Okay, that article was actually fun to read.
About the facility’s management, he added, jokingly: “We had to hold their head under water. Three managers died before we got this done. They drowned in a bucket.”
Screw the guillotine, Bob Green’s waterboarding bucket sounds like it actually works!
Great story, kudos to her. Goes to show how one person can make an impact in their small part of the world with some passion and grit.
The key thing was that she didn’t work alone; she organized a group to keep on pushing:
She formed a solar committee and began trying to work on management, without much success. “They said, ‘We looked into it when we built the community, and it wasn’t feasible,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘The technology has changed a lot since then.’”
Groups calling for action tend to have a lot more power to get things done.
Can confirm: I try to be an activist but I’m bad at community organizing, so I don’t get much done.
I don’t understand why any business would not want to go solar. Panel prices keep dropping which makes it an ever better investment.
It is not the solution for everyone everywhere but it makes a lot of business sense for most. Yes, it is a longer term investment but so are most buildings.
You just answered your own Question.
Why would i buy panels now if they’re going to be even cheaper next year?
Opportunity costs
Can she please convince my landlord to make our place solar?
Start talking to them about it. Do it repeatedly. If there’s any change, like a change in management company, step it up. In this case, that’s what did it:
Then in December 2021, the facility’s owners changed management companies, appointing a new executive director.
This was an opening, Ms. Auslander thought. She wasted no time in pleading her cause, said Chris Barstein, the executive director. “Susan called me about the project for solar panels before I even walked in the door,” Mr. Barstein said. “I was completely taken off-guard, but it was a good harbinger of what was to come.” Unlike the previous executive director, he said, “I was pretty enthusiastic about it.”
I have an independent landlord (aka slumlord) in the US. It’ll never happen. I do know how to get him to fix things, though. Words like “escrow” and “attorney” really improves their hearing and motivation.
Susan Auslander almost translates to Susan Foreigner, literally it’s Susan Outlander.
