For the last few months I have been helping coach a Special Olympics swimming team here in Charlotte. It started out just as a one-time thing. Then it became a weekly thing. I became friends with many of the athletes and began to really look forward to the swim practices. I was asked by the head coach if I could help at a local swim meet they were competing in. I loved getting to see them compete and the joy they showed when they got their ribbons after their races. So when the head coach asked if I would consider going with the team to Raleigh for the NC Special Olympics State Games, I said I would.

I was nervous about going to Raleigh. This was a whole different set of circumstances. Coaching for an hour or so at the pool is one thing. Being a chaperone for a whole weekend, staying in dorm rooms and being responsible for a whole team of people with special needs is something completely different. The head coach let me know this. The sly smile on his face didn’t help my nervousness. I don’t have kids myself so I don’t even know how to take care of standard kids (I use the word standard here instead of normal because if I were to say normal kids then that would mean that the athletes are not normal and I just don’t feel that’s the case). I knew this was going to be an interesting weekend. I expected to learn a lot. I did, but the things I learned were not what I expected.

We arrived in Raleigh after driving through a brutal rain storm on Friday night. That night was the opening ceremonies. Athletes from all over the state were there for all different kinds of sports. The enthusiasm that the athletes showed was astounding. Almost every face beamed with a big smile. The athletes said hello to and hugged friends they hadn’t seen in a while and seem to thrive on being in a situation where they weren’t different. They danced after the ceremonies were over to the music of the live band and mingled with each other. Fun was in the air, but make no mistake, they knew why they were there and it wasn’t to dance. These athletes take their sports seriously and when we were heading back to the dorms all the talk was about the games the next day. I could feel their nervousness, but I could also feel their desire to compete and show what they could do. What I didn’t realize was how much heart I was going to see displayed over the next 2 days.

The next morning we all got up to get ready for the games. After taking a shower and getting dressed I went out to the dorm rooms to make sure everybody was up and getting ready only to find out I was the last one there. The athletes were already down and eating their breakfast. They were ready to go. We arrived at the pool venue and I was impressed not only by the facilities, but also by the amount of spectators that were there. I took the swimmers down to the pool to warm up and we had a problem. One of the athletes said he didn’t want to swim. I’ll call him Ben. Ben said he was just too nervous, he couldn’t think right. He was too nervous about competing in front of his mom and dad. He had brothers who were great athletes and were stars on their regular school teams. He felt like if he didn’t excel like they did then he would embarrass his parents (which I knew wouldn’t happen because his parents were very supportive). His head was hung low and his words were soft and breaking up. The pressure was too much and he was starting crumble. “What if my times aren’t good? What if I don’t do well? I don’t want my dad to be disappointed. I don’t want to do this.”, Ben said. I made him look me in the eye and I said, “Just swim. Don’t worry about your time. Don’t worry about the other swimmers. You have already put in the work. This is the easy part. Just swim.” Ben said, “Ok.” Then he took a deep breath and got in the pool to warm up. Before his first race he was shaking, but determined. I repeated, “Just swim.” The race started and he took off. The place was loud! The cheers rose as the swimmers got near the finish. Then it was over. The kid who was scared to race because he was worried about not doing well had just finished in second place and won a silver medal. I’ve heard of smiles that go from ear to ear, but I had never actually seen one until then. To say he was thrilled wouldn’t do justice to the feeling he had. No athlete at the Summer Olympics in London this summer who wins a silver medal will be as happy as he was about winning his. His dad was very proud, but that was just the start for this swimmer who went on to beat all of his qualifying times, win numerous races he was not supposed to win and turned out to be the biggest surprise on the team. That leads to a different story.

