The reach of the oil juggernauts

Left: Hiding behind the National Environmental Policy Act, the State Department is outsourcing it's responsibility for a fair environmental review of the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal. The image is a screenshot of a comment I left for the State Department, to read it legibly scroll to the bottom of this post.

I know as a blogger you’re supposed to write about things you’ve done related to your blog’s theme. But for those of you like me who are eco-peripherals, sometimes my little victories are completely nugatory compared to the setbacks we face from the oil juggernauts. 

Right now it appears that the State Department is complicit in a scandal involving these oil juggoes.  The State Department has contracted the private company, Cardno Entrix to run the environmental review process for the Keystone XL pipeline, a proposed 1,700 mile pipeline bringing oil sands from northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. The thing is, Cardno Entrix was recommended to the State Department by TransCanada, the company that is building the pipeline, according to an article in the New York Times.

Because of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which took effect in 1970, agencies are allowed hire outside contractors to perform required environmental impact studies. Yet, choosing Cardno Entrix to perform the impact study and run the environmental review process is a conflict of interest. 

Professor Oliver A. Houck, a law professor at Tulane University and an expert on NEPA, said to the N.Y. Times that Cardno Entrix should never have been selected to perform the environmental study on Keystone XL because of its relationship with TransCanada and the potential to garner more work involving the pipeline. 

To make matters more interesting, TransCanada’s chief Washington lobbyist, Paul Elliot, was a top official in Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign…

I highly recommend reading the New York Times article.

I wish I knew about all of this sooner. I found out Sunday night, that public comments on the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal were accepted until Sunday at midnight. I posted a comment as appears below, but I wish I could have gotten this info out to you loyal blog readers to comment as well. Though the comments don’t have a lot of bearing considering that they are directed to a Cardno Entrix email address. But here was my two-cents anyways: 

“Now that I know the State Department is complicit in contracting a client of TransCanada, I know how meaningless this comment is, however, I type it nonetheless.

Oil sands are not in the best interest of the citizens of the United States. Job creation is a meaningless endeavor if the jobs created damage our national social construct. 

This has gone too far, and it’s time that the President and Secretary of State that I voted for, shut the Keystone XL Pipeline down. Please don’t use the bad economy as an excuse to undermine our natural rights, especially the pursuit of happiness.”

Hanging my laundry in to dry

By using the Tiki Hut as a make-shift laundry lounge, I save $1.75 and about three kilowatt hours of energy every time I hang my clothes and avoid using the dryer.

There’s this scene in Lady and the Tramp where the animation cam zooms skyward and you see all these high rise apartments graciously shaking hands via clothes lines. It’s the night where Tramp is out courting his Lady.

Much in the same vein, I’m courting my quarters in my quarters. Wait what? What I’m trying to say is that every time I hang my clothes in my bedroom to dry, instead of using the clothes dryer, I save $1.75 and about 3 kilowatt hours of energy. That’s a noodle hooving, lip-smacking, good feeling (yep, still on Lady and the Tramp, the pasta kissing scene).

So in the glory and spirit of Monday, September 19, the day where I hung in my clothes in to dry, I’m going to honor my friend Dan Killacky who left me with his own moment of Zen:  

“Well, 'donkey' is 'burro' in spanish. and a little donkey is a burrito. in burritos there are beans, which are known as the magical fruit. magic in the middle ages often involved alchemy. in alchemy you try to convert various materials to make gold. so see, you're Golden! a Golden Ass! (i had to bring back the donkey)"

Please send Dan (dkillack@gmail.com) an email if you appreciate his friskiness, and remember that being green can save money and the environment.

We don't need jobs, we need joy

Orange vested kayak lady exemplifies the spirit of adventure that Americans will rally behind in the 2017 coup d'etat. Wild spats of good measure, leisurely pursuits, and a robot economy will guide the new American way of life.

It’s a sad time to be an American. You can’t vote for Obama in the next election if you look at the financial advisers he has appointed, the laundry list of promises he has yet to fulfill, or his overall cowardice in addressing a domestic energy plan. You can’t vote for Perry or Romney because their austerity measures will erode our already diminished tax base, resulting from Dubya’s tax cuts. 

