Environmental Lent

              April 22^nd, Earth Day, 2019

                      Environmental Lent

When we see the word “Lent” we connect it to the days leading up to Easter. As you know, Lent comes with the giving up of something, and that’s the key I want us to consider.

This is why I think we should look at our environment in that manner, and consider a link with Lent as we do so. But remember, Lent is not just about giving up something; it’s a lot more than that. If you have participated in actually giving up something for Lent, you will understand the purpose of Lent, which is not to do without, but to remind you of Easter. For example, you love to chew gum, and you have given it up for Lent. Then every time you think about chewing a piece of gum, you think about “Why?”…and then Easter.

Giving up something that has a negative effect on our environment is a very personal environmental reminder every time you do it, and each time you give up something for the environment, you become a partner in improving our environment. In my opinion, it’s not the big items such as a giant, coal-fired plant shutting down, it’s thousands upon thousands of individuals who help with the smallest of improvements.

This is our family’s simple, recent involvement in making a positive improvement in our environment. About 6 months ago, Vertis and I started turning down plastic straws when we dined out. Yes, I know you’re shaking your head at the reduction of maybe 50 or 60 straws a month that won’t end up in a landfill, or float around in the Pacific Ocean ending up in a mass of plastic six feet deep as big as the state of Texas. But back to plastic straws. Vertis and I are doing two things when we turn down using a plastic straw; we are making a very simple statement; “Plastic straws are bad for the environment.” But even more important than taking away a few plastic straws from a landfill, that act reminds us why we’re giving them up. It’s being a part of a grassroots coalition to save the environment that will actually accomplish something, and another speech from Al Gore won’t do the job as well as thousands of grassroots citizens around your town who give up something in order to help improve or prevent environment destruction.

This is the key: in order to have an environmental attitude, you must be involved. The reason we picked plastic straws was to remind us every time we sit down to order anything, and we turn down a plastic straw, whether we comment on it or not, we have an environmental awareness that stays with us, and those little nudges that come from turning down a plastic straw makes tiny pricks in our conscious, which help us to focus on other environmental problems and not be indifferent.

The idea that our environment will steadily be improved by grassroots actions, depends upon a commitment that will make a difference. It seems to me that we either take away something that is bad for the environment or add something good. First, let’s look at taking away the additions to our environment that have a negative impact.  We’ve already mentioned plastic straws, so let’s move on from there. The next obvious items in the dining area are the one-use eating utensils. Those are the plastic (again) forks, spoons, and knives. Giving up those for the environment does take a little more effort than plastic straws, but the bulk associated with those plastic items makes the effort worthwhile. 

Yes, plastic straws are only the tip of the huge problem we have with non-recyclables, mostly plastic waste. Plastic is non-biodegradable, which means a plastic straw could easily be a part of a landfill, or on the side of the road for centuries.

 Now let’s move into the vast plastic bag operation, and see if we can help reduce the number of plastic bags that end up scattered around our planet, or in the belly of a whale such as the one that recently beached and died with fifty pounds of plastic grocery sacks in its stomach. Of course it would be better if we all shopped with reusable bags and never used another plastic sack, but we know that’s hard to manage. However, what is manageable is to return those bags and drop them in the recycle box. But get ready to see them go, because New York is considering banning them, and several towns on the west coast have already done so.

If we resolve to stop using anything that is a one-use item, we will be making a giant step forward, but it would mean we would insist all drinks of any kind be in reusable containers. That is a big step, but one that will happen over the next few years. The idea that we will drink from a single use cup in the year 2025 will be almost unheard of. So why don’t we get started and make the reusable drinking cups and bottles standard fare?

Taking away the negative items that degrade our environment doesn’t have to be small items. In fact, as we get environmentally active, we will naturally interact with our elected officials, and as we make our voices heard, it will compel them to act on major items. Grassroots pressure to convert coal fired generating plants can close those plants down quicker than anything, and the consumer will get lower utility bills and the earth will have cleaner air. It’s a win-win situation unless you are trying to win over coal miner votes. The combination of low cost natural gas, wind, and solar power along with grassroots support has closed well over 270 coal fired plants since 2010, and more are set to close. Coal fired plant retirements have saved more than 7000 lives and 3.4 billion dollars in health care costs.

