Fury

Energy. We all need it. Almost all of it originates from the Sun. Even oil energy originates from the Sun.

The Shah's family, who nationally instituted the Anglo Persian Oil company that became BP,  moved to our hometown, Williamstown, Mass in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution.

Williamstown is named for Ephraim Williams, born in 1714,  who made his famous will in Albany, NY. in 1755 - bequething his land to create a free school that became Williams College, now the top ranked liberal arts college in the nation and possibly the world. The college's courses can still be audited for free by town residents.

St Pete was founded by John C Williams, Sr. who Williams Park is named for, whose grandfather, Thomas Williams was born in Albany in 1744. But there the genealogical trail ends.

The Shah's family was allowed to come to the US because of David Rockefeller, whose Aunt Alta built Mt Hope farm in Williamstown.  Mt Hope was built just after JD Rockefeller was subpoenaed in 1907 in Pittsfield, Mass for the Standard Oil antitrust suit President Taft used to finally break up Standard Oil in 1911. 

3 years after Standard Oil was broken up, WW1 began which by it's end in 1918 made JD Rockefeller the world's first billionaire - which equates to $23 billion in 2026. 

The Rockefeller family backed 'Ike', Dwight David Eisenhower, in the 1952 Republican Primary which President Taft's son, isolationist Robert A Taft won the popular vote of by 9% but lost the primary anyway. 

Possibly because of the Rockefeller's backing, Ike created Operation AJAX which, with General Norman Schwartzkopf's father's direction created the much hated secret intelligence and police unit called the SAVAK in Iran.

The coup d'etat of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh fomented the 1979 revolution that brought the Pahlavi family to our town.

Our cousin 'Guido' (James Guiden, who is now a Williams College head chef) was conscripted to drive the Pahlavi's bulletproof 'woody' station wagon. I rode in it once. It was super heavy, but handled like flying a magic carpet that was floating on a cloud. 

The Pahlavis are now staunch supporters of creating a democratic Iran. During the recent protest, Prince Reza's name was chanted as a leader of the democratic opposition to the harsh theological regime recently in power.

In case you think I am blaming the Rockefellers for Iran's problems, the fifth generation Rockefellers, as they are collectively called, have almost completely divested from fossil fuels and are actively promoting green energy, creating and funding green initiatives such as the Sunrise Movement which hopes to create a greener, clean energy tomorow.

Which leads us to the point of this narrative. What can we in the Tampa area do to foster peace in the Middle East and forestall our dire climate emergency (last year's Hurricane Melissa's furious 252 MPH winds were the highest winds ever recorded by man) ?

So I asked our surrogate friend Google's Gemini what we can do and Gemini mentioned a very important measure. 'Clean miles', which are miles traveled by individuals with zero or near zero emissions, but which factor in the amount of energy required per traveller per mile.

 

The measurement standard was crafted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2021 to regulate and cut emissions from companies like Uber and Lyft, in order to relieve traffic congestion and cut the number of miles the vehicles spent driving without passengers. It blossomed to include all manner of travel such as an electric train traveller having far more clean miles than a lone EV driver.

If the Sun Coast can transfer it's natural resources of sunlight and wind into a safe, uncongested transportation network that will ease travel and save lives, it will make us all much happier.

I grew up in Williamstown, Mass and I am a transplant to St Pete from Van Buren, Maine where I moved after living in St Pete, Florida for 14 years.

Links at:

https://epicererfury.blogspot.com/2026/03/oil-energy-originates-from-sun.html?m=1

Keith Hall Taft