The Dallas Green Zine

Kilowatt Ours addresses the relationship between electricity use and the environment, focusing specifically on the southeast U.S. where Amercians use the most electricity and problems are most severe. The film begins with the destruction of mountains in West Virginia, which are actually being blown apart to get at their coal.

Over half the electricity consumed comes from coal and a typical home in the southeast burns six tons of coal.

1 kilowatt hour = 1 pound of coal = 10 lights bulbs per hour

Vice President Dick Cheney tells Congress, ‘With current electric trends, we’ll need one new power plant every week for the next 20 years.’ But the film moves on to point how how ‘adding just another power plant’ is not only backward but can have devastating consequences.

One of the more shocking images in this film is the explosion and destruction of the Appalachian mountains. One resident looking from his backyard said, ‘People ask me why I didn’t take a picture. Well, you just don’t expect a mountain to disappear.’

The less visible effects of coal is what you can’t see in the air. When coal is burned, the mercury, which is very volatile, escapes into the air. Mercury is highly poisonous and it’s a developmental neurotoxin. When a woman is pregnant, the fetus is very susceptible, and there is a great risk that the baby could be born with neurological defects that it never recovers from…effects that can later result in poor behavior in school, learning difficulties, difficulties to find a job, future low earnings, etc. 

In addition to causes poisoning in fetuses, the pollution from coal power plants also creates asthma and impairs lung development in children. Children who grow up in clean air have 10% better lung development. When you look at all these factors, can we really afford this kind of coal burning?

In the same region are the Smoky Mountains, and most of their smokiness these days comes from a haze of sulphate particulates originating from power plants.

The ultimate message of Kilowatt Ours is this: Every time we turn on a light or use electricity, we contribute to these problems. Throughout the film, Barrie and his wife, Heather, show how they take steps in their home to reduce carbon and on a limited budget. And the film’s latter half focuses on what individuals and businesses can do to reduce consumption.

One step is to switch to compact fluorescent bulbs, since lights devour 40% of electricity. 

Given that schools spend more on energy bills than on PCs and textbooks, Smith Middle School at Chapel Hill, NC switched to ‘daylighting’ (using skylights and other natural lights to replace a lot of electric lights). They say they saw an improvement in student performance, test scores, and behavior. Sumner County Schools had a 260,000 sq ft school using geothermal which will save $5000 per month. Thousands can be saved just by turning off computers before weekends and holidays.

The film also highlights examples of specific cities’ efforts to conserve and save money. For example, Birmingham changed its traffic signals to LEDs and saved $220,000.

Note: The DVD has a 38-minute version and a 64-minute version. For more information, go to: http://www.kilowattours.org/

Kilowatt Ours
USA, 2004
version 1: 38 Minutes, color
version 2: 64 Minutes, color
Director: Jeff Barrie

One might wonder why there would be a wild cat sanctuary in the metroplex. With the exception of bob cat sightings at Arbor Hills Preserve, this isn’t actually the place of lions, and tigers and bears.

Well, the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary (IEFS) in Boyd, TX is full of wild cats: lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, cougars, bobcats, and margays. Many of these unfortunate animals end up in the metroplex because time after time, some idiot decided they want a cub as a pet. Why? Because they can afford one? Because it’s cute? Because no one else has one? Much to their apparent surprise, this cub grows into a bigger animal, that grows big teeth and powerful claws. Then the owner no longer wants it, and it’s the poor animal that pays the price.

By the time the animal is picked up by a town’s animal services and IEFS gets it, there are some pretty bad stories that come in… Animals often arrive with experiences of neglect and abuse or lack of supervision (as was the case of a tiger founding wandering the streets of Plano). One 3-month-old female lion, later named Gedi, was found abandoned by her owners in a Dallas garage.

Gedi 

B.B., a male cougar was found abandoned for seven days in Ft.Worth with no food or water. Two lions, El Canelo and Rocky came from the Mexico City’s San Juan de Aragon Zoo, where each animal lived in an 8×8 enclosure  and could just barely turn around.

Rocky

The IEFS was founded in 1988, and by 2002, 68 felines called IEFS home, with spacious habitats, pools and houses. IEFS not only provides care and permanent sanctuary for these magnificent animals, but it also educates the public through school programs, tour lectures, support for conservation programs, and public appearances about the value and worth of these sensitive, intelligent and perceptive felines, so that their future, as an important part of our world, is insured.

You can visit IEFS by going to their website at http://www.bigcat.org and making an appointment. Even moreso, IEFS needs contributions to help maintain the sanctuary. A typical habitat costs $15,000 to $30,000 to build. Then, the monthly maintenance is about $500 for at iger and $250 for the smaller cats. This goes not just to food, but adding hay daily to their homes, cleaning their habitats, supplying fresh water, medical expenses, utilities, etc.