First Energy has now decided to close the this plan and several others–because they are not willing to pay to make their plants meet new federal air pollution standards for mercury and other poisonous metals.

I wonder how many people have been poisoned since the dispute began? How much will that cost?

   http://youtu.be/h3PIWH0RhJQ

Now when I was a child we played role play games, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, preacher and congregation. There were always at least two sides of the equation. You could pick your side.

But in their game there was no choice.

What is it in the life of a seven year old that would make him express in his spontaneous play a need to run from authority? Well, I think, to paraphrase James Carville, one of former president Clinton’s chief campaign strategists, it’s the environment, stupid.

These children have been placed in a setting where their life choices are apparently few and inferior. It’s tough to have to grow up before you are ready. What makes a seven year old child create a run from the police game may be the same thing that makes nearly a quarter of African American seven year old girls reach puberty. Its the environment. And it’s the same thing that makes the life expectancy of someone in Cleveland’s African American inner city 64 years, nearly a quarter century less than that of a suburbanite who lives only about ten miles away.

Sandwiched between a multitude of undesirables- poor food choices, popular music that urges them to accept or even celebrate bad choices and worse consequences, a nearby street that is ranked number 2 in the country for the likelihood of you getting a random beat down (and like they say, when you’re number two, you try harder). Add to that a struggling education system where not much more than fifty percent of the students graduate from high school, and only a very few of them with more than a passing understanding of their great past and their even greater ability to overcome.

But in spite of that, yes, all of that, we are now seeing an awakening of the spirit of youth in our communities. They are beginning to understand the significance of earth stewardship, of creating a better community, of taking care of themselves and each other. They seek to make a change. It’s beginning to show in their actions, in their talk, and even in their music.

Its a beginning, and its true, “a child shall lead them.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/climate-change-vs-mother-nature-scientists-reveal-that-bears-have-stopped-hibernating-429431.html

So, every piece of cornbread, every piece of fish, fried chicken, blackeye pea, pork chop, green bean, macaroni and cheese, everything  that hits our table, that passes through our lips, is a product of this dominion man has over the works of God’s hands. Every house we own (or rent, or stay in), every car we drive (or bus we catch, or path we walk), every stitch of clothes we wear, is a product of this dominion man has been given over the works of God’s hands.

And with that dominion comes a responsibility to take care of the works of God’s hands. The following audio interview explains the foundation for my concern. Click the link, then click on #10 Mark McClain.

http://yougenics.net/testing/benj/map.html

But my daughter graduated and came back home, with car. I started driving again. Now blood pressure higher, weight higher, pockets slimmer. Mr. Ubiquitous is back, and now I’m everywhere, again. But I came across an article in the Environmental Health News that convinced me that if I don’t go “car-less,” at least I should go “less-car.” The article shows that urban air pollution, vehicle exhaust and other fossil fuel pollution, is ubiquitous. The toxic chemicals that it contains reduces the IQs of babies even in the womb. Before they are born!

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/air-pollutants-and-childrens-iqs

So to all you who whine “but what can we do?” the answer is simply, STOP DRIVING YOUR CARS SO MUCH!!!!

p.s.  Sorry about the use of  “ubiquitous.” The author of the Environmental Health News article must’ve used it a gazillion times. He probably just learned it.

p.p.s.  Shout out to anyone who figures out the pun in the post title. Leave a comment below.

On the far-away island of Sala-ma-Sond,
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed.

They were… until Yertle, the king of them all,
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
“I’m ruler”, said Yertle, “of all that I see.
But I don’t see enough. That’s the trouble with me.
With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond
But I cannot look down on the places beyond.
This throne that I sit on is too, too low down.
It ought to be higher!” he said with a frown.
“If I could sit high, how much greater I’d be!
What a king! I’d be ruler of all that I see!”

So Yertle the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And Yertle, the Turtle King, gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a new throne.
He made each turtle stand on another one’s back
And he piled them all up in a nine-turtle stack.
And then Yertle climbed up. He sat down on the pile.
What a wonderful view! He could see ‘most a mile!

“All mine!” Yertle cried. “Oh, the things I now rule!
I’m the king of a cow! And I’m the king of a mule!
I’m the king of a house! And, what’s more, beyond that
I’m the king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”

And all through the morning, he sat up there high
Saying over and over, “A great king am I!”
Until ‘long about noon. Then he heard a faint sigh.
“What’s that?” snapped the king,and he looked down the stack.
And he saw, at the bottom, a turtle named Mack.
Just a part of his throne. And this plain little turtle
Looked up and he said, “Beg your pardon, King Yertle.
I’ve pains in my back and my shoulders and knees.
How long must we stand here, Your Majesty, please?”

“SILENCE!” the King of the Turtles barked back.
“I’m king, and you’re only a turtle named Mack.”

