To Preserve or Plunder?

I was watching the fascinating series by Ken Burns on PBS about the development of our US National Parks.  It is narrated by Peter Coyote and I could listen to him read the back of a cereal box and enjoy it. The documentary offers a lengthy discourse of how Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks were created and shows how John Muir became their staunch defender.

Teddy Roosevelt was also instrumental in the education and awaking to protect our natural resources. The big difference in the two men’s philosophy was that Muir wanted us to leave everything alone and Roosevelt took more of a management line. In my opinion, the management route is the better choice.

I found it sad and in other ways, totally amazing how ignorant the general population was a hundred years ago about preservation and in some ways how little we have learned. Some attitudes a century ago are still with us, albeit subtly different. Mr. Coyote explained how people would come to Yellowstone Park and using a tool, engrave their name in the stones of deposits and it was almost an obsession and difficult to stop.

There were no laws in place to restrict such destruction and finally the US Army was called in to try and police the parks. People just didn’t get it, leaving huge piles of debris wherever they camped and evidence of their passage. There were no Tread Lightly creeds in place and animal life was seen as something to use and destroy at will.

Everything was perceived as inexhaustible and for the pleasure of the individual at that moment. The idea of sustainability wasn’t even in the remotest corner of the average visitor’s mind.  Just to rehash, sustainability is the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance. The near extinction of the American wolf interrupted this natural balance to the point that Yellowstone National Park was dying. It wasn’t until biologists convinced the world that they were essential and after reintroduction, the Park began to grow again.

Who would have thought reducing one species would have this destructive power over an entire area?

Now.  What in the world does all of this have to do with us, right here in mega-Baytown? A whole lot. The reason I say a whole lot is because this same destructive behavior and short-sightedness persists right here in our voting population. Some of us are habitual trash throwers. Everywhere we go, we dump evidence of our passing. I pick up debris and litter like it is a full time job. In April alone, I attended 5 trash bash events including the Adopt a site on Blue Heron Parkway that the SETX Geocachers have adopted. 

With Total Petrochemicals, we picked up enough debris by the Lynchburg Ferry to fill an entire industrial scrap pan and this is done every year. Every year. There are enough alcohol bottles and cans on the side of roads to prove that for every person caught drinking and driving there are probably 25 times that number who are getting away with it. For obvious reasons, they throw it out the window of their vehicles for people like me to pick up. I wish I had a touch-DNA kit and I would turn the evidence over to the cops.

When the subject comes up about creating more sustainable parks and walkways, there are old-world thinkers who gripe and complain that we don’t need them and then turn right around and wonder why so many people are in poor health or overweight. They can’t see the forest because there are no trees in their life. They drive their cars and trucks to point A and back to B and then point out that if they want a nice place to go, they’ll simply drive out of town. This philosophy was presented to me this week.

In so many words it was explained that no matter what we do here, we will always just be a redneck oil town. My immediate thought was “Yup, as long as people like you are here, it surely will be.” We live the life of electricity and gasoline. Remove either and you are on foot. You suddenly get an up close and personal look at the Nature you have conveniently ignored. On top of that you get to meet the people who have resided next to you for the last 10 years.

I don’t want to live in a 1984-ish industrial complex, a slum, ghetto, or a place with cookie cutter tiny unimaginative parks. I also want the option to travel on foot and get a little shoe time instead of always thinking my vehicle is my only way to get around. Our waterways need the same consideration, where fish are edible, beach and coastline is recreational, and families can launch their canoes and kayaks on the creek or bayou and explore nature.

Ray Tallant fishing on the ship channel.

That old philosophy that every berry out there is to be eaten immediately needs to go with the wind. We as citizens have the responsibly to make life here better and we can’t do it without adjusting our way of seeing the possibilities.

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Libya and Anarchy

Watching what is happening in Libya and well, many countries in the Middle East, I can’t help but think of something my dad reported 30 years ago. I’ll get to that in a minute.

My dad was quite knowledgeable about a lot of things and since his naval days at the end of World War 2, he was particularly “up” on the Middle East and Europe. He has worked there also, as a Pipe Super for Brown and Root.

Around 1980, Gaddafi ordered the Gulf of Sidra closed to international traffic - a clear violation of an international agreement and then ordered his military to shoot down a US Boeing EC-135. Be it far from President Jimmy Carter to respond militarily, so Gaddafi became bolder.

In mid 1981, Col. Gaddafi became increasingly hostile towards the United States and this prompted a mass exodus of American workers from the country, my dad included. I remember the incident and the anxiety it caused my family.

