Friday morning, I was sitting at my regular table at the Square Cafe, eating my lemon ricotta pancake and drinking iced tea, helping Jim with his crossword puzzle, and enjoying the easy start to the day. Spring was finally here. Graduation was scheduled for the weekend. A fresh semester would start Monday - with me teaching some great students who would be new to me. Life was (is!) good! 

I picked up the Post-Gazette and noticed two front page articles - front and center - and began reading.... and lost my appetite. I felt tears coming to my eyes, and an ache in my heart, and, yes, I admit it, anger and fury - all over my body where those feelings reside, I felt their heat and intensity.

The articles that fired me up? (1) A story about the newly published independent review of the Upper Big Branch coal mining explosion that took the lives of 29 coal miners on April 5, 2010. The finding - gross neglect - primarily on the part of Massey Energy's shoddy oversight of mine safety, and the federal and state regulatory officials who had counted and cited several hundreds of safety violations and yet never closed the mines. AND (2) the first person accounts of the men who survived the mining disaster. 

As noted in the first story, the independent review does not read like a dry technical report written by sterile bureaucrats. It reads like a thriller - a record of a historical event that rivals stories of war, natural disasters, plagues. Its main characters are humans - archetypes that have existed for centuries. An extra-big villain - Don Blankenship, a West Virginia native with an uncanny facial resemblance, though with a little more flesh, to another despot with a tiny black mustache - Mr. B is known as the dark lord of West Virginia coal country. 

Rolling Stone magazine published an expose of Mr. B's work and his response to the mining explosion. Shortly after the article appeared, he resigned as CEO of Massey Energy - with a mighty big golden parachute, I might add. His salary had spiked in the months before the disaster. And even though he saw a drop in salary of 48% by the end of 2010, he still walked off with millions and will sit pretty for the rest of his life. The people most directly affected by his actions and non-actions related both to the explosion and the mining-related environmental devastation could most certainly use some of that money - for health costs, for pain and suffering, for de-valued homes, for educational funds for spouses and children left without a husband and father. Yes, they sure could use - and most certainly deserve - such help.

Don Blankenship may be one of the big villains. There are lesser bad guys galore - many of whom look the other way in order to keep their jobs and salaries and, sometimes, their political seats - or maybe, because they are human, to avoid conflict and confrontation. 

Those in the middle - the ones who know that the jobs they work both keep food on the table and poison the creek out back - these people often just feel stuck. These are the folks who don't see or understand alternatives, or fear change, or don't trust that things could be better, so they stick with the familiar.

The heroes and/or victims - they are the coal miners, and their families, and future families who will face the vast destruction associated with the mountain top removal typical of Massey Energy and similar companies, and with the dark underground mining in dank and dusty caves. Many of these heroes and victims come from a long line of miners and have deep roots in the mountains of Appalachia. The drivers of the plot - greed, neglect, inaction and passivity, ignorance, acts of God (according to Mr.  B), bogged down bureaucracy, and many others.

Not so much talked about though? The chorus of this drama - the reporters and observers who do not necessarily act in big parts. You and me. Watching television reports about the explosion, reading newspapers, talking to friends, maybe signing petitions to voice our disgust with big coal operations, and.... flipping on light switches, recharging our multiple devices, typing away on our keyboards, TiVo-ing our favorite shows, and generally living our day to day lives without really seeing the men and the families of men whose labors feed the energy that travels the wires to our homes.

To really understand the fix we are in, we need to recognize that fossil fuels have supplied cheap, abundant and effective energy of all kinds for over a century - much cheaper than in most other parts of the world, much cheaper than the price of alternative energies that aren't yet built to scale, cheaper today than the long-term costs associated with the use of fossil-fuel driven energy. We review our electric bills, maybe shop around for a lower rate, turn off lights when not in use, perhaps even unplug the coffee-maker and other LED-lit appliances. We do that, most of us, without really understanding or even actually thinking about the fact that most electricity in our country is powered by coal burning plants... which are fueled by coal.... that is dug from deep underground by men in hazardous conditions (even in the 21st century) or sheared off the surface by giant machines doing mountain top removal that destroys the natural environment and the health of the people who live nearby. 

Can those (we) in the chorus be villains or heroes, or are we limited to the passive roles of observer and reporter? When we see disaster coming, can we intervene and prevent chaos and destruction? Can we warn the heroes and victims-to-be? I think the authors of these dramas can have the chorus do whatever they want. I think we can even become authors of the dramas, or at least co-screen-writers.

