No, I’m not shilling for this political action group. I’m just a resident of Kansas who doesn’t want to see my state sell its citizens into dependence on arcane (and dangerous) technology, particularly energy derived from coal. Burning coal will only make the summer haze worse. Anyone that has spent the summer in this fine state knows we have a natural abundance of wind and sun. I’d much rather see us become the land of windmills and take a leadership position in developing increasingly efficient solar cells.

It is very easy to allow conversations of environmental issues to spiral into complicated event horizons, but these concepts really aren’t that complicated. Do you like breathing cleaner air or dirtier air? Would you rather risk your neighbor’s life digging in deep mines or would you rather capture energy that is just blowing by you or radiating on your face? Do you want your drinking water to be contaminated with mercury or would you rather have clean drinking water out of the tap? See, wasn’t that easy?

We are in an era where it is foolish and regressive to invigorate dying technology. Even the Rockefellers (yes, as in John D. and Standard Oil) are backing a coup d’etat over at ExxonMobil because of the BoD’s myopic focus on fossil fuels. ExxonMobil has been posting quarterly profits of more than $40 billion (that’s right, every three months!) for the last few quarters. During this same period of obscene profits, the ExxonMobil powers have developed plans to spend $25 billion on carbon-based fuels, while spending a measly $100 million to study climate change. But I digress…

Take a moment to let your representatives in Topeka know that you want Kansas to become a leader in clean energy (and that does not include the red herring of “clean coal”).

Update: Since I originally wrote this post, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed the latest attempt by the legislature to ram this old tech through. The fight isn’t over yet, as there is likely going to be an override attempt this week. You can thank Gov. Sebelius (and voice your opposition) by signing this petition!