Like many Michiganders, Frank Zaski is doing everything he can this winter to
reduce his high energy bills.
But Zaski, a retired Chrysler manager, isn't satisfied with merely putting some
extra insulation in his attic and turning off his lights. He's also on a one-man
crusade to make a bigger difference by getting mall managers to lower the
temperature a few degrees in their food courts and atriums in an effort to save
money and help the environment.
Zaski, of Franklin, says many public buildings are too warm inside, especially
considering that lots of shoppers are walking around in sweaters and winter
coats. So for the past couple of months, he's been carrying a pair of
thermometers to local malls, recording temperatures and talking to store
managers -- with mixed results.
"I'm really a quiet, shy person, but I'm getting more bold," he said Monday. "I
usually say I'm a retired businessman and I'm trying to save them money. If I
said 'I'm a raving lunatic tree-hugger and you guys are bad polluters' that
wouldn't get too far. That's a real turn-off to decision-makers."
But the truth is that Zaski's motivation is not just thrift. He's one of a
growing and increasingly vocal number of Michiganders who see a connection
between turning down the thermostat and halting the effects of climate change,
such as the shrinking of Arctic ice.
Zaski attended his first Sierra Club meeting in November. Shortly thereafter, he
began carrying the thermometers, which are about the size and shape of small
pocket calculators, when he went shopping or out to dinner.
Usually, he tucks them into a small Pottery Barn shopping bag, where they are
open to the air and not too close to his body, which would skew the temperature
readings.
Lately he's gotten more methodical, spending days taking repeated readings at
major malls in the area and building a database of temperature and humidity
levels.
He has become one of the most active members of the Sierra Club in Oakland
County, said Leigh Fifelski, one of the club's conservation organizers.
"He got involved very fast and has become a key volunteer," she said. "I guess
he just realized that things don't change unless people get involved and people
become the change."
During his 30 years at Chrysler, Zaski worked in international market research,
telling his bosses what European customers wanted in their cars. High on the
list was fuel efficiency, because gasoline has always been far more expensive in
Europe than in the United States.
It wasn't until he retired two years ago that Zaski, 58, says he had enough time
to really think about environmental issues and begin to do something about them.
He generally finds that stores temperatures are around 70-72 degrees.
"I don't know why the mall has to be warmer than your house," Zaski said.
"You're here with your coat on, carrying packages, walking."
So far, his most successful encounter may have been via e-mail with a facilities
manager at the Somerset mall in Troy. The manager said he would consider
lowering the thermostat.
In other stores, employees often say they have no control over the temperature,
which is set by corporate policy at some faraway headquarters. At the Marshall
Field's at Twelve Oaks, two employees burst into laughter Monday when Zaski
asked for the person who controlled the temperature. "We'd like to find him
too!" they said, explaining that it is often too hot on the selling floor and
too cold in offices.
Zaski laughed with them, then went home to try to call customer relations.
One time, a security guard circled around him while he was sitting in a common
area, watching his thermometer's digital display inch higher.
"I used to feel a little like a shoplifter, but now I'm more comfortable just
explaining that I'm getting the temperature," he said.
"I have a social conscience and I feel that I have some responsibility for this
Earth," Zaski added. "So I'm doing my share. Future generations are going to
look back and really dislike us for what we've done to the Earth, for the way
we've used energy."