Part II of a video from the Everett Tzedek Social Action Project, which completed a four part project on environmental sustainability at the University of Kansas during spring semester 2007.
KU students and the Lawrence community, and some of their thoughts about climate change and a more sustainable lifestyle.
Thanks to Ben Morgan, super-intern, for the video!
Multimedia: KU students try to take on global warming
August 4, 2008
Thanks to CEP super-intern Ben Morgan, we have a host of climate and energy related videos to share. Try this one - Evening of Green - Part I of a two part series.
It was completed by the Everett Tzedek Social Action Project as part of a environmental sustainability project at the University of Kansas during spring semester 2007.
Part II coming your way tomorrow.
News Updates: Saline county zoned for small wind, McCain on climate policy, rising electric rates
May 14, 2008
Saline County zoning to allow home wind energy systems. The county commission unanimously approved the proposal (Salina Journal). Quotable from a supporter of the measure:
“I’m getting older, and someday I might not be able to cut firewood,” Nelson told commissioners Craig Stephenson, Sherri Barragree and Randy Duncan. “Even though I won’t pay for this in my lifetime, (wind energy) is still something I can utilize to reduce my utility bills, and then pass it on to somebody else.”
McCain makes big climate speech. As widely reported, presidential candidate John McCain recently unveiled his climate policies (Reuters, also see Grist). Quotable:
“”Whether we call it ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming,’ in the end we’re all left with the same set of facts. The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington. Good stewardship, prudence, and simple common sense demand that we act to meet the challenge, and act quickly. I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges.”
His policies would include working with China and India to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a cap and trade system.
“Those who want clean coal technology, more wind and solar, nuclear power, biomass and bio-fuels will have their opportunity through a new market that rewards those and other innovations in clean energy,” he said.
Environmental groups had a range of responses to McCain’s proposals (were they all listening to the same speech…? One wonders) but the one I found most interesting came from Republicans for Environmental Protection.
“It’s really refreshing to have a Republican nominee that truly understands climate change and the need to act, and is really pressing for that,” said David Jenkins, government affairs director for the group. “We’ve been dealing with eight years of a president who has not felt the need to press on this issue.”
Jenkins said he was impressed by McCain’s emphasis on “building the infrastructure for a non-carbon energy future” — expanding development of wind, solar, plug-in hybrids, and biofuels. He also praised the speech as a sign that the Republican Party is coming up to speed on science and public opinion, while returning to traditional conservative values that place an importance on environmental preservation.
“I don’t think we’ve had a nominee since Teddy Roosevelt who truly understands that stewardship is supposed to be inherent to conservatism,” said Jenkins. “Hopefully it will help the rest of our party leaders get more in sync with where rank-and-file Republican voters are on this issue, and where Americans are in general.”
KCPLs rates to be forced up by increasing construction costs of new coal-fired plant. As we learned at great length in the recent Kansas coal controversy, construction costs of all energy sources are rising recently due to the current commodity bubble (especially for copper, steel, and cement). Coal plant costs across the nation have risen nearly 30% from their original estimates. (Wind turbine costs have risen as well, actually.)
The KCStar covers how this recent trend has affected KCPL. To add to the Star’s coverage, electricity rates across the nation are actually expected to double over the next few decades. (This projection was made by a Morgan Stanley presenter at a joint House and Senate Energy and Utilities committee meeting this spring.) Not only are regular construction and operations and maintenance costs increasing, but carbon regulation will affect rates as well.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Cost increases announced for new KCPL coal-fired plant. As a result of the rising construction costs for Iatan 2, customer bills are expected to increase up to 27%. From CNN/ Money:
Kansas City Power & Light now expects its Iatan 2 power plant near Weston to cost almost $2 billion, a 15 percent increase from two years ago and 47 percent higher than the original $1.3 billion price tag.
The utility, owned by Great Plains Energy Inc., has since increased the size of the 850-megawatt plant, which has generated some of the surge in cost. It also said it’s having to deal with rapid inflation of material and labor costs affecting most of the construction industry
Re-caps of the legislative session. This KCStar headline could have described a typical recent Kansas City Royals season… but no, they were talking about the 2008 legislature - “Small victories, big failures.” (The same article plus a helpful sidebar summary is available at the Eagle as well.)
