Day 3: Rain, Ideology, Movie

Day 3: Wednesday, February 29 2012 (Leap Day!)

Morning: 

The day began with rain and ended with a movie. 

After waking up to a constant rain we headed out to Marvin Gaye Park (http://www.nrpa.org/marvingayepark2009/) 

where we walked to the Recreation Center, a mile walk in constant rain. While at the Recreation Center we dried off ourselves as much as possible before grabbing garbage bags and garbage picker-upper tools and went out to the park and picked up trash in the rain. The shear volume of trash in this small area of DC was amazing. All along the stream that ran through the park, the largest tributary to the Anacostia River, was filled with Styrofoam cups, bottles, plastic, wrappers, cigarettes etc. We only made a small dent in the large scheme of the park. After a good 10 minutes, we all went back inside the Recreation Center and again attempted to dry ourselves before walking another mile to the metro station at the other end of the park. While walking through the rest of the park in the rain, freezing, not able to feel my toes, soaked through and shivering, I noticed how relatively clean the park was compared to the Area of Anacostia that we had walked through the day before. I had thought we were going to deal with this (http://www.fosc.org/LitterPhoto1.htm)   but instead, we found this (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78113078@N00/3049391272/) obviously less green and sunny in the picture. 

However miserable the group was to be wet, cold, tired, and hating the wasted time, the experience of seeing just how big of an environmental impact littering is and how cleaning up the park has lead to a better community and a safer natural area. 

Afternoon:

After drying off and complaining about the rain, the group headed to a meeting with the Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org/) a very conservative foundation who's 5 pillars are: 

free enterprise 

limited government 

individual freedom

traditional American values

a strong national defense

We met with Robert Gordon, Senior Advisor for Strategic Outreach, who gave us a lecture on how government was too involved in everyday life and was a bureaucracy. He went on to state that the best energy resource was Human Creativity and that when we do run out of things, humans have the ability to create a new and adapt. Rude at times, Mr. Gordon asked us what we knew about our energy resources and went on to state that energy use is good and that environmentalist were wrong about consuming energy to be a bad thing. He also implied that global warming was a myth by the liberal media to scare the people. The conversation soon turned to a debate over government issued regulation vs. private sector relegation and the free market. Much was what was said had to do with ideology rather than scientific fact and alternatives to fossil fuel resources. The argument was raised by our group about investment of money either through citizens or the government to invest in green and safe alternatives such as wind and solar rather than fracking/drilling since drilling has been seen to cause health and environmental safety problems, the response was one again of small government, libertarian, republican, conservative ideology and a pandering to high schoolers. After the meeting, the group regrouped and discussed what went down in the meeting. Much was said about the treatment/respect for our ideas and that Mr. Gordon's goal seemed to be to try and change out beliefs in government than in getting answers to energy policy. All of us found the meeting not too successful and resentful at times. The adjective to describe it was a 'sigh' of frustration. 

Evening:

After having dinner in China Town, the group headed back to watch the movie 'GASLAND' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8) a documentary directed by Josh Fox in 2010. 

The documentary showed a grim, terrifying example of the gas industries monopoly in many states all over the country and the health and toxic results. Throughout the movie the group reacted to the horrifying result of drilling and fracking and the minimal regulation the Natural Gas Industry follows state-to-state. Its main message was: What happens in your back yard affects my backyard. The drilling that has and continues to occur in 32 states. The top ones being:

Alaska

Arkansas

Louisiana

Colorado

Kansas

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

Utah

Wyoming.

Pennsylvania

Ohio

For New York the risk of contamination of unfiltered reservoirs, Catskill and Delaware Water shed, which provide safe and clean drinking water for over 6 million people including New York City, Philadelphia, much of New Jersey and Delaware. Not only would water supply be contaminated for these citizens but the toxins most likely to occur in the fluids used in the fracking process would lead to harmful defects and health hazards for not only New York but New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and other New England states. 

From the movie, for some it changed minds to stop the use of natural gas completely and for others it was another medium of information that exaggerated and scared you without giving an answer to what an alternative would be to Natural Gas since so much of it is used all over the country. 

The movie ended but the conversation continues as we all gathered out thoughts as to how and what to do about fracking when lobbying our representatives the next day. Should we push for more regulation? Should be say to ban it all together in the state of New York? If banning natural gas, what was our alternative energy source? 