These athletes love to win. They love getting medals and being recognized for their accomplishments, but that is only part of the story. We have all heard that it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. We hear it over and over again, but rarely do we see athletes who actually believe it. We see athletes who are gracious in defeat, but we know underneath they are disappointed and upset. These athletes I was coaching and those they were competing against hated to lose, but the way they handle it was different from anyone I had seen before. They were disappointed they didn’t win, but were genuinely happy for those that had just beaten them. I don’t mean that they weren’t gracious. They were, but it wasn’t for show. They really were happy for the winners. There was a race that we had 2 swimmers in. Luckily they were in lanes that were pretty close to each other so I could monitor both during the race. 1 of our swimmers was the favorite. I’ll call him Bill. Bill had the best qualifying time and we thought he had a great chance for the gold. The other was Ben that I previously mentioned. He was not supposed to do well in this race. It was not his best stroke and he only had the 9^th best qualifying time.  With 10 swimmers in the race I just hoped he wouldn’t finish last. The race started and they all took off. I was watching the swimmer I thought would win, but he was struggling. He just couldn’t seem to find the speed and was lagging behind most of the other swimmers. Then I noticed Ben burning it up. He actually had a shot to win. The swimmers were rushing to the finish. 3 of them all seem to touch the wall at the same time. I looked up to the scoreboard. There was a big ‘1’ next to Ben’s name. He did it. He won a race that nobody even thought he could compete in. He was jumping up and down just thrilled to death.  But what about Bill? He finished 7^th. He was looking down. He was still in the pool and had seen the 7 next to his name. I pulled him out and patted him on the back, “Don’t sweat it. You got other races to think about. I’m proud of you.” He took a deep breath and looked up at the scoreboard again. Then he noticed Ben had won. “Ben won!?”, he asked. When I said yes, his whole demeanor changed. He went from depressed to thrilled. He ran over to Ben and they hugged and jumped up and down at the same time. He almost seemed more happy that Ben had won instead of himself. How many athletes do you know who would react like that? I just stood back and watched them celebrate with complete admiration for both. I couldn’t have been prouder if I had just coached a Super Bowl winning team. I would see something similar later that day.

The Saturday races finished a little early and we found we had some free time in the late afternoon so we decided to go watch some of the softball games. The swimmers had some friends competing and they wanted to cheer them on. I saw something remarkable during one of the games. There was a runner on 1^st base. The batter hit a shot to left field. The runner on 1st base took off and rounded 2^nd base. As he went to 3rd he collapsed. I wasn’t sure what happened to him, he somehow hurt his leg and was lying in the dirt. The outfielder had the ball and reeled back to throw the ball to third. Then he stopped. He had the ball cocked back and was ready to gun it in to third, but froze. He saw what had happened. He took the ball down and put it in his glove. Then he waited. The shortstop was already over trying to help the injured runner. The coaches began to come out, but the runner waved them off. He slowly got up with the shortstop’s help and began to limp to third base. The outfielder was still holding the ball. He waited until the runner got to third and then threw the ball in. None of his teammates had told him to throw it in before that. They all wanted the injured runner to get his base. I could see the coaches of both teams beaming with pride, but not the players. It was as if the players expected nothing less of each other. They knew what it felt like to be at a disadvantage. More so than any people I’ve ever dealt with these athletes respected each other, supported each other and had each other’s backs.

We admire athletes. We watch games and cheer wildly. We idolize the great ones. We pay them millions of dollars, put posters up of them and wish we could be them. We admire the sacrifices they make to be great. We admire the athlete who plays through pain, the athlete who suffers through the 3 hours of pain during a football game to help his team win. But what about the athlete who suffers through pain just to get out of bed, who suffers through pain just to get to the event, who suffers through pain during the event and who suffers through pain after the event.  What about the athlete who suffers through all this pain not to win, but just to compete. There are no posters of these athletes and they don’t have millions of adoring fans. They have one big fan though and that’s me. These athletes have to put up with being made fun of, being teased and being told they aren’t as good as standard people. They are called names including the most dreaded name of all, retarded. The word strikes a chord of hurt in all of them. Every day in life we deal with other people who lie, deceive, cheat and hurt each other, yet these athletes that are labeled as being somehow inferior to us show complete respect for each other and everyone else. Not surprisingly, the people who are most likely to lie, deceive, cheat and hurt others are also the most likely to use the word retarded to describe these athletes. These athletes are not inferior to us. It’s quite the opposite.  They rise above our pettiness and selfishness. As a coach I know how important it is to teach them and not underestimate what they can do. What I learned that weekend is that they can teach us as much as we can teach them and the things they can teach us are much more important than anything we will teach them.

