Colbert the Conservationist

I have mixed feelings about Stephen Colbert's testimony before Congress last week. On one hand, I am glad he was able to draw attention to migrant farm worker issues. On the other hand, it does not seem appropriate to have a comedian in character testify before Congress.

I DO NOT have mixed feelings about co-lobbying with Colbert, however. Just found out he has joined the "America's Great Outdoors" campaign that I work on!!! Great news to have Colbert broadcasting the need to protect America's treasured outdoor places. Colbert is working on promoting a new, bold plan for land and water conservation. Check out the site , The Hill, and Politico.

From The Hill:

One website for the "America's Great Outdoors" campaign now prominently features Colbert with a photo and a quote, in characteristic style.
....
The new push is in response to another campaign, launched in April by President Obama, that aims to engage the public on environmental issues and to "start a national dialogue about conservation" that highlights solutions implemented in local communities.

The push will "play an important role in confronting the serious challenges our natural resources face today: climate change, air and water pollution, landscape fragmentation and loss of open space," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at its start. "This effort will bring Americans from across the country together to look for new approaches to protect our national treasures."

--
I expect him to ask for "Colbert National Park" in South Carolina as the pay-back, but I doubt that will happen....You never know, though. His joke to have his portrait in the Smithsonian's portrait gallery came true. It's now in the Smithsonian's permanent collection.

Sustainability Fair

Photo: Alpacas at the Mother Earth Sustainability Fair in the Laurel Hill region of southwestern Pennsylvania.

Learned a lot about sustainable living, green jobs, and most importantly went on the alpine slides at the Seven Springs Ski Resort where it took place.



Website to check out: Green Guardians.

"The Green Guardians is a green career clearinghouse for people wanting to develop green community service skills such as energy efficiency, recycling, composting, tree planting, green building technology, urban agriculture, eco-literacy education, and other important career skills."



The site has a large set of sustainability videos, like the one above that features an owner up the street from me that uses vegetable oil from his restaurant to fuel his car, and green jobs career search sites.

DC Night Bike Ride

Capitol Building

DC Night Bike Ride - Organized by Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA).

White House

Lincoln Memorial

This Land is Your Land (Part II)

Photo: Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior 1962-1969 (under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson), father of Tom Udall, Senator for New Mexico, and uncle to Mark Udall, Senator for Colorado.

TODAY I ACTUALLY SANG "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND" WITH A LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE! My blog posting from last week came true.


Photo: Old Ebbitt Grill

Today was what I like to call "A Very D.C. Day." It started out at the famous Old Ebbitt Grill near the White House for breakfast. Yes, Dad, I do remember when you took me there when I was 11.

Then, I headed to the Department of Interior to celebrate the life and legacy of Stewart Udall, the Secretary of the Interior during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, whose legacy for conservation influences most of the conservation community's work today.


Photo: Stewart Udall and President Kennedy

Today at the ceremony they re-named the Interior building after Stewart Udall. I enjoyed the speeches from President Johnson's daughter, Douglas Brinkley (whose book about TDR I'm reading right now - Wilderness Warrior), Tom Udall (son and NM Senator), Mark Udall (nephew and CO Senator), Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ) and others.

Photo: Robert Frost and Stewart Udall

They read Robert Frost poems, told stories about Udall's work, and ended by singing "THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND."

I spent another part of the day learning about upcoming tax law changes, but I'll keep this post about the inspirational Udall.


Among his accomplishments, Udall oversaw the addition of four national parks, six national monuments, eight national seashores and lakeshores, nine national recreation areas, 20 national historic sites, and 56 national wildlife refuges, including Redwood National Park in California and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. He also played a key role in the Clear Air Act, Clean Water Restoration Act, Wilderness Act, Endangered Species Act and more.


Soon after becoming the Secretary of Interior, Udall told the Washington Redskins owner that he had to integrate the football team as every other franchise in the NFL had already done, or risk being evicted from the Washington, D.C., stadium, which was federally owned.

An inspirational man. Learn more here.

Island Bingo

Island Bingo is as fun as it sounds. Last week Tom and played Bingo at Solomons Island, Maryland, joining the locals for triple Bingo competitions and a bunch of other sequences we didn't understand - like crazy kite and postage stamp.


The Island Bingo came with a free fried chicken, mashed potato, green beans and assortment of cake desserts dinner. I spare you the photo of us eating the fried chicken.


A high school aged staff had to help us and monitor our gaming. We had fun, though!


One update in the Bingo world is that the game included dozens of TVs around the room to display the Bingo # (i.e. "B14"). Bingo is getting very technologically advanced. Most of the people in the room had Bingo computers. Check out a full display of Bingo supplies at this link, including fancy daubers.


Tom really wanted me to include this photo. We should have sat by more locals. This is the Early Bird game, so the big time $1,000 jackpot 8:-11:00 game night had not started, yet.

Historic Preservation - WWII Edition

Photo: Camp Amache in Southeastern Colorado

Last week I attended the Japanese-American Citizens' League awards banquet, an event for work because of our partnership with Japanese-American internment camp site preservation. It was an inspirational night, including speeches from awardees Dianne Feinstein (her staff) and Roxana Saberi (who told her harrowing story as an American journalist imprisoned in Iran in 2009).

This historic preservation projects my firm works on have been a good lesson for me about this chapter in history I didn't know much about. For more information, see video.

I painted the boat!

Watercolor of the Argo.

This Land is Your Land...

Photo: Kevin and I climbing Mt. Bierstadt, Oct. 2001

Great article by Timothy Egan in the New York Times last week. Titled "My Summer Home," Egan reminds us that our national parks and other federal lands are "summer homes" for all of us.

Growing up, I looked with nose pressed against a mythic window of class at those who played in their waterfront compounds at Hayden Lake in Idaho. And when I came of age, I heard about the Hamptons and Cape Cod, Aspen and the San Juan Islands, where the zip code itself was supposed to guarantee happiness.

We had nothing to call a second home, and then I saw in a month’s travel that we had everything. Not long after I was old enough to cast my first vote, I realized that with American citizenship came a birthright to my summer home.

Read full article here.

Egan also wrote The Big Burn, a terrific book about the conservation movement during the era of Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot (first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service), told within the narrative of the young Forest Service fighting an historic fire in Idaho that was the size of Connecticut.

Photo: Stacy, Meredith, Pete and I camping in Colorado, Fall 2003. Eric and Jeff were with us, too.

I miss Colorado's public lands! (and Colorado people!)

Now everybody sing! "This land is your land..."

Where the Buffalo Roam

The last week of August I roamed with the buffalo, traveling around northwestern Wyoming. I saw Old Faithful erupt (amazing! on the edge of my seat!), viewed Lower Falls in Yosemite's canyon area (of Ansel Adams fame), gawked at the sunsets at Grand Teton National Park and relaxed at "Cowboy Village," my lil' cabin/hotel. A great week of work!


Photo: Old Faithful!

Photo: Lower Falls in Canyon area of Yosemite National Park.

Photo: Grand Tetons National Park at sunset

Photo: Cowboy Village Resort in Jackson, WY

Photo: My lil' cabin at Cowboy Village

Photo: Buffalo rolling around at Yellowstone Lake

Photo: More buffalo! They are everywhere.

Photo: Ah Wyoming! View of the Grand Teton.