Pointing the Way to Freedom

September 8, 2010

Last week I attended a free viewing of the film, Iron Jawed Angels, hosted by the Bucks County League of Women Voters at Buckingham Friends Meetinghouse.  For those who’ve not seen this film it is a true docudrama based on the struggle of women to gain the right to vote.  The cast includes Oscar winners Hillary Swank as suffragist Alice Paul and Angelica Huston as Carrie Chatman Catt.  Catt eventually went on to form the League of Women Voters.  The third suffragist featured is Lucy Burns, played by Frances O’Connor.  The film takes place in the early 1900s depicting how the 19^th Amendment was eventually passed in 1919.

 This was probably my sixth time of seeing the film having first watched it in 2004 when it was shown on HBO.  Yet each time I sit down to watch it I am inspired to remind everyone I know how important it is to vote.

 Growing up with parents who took very seriously their right to vote, I remember going to the polling place on several occasions with Dad and Mom.  Back then our polling place was in the old Doylestown Borough School on Broad Street, a three-block walk from our home.  I’d go into the booth with them and strain back my neck in order to look up as they pushed the levers with their fingers.  Then that distinctive sound of “click”, “click”, “click” as the levers on those reliable Eisenhower era machines was assurance that their votes were cast.

 Back then in the 50s, as people of color, my parents were more fortunate than our counterparts in the South who, like the suffragettes in the early part of the 20^th Century, could not vote.  Finally in the 60s Black people began their momentous struggle that eventually gave them the fundamental right which was granted to other American citizens.

 Listening to the reasons uttered by the politicians in Iron Jawed Angels for not allowing women the vote, were on the same low caliber as arguments that would not allow Blacks in the South the same privilege.  They each defined women and Blacks as being less than people, less than worthy, and not true citizens.

 Voting is a serious function of Democracy for me, and leaving the voting booth does not end my responsibility as a citizen.  At every election cycle I’d remind my co-workers (all women in my office) to be sure and vote the next day.  “Why?  It doesn’t do any good”, they’d say.  That was always a difficult statement to respond to without the possibility of raising a discussion that might become contentious.  But I always believe if you don’t show up to vote, you get exactly what you deserve.

 Democracy is Hard Work.   Vote–because it still matters

Next time—Speaking Out

Simmons was one of the most credible authorities on Peak Oil and was a tireless crusader for waking the public. Very conventional on the surface, he was reported to be the worlds biggest oil industry investment banker. He knew the industry like few others.

From the National Snow and Ice Data center (www.nsidc.org): A Satellite Signs Off; Science Data Live On.

July 2010

Circling Earth, a landmark Earth observing mission turns a now-dark eye over the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Soon, engineers will nudge it out of orbit, to burn up in Earth’s lower atmosphere. NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) was already several years beyond its life expectancy when it made its last scans of Earth’s surface in October 2009. But scientists have not yet unlocked all the secrets of ICESat data, captured during this time of rapid changes in the cryosphere. They continue to pore over ICESat data to learn more about these unprecedented events and, possibly, what the future may hold for Earth’s frozen regions.

Also from there: August 4, 2010
July sea ice second lowest: oldest ice begins to melt

Arctic sea ice extent averaged for July was the second lowest in the satellite record, after 2007. After a slowdown in the rate of ice loss, the old, thick ice that moved into the southern Beaufort Sea last winter is beginning to melt out. (http://www.nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/)

After peaking near $85/bbl, crude prices dropped to almost $80 in the last few days.

The Energy bullitin had some interesting items, among them, Lester Brown on rising temperatures and rising food prices. (www.energybulletin.net).

At ASPO, the quote of the week is: “Now the shale play for natural gas is very large, but my geological research indicates that these fields are not perhaps as good as some people suggest. They won’t solve all of our energy problems; they’re not that good, that big or that long lasting…As I calculated, we are in a lot of trouble in [...]

- Charles T. Maxwell, senior energy analyst, Weeden & Co.