Burton Pinckney

As a child my favorite vacations were always the beach trips. Growing up in Charlotte, NC they were almost always to the many beaches on the SC coast. Most were at a place called Edisto Beach. It was north of Charleston and my parents had friends who owned a house there. It was a quiet and fairly undeveloped area that overflowed with wildlife. Pelicans, sea gulls, osprey, crabs, starfish, sand fleas and even the occasional dolphin off the coast all called Edisto home. However, it was an encounter with a Lemon shark that really changed the way I would look at the ocean for the rest of my life.

I was 9 years old and heading out early for another fun day on the beach. I loved the beach! What 9-year-old boy doesn’t? I loved swimming in the ocean, body surfing on the waves with my brother and the old man, crabbing on the docks, playing in the sand, the salt air, watching the pelicans flying uniformly above and just the whole atmosphere that surrounded the ocean. I loved eating the fresh seafood I got down there as well. I ate almost everything that came out of the ocean or the marsh. Shrimp, scallops, crabs, oysters, fish and just about anything that swam was at the top of my favorites list. This particular day I saw something unusual going on down the beach. There was a group of fishermen setting up gear down the beach, but they were different from what I was used to seeing. They were not a group of old men with a couple of lines in the water. They were young. They had huge reels and fishing poles. They had these big thick jackets that were loaded with all kinds of attachments. The other thing that really stood out was they had a rubber raft, the kind that you see as a rescue raft on some boats. All of this spurred my curiosity so I strolled down the beach to see what was going on. Two of the men were getting in the raft and took with them a huge hook that had a big piece of meat on it. The hook was attached to the line of one of the huge poles they had anchored in the beach. They began to row out to sea. I asked one of the men on shore, “What are you fishing for?” He looked down at me with a big smile and said, “Sharks!”

I was fascinated with sharks. ‘Jaws’ had come out a year or so before. I already had a love of sharks and that movie just fueled my interest. I could name most kinds by picture and if there was a report to be done in school, I always knew what my subject would be (assuming I hadn’t already used it so much that the teacher made me choose another topic). Despite my ‘knowledge’ of sharks, I really didn’t know them as well as I thought. Most information on them back in that time was that they were just mindless eating machines. They were devoid of intelligence or any redeemable features. As the line from Jaws says, “They just swim, eat and make little sharks.” Even at 9 I was very aware of the fact that animals were much more intelligent than people gave them credit for. I loved animals. My own research and every interaction I had ever had told me people vastly underestimated them in just about all areas, not just intelligence. However, for the most part I accepted the general view of sharks I had been taught. By the end of the day, I would see things differently.

After rowing out so far I could barely see them, the fisherman had returned to the beach and were now sitting on the beach waiting for something to hit their line. I was in awe of these guys. Only 9, I was looking at these big, muscular guys, with their fancy equipment, fishing for a ferocious beast and thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I forgot about all my other beach activities and decided to spend the day with them. Time passed and nothing. 9 year olds are not known for their patience and I was no exception. The boredom was starting to set in when BAM! Something hit the line! The pole bent over to where I thought it was going to snap in half. The beach, which had been calm and serene now flew into a flurry of action. The fishermen all jumped up and each seemed to have a specific job. One grabbed the pole and tried to get it under control. Another grabbed binoculars and started scanning the ocean. One helped another put on one of the fancy vests and get it all hooked up. They were all excited, but nobody was more excited than me. “How cool is this!” I thought. My imagination ran wild thinking about what may be on the end of that line. I knew that stingrays could pull a pole down like that and put up a tremendous fight as they buried themselves in the sand, but when I saw the line swinging right and left in the surf I knew that this was no stingray. The fisherman took turns reeling in the line. The jackets they had were designed to be able to lock in the pole and give them added leverage. One would go until he tired out and then pass it off to another. After about 45 minutes I saw a dorsal fin right outside the breaking waves. They had a shark! I was thrilled! They continued to battle it. As they brought it in I could see this was not a small sand shark or anything like that. This was a good-sized animal. Finally, they dragged it through the breaking waves and up on the beach. It was a huge 11 ft. Lemon shark. They are called that for their yellow-brown to grey skin. They have two big dorsal fins and have the classic aggressive shark appearance. I was totally in awe of this massive animal and the men who had just caught it. The fishermen were celebrating and I was smiling ear to ear. I ran up to get a closer look and was amazed. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Things, however, were about to change.

