ObservationsCommunity Identity
Northfield carries the description of a city of "cows, colleges and contentment." Although informal, the statement seems accurate. A short list of aspects contributing to Northfield's identity is part of the necessary groundwork for developing a hypothesis on community identity.
The focus of this research is wind energy in Northfield. Why, however, would the city be particularly interested in a wind energy project? Current events provides one possible reason. Northfield is a major customer of Xcel energy, a company that generates 20% of its power output at the Prairie Island nuclear facility in Red Wing. Company officials recently asked the Minnesota State Legislature for permission to store additional spent fuel at the facility. Without additional storage space, the plant will have to be shut down by 2007. As a result of Xcel's request, two bills were created in the Legislature. A House bill would authorize additional storage. A Senate bill would also grant Xcel's request, but on the condition that Xcel devote $17 million to development of renewable energy production technology such as wind turbines. Significantly, a recent Star Tribune Minnesota Poll of 1,033 adults found that 86% approve of this plan, while only 6% disapprove. In addition, the House bill was rejected by an overwhelming majority on May 16, 2003. The Senate bill, which would be a powerful boost to renewable energy efforts, is the only bill left in the Legislature. Here is collection of Star Tribune articles covering the topic: The political and social climate, therefore, is an opportunity for Northfield to engage in renewable energy at a time when local initiative is very necessary. As a customer of Xcel, Northfield is partially dependent on nuclear energy, a technology that presents significant environmental problems to current and future generations. This is a problem common to the entire Northfield community, as no citizen is exempt from the risks posed by nuclear energy production in the state. There is good reason, however, to think positively about this problem. Julia Wondolleck and StevenYaffee explain in Making Collaboration Work that shared problems can "foster a strong sense that 'we are all in it together,' and that solutions to community-scale problems require true collaboration." To place this statement in context, this means that while every Northfield resident is connected to the power grid, no citizen acting individually can create a large-scale wind project. The current wind project is an example of community-based collaboration. The nonprofit organization RENew Northfield has started a utility-scale (large-scale power production) wind project expected to begin operation in September, 2003. The project, in which both the Northfield School District and Carleton College will install a wind turbine, started from the efforts of a few RENew members and a significant community response to the initial proposal. RENew Northfield's web site provides additional information and links to renewable energy information on the Web. work cited: Wondolleck, Julia M., and Yaffee, Steven L.. Making Collaboration Work. Island Press, Washington, D.C., 2000, p32. |
