Chapter 12

Robert Redford. His well-known name brings to mind many mainstream movies. Words associated with the actor might also include director, producer, and writer.  Yet Redford doesn't typically bring to mind the word, "environmentalist," until recent years.  

At the upcoming news conference, Redford will be discussing environmental issues, which is an active part of his life. My goal is to research how he's involved with those issues before he gives his speech. This information will be needed if I'm going to report on this conference.

Robert Redford's participation begins with a long line of accomplishments, some of which include:

• lobbying for the Clean Water Clean Air act in the 1970's 
  
• holding international conferences for global warming in the 1980's
• campaigning for pro-environment Democratic politicians in the 1990's

According to the Environmental News and Commentary website, Redford is becoming irate about George W. Bush's plans for the environment.  

"The Bush administration has advocated the most destructive policies I've seen in the more than three decades I've been working on these matters," said Redford.  The movie star has done much word with solar energy in the 1970's, and pushing more efficient energy is one agenda that pushes a personal button with Redford.  He even made a short film on the solar power issue called "The Solar Film" which took him two years to develop.  

Although he is very concerned, he also blatantly stated that he is a hypocrite, because of his love for racing cars.  He thinks using SUVs are only justifiable when used in the country, not in urban areas.  

Redford's newer film, "Lions for Lambs" is also politically centered, but on a different area: the war in Iraq.  This just points out that he is obviously a very concerned citizen, and very

politically involved.  

"The fundamental question [is]: What are we going to develop for our survival and what are we going to preserve for our survival?" Redford said in an interview with PBS. 

Redford has designed a state of the art environmentally friendly "Green Building," which was one of the first pushes toward our country being conscious about "going green." 

Inflation

Considering wages can be amazing when you look at what our society live on in the past compared to what we consider the minimum standard of living now. Inflation has a huge impact on our daily lives, so to look at that we need to compare previous wages with current wages, keeping inflation in mind.

This exercise is particularly relevant to us now because of the teetering state that our economy is in. In 1938, the federal minimum wage was 25 cents. In 1968 it was $1.60. Currently it is up to $6.55 per hour, and will be $7.25 by July, 24, 2009.

Using the "Inflation Calculator" from the site Dollar Times, I found that the 25 cent minimum wage from 1938 has the same buying power as $3.72 in 2008.

The $1.60 wage in 1968 translates into a whopping $9.90 in 2008.

A story that could be written straight from these statistics could go a number of ways. The fact that 1938's standard of living was $3.72 could be something discussed in a story of how the Great Depression affected our culture, and how presently we're not that bad off.

Another story coming from the $9.90 converted wage from 1968, could be about inflation and how it affects our nation. There could be discussion of how the economy has suffered over the past few years, by looking at how 1968 translates into our market values.

Sources

Sources for my questions to the below questions to ask Claire McCaskill:

1. Documents that state her past dealings with illegal immigrants; immigrants from her family, from a background check or family lineage documents
2. Proposals on illegal immigration laws, and how she has sided with them.
3. Any history of prisoners in her family, from prison documents or police records.
4. Democratic vote records

1. Statements of her party's ideals and her public statement of issues.
2. Laws currently on immigration
3. Documents of how Washington currently spends money on illegal immigration issues
4. Other documented issues she is very adamant about, both supporting and against.
5. Proposed laws on illegal immigration and how Claire has voted.