Sunday, May 18, 2008

S is for Smoke



I try not to be too whiney on this blog, but sometimes a girl just has to speak up.

That ugly pink haze you see on the horizon of this photo is smoke. Not smoke from industrial pollution, or vehicle emissions...nope...this is all thanks to the U.S. Forest Service. I've read their articles about how "prescribed burns" are necessary. But last week when I was at the cabin all I could smell was smoke, my clothes reeked of smoke and my eyes were burning. I don't have bad allergies or athsma but I certainly am concerned for folks that live in this beautiful valley who stuggle with breathing issues...because this smokey nightmare must make their problems a whole lot worse.

What about the Greening of America?

A lot of us are reducing, reusing, recycling...more than ever before. We're consolidating our errands so that we drive less, we're shopping locally so that we use less fossil fuel. Solar panels are back-ordered with wait lists because people want to do their part and generate their own electricity in a more earth friendly fashion. Kids are coming home from school and telling their parents it's time to switch out all of the lightbulbs in the house to more eco-friendly bulbs.


I wonder, what is the carbon footprint for all of the "prescribed burns" going on right now.

Hey...Al Gore...what's your take on this one? Are we buyin' carbon credits for this one too?

My tax dollars at work....yippie ;-(

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does Al Gore discuss forest fires in any of his analysis of the state of the earth? You probably wouldn't want to be around when those woods go up in flame after a lightening strike.

Minkydo said...

That would bug me too.

Carletta said...

Hurray for you Shelly!

Dr.John said...

Good S picture.
Sorry about the haze.
Sometimes one must e4ndure a little pai to save o0ne from a lot of pain later.

Robert said...

We all need to be better stewards of the earth God has given us to watch over. I still believe the controlled burns do us much better good than the alternative though.

Anonymous said...

I do have asthma and breathing problems and my current smoke nemeses is a volcano ....