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Earl Killian

Welcome to Earl’s Web Page

Last modified: Wed Nov 19 06:18:29 PST 2008

Greetings!

My name is Earl Killian. This is my personal web page. I like to read (history, politics, fiction, science, science fiction), and these pages contain pointers to a few books I recommend and pointers to interesting things on the web. I like to muse on the way things should be and these pages include some of my thoughts and ideas. I am vegan and a supporter of animal rights, and these pages include a few quotes and pointers on these subjects. We have two battery powered electric vehicles (a Solectria Force and a Toyota RAV4EV). There is a little about these cars on the Kilee Manor pages. We are in the process of building a solar (passive solar heating plus PV), straw bale home for ourselves, but that is covered at the Kilee Construction and Build It Green’s Santa Clara County Home Tour 2006, Home #3 pages. I want to get direct fossil fuel use out of our day-to-day lives completely, and the EVs and the house will get us most of the way here, especially with the EVs powered by just sunshine. Finally, I am a believer in non-violence and pacifism, and my politics and values reflect that.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect upon any organization, despite any association I might have.

Table of Contents

Monthly Quote

Quote for November:

Every thing that’s happened wrong in energy in the United States has happened because there was a group of voters that put their own parochial needs ahead of our nation. West Virgina coal miners, Michigan auto workers, farmers from Iowa: none of these groups have thought about our nation. They’re thinking about their small local community. We have to think as a nation. We need a leader who is going to stand up and say, we need to do this together. And it’s doable.

Amy Myers Jaffe, interviewed in PBS’ Heat, Chapter 7

About Earl

Good stuff found on the web

My heroes

There is no single reason I see some figures and not others as heroes, but one pattern does emerge. My heroes are individuals who I recognize for seeing truth that other their contemporaries could not, successfully communicating this truth, and often thereby changing the world in some way. Usually both their accomplishments and methods are worthy of praise. Some of these people profoundly changed the world. They were or are not perfect, and fault could be found, but I find their examples inspiring. Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein’s were not the only great scientists. Darwin’s work revolutionized the way we look ourselves and ushered in an era where science supplanted faith and superstition in much of the general population. Einstein’s genius was coupled with a social conscience (his pacifism in militant environments), and with free thinking and non-conformance that has been all too rare in scientists. I recognize George Orwell, Rachel Carson and Ralph Nader for their illustration of Margaret Mead’s observation that a committed citizen can change the world. Carson’s Silent Spring ignited the environmental movement, and Nader’s long career standing up against the powerful showed how to use the legal system to hold power accountable, even if just a little. George Orwell in his essays and fiction shows that penetrating observations beyond the conventional wisdom are not only possible but also that fiction can shape societies (Mark Twain and Noam Chomsky are two others with penetrating observations). Off with the blinders! George Soros, while he acquired wealth in less than exemplary ways, shows that wealth can be put to political use in enlightened ways. Mahatma Ghandi and Aung San Suu Kyi both demonstrate courage that I can only aspire to in working to effect change non-violently.

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