Schreiner’s Media Landscape

It’s always interesting when someone vehemently and convincingly claims innocence of a crime for years then abruptly admits they indeed committed the offense and want to get the punishment over with as quickly as possible. That’s what’s happened in the case of a West Valley City mining operation that finally ‘fessed up that they dumped deadly selenium into some of Utah’s signature waterways including Great Salt Lake.

There are a number of environmental criminals still running around free and claiming innocence: chief among them Crandall Canyon mine owner Robert Murray. But as independent media coverage, resulting public outrage and political pressure grow, hopefully more of these liars, thieves and environmental murderers will meet justice.

Now let the investigation of the Bush Regime into its protracted efforts to destroy America’s natural places begin. And so too- the claims of innocence.

I couldn’t believe it when I read it in the newspaper of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois where I lived before I moved to Utah. State government is closing a number of state parks, including Kickapoo State Park outside nearby Danville, to pay for their own fiscal incompetence. Residents of the area are fighting it but it’s probably a lost cause and indicative of the tragic and short-sighted attitude our so-called leaders have toward natural places and their contempt for the people who put them in power.

I used to go there often to hike, picnic and row my raft. It’s where I took my camera to practice videotaping wildlife, Nature, and work out in preparation for my grueling trip to Tibet and hike around Mount Kailash in 2005: the result being my documentary “Kora: Tibet and the Trail of Truth.” It was one of the few, remaining natural places in an area long decimated abd denuded by corporate and large-scale agriculture.

Actually, Kickapoo was far from being wild. It was reclaimed coal-mining ground that had been scarred and scraped beyond industrial use. So it was left to return to the Earth and the result was a strangely beautiful park made up of hills, forest, streams, ponds and other stuff Illinois never had much of and has even less of now. Kickapoo is ironically, unnatural.

But open or not, it’s a gleaming example of what humans can do to correct the environmental mistakes we’ve made. Sadly, it’s now also an example of how we just never learn.

Thanks to the incompetence, arrogance and lack of caring by the Bush Regime and then Republican-led Congress, Gustav rides into New Orleans looking more like John Wayne then the black-hatted villain. I’m sure the Republicans don’t feel that way. They thought all along THEY were the good guys. Now that Bush, Cheney and other top right-wing knuckleheads have conceded defeat at the hands of Nature, perhaps the inappropriately, self-titled “conservative” element of American society understands better that the environment is an ISSUE and not just something they can kiss off, hand over to the oil, mining and real estate industries and expect everything to turn out okey-dokey.

But given their track record and moral learning curve involved, my guess is they understand- not. Don’t let W’s standby mode in Texas fool you. This is about APPEARANCES NOT ACTUAL ACTION. WAY-HAYYYYYY TO LATE (apologies to Dr. Perry Cox), Bush doesn’t want to appear again like an incompetent, arrogant loser and Cheney- well, Cheney DOESN’T WANT TO APPEAR AT ALL. BTW: anyone see Cheney lately?

The good news is that even if Gustav isn’t as destructive as feared, he’s still done his job on America’s Radical Right. Bush and his ilk may not “get it”- but they’re getting it anyway.

It’s tragically but tantalizingly ironic that the once-mighty Republican Party is cowering in the shadows of an approaching storm, not terrorists, oil companies or even the Chinese. Bush and Cheney have canceled their last chance to say something good about their horrendous nightmare of an administration. The GOPhers are talking about cutting the convention short: more worried about being seen partying during a national disaster (isn’t that what they’ve been doing the last seven years?) than actually doing anything to help.

What the Republicans fear most is America watching John McCain give his acceptance speech in split screen with live video of bodies floating in the streets of New Orleans. Especially after Obama’s triumphant Denver address that was more like the Jacksons’ Victory tour. But that’s the Republicans’ karma. They created the PR nightmare that is approaching our southern coast, not Nature. And hopefully, many of them are thinking what Robert Preston’s character Big Ed Bookman, faced with divine retribution for his corruption, confessed so eloquently in “Semi-Tough”: “Lord, I’m a sinner and now you’re gonna f**k me.”

