Holy Apocalypse, Oilman!

Well, it's Green Week at MSU. Not that anyone would know, since it didn't show in The State News this week. Or possibly care, for that matter, folks are already rolling their eyes at the word green.

(Which is interesting. I talked to the organizer of Green Week, an amiable fella named Phil, who said he spoke at length with the campus editor LAST week [it's Thursday now]. She planned on putting it in Tuesday's paper, told Phil it got bumped, and we're still yet to see it. Maybe we'll see it in next week's paper when it's over. Figures. When it's over....)

Anyway, Green Week put on the most disturbing documentary I've ever seen, on Wednesday at Wells Hall.

"A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash" was a devastating shot to humanity - or any humans that have a slight sense of the word humanity.

As the movie pointed out, we're fast approaching, if not already at, the top of Hubbert's Peak (a.k.a. peak oil.)

Humanity's been looking up, ascending the energy mountain for over a hundred years. It's time we start our descent, the film says.

An attorney put it in these terms: in the 1950s, if you told an American that Kennedy would get us on the moon in 10 years, they would have thought you crazy. At this point, fixing the oil crisis would be like telling people in the '50s we'd colonize Pluto in 10 years.

Jesus.

Oil gives life to nearly everything humans do, make and want. It shapes foreign policy, causing wars.

And we Americans are at the heart of it - buying Hummers, consuming 1/4 of the Earth's oil (America is 1/22 of the world's population.), generally not giving a shit as we commute from our suburbs 30 miles to the city.

Hybrid cars, wind power, biomass, corn-based ethanol. They're either a drop in the bucket or an even worse solution. Solar energy was the only realistic solution touched upon, joined with all these other methods, that could replace oil dependence.


I've been an utter downer since watching this movie - considering everything I do from eating to typing up this blog.

Perhaps that was the goal of the film - to get our asses in gear.

Power to the People

Last week I attended a public hearing at the Lansing Center that brought public opinion on the Yellow Dog mining project in Marquette, Mich. to the ears of state policymakers.

No need for background here, see below entry.

The MDEQ remained totally ignorant about the mine’s consequences until a group of scientists presented them with undeniable evidence of its destructive potential.

This is where you can see the Power of the People.

The public hearing in Lansing was overwhelming. I approximated that for every 12 people that spoke against the mine’s construction, there was one supporter.

The public has the opportunity to voice their opinion until Oct. 17, when MDEQ will close off public comment and make a final decision.

From what I saw, these public hearings were a fantastic opportunity to seriously prevent this big business from destroying one of Michigan’s gems.

I know some public hearings are mired in deadlocks between sides. But when public consciousness is obviously right and contradicts the government, journalists have the duty to report democracy in action. This is a hell of a lot more genuine than reading about Washington.

Power to the People.

SAY YAH TO DA YELLOW DOG

Earth’s on its way out when the industrialists have a revival and control the environment’s well-being again.

Oh, MDEQ, what were you thinking??

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality granted a subsidy of a foreign mining company, Kennecott, preliminary permission to mine for sulfide in one of Michigan’s most prized landscapes – the Yellow Dog Watershed in the U.P.

Located about 30 miles northwest of Marquette, Mich., the Yellow Dog Plains are home to immense wilderness and abundant streams, namely the Salmon Trout River, home to the unique Coaster Brook trout.

Just prior to MDEQ granting all-out approval for Kennecott, reports surfaced that MDEQ overlooked many serious environmental hazards posed by the mine. Since the mine would be built beneath the bedrock of the Salmon Trout River, should that rock leak, crack or break open, say goodbye to the river. On top of that, sulfide can be toxic when dissolved in water.

Yep, MDEQ pulled a real boner on that one.

It’s hard to say what Michigan gains from a foreign mining company moving into the remote copper country. So it may add a few jobs. Odds are it’s not bailing this economy out any time soon.

A grassroots movement is happening among Michiganders, and hopefully public sentiment can sway the governor in the other direction from MDEQ’s initial stance.

A public hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday in Lansing where hopefully I’ll get a true taste for public opinion and see who still has their head up their ass.

(Buy Greg Brown's critically acclaimed benefit show for Yellow Dog)

Environmental Journalism

The field seems noble in essence – writing for advocacy and positive change. Yet sometimes it just feels like people don’t give a damn.

Yeah, the environment could use some work, and yeah, I’m against industrial persecution on nature. It seems like millions share this mentality. But what is actually being done about it?

I bring up this topic because I am interested in the field and I find myself questioning my career goals. Will I be contributing to a fad that people outwardly care about but rarely believe in enough to engage in action?

