The Desert Greens Green Party of Utah got some media attention today, in repsonse to Desert Greens, Green Party of Utah Celebrate Cancellation of Divine Strake Test and The Desert Greens, Green Party of Utah applauds Governor Huntsman’s efforts
to support both Utah farmers and the development of renewable energy in Utah:
Red-letter week buoys Utah Greens
By Lee Benson
Deseret Morning News
Eileen McCabe is trying hard. She really is.
But it’s obvious she hasn’t had much practice at this sort of thing.
I’m talking about celebrating.
Eileen is a card-carrying member of the Green Party, one of two people in Utah assigned as a delegate to the national party, and she and her Green peers have just gone through one terrific week.
First there was the announcement from the federal government that it was abandoning its plans to detonate the Divine Strake explosion upwind in Nevada — something the Desert Greens, which is what Green Party members in Utah call themselves, have been laboriously campaigning for.
Next there was Sunday night’s Academy Awards, where Al Gore’s documentary about global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won two Oscars.
And finally, as a kind of organic cherry on top, there was Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s announcement this week of his support for Utah farmers and the development of renewable energy in Utah.
Right now, it sure is great to be green.
Eileen knows this, and as she takes a break from her day job in Murray for a short interview with the media, meaning me, she says so with an emphatically redundant, “Oh it’s great, it’s great.”
But that’s it. There are no back flips, no gushing speeches, no Toyota hybrid jumps, no plans for a big victory bash.
The best Eileen can do is speculate that when she and her fellow Greens next get together in person — after Thursday’s regular anti-war vigil in front of the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake perhaps — they might stop long enough for a toast with union-made beer.
“We’re really into union-made beer,” she explains. “The only one I know of is Pabst Blue Ribbon, so we’ll probably get together with some Pabst Blue Ribbon and toss back a few.”
But beyond that, no plans other than to keep on keeping on.
“Honestly, we’re not used to this,” she says, meaning the winning.
Then she quickly adds, “And the battle might be over, but the war isn’t.”
“An Inconvenient Truth” may have won an Oscar, but lots of people are still driving SUVs. Divine Strake may have been cancelled, but the federal nuclear program is still going strong. And then there’s that situation in Iraq.
“If they cancelled the (nuclear) program and ended the war in Iraq and didn’t start one with Iran,” says Eileen, “then maybe we’d take the week off.”
And Pabst Blue Ribbon wouldn’t know what hit it.
Lee Benson’s column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 