Loving Gore’s challenge July 18, 2008
Posted by Alien Drums in Environment.Tags: Al Gore, Environment
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“We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change.” — Al Gore, quoted in The New York Times
Mr. Gore is doing our political system a great service. He is standing apart from the campaign battle in order to raise broader issues. His latest challenge is commendable — to move the entire U.S. energy grid to a carbon-free approach in 10 years. Even supporters of the direction question the timetable, but it conveys the urgency of this need for change.
There are two basic challenges–technological and political. I suspect the latter is the bigger.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from The New York Times story that I loved:
Like a modern Jeremiah, Mr. Gore called down thunder to justify the spending of trillions of dollars to remake the American power system, a plan fraught with technological and political challenges that goes far beyond the changes recently debated in Congress and by world leaders.
“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” he said in a midday speech to a friendly crowd of mostly young supporters in Washington. “And even more — if more should be required — the future of human civilization is at stake.”
A death may be occurring September 23, 2006
Posted by Alien Drums in Environment, Uncategorized.Tags: Trees
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Lover of trees that I am, I encountered today what may be the beginning of a death. One of the ancient oaks on our land is no longer rich green; it is a pale green moving toward yellow. This is not a good sign in this year of drought.
Looking from the hill where we live, the neighboring hillsides, which normally are a blanket of green oaks this time of year in Texas, are dotted with the browning leaves of dying oaks. But most of the oaks on our land have avoided this water-starved death, at least until now.
This impending death or possible death comes in the midst of my personal crusade to save the ancient oaks on our land. I spend a great deal of time, possibly too much time, swinging my axe at the base of cedar trees to relieve the land of this water-absourbing parasite of a tree.
One web site calls the cedar the plague of trees. They come into places where they are not native, rapidly spread, and choke out other plants. A mature cedar drinks about 32 gallons of water a day. Unbelieveable.
In a year of drought, that means every cedar is robbing much-needed water from the sturdy hardwood oaks that take so long to grow. As I look at those yellowing leaves, I fear that a 90-year-old life is coming to an end. That’s sad.
I can’t cut down cedar trees fast enough. Pray for rain.
