, which benefits all sorts of wildlife species, particularly birds and meso-mammals. from a human standpoint, these also help control for the wildfire risk by reducing fuel loading in the forest.

q: what are some of the ongoing ecological restoration projects taking place on the domain?

a: we are currently using prescribed fire and harvest to help reduce the density of some of the young forests that we have on top of the cumberland plateau, in an effort to increase their wildlife habitat value and promote native forest regeneration. we are also reintroducing short leaf pine, which we believe had a broader distribution on the domain in pre-european times. overall, we are harvesting some of the overstory, planting new seedlings in the understory, and using prescribed fires to help promote the species we want. we have also been planting native grasses in some of the harvested areas.

q: although it is nearly impossible to say with any level of certainty now, would you say parts of the domain are beginning to experience the effects of climate change?

a: i would say that we are noting changes from extreme weather. what appear to be extreme droughts, extreme rain intensities, and extreme temperatures seem to be creating stressors on the forest. whether or not that is a direct result of climate change, it is too early to say. but it is happening, and it is driving some of our shifts in management towards more resilient landscapes.

q: here is a separate, non-sewanee related question… you and your wife run an organic farm. can you tell us a little bit about this?

a: yes, my wife and i have an organic farm where we raise sheep and goats. we run all of our equipment and vehicles off of vegetable oil, so i commute here everyday in a vegetable oil-powered car. i have been retrofitting petroleum-fueled cars to run on vegetable oil for about a dozen years now. all of the vegetable oil comes from the sewanee inn.

q: anything else you would like to share about the domain?

a: it is an amazing resource for students, and if you don’t spend any time on it, you are missing out.

here’s a quick overview of the issue:

the mass adoption of maize and a few other crops approximately 1,000 years ago allowed food production to keep up with growing populations. but this process reduced our plant food-base from over 7,000 plants to about 15. today, a mere 15 crops, or .2% of our historical plant food-base, provide 90% of the world’s daily calories, while maize, rice and wheat account for two-thirds of this total.

in the process of selecting for maize and other annual crops, we abandoned reliable perennial crops, which require little to no fertilizer or pest control, and do not need to be replanted every season.

more recently, the mass-production of maize, rice and wheat has significantly altered our environments, through the use of energy-intensive artificial growth stimulators, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and the development of colossal corporate-controlled mono-crop plantations that seem to work in the short run, but degrade land, soils, and human health (check out the increase in obesity and type ii diabetes in the u.s. since the 1960s) in the long run.

in addition, the inequity of modern agriculture is such that one billion people in developed countries are overfed while two billion suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.

in recognizing that modern industrial agriculture is unsustainable, and that at the root of the problem is a global dependence on 15 corporate-controlled crops, how can we move towards sustainable agricultural practices that can provide the sustenance necessary for a rapidly growing global population?

enter the native cultigen project.

inspired by archaeological excavations based in the uplands of the cumberland plateau in southeastern tennessee, dr. stephen carmody, a postdoctoral fellow in archaeology at the university of the south and founder of the native cultigen project, discovered native perennial plants that were widely used throughout prehistory, eventually domesticated, and became an integral part of the past foodways of native peoples of this region.

the theory is that, by understanding agricultural practices of those indigenous to this region, the native cultigen project may be able to ignite a new wave of sustainable agriculture – one that looks to the past for solutions for the future.

the native cultigen project is focusing specifically on chenopod, amaranth, and sumpweed, which are just a few of the perennial crops discovered by dr. carmody in his excavation of this region.

these are unconventional food sources today, yet they might as well be super crops. all three of these are extremely easy to maintain and harvest, and yield seeds packed with ridiculously high nutrient contents and several health benefits. it is no wonder these sustained prehistoric native american groups for thousands of years.

when i went down to the farm, i was fortunate to witness dr. carmody’s experimental threshing procedure, which simply uses a screen on top of a makeshift table, and human hands to separate the husks from the seeds.

these plants, or weeds really, require hardly any water (they are currently thriving under extreme drought conditions here on the cumberland plateau), no fertilizer nor pesticides; they thrive in marginal soils, and promote local biodiversity, the likes of which have naturally adapted to being attracted to this fauna. these plants are also expected to improve soil fertility for these reasons.

once harvested, these plants can be put to several uses. ryan macdonald, sewanee class of 2017, is currently using the amaranth seeds to grow microgreens, which will soon be sold to the university dining hall for soups and salad garnishes, and will be a test of the commercial value and potential of these plants.