Adding to instead of taking away is just as important, and we can easily add to our environment especially here in Arkansas where, with just a little effort, any town or city can make a tremendous environmental improvement just by planting trees. A study by the US Forestry Service gives a value to the money a town spends to maintain and keep urban trees. For every $1 spent the city will get back $5.82, and over the life of the tree the values for heat removal, noise reduction, reducing air pollution and ecstatic value adds up to $57,151. That’s the worth of one tree.  

Of course, maintaining out National Forests and adding to our wilderness areas are positive ways to help the earth survive the onslaught of those who would try to make money at any cost to the environment. Opposing Congressman’s Westerman’s Sustainable Forestry Bill is a pro-environmental way to react. If that bill becomes law up to 10,000 acres could be clear-cut in our National Forest without any public input.

I know we are already doing some positive environmental activities, but we rank 44^th in Clean State rankings; so roll up your sleeves, get involved, and have a great Earth Day?

A Summer Job

                        A Summer Job

July 1960

            Some things stick in your mind because they were painful, and this is one of them.

I’ve been on several of Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company’s offshore rigs over the past two months, and I am settling into the job. This week our roustabout crew will be working on the Mr. Charlie offshore rig. (The Mr. Charlie was named for Charlie Murphy) The first part of the week has been fairly routine, but this morning our crew is below deck waiting the foreman to come line us out for the day. I know something special is on tap.

I have been up since 5 and as usual, I loaded up on a big T-bone for breakfast. A couple of eggs won’t stay with you till noon.

It’s 6 o’clock, and the rig tool-pusher---not our foremen---is coming down the ladder to where we’re standing. In a few minutes, we’ll start our shift, which will continue until 6:30 this evening with only a 30 minute break for lunch. The tool-pusher interrupts my thoughts.

“Boys y’all are gonna know yor ass has worked today,” he drawls, as he walks up to where our roustabout crew is waiting..

“Go down below and the crew foreman will be there to get you acquainted with cuttin’ sacks.”

Cutting sacks, I think can’t be that hard.

When we get below our roustabout foreman tells us the roughneck crew on the rig floor is running production casing into the drilled hole, and when the casing reaches bottom, cement will be pumped in to cement the pipe in the hole. Our roustabout crew’s job is very simple; all we have to do is move the 100 pound sacks of cement over to a hopper, where two of our crew will stand, one on either side of a vertical knife that sticks up about four-inches. The knife is in the center of a flat metal table, and as you pull the sack of cement across it, the knife cuts the sack, and you and whoever is across the table from you, dumps the sack in the hopper. It is a pretty simple job.

“Okay, boys, pipe will be on bottom in about 30 minutes, and we sure as hell don’t want to wait on cement.”

Butch Rushing and I, along with two Cajun roustabouts, will start with the job of hauling the sacks to the conveyer belt that moves them to where the other four roustabouts can grab them and pull them across the knife.

“Y’all change places every 30 minutes. You hear? And you get a 10 minute break every hour,” our foreman yells to us.

We nod and our team starts grabbing 100 pound sacks and throwing them on the belt that leads to the hopper. Well, a few sacks are easy, as I find out, but 2700 sacks, the amount needed to cement the pipe in the hole, are not, and I am more than ready to cut sacks after 30 minutes of throwing 100 pound sacks of cement on the belt to the hoper.

“Think you college boys can keep up?” Says Shorty, a tough little Cajun, one of the permanent rig roustabouts. Yeah, we’ve been getting a lot of “soft college boys” mouthing from the regular Cajun roustabouts.

“Damn right we can,” spits Butch.

Hell yes, I think we can handle the job. I’ve been working 12 hour days, with only a few days break for nearly six weeks, and I know I’m in good shape. However, as we switch jobs after 30 minutes, I find out something very quickly. The cutting job focuses all the work on your arms and shoulders and the movement is continuous. One or even 10 sacks or 50 sacks is fairly easy, but we are cutting 2700 hundred one hundred pound sacks as fast as we can pull them across the blade, and the tool-pusher is standing there yelling at us if we slow down.

“By God, if I hear that hopper suck air, I’m gonna kick some ass!” the pusher yells, if we slow down even for a few seconds. It has been about 25 minutes now and my arms are aching to the point where I can hardly grasp the ends of the bag of cement. When the knife cuts the sack of cement, cement dust puffs up and clogs my nostrils.

