On The Road
August 22, 2009
'Not bad for 93'
Posted by Scott Petrie & Brendan Finner
Where: Burnaby Farmer’s Market, Burnaby
Since starting with BC Hydro Outreach, we were excited to be involved in so many amazing festivals and community events. The Burnaby Farmers Market was one of several farmers markets. It was a bright, early morning and we had just finished setting up our activities for the day. The other vendors were chatting away and people were slowly filtering into the venue area.
As we set out the brochures an elderly customer, Jim, walked up admiring the bright Power the Games tent. We casually asked if he knew about Team Power Smart and he said that he had heard about it but had not joined yet. He was involved in many environmental discussions and committees at work so he knew about our efforts.
We asked if he was involved with the festival and he smiled and said “no”. He mentioned he stopped by the market after his 6 a.m. run to buy some local produce. We were impressed and said told him that’s a great way to conserve.
“Not bad for 93,” he said, he was training for his retirement home’s tennis tournament that he had won the previous year.
We could not believe it. Here was this ninety three year old man acting as if he were 20. We went on to tell him about the benefits of Team Power Smart and that we’d love to have him on the team.
We discussed several power saving ideas and Jim stated that his favourite power saving tip was that people should choose appropriate sized homes for their needs.
His family had installed solar panels, energy efficient lighting in each room, and had opted for energy-efficient appliances. This had a tremendous impact on their energy use and they now have more money to enjoy other pursuits in their lives, like golfing and tennis.
Scott Petrie & Brendan Finner are a Community Outreach representatives based out of Burnaby and will be at community events throughout the fall.
