ancient trees standing
     so many leaves it seems….
     have fallen so early this year
burning trees
now fallen too
returned to the earth
preceded by millions
in other places
acres now barren
cows are grazing
where giants once stood
     normally when an animal
     takes another energy is exchanged
     understanding occurs….
respect in both directions
all those trees taken
with such little regard
strong reverberations
have returned to call
as the laws of physics
in cosmic proportions
unfolded right before
disbelieving eyes
     so many leaves fallen
     so many trees
     so many clues….
     have fallen with them
tears streaming down
in disbelief then rage as the first two trees
have been taken
whole trees in fact
with leaves still attached
taken from our own forest
by the hands of others
our own callused hands
     once rough worn smooth
     from working so hard….
     in the forests of others.
september.2001

The sheer magnitude of U.S. CO2 emission levels alone illustrates the need to use more renewable energy sources

Since a consensus within the scientific community on Global Warming may not be achieved for decades to come, a pragmatic approach for Policy Makers is not to address this issue in terms of either black or white (i.e., either Global Warming is occurring or it isn’t) but in terms of prudence.

For example, almost 40% of carbon emissions originate from fossil fuels used to generate electricity but less than six tenths of 1 percent of grid electricity is produced from alternative energy sources. During 1995, energy related carbon emissions in the U.S. continued to rise for the fourth straight year. These 1995 levels are well above the level targeted in the current Administration’s Voluntary Climate Change Action Plan — To return U.S. CO2 emissions to their 1990 level by the year 2000. Also, According to the DOE, World emissions of carbon are expected to increase by 54 percent above 1990 levels by 2015.

Thousands of Columbus voters signed petitions in 2001 demanding a vote on the issue of sprawl in the Darby Watershed. In October 2001 Columbus City Council said we would get to vote on this issue on May 7. In February, Columbus City Clerk Timothy McSweeney refused to certify PEER’s petitions to the ballot, despite an earlier certification in October. The vote was 6-1 to leave it up to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

This speech was delivered by Paul Dumouchelle, Spokesperson for the Stop the Sprawl Campaign, to a rally on Friday, 3-1-02, at the southern entrance to Columbus City Hall – off Broad Street.

“I want to thank everyone attending this rally, who has come here to express their concern over our quality of life here in Central Ohio. I want to thank the Board of Trustees of PEER (Progress with Economic and Environmental Responsibility, Inc.) for their support. We have two trustees here with us, Greg Richey and Phil Harmon.

“I want to thank all the petitioners who helped get the 12,000+ signatures last year. Who here carried a petition? I want to thank the 12,000+ people who took a minute to sign the petition.

Dick Cheney has a swell idea: build a whole new generation of atomic power plants based on the request of a single utility and a dying industry that each gives big bucks to the Republican Party.

Never mind that no such reactors of this design exist. Never mind that the only test of such a reactor was a miserable failure. Never mind that the design has few backers outside the wildest fanatics backing the nuke power industry. And never mind that the industry itself is a complete failure.

Nonetheless, bowing to the demands of a single donor utility and the well-heeled but cancerous industry behind it, the Bush Administration has earmarked billions of dollars for at least three of these plants to go on line by 2010. All are to be built on federal land, no doubt to avoid incursions by pesky protestors. One is slated for construction at the Portsmouth uranium enrichment facility in southern Ohio.