Climate Stories Driving Change

MARGY’S STORY

My name is Margy Peet and I grew up in Binghamton NY. I got to Rochester via Grand Rapids Michigan where my husband and I were living. We wanted to move east to be closer to family and ended up in Rochester because my husband got a job working at Rochester Institute of Technology.

After retiring from an environmental and public health career at the Monroe County Department of Public Health, I am now a partner in Roctricity. Our mission at Roctricity is to bring carbon-free electricity for cleaner communities.

I love the diverse world that we have lived in. My parents grew up in rural Pennsylvania and I had frequent immersion into life on my mother’s family’s farm. That gave me a love of outdoors and nature and the cycle of life. I cherish birds and waterways, plants, trees, and animals. In my lifetime I have seen a loss of species and I know that climate change will result in many more losses of species. I want to preserve some of that life for future generations of all species. 

My favorite part about renewables in New York is that there are some! I am glad to live in a State where the need for renewables is acknowledged. And I’m committed to expanding the market for renewables in New York State.

It is encouraging that more and more communities within New York State are working to expand the demand for and the use of renewable energy technologies. However, I don’t think this is anything we can be complacent about. There is much, much more work to be done and many many more people that need to be mobilized to protect fragile ecosystems.

Right now, the lack of seasonal appropriate weather feels like a loss. While in past years I would find myself complaining about cold snowy weather, I now miss it. The climate crisis influences what I read, what I talk with people about, how I view public policy, and how and where to I travel. I feel a need to keep my personal carbon footprint small. And I feel an urgency to immerse myself in nature as much as possible.

We have been early adopters of hybrid cars, photovoltaic solar panels, solar hot water, and have now become a one car family. We have our own compost bin and vegetable garden (though this was true even before the magnitude of the Climate Crisis came to the forefront of our minds). We have ditched gasoline powered lawn equipment for battery powered. We have chosen clean energy ESCO’s and paid for wind power to help power the grid. We have made some attempts to change our eating habits to include much less meat and much more plant-based foods, but our efforts in that area need considerable work.

The huge thing would be for all people to be motivated to change their carbon usage—motivated in the same way that people were motivated by World War II to take extreme actions to make a difference. The still huge, but not daunting thing would be to put a price on carbon in the United States.

When I’m not working, I enjoy reading; volunteering for environmental, faith-based, Native American, and immigrant organizations; traveling; and gathering with family and friends.