Today we are talking with Jheri Nyongo, who recently completed their 20th year in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Jheri was the architect of the Every Home a Garden initiative and rose from installer to executive director of the northeast region.
Anna: Jheri, thank you for coming today.
Jheri: Thanks, Anna, I'm glad to be here.
A: Tell us about your first year in the Civilian Conservation Corps.
J: We started with a mandate to install solar panels. At that time, I was going wherever they sent me. We were climbing on roofs and fitting panels and explaining about choosing exposures. About six months in, I'd heard several homeowners complaining about the electric utility of the time. The company kept delaying on connecting the panel systems to the electric grid. So I talked to the team, and we went to talk to the utility board. Turns out, they were worried about live wires from the panels. That's when the team decided we needed to work on the electric grid, too.
A: I spoke to your coworker Gordo Finnegan, and he said you were the leader on that.
J: If he says so. It took a team.
A: Did you like the electrical work?
J: It was interesting. We had a new set of safety procedures to worry about. I studied up on power lines and transformers and all that.
A: Eventually receiving a doctor's degree in electrical engineering.
J: Yes, that. I had some useful problems to work into my dissertation, so the work and the studies helped each other. We were dividing the grid into little sections. When everything went well, power would pass between them. When one section had a problem, it would isolate. The grid had to be smart, to handle all those power plants on roofs, which is what our solar panels were.
A: How long did you work on making the grid smarter?
J: That was my main concern for the next eight or nine years. Other teams took it up, worked in other areas. We traded what we learned between regions and made good progress.
A: Did anyone oppose the work?
J: (chuckles) There were some. One man I won't dignify by naming spent a year following us around with signs claiming that our smart connection points were the devil's surveillance plan. He had a few folks worked with him for a while. I kept my head down and worked and that blew over. We had some funding fights, too. Our first budget came in with the Green New Deal, and was up for reconsideration two years later. We saw some stink in congress. But by then, we'd given a lot of folks free solar panels, and more people wanted them. So the budget held. Most of that happened above my pay grade.
A: Why did you stop working on the grid?
J: We were mostly done by then. There were remote areas that still needed work. We'd sorted out the fun questions. I started looking around for the next problem.
A: Was that insulation?
J: No, another branch of the CCC began work on insulation while our team was working on the grid. The two approaches helped each other – insulation lowered energy use, which made the grid work better, and the better grid made areas that needed help pop right out. Insulation, appliances, light bulbs – the home team had all of that under control. So I started looking for another area we could work on.
A: What were some of the options you considered?
J: The CCC's first tagline had been "Solar panels for every home" with a little asterisk to cover those cases where they'd never pay off. As we finished up with that, and expanded into improving the grid and making homes more efficient, we needed a new line. The public relations team tried a few that no one liked. Finally, we had a big conference. Those who couldn't fly to Cincinnati joined by video call. Everyone put their thoughts in the big bucket of ideas. It took a week. Finally, we came up with the line we still use now.
A: It broadened your aim quite a bit.
J: At that point, anything that would reduce carbon, reduce other greenhouse gases, make any product or service use less energy or create less waste became fair game. I had a lot to think about. I considered home battery systems, universal broadband, transportation. I wanted to work outside, and I saw that we hadn't made much progress on lowering methane from garbage collection. What would encourage people to keep food waste out of their garbage? If they could compost it and use the compost at home. Plus, gardening calms a place. So we came up with Every Home a Garden.
A: Lots of people have had gardens. How was this different?
J: We wanted everyone to have a garden. Didn't matter if you lived on the eighth floor, or couldn't walk. We were looking at gardens that could be part of your roof, your walls, gardens for people who had no yard or no sunlight.
A: Wouldn't that raise electricity use?
J: It was a whole new set of problems to solve. Sometimes, we did need some artificial light. We worked to make that as efficient as possible. Lots of times we could choose the right plants or bring sunlight through pipes. We had some misfires where the compost was chasing people out of their homes before we found a few good systems for that, too.
A: How many homes have you reached?
J: We estimate about 30%. That's enough that we've found solutions for most home types.
A: Does that mean you are looking for your next interesting problem?
J: (chuckles) I'm not ready to talk about that.
A: Can you tell us anything about what you plan to do next?
J: I expect I can do good work for the CCC for another decade or more. We've taken care of some of the big areas of waste, and we can keep finding ways to do better.
A: Thanks very much for your time, Jheri. And thanks for your service.
J: It was a pleasure talking to you.
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