Power Trip 08 Buffalo Mountain is a wind farm run by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) located in eastern Tennessee. It's a farm that contains numerous wind turbines and produces 27 Megawatts. We toured around with Rick Carson learning about how the majestic creatures work, and came out with a large appreciation for the soft whoosh that came from 265 feet overhead. Our next stop was Great Falls Hydro Electric Dam. Located in Great Falls, Tennessee, it was just a few hours west of Buffalo Mountain. We got an inside tour of the dam getting up close and personal with the generators and the turbines. We learned a lot about how hydro power works and the convenience it has because it's instantaneous. When generating, 2 pipes release 25,000 gallons per second each! That's a lot of water. But we waved goodbye for now and turned to the south west to mosey on down to Midland, TX. Midland is home to the heart of North American oil drilling and with that of course, George W. Bush. We drove there for a night to volunteer at the Petroleum Museum at a family science night where parents bring their children to learn about subjects like space. In exchange for our work, the museum manager gave us a private tour of the museum before it opened. But sadly, we had a long drive ahead of us; so again, we waved goodbye and headed out continuing west. We paid a one night visit to White Sands National Park. White Sands is a park that is formed by great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand that have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. Gypsum is the mineral that's put in sheet rock, and it is as white as snow! We rolled around and tackled each other, but then had to pack up and leave, headed to our first extended stop, Santa Fe! We piled into a little guest cottage and cleaned up, finally smelling fresh again. We went out to dinner that night to celebrate Pete's birthday by eating southwestern food! Everybody left with a full stomach and a burning mouth. During our stay we visited Los Alamos National Laboratories to learn about hydrogen fuel cells and particle accelerators. We also paid a visit to Bandoleer National Monument, where natives lived in cliff dwellings that you can walk along and climb into. We also went to do service work for the Forest Guardians, who are an organization that protects the wetland systems in New Mexico trying to minimize human impact by restoring rivers. We worked for them planting trees. When it became time for us to move out we all shed a little tear and drove off to meet our next adventure that came in the form of a little town in Arizona called Dove Springs. Dove springs is just a small town in what is the incredibly large native reservation occupied by the Navajo and the Hopi tribes. We stayed with Tim and Belinda Johnson, a family who are one of the 120 or so “resisting” Navajo families living on what is classified as “Hopi” land. There has been a several year conflict between the Hopi and Navajo people on the reservation, centering around the Peabody Coal Company and the negative environmental impacts of the mine on the surrounding area. The coal mine is now closed, but living conditions for the two different native groups are very different. The Navajo families living on “Hopi” land do not have running water and the only power generation they have is solar power. We worked in the fields clearing out tumbleweeds so they could start planting this year's crop. The natives don't irrigate their fields; they completely rely on the rainfall, so we had to be very careful to leave all the topsoil. The next day we went to the local boarding school and sang for them and toured their classrooms. The school we visited also taught a lot of heritage, so we got to hear songs and learn some words in the Navajo language, Dine (deh-neh). We came back later that night to run a bingo night/cakewalk fund raiser for their 8th grade class' end of year trip. We gave away prizes that families could use all the way out in their homes like dog food, cat food, and flour. After turning in for the night and waking up for our final day, we went to do service work for some of the elders. We chopped and stacked wood, and cut down trees for a couple of elders who were no longer physically capable of doing it themselves. They thanked us before we returned back to our lodging to eat a traditional dinner; Navajo tacos. Navajo tacos are fried flatbread with meat and regular taco fixins' on them, it's greasy amazingness! We gave hugs goodbye to our new friends and drove back east. After a few days, we landed back at AMS and joyously greeted every one else swapping stories and hugs, and then departed again on spring break. I don't think any one will ever forget the Power Trip 2008! After seeing everything that's available out there and how resources can affect the way everyone lives, it's inspired me to change. I've noticed myself striving to conserve energy any way I can. I know I'm just one person making this change, but if everyone just turned off lights when they left the room, conserved water, and turned the heat down just a little bit, it would make an immense difference. Think globally, act locally. John Murray, 9th grade
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Arthur Morgan School
60 AMS Circle
Burnsville, NC 28714
(828) 675-4262
Every year the Arthur Morgan School splits into 3 groups and embarks on an 18 day service learning field trip. This year I was chosen for the “Power Trip.” This is a trip focusing on power sources; we were going beyond the plug, back to where it all came from. For 6 weeks myself and 7 other students and 4 staff studied up learning everything we could, and planning! We planned every little detail down to when we were going to eat which meal. Open house came around and students presented projects of what they had learned, it was time to put that knowledge to the test. We saddled up and rode out, our first stop, Buffalo Mountain Wind Farm!