This story is part of a series to let voters have their say on the issues before Election Day.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Climate change is a hot-button issue for many voters.
It is something that could affect many aspects of our lives, from how our infrastructure is built to how our food is grown.
The kitchen is busy as Trophy Brewing and Pizza opens for the day. The staff is quick to get food out to the customers, who may be seeing changes to their favorite neighborhood watering hole.
Trophy Brewing and Pizza opened in Raleigh in 2013, but they knew renovation would be coming not long after.
At the time, it was time to think about going green.
“We have a green roof up here. You can see the grass coming over the roof lawn,” co-owner David Meeker said. “It’s 1,500 square feet, and the goal is for the rainwater to soak in there and not run into the rivers and streams and flood people downstream.”
Also on the roof, solar panels were added, which Meeker said had an upfront cost that quickly paid for itself.
“We spent $60,000 on our solar panels. We got a tax credit for about a third of that. And then we also got the Duke Energy rebate,” he said. “And then our utility bill is reduced and so to a point where we’ll pay off our system in five or six years, which is much faster than the solar company told us.”
But with the additions, there was also a subtraction.
Trophy decided to truly mark itself as a neighborhood joint by removing all of its designated parking spots. Instead, they encourage walking, or riding a bike or scooter.
Meeker is a Democratic voter. He says the issue of climate change will be one of the top — if not the top — issue for him.
“I love that pressure that the younger generation is putting on us to do something about it,” he said. “And it’s really healthy pressure, and we need to act. I hope every politician is sort of required to talk about it, or else they can’t get elected.”
Meeker says some of the environmental changes he made are expensive. But he says for him, cost or not, it’s the right thing to do.
