A conservative girl, redefining stereotypes and labels.
Alaska Public Radio Network reports, at a recent press conference President Bush pushed for ANWR drilling as he “scolded” congress for preventing it thus far. Citing estimates from the Department of Energy, the President stated the possibility of ANWR producing 1 million barrels of oil per day translates to 27 million gallons of gas and diesel which would “likely” mean lower gas prices.
Following the press […]
A recent report by NPR news tells of a teacher at Lewis County High School in Weston, West Virginia who is determined to teach Environmental Science and keep politics out of her classroom at the same time. Tiffany Litton holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science. She decided to forgo pursuing a career in law to become a high school teacher. Why? Her goal is simple. She wants her students to be better stewards of the environment and felt she could have a bigger impact as a teacher than a lawyer. “My science class is not the place to promote any agenda, its the place to promote facts…” states Miss Litton to NPR news when being interviewed for this story. She has won the trust of her students by respecting their views and not preaching to them. Encouraging even those students who hold a different view than her own, she has been known to award A’s to those who can bring a well researched counter argument to the table.
The students are listening and learning. One father (who happens to be a coal mining equipment distributor) candidly remarked that he does not want his daughter influenced and becoming one of those “tree huggers”. His daughter, a student of Miss Litton’s, respectfully comments that in her opinion her father’s generation does not understand the damage that has been done to the environment.
I came across some interesting bipartisan ads today. One featuring Newt Gingrich with Nancy Pelosi and the other featuring Al Sharpton with Pat Robertson. In the ads each of these “odd couples” sat together on a couch and presented a united front urging the public to embrace efforts for climate change. I loved it!
Then I discovered the ads were produced by the We Campaign which was started by The Alliance for Climate Protection. My heart almost stopped beating when I realized I absolutely loved something that has its roots in the efforts of Al Gore. Yes, I am a conservative, and I admittedly have a strong aversion to Al Gore. Nonetheless, I repeatedly returned to We and to the ads. I overcame my stubborn ideals (my first instinct was, I cannot promote this because it belongs to Al Gore) and decided to embrace the cause (my heart said, you are passionate about bi-partisan efforts in environmentalism and you must promote this).
A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey shows billions of barrels of retrievable oil beneath the Bakken Shale Formation which covers a large area from the Canadian border, down into North Dakota and Montana. A Reuters UK report states:
The Bakken Shale, comprised of thin layers of rock about two miles down, holds about 3.65 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, the USGS said. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska could hold more than 10 billion barrels of oil.
Although ANWR is currently federally protected land, there are already companies retrieving the oil from the Bakken Shale. The current survey from the USGS, completed at the request of Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is viewed as good news according to a statement in the Fox News story. This is due to the 25% increase in this estimate of retrievable oil over previous estimates in years past. Senator Dorgan believes this will bring “significant new investment” into the area.
Today NPR News aired a story about a rural Michigan school district that is pursuing green by using wind turbines to power their schools and offices. The Jr. High Principal, Kathy Dickens, took the initiative three years ago by applying for grants to pursue wind harvesting. As a result of her efforts The Lakers School District was awarded a quarter million dollar grant from the Michigan Public Service Commission.
With that money they purchased three large refurbished wind turbines which now power their elementary school and the superintendent’s office. They have since received another grant and energy smart incentives. The Lakers School District now owns a biodiesel processor in addition to their wind turbines. This spring their high school students will have a “Pressing Party”. They will gather sunflower seeds from the plants growing beneath their wind turbines, combine them with soybeans then press these seeds and beans to obtain oil to make alternative fuel.
America drives! With an average of 2.28 vehicles per U.S. household, and the average American commuting 33 miles per day to work, we are definitely a country that drives. The majority of U.S. cars on the road are fueled by oil. A large percentage of U.S. Oil is currently purchased from foreign countries. It is safe to say we are a country that drives dependent on other countries providing the oil to fuel our vehicles. With war raging in the Middle East, the price of oil constantly climbing and Americans still driving there is heated debate over what can be done to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. This week the Institute for Local Self Reliance released a report entitled “Driving Our Way to Energy Independence” specifically covering The Energy Independence and Security Act signed by Congress in December 2007.
The effort by Congress in 2007 attempts to transform our current transportation system by mandating higher vehicle efficiency, an increase in production of biofuels, and efforts in renewable electricity. More pie in the sky rhetoric? Well I believe that depends on us, the people, the citizens, innovators, entrepreneurs and activists in our country. American history teaches us about a people who sacrificed their lives settling in a new land, willing to give up convenience for their future. No, we don’t have to settle in a new land. I doubt we will have to give up too much convenience. The technology is available and we are able to transform our current dependence on oil to renewable energy sources.
She was very young, 3 or 4, when our green light started to blink. As we drove through the streets of suburbia, the extensive urban sprawl was evident everywhere. Orange trees and grapefruit trees were plowed down quickly and furiously by developers. From her car seat she would become enraged about the trees and animals. We found it amusing… at first.
She became incessant and consistent in her convictions as the years passed by. The groves of trees all around us were still being destroyed. She wanted to write to the President of the United States. We started to become concerned. Where was this coming from? How did this happen? A green girl in our very red home. It became a joke — our little “treehugger,” we would say.
One day, standing in our kitchen, she asked me a very pointed question. “Do we recycle?” she knew the answer, by this time she was 5 or 6. I honestly said, “no” (I was a little ashamed). “Why not?” she pressed. I didn’t have an answer. What was I to say? The county provides containers for that very purpose and they retrieve the containers from the end of our driveway. Instead of answering her question I said “Let’s start now.” She was pleased. We immediately found the recycle containers in the garage and put them in a handy place. Then we went on line and looked up the rules, days and times for our area.
