Entry #3, Day Six, Tue June 6, 2003

I’m starting to write this in the car about an hour away from Little Rock. (Don’t worry – Kara’s driving!) This drive from Dallas to Little Rock has reminded me that East Texas and Arkansas are quite beautiful. (But boy, are there a lot of trucks on I 30 – and plenty of the remnants of truck tires due to blowouts.)

Once again, another full day today. We woke up at 6am, and by 7:30am we were leaving my dad’s house in Richardson to head south to downtown Dallas for our meeting with two Dallas City Council members, Lill and Finkelman. Kara drove, because at 8:10am I was interviewed by Rev. Barnett on Christian radio station KNON. (Things got really fun when I was trying to help her navigate and do the interview simultaneously! Thank goodness Kara has organized our directions and schedule so well in easily accessible folders.)

Rev. Barnett was surprised that Texas was the largest producer of global warming pollution in the United States, that the U.S is the world’s largest global warming polluter, and that the largest source of global warming pollution in the U.S. is transportation. But he was well aware of Dallas’ bad air quality and that vehicles are the major contributor to smog. One of the callers complained about the pollution from diesel trucks and buses, and I agreed that such vehicles were a serious health hazard.

With the interview over at 8:45 and us safely in the visitor parking lot at Dallas City Hall, I put on my tie and my suit jacket and we headed into our meeting with councilwomen Lill and Finkleman. We were joined by a local Methodist woman concerned about pollution, Lu Hester. (So, including my wife Kara, there were four women in the room to one man, myself. It’s interesting that I didn’t even think about this until now.) Lu told them that since it was an ozone alert day, she used the local light rail system, DART, to come downtown for the meeting, and that it was packed. She also remarked on how the fare was less because it was an ozone alert day.

The meeting went well, with everyone learning something. The councilwomen found out that there were religious leaders and religious groups concerned about fuel economy and pollution from vehicles. (I highlighted our work, but also told them about the long-standing efforts by the National Council of Churches and Jewish groups such as the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.) We found out what they were trying to achieve with public transportation in Dallas, and we encouraged them to buy fuel efficient vehicles for the city’s fleet.

From City Hall we drove north to the Plano Convention Centre, where Texas Methodists were having their Annual Conference. I briefly spoke at two luncheons. At one of them a woman got up right after I spoke and said, “Can I give a testimony? I own a Prius.” Others piped up as well. As were leaving the luncheon, the minister who was introducing me around said, “Wow, that turned into something like a revival.”

Next up, a radio interview. One of the tougher interviews I did when we launched the campaign in November was on “The Bob Dutko Show,” a Christian radio talk show based in Detroit. He interviewed me again at 1:45pm. Bob was friendlier this time, and seemed more receptive to the message. I really appreciate him having us back on his show even though he doesn’t agree with everything we stand for – especially our concern about global warming. As he said at the beginning, “I’m not really on the What Would Jesus Drive bandwagon, but I like having diverse views on the show.” By the end we agreed to disagree on global warming, but found common ground on the concerns about health impacts and our dependence on foreign oil. Given that Bob’s show is in Detroit, I think he deserves credit for having us on again and being willing to entertain our views.

After changing clothes at the Convention Centre, we headed out of Dallas to make our way to Little Rock. We arrived at our hotel at around 8:45pm. Quite a day!

Jim