Green Options

The Trust-Us League. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck–environmental superheroes out to change the world on ecological-footprint at a time!

Canadian political junkies are all busy programming their VCRs, Tivos, or getting all set up to Bittorrent tonight. Thanks to the vagaries of the Parliamentary process, there is a Canadian election called for October 14th.

Why do we have give-and-takes like this?

A: “Global warming exists. Let’s do something about it.”

B: “Screw you! Global warming is a commie, liberal farce!”

A: “We should harvest the wind and sun for energy.”

B: “Screw you! My car is set up for petroleum; my house likes coal-fired electricity…commie, liberal farce!”

“We should care about Earth and each other. Nothing stays the same; we’ve got to evolve.”

“Screw…farce!”

And so on.

Oh, and on the relatively civilized tip…

A: “Science demonstrates that global warming exists.”

B: (In the eloquence of Dick Cheney…) “So.”

I’m perplexed of late by the glaring contrast of view points on some important issues in our world. Not to mention the venom and vitriol that charges so many of the outbursts. And not to mention that facts seem irrelevant to many people, even when they honest-to-goodness exist.

Republican or Democrat? Conservative or Liberal? Science or Religion? United States or Everyone Else? Rich or poor? Self or Others? Us or Them?

I met Mr. Chen at a bar-b-que in Tennessee last weekend. Admittedly I learned of his interest in sustainability by eavesdropping on his conversation, hearing phrases such as “reclaiming rainwater” and “solar power”. You may be thinking “so what” there are plenty of architects who are applying sustainable techniques to their work. What makes Tien-si Chen different is that he is a Christian Conservative.