It wasn’t long after Ronald Reagan became president that he decided it was time to challenge Gaddafi and this resulted in our navy shooting down 2 Russian made, but Libyan flown Migs over the Gulf of Sidra. We also lost 2 F-111’s over the ocean making their long way back to England, as the French would not let our military fly over their country. I guess it was okay 30+ years earlier for Americans to die on French soil to liberate them though – just stay out now.

Upon returning from Libyan soil, my Dad brought each of us souvenirs, but none of it was made in Libya. The reason for this as he explained, was that no one works in Libya – at least not Libyan citizens. Each citizen gets a cut from the oil profits, so there are no longer Libyan artisans and the country is rich in foreign workers from Sri Lanka, China, The Philippines, etc.

Now, due to the attempted eviction of Muammar al-Gaddafi, there is a mass exodus of foreign workers and when I say mass, I mean tens of thousands. My question is this: Who will do the work, since as my dad told me back in 1981 “When the oil is gone, there will be no one with remembered or learned skills and the foreign workers will all leave”.

I'm wondering if Libya will recover from this disruption even if they succeed in ousting their tyrant.
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Pelly Park on Main Street Pump Jack

I was in Pelly Park on Main Street the other day and there is a derelict pump jack in this park that I suspect is a safety hazard. It is partially dismantled, the fence is down and I am assuming it would be a magnet for an accident. What can be done to get this thing removed and who is the responsible party?

I have no idea how this pump jack could have missed the attention of our city councilman and staff.  I have appealed to City Councilman Scott Sheley and the city officials for rectification.

First reply:
Bert, Thanks for raising the concern. This oil field equipment which is on private property falls under primary regulation by the Texas Railroad Commission. Oil field regulations are coordinated by Fire Marshal Bernard Olive. We have asked Chief Olive to check the site and coordinate with the RRC to get it properly secured or preferably removed and cleaned up. We have also involved our Health Department from a care-of-premises/safety perspective. We will keep you apprised of our progress.  Thanks again.

Bob Leiper
Deputy City Manager
City of Baytown, TX

Second reply:
Bert thanks for reporting this to us, citizens like yourself help us catch things like this. I take pride in my district and OUR wonderful community. It's people like you who care though that report things that make it happen that much faster. Your closing line is harsh Bert and I want you to know that I can't see and do all things but when citizens help me I welcome their help and usually get it reported immediately, thanks for the concern about the safety issue.
Scott Sheley
Councilman District 2

Innovation and the American Spirit

Innovation and the American Spirit

I am very optimistic about the future of America. I think there are exciting times in innovation and invention ahead of us. However, our present problems and struggle for prosperity may be on the shelf sooner than we realize, as the price of maintaining this lavish lifestyle languishes in the doldrums, but let's look at our past to see the possibilities of our future.

As I've said many times before, we diverse and resilient Americans blindly box ourselves into a corner and after we've had our collective heads pummeled into mush, we suddenly awaken and come out swinging and that is exactly what I see happening and in our future. We truly are the champions of the world, but we are going down folks and the way back to the top will be difficult and full of challenges.

We are used to being on top – on top of everything and we refuse to acknowledge our pinnacle position is precarious at best and all but gone at worst. We see ourselves as the creme de la crème of fancy spring waters and everyone else is just white generic cans marked "Cola". Tough love; this is the way we roll - world.

We unashamedly see ourselves as better than the rest of the world because we are Americans and we have the strength of our ethnic and cultural diversity, freedom, privilege, democracy and lots of guns. We are unstoppable and arrogant, but hey – when you got it – flaunt it, right? It's our way or the highway and the way we prove we believe this to the world, is by borrowing, spending and accumulating cool recreational stuff. We alone get in our personal (usually multiple occupancy) transportation vehicle weighing 3 to 5000 pounds and go wherever we wish, whenever we wish and damn the torpedoes. We got it all, baby.

We are users/consumers first and since we are all about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it's perfectly okay to keep using, consuming and dumping. We are defined by what we eat, read, watch and where we spend our quality time and folks, to the rest of the world we can be summed up in one word: gluttons. We are first and foremost in the global game of life and a man's worth is measured by how many barns he has stuff stored in…and we like it that way. I too am an American and all of this describes me to a certain degree, as sad as that may be.

Now, let's take a look at the future of our country and each and every one of us fortunate enough to be a part of the solution and a self-imposed successful change.

I see a cultural paradigm shift on the horizon. A paradigm is nothing more than a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

I see a general mentality adjustment or movement in our future where Americans will lead the rest of the world in doing things the right way and have our precious righteous fun also. Imagine a new America where efficiency in personal transportation becomes "cooler or hipper" than how much horsepower your vehicle delivers to the drive train or where the general population delights in Zen-like recycling - because they want to, not because it's forced on us. It's what we will do because we are Americans.