The fishermen were celebrating and reliving the long fight it took to get the shark on the beach while I was studying every aspect of the animal. I was looking at the sleek body, the powerful muscles, the huge tail, the perfectly formed dorsal fins and of course the huge set of teeth inside the slightly opened mouth. The shark was still flexing and trying to move out of its fixed position on the sand. I admired its strength and flexibility. I was thinking what a gorgeous animal it was when out of the corner of my eye I saw one the fisherman coming towards the shark and I with something in his hand. A shot of reality hit me when I saw it was a baseball bat. I stepped back and then it started. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! The fisherman began to beat the shark over the head with the bat. Blood and guts have never bothered me, even as a child, as long as what it is coming from is already dead (after all it’s just the mechanics in all of us that keep us alive), but I hate to see any life form in pain. But this was just a big, mindless, evil fish. Why should it bother me? WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Sharks are just eating machines that would tear me apart if they had half a chance, right? Who cares if one is being beaten to death? WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! But bother me it did. Then I looked in the shark’s eyes. I saw pain, I saw feeling and I knew what was going on was very, very wrong. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! The fishermen looked as if they were having fun. They even took turns. It seemed to go on forever. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Finally it stopped. The shark was dead or at least they said it was. To this day I hope they were right, but I don’t know for sure looking back on it now. It was a pitiful way for something to die. Slow, painful and brutal. Then the fisherman began to carve it up. As I said before, blood and guts don’t bother me if something is dead so this was no big deal. In fact, I was glad that the meat was going to be used. I thought if it was going to die at least the meat would be eaten and it wouldn’t have died for nothing. I watched this process continue for a while and that’s when I saw something I never expected to see. Babies. The shark was pregnant. The partially developed sharks began to pour out. The fisherman began to laugh and brag about how they had just kept a lot of other sharks from roaming the ocean. I watched as the babies were tossed into the surf and taken back out to sea. Suddenly this mindless eating machine became a mother to me. A pregnant mother who had been bludgeoned to death while I watched. I felt sick. I was ashamed of myself for being so thrilled before and during the catch. My attitude that morning made me as guilty as the fisherman themselves. I wanted to see them catch a shark. I wanted to see them reel it in. Now, I wished I had never seen those fishermen who had sunk from heroes to cruel bullies in my mind. (Even now I don’t understand how killing a defenseless animal while never putting yourself in any danger is considered manly. Seems more like what a bully who beats up women or children would do. Swim out to an 11 ft. lemon shark and with your bare hands wrestle it back to the beach. Then maybe I’ll be impressed.) Then it got worse.

