Environmental justice isn’t a topic that gets much play in Daily Kos Diaries, which is disturbing at site devoted to Democratic Party politics. For that reason, I hope everyone reads an interview with Van Jones that appeared on Alternet two weeks ago, The Future of Cities: How Sprawl and Racism are Intertwined.
The interview comes from a new book by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark called Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots, published by PoliPoint Press. Van Jones is co-founder and president of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which seeks to replace the U.S. incarceration industry with community-based solutions. Jones seeks practical solutions to problems of social inequality and environmental destruction, with a focus on green economic opportunities for urban America. He grew up in rural Tennessee, graduated from Yale Law School, and works and lives in Oakland.
An excerpt:
Q. Sprawl has a negative impact not only on farmland and open space but on life in urban areas. How did this pattern of sprawl and gentrification develop? Who wins and loses?
VJ: Sprawl is a response to racial fear and anxiety on the part of white elites. The 'burbs were designed as a vehicle to get away from people of color, investing more in the white infrastructure as they moved away from the city, and the neighborhoods where people of color live. The other side of that is the disinvestment for the communities that remain behind; the money follows the new suburban development. Those that remain in the inner city continue to lose in this scenario.
Q. You've talked about cities and land use as issues that interest many groups: the suburbanites, environmentalists, and inner-city residents. If both environmentalists and inner-city residents have an interest in stopping sprawl, what's preventing them from working together?
VJ: Racism. It is the reason that people move away from each other. People don't want to talk about why people call this a "good" neighborhood or that one a "bad" neighborhood, but often it has to do with the race of the people that live there. White people divorce themselves from the bad neighborhoods and move to the suburbs. The black community has a lot of built-up feelings about our history, about the racism we experience. There is some healing that needs to take place there, so these communities have some issues, and don't want to work with each other, necessarily. There are a lot of feelings there.
Q. Many environmentalists genuinely want to work with other communities to address these issues of common interest. What is thwarting those efforts?
VJ: Those folks often speak about working together through "outreach" -- outreach in the sense of "outreaching to" these people or those people. Outreaching to the black community: "Well, we outreached to them so 'they' could hear our agenda and get onboard with what we are saying." This, as opposed to saying "let's go make some friends," building relationships, creating relationships. Figuring things out from a place where everyone's views are included. Relationships are give and take, mutual aid and help. Outreaching is the white thing, it's about bringing folks into what you are doing, and does not necessarily convey understanding.
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On with the Rescue:
jillian wrote two of her breaking eco-news compilations in the past week, Breaking!....the Earth (Please pass the Paxil version): "Warmth, wind speeds lower Lake Superior. Sharply higher water temperatures and an increase of up to 30% in wind speeds over Lake Superior appear to be coconspirators in the relatively rapid decline in water levels on the world's largest freshwater lake, a scientist told a Great Lakes conference Friday. Detroit Free Press." And BREAKING!...the Earth (Scary S**t Version): "Happy Halloween. The Earth is playing tricks on us, and it's certainly no treat. Environmental News...to use. Traces of antibiotics are found in waterways. Antibiotics are so widely used by Americans that scientists have begun to find the products in waterways, raising concerns about whether the medications are reaching drinking supplies. New York Newsday."
POLITICOS
Hillary does Energy ... and gets a lot right was A Siegel’s view of Senator Clinton’s new proposal: "Earlier today, Hillary Clinton gave a speech entitled ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Climate and Energy Challenge. It is, let me say, an excellent speech to read. Powerful in multiple ways. In the speech, Hillary put Hillary put energy and global warming central to her agenda."
In Hillary's Very Good Energy Plan, masslib agreed with Siegel: "Today, Hillary Clinton unveiled her energy plan, which she calls, ‘Powering America's Future’. The plan is getting good early reviews, offers a number of bold goodies, encapsulates the best of her competitor's proposals, and is well framed for public support. This is an energy policy progressives can enthusiastically support."
Also making note of her plan dansac wrote about Hillary's Energy/Climate Change Plan: A Reminder that Dems and Repubs are VERY Different: "Today, the leading Dem candidate (according to polls) released a comprehensive energy/global warming plan. I have diaried a lot on the environment and global warming - far and away the number one issue to me - so I was curious to see her plan. I say the following as someone who does NOT support Hillary to be the nominee: analyzing this plan is a reminder that the Democrats and Republicans are worlds apart. For all the talk about Hillary being a corporate insider, etc, when it comes down to it, she has a comprehensive plan to combat global warming and the Republicans don't even believe it exists."
barath gave us the skinny on Environmentalists for Obama: take action on Nov. 10th: "Environmentalists for Obama are taking action on Nov. 10th to do something for the environment (and, of course, discuss Sen. Obama's environmental policy). The group put out this amazing web ad to raise awareness and to call people to action."
DemocraticLuntz gave us a helpful primer in the Diary Where they Stand: Transportation: "For those of us who leave our computers, transportation is pretty important, but it has been minimized in the presidential debates. So I figured I'd better write a diary on where the presidential candidates stand on transportation. Here it is."
KaritaHummer put out a call urging Green Party members come home!!!: "John Edwards is fighting for you and me! You will feel right at home in the John Edwards campaign. John Edwards is the best green candidate who is walking the talk on Fair Trade, who wants us out of Iraq and understands our Constitution and will not bow to the wishes of lobbyists and those corporations who only think of their bottom line. He provides an alternative and a new bottom line, as Rabbi Lerner of the Network for Spiritual Progressives might call it."
