In the grocery store aisles, I overheard a visitor complaining about the condition of a lake – milfoil everywhere. On the way to the car, someone asks if gas is high enough, do I think? An elderly woman neighbor is worried about having enough money to buy oil this winter.

The unfortunate thing is that these are all problems that could have been avoided.

Long ago, when I was editor of the Suburban News and Dave Tobin was in the Legislature, he (and others) supplied regular columns to local newspapers; some were printed, some were not. I remember Tobin used to write his own column and one of them, which I found utterly boring, was about some kind of water plant.

The legislators had heard a presentation from some scientist/biologist kind of person, explaining the possible invasion into our Maine lakes by something called milfoil. Tobin thought we should be concerned. There were no letters to the editor following this column.

I don’t recall ever hearing about milfoil in those days, but since I had a news “hole” in the paper that week, I ran the column thinking this sounded like something out of National Geographic and it could never happen here.

We all know what has happened in the intervening years. Milfoil arrived; careless people bring it with them into our lakes. Thousands of people and several generations ignoring the problem has resulted in a costly, continuous cleanup. It reminds me of cleaning up the Maine rivers after decades of using them for industry’s refuse.

More years ago, I worked at L. C. Andrew in South Windham. At the time, it was one of the largest lumber and building material dealers in New England. There were retail stores from Farmington to York County; and several sawmills throughout the state supplied wood to be debarked, sawn and kiln dried. The company even pre-fabricated wall panels and trusses – all this, in addition to manufacturing log homes.

Part of my job in public relations and marketing, was to arrange for workshops and seminars for our customers including more than 300 contractors, as well as the public. I recall one of these seminars was on energy saving and included programs on insulation, insulated millwork (windows and doors), and one sparsely attended workshop on solar energy.

Only a handful of people showed any interest in solar panels for roofs, or how to site a house to take advantage of the sun’s rays, roof design and more. Using the sun to produce energy was considered by most to be an exotic notion, more suited to strange people who didn’t understand our New England way of life.

A teacher in Windham’s Adult Education program taught a class about energy saving, including solar energy. I remember taking that class from Ron Edgecomb because at the time I truly couldn’t believe if such inexpensive and available energy was available, and the technology was available, why weren’t we using it?

Just a few decades later, we discover why we have the expression hindsight is always 20/20. If only…if only we had read that column Tobin wrote; if only we had paid attention to the way the early builders sited their houses and if only we had listened when those “far out” long-haired scientists were explaining how solar energy worked.

Today, we bemoan the cost of fossil fuel used to power our vehicles and heat our homes; we place blame. We worry about the future and with good reason. Sometimes I don’t think it has occurred to many that this is not a never-ending resource, regardless of the cost.

I hope we don’t all get sidetracked with the newest buzz-phrase, “greening,” and forget about what we should have learned in the past few years. We have the solution – it’s all around us, the wind and the sun, waiting to be used.

See you next week.