Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

One of the biggest issues plaguing the political forefront right now is the matter of how our actions have and are effecting the climate. When we first began to mine coal and oil to run engines and create the electricity we now require, no one knew what the consequences would be fifty years down the road. Unfortunately, they weren't good and now the globe is in a bit of a crisis.

While I don't think it's as serious as some people claim, due to the trends of El Nino and La Nina, I do believe that there is a problem, and that we all need to do our little bit to make some changes happen. Some will have to be done at a government level, and others have to be done on a personal level.

The biggest one though is our dependency, in the United States, on oil. More specifically, the fact that our cars run on gasoline that is refined from oil. Right now we are entirely dependent on this product in order to gain transportation anywhere, be it by car or bus, and we are wasting it. The technology and ability to create a more-efficient carburetor and engine is out there, but the US does not use it. I fully believe this is due to the greed of the oil companies, look at how high gas prices went after all! And unfortunately for we, the people, the government has their fingers dipped into oil stocks and would hate to loose money because the profits dropped. And as such, we don't have gas-efficient cars.

The electric car is a novel idea, but for people like myself who live out in the mountains, they're not as wonderful as everyone thinks. It takes a lot more for cars to get up our hills, and we don't have cute little short distances to drive. Everything is generally thirty or more minutes from where we live, and there isn't any public transportation to take you there. So until an electric car is efficient enough to go 300-500 miles a day on one charge, they probably won't be a viable option for some of us.

Another issue with the electric car is the safety of our rescue squads who may have to cut us out of the vehicle in the event of an accident. There needs to be some sort of way to wire it so that those fine young men and women won't get electrocuted trying to save our lives.

Second largest issue with the US, is the fact that we have not signed the Kyoto Agreement. Doing so would put us under the same standards that many other countries have accepted, and would help us to do our part in cleaning up the environment.

On a more individual level, there are many small things that can be done that will contribute best when many are doing it.

If everyone used energy-efficient products it would help cut down on the consumption of electricity, and thus less coal would be burned. It'll also help if people learn how to most efficiently place lights and windows in their homes, so that it takes less energy to light a room. Similarly, turning lights off in rooms you aren't using will save on energy consumption as well.

Recycling what we can will cut back on the removal of trees and other natural resources to make more. Trees are vital to our environment since they scrub the carbon dioxide out of the air we breathe.

Carpooling when possible will cut down on our emissions output, and it will save us all a lot of money!

Businesses that are able to go paperless should, and save on the amount of paper products used each year.

Participation in Earth Hour, where you use no electricity for just one hour, is another really great way to help the environment. It's amazing just how much you can do by going without electricity for one hour of the year!

I think the biggest reason why people don't do things like this though, is because they're always asking "why?", and because they don't think that there is anything wrong with the environment.

What everyone has to realize is that the effects are slow to appear. However, the Earth's attempts to remedy itself aren't hard to see. Sars, Katrina, tsunamis, earth quakes, bird flu, swine flu--you name a pandemic or national disaster, and I'll bet you anything it was created by the earth to try and get rid of the problem it's having.

If we don't learn to take care of what we have, there won't be anything left to take care of tomorrow.

We already have a hole in the ozone layer, shrinking polar caps, and screwed up seasons. What more do we have to see before we start to realize that there is a problem?

Something that fascinates me though, is the fact that our polar caps are shrinking, and sea levels are rising. Looking at that, and then looking at mythology from around the world, it makes me wonder if all the end of the world myths were right--we're going to loose everything to a great flood.

I certainly hope not, and that's why I'm trying to do my part to help keep my Earth clean. Are you?

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

This is why you should be an informed voter!

Let me start this off by saying that this is not meant to be a rant, but it may sound like it in parts. I also want to say that I live in a VERY small town of less than 2,000 people spread out over a lot of land (aka the middle of nowhere in the backwoods), so if anything you have to say in a comment concerns population size, please keep that in mind.

So, with those key points out of the way, let me get into my story.

In my town we have two fire stations, so that everyone is within a five-mile range of a station should their house catch on fire. We're an entirely volunteer system, and have seen a lot of changes over the past few years as management has changed. Ten years ago when my father and a friend of the family were in the department, there were always fundraisers going on, and events organized. Mostly because those two could motivate people and get stuff done. However, my father had to go out on social (means he's a part of the department but cannot respond to calls) because of his knee surgeries, and the friend of the family left because he had put in at least twenty years, and decided it was time to get more new people in. After this however, as more and more of the former generation left, everything went downhill. No one organizes fundraisers anymore, politics get in the way of everything, and certain people keep trying to stay in the upper ranks to control the show and have a power trip, not for the good of the town nor the stations. What's sad is that when the board of commissioners tries to rectify this situation, politics get in again, and nothing really gets fixed.