We don't have to do it alone. We have options - one coming soon is the March on Blair Mountain in West Virginia - from the web-site:

We march to preserve Blair Mountain, abolish mountaintop removal, strengthen labor rights, and an investment in sustainable job creation for all Appalachian communities.The March on Blair Mountain is a peaceful, unifying rally involving environmental justice organizations, workers, scholars, artists, and other citizens and groups. The march commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, when 10,000 coal miners rose against the rule of the coal operators and fought for the basic right to live and work in decent conditions. Currently, Blair Mountain is threatened with obliteration by mountaintop removal (MTR) mining, and it is here that a new generation of Appalachians takes a stand.

In the spirit of the original march–which consisted of mountain peoples, African-Americans, and immigrants from all over Europe–we reach out to a diversity of groups to march in solidarity for the workers, communities and mountains of Appalachia. If you stand with us, you are one of us — a true mountaineer.

I have missed writing to you - whomever and wherever you are! I spent the last several days in New York City, celebrating Michael's MBA graduation and his and Leah's coming marriage. We also had lots of time for all of us - Michael, Leah, Julie, Tony, Joel, Jackie, Seth, Patty, Joe, Scott - and lots of their friends - to just hang out, eat, and have a good time.

Before I left for NYC, I told my dad that I was taking the Megabus to NYC - the Megabus now has direct routes between several major cities, including Pittsburgh and New York. I was really pumped about what I knew would be a cool adventure - and about the low cost of it - $20.50 ROUND TRIP. You read that right - $20.50! It took about 4 more hours than the air travel would have, if I added up travel to the airport from home, and to and from the NYC airport by taxi, and the time needed to go through security, and the probable delays. (And I didn't have to deal with the flight cancellation that Tony and Julie experienced - which added about nine hours to their trip.) But I didn't think I would mind the extra few hours - no security lines, at least intermittent wi-fi and electricity, a couple of short stops to stretch my legs, a chance to meet new people in a place with a little more leg room than a plane, and LOWER COST!

My dad then mailed me an article about ideas for train travel in KY - here is another interesting article with an interesting factoid about trains....

....the upgrade of a freeway mile costs about $10 million, while the upgrade of a track mile costs $1 million. And a freeway lane will carry 2,000 people per hour, but a railway mile can carry 10 times that.

Dad said that he thought I just might blog about the environmental impacts of various types of travel - so this is what I am doing now! One way to measure environmental impact is to look at the carbon footprint of an activity or product - the amount of related CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. What are CO2 emissions and why is this issue important? 

CO2 is emitted and absorbed as part of a natural carbon cycle involving plants, oceans, and animals, including humans. Since the 1700s and the onset of the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions into the atmosphere have increased significantly as a result of human activities involving the burning of oil, coal and gas, as well as deforestation. Higher CO2 emissions are associated with many 21st century activities that we take for granted - car travel, eating food that has been transported from another state or even country, eating processed foods or meat, wearing clothes that are manufactured on another continent and transported here. CO2 emissions - greenhouse gases - are implicated in climate change and global warming, which in turn have an effect on weather events, air/atmosphere quality, physical health, land preservation - these are all connected.  

So - here is information about the different levels of CO2 emissions associated with different forms of transportation for one person - traveling to and from NYC and Pittsburgh:

• Train = .02 metric tons of CO2 
• Coach = .04 metric tons - a coach is a fancy bus with a bathroom and larger seats than a city bus 
• Plane = .14 metric tons - .11 for flight + .03 for cabs to and from airport to city  
• Car = .24 metric tons based on Honda Fit automatic transmission

The train wins based on CO2 emissions - but the coach emissions are only a little more, and the dollar cost is much less (based on my experience). I don't know why, but I was really surprised at the car figure - it really inspires me to do more mass/public transportation even locally.

Greg Boulos, a Pittsburgh organic farmer and environmental activist, has said that the worst addiction that Americans currently have is the "addiction to convenience" - to wanting to get where we want to go whenever we want as fast as possible, as conveniently as possible; to eat what we want whenever we want to regardless of local growing seasons; to buy goods at the lowest cost regardless of the "true cost" involved in environmental impact, exploitation of factory workers, etc. 

I have talked here about energy use and abuse, climate change related to human activities, social justice issues involved with all of this. I have talked a bit about peak oil and changes predicted for the future, the need to find alternative sources of energy rather than relying primarily on fossil fuels. The reality also is that we humans, particularly in the US, are called to examine and change our lifestyle - we can do it pro-actively or we can do it under duress when external circumstances demand that we change. Am I being unpatriotic when I say this - bashing our nation? Not at all - I am looking at data from many sources, including here - I urge you to click on this link and play with the site a little, and see what you think. It is not about guilt and defensiveness about how we live - it is about just thinking and exploring and imagining, and seeing where this takes you.