Congressman Ed Markey popped into Daily Kos last week Seeking Thoughts and Questions for Wildfire Hearing: "Following the devastating fires in Southern California, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will hold a hearing on Thursday Nov 1st at 10 AM to examine the scientific link between a changing climate and the frequency and intensity of wildfires. In an effort to expand the dialogue around this issue, I am seeking ideas, thoughts and questions prior to the hearing. Please have a look at the hearing information below and then post your thoughts in the comment section of this blog. Time for Q&A is limited during Congressional hearings, but I will read all posts beforehand in an effort to inject your ideas into this important debate."
oregonj looks at financial backing for a certain New Yorker in Why the Fossil Fuel Industry Funds Rudy: "In this weekly Tuesday diary until the election, we are keeping track of whether candidates are willing to come out squarely against construction of new coal plants until they are capable of capturing and sequestering CO2. Today's analysis is of Rudy Giuliani; based on Guiliani's statements, he is squarely against banning these old-fashioned coal plants. But more importantly, for the fossil fuel industry, Rudy is the chosen candidate to deliver their anti-regulatory agenda and windfall profits for another 4-8 years. IN OIL MONEY, RUDY IS ON TOP - WAY ON TOP. Open Secrets is keeping track. Through the 3rd quarter, Rudy's campaign donations from the fossil fuel boys are gushing."
Reid Caves in to Bush, Stabs Environmentalists, Wyden in Back was Diarist salvador’s lament: "For the past six months, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has held up Senate confirmation of Lyle Laverty as assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Wyden, it seems, was upset that a member of the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Services had leaked internal documents to industry leaders who opposed some of the FWS's activities and that later showed up in lawsuits against the Department. The employee, Julie MacDonald, who had no training or experience in natural sciences also forced FWS scientists to ‘alter findings, often with no scientific basis’. ... Wyden was holding up the nomination of Laverty until he could get an agreement from the Bush administration not to engage in similar transgressions. Wyden's hold ended last week when Laverty was confirmed on a voice vote, called by Senator Reid while Wyden was away from DC to celebrate the birth of his twins."
Contributing Editor mcjoan also had tough words on the issue in Reid, Wyden, and the ‘Hold’: "On April 30, 2007, Sen. Ron Wyden announced he was putting a hold on the nomination of Lyle Laverty to Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The hold was intended to be used as leverage for Wyden and others in the Senate in ensuring that the rampant corruption that the Interior Dept. under Gale Norton was being addressed by her successor, Dirk Kempthorne. It was also in response to the actions of Julie MacDonald, the previous holder of this office who, according to an investigation by the department's IG, sabotaged a number of proposed listings to Endangered Species Act, as well as actively assisting outside groups who were trying to challenge decisions already made by her agency on ESA listings. ... Fast forward six months to this Monday. Senator Wyden is on leave back home in Oregon, celebrating the birth of his twins (Ava Rose and William Peter--congrats, Ron!). Despite the fact that he is still in negotiations with Kempthorne on resolving the situation, and the hold on Laverty's nomination has not been lifted Harry Reid schedules the confirmation vote, and Laverty is approved in a voice vote."
The Cunctator gave us the infuriating story in $1 Trillion to Coal: The Price of Solving Global Warming?: "Corporate polluters will hit the jackpot if global warming legislation proposed by Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Warner (S 2191) becomes law. ‘The Lieberman-Warner bill will reward corporate polluters by handing them pollution permits worth almost half a trillion dollars,’ said Friends of the Earth's Erich Pica, one of the authors of the analysis. ‘And that's just one part of this bill. The bill also includes hundreds of billions of dollars of other mind-boggling giveaways. The levels of pollution-rewarding giveaways in this bill are truly obscene.’ Any comprehensive global warming legislation that sets a price on carbon emissions, like Lieberman-Warner, will create a pot of on the order of $100 billion per year, so $1 trillion in the first ten years. Not millions of dollars, or even billions. A trillion."
TomP let us in on how his chosen candidate feels on that piece of legislation in his Diary Update II: A Request from FoE Action: Edwards Opposes Lieberman-Warner Polluter Giveaway Friends of the Earth and Moveon.org oppose the Lieberman-Warner bill that was passed earlier today by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. ... John Edwards today joined them in opposition to the Lieberman-Warner Polluter Giveaway bill now in the Senate. Edwards opposes Lieberman-Warner because the bill ‘gives away pollution permits to industry for free – a massive corporate windfall – instead of doing what is right and selling them so that we can use these resources to invest in clean energy research and help regular families go green.’"
Jackpot! for Polluters, was edgery’s take on the subject: "(Friends of the Earth) issued a new analysis of the legislation today, entitled Windfalls in Lieberman-Warner Global Warming Bill: Quantifying the Fossil Fuel Industry Giveaways . In the attempt to set the United States on a course to mitigate our global warming emissions, Senators’ Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Warner (R-Va.) America’s Climate Security Act of 2007 gives hundred of billions of dollars away to corporate polluters."
Target Global Warming stepped in with a piece on Will the Senate Step it Up on Global Warming?: "There has been some confusion lately over where the environmental community stands on America's Climate Security Act of 2007. To clarify, here are two letters which should provide a better understanding of where the National Wildlife Federation stands. The first is from NWF President and CEO Larry Schweiger. It was originally addressed to NWF board members, staff and supporters, but it seems appropriate here."
The Cunctator peered in on the subcommittee’s "markup" hearing on the giveaway bill – S.2191 – Hill Heat: Trillion Dollar Climate Bill Hearing LIVE.