And Cornell University: “Citing preliminary data, Howarth estimates total greenhouse gas emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas may be equivalent to 33 carbon grams of CO2, slightly more than 31.9 grams for coal, and well above the 20.3 grams for diesel or gasoline.” (Reuters)

“Although natural gas, when burned, produces only about half of the carbon dioxide emissions of coal, that calculation omits greenhouse gas emissions from the well-drilling, water-trucking, pipeline-laying, and forest-felling that are part of the production of hydraulically fractured natural gas, Ecology Professor Robert Howarth argues in a new paper.

Citing preliminary data, Howarth estimates total greenhouse gas emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas may be equivalent to 33 carbon grams of CO2, slightly more than 31.9 grams for coal, and well above the 20.3 grams for diesel or gasoline.”

The Borough of Doylestown’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) had a nice crowd for their second collaboration with Warminster’s EAC. The Fracking Fracas, originally scheduled to be basically video (Split Estate) for a sultry August First Friday event turned electric with Nockamixon Township’s Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors, Nancy Janyszeski and ex-frontline investigative journalist Melissa Cornick-Scott.

We’re improving the program and repeating it for the Third Thursday in Warminster (you saw it here first) on August 19th, 7 PM in the Township Admin. Building: 401 Gibson Ave.

The Township is moving forward with the idea of having an Energy Service Company make all six townships buildings more energy efficient with audits and much needed renovations. The funding will come from the operating budget, leaving their meagre capital budget intact.

Keep an eye on Warminster as it becomes more efficient and explores new cutting-edge energy sources. Could your municipality benefit from an ESCO?

The Freedom’s Way project continues to chug along rough tracks on it’s way toward the last couple of bucks needed to put them over the top and begin the real work. New project video in the works and a new website is starting to take shape. Stay tuned here for the most “ambitious and fantastic” sustainable project ever attempted in Bucks County.

The Doylestown Borough Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) and the award winning Warminster EAC will present another remarkable First Friday, Doylestown sustainable living even, August 6th at 7 PM in the Borough Hall, 57 West Court Street, Doylestown.

One of our guests will be Nancy Janyszeski, Chairman of the Nockamixon Township Board of Supervisors, who will bring us up to date on the drilling that’s closest to home.

Two great videos exist on the topic…  we’ll try to have the best for you, along with expert commentator, Melissa Cornick-Scott who, as a journalist, covered this story when it first emerged.

Please join us. You owe it to yourself, your children, and beautiful Bucks County to come to this one. This could be a more serious issue than The Pump. Much more serious.

We’ll also talk about the PECO rate cap issue and how to save serious money on energy in time for the change. Info: 267.992. 8020 or 215.345.4140.   Free Admission. Handicap Accessible.

By ArrowWing

August 31, 2010 – I’ve been sorting and searching through family history records for a clue that will tie my mother to the original peoples of this region. Ever since I was a child I felt that I wasn’t who people told me I was.  I knew I was Native American.  To others, I looked entirely African-American, and though proud, I knew this wasn’t my complete identity of who I am or where I came from.

To me, my family and I were like a outpost in Guam.  In the middle of nowhere.  Still I knew our rich history would be made evident at some point in my life.  We only had little pieces of the puzzle — a picture here, a letter there, that would trace my family back hundreds of years, in fact, thousands, to the original Lenni-Lenape people.

My mother is now in her 80’s and she has been yearning to reconnect for most of her life — to find those relatives she lost that she knew were Native American. As I search through my family history, every day brings a moment of wonderment.   So more recently, I’ve been like a detective looking for that piece of information that would tie my mom’s family stories back to her actual relatives. I just needed that tiny thread that would tie up those loose ends and bring it all together and make the connection she needed.

Guess what happened to me this week?  I discovered all I needed to know to connect my mom to her ancient family — the names, the dates, their descendants, everything I need so that my mother can become a member of her native tribe.

The Chief’s wife of the Lenni Lenape Nation said we have an open invitation to visit with the Elders of the tribe so that my mom can finally begin the process of applying to become a recognized member of the tribe.  Our visit will be on September 7th and we will share this story here.

http://open.salon.com/blog/onebyland