After the shark had been carved up I learned how the meat was to be used. It was to be used for bait. They took one of the chunks of the shark, put it on a hook and headed back out to sea in the raft. Luckily, they didn’t have any more hits on their lines. They were out the next day trying again, but were unsuccessful. The shark was discarded on the beach. All the meat that had been carved off the shark was just strewn around the bottom of the dunes and around the mangled body of the shark. The fins were all cut off and had been held up as trophies the day before by the fishermen. I went back and looked at what was left of that shark. I looked in its eyes again, now lifeless. I looked at what was once a beautiful animal that had been beaten to death, craved up and left as trash. Then I looked out at the ocean. It looked different to me now. It wasn’t a playground anymore. It wasn’t a vast jungle for us to tame and conquer. It was something to be respected. It was something to appreciate and learn from. It was somebody’s home. Who was I to pass judgment on the creatures that lived there? How do I know how smart they are? How do I know what they are thinking and feeling? I thought I knew so much about the ocean, but I came to the realization that I didn’t really know squat. I had a whole new appreciation for the ocean and all those that call it home. I respected it before, but now that respect had gone to a different level. As we continue to devastate our oceans and the creatures that live there I hope people around the world will develop the respect for it that I now have. When people speak about how the ocean is so vast we could never over fish it, I try not to judge as I remember myself on that beach pulling for those fisherman to reel in that shark. However, I also hope they come to the same conclusion that I did when I realized how little I actually knew. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube once it has been squeezed out. We are squeezing the life out of the oceans every day and if we don’t change our ways soon we will have just have any empty blue tube left over. I don’t know what it will take for people to realize this, but for me it was an 11 ft. Lemon shark on the beach at Edisto.

Burton Pinckney

May 20, 2012

It’s a question that is often asked. With people busier now than in the past, taking care of families, trying to make ends meet, working more often for less money, keeping up with social media and trying harder than ever to take care of all their other responsibilities, it is harder than ever to find free time. So why spend what little free time we have volunteering when we have so many other options?  Normally here is where the standard answers are inserted. It’s fulfilling. It’s the right thing to do. The community needs your help now more than ever.  It sets a good example for your kids. There are others that we have all heard that could be added. These are all true, very true, but they don’t encompass what the true essence of volunteering or simply using your time to benefit others is all about. What it really comes down to is the impact you have on individuals (human and non-human) and the impact they have on you. That special connection between you and another person, another animal or the planet we all share. That connection is more powerful than we realize. Seeing the impact you can have on another life or lives and feeling the impact on yourself from those same lives is a force that has few equals. So as someone who loves to volunteer and has been on both sides of this force I think the best way to answer the question of why volunteer is to share some stories of the connections I have made. The stories of those I have come in contact with can relay the value of volunteering more than any words I can come up with.

There are many stories I could share about people I’ve met that are living on the street, abused animals that (although they have no reason to) show an amazing ability to forgive and love, mentally and physically disabled people who show courage that we can only dream of having or children that have been put in dire circumstances by their parents who just keep overcoming obstacles no matter how many are put in front of them. The following are just a few.

The scoffed at homeless man: I was walking the streets of downtown Charlotte, NC passing out bags that had bottled water, soup, crackers and fruit bars to people who were living on the streets. This particular day I wasn’t working with any organization, just headed down there on a Saturday by myself when it was hot outside and I knew people could use some food and water. Some of the people had come to recognize me now and we sometimes will chat a while about whatever comes to mind. While talking to one of the men about overcrowding at the shelter I looked down a side street and saw a man asleep, laid out on the sidewalk with his belongings strewn around him. I started down the street to see if I he wanted some food and water. As I went a well-dressed couple came up to him, stepped over him and proceeded to scoff and whisper to each other. Then turn as they went by so the man could tell him to ‘Get a job!’ and they both laughed.  He woke up, but didn’t react. As I approached I said, “Hey man, how you doing?”. “I’m not bothering anybody! What do you want?” he said with a look like he wanted to rip into me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you. Just seeing if you wanted some water and something to eat.” He looked at me for a minute and his face transformed from angry to friendly. “Yea, that’d be great.” After looking through the bag he looked up to me and said with a smile, “Sometimes a shitty day can turn into a great day real quick.” About an hour later I was walking back to my car and saw the man again. This time he was up walking with all of his stuff. We made eye contact and waved to each other. I don’t know where he was headed, but he was headed somewhere and he had a smile on his face. So did I.

