Quiet Power Luxury - A better Rural America the Cooperative Way

People arise to the sound of an electronic alarm in the wee hours of the morning. They swing out of bed to go flip a switch for light or the lights are controlled through wireless devices to come on at a certain time of the day.  Some hit the start button on the Keurig; others start browsing the Internet via a smart device. Power and communications is still a luxury taken for granted.

Imagine waking up on your own, lighting a fireplace for light, heat, and to warm coffee. The homeless and those who live in the poorest underdeveloped areas all over the world do not have light, heat, nor communications to connect with the world.

Being in the sandwich generation with parents who were raised in the era before electricity and telephones were a common household necessity, you learned early on to appreciate having power and communications.  A household with both electricity and a telephone was a luxury in the early 1900's. Rural America survived and progressed because of futurist and survivalist. They formed cooperatives to build a better rural America.

Investor owned utilities (IOU) didn't invest in rural America early on except in towns maybe.  The IOU's may have or may not have kept up improvements on the infrastructures over the years. As rural member owned Cooperatives acquired some of the IOU infrastructures the cooperative way continued with improvements for safer and more reliable power and communications as we know today.

As you shut off the lights and power down those electronics tonight think about being fortunate to be a member of two great futurist Cooperatives of 70 years in the Oklahoma Panhandle.