Over the years our fire stations have gone to waste. Maintenance and repairs haven't been done to keep them up to code, and now we're facing the fact that we can't have trucks that are up to code because they don't fit through the station doors. Someday I will snag some photos of how old these stations are, but the one is looking to be condemned soon it's so bad. No one in town is joking when they say that if you kick it, it might fall over.

Because of the disrepair that these stations are in, over the last five years the commissioners have been working on plans to not only build a new station on the land that the soon-to-be-condemned one is on, but to repair the other one since its not in as bad of shape, but it does need to be brought up to code and made to handle the newer trucks that are coming out. Yesterday evening, as everything is coming to a head, the station went up to vote. Do the townspeople want the new station, or not.

I'm sure many of you remember the Scott Murphey update, when he came and spoke at our station. He spoke there so that he could see the station that the grant was being put in for, and so he could better lobby for us to get state money to fix what we need. We're actually in the running to have the entire station built on state money, and have enough to cover the repairs to the other building as well. Meaning that no taxpayer money would be used on these buildings.

However, politics interfered, and one woman (whose name will not be mentioned, but was a part of the planning party for the new station) made it known to the people that she did not want this station anymore, and told everyone she could that it was going to raise their taxes more than was necessary, and basically just slung mud about the entire thing. It is speculated that the unsigned letter that went out slamming everything that our fire commissioners were trying to do was sent by her, based on the writing style and her animosity, but we are not sure. Either way, because of this, things went downhill. And the whole reason she did this, as far as we are aware, is because she didn't want one of the fire-fighters whom she doesn't care for to get something he wanted--the new station.

What's sad is that the new station got shot down last night, because enough voters didn't go to the informational meetings, of which two were held, to learn about everything that the commissioners were doing, and to learn of the grant. The meetings were well-publicized, but because of the mud-slinging barely anyone showed up for the meetings, and no one could be bothered to become an informed voter.

This is their safety that went up for vote, and because they shot down the new station, if and when the grant is offered, the commissioners now have to turn it down because the people said they don't want the new station. Tax payer money will now have to pay for the repairs to the old station, because it has to be brought up to code, and the second station is going to have to be condemned. However, because it's still property of the fire department, it still has to be maintained, and so it's just a money-hole. The station that is staying is over five miles from my house, and I live on the outskirts of town. It's going to probably be faster for the fire department from the next town over to get to my house than my own town, and so I will hope that my home never catches fire now because there'd be no saving it unless we did it ourselves. And this means that a good portion of people are outside that range, and for some insurance companies, that means their coverage can be dropped.

So all their worrying over taxes being raised is going to come right around to bite them, because by shooting down the new station, the grant must now be denied. The town can't accept the grant for a station that's not going to be built. And this all came about because political games won out instead of information.

It was really sad, too, because I heard that after the votes were counted, one woman who is a part of the town council went up to the president of the commissioners and said "I'm sorry, I voted no." And I'm proud to say our commissioner told her "Don't worry, I have a long memory."

How do I know some of this? My mother has been a commissioner for quite a few years. And I know exactly what was put out at those informational meetings, and I know more things that are going on but can't be said publicly. But on behalf of the townspeople, they are going to try to rectify things, but legally they may not be able to.

If you take this scenario of one small town, and then apply it to the country as a whole, is it any wonder our voting system no longer works properly? People are forced to vote based on political games because that's all our politicians play, and it's difficult to get the information they need to properly vote. Or they vote based entirely on what party they are, and don't even try to look at the information given. The majority of this country doesn't make an informed vote anymore, and that's why things are getting as bad as they are!

Politicians, while corrupt, are only as corrupt as we the people allow them to be!

So the next time you're getting ready to vote, and to exercise your right to do so, remember this one small town who may no longer have proper fire coverage because the people were not informed. And instead of just listening to one side, and to the political games, get out there, get yourself informed, and make a good decision based on the information you learn!

I have no issues with the people who were informed and voted no, they didn't want the station. But I don't think they were the majority, based on the fact that maybe ten people showed up for the informational meetings.

So now I can only hope that things can be rectified in the end, and that karma makes sure all of these people are made aware of the decision that they made.

And I truly hope that each and every one of you who lives in the United States, and who is old enough to vote, takes note of this story and never makes an uninformed vote again.