Members of the House Energy Finance and Policy Division convened Jan. 7 and were promptly treated to dinner and a movie, minus the dinner. Division Chairman Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson) distributed DVDs, which he personally bought for each committee member, hoping it will help members develop a broad vision concerning the state’s energy policy.
The three-hour movie, “The Crash Course: Information you can’t afford to live without,” is a seminar developed by Chris Martenson, a Duke University-educated scientist who specializes in neurotoxicology. The first dozen chapters of the video seminar were shown in committee and tackled such questions as, “How much is a trillion dollars?” (Answer: If you stacked $1,000 bills on top of each other, they’d pile 67.9 miles high, according to Martenson.)
Hilty stopped the video midway so members could adjourn, but not before urging them to take the video home to watch chapters 13-15 on their own. When the division members reconvene Jan. 12, they will finish viewing chapters 16 through the conclusion together. When asked how he learned of the video, Hilty said a friend e-mailed the Web site link to him.
Anyone can follow along with the division’s homework by logging onto www.chrismartenson.com. There is no fee to view the video.
At Issue: Warm homes, cool jobs
Energy upgrades planned with federal stimulus funds
(view full story)
Published 5/29/2009
First Reading: Weathering the economic storm
Minnesota’s adverse climate could front new job growth
(view full story)
Published 3/13/2009