I Heart The Earth

I think today's my day to write...or maybe that was yesterday.

Jen brought up a good point yesterday about people not owning up to our impact on climate change. Sadly, most of these people are fundamental Christians. I'm not sure if it's an active denial, (after all, I'm sure these are signs of the end times, and why not help them along?), or whether they are just that ignorant. A lot of them believe God gave us the earth to do what we will, and take care of it. This is taking care of it? And even if hypothetically there was no global warming, why is it such an insane idea to actually take care of our home, just in case we do contribute to something worse. The whole thing reminds me of a scene from I Heart Huckabees. I've referenced it before, but I'm actually going to give you the transcript this time.

Setup: Albert and Tommy are at Steven's house, investigating several coincidences between Albert and Steven. Steven was adopted by an American family, and brought over from Sudan.

Mother: What do you do?

Albert: I'm the director of the Open Spaces Coalition. We fight suburban sprawl.

Daughter: What's suburban sprawl?

Father: Ask Steven. He could have used a little suburban sprawl in Sudan.

Daughter: Excuse me, dad?

Father: Industry, houses, jobs, restaurants, medicine...

Albert: You can preserve a lot of open spaces and have jobs for people with...

Father: I beg your pardon, Albert. I wasn't finished.

Albert: Sorry, sir.

Father: Clothes, videos, toys, cheeseburgers, cars,a functioning economy.

Albert: You can still have a functioning economy and preserve open spaces With a little planning.

Father: Yeah. - Socialism. Complete disaster.

Albert: Theodore Roosevelt was a socialist? And Yeats? -

Father: Theodore Roosevelt...

Albert: Henry David Thoreau, Robinson Jeffers, the National Geographic Society, all socialists?

Father: You're talking about socialism.

Albert: Oh, I'm not. I'm talking about not covering every square inch with houses and strip malls, until you can't remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk.

Son: What happens in the meadow at dusk?

Albert: Everything.

Parents: Nothing!

Albert: Everything! It's beautiful, it's beautiful.

Father: I Work for an electrical engineering firm, son. We do a lot of commercial and residential contracts. If development stops, so does my paycheck. Then Steven couldn't be here as our guest, could he? So your ideas hurt Steven.

Albert: I'm not hurting Steven. That's an outrageous accusation.

Father: Don't use that tone of voice in my house.

Albert: I think you started that tone. And I think it's entirely possible for your engineering firm to have jobs for people, preserve open spaces, have contracts, do the...

Father: Do you have a job, Tom?

Tommy: I'm a firefighter.

Mother: Oh, God bless you. A hero.

Tommy: I'm not a hero. We'd all be heroes if we quit using petroleum though.

Mother: Excuse me?

Tommy: You say you're Christians living by Jesus' principles. Are you?

Daughter: Jesus is never mad at us if we live with him in our hearts.

Tommy: I hate to break it to you, but he is. He most definitely is.

Mother: All right. That's enough. Steven, I don't know what this is about. Why they're here...

Steven: Sorry, Mom. Sorry, dad. I did not know.

Father: Stevo, I'm so disappointed.

Mother: It's all right. Look, he's sad. He's sad.

Father: I'm sorry, Stevo. My bad. You didn't know.

Tommy: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Father: I should be what?

Tommy: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Father: Why should I be ashamed?

Tommy: You're a hypocrite.

Father: I'm a what?

Tommy: You're misleading these children. 'Cause you're the destroyer, man.

Father: How am I the destroyer?

Tommy: I saw that S.U. V. Out there.

Father: My car's the destroyer? You wanna know how many miles per gallon I get?

Albert: Steven, I need to ask a question. It's why I came here. Why are autographs so important to you?

Steven: It is a pastime with this family which they have taught me, which I can now carry on.

Mother:It's just for fun [Game Beeping] - for entertainment. No games at the table, please.

Son: Yes! 260! And I've reached the omega level!

Tommy: Destroyer. Destroyer. Destroyer.

Father: God gave us oil.! He gave it to us.! How can God's gift be bad?

Tommy: He gave you a brain too and you messed that up pretty good...

Father: I want you sons of bitches out of my house now.

Tommy: If Hitler were alive, he'd tell you not to think about oil.