Keeping up appearances is a 24/7 gig when all you’ve got is the APPEARANCE OF CARING OR ACCOMPLISHMENT, not any kind of record of it. But after seven years of monumental gaffes and dismal failures- 9/11, Iraq, energy prices, the federal deficit, Social Security, the housing crisis, one ill-fated debacle after another- it is Hurricane Gustav and Nature that frighten our pillars of strength and integrity more than Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama, protesters- even Janet Jackson. You think the GOP considered curtailing its little bash in the face of threats of violence, $4/gallon gasoline, and crippling recession?

Bush, Cheney and the Republicans have led an all-out assault on Nature during their reign of error. Now, their endless, senseless campaigns of destruction make any hurricane, wildfire, even a bear attack or other act of Nature seem like justifiable revenge against an evil overlord. I feel for the people of New Orleans and hope Gustav and his younger sister Hanna who’s yet to come are not as bad as everyone fears. But I also hope that Bush and his partying party finally get the message:

YOU MESS WITH NATURE- NATURE MESSES WITH YOU. Party on, fellas. Don’t bother cleaning up when you leave. We’ll pick up. Just go.

Testimony to the power of media is that for the last three days in southwest Montana- one of the most naturally gorgeous and spectacular places in America- I’d couldn’t stop singing “Going to Montana soon, gonna be a dental floss tycoon.” Why Frank Zappa’s nonsense lyrics should have that kind of hold on me after more than thirty years is a crime. But my brain was able to separate the media from the magic without too much effort thanks to pure power of Nature.

Our friends Bill and Pat are building a log cabin south of Sheridan, Montana just a couple hours west of Yellowstone. We were there to help sand, chainsaw, screw and glue the logs into place. The weather was a little windy and cool but it made working during the day more tolerable and sleeping in our tent nicer. Sandhill cranes, whitetail deer, buffalo (more-than-slightly domesticated) and wildlife roamed throughout the valley which is mostly BLM land and private ranches. Everyone was happy under the big, cloud-dappled sky.

During this time, I was also editing a web ad on my laptop running off the X5’s car battery and setting up shooting assignments with a new client located in the UK. I got the ad finished just in time to burn it to DVD and drive it five miles into town to catch the FedEx pickup at noon Friday (pickup times are normally around 5 p.m. but rural areas must get picked up earlier depending on how far they are from a big airport). My cell phone didn’t work so well but we were able to book my trip to Chicago and set up a Salt Lake shoot before the weekend descended. You just have to be flexible and patient, I told myself: something I’ve never been good at but living in the country apparently teaches you.

After running power tools all day, carrying 1,000 lb. logs around and surviving a smashed toe, only one thing will satisfy you: a massive Montana steak. No matter how big this state is, you can’t swing an expired marmot without hitting a steakhouse. A New York strip the size and weight of a dictionary topped off our perfect trip. Well, not REALLY perfect but when you’re flexible and patient either every thing is perfect or nothing is. Either way, you deal with it better.

Now, we’re back home in Salt Lake. Time to get back to work, catch up on the bills, pull the log glue out of my leg hairs (ouch!), and re-adjust to urban life. But the flexibility and patience I learned after just two days in Montana have sunk in. Whether it’s Utah, the Rockies or the desert, The West is home.

A great new collection of essays “A Passion for this Earth” advances many new, optimistic approaches to getting the emerging pro-Earth movement out of its anti-media, politically-anchored, isolationist doldrums and into the mass market and consciousness. Scientist Carl Sarfina argues that environmentalists’ efforts failed in the 1970s, despite the same evidence of human excess and damage we have now, because they failed to make environmentalism a VALUE.

To really motivate most Americans to do anything, they need to be INSPIRED he says, not just presented with a lot of irrefutable evidence in a dull and often judgmental and combative package. That’s why the radical Christian right-wing took over the ideologically-adrift Republicans and hijacked America’s sense of what is true and good. “Getting anywhere requires both a destination and navigational equipment” Sarfina writes. “Factual findings can suggest the destination. Values are the moral compass.” What is the compass? Sarfina suggests media- getting the word out, prosletyzing, just like the Christian Right: a blueprint environmentalists have ignored or avoided because of their own petty prejudices and ignorance.

