I mean, I guess its only been 1 week but….am I a “Detroiter”, yet?

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Ann Arbor. Its a beautiful, clean, interesting and progressive city. Theres so many fun things to do, great places to relax, colorful buildings and yummy eats galore! But you’ve gotta admit, it can be kind of a utopian fantasy bubble. When we’re sucked into our little campus we often don’t often see or, more accurately, don’t pay attention to any of the real issues that face our society. Even if we are aware that poverty, racial injustice, blight, and hunger exist around us, these aren’t issues that we feel like we have any drive or power to address, recognize or make an effort to help. Spending one day a month volunteering and playing with kids for two hours for community service on a saturday morning is not going to make a difference. Its not going to give you a complete insight into the everyday issues and fights of a struggling urban dweller’s life. You’re not leaving these kids with anything substantial or lasting that will help them break the cycle and conquer their problems. These little snippets into their lives are not enough for you to think you understand or help.

Frustrated with these barriers and fed up with my cushy life in which my biggest concern was my Economics 101 grade, I applied for this program. I wanted the ability to live in Detroit so I could get a better and more comprehensive understanding of urban life and crises. I wanted the ability to interact with community members and community leaders to tackle these issues. I didn’t want to feel like an outsider that makes a big deal about donating some of my precious time to assist in someone else’s philanthropic project  to make change on a case by case basis. I wanted to learn from people who have lived here or worked here and aid in producing large, progressive institutional changes that completely disrupt and redefine this current outdated social and economic system.

And that’s exactly why I feel so passionate about my work here at the Regional Energy Office. My partner-in-crime Carmen and I are tasked with researching LED lighting technology and collecting from 26 local municipalities (Dearborn, Ferndale, Royal oak, etc) all of their publicly owned building/lots’ utility data and/or their street light data. The Regional Energy Office is a nonprofit organization that represents local municipalities (on a free, voluntary membership) who are trying to improve their energy efficiency and are interested in progressive, green economy and initiatives. In an effort to prompt mass change that will actually make a difference in increasing our region’s energy efficiency and help move us towards the new proposed federal renewable portfolio standard (30% renewable energy by 2030), our Streetlighting Consortium is trying to replace all streetlights with LED lights. Currently our streetlights are either Mercury Vapor lamps or HighPressure Sodium lamps. These are highly inefficient and outdated with very limited life spans and high maintenance. LED technology has a higher capital cost but last upwards of 15 years, is way more energy efficient and simply just produces a more consistent, bright light. While all of these member communities are interested in this initiative, they have no idea how many streetlights they have or own, where they are or whose maintaining them–let alone how to implement this huge initiative. Most streetlights are owned by DTE and the municipality/utility companies don’t agree on which ones are owned by who and where.

Not only are we getting a chance to get a diverse array of opinions from local officials and community members, we get the awesome opportunity to fight the big, bad, utility companies! The regional energy office is sub organization of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance that is working to strengthen regional governance, improve the municipal finance system, and build a regional transit system. They are a very trusted and important voice in the region that is working very hard to implement institutional change to redefine MetroDetroit (Here’s a cool article from our website about the problems with the municipal finance system of the area: http://www.michigansuburbsalliance.org/2013/07/19/a-bankrupt-narrative/). I love this feeling. Feeling like I’m a part of something bigger than myself. A part of a movement for not only symbolic but legitimate PROGRESS!

….I could go all night. But for the sake of your attention spans and my time, I’ll stop raving about how much I love my job and this place. Thank you, universe! For this opportunity, this placement and what really starting to look like a memorable summer!

Oh and did I mention there’s a vegan bakery across the street from my office? *fainting in absolute pleasure*