Newt the Environmentalist: Nutjob or Imbecile? was the difficult choice offered to us by Leo in NJ: "My local NPR radio station, WNYC FM in New York, just had an interview with Newt Gingrich on his new book "The Contract with the Earth" on the Brian Lehrer Show. With a typical liberal's urge to listen to people even if I disagree with them most of the time, I decided to give him a listen. I lasted about three minutes before switching off in disgust."
TomP directed us toward another populist stance by his candidate in Update with Video; Edwards: Reversing Global Warming depends on Reversing Corporate Lobbyists: "John Edwards yesterday said reversing global warming could only be met if we stand up to corporations and their lobbyists who prevent change. ‘Why have we not addressed the issue of climate change and global warming?’ Edwards said. ‘I'll tell you why, no question about it: oil companies, gas companies, power companies and the lobbyists in Washington, D.C. We have to have a president who will stand up to these people.’"
A Siegel gave Bill Clinton a thumbs-up in Post Clinton-Gore Admin Duo & Global Warming: "In the post Clinton-Gore Administration activities, it is not just Al who speaks about the planet and seeks action." (Clinton says): 'It no longer makes sense for us to debate whether or not the earth is warming at an alarming rate, and it doesn't make sense for us to sit back and wait for others to act. The fate of the planet that our children and grandchildren will inherit is in our hands, and it is our responsibility to do something about this crisis.' Clinton launched the CCI in August 2006. Its basic approach: using business-oriented concepts and approaches to fight Global Warming, using realistic metrics, aiming for substantive results."
ANIMALS
Mark H provided us two installments – one a reprise from a year ago, one fresh off the keyboard. The new one was Marine Life Series: Mighty Aphrodite: The sea mouse is a really strange polychaete. Polychaetes are worms, usually very long and thin, and include the common "clam worm" which is often used as bait by recreational fishermen and may reach a length of up to ten inches. There is even an Australian species called the Bobbitt Worm (named after Lorena Bobbitt because, after mating, the female bites off the male's reproductive organ and feeds it to her young) that can grow to nearly two feet long. However, the vast majority of marine worms are much, much smaller. Most species are nearly microscopic and live interstitially (between grains of sand). The sea mouse departs from the normal ‘worm-like’ body of the average marine polychaete because it is both very large, but also very compact."
His other entry, from a year ago July, was Marine Life Series: The Incredible Mr. and/or Mrs. Limpet: "These snails are sessile, meaning they remain in one place for their entire lives, attached to rocks or other shells by the powerful suction of the foot hidden beneath the shell. (Those of you on the West Coast, think ‘small abalone’). The larvae are planktonic and as they drift through the water they look for a suitable place to settle down. The preferred spot is on top of another limpet (adult limpets actually secrete a hormone that attracts the larvae to them). As this larva grows into an adult it in turn attracts other larvae, the result being that the animals form a living chain of mollusks that may number in the dozens. If a larva is unable to find another limpet it will settle on a rock and begin its own chain as others join it."
POLLUTION
TeamsterPower was irked by the fact that Port Sides With Corporations Over Clean Air: "An effort to clean the air around California's Port of Long Beach was delayed Monday when Port of Long Beach officials again postponed consideration of the Clean Trucks Program. The comprehensive program aims to reduce port emissions by requiring trucking companies to meet new labor and environmental standards to improve public health and safety. A large component of the measure would force trucking companies to abandon their "independent contractor" business model and force them to take responsibility for updating the fleets of trucks that haul their cargo. ... Under the current inefficient system, drivers are paid by the load and must own, fuel and maintain their trucks. According to the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, which is supported by the Teamsters, environmental and community groups, ‘Academic studies show drivers average as little as $9.50 an hour, and many make significantly less. Ninety five percent receive no retirement benefits and only ten percent have health insurance.’ ‘We’re not able to have our trucks in good shape and aren’t able to buy a new truck,’ one driver told the commission Monday."
raatz sent out an action call in the Diary with the week’s longest headline Something easy & effective we all can do - ask our municipal governments to ban plastic bags: "Plastic bags are an environmental disaster. ... One thing we can do to mitigate this disaster is to get our towns, cities, and counties to simply ban plastic bags. It's already happened in the City & County of San Francisco. Why don't we ask our local officials to follow San Francisco's lead?"
And raatz wasn’t the only one fuming about plastic bags. In a terrific essay, Paper or Plastic? Just say no, caldreaming discusses the issue with a captive audience, his Boy Scout Troop: "So I have the boys in the meeting, and I start talking about our upcoming ‘Scouting For Food’ drive. This single event gathers half the private donations for the Alameda County Food Bank. In years past, we tied plastic shopping bags on peoples doors one week, and then the following week we went back and collected the bags full of food. This year, the Scouts are not using the bags. We are putting up ‘door hangers’ and asking people to use their own bags or boxes. I told the boys that this was a good thing, and started talking about the evils of plastic shopping bags. I told them, that if there was one simple thing that they could do to help the environment, it would be to convince their parents to use cloth shopping bags instead. The boys looked at me blankly, and said that they had never heard of such a thing (well, all except my son, who has seen us using cloth bags for his entire life). So, this launched me into my tirade about plastic shopping bags, and while it is still fresh in my mind, and while I am still feeling somewhat emotional about it, here goes: 1) The problem is huge 500 Billion bags are used around the world every year; 2) The EPA has estimated at only 1% of plastic shopping bags are recycled; 3) Plastic shopping bags can last up to 1,000 years in landfill. But worse, many plastic bags don’t even end up in landfill. they litter the streets, end up getting washed into our sewers, and ultimately find their way into the ocean."
catsynth took exception to Aerial Spraying in Santa Cruz - Yikes!: "California will begin spraying a pesticide next week in the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas ‘to halt the spread of the light brown apple moth, an invasive pest the state says is capable of causing millions of dollars in crop damage if it is not stopped soon.’ An attempt to temporarily block the spraying in Santa Cruz was denied this week. And while not as alarmed as some other people appear to be, I am nonetheless wondering what are the safety issues for people and animals in the area..."