How did legislators and various other policymakers evaluate the session? Quotables:
“Major progress on a number of fronts,” said House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, an Ingalls Republican.
“Probably the most difficult session in my years as governor,” Sebelius said. “Because there was an attitude of ultimatum.”
“The governor stood in the way,” said Sen. Tim Huelskamp, a Fowler Republican.
“A downhill conversation,” said Marcia Nielsen, director of the state’s Health Policy Authority.
“Hijacked by coal,” said Rep. Pat Colloton, a Leawood Republican.
“A train wreck waiting to happen,” said Rep. Candy Ruff, a Leavenworth Democrat.
The article is a nice re-cap of the legislation that did and did not pass. I’d like to add to the list the anti-stalking bill (I think that passed), the Amanda Bixby bill (which strengthens drunk/ impaired driving laws), the strengthening of the conceal-carry legislation (which in my opinion was pretty strong already), and I am very interested in an addendum to the KS constitution - a right to hunt and fish.
The case law that grows out of that last one should be fascinating. I have high hopes.
Creation care leader Richard Cizik named among Time magazine’s top 100 influential people. In particular, evangelical minister Cizik was recognized for his ability to work with the scientific community (Christian Post). Quotable:
“Science without religion loses its ethical guide, and religion without science lacks the means and resources to understand the world. Science enables us to better understand what creation is telling us about itself and its Maker,” Cizik said in a statement Friday. “This is an approach to the environment that draws on our mutual strengths.”
Random funny thought(s). If we all could just get along a little better… could our politicians then get along better, work faster and more efficiently during legislative sessions, and thus save taxpayer dollars…?
hey. it’s a theory.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Last night, the Senate voted to pass the new coal bill, packaged as an economic development package.
On this coal vote, though - one senator counted it as the eighth - the alignment of Senate votes has changed. 24 voted for it, compared to the 33 that have consistently voted for the coal plants in the past. 10 voted against it, compared to the 7 in earlier votes. Six did not vote.
The three senators who changed to vote AGAINST the coal plants - Hayley, Reitz and Vratil - did so on the same basis: They thought the bundling of the coal bill plus the economic development initiatives was unconstitutional under the KS constitution (check article 2, section 16).
Senate Minority Leader Hensley filed an official protest against the bill, also on those grounds. Senator Francisco joined him.
Senate votes for the new coal bill (unofficial tally, check the count later):
YES: Allen, Barnett, Barone, Brownlee, Donovan, Gilstrap, Goodwin, Lee, Lynn, Huelskamp, Jordan, Journey, Teichman, Umbarger, Schmidt, Schmidt, Wagle, Wilson, McGinn, Morris, Ostmeyer, Peterson, Pine, Pyle
NO: Betts, Brungardt, Francisco, Haley, Hensley, Kelly, Schodorf, Vratil, Wysong, Reitz
What happened in the House? As far as the new coal bill, nothing. What did happen was that the nuclear bill, SB 586, was apparently resurrected to the point of going into conference committee.
If you followed along with the live blogging yesterday, you may have noted that Senator Reitz (sponsor of the nuclear bill) switched his vote from pro-coal plant to anti. He also spoke strongly about how upset he was that there had been no action on his bill.
The nuclear bill, again, would allow utilities to pass on to ratepayers the reasonable and prudent costs of developing nuclear power (no one quite knows what those would be - nuclear is mega-expensive). However, it also had language on energy efficiency and decoupling in there (the KCPL bill). KCPL testified as neutral on the coal bill. Their language got dumped in committee.
Other language got added - I can’t remember if I have mentioned this before, but there has been talk of establishing an interim session (when legislators meet, during the off season) Joint Committee on Energy and Environment (joint, meaning members from both chambers).
That provision had passed the Senate, but had gotten held up in the House (SB 692, I think). Now this language seems to be in the nuclear bill, but with a caveat that if 2412, the third coal bill, goes through (recall, it has a giant commission on science and technology and energy in there) then the Joint Committee doesn’t go into effect.
If 2412 doesn’t pass, and the nuclear bill does, then we will evidently have a joint committee.
Whoa. Followers of Kansas energy politics are probably saying WHY DO WE NEED MORE COMMITTEES ON ENERGY POLICY? Aren’t there enough already…?
