Crazy Mormon Hippies.....

Deseret News:

As the sun crept up and over the Wasatch Front early Tuesday morning, its rays not only fell on a new LDS Church meetinghouse in Farmington but also powered it.

Featuring 158 panels mounted over about a third of the area of the soon-to-be-opened stake center's south roof, the solar power system is one of several innovative uses of energy-efficient technology in its construction processes and utility operations being tested by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Helping to unveil the first-ever solar powered LDS meetinghouse in North America to the media were two members of the church's Presiding Bishopric — Presiding Bishop H. David Burton and Bishop Richard C. Edgley, first counselor.

Solar power was installed in 2007 at a new meetinghouse in Tamotu, Tahiti.

Estimates suggest the solar panel systems should generate enough electricity to power the structure, resulting in a projected annual energy savings of $6,000.

"Today, the solar panels are the story, aren't they?" said Bishop Burton, listing the environmentally friendly contributions of other building elements, ranging from high-efficiency heating and cooling systems to landscaping designs and building layout.

Four other buildings following the prototype design are being constructed, including a second Utah meetinghouse in Eagle Mountain. The others are located in the Southwest — in Apache Junction, Ariz.; Logandale, Nev.; and Pahrump, Nev.

Crazy Liberal Hippies!

-Bob

Environmental Activism at Olympus Jr High Built a Park

I was sent a link to a policy paper (I think that's the right term) from Sutherland Institute about environmental activism in Utah's schools. You can read the paper here.

I read through most of it, and found several things wrong. However, I'm not an environmental expert, so I'll leave that to real environmental experts.

However, I do want to share a tale about some environmental activism that took place when I was a student at Olympus Jr High in the early 1990's. (Am I really that old?)

My eighth grade science teacher (Ms Augustyn, if memory serves me correctly) disliked the fact that school lunches were served on Styrofoam trays. So, she educated her students on the environmental impacts of Styrofoam. That lead to a petition drive that captured the attention of some of the local media, and got Granite School District to change to trays made of recycled cardboard throughout the district.

Not only that, but it also laid the groundwork the following fall for the Olympus Jr High Environmental Club.

And that year, we got the year started off right with a paper recycling program. Then, one of our members heard that an intersection near the school was going to be realigned. In realigning the streets, they were going to tear out some pioneer-era trees. So, a new petition was circulated at the school, and the response from the road people was that they didn't really care what a bunch of Jr High kids thought. So, we spent a couple of Saturdays out talking to neighbors about the trees, getting them to sign our petition.

Well, They relented, moved the road to run on the east side of the trees (vs the west side where it previously ran). They also decided that the area around the trees would become a park.



And, that is the story of Olympus Pines Park. It all started with an activist teacher.



The bush to the right of the sign is one of the few plants we planted that day that has survived the past 16 years. I planted that bush.

-Bob

The Hippies at LDSHQ: Gore Meets With Monson, Ballard, Cook

Had this been a few days ago, I would have thought it was an April Fools' joke.

However, it's no joke:

Al Gore met Thursday with LDS Church leaders in Salt Lake City.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. vice president requested the dinner time meeting to discuss climate change and its solutions, sources said.

Gore had a brief courtesy visit with President Thomas S. Monson before talking with other church leaders.

Gore did not make a public appearance or speak with reporters.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter called it "a cordial meeting" attended by Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Quentin L. Cook and other members of the church's Public Affairs Committee.

Gore "gave a 30-minute presentation and expressed his concerns about CO2 emissions, which was followed by several minutes of questions and answers," said Trotter.

[...]

last Saturday, church officials participated in the worldwide "Earth Hour" campaign to draw attention to climate change. The Salt Lake Temple's outside lights were darkened for an hour along with those in 88 countries and more than 4,000 cities.

"Prudent stewardship and wise use of resources are principles that church leaders have emphasized throughout the
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history of the church," Trotter said in announcing the LDS involvement. "The church encourages its members to join with their fellow citizens in supporting worthy programs that will make their communities better places to live and raise their families."

Think Globally, Act Locally -- In Costa Rica

SLCSpin has written a post about carbon offset plans.

Basically you can offset the polution you produce by donating money to a charity which then will help the rain forest in Costa Rica.

Don't get me wrong. I've been a big fan of the rain forests since my days at Uintah Elementary School.

However, since we are destroying forest land and have polluted air here in Utah, we should probably put that money to use here.

From SLCSpin:

The first time I heard about carbon offset plans, I thought about an episode of NewsRadio in which Phil Hartman refuses to quit smoking in the office.

At one point, he was told that smoking violations carry a fine. Phil calmy handed over the cash and kept right on smoking.

-Bob