among other uses, these plants’ calorie-rich seeds can also be eaten plain or ground into flour. these last two uses in particular express their invaluable potential in developing countries experiencing severe malnourishment, drought, soil infertility, all of which will only become more widespread with climate change.

the video below illustrates the ease and gracefulness of separating seeds from chaff.

similar projects can be taken up in different parts of the world, and would likely find different crops indigenous to those regions, but regardless, the message and potential of the native cultigen project remains the same. rather than looking for ways to reduce the unsustainability of current agricultural practices, why not first look to the past for local solutions that individuals can tackle head on, all while improving local biodiversity, environmental resilience and food security?

this project establishes an alternative to the prevailing agricultural model, which is centralized and entirely dependent on 15 annual crops. instead, the native cultigen project emphasizes the localized, sustainable production of those plants that naturally thrive in climates and under conditions specific to a region; plants that, quite possibly, could provide undernourished, climate- vulnerable populations with alternative, highly resilient and nutrient-rich food sources. so start digging!

for more visuals and information, check out the native cultigen project’s instagram!

below, i’ve listed 10 ways copenhagen does biking right:

1. bike racks everywhere 

(leif jørgensen/wikimedia commons)

no more need be said.

2. bike friendly trains

not only are they bike friendly, but trains are also safe, timely, clean, and extensive — not to mention electric, meaning they source over 40% of their power from renewable energy sources. these trains extend far into the greater copenhagen area, allowing people to commute to copenhagen by bicycle, even if they live several kilometers outside of the city center.

                                                                                                                 (darby mcglone)

3. christiania bikes, also known as cargo bikes, are everywhere

(colville-andersen/creative commons)

these contraptions are great for bringing your children to school or loading up a hundred pounds of cargo. it’s truly amazing what people carry on these things!

4. bike shops everywhere

i never went more than two blocks in copenhagen without passing at least two or three bike shops. i once passed four on a single block.

5. established bike lanes

this is my greatest praise of copenhagen’s bicycle infrastructure. safe, established bicycle lanes are essential for any city that wants to accommodate everyday bikers. in copenhagen, you will find identifiable bicycle lanes on every street. separate bicycle lanes provide cyclers with a generous amount of room between them and cars. makes sense, considering there are nearly 400 km of bike lanes in the city and over 1000 km in the greater copenhagen area that stretch far into the suburbs, providing rural commuters with a means of cycling into the city everyday for school and work. and unlike many of the ones you’ll find in the us, bicycle lanes in copenhagen do not disappear after a mile, leaving cyclers to question if it’s safe to continue. this is because the city recognizes that bicycle lanes are just as important as, and arguably more important than (see point number 10), roads for vehicles.

6. bicycle traffic lights

these are pretty awesome features. they help legitimize cycling as a means of transportation, and helps organize bicycle traffic – essential in a city where so many commute by bike every day.

(mikael colville-andersen/wikimedia commons)

7. perception of bikers

not only do danes make biking look cool, but everyone does it, which makes it much safer and more enjoyable. you’re not just that obnoxious biker dude that everyone’s looking at.

8. pedestrian-only bridges

by 2050, 9 billion people will inhabit the planet, and a projected 70% of these people are going to be living in cities. with mass urbanization on the horizon, it is essential for cities to begin accommodating accordingly. a key component to this is sustainable urban transit. over the last 15 years, the danish government has introduced several initiatives to combat urban congestion. building pedestrian-only bridges is one way cities can promote sustainable transportation while encouraging healthy, active lifestyles. many of these exist throughout copenhagen, and they are freaking awesome. in fact, the city’s newest bridge is pedestrian-only, and it connects two of the city’s main hubs. if you’re in a car, you’re at a disadvantage. for more info on copenhagen’s urban sustainability initiatives, check out the state of green’s latest white paper on sustainable urban transportation.

9. the world’s simplest bike locks

(hustvedt/creative commons)

these are pretty representative of danish society as a whole. a flimsy plastic ring that fits around your back tire is all you’ll need to lock up. the amount of trust and respect for bike riding in copenhagen is unparalleled.

