“Would you like to put a dot on my map?”
Kristin Eggen, Executive Director
July 2024
The Winneshiek Energy District spent July 9-13 talking to residents at the Winneshiek County Fair. We ate nachos, handed out lightbulbs, and shared information about heat pumps. Our question for passerbyers was “Will you put a dot on my map?”
The large poster paper with a thick yellow axis and circular stickers wasn’t really a “map,” or at least not the kind that can guide you to your daughter’s soccer game. The activity asked participants to answer three questions:
- “Are you a renter, homeowner or neither?” Renters chose a yellow sticker, Homeowners used a red sticker, and neither (mostly youth) chose a blue sticker
- “How do you feel about your energy bills?”They placed their finger on the Y-axis, somewhere between “Very affordable” to “Hard to afford”
- “How often does climate change worry you?” They placed their other finger on the X-axis, somewhere between “Never” and “Always”
At this point the two fingers moved together to find the nexus of the two points, and the sticker marked the spot. Over several days the paper became more colorful, attracting more participants and viewers, including local leaders and politicians.
We engaged over 180 fair attendees over five days and learned a lot. Our main takeaways include:
- The majority of respondents were homeowners.
- People worry about climate change more often than not.
- There are still a handful of people who deny climate change exists, but they are a minority.
- More people find their energy bills unaffordable than very affordable, with the majority finding them reasonably affordable.
- The majority of people who indicated “very low bills” and “always concerned about climate” expressed that they had solar.
- Many people who indicated very unaffordable energy bills are on a fixed income.
We are still welcoming online submissions to the map. Respond by August 1 and get a chance to win a home energy efficiency kit ($85 value)!
As always, if you’d like to share your thoughts on this project or our work, please reach out to us at contact@energydistrict.org. Thank you for making Winneshiek County a great place to live!