Sustainability. It’s a hot word in today’s society, but what does it really mean? Being sustainable can mean restoring as much as you use to maintain a balance point for all things. Ecologically this means that we must conserve resources and control production and waste to preserve our environment. But in order to achieve true sustainability for the world, we should attempt to maintain balance not only ecologically, but economically and socially. This means a world where we have not only renewable energy, but where we invest resources into equal education, employment and other opportunities to keep our society and its citizens advancing and thriving. This means that our corporations should not just take money from the masses to allow the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, but instead everyone should pay fair prices for goods and services so businesses will invest back into their employees with fair, livable wages and professional development opportunities. This means reaching out to under-served communities and resilient individuals to educate them for green careers so that the green jobs industry isn’t just ecologically sustainable, but economically and socially responsible as well.
This ideal is why Rising Sun Energy Center exists. Our mission is to empower individuals to achieve environmental and economic sustainability for themselves and their communities. We do this by providing training and employment in the energy efficiency sector for youth and adults with barriers to employment. Our programs train these individuals hands-on in energy efficiency and water conservation and then we continue to assist them in acquiring jobs and hopefully life-long careers in the green industry. Furthermore, we provide home energy retrofits and efficiency upgrades to residents all over the Bay Area. These green services are always either free or discounted heavily due to the fact that we are providing energy savings to homeowners and renters and because we are giving practical on-the-job training to resilient individuals.
So we impact all three facets of sustainability at once; we combat climate change by reducing the amount of CO2 that is released by homes, we help families to save money on their utility bills and home upgrades by offering free and discounted services that reduce their energy and water consumption, and we are helping disenfranchised individuals get the training, education and employment that everyone needs to contribute positively to their community.
If you’d like to do your part to be truly sustainable, check out our energy efficiency services that could get you started on your path to saving energy, water and money with free CFLs and clotheslines, or even subsidized attic insulation, air sealing and weatherization that help employ our green leaders of tomorrow!
