Welcome back to the earth
“We could never have loved the earth so well if we had no childhood in it – if it were not the earth where the same flowers come up every spring that we used to gather with our tiny fingers as we sat lisping to ourselves on the grass, the same redbreasts that we used to call “God’s birds” because they did no harm to the precious crops. What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known and loved because it is known?”
Business as usual, or cautionary tale?
s the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s transportation “bailout” from the state business as usual or a cautionary tale?
Recently KPBSD changed their mission statement, in part, to read: “the mission of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is to develop productive, responsible, citizens who are prepared to be successful in a dynamic world.”
No argument from me there. It makes me consider two things. First, what does it take to be a responsible citizen? Secondly, how can our district model this for young people? I’m not talking about our teachers. They model active participation every day, and for this I am sincerely grateful. It’s the decision-makers I’m frustrated with.
Pebble Partnership’s quake data lacking
Ken Taylor, the outgoing vice president of environment for the Pebble Partnership, invited Alaskans to read their recently released Environmental Baseline Document in a Compass piece dated March 16. He encouraged citizens worried about Pebble to dive into its 30,800 pages. The document doesn’t describe mine plans, so it’s unclear how it would alleviate concerns about mine development. But I dived in nonetheless, focusing on their analysis of earthquake risk.
Letters – May 2
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America’s lost-energy decade
If we had begun exploring in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2002, its oil and gas (and jobs and revenue) would be flowing now.
Ten years ago this week, the U.S. Senate debated whether to open a small section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and natural gas production. Under the terms of the ANWR amendment, a maximum of 2,000 acres in the non-wilderness portion of the refuge (less than 0.01 percent of the whole) would have been opened to surface development. But the amendment was defeated, and we are paying the price today.
In an energy-strategy speech Tuesday, President Obama once again listed the importance of producing “more oil and gas here at home.” Whether that happens depends on what the president and other policy makers have learned since the ANWR debate a decade ago.
Is Homer open for business?
Just when it looked like the Homer City Council had finished the much discussed, analyzed, protested and ultimately time-consuming sign code revision, it was put back on the agenda for Monday night’s meeting. Council member Francie Roberts filed for reconsideration in order to question whether the council had made an impulsive move in passing it. [...]
Prosperity, theology, and spirit of corporatism
In 1905, Max Weber wrote “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” in which he described how a religiously instilled work ethic became a moral imperative reinforcing capitalist economics. Weber went beyond the surface structure of Protestantism and probed deeper political and economic aspects of how religion became the foundation of pre-corporate capitalism.
The economy has moved on, and so has Protestantism. Today the largest and fastest-growing Christian churches in America espouse a new type of Christianity called prosperity theology, also known as gospel prosperity or Christian materialism, which does for 21st-century corporate capitalism what early 20th-century Protestantism did for regular capitalism — connect economics to God’s blessing.
Recycle E-waste and prevent pollution
A large deposit of copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, and palladium has been discovered in Alaska! These precious metals are currently sitting idle awaiting the chance to be turned into your newest iPad, computer, gaming console, or smart phone. Perhaps this particular deposit will be used to create a battery that will power your next hybrid vehicle or will be used to manufacture a tidal turbine in Kachemak Bay, creating a source of clean, local, and sustainable energy. No, this is not the proposed Pebble mine in southwest Alaska. This deposit is in your junk drawer, storage unit, back room, and even your local landfill.
Letters – April 28
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Don’t shortchange spending on children
We’re being told that fiscal responsibility requires big cuts in education, nutrition, and health care for millions of children. This shortsighted and uncaring thinking is not only a nightmare for those directly affected; it is an imminent threat to America’s economic future.
We have to let our policy makers know that fiscal responsibility requires caring economic policies. Here’s why.
Experts agree that a nation’s most important asset is what economists call “high quality human capital” – flexible, creative, educated people who can adapt to our globalized knowledge-service economy. Brain science shows that the years from 0 to 5 are critical for healthy brain development. An overwhelming body of research shows that to ensure that we have this high quality human capital we must invest more in care and education for our children. Indeed, studies have long shown that this is the most cost-effective investment a nation can make.