PUBLIC LANDS, LAND USE & OTHER RESOURCES
Putting the "public" back in the land was Contributing Editor mcjoan’s thoroughgoing effort bringing us full circle from the anti-government ‘Sagebrush Rebellion’ of the 1970s to the anti-government attitudes in the West today: "But a funny thing happened to Bush and Cheney in their quest to mine, drill, clearcut, and exploit every last public acre. In some areas, even in the West, we’ve come full circle to distrusting the federal government and its policies again. Now that those public lands that were expanded back in the Clinton years have been public for a while, people have come to feel rather proprietary toward them, and to resent the efforts of the Bush administration to open them up to oil and gas drilling."
Naturegal offered a challenge to Another "Road to Nowhere" Moving Through Congress -- Action Needed: "At this moment, the Alaska delegation on Capitol Hill is attempting to gain passage for another ‘Road to Nowhere’ at the expense of a pristine area called Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. H.R. 2801 (introduced by Rep. Don Young) and S. 1680 (introduced by Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski) would build a $15.6 million, nine-mile gravel road through federally designated wilderness at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. And on Wednesday, it is expected that Dale Hall -- Bush's director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service -- will be the first head of the Service to offer support for the road in a House hearing on Capitol Hill.
Land Use Watch asked Do you know anyone who lives in Oregon?: "If you do, please urge them to vote YES on Measure 49! And, of course, if you yourself live in Oregon, please vote Yes on Measure 49. And encourage your friends to vote Yes. Yep, there's an election going on right now, and one of the most important issues to face Oregon is on the ballot. Measure 49 will limit sprawling subdivisions that threaten Oregon's farms, forests, and beaches. It puts the breaks on huge Measure 37 developments, while allowing the individual owner to build from 2-10 houses. A Yes vote on Measure 49 is the pro-environment, pro-farm, pro-clean water measure.
Could the Adirondacks Learn a Lesson from Vermont? was Upstate Blue ’s behind-the-scenes report: "For several years now there has been a major debate brewing over the conservation of the Adirondack Park wilderness. While many individuals, particularly vacationers and second home owners, would like to see the majority of the 6 million acre park remain preserved and "forever wild," a number of full-time residents have been expressing concerns lately that the strict environmental regulations within the park boundaries may be hampering economic development throughout the region. In fact, some park residents have become so dismayed with the restrictions to the point where they would like to see the Adirondack Park outright abolished and the protected acreage returned to the public domain for future development purposes. Perhaps the most vocal of Adirondack preservation opponents is organic farmer Carol W. LaGrasse, a New York City transplant who now resides in the hamlet of Stony Creek in northwestern Warren County. LaGrasse now leads a group known as the Property Rights Foundation of America, composed mainly of dismayed Adirondack residents, which has worked unsuccessfully to block several major land purchases during the Cuomo, Pataki, and Spitzer Administrations, including the state’s 1999 acquisition of 139,000 acres formerly controlled by the Champion International Company for logging in the northern Adirondacks.
Battling Maxo sounded the alert in Californians! Stop an anti-environment Trojan Horse: "They're back! Last year we defeated a right-wing anti-environment proposition that would have prevented "the State, local governments – and even voters – from acting to protect our wildlife, open space, coastline, farmland and other important resources." The anti-government extremists have are at it again. They are circulating petitions for a new--and even worse!--version of this right-wing rip-off."
ENERGY
Some guy named kos was wowed by the story he related in Doing what Detroit says is impossible: "This story is so incredible, I had to do additional research to confirm that it was indeed true. It centers on Kansas City auto mechanic and inventor Johnathan Goodwin. Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He tells me the story: He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. ‘Does it have a diesel engine in it?’ ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘No way,’ they replied.
However, xgz took exception in Johnathan Goodwin: patron saint of green cars or a fraud?: "Kos' frontpage diary repeated a great story about an 8th grade educated car mechanic doing what Detroit claimed was impossible - green cars that do 100 mpg and little polution. It sounds too good to be true, that kos ‘had to do additional research to confirm that it was indeed true.’ Well, a little more research shows that it is indeed too good to be true."
More eloquent installments appeared in Devilstower’s series on mountaintop removal, including 30 Days to Save the Mountains: Like Lung Cancer: "It's still an awful business, and unfortunately replacing coal in our energy budget is not going to be as easy as putting a cold fusion cell in every home. It's not going to come from magic, and it's not going to fall like manna from heaven. It's going to take hard work, serious investment, and a dedication to change. In the meantime, we have an electrical grid where 51% of the power is generated by coal. That's a monster that demands to be fed. Every day. But it doesn't have to be fed through mountaintop removal. Overall, mining in Appalachia represents a decreasing share of our energy picture. Most of our production these days comes from western mines, especially those located in the Powder River Basin that sprawls across Wyoming and Montana. The coal there is thick -- commonly seventy feet thick or more -- and a good deal of it is quite shallow. That means you can get more coal by moving less material."
