Between the fall of 1973 and the spring of 1974 world oil prices quadrupled.

The effects of this sudden increase were dramatic everywhere, but particulary so here in Prince Edward Island, Canada. With 100% of electricity coming from fossil fuel generators, gasoline and home heating oil prices that were already higher than elsewhere, and a lower per-capita income than most of Canada, the so-called "energy crisis" hit the Island hard, and spawned interest in looking at sustainable alternatives to meeting the Island's energy needs.

Politically Prince Edward Island was well-poised to take steps in this direction: in the midst of a bold 15-year "Comprehensive Development Plan," the Island's provincial government was already on a drive to modernize the economy and infrastructure. Premier Alex Campbell, spurred on by his executive secretary Andy Wells, who had become interested in the work of the Club of Rome, of E.F. Schumacher and of Louis Mumford, redirected some of this drive for modernization into an exploration of energy alternatives, taking an uncommonly broad, ecological view of the challenges.  At a 1976 speech in Montreal, Campbell laid out the broad view of his administration:

What I am presenting to you then, is a suggestion, not for a new society, but for a new direction to our society. One that emphasizes self-reliance and involvement of our citizens rather than encouraging them to be passive consumers. It accentuates decentralization of capital and decision making, rather than intensive control. I envision a highly diversified society. I believe this is in keeping not only with our traditional values but also with our modern aspirations for a pluralistic society.

This would be a bold statement for a leader to make today; in 1976 it was doubly so coming from Campbell, leader of a small, remote, conservative province averse to dramatic change.

Premier Campbell led his government into many initiatives on the energy issue, most signigicantly the creation of an Institute of Man and Resources and the support of a project of the New England-based New Alchemy Institute to construct "The Ark," an experimental bioshelter on the Island's eastern shore that would explore energy and design alternatives for housing.

By the mid-1980s oil prices had begun to decrease and the spark that inspired research into energy alternatives had faded and, along with it, the federal government dollars that funded it.  By 1981 The Ark had closed and within the decade the Institute of Man and Resources followed.

Today we have renewed reasons for looking at energy alternatives: fossil fuel prices rise and fall, but the challenges of climate change mitigation are a clear and present reason to return to the pioneering work that started here on Prince Edward Island and elsewhere over 30 years ago.

By way of understanding the best way forward, I held a series of conversations with Prince Edward Islanders involved in that "first wave" of work on this issue, with an eye to understanding what of their research, technology, approach and political strategy we might use today.  And, equally important, what didn't work then that should now be avoided.

My first conversation was with David Bergmark.

Today David is an architect with the Prince Edward Island firm BGHJ; in the early 1970s, however, he was fresh out of Yale architecture school and had encountered the New Alchemists. He went on, with his partner Ole Hammarlund, to design The Ark, help with its building, and, when it was ready, he moved in.  I talked with David about how he first became involved, what the times were like, and what of the project we might adapt and use today.

Credits and references: Music is Skye Suite by Roy Johnstone and Steve Sharratt from the album Longshore Drift. I'm indebted to the books The Institute of Man and Resources: An Environmental Fable by Alan MacEachern and A Safe and Sustainable World by Nancy Jack Todd.

See also: Notes from The Last Time: Andy Wells and The Institute of Man and Resources.