“You stay in your place while I sit here and rule.
I’m the king of a cow! And I’m the king of a mule!
I’m the king of a house! And a bush! And a cat!
But that isn’t all. I’ll do better than that!
My throne shall be higher!” his royal voice thundered,
“So pile up more turtles! I want ’bout two hundred!”

“Turtles! More turtles!” he bellowed and brayed.
And the turtles ‘way down in the pond were afraid.
They trembled. They shook. But they came. They obeyed.
From all over the pond, they came swimming by dozens.
Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins.
And all of them stepped on the head of poor Mack.
One after another, they climbed up the stack.

Then Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high,
He could see forty miles from his throne in the sky!
“Hooray!” shouted Yertle. “I’m the king of the trees!
I’m king of the birds! And I’m king of the bees!
I’m king of the butterflies! King of the air!
Ah, me! What a throne! What a wonderful chair!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”

Then again, from below, in the great heavy stack,
Came a groan from that plain little turtle named Mack.
“Your Majesty, please… I don’t like to complain,
But down here below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can’t stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides, we need food. We are starving!” groaned Mack.

“You hush up your mouth!” howled the mighty King Yertle.
“You’ve no right to talk to the world’s highest turtle.
I rule from the clouds! Over land! Over sea!
There’s nothing, no, NOTHING, that’s higher than me!”

But, while he was shouting, he saw with surprise
That the moon of the evening was starting to rise
Up over his head in the darkening skies.
“What’s THAT?” snorted Yertle. “Say, what IS that thing
That dares to be higher than Yertle the King?
I shall not allow it! I’ll go higher still!
I’ll build my throne higher! I can and I will!
I’ll call some more turtles. I’ll stack ‘em to heaven!
I need ’bout five thousand, six hundred and seven!”

But, as Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And started to order and give the command,
That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he’d taken enough. And he had.
And that plain little lad got a bit mad.
And that plain little Mack did a plain little thing.
He burped!
And his burp shook the throne of the king!

And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,
The king of the air and the birds and the bees,
The king of a house and a cow and a mule…
Well, that was the end of the Turtle King’s rule!
For Yertle, the King of all Sala-ma-Sond,
Fell off his high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond!

And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

Dr. Seuss

Though he died over thirty years ago and wasn’t around very much during my childhood, I’ve been thinking a lot about my father lately.  When describing his legacy in my life I used to say that the only inheritance he left me was the gout. An intergenerational curse. You know about that? When the Bible talks about the sins of the fathers visiting the sons. I see a lot of that in the community. Ignoring the natural consequences of your actions because you can always blame the damage on  upline producers.  Diabetes is a curse. High blood pressure is a curse. Heart disease is a curse. A stroke, is a curse.   Yet we don’t try to avoid them because “it runs in the family.”  Grandaddy had it, until he died from it. Big Mamma had it, until she stroked out of here. Aunt Tut had it, Uncle Jesse had it, Brother Arthur, Cousin Susan and Cousin Rose. Yet we have a perverse need to be proud of our inheritance because  it is proof that we belong… to something.

Environmental justice tip – we no longer have to be proud that at one time in our history we were forced to eat poison. We don’t need to link our culture to a neckbone, or whatever toxic food made available or convenient to us. Don’t have to simply accept the toxic environment and circumstances inflicted on us.

So hold the fried, the fat and the salt sweetheart.  I’m changing the way I eat. Oh, I know its hard, and inconvenient. But its easier than slavery. And more convenient than a stroke.

That gout or high blood pressure that your father left you, think about it like a raggedy car. Just because he left it to you doesn’t necessarily mean you have to drive it.

What they had in their hand was indeed power. We could not survive on this planet without it. Yet no one knew. It’s not what you get from the corner ATM, or whats held in the Federal Reserve.   And when I told them what “it” was, they still chose money over “it”, saying that if they took the money then they could just buy “it” when they needed it. To see which is more powerful, I suggested take that big pocket knot, dig a hole, put the money in the ground, cover it up, and just wait to see what happens. Dig another hole, put “it” in the ground, cover it up, put a little water on it periodically and see what happens.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against money. But a book I often read says that the love of money is the root of all evil. So take a close  look at that bling bling thing, we all know that love makes us do some crazy things. I’m just saying that at times there may be things that money can’t buy, and those things may be the most important. Like fresh nutritious food in a food desert community (a community where fast food and junk food is plentiful and fresh nutritious food is scarce or nonexistent). Or, like love.

That brings me to Maurice Small. I love that brother. He is one of the few people I know on this planet who really knows how to turn ish into shinola. Check out this video and figure out how you can apply the underlying concept in your community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHAnydncRVY

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/december-2009/food/bpa/overview/bisphenol-a-ov.htm