Non-Treehuggers Criticize the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership was Contributing Editor Plutonium Page’s assessment of a growing push for nuclear power: "But more nuclear plants means more nuclear waste; in the US alone, there are approximately 55,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in temporary storage at about 120 sites across the country, with no permanent storage solution in sight [pdf]. And other countries, with far more nuclear plants, have a similar problem. Spent nuclear fuel storage poses many problems (security, potential public safety hazards, etc.). So, back in the beginning of 2006, the Bush administration announced its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) proposal. The program is ambitious. Under the slogan of ‘Accelerating Clean and Safe Nuclear Energy,’ it advocates worldwide expansion of nuclear power via nuclear fuel-recycling technology, with (theoretically) less nuclear waste. The program is billed as a technological panacea for all things climate, energy, proliferation, and environment-related; it sounds like prime nerd bait as well as a prime target for anti-nuclear power nongovernmental organizations. So guess who's criticizing it?"
TonyZ expressed his concern over Patrick Moore the Nuclear Activist: "After the Al Gore movie came out, the nuclear industry transformed into a bunch of tree-hugging hippies, ready to do their part in the fight against global warming. How sweet. The reality is of course, these people are savvy propagandists, and will manipulate whatever cause they can to make a buck off the rest of us. In their latest efforts to fool the American people into believing nuclear power is a good idea, various propagandists have been hired to push the nuclear agenda. ...The most insidious of the industry's hired guns is its contingent of former environmentalists whose sole purpose is to confuse the American people into thinking that nuclear power is the answer to everything. Their misrepresentations are easier to swallow for the unsuspecting public because their reputations are untainted by politics and carry with them an aura of honesty."
Unsurprisingly, NNadir had another view on the subject, as he made clear in The Wonderful World of Circular Reasoning: Using Hydropower to Desalinate Water: "Wind power and solar power may be regarded as systems that do not reject heat to the atmosphere. But though there's lots and lots and lots of talk about these forms of energy here and elsewhere, they remain trivial means of electricity production, amounting to less than an annual exajoule of energy combined. The second largest form of greenhouse gas free primary energy after nuclear is hydropower."
devtob was glad for some Rare good news: GE will create 500 alt-energy jobs in Schenectady: "Wind and solar energy are becoming a big deal, as the price of oil heads inexorably to Jerome's $100 a barrel. General Electric, the major American electrical equipment supplier since Edison, is seriously investing in alternative energy, announcing today that it will create 500 new engineer-level jobs in Schenectady, NY. The engineers will largely work on wind and solar."
With oil moving in the $90s-a-barrel range, Jerome a Paris wrote two Diaries in his Countdown series. The first was Countdown to $100 oil (51) - we'll never see 100mbd: "With oil prices briefly going over $96 this night, we're definitely within sight of $100 oil. In fact, for all instances and purposes other than the actual symbolic breaching of an arbitrary round number, we are at $100 oil - in terms of burden on the economy, cost of imports, and potential impact on our energy use. And the big news is - there's no news. There's no recession. It's not a hot political issue. There's no Marshall plan to move to alternative energies. No debate about how to reorganize our economies with scarce and/or expensive oil. Which points to a simple conclusion: oil is still much too cheap."
The second was Countdown to $100 oil (52) - buying protection (with a HRC plug): "Oil prices hit $97 earlier today, as bad news continue to sink in (floods in Mexico, a pipeline damaged in Yeme, tension in Pakistan, storms in the North Sea), and the markets are very obviously thinking about what happens next."
In a Diary that drew hundreds of comments, sarahlane asked Kossacks to Check Out My Mom's New Built Green House!: "I've been waiting a long time for this moment, the moment when I can show all my fellow Kossacks what it takes to build green. This past year my mother has been working hard building her green house. She bought a piece of land on the Washington Peninsula, hired a green designer and a contractor who wanted to get more involved with green building. It has been a long, expensive and sometimes frustrating process. Whatever setbacks my mother faced while building green, it really was all worth it in the end. Follow me below the fold to find pictures, pricing and maybe some features you've never heard of!
kelly p announced a North Carolina event yet to come with Top Climate Expert Joins Fight to Stop New Coal-Power in NC: "Come hear Dr. James Hansen speak on solving the global climate emergency; his leading recommendation: a moratorium on coal-fired power plants such as the one planned by Duke Energy at Cliffside, North Carolina (November 16)."
Ethanol: Al Gore Supports It, and so should YOU! was lmale’s siren call: "There is a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) regarding ethanol. Let me put these doubts to rest. Ethanol is a PROGRESSIVE and environmentally-friendly way to secure America's energy independence on Middle Eastern oil. It is also a sure path to win the War on Terror as well. ... Although I have some disagreements with Al Gore, I believe he is 100% in supporting ethanol. In his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", Gore also correctly points out that ethanol is carbon-neutral because whatever ethanol is consumed is replaced by new corn crops being grown."
tecampbell asked Is the Ocean the Answer?: "After participating in a discussion in Plutonium Page's excellent Front Page diary ‘Non-Treehuggers Criticize the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership,’ I started doing a bit more research on a rarely spoken of renewable energy solution: sea turbines. The more I researched the more I realized the tremendous potential of the oceans as a sustainable energy resource."
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
Vegetables of Mass Destruction - Food Deserts brought the tantalizing writing of OrangeClouds115 back to us last Sunday: "A friend of mine lives in a food desert. To reach it, drive inland from San Diego towards Arizona until you’ve left civilization long behind – not just the city and its suburbs, but also the Indian casinos too – then turn off the highway and drive for another 10 minutes, even deeper into the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself in a quaint town that consists of one street. Before I visited him, I’d never truly experienced such a phenomenon. I didn’t even suspect I’d entered into a food desert the first time I visited. My friend, whose kitchen prominently displays bags of beans and rice the size of cat food bags, had made tortillas and (of course) beans and rice. I brought an avocado, salsa, and beer. Our dinner lacked nothing. The next time I visited, I looked in his fridge. As I did, he said, ‘I haven’t been to Costco lately... there’s nowhere to buy food here except the gas station.’ Whoa. I was in a food desert. In this diary, I’d like to talk about two distinct types of food deserts: rural ones (like my friend’s home) and urban ones, where there’s all kind of junk but no food."