Mr. Johnson: My dog, Lucky, and I often go to senior centers in my area where we visit with seniors and other residents. Many of these people used to have dogs or other pets before having to move to the senior centers because of medical issues. They really love to see and interact with the dogs (and what dog doesn’t love a lot of attention). The doctors tell us about how the dogs bring people out of depression, improve attitudes and how important it is for people to get some individual attention when there are so few nurses and so many patients. Some have no families or visitors and spend most of their days bedridden and watching TV. One day Lucky and I went into a room to see a patient. His roommate was Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson was confined to a wheelchair, didn’t talk and was unable to even move. He was just propped up in front of the small TV where he spent most of his days. We weren’t there to see him because of his condition, but to visit the other patient staying in the room. He didn’t react at all when we entered. Lucky visited with the patient we came to see and then we stepped back while some other dogs were taking their turn. I was just looking on when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something. Lucky was sitting about a foot from Mr. Johnson when I see a finger move. Just a slight movement, but I knew I saw it move. He was reaching for Lucky! I moved Lucky over and put his head under Mr. Johnson’s hand. When his hand made contact with Lucky’s head it was like the energy from Lucky’s body flowed into him. Suddenly his hand moved freely over Lucky’s head, down the back of his neck and then around under his jaw. The man who couldn’t move now was moving his hand and arm fluidly. The rest of his body stayed in the same position, but I could see a slight smile come over his face as he ran his hand around Lucky’s head. Lucky seemed to sense something and leaned into him so it would be easier for him. I then turned to show everyone else what was going on only to see that everyone in the room was already watching with stunned looks on their faces. Mr. Johnson’s roommate summed up how we all felt by saying, “Wow. Never seen that before. That’s pretty cool.” Yes, it was very cool.

Injured birds: I have done some volunteering at the Carolina Raptor Center and the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. Most of the time at these places you are doing some hard, dirty work. The first time I did this I was a little upset because I was pulling weeds. I selfishly wanted to interact with the birds, not pull weeds. Then a doctor brought out a falcon that was missing his beak because someone thought it would be funny to take a hammer and break it off. The doctor explained how he was unable to eat normally because of this and how they had brought him back to health from near death. He then brought out bird after bird that had suffered some kind of injury, almost all at the hands of man and many times on purpose. It dawned on me that I wasn’t pulling weeds. I was freeing up the doctors and other workers to do what they were there to do. Help the injured animals. Suddenly pulling weeds seemed important and my enthusiasm was renewed. Sometimes indirect help is just as important as direct help. A bird without a beak helped me to see that.

Akeem, my special swimming buddy: I had been helping coach a local Special Olympics swimming team when we had an area swimming meet. It was a great time and the kids all had a blast winning ribbons and getting to compete with other kids from all around the area. My day, however, was made by a swimmer named Akeem. He was on our team and had been coming to our practices for weeks. He didn’t talk, had muscle control issues that caused him to jerk around a lot, bite his hand occasionally when nervous and he would frequently put his face in his hands when he was uncomfortable. At practices he was much more comfortable with women so I normally did not swim with him. I always spoke to him, but never really got a reaction and he seemed uncomfortable around me.  At the meet the swimmers would line up on rows of benches before their races. They would line up about 5 races deep to make sure that everyone was there in time and nobody missed their race. Most of the day I was taking swimmers down and getting them in the right spot on the benches when their races were coming up. I took Akeem down when one of his races was coming up and got him sitting in the right spot. I could see from the start he was nervous and uncomfortable. The other swimmers would be talking and laughing, but he couldn’t talk and had his face in his hands so he was pretty much by himself. He started to bite his hand and kept trying to get up and walk off. I looked around for one of the women he normally would swim with, but they were all occupied. So I went up and sat down next to him and said, “Don’t worry Akeem. I’ll sit here with you until your race starts. You are going to do great, just like in practice.” At this point I was just hoping that me being there wasn’t going to make him more uncomfortable. Then after I had been sitting there a couple of minutes, I felt him scoot over next to me, tightly wrap his arms around one of my arms and then he laid his head on my shoulder. I rested my head on top of his and we stayed like that until his race came up. He raced, got his ribbon and flashed a big smile when he got it. We swim together often at practice now and I see that smile frequently. I wonder if he knows how much his trust meant to me.

