On this day in 1872 Yellowstone National Park was "born"

Yes, you can thank republicans for abundant cheap fuel that raises the standard of living for eveyrone including the poorest among us.  Actually, no, you can’t thank republicans or democrats, you can thank the free market, but at least republicans don’t spend a lot of energy vilifying them.

Unfortunately, most folks in the discussion: solar vs oil and gas took only minutes to form an opinion. No idea how everything in their house got there, how their food get there, how everything is made, and how they leave home. Little understanding where all the electricity comes from and how. Little understanding how all that will change and when. They see energy ‘falling out of the sky’ with too little understanding of how lithium is mined, batteries are made, solar panels are made, and the eventual landfills for all. They may have never seen a produced and plugged gas well or a landfill for ‘used’ natural gas because they can often be difficult to find.

Accidents happen but can only be understood in the big picture of how often while how much is accomplished. Some would eliminate electricity with the first accidental death, eliminate hospitals with the first failed surgery, and fill in all swimming pools with the first drowning. Others can realize that infrastructure like pipelines and petro plants can be managed to produce benefits that are so much greater than the risks and downsides.

Solar and other new energy sources have a bright future, do doubt. Each year will bring the cost down, efficiency up and requirement for tax subsidies down. It will all happen, but it will not happen fast enough for those that do not account for conversion cost and timeframes and other big picture factors.

Last, I believe many environmentally sensitive folks would be shocked if they were to meet the vast majority of people that work in the oil and gas industry and learn that they are every bit as much interested in keeping the environment clean and may spend more time outdoors enjoying the landscape than their critics.

This was a nice post about an awesome park.

Was it the best place to voice this political opinion?

Sorry, the topic is timely and it enrages me.

Edit: Meh, I’m not as sorry as I thought I was. If it is so great, it is a big f**king deal that we fight selling it off like a truck full of underaged sex slaves, or it won’t have any more birthdays. Energy is literally falling out of the sky and we would rather vomit black sludge all over the surface of the earth. Now is the future, it is time we stop acting like mole people and start innovating.

Given your posting history on environmental issues, I don’t think it is a stretch for anyone to think your OP was a veiled commentary about the current political climate in regards to national parks and public lands.

http://reason.com/blog/2017/03/01/moral-outrage-is-self-serving

1. The more guilt over one’s own potential complicity, the more desire “to punish a third-party through increased moral outrage at that target.” For instance, participants in study one read about sweatshop labor exploitation, rated their own identification with common consumer practices that allegedly contribute, then rated their level of anger at “international corporations” who perpetuate the exploitative system and desire to punish these entities. The results showed that increased guilt “predicted increased punitiveness toward a third-party harm-doer due to increased moral outrage at the target.”

Hyperpartisanship in action. If you dare defend anything deemed environmentally friendly you’re a tree hugging liberal s**tbird. It’s a terrible trend that began decades ago, and has become one of the biggest problems facing America. Both sides have their issues that don’t necessarily jive with the nature of their respective parties, but since it’s become politicized you better be on board if you’re a good Republican/Democrat.

I have several family members and friends who are avid hunters, skiers and general outdoorsmen, but they seem to support every piece of legislation that puts corporations over environment. I’m not saying all legislation should necessarily favor the environment either. There are good bills and bad bills, and some bills that just need some tweaking, but hyperpartisanship has created an atmosphere where the instant a new law is presented it’s classified one way or another, and shot down by the other side. It’s maddening.