Interesting post from Kayla Webley of Off the Bus, who reports (here) that East Tennessee is conservative politically — and environmentally.
…conservative here implies much more than tight tax laws and low
government interference. To be conservative is, well, to conserve.
"It’s been interesting living in East Tennessee because I think it
is very much a pro-environment mind set," said Randy Gentry, director
of the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment at the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "Although it is a very
conservative base traditionally."
But it’s not just academics. It’s also businessmen such as George Thacker, who is fiercely pro-Republican, but believes just as fiercely in conservation…for others as well as for himself.
"I’m environmentally minded," Thacker said. "I think everyone should
change. I don’t know if so much it’s Al Gore’s global warming idea or
if it’s the Bible. But if you read the Bible it pretty much lays out
all these things."
He’s fiercely Republican, pro-business, owns several oil change
shops and is making quite a profit out of developing the area
surrounding Watts Bar nuclear reactor.
Yet he designed the Howard Johnson hotel he owns to be as energy
efficient and green as possible. He uses compact fluorescent light
bulbs and has the ability to shut off all power to the second floor if
the hotel is not full to capacity. Not only does this help conserve
during today’s swelling energy crisis, it helps keep his energy bills
down to under $2,000 a month, which he said is rather low for a hotel.
The most controversial part of his green hotel? There is no elevator, just stairs.
American politics can’t seem to keep up with the American people…
Kit Stolz 