In his essay “Fools’ Paradise,” Ronald Wright reprises Jared Diamond’s analysis of the Easter Island eco-disaster in “Collapse” by invoking the anthropological concept of “ideological pathology.” That’s essentially a society committing suicide by eating itself to death instead of going on a diet to live healthier and longer. Wright like Sarfina, believes media, communication and, in Wright’s case history, are the keys to understanding our dilemma and what we must do to avoid Easter Island’s fate.

“Archaeology is perhaps the best tool we have for looking ahead. Unlike written history, which is often highly edited, archaeology uncovers the deeds we have forgotten or have chose to forget. It also offers a much longer reading of the direction and momentum of the human course through time.”

Media and communication are essential to the re-emerging Earth movement to not repeat the mistakes of the 1970s. Self-righteousness, confrontation, and politicizing environmental consciousness fail to make stewardship a MORAL VALUE and INSPIRE PEOPLE to do it because it’s the right thing. All the evidence, facts and political wrangling over the past 30 years failed to prevent the crisis we now find ourselves in.

Persuading the American people of the urgency and need for Earth-consciousness and action will require, as Sarfina wrote, a mass media attack along the lines of what’s happening on this blog and all over the Internet: video, art, music, writing, theater, education. That, in a nutshell, is where I’m coming from. And as Sarfina’s “compass” would indicate, it’s where we’re all going. We just need to be able to read a compass and have the motivation to pick it up.

As an official boycotter of the Beijing Olympics, I must find things to do to fill the hours and hours I would waste watching people I don’t know play games I’ve never heard of in a country I don’t like. Fortunately in Utah, that’s easy. There are so many things to do outdoors year-round that it’s more a question of what to do, not “what is there to do?”

So after cleaning the hot tub, the backyard patio, trimming the bushes and reworking a graphic for work, I shot some of the hummingbirds that zoom around the house this time of year. This has been an especially great summer for hummers. They battle for territorial supremacy from sunrise to sunset from April to September. The hatchlings usually emerge in July and join in the action. The video here was what I gathered from about a half hour sitting in the backyard in a director’s chair in the shade with a cold drink.

It didn’t start out as a challenge to myself. Ultimately, that’s how it evolved but not why it succeeded. I’m talking about NOT running our central air conditioning units the entire summer. In fact, I didn’t even take the winter covers off (pix below). This despite the fifth hottest July on record in Salt Lake this year, a hotter-than-average June, and 2007’s being the hottest summer here EVER.

The reason? Were were out of town for a couple of weeks during that time. But the major reasons were our solar PV electrical system and our evaporative or, as popularly known in the west, “swamp” cooler (pix left). Its principle is quite simple: a ferris wheel in a box on your roof blows naturally cooling mist using water from your home into your house keeping the temperature down and acting as a ceiling fan/giant spray bottle.

Ol’ Swampy kept our house 15-20 degrees cooler than outside even on the hottest days. Luckily, the humidity during this time was low (10-25%) which is how the swamp cooler works its magic. Above 25%, it doesn’t work very well which is why you don’t see them much outside of semi-arid climates like Utah’s. What’s more, swamp coolers use about 75% less electricity than central air conditioners and an “advanced ducted” system (we don’t have one of those) can save up to $10,000 in operating costs over the 15-year life of the system.

I can’t tell you what our total savings over last summer are yet. I have some more number-crunching to do. But 2007 was hotter than this one and we mostly ran the AC. I can tell you that combined with our solar panels, our electric bill for mid-June-mid-July this year was $28.20. Last year during that period, we spent $122.40. From mid-May-mid-June 2007 (a scorcher), we experimented with our then-new solar system, ran totally off-grid and paid $8.20 (the hot tub’s on 220v). That same period this year, we were grid-tied and net-metered and paid $34.07. July-August 2007 was $122.40. We haven’t gotten the bill for that period this year yet.

Swamp coolers use water but not nearly as much as you’d think. And with routine maintenance, not enough to make much of a difference in your water bill. From June 8-July 11, 2007, the hottest month on record in Salt Lake, we spent $68.03 on water. This year during the same period (slightly cooler), we spent $62.19. The water bill from July 12-August 9, 2007 jumped to $151.75. We haven’t gotten our bill yet for that period this year but I’m expecting it to be similar or less. I’ll let you know.

