Initiative 933: The Man Behind the Curtain - #15
Note: This is part of a series.
Supporters of Initiative 933 in Washington recently submitted signatures--easily enough to qualify for the ballot in November. Coverage here, here, and just about everywhere.
Both Seattle dailies had decent coverage and both pointed out something unusual about I-933. It's financed (and orchestrated) by a shadowy out-of-state group that's pushing its agenda in a dozen states.
Sweet Spots
Ed Abbey: writer, preacher, curmudgeon. Orion magazine has just published some of his previously unreleased letters. My favorite is one to an elected official ("Why, Senator Moss, why, I ask you, do you believe that 'more' is the same as 'better'?"). These missives offer some mischief and inspiration for those battling on the front lines of defining sustainability.
This reminds me of a vacation I took a few years back in Moab, Utah, the setting for his masterpiece, Desert Solitaire. Actually, my fondest memory of that trip is not the rare rainy day in Arches or backpacking along slick rock trails in Canyonlands, or even exploring Zion Narrows. It's the ice cream.
When I visited the Living Rivers (then Glen Canyon Action Network) shop
in downtown Moab, I witnessed one of the best organizing tactics I've
seen. Hot and hungry tourists, weary from the Utah canyonlands, come
across the shop and perk up with a scoop of ice cream (The flavors are references to the local geography and Abbey's canon. I had "Abbey's Rocky Road"). While they're
reviving, they look at newspaper articles and posters decorating the
shop--"What's this about 1% to the Colorado Delta?"
"Well,
let me tell you," the organizer/ice cream vendor says ... voila, a
captive and content audience finishing a delicious cone! Sure beats going door to door.
I
watched a guy from LA make the connection between the depletion of the
Colorado and the kitchen sink in his home. He signed up for their list.
And that was in April, a cool and rainy period for the Utah desert.
Imagine the possibilities in August, and during family vacations!
Moral: Ice cream and organizing mix, even in damp Cascadia.
P.S. The definitive text on water in the West: Rivers of Empire.
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Efficiency vs. Biomass Smackdown
An interesting contrast.
The NW Current is reporting that, even with rising prices for fossil fuels, biomass electricity projects--using, say, wood waste or sewage solids--are having trouble penciling out. Between capital and fuel costs, it's still cheaper to generate electricity from fossil fuels than from biomass.
Meanwhile, energy-efficiency programs are wildly successful, oversubscribed -- and in Oregon, cost about 1.3 cents per kilowatt hour saved, which is a massive bargain. Says Energy Trust's executive director, Margie Harris:
“Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective resource — half the cost of new generation...There’s more to be acquired if it were the wish of the Oregon Legislature for us to go after it.”
True 'nuff.
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I'm On Fire
A number of major papers are reporting on a new study linking the increase in forest fires to climate change. (The Sacramento Bee actually broke this story yesterday.) The Los Angeles Times offers the best summary of the findings.
This comes on the heels of another finding in the seemingly endless series of numbingly grim global-warming reports: Climate change is making our oceans more acidic, which the Washington Post called "one of the most pressing environmental threats facing Earth."
In Cascadia, The Tyee runs a thoughtful essay by a resident of Tumbler Ridge, B.C. The author was forced to evacuate his home this week as a wildfire came close to closing off the last road out of this Interior town. Interestingly, locals pulled out lawn chairs to sit and watch the fire for entertainment. This reminds me of the Washingtonians who packed picnics to watch the Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War. Does that make Al Gore the new Abe Lincoln?
