Several days ago when Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland gave a press conference, I couldn't help but notice that reporters in attendance seemed totally focused, not on details about her latest project, a wind farm, but rather on the number of oil wells and pipelines in the US, which ones are abandoned, which ones might be leaking and how many might leak in the future. Not that I'm a lover of wind farms, but the whole thing turned personal later when commentators implied that her failure to recall these exact numbers indicated a lack of competency for her position.
WOW!!! I could only consider that the details the reporters were asking for could be looked up...probably anywhere on the internet, but certainly with some time well spent on regulatory or watchdog group websites. She took it in stride with class. Who commits those kinds of details to memory? Only those who have nothing better to do.
What has she done rather than memorize details?
- dedicated $25 million dollars to bison conservation
- established the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
- dedicated funding to desalination and removal of "forever" chemicals (PFA's) research
WOW!! There's more but I can't list it all here.
Do I agree with everything she does and says? No
Is she perhaps a tad naive in her approach? Maybe.
But her approach interests me because I"m not so sure it's naive. The cattle industry in the US is under attack. Yet, those attacking the consumption of beef fail to consider the millions of bison who once roamed this land without drastically raising the temperature. Is there something to be learned there?
Federal Indian Boarding Schools impacted every tribe across America and showed how quickly a culture can be damaged or destroyed by immersing the children of that culture in a new lifestyle. It's being done again today in the name of equity.
I've always been told the third world war would be fought over water. There are already shortages around the world. Has she taken one step towards a solution?
I admire her representation of her culture to the world. She seems to make a fashion statement at every public appearance. Simple and elegant. I admire her respect for a simple way of life. We can't return to the past, but we can stop consuming without end.
I hope she doesn't take any of the political BS personally. It would suit me to return to travel by horseback and having everyone raise at least part of their own food. There'd be less time for troublemaking.