Possible answer - look at who those committees answer to. The Governor. They are all under the executive branch. However, the new Joint Committee (and/or the Commission) would be legislative.
I have no predictions for what will happen today.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: China and wind, reprocessing fuel rods from nuclear plants, biofuels and the food crisis, etc.
April 29, 2008
China setting bonkers targets with wind. (Yes - bonkers is a technical term.) From the WSJ Env Capital blog, China is raising its wind power goal from 30 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts by 2020. How much is 100 gigawatts? The equivalent of 100 nuclear plants, or more generation capacity than in all of France.
What does this mean for Midwesterners? (1) For those purchasing wind turbines, you now will have even more international competition, and (2) for those producing wind turbines, you will have more markets.
Don’t forget the nukes. During this recent legislative session, even Kansas experienced a resurgence in the nuclear debate - one that would have gotten a lot more attention if it hadn’t had to compete with coal.
During the nuclear discussions that did occur, reprocessing spent fuel rods got a lot of attention. Good idea? Bad idea? Impossible? Too expensive to even contemplate? A gimme to terrorists who can use the resulting plutonium for dirty bombs? A great way to let future generations and technology solve the spent fuel and radioactive waste issue?
Opinions differed. Also from the WSJ Environmental Capital blog, more research on the topic.
Biofuels and the food crisis. A combination of factors has led to the current world food crisis - according to one measure, “market prices of cereals, dairy produce, meat, sugar and oils, was 57 percent higher in March 2008 than a year earlier” - and the recent explosion of corn-based biofuels is part of the problem (Reuters). Another part of the problem is higher fuel prices. Without fuel, farmers can’t farm as much acreage, so they grow less.
The situation: High demand - populations in the developing world are even growing. Limited supply - there’s less food to feed them. Result - food prices increase, and many people go hungry.
When people are hungry, they often riot. At the very least, they’re not very happy with their governments. Unhappy populations experience high incidences of civil unrest. Civil unrest contributes to international upheaval, even terrorism.
Biofuels originally promised to increase the energy security of the United States. Instead, they have become caught up in a cycle that is undermining it. How do alternative fuels disentangle themselves from this cycle? How much can we safely mix our sources of food and fuel?
TBD.
Anglican minister on climate change. Via NPR. Quotable: “It is not about, if we pray hard enough to God, he will end climate change. Yes, we should pray to God. We should also get off our backsides, get out there, and do something about it.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: Interesting energy approaches in western KS, how they do it in Colorado, Cizik speaks on creation care and the Pope
April 28, 2008
Innovative approaches to power in western Kansas. Goodland Energy Resources not only got its permit for its 22 MW coal-fired power plant renewed by KDHE - but it also updated its capacity (Hays Daily News).
Located 5 miles west of Goodland, the plant sits with an ethanol plant also under construction. Steam from the coal plant would be supplied to the ethanol plant to aid in its manufacturing process.
Although the plant has had its air permit for burning of coal for some time now, the plant’s owners went back and asked for permission to modify its permit so it could burn other waste products, including tire chips and municipal waste.
That option, according to a release from EHL, would allow for emissions credits — “an asset with significant future value.”
Under terms of the permit, emissions of carbon dioxide would be limited to 270,000 tons a year, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesman Joe Blubaugh. Other pollutants, he said, all are limited to less than 100 tons per year…
… (A spokesperson said that) the company went back in and asked to modify its permit, seeking permission to burn other products, such as sunflower hulls — presumably from the ADM sunflower processing plant a few hundred yards to the south — along with wood, tire chips and municipal waste.
“That’s a new technology coming on in power plants,” Sederstrom said. “It might not be something we do right away.”
But it’s a possibility.
Colorado has some minor energy drama of its own. Readers of this blog know that I have a touch of Colorado-envy. In terms of getting productive energy policies on the books - and renewable technologies on the ground - they have a really great track record.
As happens, though, there has been a little pushback. As the Telluride Watch reports, there are currently 18 renewable energy bills fighting their way thru the Colorado legislature. One of the more controversial measures broadens the scope of the state’s Public Utilities Commission (in Kansas, we call our equivalent the Kansas Corporation Commission, or KCC) by allowing it to consider renewables in rate cases.
