Fix it now

The Florida Legislature might have a long way to go in protecting gay rights, but recent legislative decisions indicate that they might be taking a step in the right direction.

Last Tuesday, the Florida Senate Commerce Committee approved a Civil Rights bill that would ban anti-gay discrimination in employment and housing statewide by 7-1. The bill will now be reviewed by the Senate Community Affairs Committee.

The Civil Rights bill, sponsored by Sen. Ted Deutch, is similar to a bill sponsored by Rep. Kelly Skidmore, which is currently making its way through the House. While both bills would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, the House bill bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity, as well.

Gov. Charlie Crist has yet to comment on whether or not he would approve the bill.

Currently, Florida protects residents from employment and housing discrimination via the Florida Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act, which both ban discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap or marital status, but omit protections based on sexual orientation.

Also under legislative review is the Safe Schools anti-bullying bill, sponsored by Rep. Nick Thompson, which was heard on Tuesday by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. It would protect all students from sexual, racial, and religious harassment, but makes no mention of bullying based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Despite this omission, local activists view the bill as a step in the right direction.

“You don’t want to kill the bill. It may not pass as is, but it is a start. You don’t want to push too hard to kill what is the start of a good bill,” said Florida ACLU legislative director of Larry Spalding.

Roberta Fernandez of Planet Partnership, an organization that works to mobilize communities to take action in reducing carbon footprints, spoke about methods both big and small to reduce our own impact on the environment.She began by saying that while natural variations in weather patterns have always been a part of the Earth’s history, most scientific research supports the theory that the extreme weather we’ve seen in recent years is a result of human negligence.

She supported this by citing some shocking statistics — for example, that two-thirds of China’s glaciers may be melted by 2060, that the Alps could be ice-free by 2050, and that Greenland lost 220 cubic kilometers of ice in 2005, the equivalent of billions of gallons of water.

These and other issues, she said, will be the most devastating for developing countries, which do not have the economic capacity to survive issues like the loss of potable water supply or the flooding of coastal homes.

Fernandez emphasized the importance of environmental consciousness in the business world.

“Eighty percent of graduating college students say that working for an environmentally responsible company is important to them,” she said. It’s not only employees who seek out green companies, Fernandez says, but also vendors and consumers.

“Lead by example,” Fernandez urged. “Look at Wal-Mart. They’ve published vendor guidelines that give suppliers 12 months to comply with their environmental standards, or they say ‘okay, you’re off our vendor list.’ But don’t think that just because your business isn’t as big as Wal-Mart means that the steps you take aren’t making a positive impact. “

Fernandez said that reducing the effects of climate change and preventing future damage “begins with the realization that it starts with me, not that guy over there … take a look at your consumption and reduce it in every way that you can.”

(Bonus track: download Fernandez’s “The Little Book of ‘Convenient’ Things You Can Do To Stop Global Warming” in .pdf here.)

Editor’s note:  CL intern and USF journalism student Franki Weddington files from the USF Going Green Expo:

My first seminar of the day is “Biodiesel and Biofuels,” presented by Michael Lokey of Lokey Trucks. If you’re surprised to hear that a lecture on environmentally-friendly fuels is being presented by someone who sells gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, join the club.

While most of the audience of about 40 people seem to be at least somewhat familiar with the concept of homemade biodiesel, I don’t even know how a diesel engine works, much less how to create fuel for it.

Fortunately for me, Lokey begins the discussion by briefly explaining the difference between traditional gasoline-powered internal combustion engines and diesel engines, which use compression and don’t require a spark plug. He says that a diesel engine is “basically just like a bicycle.” Sure it is.

Instead of using diesel fuel, Lokey says, a more environmentally friendly option is using vegetable oil or biodiesel to run your car. (A Dodge truck biofuel converter is shown at right.) Among their advantages is that they clean and lubricate your engine, can be stored safely for more than a year and reduce carbon emissions. Also, it keeps otherwise wasted veggie oil out of our sewer systems, which Lokey says currently costs the city of Tampa $300,000 annually.

Lokey explains that engines that run on straight vegetable oil (or “svo’s” as they’re called in the industry) will never become a viable option for mainstream consumption but will remain popular in the realm the environmentallyaware individual.

This is because unaltered veggie oil solidifies if not kept at the proper temperature, which is difficult in most environments and often requires two engines to be feasible. The factory engine houses the majority of the oil, which can be used once the engine is running and has heated it to a usable temperature, and another that uses the car’s coolant (which, apparently, is actually quite warm) to heat the oil while the car is turned off.

For most people, Lokey says, biodiesel, which is basically just veggie oil that has been chemically or physically altered to remain at a usable viscosity, is a more practical option.

While this may seem like an arduous task, Lokey says that “if you can check the pH balance in your pool and wash a load of laundry successfully, you’re probably overqualified” for making your own biodiesel, because essentially the only requirement is adding chemicals that stabilize the veggie oil.

Toward the end of the seminar, someone finally asks the question that we’ve all undoubtedly been thinking: “Don’t you own a truck dealership? Are your trucks all run on biodiesel?”

Lokey looks as though he’s gotten this question more than once. “For a small sum tacked on to each monthly car payment, we can convert the trucks to run on biodiesel. That’s with approved credit, of course.”