I haven't seen it yet, but I want to...

Review: "Who Killed the Electric Car?"by Ed Spivey Jr.SojoMail 6-29-2006 They say you're not paranoid if people are really out to get you. The same can hold true for conspiracy theorists who walk the earth in constant vigil against the dark collusion behind every thwarted effort for human good. Those twitchy bands of nervous nellies - their pockets stuffed with yellowed news clippings on the Kennedy assassination - are no doubt high-fiving the release of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a documentary that, at least in this one case, proves them 100% correct. In 1992, after a billion dollars in research, General Motors produced 200 EVs, an all-electric vehicle that would comply with California's mandate that a zero-emissions car comprise up to 10% of the total fleet sold in that state. To those lucky few who were able to lease one, the car quickly became an object of love, smugness, and downright obsession. As promised, the car could travel at highway speeds for up to 100 miles on a single charge, more than enough for the average daily commute. The drivers reported nothing but passionate praise for their new rides, and environmentalists saw this as the first wave of a technology that would dramatically reduce air pollution and dependence on foreign oil. They were wrong. The movie is generous in its blame for the unconscionable demise of this miracle car, and aims its first barbs at a fickle driving public suspicious of anything new. It's bona fides for fairness thus established, the filmmakers quickly focus in on the real culprits: GM and the oil companies. If the film is to be believed (cue conspiracists), GM soon realized the EV would compete against its gas-fueled cars. Additionally, the company worried about dealers losing their primary profit centers - periodic maintenance and replacement parts that electric cars would never need. Servicing the EV meant occasionally rotating the tires and replenishing the windshield washer fluid. A car company that had for decades built planned obsolescence into its vehicles had inadvertently produced a car that owners might never need to replace. For their part, oil companies financed a multimillion dollar lobbying campaign against California's air quality regulations. Chevron purchased the patents of a superior battery that would have given the EV even more range, and then kept that technology from the marketplace. The pro-oil Bush administration weighed in by promoting hydrogen technology and then pressured a California regulatory agency to kill the zero emissions requirement in favor of this unproven fuel. In hopes of delaying the proven electric technology, other automobile manufacturers - including the now-green Honda and Toyota - hopped on the hydrogen promotional bandwagon despite the fact that production and infrastructure is decades away, if not a complete pipe dream. Eventually, GM recalled all 200 of its electric cars and crushed them, sometimes within view of their heartbroken owners, many of whom were arrested for attempting to block the action. An aerial view of dozens of flattened EVs in a desert storage area bears mute condemnation of the corporations that purposely kept an innovative and environmentally conscientious technology from reaching the public. "Who Killed the Electric Car" ends on a hopeful note of grassroots activism and ingenuity, and portends that green technology will eventually win out. But this feel-good finale does little for the melancholy the viewer feels after watching this eloquent and sad eulogy to the little car that could have.

My two favorite girls!

 

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Done with seminary, graduated last Saturday. Today's is Mandy's last day of teaching, she's only teaching half time next year. I just read something written about me by someone who doesn't know me very well. People have to be careful doing stuff like that cause my head got so big it almost burst. I had to remember what our graduation speaker told us, "don't believe what people say about you." I think that is some good advice. I leave for Florida on Sunday for a week of vacation. When I come back I look forward to being something like a full time pastor. I really appreciated hof's post on focusing on bringing justice on the micro level and letting the macro level flow out of that. It was pretty interesting considering I just called Rep. Ney's office and asked him to vote for more money for Darfur. Hof said most people interested in social justice don't even know what the justice issues are in their own communities. At first I didn't even think I knew of any in my little town, but then I was able to think of a few. I hope I have the courage to fight for justice and not sell out. After reading Irresistable Revolution I really wanted to get arrested for some kind of social justice issue, but Mandy reminded me that is just a form of urban pride (but we live in rural america). I'm still thinking about joining the Christian Peacemaking Teams (www.cpt.org). Maybe a group of us could join together? I'm currently reading Resident Aliens (by Hauerwas and Willimon) right now, good stuff so far. I just can't help but thinking if we would actually realize we our only resident aliens it would help us live so much more faithfully. There's a bunch of sorta scattered, random thoughts for you.