8ackgr0und N015e gave us pause, declaring You might want to read this before you open your mouth: "Beef Sold At Sam's Club Being Recalled. Wow. what does 850,000 pounds of contaminated beef look like? Don't ask. They just increased the number to 1,084,384 pounds because the meat may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. Think that is a fluke? Hold that thought. The Cargill recall comes on the heels of Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps Meat Co.'s recall of 21.7 million pounds of ground beef amid E. coli concerns. The recall - the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history - caused Topps on Friday to announce that it's going out of business. It ain't just beef contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7."
I suppose Frankenoid must to post her Diaries so early in the morning if she expects to spend any time actually doing what she talks about in her Saturday Morning (Home And) Garden Blogging Vol. 3.37: "We've had typical early fall weather for the past week, highs fluctuating from the 40s into the 60s, and lows dipping below freezing some on some mornings. While Denverites (including me) will claim that, like the purportedly lousy ‘stock show weather’ in January, Halloween usually has crappy weather, the end of October can be quite variable — Halloween, 1999 had a balmy 77° high, while in 2002 it was a frigid 19° high. This year, it was neither here nor there — a 40° high and a low right at freezing. Good trick or treating weather: cold enough that the kiddos didn't want to stay out too long, but not so cold as to be miserable."
FishOutofWater reported that Food Prices Skyrocket Globally, Climate Change & Biofuels Bringing on a Crisis: "Global food costs are soaring as drought, floods conversion of food to fuel reduced food supplies to critically low levels. Record world prices for most staple foods have led to 18% food price inflation in China, 13% in Indonesia and Pakistan, and 10% or more in Latin America, Russia and India, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Wheat has doubled in price, maize is nearly 50% higher than a year ago and rice is 20% more expensive, says the UN. Next week the FAO is expected to say that global food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years and that prices will remain high for years.
GREEN PHILOSOPHY & MISCELLANY
Seattle Mark wrote a parable in An Environmental Horror Story w/poll: "They were so excited when they first heard the news. A small colony of yeast cells learned that they had been selected to make Champagne! While they weren’t certain of all the details, they knew it was a glamorous job, much more prestigious than pedestrian work like making bread. Plus, they knew that they would be dining on sugar and they sure did love their sweets. The big day finally came and the yeast colony was dumped into a bottle of wine loaded with sugar. The bottle was corked and carefully placed in a rack where the yeast cells could get to work. Except that it didn’t really seem like work. No, it was more like a big party--plenty to eat and ample opportunities for reproduction. Hop in a barrel and follow me over the faaaalls..."
AudreySchulman suggested Building Incentives for Building Green: "When it comes to climate disruption, most people worry about the effect of their driving. They assume that's where they're doing the most damage. However if you're an average American, your home emits as much as your car. If you add in your portion of the office building you work in, the store you shop at, etc. you can understand that badly designed and maintained buildings are where 48% of this country's carbon emissions come from. Compounding the damaging amount of energy that buildings use is the fact that they last so long. Any bad decisions we make in construction today will probably still be standing 50 years from now, leaking carbon. If we want to have any chance at all of decreasing our emissions 80% by 2050 (as the scientists say we have to do to avoid the worst parts of climate disruption), we have to start pushing now to make buildings more efficient. We all have to start building and renovating to waste less energy."
gmoke has long made clear his love of green gadgets. He found some more last week, as he noted in Blue Ribbons at the Maker Faire: "The Maker Faire in Austin, TX gave out its blue ribbons on October 21, 2007. Here are the ones that caught my eye ...Thermal Electric Photovoltaic Device: Adding solid-state heat sinks to solar electric photovoltaic PV panels improves the performance and longevity of the PV panels and can provide more energy through the Seebeck effect producing voltage through the temperature difference between two metals."
Recovery from oil addiction?, frodolives laid out the details of something he’s been pondering for a very long time My feeling is that by ‘working’ with the metaphor of addiction, and guided by the words of the steps, we might be able to tell a hopeful and, dare I say it, spiritual story which many Amercians may be more open to than dry policy statements and/or raw horror stories. But I honestly want some feedback on that before trying to go much farther. The only reason to do this is if it's useful, and that's where I can't go by myself. Indeed, for better or worse, following the logic of the steps seems to me to take us in directions which are much more radical than the general level of discussion here."
In a Diary that definitely couldn’t be accused of offering easy answers, pkbarbiedoll pondered what to do about Globalization and Global Warming
: "Globalization is driven by a western culture enriched in debt and oblivious to responsible, sustainable living. It is more important to offer $2 t-shirts & .50 cent widgets at Wal-mart than stopping global warming. Crate after crate of poorly designed, cheaply made (and sometimes toxic) crap is shipped to the seemingly insatiable appetite of the West. Most of this stuff winds up in our landfills (or our environment) after it breaks or wears out prematurely. Workers who make our landfill mass are often paid a statistically low wage, and this occasionally includes children and prisoners."
Eric Zencey discussed his project in Calling for environmental literacy at Empire/SUNY: "I've been agitating the faculty of my institution, Empire State College, to implement a requirement in environmental literacy. I thought I'd share the text of the memo I wrote promoting this. I'm posting it because hey, this is my diary and this is what I've been up to, and (more importantly!) because maybe someone who reads it will find these ideas useful for a conversation with a local school board or a letter to the editor or to the appropropriate powers in their state university system. Feel free to quote, copy, distribute, whatever you want--though citation is much appreciated. (And drop me a line to let me know if you do this.)"