Father: You're the Hitler! We took a Sudanese refugee into our home!

Tommy: You did. But how did Sudan happen, ma'am? Could it possibly be related to dictatorships that we support for some stupid reason?

Mother: You shut up! You get out. -

Tommy: You shut up. Come on. Let's get out of here.

Albert: Later, Steve.

So much for a short post.

As spread out as the US is, I don't think we'll be able to adopt any type of train system. I would love to have a hybrid car, but I can't afford a new car right now - and there is no public transportation in Lake City. So until I save some money to get a new car, regrettably I will still be contributing to the downfall of our environment - at least I can carry the guilt that goes along with it.

Moscow, Daegu and San Diego: Three cities and their public transit networks

Part 1: Moscow

I have made three rather lengthy trips to Russia, and while I certainly did not spend the bulk of any of those trips in Moscow, I still spent a lot of time there. Moscow has an incredibly impressive subway system. It is efficient and it reaches into most corners of the city. The most impressive thing about the Moscow subway system, however, is the stations. They are not simply stops on a public transit line, they are works of art. Below are photographs (not taken by me – you’re not supposed to take pictures in the stations, and I try to avoid rule-breaking in Russia) of some of the most beautiful stations, just to give you a glimpse of what I mean. They truly are “palaces of the people.”

Metro Station Komsomolskaya


Metro Station Kievskaya

In addition to the ever amazing subway system that is the Moscow Metro, Moscow also has an efficient bus and trolley bus system, plus slightly more expensive mini-buses called marshrutki. It’s pretty easy to get around the city without a car, and certainly the masses avail themselves of this opportunity. Just check out this video of the Moscow Metro at rush hour!

However, in cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg where the “New Russians” are growing richer by the day, the idea that the “better” people own cars is certainly becoming prevalent. Moscow and St. Petersburg roads are frequently jammed with cars – and, of course, the winter weather often exacerbates this situation.

Despite the ever increasing popularity of the automobile, public transportation is still the way the masses travel… HOWEVER: anyone who has ever visited Russia can attest to the fact that pollution is still a serious problem in that country. Certainly the growing number of cars is contributing to an increase in pollution emissions, but in Russia there are certainly far worse polluters in just about every industry.

Part 2: Daegu

I currently live in Daegu, South Korea. Daegu has excellent public transportation. I live close enough to my workplace that I can walk; however, if I wish to go anywhere else in the city, I can easily do so by taking either the subway or a bus (or both). Many, many people avail themselves of the public transportation opportunities in Daegu (and other South Korean cities) on a daily basis, and the subway and busses are frequently packed. That being said, cars are becoming increasingly popular here as well. Perhaps it’s a sign of status? I don’t know. I do know that this is the only country where I’ve been caught in a nine hour traffic jam!

Of course, even if every person in South Korea were to drive an SUV, it wouldn’t have nearly the impact that the US has on pollution emissions, simply due to South Korea’s size – this country is, after all, smaller than Florida.

The Daegu subway stations aren't particularly interesting...
but the cars are incredibly clean!

Part 3: San Diego

I lived in San Diego, CA for a little over two years. The city of San Diego is quite large, and San Diego County is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. The freeways are constantly jammed, and I spent a huge portion of my time sitting in traffic. San Diego does have a trolley and bus system, but they are not very efficient. In good traffic, it would take me approximately 15 minutes to drive from my house to the Mexican border. This same trip would take one hour by trolley, not including the fifteen minutes it took me to walk to the nearest trolley stop. I only ever used the trolley when I went to Mexico, simply because I did not feel that the border was a safe area to park my car. All other times, I drove. Who wants to take triple or quadruple the time to get somewhere?

The San Diego Trolley only had two lines. The bus routes weren’t very convenient. While the local government spoke of plans to add more lines and routes in the future, they weren’t sure if that would be cost effective. Because so few people rode the trolley and buses regularly, the city had to increase fees. The increased fees led to fewer people riding said transport, leading to a decrease in transit authority revenue, leading to another fee hike... and meanwhile, traffic gets worse and worse by the day. That being said, there's a lot less pollution in San Diego than in either Daegu or Moscow!

Waiting for the San Diego Trolley with my mom, 2003
(We were going to Tijuana, Mexico.)