10. bike lanes get cleared first

yet another example of how the city prioritizes cycling. when it snows in copenhagen, bicycle lanes are the first things to be cleared – not roads for vehicles. pretty incredible, no? 

so, to all our cyclers out there, what can we take from all this? how can we make cities in the u.s. better accommodate bikers? the first step is biking everywhere and anywhere, even if we don’t have spacious bike lanes, and even when the bike lanes discontinue out of nowhere. without first introducing your friends, coworkers, fellow city dwellers and the local administration to the idea of biking to school, work and the grocery store, their attitude towards biking, and bicycle infrastructure, will not change — as won’t the local government’s. without an established bicycle-community in your town/city, you can kiss your dreams of bicycle traffic lights goodbye.

individuals and interest groups like walk bike nashville play a crucial role in changing the perception of biking in cities. it’s clear that many city governments are taking steps to expand their bicycle culture and infrastructure by building bike lanes and bike share programs, but it’s up to us to continue demanding better biking accommodations. so reach out to your local bicycle advocate groups (like walk bike), because there are tons out there. and if there isn’t one, consider starting one for your city. below are some pictures i took from san antonio, left, and nashville — the last two cities i visited, both of which had bike share programs called bcycle with stations powered by solar photovoltaics. 

(darby mcglone)

district heating is an integrated heat distribution network that, through an organized underground piping system, eliminates the need for wasteful individual boilers and furnaces. by connecting buildings and services to a dh network, dh also can capture and make use of heat that would otherwise be released as waste from various structures, such as factories and public transportation services. its greatest promise lies in its piping infrastructure, which provides the groundwork for the wide-scale deployment of distributed renewable energy systems.

denmark’s original dh power plant went online in 1903. it now covers more than 60% of the country’s space and water heating capacity. 

after oil prices quadrupled in response to the 1970’s oil embargo, denmark decided to refit and expand its dh network, and actually enacted laws requiring residences and businesses to connect to it. these laws were passed for a few reasons. first, at the time of the crisis, denmark could not afford to waste any more precious oil on inefficient individual heating units. the country already had begun holding “car-free sundays” — and passed a sales tax of 180% on any new car to discourage the use of vehicles — so this was the next natural step. second, in order for the project to be cost-effective and worthwhile, the danish government had to be sure that residences and businesses would physically connect to the dh system. lastly, in response to the crisis, denmark began refitting old power plants to capture the useful heat that is released as a byproduct of electricity generation, heat would otherwise be released in cooling towers as waste. in order to direct the captured heat to several different points of end-use, these combined heat and power (chp) plants require the infrastructure that a district heating network provides.

having installed its first chp plant back in 1904, denmark is one of the countries leading the way in developing chp, and even cchp — combined cooling, heat and power — plants. these systems are twice as efficient as conventional power plants, and they significantly reduce carbon emissions, electricity bills and fuel poverty. 

this simplified diagram shows the fuel trajectory in both a chp plant (top) and conventional power plant (bottom).

however, most chp plants continue to run on coal and natural gas. until renewable “fuel” sources become commonplace for chp plants, their efficiency improvements will only buy us more time with a dirty, depleting resource. this is a classic case of eco-efficiency versus eco-effectiveness. capturing waste heat from coal- and natural gas-fired plants is a necessary improvement with serious benefits, but by no means are conventionally fueled power plants the end-all solution. it is necessary to recognize this. 

through organizations like biogas taskforce, many of denmark’s chp plants have begun integrating biomass and organic biogas into their fuel systems in order to begin completely phasing out fossil fuels from heat and power production. waste is another primary source of fuel for chp plants in denmark, and is now considered a “resource” that the country actually imports from england. this, again, is only an intermediate step toward weaning off fossil fuels, and one that must not be seen as a final solution as it does not address the colossal issue of waste reduction.

district heating systems do not require chp plants, though. heat from dh systems can be sourced from geothermal heat, solar thermal heat, and large and small-scale heat pumps. when wind turbines are generating more electricity than is demanded, as has been the case many times in denmark, a dh system might even be receiving some of its heat from wind-powered electric heaters. thus, not only do these systems distribute heat in an efficient and clean way, they also directly promote the growth of certain renewable energies that depend on that vast piping infrastructure.

connecting various renewable systems into one central, integrated network will increase the reliability of renewable energies, while also improving grid flexibility and resilience. of course, the infrastructure is expensive, but the payback is certain, and the benefits are enormous. 