In what I hope was satire, fake consultant made the case for On Greener Torture, Or, These Days, Environmentalism Matters: "here is no doubt that America, and the world, are changing the way things are done. Oil prices approaching $100 a barrel is part of the reason, but the concerns about availability of water and the potential for climate change are also foremost on consumer’s – and Government’s – minds. ...With that in mind, I come before you today to offer some ideas that can help ‘green up’ an often overlooked area of Government operations – torture. And why not? Consider that "extraordinary rendition" alone has an enormous carbon footprint that is ripe to be reduced and you have some conception of the scope of the problem. So let’s talk solutions."
TRANSPORTATION
sarahnity devoted last week’s installment of her wonderful lifestyle series to Frugal Fridays: Car Talk: "Before you go out to purchase a car, try thinking outside the box and look at whether or not you really need a car after all. The expenses of owning a car include gas, maintenance, registration fees, parking fees and fines as well as the purchase cost. Wouldn't it be nice to avoid these costs if at all possible? Here's a tale of how a family of five did without a car for a year: Carless in Seattle."
NomadTraveler23 found something to worry about in hybrid technology, as told in the Diary Hybrids and their CO2: "Last month, after a car wreck that totaled my beloved 2000 Honda Civic, I visited my first live auction to bid on a car that I hoped would make up for my loss. I went to the auction with the hope of buying a fuel efficient, economical, sporty car – I left buying a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid. By the time I had my first fill-up, 475 miles later, I was in love with the car. More importantly, I was in love with the fact I was now a Hybrid owner and that my fuel consumption had dropped over 50% per month... In the following weeks, I told everyone I met how they should buy auction hybrids, for both the price and the eco-friendliness. My thoughts about the environment and the pollutants that I emit had once wavered in my mind and had actually been the topic of a previous posting on DKos, well before my Honda Hybrid conversion. Then, in the midst of patting myself on the back for being a good steward of the environment, I came across an article that I found surprising and shocking."
Action needed now on CAFE standards, wrote jptrenn: "If you managed be to up on Capitol Hill today you may run into members of a coalition I'm with. We're a group of environmentalists representing several organizations and we're pushing to make sure that Congress keeps in a couple of provisions in the energy bill that we feel are essential to help us cut down on our reliance on non-renewable fuels. One provision will increase the CAFE standards - the guiding mandate used for a the miles per gallon for a car company's fleet of cars - to 35 mpg by 2020. That means better gas mileage, less money spent on gas, less of a need for a polluting energy source, and less of a need for oil from dangerous and unstable sources. The second provision calls for us to get 15% of our electrical energy from non-renewable sources by 2020. Sources such as wind and solar. That also means jobs in those sectors."
kos, who was on an environmental roll this past week, was delighted at learning Flexcar and Zip Car to merge: "This is the best of all worlds for me. I already use Zipcar as my family's "second car", allowing us to remain a one-car household. I use a nearby BART station's pod, and the number of available cars has now just doubled for me, including a Prius operated by Flexcar. AND, since they're merging under the Zipcar brand and technology, I don't have to do anything to take advantage of all of this. Pretty sweet."
My EV World reported on An AT&T for Electric Cars: "Former SAP executive Shai Agassi raised $200 million to create an electric car recharging/battery swapping infrastructure in 15 countries that will make it easier for owners to drive their battery-powered cars. ‘I have two great passions: electric cars and Israel,’ Michael Granoff, the head of Maniv Energy Capital, told me yesterday. I had called him to follow-up on an email he'd sent me expressing surprise that I had missed the big announcement about Shai Agassi's$200 million Project Better Place to build what the former SAP executive calls the AT&T of electric car infrastructure."
Willinois bemoaned the fact that Dirty cars costing more American jobs: "One of the most frequent claims automobile industry lobbyists make when arguing against improving mileage requirements and other environmental standards is that new regulations will cost American jobs. Two weeks ago GM announced that they're laying off workers at its Hamtramck plant due to low demand for two models of gas-guzzling cars made there. The good news for workers at the Hamtramck facility is that they'll start producing a new plug-in hybrid called the Chevy Volt starting in 2010. One has to wonder how many jobs might have been saved had General Motors committed earlier to meeting market demand for cars that get better mileage and pollute less. Today Chrysler made a more severe announcement that it will cut 12,000 jobs in North America. This time the cuts will effect Illinois workers at the plant in Belvidere."
Finnish government moves to tax gas guzzlers gave allmost liberal european a rare chance to highlight something his government has done that Kossacks might find relevant at home: "So, the Finnish governenment has decided to lower the car tax on new cars, but only if the car gets good MPG."
CLIMATE
gmoke pointed us at the BBC World Survey on Climate Change: "The BBC has completed a world survey of 22,000 people in 21 different countries showing that 83% believe it will definitely or probably be necessary to reduce greenhouse gases in response to climate change. 61% believe energy costs will definitely or probably go up. Similar majorities support raising energy taxes to raise revenue for energy efficiency and cleaner fuels. ‘This poll clearly shows that people are much more ready to endure their share of the burden than most politicians grant,’ said Doug Miller, director of Globescan, the polling company that conducted the survey on behalf of the BBC. "
Watthead wrote that Michael Shellenberger Says It's Time For A Breakthrough on Climate Change: "Youth climate activists must shift their focus from simply avoiding the impending global warming apocalypse to articulating a vision of a new prosperous and sustainable clean energy economy, says Michael Shellenberger, Power Shift 2007 speaker and coauthor of the new book, Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. Shellenberger - well-known for kicking up a stir with the controversial essay, ‘The Death of Environmentalism,’ co-authored with his ‘partner-in-crime’ Ted Nordhaus in 2004 - is now the President of the Breakthrough Institute, a small think tank which focuses on a new kind of progressive politics. This weekend, Shellenberger will share his vision of a new, ‘post-environmentalist,’ progressive climate movement with attendees at Power Shift 2007, the first national youth climate summit, November 2nd-5th in D.C. Here’s Michael Shellenberger – Part II.
