Clay Pope Credit: Mark Hancock Oklahoma bears the scars of the Dust Bowl paradoxically, celebrating the courage and perseverance of those who lived through it and simultaneously obsessing about whether lingering impressions from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath sully the state’s image. But we’re all clear on one thing: The Dust Bowl remains in […]
environment
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Water and wishful thinking
The USDA drought monitor map issued Feb. 5 predicts more of the same, and now Canton Lake is drained to record low levels to keep Oklahoma City on its unsustainable water usage path. Farmers and ranchers have drastically reduced their cattle herds for lack of hay and water due to this ongoing, severe drought. Another […]
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Sun and shade
Russ Goering, OKC VAMC facility energy engineer, said construction began last year after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded $56.7 million in contracts to VA medical centers in five sunny states, including Oklahoma. “The system is robust and about 300 by 200 feet in size,” Goering said. “[It] provides double benefits because our veterans […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘E.CO’ friendly
Contemporary art meets environmental awareness in E.CO, a photography exhibit that serves as the perfect showcase for [Artspace] at Untitled, according to Executive Director Jon Burris. “The reason we were interested in this particular show was that it fit our mission. We are an environment designed to stimulate creative thought and new ideas about contemporary […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Living off the grid
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US” lang=”EN-US”>At the shot of gun, thousands of optimists and opportunists – in wagons, on horse or on foot – raced to stake a claim and build a life. In northeast Oklahoma County, in a grove of post and blackjack oaks, mulberries and poke bushes, Rob Elliott and Cynthia Wilson are homesteading five […]
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Adopt an acre
Clay Pope The program works on a simple premise to reduce ecological damage: Those who can, do. Those who can’t, buy passes. Each $5 pass sponsors one acre of agricultural land for a year, giving the farmers funding to switch to conservation practices such as no-till farming, tree planting, and riparian restoration. When implemented, these […]
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Getting scrappy
Best of all, the dirty work is done for free by bazillions of invisible, bacterial workers that never take breaks, vacations or even ask for raises. The result is compost. “The value is black gold,” said Zitterkob, co-founder of Fertile Ground Compost Services with Craghead. At any given time, the duo has piles of what […]
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Easy riders
“National Ride to Work Day illustrates the growing number of motorcyclists on our streets and how important it is for drivers of all types of vehicles to share the road,” said Kevin Behrens, assistant director of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office. The ride seeks to promote courtesy between motorcycles and their four-wheeled automotive brethren, as […]
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Pedal power
Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. and the city’s Office of Sustainability are officially launching a new bikeshare program on that date, which happens to coincide with national Bike to Work Day. Called Spokies, the program allows participants to rent a bicycle from one of six solar-powered kiosks located in several locations throughout downtown. The kiosks are […]
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On rotation
Piece by piece, 18 helices are being installed on the roof of OMRF’s new research tower to turn Oklahoma wind into energy. The project makes OMRF one of the first entities in the U.S. to receive the helix turbines, and they will stand alone among medical research facilities that receive on-site wind-generated power. All together, […]