Trying to stay at the cutter for more than 30 minutes is impossible. I’m praying for the 10-minute rest when we change jobs. It is really quiet now, and the only sound is the grind of the hopper and the gasping for air by our crew. Butch is across from me and his face is beet red and his mouth is open, gulping air.

“Break!” yells the foreman.”

I stagger back and stumble toward the open door to the rig rail. The 10 minutes pass so fast I can’t believe it, and now I am back in the line, lifting the 100 pound sacks of cements and throwing them on the conveyer belt.

Naturally, since four of us are college summer workers, and the other four are seasoned Louisiana roustabouts, we have been kidded for the last few weeks about being soft, college kids. Now we are going to show them we can stand in there and do as much as they can, or we are going to die trying.

At times I think I might actually do the die trying bit. The four of us are not as tough or seasoned as the four permanent roustabout crew members, but we don’t smoke, and they do.

We have just cut number 2000 of the 2700 sacks, and the four Cajun roustabouts are asking for relief with 10 minutes to go. We are whipping their Louisiana asses.

Butch and I are taking our 10 minute break with about 200 sacks left, and I walk out of the dusty hole of the rig and over to the rail to cough up cement tainted phlegm and drink as much water as I can get down in 10 minutes. While I rest, I look up and there sitting on the edge of the rig fishing and drinking beer is a guy in clean, starched jeans and a white t-shirt. I don’t recognize him.

“Butch, who’s the tourist up there fishing and drinking beer?”

“Oh that guy? I asked the foreman, and he said it was the company geologist. Said he is though evaluating the set of logs that were run to access the oil and gas potential, and he is waiting on a helicopter to come pick him up.”

I stand covered in cement dust, my arms aching, and sweat dripping off my nose, and I think, I’ve got a BS in geology  and a semester toward my MS, and here I am killing myself while he’s fishing  and drinking beer….oh my God!

“Time, boys! Richard, you get on the knife and Butch help Shorty with lifting sacks!” our foreman yells. As I pull the 100 pound sacks across the knife all I can think about is the company geologist fishing and drinking beer….and I’ve still have ten minutes left on the knife.

$$$$ In Names!

        $$$$ in Names

Have you ever wondered how those weather guys come up with those namby-pamby hurricane and now, winter storm names? Do you think they lock some weather nerd in a room with a bag of Cheetos until he or she comes up with a list of new, non-controversial, wimpy names? Well, I think, we can do better and make money doing it. I have come up with a much superior way to name hurricanes, other weather systems, and even buildings, have non-wimpy names, and make the Government some pretty good money, and since the good old USA is a born-again capitalist country, this method is sure to please everybody.

This is it in a nutshell: Sell ‘em! Okay, maybe I need to flesh out my concept. We could solicit bids for naming rights and the highest bidder would get to choose a hurricane name or a winter storm name or a heat wave. Heck, if somebody will pay well over a million dollars to have lunch with Warren Buffett, how much would they pay to actually name a hurricane? Probable enough to send Senator Tom Cotton on his next fact-finding trip to Paris.

            Now let's think outside the box. The Weather Channel has started naming winter storms, and the World Meteorological Organization in coordination with the USA Metrological Survey approves a list of acceptable hurricane names, but who’s to say the good old USA can’t unilaterally sell names for hurricanes and weather systems? If we can opt out of a nuclear treaty, we should be able to opt out of an agreement to name hurricanes and winter storms.  If that is okay, then why should we stop with just hurricanes and storms? How about the right to name a heat wave, or a cold front? Wouldn’t your girlfriend be tickled to have a heat wave named after her, and I can think of a few folks who would fit in the cold front names. Of course, we would have to outlaw obscene names, but for Southerners and Native Americans allow double or even triple names such as, “Hurricane Joe Bob is expected to make landfall…” and “Bear Walking Tall is expected to strengthen.”

The money making possibilities are almost endless, and since. Hurricanes would easily top the money list of naming rights, we could change names as a storm became stronger. You know, like Tropical Storm Henry Ray, whose naming right were sold for $200,000 would be renamed Hurricane Jimmy for $350,000 when it hit 75 MPH, and then for another $500,000 be renamed Hurricane Hilda Fay, when it hit category 3, and a super storm over category 5, would be renamed Hurricane Kenny for a cool million.