Organic vegetable gardening becomes the rage and folks forsake conventional lawn maintenance for xeriscaping. Endless trips to the supermarket will be reduced in lieu of fresh homegrown veggies. New homes will be built with functionality in mind instead of past aesthetics and the quality of life in America in general will be about its timbre, not bulk quantity, size, speed or accumulation. Can you imagine how wonderful this would be?

Capitalistic entrepreneurs whose vision is not confined to fossil fuel-based propulsion systems will best solve the current energy problem by inventing and investing in alternative ways to travel. In other words, who says we have to continue using Henry Ford's antiquated internal combustion engine to get from point A to point B? Loose the creative dogs of efficiency on America and let them market solutions that make a real difference. The Smart car is one such new option that challenges convention.

Drilling for oil so we can keep consuming like there is no tomorrow should be given the green light – but, we should also jump head first into alternate methods of transportation, because there will be a tomorrow. Finding alternative fuels to keep burning our hydrocarbon-hungry engines is still the old school way of looking at the problem. We need exciting and creative solutions to free ourselves of the dependency on this mode of conveyance.

In the future, we Americans must demand better quality and efficiency by making wiser purchases. Who says we have to settle for what is offered? I say boycott junk and encourage good quality by smart purchasing and with that said we have to do our share to make this a better country too.

We foolishly have empowered greedy corporations and encouraged inefficient outdated technology and shoddy workmanship on everything from deplorably slow high-speed Internet/cable service to only having the choice to buy about five of the nine hundred plus varieties of bananas grown globally. We've bought $40,000 four-seat chunks of metal and plastic with miserable MPG and warranties and we almost felt blessed to own it. Why? Regardless of how much a dealer cuts off the buying price, for most of us this mode of transportation is too fuel-costly to maintain and some fat cat, our money in his pocket, leans back and blows Cuban cigar smoke through his toothy grin.

As my Pastor of many years, L.S. Marcus used to say, I said all that to say this: We Americans will be the only obstacle to change and ultimately - survival. We are our own worst enemy…or friend.

Do You Hate Gas Prices? Blame Yourself

It seems that nothing can stop the galloping gas prices. Blame the stubborn Congress that refuses to allow the drilling in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Alaska. Blame the vicious Arabs who keep the price at an artificially high level by greedily stocking their resources in their own countries. But first and foremost blame yourself.

If we are to believe the latest news, Brazil may soon become one of the world leading oil exporters. In April, the Associated Press informed that researchers had found an underground deposit of some 33 billion barrels of oil, three times as much as the country had possessed until then. Only last year, a national company discovered some 8 billion barrels in another location hidden deeply under the seabed. Unlike Arab states, Brazil plans to export most of the oil in order to hold down the skyrocketing gas prices.

It would be a mistake, however, to hope that we will again pay $2 per gallon. Financial experts predict that unless the world major oil exporters significantly increase their production, gas prices will not tumble or even stabilize. Short-term solutions such as the proposed drilling in the Gulf of Alaska or the suspension of federal gas tax will not help. If anything, they could only enrage consumers when after several months of relative improvement at gas stations they will have to pay more when the additional resources have been digested.

The painful truth is that we, consumers, are to blame for the present $4 per gallon. We drive more than our grandparents and even if contemporary cars burn less gas than a couple of decades ago, the difference is still too thin to compensate the shortages of oil on the world market. Moreover, Americans now have to compete with consumers from China, India, and other fast developing countries that we could hardly find on the map twenty years ago. It is easy to imagine what may happen to the world market when one billion people in China scrap their primitive bicycles and roll into the narrow roads with their new, big cars.

Some thought that biofuels would save us from bankruptcy. Enriched with plant extracts, biofuels were to make cars not only environmentally friendly, but also cheaper in maintenance as more plants meant less oil. But what looked like a miraculous solution now turns into disaster with much of Africa and Asia starving. Farmers quickly smelled that growing biofuel plants was very profitable and soon large paddies of rice gave way to the fields of linen and algae. The fact that millions of people have nothing to eat derives from the green policies of the European Union and United States.

With all its political and military might, the United States seems hopeless when it comes to controlling gas prices. With most of its gas reserves used up, the world sole superpower depends heavily on such unpredictable countries as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iran. The oil crisis from the late 1970s was a painful lesson but it hasn't taught us anything. We are more oil hungry than ever.

Krzys Wasilewski is a NewsBlaze journalist, particularly interested in history and literature that expands his love of travel and historical curiosity. If you have any comments or suggestions, please write to: krzys.wasilewski@yahoo.com.