Opponents argue that this means the PUC will privilege electricity generated from renewables over that from traditional fossil fuels, and also that the PUC has no business worrying about the environment.
Other Coloradoans seems to think energy and environment are VERY related - there are also plans for a ballot measure that would prevent not only the construction of new coal-fired power plants in Colorado, but also importing coal-fired power from states like Kansas or Wyoming (Rocky Mtn. News).
Rev. Cizik speaks on the Pope’s visit. Reverend Richard Cizik, a leader in the evangelical vision (I first typed “incarnation” - whoops!) of creation care, recently spoke to the Christian Post regarding the Pope’s recent visit to the U.S.
According to the Post, “the pope during his U.N. speech last week argued that environmental protection is a moral obligation, and urged global leaders to do more to preserve God’s creation.”
In Cizik’s words: “Pope Benedict’s statement about ‘rediscovering the authentic image of creation’ are helpful and reflect our own evangelical ‘creation care’ movement’s effort to take responsibility for the world that God created and love.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Pope Benedict traveled to the U.S. last week for his first official visit. He spoke at the United Nations (New York Times) (the text of his address is available at that link).
His comments ranged widely. In essence he argued that human rights - guarantees of justice and equality - are essential to the common good, and that both politics and religion offer ways to secure these rights for all peoples.
His words also contained points of interest for conversations on climate and energy. For example, the Pope called attention to a general problem in international politics - that consensus “continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a small number, while the world’s problems require from the international community that it act on a common basis.” He continued:
Indeed, questions of security, the development goals, the reduction of inequalities, both locally and globally, the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require that all international leaders act together and show a readiness to work in good faith, in respect of the rule of law, to promote solidarity in the most fragile regions of the planet.
These remarks take place against the background of international conflict over a proposed treaty that would establish targets for greenhouse gas reductions. The United States has been one of a small yet powerful number of nations who have resisted such targets. One of the Bush’s administration’s concerns has been the economic costs of carbon regulation.
The Pope’s remarks offered another general perspective on how regulations impact the common good. Rather than economic costs, he is worried more about the human costs of not acting, on whatever the issue may be.
These regulations do not limit freedom. On the contrary, they promote it when they prohibit behavior and actions which work against the common good, curb its effective exercise and hence compromise the dignity of every human being.
In the name of liberty, there has to be a correlation between rights and responsibilities, on the basis of which every individual is called to shoulder responsibility for his or her choices, while taking into account relations with other people.
Previously, few of us have probably thought of our society’s development of science and technology as something for which we bear individual responsibility, let alone about how it impacts our relations with other people.
But as the Pope pointed out - if these developments compromise creation, then they definitely affect spiritual and community life as well:
Here our thoughts turn also to the way the results of scientific research and technological advances have sometimes been used. While recognizing the immense benefits that humanity can draw from them, some of the uses constitute a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity.
Likewise, international action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation.
This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics: rather it is a question of adopting a scientific method that is truly respectful of ethical imperatives.
The Pope’s words raise the question: When it comes to climate and energy issues, can the larger community of nations achieve this vision?
If so, then to some extent they will have to transcend the limited confines of the current debate. Protecting sovereignty is one thing. Acting nationalistically against the common good of the international community is another.
The Pope phrased this broader tension a bit differently.
The action of the international community and of its institutions… should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty.
On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Posting this CEP Conversation during the week of Earth Day seemed like a good fit. All too often, we think of the environment in terms of an immediate, looming crisis.
While environmental concerns are indeed major - and many require action sooner rather than later - sometimes it also helps to take a longer view. This perspective can make it easier to appreciate the larger meaning of the earth, and creation.
Renowned environmental historian Donald Worster recently sat down for an interview with CEP. He spoke of the environmental history of the Great Plains – its volatile weather and climate, history of water use, agricultural development, and the risks of climate change in this unpredictable realm of the natural world.
He also discusses how fossil fuel usage began during the industrialized era, and visions for a future that makes better use of renewable energies.
Dr. Worster is also a Kansan. His parents were from Reno County. They moved to California during the World War II era (which is where he was born) but they soon moved back. Dr. Worster was raised in Reno County and still has family who farms in the area.
For a .pdf download of this interview, please click here.