All in all the day had been emotionally and physically draining but it was LEAP DAY and thus the day did not count. Happy Leap Day!

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Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

Jon Stewart Energy Independent Future

Watch this Daily Show Clip

Summary of Afternoon (Feb. 27th 2012)

Day 1: Afternoon

by Reagan 

After having a hardy lunch at PotBelly, the group headed to a meeting at the N.R.D.C (Natural Resources Defense Council). The Building's interior design style evoked recycling and being green. The Offices used natural light

and used a color palet of light greens, blues, and natural wood accents. 

The Meeting was at the company was with 4 lobbyists who discussed the concerns  

of Hyrofracking and the production of Natural Gas. Some of these negatives being that the gas is Methane, which is a green house gas that if used to 

a large degree could speed up Global Warming and increase the temperature of the earth. Some other issues with Hydrofracking 

where that the water being used, at high amounts of pressure, is 99% water and 1% toxic chemicals that comes back up to the surface.

The Shale Formation that is under much of New York and Pennsylvania also has many old oil and gas wells that are not 

monitored or capped completely. By drilling wells and moving the earth near these old wells, can cause leakage in water wells and 

damage to the environment. Chemical waste from the drilling is not monitored and is toxic. It has contaminated water

and soil. The gas that comes up to the surface during the fracking process also brings with it elements that are radioactive and harmful,

such as mercury and arsenic. The transportation of these unwanted material is dangerous as well. The fracking of the earth shale has been 

seen to cause earthquakes where wells/fracking is done near fault lines. The regulations for the Gas Industry so far put in place are at the state level and many states have few laws and flexible regulations concerning 

drilling and fracking. Many of these regulations are not followed by the gas industry and there has been a push to try and bring

the regulations to a federal level. Nobody knows for certain the 'x' amount of natural gas available and if the population increased and usage 

increases it is likely that the natural gas available will be used up in less than 100 years. The usage of natural gas is a bridge to no where

since it is a temporary solution that is a fossil fuel sources that can cause harmful environmental damage. 

Other topics that were discussed is Energy Efficiency and what other alternatives there where to fossil fuel resources, such as wind, solar etc. 

Job creation could come from finding new energy alternatives and making solar and wind more prevalent in the market. 

Jobs provided by clean energy can cause a ripple effect for work going from the process of making the material for wind turbines to the instillation.  

Money that is saved from using these alternative sources can go back into investing in the economy. 

On the political side, the Obama Administration has seen some incentives for use of clean energy like the tax energy incentives for energy efficient 

houses and the solar and wind industry. The need for a price/tax on carbon emissions, and the recent push to try and pass

a Cap and Trade Policy in Congress (http://www.epa.gov/captrade/).  

There was a small movie clip about the Heart Land Institute , a group that wants to influence schools to teach students in the curriculum

that global warming is a myth and made up by scientists. 

 

The meeting was wrapped up with some questions and answers discussing Nuclear Power, BioFuel, Politics, and issues on Fracking.

Day One: Morning, 2/27

The morning started off with a meeting at Hill & Knowlton Stratigies, a lobbying firm that represents the natural gas industry. The meeting started off with an informational talk about what lobbiest did and why they did it. The main theme of this talk was money. We were told that money controlled the government and while it could not necessarily buy votes, it held the power to gain access to those with power. It gave the class a less... idealistic view on government and the process of how laws get passed in this country. A great importance was given to the idea of the grassroots movement and the power a group of people could have on a significant or important issue.

 

After the talk the group was graced with a visit by Norman Mineta who served as Transportation Secretary and Commerce Secretary and served in both the Clinton and Bush administration. He told his story about being interred as a Japanese-American during World War II and spoke to the group about the future and the importance of connections and hard work.

 

After a quick break, we were given a presentation about hydro-fracking by one of the lobbists. The presentation, however, was cut short by the Q&A given by the DC Greeners. We asked tough questions about the risks and dangers (both to the environment and to the human population) involved in hydrofracking to counter-act most of the positive outcomes that were being given by the firm. The overall impression that the lobby firm gave to us was that with any energy source there "couldpossiblymaybe" be risks and the positive outcomes that were guarenteed far outweighed the negative.

 

After a quick debreifing, some students expressed that they felt...manipulated by the meeting.