At a glance, the combination of the solar panels and the swamp cooler is a massive economic and environmental savings. There are some critics of swamp coolers who point out that swamp coolers suck in pollutants from the outside air that can cause you problems. But central, car and industrial air conditioners, especially the older ones, give off HCFC (hydrochloroflurocarbons) that deplete the ozone layer, aggravating the problem even more. As for sacrificing comfort, if it’s 100 degrees outside and 80 degrees inside and you can’t feel and live with the difference, you need your blood pressure, not your air conditioning checked.

The question is: which do you want? More ozone in your home or creating more ozone that will eventually get into your home anyway? Not an easy choice. But because airborne ozone and pollutants vary in intensity from day to day, and an air conditioning unit gives off HCFCs all the time, it makes more sense to run the swamp cooler from a personal, and environmental and a neighborly standpoint.

Bottom line: if you live in the western U.S. in a semi-arid or desert climate, there’s no reason not to have an evaporative cooler. They’re cheaper to buy, install, operate, are much lower maintenance, use 25% the electricity of an air conditioner, don’t use much water, have far less impact on the environment at large and maybe equal the health impact inside your house as AC. When Nature gives you heat and drought- don’t whine. Get a swamp cooler, some solar panels and laugh all the way to the bank.

When I lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1997-99, my house was near a small lake which no one ever used. So I bought a boat. But not the kind you think of as a “boat”: the one with beds, a kitchen, room for eight, motors, sails, radar, 12-inch cannons. This was an inflatable boat: a German model by Sevylor called, appropriately, the “Fish Hunter.” It looks like either a bizarre cartoon character or a Navy Seals assault craft. Back then, it cost about $100. Their website says it’s now $158 but it’s $110 on eBay.

After a long week of TV non-news-sense, I would blow a Saturday afternoon just paddling around, letting the sun fry the sociopathy out of my ethically-abused body. I could float along shore to see how close I could get to the great blue herons and other beautiful birds that lived there (pretty close, actually though herons are pretty skittish). After I left Kalamazoo, I only used the Fish Hunter a couple of times during my stops in Burlington, Vermont and Champaign, Illinois. But recently on a week vacation in Park City, I hauled it out again.

After MacGyvering a way to inflate with our bike tire compressor instead of the foot pump, saving about an hour of leg exercise, Abbie and I paddled around nearby Jordanelle Reservoir and- ironically- had a gas. We watched as the intolerable loud and smelly Jet Skis and motorized craft zoomed past us, creating big wakes that tossed us around and added to the fun. I’d forgotten how fast and maneuverable the Fish Hunter is. Most of all, I’d forgotten how much fun it is just floating around on a hot, lazy afternoon not producing any greenhouse gases or other pollution, working my upper body by rowing, and seeing more of Utah’s spectacular scenery from a different perspective.

I haven’t taken it out on Great Salt Lake yet. It’s perfect for getting to those fresh water marshes ringing the lake where all the wildlife live. Yeah, I know it’s a petroleum product. But if you’ve got a choice between a plastic-coated, noise, water and air-polluting pond rocket or a zero-maintenance, zero-polluting bucket of fun, give me the Fish Hunter any day. Especially Saturday.

It was as if Salt Lake City had suddenly become the capital of Mars. I watched the front ooze into the valley from behind the Oquirrhs last night. With it came high winds, clouds and the distinctive smell of wood burning. It was smoke from Yosemite where the fires there burn on and the tourists keep coming anyway.

Ironically, and perhaps superfluously, I puffed on my cigar as the sky and eventually everything turned a grimy shade of pinkish-red (or is pink reddish?). I hadn’t seen sky like that since the Great Inversion of January 2007. This too demanded pictures for posterity.

At the same time, I found out on the 10 p.m. news, wildfires were burning near our own airport and up City Creek Canyon to our north. As the the aromas and plumes converged along the Wasatch, I felt an eerie oneness: a sense that a fire just up the road and another hundreds of miles away affect us all. Nature is so big, vast and powerful that it overwhelms us when it wills so without having to think, plan, choose or execute anything. No matter how we try we are incapable of taming or totally destroying it. We are only capable of destroying ourselves while Nature continues disinterested.