Dear Friends of the MREA,
This last year marked MREA’s 30th. I speak for our board and staff, past and present, when I say it has been an honor to be part of the movement for a
more local, more clean, and more beneficial energy economy.
In the MREA’s 30-year effort and in the greater social upheaval we are currently experiencing, I find wisdom in the following words of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.’ But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today, but for tomorrow.”
In 1990, the first “People’s Energy Fair” was started in dissent of the Gulf War, waged by the US from August 1990 to January 1991. At the time, the dissenters spoke of “our endless wars for oil.” It should be noted, that US troops continue to occupy numerous Middle East countries as part of America’s longest and costliest war.
So, how did the many people involved in the MREA make good on the “dissenters’ hope” that our future would bring about sweeping change to our domestic and global energy economy? We do it as directed by our mission, through education and demonstration. In the words of the late RBG and in the actions of the thousands of MREA Members and supporters, it is our hope and request that you continue with us to build a better tomorrow. You can judge our last year’s work in this annual report.
As to the next 30 years… We have much more to do, our commitment has never been greater, and we look forward to our work with you by our side.
Rise Up!
Nick Hylla, Executive Director