Finally, Dave: Dave is a patient at one of the senior centers Lucky and I go to, but he’s not a senior. I don’t know his exact condition, but he has the physical characteristics of someone with down syndrome. He is confined to a wheelchair and has limited movement. The first time I saw Dave was when he was in his wheelchair, sitting and staring into space in the hallway at a T intersection at the center. A group of us were there with our dogs and we all walked right by him because he looked so out of it and didn’t seem to be able to interact with others. We finished up visiting on one of the halls and we were all coming back by. Lucky was having some fun with one of the patients and we had gotten a little behind the group. As the group all walked past Dave, I noticed him sitting there and got mad that nobody had even looked in his direction when they passed. Then it dawned on me that I had done the same thing when we first went by him so I was in no position to judge. So I figured I would at least say ‘Hey’ to him as I passed. I did, but as I passed I noticed his eyes following Lucky. Not me, but he was watching Lucky closely. So I stopped and let the rest of the group go on. I took Lucky over to him and got Lucky to sit where his hand could reach Lucky’s head. He slowly started to pat Lucky’s head and I could see his blank stare turn into a smile as he looked down at Lucky. He didn’t say anything, but I was making small talk while he and Lucky were bonding. I commented on his ‘cool looking’ wheelchair, his ‘awesome’ clothes, how much Lucky liked him and things like that. After a few minutes, Lucky and I said good-bye and we started to head off down the hall. As I turned I felt a hand grab my wrist. I looked back and Dave was holding my wrist and looking me dead in the eyes. I squatted down, smiled and said, “You alright? Do you need something?” It was barely a whisper, but Dave still looking me dead in the eyes said, “Thank you”. It was not a thank you that you get from a cashier after buying something or a thank you that you get after opening the door for someone. This one was straight from the heart. I could tell by the look in his eyes and the tears that were starting to form there. “No, thank you. You just made Lucky’s day and you just made mine.” Lucky and I decided to stay with Dave for a little while longer.

I often think of Dave and the others I have met when I’m having a bad day. Suddenly my problems go away. I encourage everyone to go out and volunteer. There are Daves out there that need your help and you can have a big impact on them even through the littlest ways, but what will surprise you the most is how much of an impact they will have on you.

Burton Pinckney

May 12, 2012

As a new proposal is being submitted to try and revive the Keystone Pipeline XL we again need to look at this project to determine how wise it would be to proceed. I care deeply about the protection of our planet so I have major concerns about this project. However, I also am aware that, with the current problems with the US economy, people need jobs and have to feed their families. So when something like this comes around it’s important to look at the big picture to see if this is something worth doing. We have to look at the risks involved and the potential rewards that could be gained by building it. It would take hundreds of pages to go through all the different risks and rewards involved with this project so let’s just take a look at the main points on both sides. The two most obvious are the risks of spills and the reward of badly needed jobs.  First let’s look at the risk of spills.

TransCanada says that the pipeline will be safe and that their Keystone pipelines are the safest on the continent. The numbers disagree. TransCanada predicted their Keystone I pipeline would have 1 spill in 7 years. In fact, they had 12 spills in 1 year. The company was ordered to dig up 10 sections of pipeline after government ordered tests indicated that defective steel may have been used. Some of this same steel, that is manufactured outside of the US so there is limited oversight on the quality of its production, will be used for the new pipeline. This pipeline damage is also partly due to the more corrosive nature of tar sands oil. It is a heavy, tar-like sludge called ‘bitumen’ that is chemically treated, diluted and forced through the pipeline under high pressure. The Global Labor Institute of Cornell University (GLI), who did an independent study on the pipeline project, concluded that spills are 3 times more likely per mile with tar sands derived oil than conventional oil. And when they occur, the damage is greater, the public health risks are larger, the clean-up harder and the costs higher (much higher). We see evidence of this in Michigan where the clean-up of the Talmadge Creek/Kalamazoo River oil spill (from tar sands oil) was originally estimated to take 30-60 days and cost $5 million. After a year, 35 miles of river were still closed and the cost had passed $585 million. One of the reasons for the increase in cost and difficulty of clean-up besides the chemical factor is that tar sands oil sinks in water unlike conventional oil, which makes oil cleaning skimmers useless. We can also take lessons from the oil spill that dumped 42,000 gallons in the Yellowstone River just weeks after a company inspection and federal review had found nothing wrong. According to GLI, in 2010 US pipeline spills and explosions killed 22 people, released over 170,000 barrels of petroleum into the environment and caused $1 billion worth of damage in the US. High risk when you consider that the oil going through the new pipeline is not even going to be sold to US customers, but sold overseas (and not subject to US taxes).