*****************
Maril Hazlett, CEP: Why don’t you start out by telling us a little about yourself, and how you got involved with environmental history.
Donald Worster: Well, I was raised along the banks of Cow Creek in Reno County. There are a lot of good people out there. I also grew up deeply impressed by the landscape. Some people find it monotonous or uninteresting, but I grew up with a prairie sense of sky, land, climate… the big broad rivers rippling through…
This all mattered a lot to me. All the seasons of Kansas, the wildlife and bird life, the weather patterns and so on. These always were very much part of my awareness.
When I became a historian I got very tired of simply reading about politics, theology, etc… It all seemed like such an urban view of history.
MH: I noticed that, too, when I went to school. Back East is a very urban perspective.
DW: During the late sixties, I was a graduate student at Yale. The rise of the modern environmental movement very much influenced me – writers like Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Barry Commoner, Paul Ehrlich. Earth Day 1970.
I ended up combining my own background with all these new environmental ideas. What emerged for myself, and several others, was a new discipline called environmental history.
Environmental history looks at how human societies, at all scales, are related to the natural world. And we don’t define the “natural world” as the countryside alone. It includes all kinds of things that come under the category of the creation - the world that humans didn’t make - including plants, animals, micro-organisms, weather patterns, climate patterns, etc.
So we have really invented a new field of history. Sometimes it sounds a bit like agriculture, sometimes a bit like geography. It also has a lot of science in it. It studies how people have thought and felt about their relationships to the natural world - what they wanted in the way of living, what they wanted emotionally from the world around them, economically, all of that.
As an historian, I bring humans and nature together by crossing the lines of other academic disciplines. Environmental history can be carried out anywhere on the face of the earth, but to me the best places to study all this is right here at home, on the Great Plains.
MH: What in particular makes you say that?
Earth Day Sermons
April 20, 2008
Earth Day is April 22. CEP has had a fantastic download rate of our Earth Day Kit, which is designed to help local Kansas communities add information about climate and energy to their own local Earth Day events.
Add this to the list - a collection of Earth Day sermons, from creation care advocates and leaders of faith communities all over the map.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Free, easy, online Earth Day Kit - download materials for your own community’s celebration
April 14, 2008
For your community’s Earth Day celebration, do you need information on climate and energy? CEP offers several handouts that can help.
To download the following, you will need Adobe Reader.
Go on a carbon diet - Lose a Ton! GREAT FOR KIDS!
Questions about CFL lightbulbs and Mercury
FAQs about the Kansas Coal Controversy
Find out for Yourself! Helpful Websites and Resources
Renowned Religious Leaders on climate change
Renowned Scientific Organization on climate change
REMEMBER - there are many experts in your community who can also help discuss these topics at Earth Day events.
Leaders of local faith communities. Many faith traditions have a long history of considering how humans interact with the natural world.
Extension agents. Your local extension agent has access to many earth-friendly resources, from energy saving tips, to help with soil and water conservation.
Master Gardeners. Gardeners are familiar with the earth on a very basic level, from soil quality to insect cycles. They can also suggest easy projects that you and your family can do at home.
HVAC experts and contractors. We use enormous amounts of energy to heat and cool our homes. Weatherizing and insulating can make a big difference to saving energy and saving money, too. These hands-on experts can help explain your options.
Mechanics. Ask a local mechanic to give tips on maintaining and driving your vehicles for better fuel efficiency.
Outdoorsmen, birdwatchers, and wildlife management professionals. These folks all spend a lot of time outdoors, carefully watching the environment.
Science teachers. From grade schools to community colleges, science teachers are an important community resource.
Legislators. After this last legislative session especially, your state legislators have heard a great deal about energy policy in Kansas. Invite them to your event and ask plenty of questions about current events - they are on break during April.
If you have any questions or if we can help, please just let us know! For a list of Earth Day events where CEP will appear, please check here.
— Eileen Horn and Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
In the words of the Evangelical Environmental Network (ENN) - What Would Jesus Drive?
Good question! And a great conversation starter. ENN is one of the many groups now exploring the links between faith and environment (check CEP’s handout for others). ENN has declared their moral obligation to reduce global warming pollution, and taken a pledge to do so by making smart transportation choices.
