What Would Jesus Drive?
This semester, I’ve shown the films, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (trailer above) and “An Inconvenient Truth” (good curriculum materials on that site too) to several sections of my basic writing classes. Shockingly while Generation Y cares about the environment and wants to take better measures than their predecessors did to protect it, most of them haven’t seen Al Gore’s film, which is essentially an encouraging primer on global warming and its effects.
I’ve had fun asking these twenty-somethings to research where the U.S. currently stands on the Kyoto Treaty, what the fuss is over a few melting ice caps, who gets to define “moral imperatives” and how, what the difference is between “fact” and “hyperbole” and how one can feed the other, what each individual can do to lessen their carbon output, how Halliburton and the industrial rebuilding of Iraq and New Orleans are related to big government & Mr. Cheney, among other things.
I’m learning a few things along the way as well. I keep running into the ways in which scientists and evangelicals are overcoming their differences in favor of a higher calling.
I find that solar research is expanding at a wonderful rate with new applications, thanks to folks like Stan Oshinsky. That grassroots movements to correct these “gradual”, now accelerating, planetary changes are picking up steam; check out Plug In America, Care2, and Sierra Club.
Fresh water is taken for granted at the moment, but too soon, we’ll buy it by the gallon, watching the prices go up, like gasoline right now.
There are so many more things to educate one’s self about and respond to. If anyone would like to contribute to my pursuit, I have a few more dvds I’d like to acquire for my classes and for my own benefit. I probably expose 60 – 80 students per semester to this info. Please view my Amazon Wishlist here if you’d like to help out [my mailing address is here]. Otherwise, I’d simply recommend sharing the films mentioned above with as many folks as you can, get into heated debates, and generally ask yourself and others, especially those planning to have children, “Just what would Jesus drive?”
6 Responses to “What Would Jesus Drive?”
AMY KING View All →
Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Award. Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She co-edited with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She also co-edits the anthology series, Bettering American Poetry, and is a professor of creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College.
AMY KING 
November 9th, 2007 at 7:46 pm eHagman is a hoot.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:22 pm eThis post is in response to the “Who Killed the Electric Car” and global warming the title of your post.
I watched a video a few days ago in regards to using salt as power. It is impressive. But, they didn’t mention if the salt water fire was being powered by the radio frequencies…It appears that it is not self-sustaining. Darn!
However, I suggest we keep an open mind and remember that at one time people thought it was crazy that we’d be able to go to the moon! Therefore, what if we consider supplemental fuels? Specifically, hydrogen on demand that is safe and burns with your gasoline?
http://saltwatercar.blogspot.com/
“Where Water Powers Our Cars!”
November 10th, 2007 at 9:10 pm eChecked out your wish list. I have Iraq for Sale (the DVD — I’m not actually selling Iraq) if you’d like to borrow it for your classes.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:37 am eHi Amy,
I just ordered MAXED OUT off your wish list. I hope others see this entry in your blog and decide to help out. I’m so glad that you mentioned a way for us civilians to help you shape the minds of the next batch of grown-ups. Thanks for your efforts!
November 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pm eYou rock, of course, Tim! My future students thank you and will appreciate the warning, fingers crossed. Many thanks!
Gary – I’m going to certainly take you up on the offer to borrow! And likewise, I’d never buy Iraq either… hope you’re doing well!
Jeff, thanks for the info – I think we should be actively exploring all kinds of alternative sources for energy. It seems like a bad dream that we’re so behind in doing so …
December 9th, 2007 at 4:58 pm eIn response to WHAT WOULD JESUS DRIVE?
Did he speak of his own Accord?
He wouldn’t be driving a Ford.
No pedals, no floor board,
Nor anything four-doored.
A vehicled anti-war lord?
God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury.
David’s Triumph was heard throughout the land.
And the apostles were all in on Accord.
How dumb can you be? Man alive!
You ask me what Jesus would drive?
He’d probably hike,
Or travel by bike,
But never by mule on I-5.