As the roofing crew scrambles to install our Tesla solar roof before actual winter shows up, and I've been scrambling to split enough firewood, I've been questioning my priorities.
Without a home solar system, we've been charging our electric delivery car purely off of the United Power grid, which is almost completely coal-based. So as much as some folks in diesel trucks like to brag about rollin' coal, we roll more in our Tesla. It just gets pumped out on the other side of the state. And we still have a big diesel truck to plow our driveway (we’ll see if either the Tesla Cybertruck or the Ford F-150 Lightning can handle a steel plow). At the Tesla still gets 70 miles per gallon equivalent charged off the United Power grid.
United is required to get 95% of its power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and they make 70% of their power from coal, 24.7% from natural gas, and 5.3% from oil. That’s 100% fossil fuels. United plans to leave Tri-State in 2024, but until then their contract doesn’t allow them to use any more than 5% renewable energy.
That’s why I went ahead with our solar project, even when Tesla moved the install date to December instead of waiting until spring. Thankfully this December has been the best I’ve seen since living in Colorado for putting a new roof on a house (knock on wood. It’s not quite done yet.)
But will I ever be content with our sustainability? Am I really just greedy? Why does it never feel like enough?
A recent post from More To That helped explain myself to me. In the post, “The Many Worlds of Enough,” Lawrence Yeo explains that shifting goals isn’t always about greed, instead it’s the result of being a completely different person by the time we attain a big goal.
“Given everything you’ve gained in ability and the achievements that have been actualized by your newfound peers, you’ll find that Enough should be higher than where you once pegged it.”
I’ve learned that almost everyone loves wild sockeye salmon, and that Silver Bay Seafoods, our processor, provides an excellent quality product to us fishermen that wish to sell salmon on our own. It’s an easy product to sell, for the time that I put into it, and I appreciate everyone who makes it that way. Starting out, I wasn’t sure this would be the case, but now I feel like I can put extra effort into other aspects of the business, like improving the sustainability of the supply chain.
Working with Tesla has been, for lack of a better word, cool. They also provide products that don’t require much salesmanship. They don’t pretend to have all the kinks worked out, but good intentions and hard work bring out a lot of trust and patience with their customers.
I’ve seen a similar effect with my customers. Though neither Tesla nor Epick Seafoods are punctual in the traditional sense, our hearts are in the right place (yes, I just referred to Tesla and Epick Seafoods in the same sentence). Tesla is a California company at heart, and it shows in the fact that they only provide two-wheel drive vehicles to their roofing crews in Colorado. Epick Seafoods is a family company at heart, and it shows when I open the door of our car and a wave of toys/milk bottles/snacks/screams pours into customers’ driveways.
We don’t just provide a product, we provide a piece of the adventure. That means going with the flow, yet shifting priorities along the way to find our full potential.
each post I read I find something interesting to takeaway: the idea of Tesla and Epick Seafoods being honest, hardworkers who are simply putting their best foot forward whilst still being human. I think what really draws me to your writing, Jake, is the honesty and raw truth. You don't feel the need to explain your life to give readers background. It kinda feels like I'm reading into your journal or something, as though I just started reading somewhere in the middle. But its easy to understand because you don't use super technical jargon, and you write simply but effectively. Really looking forward to your future writings (and hope your future memoir ships worldwide! haha)