Inconvenient Truth

Tonight I had the pleasure of helping set up and take pictures of a showing of Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" at a local high school. The science teacher of the school has been catching a lot of flack for showing it due to a news story ran in the town rag, but he decided to go ahead and let me tell you: the vibe in that room was really nice. People were talking, sharing ideas and especially when Easton mentioned ways a small rural community like ours could come together to make a bigger difference.

I hadn't seen the film yet. It's not very political, but the parts that show what spured President Gore (yes, I said President) on to become so involved in this process did show parts from the Bush administration and the former administrations and really....it just pissed me off. They think we're so stupid. Quite honestly, if his facts are true...we are stupid.

One fact that really hit home was the whole "if we save the environment, we hurt the economy" argument that people against environmental regulations offer. For instance, because the US has not set emission standards on their vehicles, we are still allowed to make huge SUVs. But guess what? We can't sell them anywhere else in the world in the larger markets because all those countries like the UK and China....we don't meet their regulations. Guess who is gaining money in the automobile industry? Toyota and Honda. Hmmm. 2 automobile manufacturers that offer lower gas mileage vehicles, and even electric vehicles.

Moving back to HomeTownVille made me realize how much people drive here. I even started to get the bug for a big vehicle. Makes me excited to be moving back to Chicago and using public transportation.

Anyways, I ended the evening by listening to some Bright Eyes and wandering around the country. I just didn't feel like turning right to go home. So I drove until I found blackness and I took some pictures. You can see those in my Flickr.

I really will miss the peacefulness you can find on a country road when we move back to the city. The skies here are gorgeous.