Well, we’re only skimming the top of naming possibilities, and we’re missing a really good one that would raise some significant bucks. It’s naming ships! Just think of how much some folks would put up to name the next aircraft carrier, and then imagine how many ships are commissioned each year, and how much could have been made if the name of the new cruisier, the USS Little Rock would have been sold. And just think about the other services: Wouldn’t you like to have a bomber with your name on it, or if you could only spring for a few thousand, you might get the army to name a tank after you, but you can go on and on, and name barracks, cemeteries, and even training camps.

Of course, you can follow some of our nation’s colleges in really picking up the bucks by naming buildings, coliseums, even changing the name of the school. Yes, and it goes right to the top universities. Need an example? Well how about Razorback Stadium? Uh, oh, I forgot, it’s Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. That sent me to wondering if the naming rights to Old Main are up for sale. I can just envision, Richard’s Old Main, or maybe each university should put up a list of buildings, stadiums, and playing fields to be named. Heck, I can just see big bucks just waiting to be picked off. ASU is sure in the race by recently renaming their business school.

North Little Rock has just finished naming a new proposed public plaza, Argenta Plaza. My gosh they really missed out on some high dollars. Maybe Exxon would have been interested to have it named Exxon Plaza. They need a little good Arkansas publicity and North Little Rock could probably use some of those millions Exxon has sitting around. I will just bet those proposals would get millions thrown at them. They’d get more money than a one cent sales tax.

Or just think of how much money could be made by naming sections of the President’s new 2000 mile wall. Of course, we don’t have any American zillionaires so we would have to set up naming rights to sections of the wall, and the proceeds would go into the wall construction fund. I think just to be fair the wall naming rights would have to go to the highest bidder, but just to make it interesting, instead of the winning person’s name on the wall, you could put in three foot letters a comment, and since the wall is a really hot subject, I can see mega bucks for sections that go through villages and cities, and El Paso and other towns would bring in a ton of cash. I can just see comments such as “Trumps folly!” and “Pelosi’s nightmare” popping up, and if the wall of comments were promoted properly, the proceeds would pay for most of it.

Of course, we could put an expiration date on names the way some colleges and other entities have already done. In other words, we would keep the names current, and say when a person with the naming rights to Old Main dies, the University could put naming rights back up for bid. Actually they are already doing renaming. When I went to the University my dorm was Razorback Hall, but the name has been changed to reflect, well probably a nice contribution to our fair University.

Having an expiration date on names would create a constant flow of naming funds, and just think of the thousands of municipally and state buildings around the country that could be named or renamed. But the ultimate would be, for the proper incentive, a city could rename itself. Maybe Pine Bluff could save itself if it would agree to rename itself “Amazon City,” and be rewarded with 25,000 computer jobs,  

Now, before you accuse me of being a crass American—-which I probably am—-I have real live hurricane experience. I made it through Carla and took a direct hit from Celia, and if somebody had paid a million dollars to change one of those names to Hurricane Dorothy Anne, it wouldn’t have made a whit of difference to me or the hurricane. Yes, I know that would be making money from people’s misery, but we tax cigarettes, sell lottery tickets, and in the long run that sure making money from someone's misery. Or how about TV stations hammering us with a zillion political commercials? If that’s not making money from folk’s misery, what is?

thenorphletpaperboy: Arkansas

thenorphletpaperboy: Arkansas:           Arkansas                         Arkansas is certainly an unusual piece of land full of a diverse group of folks. Geologic...

Arkansas

          Arkansas

                        Arkansas is certainly an unusual piece of land full of a diverse group of folks. Geologically, the state is bisected, by an invisible division called the fall line. Starting from around Memphis on a line to Texarkana the state is split, and very simply stated, the land northwest of this line is millions of years older than the land southeast of the fall line. I’m talking about the rocks, geologically speaking.

First off, let’s talk about the land. Northwest of the fall line, the hills of the Ouachita and Ozark, simply speaking, are very poor farm land, and that’s what our early European settlers found out the hard way. After the virgin timber was cut the settlers tried cotton and other crops, until it was obvious there wasn’t going to be any cotton plantations north of the fall line. That left about half of the state where early farmers struggled to make a living, and that was cut in half again because the sandy loam of the Gulf Coastal Plain in the central and southwest part of the state would grow trees, but anything else was an uphill battle. Cut the state in half again and you have the Mississippi Delta, geologically known as the Mississippi Embayment a huge down-warp, which is a drainage ditch called the Mississippi River. After the ice age glaciers moved south gouging up huge amounts of Midwest topsoil, a 20 to 40 mile wide Mississippi River dumped billions of tons of top soil from Missouri to Louisiana and then filled a sizeable part of the Gulf of Mexico and presto, “the Delta”, some of the best farm land in the world.

