Forever Earthbound
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Graduation

5/27/2017

0 Comments

 
May 2050 
       “It’s hard to believe that graduation’s just a week away,” thought Ima DePhuture.  She had one last major assignment - to interview Grandpa Tymer for StoryCorps.  “Imagine, his story in the Library of Congress!”

      Ima eased her roadster over a charging pad in the driveway.  Squinting in the bright sunlight, she thought, “Gramp’s photo-voltaic roof shingles will be really cranking out the power today.  I’ll charge up my car, and Gramps can top off his house batteries with plenty extra electricity to share in the community network.”

       Ole Tymer hugged Ima and welcomed her in.  He was so proud of her.  At ninety-nine years old he had lived to see his youngest granddaughter graduate.  Pouring two tall glasses of lemonade, Ole began his story.

       One of his early memories was of the coal truck delivering the winter’s fuel supply.  On those frigid winter mornings Ole wouldn’t venture out from under the quilts until he heard Mother clanking the clinkers out of the furnace in that coal dust filled corner of the cellar. With the fire freshly stoked, it was safe to venture out of bed. “Thank goodness we’ve moved beyond that messy fuel that dirtied our homes AND our lungs,” Ole reminisced.

       And speaking of energy, Ole told Ima about being a young man during the oil embargo of ’73.  “Imagine, in spite of spending billions to protect shipping lanes and to prop up sometimes unseemly governments, the great US of A was held hostage to foreign oil barons.  In many ways we had forfeited our independence because of our thirst for oil.  Thankfully, now with clean energy we can avoid all that nonsense and expense.  And the power lines!  They ran all over the place!  Almost a quarter of the cost of electrical energy was spent just to build and maintain all those lines.  Back then going ‘off the grid’ was a big adventure.  Now, of course, we’re much more efficient, and with free energy from the sun most of us generate all our own power at home.

       “You know, for so many years we were kind of ‘energy adolescents.’  And flirting with all those fossil fuel greenhouse gasses almost did us in!” chuckled Ole.  “But now we too have graduated… to a clean energy future.  And it’s a good thing because, Sweetheart, this is the only home you’ll ever know.  You’re forever…Earthbound.” 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm interested in the topics of sustainability and climate change especially in regards to our local area in southwest Wisconsin.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Carbon Fee And Dividend
    Carbon Sequestration
    Climate Change
    Extreme Weather
    Health
    Local Food
    Lymes Disease
    Mercury Pollution
    Renewable Energy

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.