Our nation’s staring down a 100 percent debt to GDP ratio, and both the liberal and conservative camps want to cut waste…I say cut it all. Let’s shake up the whole melting pot! They’re having some serious fun over there in Libya. You know, if we didn’t have to worry about fluffing up our resumes for jobs we don’t actually want by supporting an economy that’s chomping through mother nature, we could all live life well.

The UK’s got a wind turbine project in the works that will provide energy to over 700,000 homes. Think of how many tiki huts in Hawaii, dude ranches in Texas, or split-levels in Seattle we could energize with renewable energy. We could take all of our soon to be double-dip-recession-jobless-folk and turn them into the avant-green: heroes that use their brawn to create a new carbon free economy. As a glory perk, they will earn a share of renewable energy they’ve created with their labor power.  

Anyway, Obama’s going to lose the upcoming election because he’s trying to create jobs. Everyone knows that leisurely pursuits are far more fun and interesting than work, especially in this day and age. Who wants to work, when robots could be manning all of the mundane levers of society? What kid wants, or what parent wants to send their kid to a crummy city public school, when they could stream a top-tier education off the internet for free? 

We don’t need jobs we need exciting vacations, pursuits that push us to the limits of our mental faculties and physical capabilities. We don’t need to hump part-time or deplorable jobs for decent statistical standing. We need good people to stand behind good values, and we need a whole load of fun. Life is too short to spend slaving away in jobs yielding marginal personal growth or conquest. As a fulltime AmeriCorps “volunteer,” fully charged by draining your tax dollars, I will be running for benevolent eco-fascist in the wildly exciting 2017 coup d’etat. 

At gunpoint my Green Berets will force you to build solar, wind, and geothermal installations. With weapons pressed to your backs we will make you build a nationwide fiber optic infrastructure. You will be forced to have internet in your home. You will have to take free classes. You will pay for your greenhouse gas emissions and I will sneer and laugh diabolically as you suffer. 

Okay, time to study for the GRE, because I’ll need a master’s degree to find part-time work. Unfortunately, the robots and green energy needed for my subsistence do not yet exist and I must work.

Until 2017!

Head over heels out West

In beautiful Spokane, Washington, the residential High Street, overlooks a chasm of sheer beauty. Ears pop during scenic drives through this landscape.

The star smattered skyscape still sings to my soul. Less than a week ago I looked into the abyss and found nothing staring back at me. They neither guided nor misled, proffered nor quieted, steadfast and brilliant the cosmos just were, and so were we. John, his bride Teresa, Ileana and I were just fixed elements of a grand composition. Yet, sentient, aware, and alive, with eyes swimming through the endless sea of stars, a manifold of possibility unraveled.

Out there, under Gaia’s vibrant visage I could be anyone. James Cook crossing the Western Pacific, John Muir mobilizing Teddy Roosevelt to start the National Park System, or happy as a clam Steve Bert, present explorer of the West, avid dreamer, and lucky companion of the beautiful Ileana Vink.

It takes a place like Thompson Pass, in the company of Ileana’s godparents where everything gets thrown into perspective. No, our world is not yet carbon neutral. We still have a long way to go get there. I still am consuming energy at a level higher than most Europeans, but things have been trending in the right direction.

Solar technology is improving, Germany is moving off nuclear power, and the UK is en route to having enough wind turbines to power 700,000 homes.[1] In other news, the internet is still propelling justice, Libyans are nearly free from Qaddafi, and the Milky Way still shines with all of its history and might outside of the urban churn.

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[1] World Changing: A User’s Guide for the 21^st Century

Big hopes, a little hike (a little vomit)

Greenbrier Learning Center's students stare at a grasshopper in the mitts of Master Naturalist Alonzo Abugattas. Grasshoppers will projectile vomit a brownish liquid when committing to their escapes.

There is no instruction manual on how to lead a symbiotic life. I find myself in a society that is packed with good souls, but derided by circumstance. Even if the wealthiest of us wanted to lead a carbon neutral, positive-impact life, it would require a time machine to transport us to a time where our electrical current flows from clean sources, our materials maintain their integrity as they are recycled for perpetuity, and our food nourishes us as well as our landscape.