Our forefathers understood, and that precipitated the great clearcutting of the massive virgin forest and draining of the primeval swamp, which gave our state millions of acres of fertile land. Of course, untold millions of acres of wetland wildlife habit was destroyed along with driving numerous species to extinction.

Well, when you put all of the above in a complicated geological landform, you have an unusual piece of land we call Arkansas.

                        However, what makes our state even more remarkable, is because we, as a people, are just about as different as the state is geologically. That is because, according to Anthropology Professor Justin Nolan, who has studied the migration patterns of settlers into Arkansas, north and south Arkansas was populated by peoples from different sections of the country.  Broadly speaking, north Arkansas received most of their early settlers from north of Virginia via the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky, while south Arkansas received the bulk of its early settlers from south of Virginia, via Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. For example, my mother’s family had their Georgia land taken by carpetbaggers, moved to Alabama, and later to Rose Bud, Arkansas and finally to South Arkansas. 

                        Professor Nolan pointed out that even centuries after the first waves of settlers, north and south Arkansas’s vocabularies still contain distinctly different words and their use of folk medicines derived from the land and even their basic customs are dissimilar. For example: The word, “tump” as is “tump over”, is common in many South Arkansas citizens, but virtually unknown in other parts of the state.

                        Well, that gives us a broad overview of a geologically complicated state full of radically different people, and I know you are about to say, “So what?” Okay, this is ‘so what’: while our State is geologically scrambled and its people are certainly a diverse bunch, we all have certain goals in life that are similar, and for me, to live a full life, I want to take advantage of the interactions with as many Arkansas people as I can, and while I’m at it, nose around in as much of this remarkable, scenic state as possible, for a very selfish reason: the interaction with these various professionals, working men and women, gender challenged, and racially different groups of people enriches, my life and by those interactions it gives be a better quality of life. 

                        If we only interact with say, “Liberal, baby killing, socialistic, Democrats” our viewpoint and broad overview of life is going to be restricted to the point where we’re totally missing the friendships and interactions of the “Nazi, woman abusing, anti-environmental, ethic hating Republicans.” Of course, I’m joking, but I am saying you should enjoy the diversity available to challenge your mind by being with politically opposites, racially mixed, or gender different. Yes, all of the above, and just the richness of those interactions will give you a vastly different and fuller life, instead of a restricted, narrow life. It will give you a richness only available to a few who will branch out of their comfort zone. 

                        Here in one of the most diverse states geologically and in its people, we have the opportunity to live a life that is a 10 times more fulfilling and exciting than a New Yorker. Let me tell you why: In the past, through our travels and business opportunities, we became good friends with a number of couples from the Northeast, mainly New York City. As we got to know them better, I was struck by several things. First, the food items: as we talked about some of our favorite foods while dining with them, it was obvious, while we knew and enjoyed all of the foods the New Yorkers did, their diet never included a whole host of foods we enjoy, and when we talked about our sons getting married, and I was asked by one of the New Yorkers, “How many people did you have at the wedding?” And I answered, “The Church was full. I guess it was about 500.” The New Yorker was shocked. “How do you know so many people?” He questioned? “Well, it’s not that unusual to have a church full for a wedding.” I replied.

                        I guess what I’m saying is that we have a wonderful, scenic state, and just by living in it, we have an easy opportunity to enrich our lives by getting out of our ruts and nosing around in the Delta, or the Ouachita’s or go fishing up Champanolle Creek or explore a cave in the Ozark or take in a concert in Little Rock, or eat hot tamales in the Delta.  All of those destinations are an easy drive, and while your crossing our wonderful state make it a point to search out those little restaurant gems that will break your routine and add to your enjoyment of life.

                        I believe, we have the opportunity to live life to the fullest here in Arkansas by searching out the scenic parts of our state, and as we do our interaction with the people in that part of the state will enhance our quality of life.

Of course, we have such a wide range of political animals here that I couldn't’ possible name them all, but break out of your rut and interact with some political opposites, and as you interact, remember, our wonderful constitution has withstood a civil war and countless other challenges.  So branch out enjoy a wonderful diverse state, and while you’re at it---take a Libertarian to lunch.