All across the U.S., religious communities are speaking out about the care of creation. In particular, they are addressing the climate crisis, and its potentially severe environmental, social, moral, economic and spiritual consequences. These groups have begun to speak out about stewardship, and the moral imperative to care for the world’s poor and vulnerable who will be most adversely affected by climate change.
At the Climate and Energy Project, these are the kind of conversations we like to help get started. Partnering with faith groups provides a great opportunity for CEP to do what we love best: Fostering creative and respectful conversations about climate change among concerned Kansans.
CEP’s newest outreach program, a Kansas chapter of Interfaith Power and Light, aims to connect Kansans with the information and tools necessary to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their places of worship. By providing low-cost energy audits for congregations, partnerships with energy performance contractors, monitoring of GHG reductions achieved, and educational outreach to individual members, CEP hopes to both reduce total GHG emissions from congregations and allow Kansans an opportunity to put their faith into action.
To launch the Kansas Chapter, CEP is working with Kansas and Missouri-based interfaith environmental groups and the national chapter of Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), a nationwide campaign to mobilize a religious response to climate change.
With 26 states and 4,000 congregations already participating, Interfaith Power and Light has helped congregations and individuals reduce their carbon footprint through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and conservation. Some of our favorite successful programs are the California Interfaith Power and Light Program and the Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, which have reduced CO2 emissions in their congregations by 20 million pounds.
Envisioning and planning the Kansas IPL has been inspiring! We’ve met some great local faith groups who are working to foster individual and collective action on climate change. The Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition in Kansas City, MO, is an interfaith coalition which advocates sustainable living and ecological justice for all creation. We’ve also met with the Trinity Environmental Stewardship Team in Lawrence, St. Andrew’s Group for Ecology in Overland Park, and the Grassroots Environmental Action Team in Pawnee Rock. All are working on raising awareness of climate change issues in their congregations!
Concerns about creation are not limited to religious communities. In all of CEP’s conversations with Kansans about climate change, many tell us that they’ve switched to a low-carbon lifestyle because, “it’s the right thing to do” or because they believe that prudence and “not wasting what we’ve been given” is an important moral value.
Creating a Kansas chapter of Interfaith Power and Light will require input from people from all faith backgrounds, and from all parts of the state. Please consider talking with your faith leader and members of your congregation about the moral responsibility of addressing climate change.
We can do this. Let’s put our faith into action on climate change.
For more information, or to become one of the inaugural Kansas IPL congregations, please contact:
Eileen Horn, horn@climateandenergy.org
— Eileen Horn, www.climateandenergy.org
More links of interest:
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
Evangelical Climate Initiative
Eco-Justice Ministries
CEP’s Interview with pastor Thad Holcomb on the interfaith nature of creation care
(Posted in time for Easter - MH)
Thad Holcomb, a native of rural Oklahoma, has run the Ecumenical Christian Ministries (ECM) at the University of Kansas for decades. In 2005, ECM won the Campus Ministry of the Year award for the South Central Region, by the National Campus Ministry Association.
Thad has long been interested in the issue of religion and the environment. He was raised Presbyterian and attended seminary at San Francisco Theological. He holds degrees in biblical studies and social ethics, as well as in clinical psychology and theology.
Maril Hazlett, CEP: Why don’t you start out by telling us a little about yourself, and how you got interested in these issues.
Thad Holcomb: I was brought up in rural Oklahoma - the cross-timber area of north-central Oklahoma. That was a sacred spot in my life. It influenced who I am and what I think and feel, and it moved me, really, into a religious understanding of life. Probably first from a mystical point of view. Then that broadened out into spirituality. That formed into faith, and then my faith turned into identity with a religious tradition.
MH: Was there any major turning point for you?
TH: I had a really profound experience when I was an adolescent, as far as nature and my connection to the larger powers. What was going on in our church at that time gave me a way to understand it - I was attending church in a small Presbyterian church. The pastor was a graduate of Princeton. More than anything, he emphasized the connections between religion and storytelling - narrative. I look back now and I see how he realized that narrative is so important in the biblical tradition. Just by telling a story, people can really identify with the characters and their situations and choices – they make up stories about others, they join in other stories…
That was my really important formulation of who I really was. My peers and I, we knew we were different. We didn’t identify with people in the city.
MH: Well, what is your story?
