I’ve started to write this several times and just can’t seem to convey my thoughts in a manner I’d wish, but I thought I’d share what I think is a rather humorous anecdote.
First, some background……… (Please click on the links for full understanding.)
We’re all aware of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or more commonly known as the Stimulus package. A part of the ARRA was money thrown at the Dept. of Energy…… Total: $27.2 billion, in fact. This is the same part of the stimulus package that brought us the Soylendra scandal and what should have been a national scandal the Seattle green jobs debacle. Well, my home state, Kansas, was no different than the others, in that when Uncle Sugar was handing out the sugar, we were fighting for our spot in line, too. Of course, we didn’t get nearly as much as the coastal states, mainly because the administration knows it doesn’t matter how much they send us we’re not going to vote for the current administration. We only got $47.7 million for our Kansas Energy Office. Well, like most other places, this money if spent has been an abject failure.
So as to not repeat the failures of the recent past, one ideal was to partner with the Climate and Energy Project . And we came up with a Take Charge Challenge . This is “to implement an expanded version of CEP’s successful Take Charge Challenge, a friendly competition involving 16 cities in 4 different regions of the state.” “Each regional winner will receive an award, valued at $100,000, of a renewable energy or energy efficiency project for their city.”
So, what does the city of Parsons come up with?
In fine Kansan fashion, they decided on a “Grilling off the Grid” event! They had a very nice cooker/smoker there. It appeared to be a propane fired grill that doubled as a smoker. You know, the kind that you can put wood chips in from a tree one may have recently cut down. Apple chips are my favorite to use, but other prefer cherry, others yet, hickory. We even had on of those inflatable slide things for kids, you know the kind that inflates with a single stroke engine.
Yes, we Kansans know about conserving energy! We showed it every time we opened the cooker to flip the burgers! I wonder if CEP is going to vote that we get the $100,000?
Of course, the question would be, if Parsons won the $100,000, would they know what they’re suppose to do with it? This seems to be something akin to giving a fish a bicycle.
Just had to share,
James
suyts space 
I’ll see your smoker…and raise you a central sewer system
That collects everyone’s sewage, pumps it to a central treatment plant, injects it all into one hot spot shallow well – in porous oolitic limestone
All because they can’t charge us for septic tanks, and they can charge us for sewage
lol, very nice. Yes, that’s pretty fubar, but I thought Parsons was a hoot! Energy conservation and climate concerns? No problem! We’ll just fire up the propane grill, throw some wood chips in the smoker, and an air-compressor for the slide and unplug! Now can we have our $100,000 federal grant?
They were “OFF” the grid!
But their “Carbon Footprint” was larger than if they had used energy from the grid. Transport of equipment and fuel to the party site.
BTW: Did they get their reward?
They probably took lessons from Brother Al!
lol, the contest isn’t finalized until the end of October, so we don’t know. But, if they get it, I’ll post an update.
And yes, the carbon foot print. The energy “conservation” was hilarious, too. I asked where the energy went every time they opened the lid to the cooker…….. But, it show some things I think people could learn from……
First, in some parts of the country, the argument is so nonsensical that they can’t conceive what the loons are trying to get them to do.
Secondly, obviously their message is lost upon many people. I shoot in a pool league in Parsons. Being the guy that I am, I’m always game for a good discussion about politics or football, or just about any discussion …… I haven’t found one person that could properly articulate, much less argue the CAGW hypothesis.
Lastly, it shows an apathy that greatly concerns me. In Kansas, we’ve been trying for years to build a $4 billion coal plant in the western part of the state. There was talk about building another outside Parsons, but the potential financiers wanted to see how the Holcomb plant would go. They don’t have the will for another fight such as the one at Holcomb.
On a side, during this huge back and forth with the Holcomb plant, Kansas did a pretty smart thing. They wrote a law that any coal plant built in Kansas was required to buy a percentage of their coal from Kansas. …….. Sad that they felt obliged to write it into law.
No one in my neck of the woods can understand why people are worried about natural changes in the weather. Most of them lived here most of their lives and the rest returned here to retire. I was not born here but my mother and father were both raised within 16 miles of my place and my Great Grandmother was raised less than three miles from here.
Those are air miles and where my mother was raised is close to 70 miles by road because it is on the other side of Norris Lake.
I was not aware of the distances before i bought my property but my brother had done the family tree thing over a period of twenty years as a hobby. When he came out to visit 5 years ago we spent time visiting cemeteries to read headstones as well as trying to find the places our parents grew up.
People around here don’t either….. obviously.
My little brother lives on the lot next to the house my grandfather built. It still has very good “bones”. Structurally, its as sound, square, and level as the day he built it. It need plumbing and electrical fixed, but its still righteous. Its about 15 road miles from me.