This last weekend I went to Charlottesville, Virginia, home of UVA and the Virginia Festival of the Book. If you have ever watched C-SPAN2 on the weekends, you know the drill. Some authors read from their work, or discuss their work, and then there are question and answer sessions. At the very end you can buy their books and they are more than happy to autograph them.
I went to a session called “Why Nature Writing Matters” at the Southern Environmental Law Center. I was inspired. Two past winners were there: Janisse Ray won the Phil Reed Environmental Writing Award in 2000; John Lane in 2001. As the writers read from their works, I realized that I care about the environment, but not in some idealistic way.
Even though I cannot recognize one woodpecker from another, and even though I know only a few tree species, I love the outdoors. Right now in Virginia, the red maples, the red buds and all of the ornamental Bradford pears are in bloom. Dogwoods will be next. My youngest daughter complains about the smell, but all I smell is spring.
The writers there and even their moderator, Rick Montague, moved me with descriptions of mountaintop coal mining, manatees and a small girl scout camp. I have been in the woods near small streams and I cannot imagine whole mountains and whole valleys gone. I remember my summers at boy scout camps and how much I learned and the memories I still cherish. I cannot imagine that same camp as another housing subdivision.
Whether it is from power plants or automobiles, most pollution comes from energy production. Reducing our traditional energy production cleans up our world. Not just from reducing the burning of fossil fuels, but also from reducing the scars from extracting fuels from the ground. This is one way to reduce the strain on our planet.
Other things help as well such as better urban and rural planning, recycling, and controlling manufacturing and farming pollution. But most of these actually focus on energy. Better urban planning would include better transportation systems, mixed use communities that have stores within walking distance. Recycling is the easiest way to save energy. Everyone knows that one recycled aluminum can save enough energy to run your TV for about three hours. Farming pollution is usually from fertilizer created from petroleum products.
I do not think anyone can stop our desire for material wealth and for economic growth in any part of the world, but maybe we can be less invasive in how we go about getting that wealth. And, for me, that is what alternative energy is about.
Thank you for such a personal and inspiring view point. You made me revert to my childhood days on my grandparents farm in Ohio. Things were so different then (it was only 20 some years ago). I hope that the next generation will appreciate the environment more than this generation does!