This afternoon, Michael Shellenberger himself arrived at Daily Kos to offer Global Warming's Political Realignment: "Global warming is going to create new political fault lines that don't fall along the left-right divide. One of the central arguments of Break Through -- one that has so far been ignored by True Believers at places like Grist -- is that global warming is going to create new political fault lines that don't fall along the left-right divide."
Watthead also noted that Majora Carter Says Showing Up For Climate Solutions is MORE Than Half the Battle: "GI Joe has got it wrong, according to Majora Carter, the dynamic Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx. Carter, who works to connect poverty alleviation and the environment in ways that benefit both concerns, argues that ‘showing up is more than half the battle.’ Well plenty of young people - roughly 5,500 in fact - will be showing up at this weekend's Power Shift 2007 conference, the first national youth summit to address the climate crisis, November 2nd-5th. The summit, the largest-ever of it's kind, will bring students and youth from every state in the nation together for a weekend of training, action, and movement-building in College Park, Maryland, outside of Washington D.C."
Frank Palmer admitted from the get-go that the title to his Diary Global warming, the solutions was misleading: "We are too late to solve Global Warming. We can mitigate it and bring the process to an end long after several disasters have resulted. That, however, is worth doing. Our children will have to live through bad storms; our grandchildren need not live through worse. But to do this, we will have to act. And the actions will be painful. When you are skateboarding down a mountain, there is no good way to stop. Our whole industrial society is in a similar situation. Tiny changes won't work. Avoiding the worst excesses of somebody else won't work."
A Siegel gave us the drift of a crucial message in "Put the Heat on these people!" Senator Kerry says ...: "This afternoon, Senator Kerry held a conference call with a number of Global Warming / energy focused bloggers. Earlier this week, the Senator gave a speech calling for a Post-Kyoto Global Climate Change approach, as part of his public discussion leading up to Senator Boxer and he leading the Senate delegation to the global climate change talks in Bali in December. Well, today's conference call was wide-ranging, from challenging the potential for a fruitful Global Warming-related bill while George W Bush occupies the Oval Office to questions about coal sequestration to Cape Wind. The final question, however, directly asked Senator Kerry what he wants from us, activists in the Global Warming and energy communities. His response: Put the heat on these people. What people? Well, the moderates (both Republican and Democrat) in the Senate who need to be convinced to do the right thing when it comes to Global Warming."
In his own call to action, Opportunities to act ... what are you doing this weekend?, A Siegel sought to nudge readers off their butts: "But, I ask, what will you do this weekend? Chores? Watch a football game or two (or 10)? Or ... Global Warming is a massive challenge. It requires serious commitment for change toward a better tomorrow, change from government and from individuals. Government action can help drive (and facilitate) individual action. And, well, individual action (individuals acting in concert) can help drive government action. Well, this weekend provides opportunities for expressing your voice publically, to demonstrate that Global Warming matters not just to the future, not just to humanity, but to voters."
Captain Future found it invigorating that They Stepped It Up on Climate Action Day: "The National Day of Climate Action today was the definition of a grassroots event. With practically no media coverage, or mention on even climate-related internet sites, thousands of people gathered in places large and small across the U.S., in large groups and small, for events associated with the Step It Up campaign for action on the Climate Crisis. Though seniors were conspicuously present at many events, this is basically a youth movement, and though officeholders like Senator John Kerry attended events, the main speaker at one was eleven years old. These are young people addressing their future."
xynz thought it was time to give a lesson in Global Warming and Climate Change for Accountants (and Other Capitalists): "I saw this today and it reminded me of something that I've been playing with: the Investment Argument against resource depletion and environmental degradation. It may be useful in helping your more industrially inclined friends to ‘get it.’ Some of the links from the original have been changed or omitted. 1. A finite earth can support only a limited number of humans. There is therefore a global ‘carrying capacity’ for humans. A basic definition of carrying capacity is ‘The maximum number of people, or individuals of a particular species, that a given part of the environment can maintain indefinitely.’ Ok, what does this mean in Accountingese? Well, if you've got $100 million in the bank with a 10% APR, then you can only sustainably spend $10 million/year. An ecosystem is like a food bank, with a limit to how much it can appreciate each year. You can do clever things with sustainable agriculture to increase your yield, but there are limits.
In yet another Diary, which was written just in time to make the Eco Rescue deadline, A Siegel challenged Framing Climate Change politics -- Truthiness reigns at the Post:: "On the front page, above the fold, of The Washington Post this morning: Climate Is a Risky Issue for Democrats: Candidates Back Costly Proposals. A misleading title to a misleading article that frames the entire discussion in a misleading light, fostering a truthiness that has impeded real movement forward in the battle to turn the tide on Global Warming's rising seas. In short, this title and this article is predicated on Economy versus the Environment, that to save the environment we must somehow destroy (damage) the economy. There is another, more fruitful, more honest way to discuss this, to frame the issues: Economy AND the Environment. To save the economy, we must save the environment, and that saving the environment creates huge economic opportunities."