I spent this past weekend in Lake City, Mich. at the Harvest Gathering music festival. But this was no ordinary music festival. It was hosted at the farm of one of the musicians (Seth Bernard) on the Earthwork Music label – a collection of local folk artists that promote environmental consciousness through their music.

I admire these people, and they inspire me immensely, primarily because they can accomplish something in a weekend that most environmental journalists dream to in a career. For instance, by addressing concern for nature between sets and distributing pamphlets, they got hundreds of concert-goers to mail petitions to Governor Granholm protesting sulfide mining at the Yellow Dog Watershed in the U.P.

If only journalists had the ability to invite hundreds of guests to their homes and put on an entertaining display of their work. Instead of reading, the public would be listening. And instead of thinking, the public would be doing.

Is an environmental journalist’s work frivolous in a time where people are so entrenched in their own lives? What separates this type of journalist’s work from most others is that it has to impact whole communities. It seems pointless if only a few people are affected by their work.

So this may be a daunting task for the environmental journalist, but it is necessary. If you ask me, their work is vital and the future depends on it.

This lady's a mess

Earlier this week, an American diplomat and the decorated guy who runs Iraq came back to the states to give Congress a report card on how the war's going.

In some respects, they were college kids flunking their classes and came home to ask mom and pop for more of their money to spend. The problem is, mom and dad are fed up with funding a failing college kid.

Anyway, this is not an allegory on trivial politics.

I did, however, get to see Ann Coulter on Fox News give her commentary following the report.

This is where my day got interesting.

After she claimed Democrats in Congress who grilled Petraeus and Crocker "hated America" and "supported al Qaeda," I immediately became fascinated with this woman.

So I looked up some of her interviews on youTube. First result: Coulter calling 9/11 widows "Jersey Girls," whom their husbands probably would have "divorced anyway."

Either this is badly drawn-out satire, I thought, or this woman is the anti-Christ.

This blog is supposed to be focused on the environment, so naturally I couldn't wait to hear her views on such.

She claims to be very much for Christ as it turns out.

In her column, “Oil good; Dems bad,” stating it is God’s will for humans to “rape the earth,” and “you couldn’t get rid of the environment if you tried,” I was especially struck by this one:

“Fuel is the metric of prosperity, and conservationism is an acknowledgement that we are in decline of prosperity.”

This is the most ungrateful person I’ve ever heard. And I come from the MTV Real World generation.

She’s disrespectful of the very place that burps up her own well-being. If oil was like our incredibly rich brother or sister who regularly gave us money, then Coulter’s view makes it okay to piss on mom’s foot.

It’s funny to me that a bigoted conservative denounces conservation. Shit, there can’t be that much difference in the last two letters.

I suppose this commentary need not be focused solely on Ann Coulter – I’m sure there’s millions who believe we aren’t really putting on a celestial shit show.

But in some sadistic way of my own, I enjoy seeing people like Coulter succeed. So that a few generations down the line, when the oil is squandered and cities are underwater, it will be a general consensus that her and the like were always full of shit.

Call me a swim ringer

When the world ends, us humans won’t be able to tube down those beautiful Michigan rivers anymore.

Some prefer canoeing, some kayaking. I’m for swim ringing.

I found a new hobby this weekend, and not the kind at high speeds behind thunderous boats. I’m talking about just you and the river separated by a few thin layers of plastic. Perhaps in tow is your significant other, perhaps a loaded cooler. Both enhance the trip.

There’s a distinct essence about being on the river – peacefulness, sometimes cleanliness, the life upon the river banks. It’s hard to say.


However, there is a dilemma when it comes to tubing, albeit a minor one. Call it more of a technicality. You see, “tubes” are actually “swim rings” and to engage in “tubing” would make one a “tuber.” But that word’s already been given to a type of underground stem. To be fair, though, most “swim ringers” don’t care much for their own identity when they’re on the river. It’s just not important.

A real dilemma is having to cross a lake to get to the second leg of the river. It happened to us this weekend, and swimming/walking through some muck was the only real solution.

I should mention that the lady and I were about a half hour south of Traverse City, traversing (as it were) the beautiful Platte River. We put in at the Riverside store (your one-stop-shop for all canoeing/kayaking/swim ringing needs) on the Lower Platte, which is roughly a two hour canoe trip. It basically took us all afternoon.

Riverside Canoe Trips. Perfect with a two night’s stay in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.

While my friends in East Lansing tailgated for the football game against Bowling Green, I felt lucky to enjoy one of the season’s last good weekends. There’s the whole autumn to spend chilly Saturday afternoons in a drunken haze with thousands of strangers. As for now, I’ll take my lady, a swim ring and the river.

Swim ringing: it’s safe, affordable and easy on the environment. Let’s keep the beaches clean and hope those rivers don’t dry up.