Author: blueINdallas

Transitioning to greener energy is inevitable and necessary.  The national, high school debate topic so long ago when I was debating was based on US energy independence. You know, “drill, baby, drill.”

Despite strides made in green energy, the old guard will not give up the ghost of fossil fuels. TX AG, Ken Paxton, has even sued to reopen Keystone XL.

What does this have to do with the Department of the Interior? Plenty. Everything is connected.

Of all of President Biden’s wonderful cabinet picks , Deb Haaland was a most welcome choice. She is a woman with a deep understanding of the agencies she will oversee, from land management to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Will they rename the bureau? It seems behind the times.
I was surprised to learn that there are tribes who rely on gas and oil revenue, although this is a drop in the proverbial bucket to what the big guys in gas and oil industry are making.  

Revenue going to tribes in the US (or to all citizens in Norway) doesn’t fix the many problems caused by fossil fuels.  From destroying land and polluting water, to the increase of extreme weather events due to climate change from its use, it’s a costly firm of energy.  The gas and oil industry costs money and lives in the long run.

Though it may be possible to extract revenue from wind and solar, I don’t know that the trade would be dollar-for-dollar.

With our new, Secretary of the Interior, I have hope that the lands of America will become even more beautiful because someone is truly watching over them with her head and her heart.

Here are some small ways that wind and solar have come into play, and, they can be replicated.

For his pick of Deb Haaland, Joe Biden deserves a hearty “atta boy.”  She is the perfect pick for this enormous and important job. 

Mark Cuban has started a pilot program to manufacture generic drugs. This will create jobs in Dallas, and, the generic drugs made there will be more affordable. It’s not a non-profit and tax breaks probably abound, however, if it helps with healthcare costs, I hope it’s a success.

The covid vaccines have given good PR to Big Pharma, but they are getting a big payout.

Pharmaceutical companies are not charitable organizations and nobody expects them to be, but they don’t normally operate in a way that equally benefits everyone.

There is certainly no reason that all generics shouldn’t be affordable. Considering there was a problem getting some meds in the early months of the pandemic, manufacturing some of them here makes sense, too.

This manufacturing facility is not a big, attention-getting endeavor like SpaceX, but it’s something that will directly and quickly impact more people. This is the type of action we need now.

Depending on politicians to help their constituents, no matter how critical the issue, seems futile.

As Texans found last month, we’re all on our own unless we have and are good neighbors.

Eight (wealthy) Senators who claim to be Democrats voted against an increase in the minimum wage.

The last round of payroll protection went to a lot of big companies who didn’t need it. Now, the employee threshold is so low that many more businesses are likely to fail.

What we need are grassroots programs, or really creative neighbors, to help us to the other side of this multifaceted debacle.

Reasons To Be Cheerful has become one of my favorite sources for stories about ideas that can be replicated to fix the problems.

Our elected officials are too busy protecting their power/flow of donor money to care about finding solutions to help their fellow human beings.

What will Joe Biden’s inauguration look like, since COVID will still be with us?

More importantly, what will Biden’s first hundred days look like?  How does he unravel the tangled mess left for him?