Until the day where our survival off income becomes irrelevant, as solar powered wonder-bots take care of our subsistence and we spend our hours doing what our souls yearn for…sailing into the moonlight with the people we love, parachuting into gorgeous gorges, or walking the world to take in her resplendent beauty and countless founts of energy…Until that day, we have to scrape by as a civilization, pretending things like the beach houses and motorcycles we dream to buy could actually fill the void of longing for discovery and adventure, pounding at the nexus of each and every one of us.

While I scrape by, I remind myself that even though I am not an engineer for Vestas or Big Belly Solar, the Secretary of Energy, or the Administrator of the EPA, as a peon I can do little things. And other peons can do little things, and soon enough the minions can maneuver into masters living symbiotically with really cool stuff.

Anyway, as a peon for Greenbrier Learning Center I wanted to get our kids involved in some experiential learning. Because Long Branch Nature Center is la shiztatah and is extremely easy to work with, I facilitated an insect hike with a crazy-interesting naturalist named Alonzo, who turned out to be a human encyclopedia.

Our kids range from inconsolable pricks to the sweetest children on earth, so when seven out of the 18 kids on my team decided to defiantly abstain from the hike, I shrugged it off and was glad that the other kids truly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Alonzo possessed extraordinary bug catching skills as well as a vast knowledge for all of the creatures he caught. He showed us how to yo-yo a jumping spider. You wait for the spider to hop, because as it does so it releases a thin strand of web. You can grab hold of the web and keep the spider air-bound as it makes its descent.

He caught a sand wasp in his net and then transferred it to a transparent tube, so that we could see one up close. During the process he explained how the sand wasp stung small insects and brought them into their underground holes they’d burrowed in the sand. After the sting, the small insects would be paralyzed and the wasp would lay her eggs inside of the insects. The eggs would hatch and the wasp larva would then feed on the insects. YUM!

My favorite thing that Alonzo showed the groups was grasshopper spittle. When grasshoppers are trapped, they vomit out the grass they’ve eaten as this murky brown liquid.

FINALLY!!!! THE FUTURE IS HAPPENING!!!

Underneath the streets of Masdar City, a completely carbon neutral transit system will transport people around this sustainable stronghold. Learn more about the electric personal rapid transit and Masdar City.

When we take in the glorious cityscapes provided in Star Wars, we all sort of dream that one day we could live in a place as futuristic as Cloud City, or as spirited as the arborescent villages of Endor.

There’s something magical about a place that doesn’t waver in the face of politics or compromise to slow churn of oligarchical enterprise. In tune with that magic, redoubtable engineering is now underway in the United Arab Emirates, on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

Surprisingly enough, an almost uninhabitable desert is on track to spawn the cradle of sustainable civilization – a place known as the Masdar City.

Check out the city’s progress!

Letters start with Smoothie King

Nothing is more exciting than receiving a letter. Inside the envelope awaits a treasure trove of words that could change the course of history, or at least make you smile.

This is what I’m hoping for in the case of Smoothie King. Perhaps my little bundle of words will help that establishment change its course and become a little more eco-friendly.

Below is the letter I will be sending to Smoothie King on Friday, Aug. 12. If you agree with the letter and/or would like to add your two cents please write a comment and I will attach it to the letter I am sending.

August, 07, 2011

Dear Smoothie King,

I love your different smoothie options and how your cold and refreshing fruit combinations provide refuge to summer’s sweltering heat. You are quasi-nutritious and very enjoyable.

I love you, but unfortunately I do not allow myself to indulge in your delicious offerings because of your one resounding flaw; the cups you use for every smoothie are made out of Styrofoam.

Smoothie King, I understand you seek to maximize your profits and you’ve done so by calculating the Styrofoam cups into the cost side of the equation. I challenge you to make a new cost curve with either paper or biodegradable cups. I know for a fact you would receive an increased demand for smoothies, at least at your store in Ballston, Virginia. This is the store I so often dream of stopping into, but won’t allow myself to because of your Styrofoam ways.

Again, I must remind you that I love you, and you offer a commodity that I very much desire, but I cannot allow myself to purchase your smoothies as responsible human being of the 21^st century.

With sincere hope for new cup offerings,

Steven A. Bert

Planet Wisely Editor

P.S. Included is a list of signatures from people who also believe that a Styrofoam cup is an obstacle to true enjoyment for smoothie ingesting.