Letters to the Editor (Aug. 2): purple martins, sustainable energy, weather

Purple martins’ majesty

I want to thank The Eagle for printing Michael Pearce’s article about the purple martins flying in to roost at Via Christi at St. Francis Hospital.

My daughter and I drove over the other night to experience this natural phenomenon, and it was exactly that: a phenomenal experience. The parking lot was full of people wanting to share this “National Geographic moment” right in the heart of our city. Senior citizens in lawn chairs, young families perched on car hoods, and millenials recording it all on their phones oohed and ahhed as the birds put on their own festival celebrating the wonders of nature. It had the flavor of a small-town fair, and it was all for free and within scant blocks or miles of the homes of most of us.

I worried at first that all the commotion – people talking, trains passing behind the trees destined for roosting, and even a huge hawk that circled for a few minutes in their midst – would scare off the martins. But, thankfully, nature sometimes prevails over the doings of mankind, and the birds swooped in, gave us an air show to remember, and descended in a black cloud into the dense trees, completely disappearing from sight. We all hushed to listen to their raucous before-bed chatter, then left them alone to settle in for the night, akin in our feeling we’d just witnessed something of a miracle.

Hopes of clean energy

I moved to Kansas from Oregon in 2002. I left a place with a natural beauty that is impossible to ignore and came to one with a splendor that reveals itself by degrees.

Incrementally, I came to perceive the soulful song of the prairie and its big open skies, a landscape warmed by abundant sun and shaped by wind. And that which warms and shapes this landscape presents an opportunity for the state of Kansas to be a clean energy hub of the Midwest just as the hydroelectric generation serves the Northwest.

The fertility of prairie soil supports the perennial harvest of wheat, corn and soybeans. Could we not harvest the wind and the sun in a similar perpetual manner? Unlike coal and natural gas extraction, which accounts for most of the electricity production in Kansas, the intensive harnessing of wind and solar energy can sustainably grow the state’s economy and job opportunities; will not threaten climate stability needed to sustain the agriculture that Kansas is known for, nor pollute the water and air; and when developed together, can provide energy security to match that from fossil fuels.

Let’s strive to make Kansas the clean energy leader of the Plains.

Can’t spell forecast without e-a-s-t

I like to watch local news on TV at 6 p.m. and switch around to all three of our stations since I don’t have a favorite. All of them cover only central and western Kansas in their weather reports since their viewing audiences are in that area. The eastern part of Kansas seemingly doesn’t exist as far as these weather reporters are concerned.

I’d bet that the majority of people who travel from this TV viewing area travel east. Unfortunately, we never get any weather forecasts for that part of Kansas from our local TV stations and need to go to a weather app on our phones or computers. I really don’t care what the forecast is for Goodland, but would find it valuable to know what to expect in Pittsburg or Lawrence.

Just maybe, if one of these stations would devote a little time to forecasts about eastern Kansas they could capture a large number of people who travel. How about it KWCH, KAKE or KSNW? It wouldn’t take more than 30 seconds or so to give many in your viewing area some valuable information when they travel and you would gain a competitive edge.

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 4:56 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Aug. 2): purple martins, sustainable energy, weather."