TH: I was probably fourteen or fifteen. On the ranch I would go out birdwatching a lot, particularly during the fall and spring, to see bird migrations. Sunrise or sunset was best. I’d go out to a farm pond, a large dam pond of ours, with my binoculars. I’d just curl up and watch wildlife.
One evening – it was fall - I was there watching ducks. Right before my eyes just an incredible explosion of wings occurred. I didn’t know what happened. Then I looked over – something was rustling in the shrubs. It was a bobcat. It had a duck by the neck. The bobcat went up to the top of a hill, it sat and it turned around. I thought it was looking right at me. Of course it wasn’t, but… Blood coming was dripping down, a little bit, from the duck. And then the bobcat just faded away, just faded away –
That affected me in a way that I had to… well, I think at any age we have questions about suffering. Watching the bobcat, I think it took away all the romanticism I had about nature. Instead, it put me into nature in a profound and spiritual way. I was no longer an observer. That day I somehow became a participant.
Because I said to myself - that is suffering. The suffering of another species, of the wild.
So that is a question that I took into kind of my faith journey. I was trying to understand that, that question.
News Updates: we’re all over the place today
March 11, 2008
I am sitting here frantically trying to post a news update while KS Clean Energy Day swirls all around me - 40 people from Reno County alone, how cool is that! - so pardon the fragmentation.
Let’s pull out the big guns first. Politics, schmolitics. Why not hear from a little religion for a change.
Catholics - don’t pollute! It’s now considered one of the new ecological sins that has emerged in modern times. So says a Vatican representative in a recent interview (Reuters). (I told Eileen this and she said - “Well, is it a mortal sin or a venal one?” I had to confess - ha, get it? - that I didn’t know.)
Southern Baptists - you’re apparently getting involved in this too. (Right up front, my favorite headline on this article came from Grist - “Holy Shift!”) As reported in the NYTimes:
44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
For the text of the Declaration made by the Church leaders, click here. I haven’t had a quiet moment to sit down and read it and think, but I am looking forward to doing so after today.
Now the mundane. We hear so much about regulatory uncertainty… well, there’s all sorts of ways to find yourself staring down the barrel of that one. New England is, actually, because they don’t have adequate access to transmission lines, so they are running into trouble in developing new sources of renewable energy (AP, USAToday).
The KCKansan very thoughtfully considered the problems facing the KC Board of Public Utilities (BPU) (CEP live blogged their testimony the other day while waiting to hear testimony on KCPL’s energy efficiency bill). In the course of the discussion, the writer commented on the Sunflower Holcomb controversy:
The state-level exercise on Sunflower’s plans has served a purpose, however, in that a nuanced energy policy is being discussed as a result. Nevertheless, finalization of those policies, let alone developing consensus on what such policies should include, could be a number of years away….
Clearly, decisions have to be made, and they need to be made relatively soon. These decisions, however, will have multi-generational impacts, and should include experts’ best predictions about the energy landscape beyond 2050.
Projecting the future feasibility of coal or natural gas is likely an exercise in futility. Experts would largely be unable to predict the hundreds of variables associated with such a forward-looking report, rendering the results purely speculative at best.
But today’s energy crunch should spur a completely new line of debate and examination on the energy infrastructure of tomorrow.
Is our current system of a relatively few points of electrical generation and the transference of power through electrical lines the most financially and environmentally friendly method of powering our needs?
Gott go gotta go - my photography skills (ha - I happen to be the one of us who owns a functioning digital camera) are required.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
“The age of innocence is over.”
February 25, 2008
Below is the prayer offered at the beginning of today’s House session of the Kansas legislature, by pastor Thad Holcomb of the Ecumenical Christian Ministries at the University of Kansas. (CEP has also interviewed Thad on the topic of environment and religion as part of our CEP Conversations series, and that interview should be posted some time next week.)
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O God, Father and Mother of us all, we are a thankful people for your presence that knows no bounds.
It is in you, O God, that we abide. For the men and women of this legislature, I give thanks. To them has been given the task of hearing your call to compassion. May they hear this call with an openness of heart and mind to all the citizens of the state. It is, O God, through a willingness to empathize with others, that we form a community of care for the pursuit of the public good. May this body be courageous in their deliberations and uphold the banner of justice.
