I'll start this post by apologizing to one of my friends who reads this blog and comments occasionally. She grew up in Texas, and although she thankfully escaped a few years ago and moved to The Commonwealth, and is now in warmer climes in Florida, the fact remains that she did grow up in Texas. So, forgive me for what I'm about to say.
I just read in the news that the state of Texas is the eighth largest contributor of carbon dioxide in the world. They are right behind Canada in how many metric tons (630 million to be exact in 2005--the year of this study) of CO2 they spew into the atmosphere. That's right. The entire country of Canada has nearly the same CO2 emissions as the state of Texas.
In the article I read about this there are multiple causes for this, namely the refineries and the beef industry. Here's an interesting tidbit from the article, the "production of just 1 kilogram of beef results in more CO2 emissions than going for a three-hour drive while leaving all the lights on at home."
In spite of this news, most people in Texas, deny that "man-made" global warming is real, and refuse to embrace any ideas to change their energy usage.
I've never been fond of Texas, even though all of my siblings have lived there at some point in their lives. None of them live there now, thankfully, and I can blast away. With the exception of my friend who is now in Florida the folks I've met from Texas are so arrogant about their state, and it's "virtues," that I can't tolerate their company. Texas gave us Shrub. Texas gave us Tom Delay. And now it turns out that Texas is destroying our planet.
Y'all should be real proud of yourselves.
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4 comments:
Having been reared in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and then having spent a significant amount of time in Tejas, I agree and disagree.
I'm not surprised to learn of Texas' gross emission of CO2. If you live there very long you'll understand why. (Just because your truck cost more than your house, doesn't mean it is allowed to be the only vehicle on the road).
Additionally, I agree that many native Texans are in fact quite arrogant about the fact their state was once a republic (be it a short tenure only, but nonetheless a republic still). In contrast to this point many native Texans exhibit more hospitality and warm friendship (fake or real) than Kentucky. It is my experience that Kentucky is snooty and not so a friendly state, whereas Texas is quite the opposite. Now obviously there are exceptions to every rule.
Texas has in fact given us some very unsavory things recently, Ron Paul, GW Bush, Tom Delay, and the entire University of Houston (what a rat hole). But it has provided some rather exceptional things as well. South by Southwest, the Dallas Cowboys, Bowling for Soup, TCU, my education, The Bass Family (that could be good and bad, depending on your point of view) and Steak.
I agree with Nick about the hospitality and warmth of Texans in general. From the moment we arrived from NJ in 1973, we were part of a growing network of friends who treated us like long lost family! We will never forget that. Sure, stories of their "virtures" are never far from conversations, but they were told with a sparkle in the eye and a grin around the mouth. Same bragging as in Alaska and Wyoming!
But, it is also true that pickups and steers are the beloved state "symbols" (the San Antonio area people didn't talk about oil except when they were going to get it changed in their pickups.) And I am truly sorry to hear of the statistics on the CO2 emissions...
If you want a course in Texas history - I am your gal...the degree I received for teaching history in the state of TX included certification for teaching two FULL years of TX history...they barely even sneeze about KY history in the KY public schools.
In TX, I grew up with emissions testing, water rations, etc. Texas does have some things in place to keep pollution from being completely unruly (it could be way worse)...somethings I was surprised to note that KY or FL do not have (some cars here in FL are followed by global warming)...I know they have their big trucks, big houses, and big everything...but they also have A TON of people. I believe global warming is real and even when I lived in TX I tried to recycle and do things that would do good by ol' mother earth. Texans are proud...and big headed about our state... Hopefully things are changing in how we look at the world...even the pope declared "pollution" one of the new deadly sins.
I am a Floridian now, and we have curbside recycling every week! to my family and friends in Texas - jump on the "Green" wagon even if global warming isn't true, what could it hurt to recycle and produce less waste?
Nick forgot to mention that Texas is the reason he met his wife....shouldn't that be on the good list too?? hehe
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