(image at top: the tunnel between rigshospitalet (national hospital) in copenhagen and amagerværket (amager powerplant) in amager. the tunnel transfers heated water and steam for the city. / bill ebbesen)

cities’ importance in a sustainability context cannot be overestimated. around the world, metropolitan areas are emerging and expanding extremely rapidly — every day, there are approximately 200,000 people worldwide relocating to cities. this continuous trend of urbanization, one that has been consistent since the 1950s, means an additional 2.5 billion people (more than a third of our current global population) will be living in cities by 2050. the graph below, drawn from the un world urbanization prospects 2014 revision, illustrates this global trend.

how can we build smart cities?

without the proper guidance, incentives or regulation, city planners and municipalities, along with the business communities within them, can get away with employing unsustainable and detrimental development principles into their urban design mechanisms. many cities have fallen victim to this. atlanta’s 2.5 million residents, for instance, span over 25 times as much land and emit more than 10 times the transportation-related carbon emissions per capita as barcelona, a city of 2.8 million. barcelona’s success can be attributed to its vast concentration of various residential and business opportunities as well as its strong public transportation infrastructure, which incentivizes development within close proximities to the center of the city and discourages personal vehicle ownership.

for cities to properly accommodate an increasingly urban global population in an efficient manner, city planners and policy makers also must take into account the impacts of a warming climate on urban life. while in the near future — the timeframe in which it is imperative that we act — we cannot dramatically consolidate huge cities like atlanta, it is both necessary and economically optimal to rethink and improve their current infrastructure to ensure cities are able to withstand the effects of climate change. in order to do so, we must understand that cities and their components are part of a greater dynamic earth system, one that has been disrupted after years of irresponsible resource use and management. in understanding this, it is essential to recognize the holistic implications of urban design and development, with an emphasis on preemptively integrating climate mitigation strategies into urban design.

proper water management is key element

one such improvement is to integrate highly efficient rainwater storage and drainage systems along roadways, pavements, and green spaces in cities. just this past week, severe flooding devastated the east coast, and the economic repercussions are expected to be in the billions. as the global climate continues to warm, evidence suggests that the frequency and severity of intense storms are going to increase substantially. this is especially relevant to cities, as roughly three quarters of them, including some of the largest megacities in the world, are located on or very near coasts, where the impacts of extreme weather events, not to mention rising sea levels, will be most costly.

some urban developers and municipalities have already begun incorporating dynamic rainwater storage systems into their planning process in order to mitigate the impending effects of climate change. copenhagen, as discussed in its climate adaptation plan, has implemented many sustainable urban drainage systems (suds), which will significantly reduce the impacts of the projected increase in abundance and intensity of cloudbursts within the city. these systems retain rainwater locally by utilizing subsurface and roadside infiltration beds, permeable paving surfaces, and green roofs and spaces in order to minimize stress on sewage systems and wastewater plants.

(photo by darby mcglone)

smart water management models found today

skt kjelds quarter, a “climate adapted” neighborhood within copenhagen shown above, features large excavated green areas that are used for rainwater storage and contain highly absorptive plants. grated channels and permeable sidewalks surround the green space, as well as large rainwater storage tanks that are separate from the sewage system. the ground outside the space is also angled such that all rainwater is directed towards one of these retention systems in order to reduce the impact of flooding.

potsdamer platz, an urban district within berlin, is also tackling the issue of rainwater management and storage. following the fall of the berlin wall, the local municipality recognized the opportunity to reduce the impact of flooding by forcing the rapid influx of investors to sustainably manage 99% of the rainwater ​that falls on their property. sustainable management meant completely disconnecting from the previous combined sewage system and creating a more efficient and ecologically friendly rainwater capture, storage, and drainage system.

buildings within potsdamer platz are now lined with green roofs that capture more than 70% of incoming rainwater, cool and better insulate the buildings themselves, and send rainwater down pipes to reservoirs that greatly enhance the area’s biodiversity. the water in the reservoirs is then used to flush toilets, irrigate nearby green areas, and in some cases to supply buildings’ hot water or solar thermal systems, all of which saves the district approximately 20 million liters of water each year. among other feats, buildings within potsdamer platz utilize efficient ventilation, facade and passive cooling systems that, compared to conventional systems, cut primary energy consumption by half. there is also talk of using the algae and biomass that accumulate in the reservoirs to create biofuels.

systems like these aren’t the end-all solution for an urban sustainability transition, but they are tackling some of the most pressing issues facing cities today while preserving a valuable resource that is often overlooked. 