But what about creating jobs that are so badly need right now in the US. This is another interesting area as I have seen predictions that say the pipeline will produce upwards of 20,000, 50,000 and even 100,000 jobs. After doing some research I found it very interesting how people figure some of these numbers. For instance, in some predictions a temporary job that is projected to possibly last for 3 years is considered 3 jobs. Well, you just tripled your job projection using that technique. Others use ‘possible’ job increases with other industries associated with oil production. These are totally subjective as you can attach just about any industry if you try hard enough, you can use any number you want as far as ‘possible’ increases and you can use very short-term temporary jobs in your numbers. So let’s go to a third-party that has to use real numbers. The GLI independent study, using information from TransCanada supplied to the State Department, says the project will produce no more than 2500-4650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years. Even maxed out, that is less than 5,000 jobs and they are all TEMPORARY, lasting no more than 2 years. This is not a huge impact on our job market. Speaking of jobs, let’s look at how invested money in the energy market translates into jobs. According to GLI, for every $1 million invested in renewable and clean energy, 16.7 jobs are created. For every $1 million invested in the fossil fuel industry, 5.3 jobs are created. That’s a 3 to 1 ratio. Renewable energy is growing at twice the rate of the overall economy. The clean energy economy currently employs 2.7 million workers overall. Between, 2003-2010, a time when many industries were cutting jobs, clean energy economy employers added 500,000 jobs. In contrast, the top five oil companies generated $546 billion (yes, billion with a B) in profits between 2005-2010, but reduced their combined US workforce by 11,200. The new pipeline will not reduce the cost of gas. In fact, it is expected to increase gas prices in the Midwest by 10 to 20 cents a gallon by diverting tar sands oil from the Midwest to be sold overseas. Midwest farmers that are already struggling could see the amount of money they have to spend on fuel increase from $12.4 billion in 2009 to $15 billion in 2013 if the pipeline goes through.

There are many other factors to consider that can’t be fully addressed here concerning the new pipeline. The massive impact of CO2 gasses it produces, the impact on protected wilderness and wildlife in Canada, the consumption of drinking water and natural gas for the production of tar sands oil are just a few. Consider that threatened woodland caribou have declined by nearly 50% over the past 10 years in the tar sands region. Certain bird species have already declined by as much as 80% in areas heavily affected by tar sands development. One barrel of tar sands oil generates 3 to 5 times the global warming emissions that producing the same amount of conventional oil would. By 2015, the oil sands industry in Canada could emit more greenhouse gases than the nation of Denmark. Everyday 3 million barrels of drinking water are lost to tar sands production. The area used for oil sands production could spread to an area the size of Florida. So is the reward worth the risk? The answer is pretty obvious to me. It’s time to put the Keystone XL pipeline project in the trash bin and focus on helping the clean energy economy. We have to get realistic about how we produce and use energy. The planet is dying and we have to change our ways of operating. That will mean sacrificing. A lot of sacrificing, but the cost of doing business the same as we have been is just too high. For once, we need to stop being short-sighted and look to the future. Too much depends on it.

Burton Pinckney

May 6, 2012

This blog will feature my views on the environmental and social issues we face today. It will be a weekly blog where I will post an article each Sunday night. I hope you find them enjoyable and informative.

Burton Pinckney