The good news about the changes that we can make is that we can benefit in so many ways beyond convenience and material comfort. On my bus trip, I met a young woman who is starting out on her career as an opera singer, and a young man who shared his extension cord with me when my outlet didn't work (he did admit, when asked, that he was an Eagle Scout - always prepared!), and listened to a large group of women who were returning home after a mission trip. We have much to gain socially, spiritually, physically, and mentally in doing things a little differently. 

I would love to hear from you - let me know what you think!

I was in Birmingham, Alabama this past weekend, arriving the day after the devastating tornadoes decimated areas of the city. My family's homes were spared. My mom, sisters, and I watched the news all weekend (and yes, we also watched the Royal Wedding!). The scenes were terrifying (not the wedding - except for some of those hats!). The scenes of both the tornadoes themselves and the destruction they left in their wake were frightening and sobering.

I was heartened by stories of community members reaching out to help their neighbors. Those who had, shared. Newscasters even announced that the shelters were not overflowing because of the community members who had opened their homes to strangers. There were far more volunteers than needed. 

On my flight home, I sat next to a retired man from the Gulf Shores of Alabama, which he described as a great place for people to retire. He was originally from Birmingham - we talked about the tornadoes, then our conversation moved to the Gulf Oil Spill and Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan, all of which affected this same geographic area. I heard something from my seat-mate that was different from what I usually hear - his perception of the oil spill, for example, was that the negative effects on the ocean, beaches, and wildlife had been significantly exaggerated. The oil spill had not interfered with his deep sea fishing at all, after the first couple of weeks of clean-up. He had not been affected by Hurricane Katrina, but one of his homes had been destroyed by Hurricane Ivan a few years earlier. He had the financial resources to rebuild, and life went on. He did also reveal that he was a millionaire.

I feel confused at times, trying to reconcile a brief personal vignette like this with scenes that I see on TV or in magazines, and with peer-reviewed research that I read. I crave answers and understanding. I do not think that the effects of these disaster phenomena are uniform. It makes sense that someone who has financial, vocational, health, and social resources prior to the event - as did this man, from what he said - will experience a lesser degree of stress than someone who lives week to week on a limited income, has health problems, and has fewer social supports.

So what? Is this just the way of the world? Are these discrepancies inevitable? Why am I even talking about this? Hang in there - I do have a point.

Social discrepancies like this become more pronounced when we look at the effects of environmental degradation, whether from natural disasters or from other disastrous events to which human choices have contributed.  Discrepancies also become more significant when we look at gradual changes, such as those related to climate change or the decline in non-renewable natural resources, both of which are affected by human behavior/choice.

Consider the following example -- Most scientists involved in studies of the environment and of climate change see us as approaching (or as being at) the point of peak oil - our highest point of oil production, after which the availability of oil will gradually decline. It is predicted that, when we are at or beyond the point of peak oil, the prices of oil will sky-rocket (supply-demand theory comes into play) - which will have a huge impact on the typical western lifestyle. 

In this situation, the resource discrepancy described above widens, and its consequences become more pronounced. Think about it - when gas prices creep - or leap - up (right now, it is 3.98/gallon at my station), some of us are able to just pay up without feeling too much pain, while others are deeply impacted in terms of our ability to get to work, the doctor, or the grocery. And oil and gas costs are tied into much, much more than personal transportation - they also affect the costs of transporting food across the country (or world), of heating and air-conditioning, of emergency medical and fire-fighting services, of manufacturing of millions of different products such as medicines and cell phones and home appliances - almost anything you can think of.

What responsibility do those of us with adequate or above-adequate resources have to those of us who are less fortunate? Do we keep shelling out 3.98/gallon or more and paying more for non-local food - those of us who can - with the belief or hope that someone will find some technological solution to the problem - while others' lives are severely hampered? Or do we start to think long-term about what we can do today - together with others - to offset the predicted climate change and/or its effects?

WE DO NOT HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL. The predictions related to climate change and peak oil are based on complex statistical modelling - and we don't know what we don't know about influential factors in the whole picture. I believe we know enough, however, that we need to think about and work together on these issues. 

The cool thing about working with others on these issues is that you get to know some very smart, skilled, funny people - you have a good time while you are also doing good.

In the absence of a crystal ball, educate yourself. Go to the Resources page, for example, and visit the IPCC web-site, read through the Psychology and Climate Change documents. And don't stop there - find your own information and read with a critical and questioning mind.

And think about this -- what possible harm could come from working cooperatively with others to live healthier and more meaningful lives? I am betting the good would far outweigh any harm.

WHAT: Please join us on Thursday, May 5 for a FREE screening of GASLAND by  Josh Fox at 7pm 

WHERE: Screening at Chatham University, Coolidge Hall, Sanger Lecture Room
             Free parking in the library lot, just behind Coolidge Hall             
             Shadyside Campus Map
  
WHO: Sponsored by Chatham University's MA Food Studies Program and the East End Food Co-op