We ask, O God, that this legislature acknowledge the sacredness of the earth and our interdependence with all of life. Let us acknowledge that the age of innocence is over. We cannot treat the earth as we have done in the past. The question is “what can we do to preserve and maintain the Creation on a long term basis?” May the legislation of this body be from the point of view of a life support system, and based on care for the generations of life that come after our demise. May the actions of this body be mindful of our children and grandchildren who will inherit the choices made and the votes cast by these men and women.
The call for compassion, by this legislature, O God, goes beyond defending the labels of conservative or liberal. The issues of today are too urgent to be trivialized by such action. The increasing pollution of water and air are too urgent. The gap between the poor and the wealthy grows larger, as does the number of citizens of this state who cannot afford adequate health insurance. The increasing population of our prisons calls for a justice tempered by compassion. Mental health issues and addictions that impair our citizens need the imagination and compassion of this legislature.
The age of innocence, O God, is over. No longer can any of us in this body, or citizens of this state, make decisions based on just our own survival or comfort. We are called to demonstrate that we are capable of viewing the urgent issues of our time with a perspective that will be celebrated by those who come after us in future generations as wise, compassionate and just.
— Rev. Thad Holcomb, ECM
CEP live blogging from House Select Committee on Energy and Environment in the Future
February 20, 2008
Hello all. Colder than the devil out there. My poor husband earlier texted me a very pithy comment about how much fun he was having (not) while running a ropes training course out in the elements for a bunch of recruits.
So I am sure we are all happy to be warm and snug inside here, about ready to kick off another meeting of the HSCEEF. Today Liz Brosius of the Kansas Energy Council (KEC) and Larry Holloway of KCC.
Vice-Chair Olsen calls meeting to order. Quorum: Reps. Light, Light, Proehl, Whitham, Olsen.
News Updates: More on KS transmission lines, and backlash launched against creation care movement
January 1, 1970
The transmission tale goes on. Many of the questions I still had yesterday about the latest episode in the transmission line story - Westar/ ETA applying to build a 765 kV line that ITC Great Plains had also received approval to construct - were answered by Sarah Kessinger’s story (Harris News).
Current cost estimates for the line are around $600 million. It will run 230 miles, from Spearville, KS, toward Wichita. Westar’s proposal is to build a 765 kV line; ITC Great Plains had proposed (and SPP approved) a 364 kV line. (I know that SPP is thinking about where to put a giant system of 765 lines, but I don’t know that they had decided the routes for sure).
Westar has also filed with the KCC to intervene against ITC Great Plains’ request to build that same line. (KCC, SPP, I know - the overlapping jurisdictions get a little confusing). I think that intervention might be based on the fact that the line would have to cross through a few miles of transmission territory already controlled by Westar - but if so, that’s not in the news coverage.
Comment from the ITC spokesperson (and this is from the news coverage):
An ITC Great Plains spokeswoman, Lisa Aragon, said the company remains committed to building its own ultra-high voltage line in southwest Kansas as approved by the SPP. The project would initially operate at 345 kV until the SPP deems operation at 765 kV appropriate, Aragon said.
Aragon noted that the Westar/AEP proposal has not received Southwest Power Pool approval.
“We were excited to hear the news about the AEP/Westar joint venture,” Aragon said. “There is a significant amount of needed high voltage transmission that has been identified in SPP and we believe it’s going to take a number of companies working together to get things moving.”
Also little more background about Westar’s partners, Electric Transmission American (ETA):
“Electric Transmission America will have equal shares in the the new Prairie Wind Transmission. ETA is a subsidiary of American Electric Power, owner of the nation’s largest transmission system, and MEHC America Transco, a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., one of the nation’s largest transmission holders.”
Backlash against creation care. A group called “We Get It” has launched a campaign targeting creation care ideas. Quotable:
Some say that to be a good steward of God’s creation, you must be convinced that global warming is likely to be catastrophic, that human activities caused most of the very slight warming of the last 150 years, and that stopping it requires drastic government action.
But is all that true? And if not, what kind of impact would global warming policies have on the people who can afford it the least – namely the poor here and around the world?
It is because of crucial questions like these that our environmental stewardship must not be based on mere emotions, or media hype – but on firm Biblical principles, and solid scientific and economic facts.
Maybe perspectives on evolution are changing as well.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