(image at top: potsdamer platz in berlin. / mijozi/wikimedia commons)

denmark hit a renewable energy milestone in july: its windmills produced 140 percent of the entire country’s energy needs.

still think renewables aren’t a realistic option for meeting our world’s growing energy demands?

denmark has a long history of wind energy, with its first wind turbines — and energy cooperatives — dating back to the late 1800’s. but since beginning my semester abroad in denmark in late september, i’ve been trying to figure out how copenhagen has found the drive to aim for carbon neutrality by 2025 — a mere 10 years away — and, moreover, a goal for the entire country to become completely dependent on renewable energy in the next 35 years.

the key to denmark’s success, though, is not its political drive. in fact, it is quite the opposite.

denmark has a long, inspiring history of community-based organizations that can be traced back to the 1300’s. some 500 years later, the country’s wind energy cooperatives originated with poul la cour. having lived through the start of the industrial revolution, la cour watched as many families migrated to cities and left their farms behind. the families that remained in the countryside had little choice but to continue their labor-intensive farm lifestyles. la cour recognized energy’s potential to revolutionize these lifestyles, so he decided to devote much of his life to bringing the benefits of decentralized electricity to rural communities by constructing wind turbines. despite his moderate success and rural influence, oil became increasingly abundant in the coming years and eventually made its way to the countryside, leading to the decommissioning of the last of la cour’s windmills in 1935.

denmark’s wind energy progress was then put on hold for many years, and nearly all aspects of danish society came to be dominated by this new, high-content energy source. the oil dependency continued until the oil crisis of the 1970s. the crisis absolutely crushed denmark’s economy. by that time, roughly 95 percent of denmark’s energy consumption was dependent on foreign oil reserves. unlike the united states, oil was not just used for transportation in denmark, it was also their primary means of heating and electricity. this blow revealed the country’s vulnerability to energy shocks and how quickly their national security could be threatened. the country was forced to think of alternative, dependable sources of energy — and quick.

one immediate social response to the high gasoline prices was the reinvigoration of the biking culture in copenhagen, a movement that originated in the 1890’s but quickly got phased out as automobiles became the preferred, more convenient means of travel. with the cost of driving suddenly shooting through the roof, danes quickly began biking again, and the government responded by refurbishing old bike lanes and inventing new ones. today, 45 percent of copenhagen’s population gets to work or school on a bike, hence its well deserved nickname “bike city.” (could you imagine this being the case in new york?)

the nørreport station in copenhagen in 2007 is overrun with bicycles. (leif jørgensen/creative commons)

but denmark had bigger issues to tackle than painting bike lanes. the government’s plan to combat the oil crisis was nuclear energy, but this received extremely hostile backlash from the danish population, leading to the creation of the organization for information on nuclear power (ooa). as far as danes were concerned, nuclear power simply wasn’t a viable option for their small, scattered country. after 12 years of anti-nuclear movements and social unrest, danish parliament could no longer contest with denmark’s determined civil society and agreed to look at alternative sources of energy, chiefly wind. this movement toward wind energy actually originated through local cooperatives in which danes, building off of what poul la cour had started 90 years earlier, constructed their own turbines and illegally connected them to the grid. these cooperatives ultimately forced the danish government to seriously consider the prospect of decentralized, community ownership of wind turbines, something that was and is still crucial to denmark’s success with wind energy.

from these accounts, we can understand that denmark has not always been a beacon of sustainable innovation. it took an economic catastrophe and serious social engagement to force the government to fundamentally rethink the nature of their energy dependence. while environmental concerns were certainly expressed at the time, the country’s reasoning behind wind energy was not driven by environmental principles. it was more so a sociopolitical and economic decision, one that originated through civil society and allowed the government to recognize the benefits of putting denmark in control over their energy by making use of the resources around them — which happened to be wind.

the united states, among other countries, is surrounded by an abundance of clean, sustainable sources of energy, including wind, biomass (which can be better sourced from waste so as not to disrupt food supply) and, oh yeah, the sun — that massive ball of energy that is the source of nearly all life on earth. but perhaps leaving it up to the government to recognize this potential is not our best option.

so will it be investors who recognize the long term, sustainable profits available in the renewable energy industry, or businesses that see it as an opportunity to get a head start on implementing these inexhaustible resources for which new technologies are constantly emerging, ones that already are outcompeting and displacing fossil fuels? by looking at how denmark has succeeded, one thing’s for sure: widespread social involvement and innovation is essential. movements like the sierra club’s “beyond coal” campaign have proven extremely successful in the united states, shutting down more than 150 proposed coal power plants in the past three years. by increasing the number of stakeholders involved, funding this renewable and sustainable revolution will be much more feasible, and it would help bring together a variety of epistemic communities that will be necessary to make this radical transformation possible.

(top image: a wind farm in copenhagen in 2009. credit: www.cgpgrey.com​)