Melissa Knopper, at Alternet writes:
How an Entire Town Leveled By a Tornado Is Rebuilding Green
On May 4, 2007, an EF5 tornado cut a 1.7-mile path of destruction through Greensburg, Kansas. Winds reaching speeds of 205 miles per hour uprooted trees, demolished homes and leveled the town. Eleven people died and 95% of the buildings were destroyed beyond repair.
The town, whose population has dropped from 2,000 to 800 following the storm, responded with a first-of-its-kind commitment: to rebuild its businesses, schools and homes to meet the highest environmental standards. The motto on the town’s website captures the enthusiasm: "Greensburg: Better, Stronger, Greener!" Town officials passed a resolution that all future municipal buildings over 4,000 square feet would meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s prestigious LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum designation. And word of the commitment created a media frenzy, including a reality TV show about Greensburg on Planet Green with eco-celebrity host Leonardo DiCaprio that’s now in its second season. President Obama even gave Greensburg a specific mention during his address to Congress in February.
Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixon says all that outside attention has given the town an advantage with attracting corporate sponsors and new businesses. While the rest of rural America is being hit hard with the economic downturn, high unemployment and layoffs, Greensburg’s emphasis on green living has given the town a buffer. ...
Recent high school graduate Taylor Schmidt, who helped found the Greensburg High School Green Club, now looks at his hometown with a new eye. "Before the tornado, our city was dying. Our biggest export was youth," Schmidt says.
"Now, people are moving here to see what we will become." Town officials are rebuilding their infrastructure with room to grow. |
In the photo above, as
reported on the Greensburg GreenTown blog, citizens sign the blade of a wind turbine being installed three weeks ago as part of wind farm that will become operational next March.
"100% renewable energy, 100% of the time" has been the vision for Greensburg since just after the storm. How could Greensburg lay claim to the mantle of America’s model green community without being powered by renewable energy?
At Friday’s groundbreaking for the Greensburg Wind Farm, the folks gathered under the tent on an appropriately windy day (gusts up to 35 m.p.h.) heard speaker after speaker praise local leadership for having the vision and foresight to pursue the dream of a town powered by the wind. People from all over the country gathered at the site south of Greensburg to be a part of this auspicious occasion. There were John Deere Wind Energy representatives from Iowa, Native Energy and Green Mountain Coffee people from Vermont, and Aveda folks from Minneapolis. Suzlon (manufacturer of the wind turbines and folks that will be managing day-to-day operations) sent two of its people, the US Department of Energy was represented by people from Washington, D.C., and its National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, and USDA-Rural Development had both Kansas representatives and people from the federal level. The Kansas delegation included our Lt. Governor and State Treasurer, and people from the Kansas Power Pool. |
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The Green Diary Rescue appears on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The diary rescue begins below and continues in the jump. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
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rperks wrote about Veterans, Clean Energy and Common Sense: "There’s a growing consensus among our troops, military leaders and national security experts that one of the best things we can do to enhance our national security is to get off fossil fuels and transition to clean, home-grown energy. If America shifts to renewable alternatives -- like wind, solar and geothermal -- we can significantly reduce our dangerous addiction to oil, which currently costs our country $1 billion per day. That’s why I'm so glad that a group of veterans, led by Operation Free , launched a bus tour across America. Their stated mission: promote clean energy!"
Lefty Coaster took note of a story on Global lobbying to weaken Climate Treaty reported by Center for Public Integrity: "The Center for Public Integrity reports on a world wide frenzy of lobbying activity aimed at watering down the Climate Treaty during the climate negotiations going on now. Prospects for an agreement are receding past the Copenhagen Summit into a vague future."
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ScottyUrb has posted the Overnight News Digest.
RLMiller bemoaned that Climate bill withers, replaced by cowardly senators' framework: "Senator Blanche Lincoln may have the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee avoid hearings on the bill altogether. She's in a tough reelection fight and doesn't want to alienate voters by acting like a real Democrat. Her fellow Senator Debbie Stabenow, 'who is leading an effort by moderate, heartland Democrats to protect manufacturing and agriculture industries, said committees were no longer under any timetables to produce legislation.'You want to protect agriculture in the climate bill, Senator Lincoln? In wholly unrelated news, researchers at North Carolina State University found that crop yields plummet in heat over 90 degrees."
Kim Teplitzky, field coordinator for the Sierra Student Coalition, and Bruce Nilles wrote about the Rally at Penn State: Students Taking Lead on Clean Energy: "Today at Penn State University, dozens of students, faculty, and community members rallied in front of university’s coal plant, calling on the university to move beyond coal to clean energy solutions."
gmoke discussed a good idea for the Climate Encampment on the Boston Common: "Students from the Leadership Campaign have been camping out every Sunday on Boston Common since October 24 and lobbying the State House on Monday for 100% Clean Electricity by 2020. Last Sunday, Dr James Hansen camped out with them. Next Sunday, Bill McKibben will be there. They plan to do this every Sunday until at least December 7. They could build a solar encampment, a mock-up or even working model of a healing village, as advocated by Vinay Gupta, demonstrating that Solar IS Civil Defense with solar and hand crank power for the flashlight, radio or cell phone, and extra set of batteries we're all supposed to have on hand in case of emergencies, also, incidentally, what you might take camping."
There was a flurry of diaries about oil production, including eljefebob’s Whistleblower: US Pressured Agency to Overplay Oil Production: "A senior official is reporting that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has been intentionally underplaying the rate of decline of existing oil fields and overstating the chances of finding new reserves. The Guardian UK broke the story yesterday, quoted its source as saying that the agency bowed to pressure from the US to overstate deliverability to avoid panic buying in the markets. The IEA reports on worldwide energy supplies and publishes long term forecasts of production. In 2005, the agency forecast daily production of all sources of oil to grow to 120 million barrels per day (MMBOED) by 2030, but has gradually revised that figure down to its current forecast of approximately 105 MMBOED this year."
SteinL also had a take on the subject in US pressured IEA to exaggerate oil reserves. Peak Oil is here: "Peak Oil is already here, which is why world leaders have suddenly begun seeing the light on alternative sources of energy. And also probably why the IEA was pressured to massage its public numbers."
B Amer pointed out that there is Strong Support for Clean Energy!: "In the new polls, likely 2010 voters were asked: ’Congress is considering an energy plan that has two key parts. One part would require factories and power companies to reduce their emissions of the carbon pollution that causes global warming by 17% (20% in MO) by the year 2020 and by 80% by the year 2050. The other part would require power companies to generate 15% of their power from clean energy sources like wind and solar by the year 2025. Would you favor/oppose this entire plan?’ The results: 75% of voters in Michigan favor;
68% of voters in Ohio favor; 67% of voters in Missouri favor."
Climate Change and Autism: School Addresses Both was dsnodgrass ’s contribution: "In terms of subject matter that personally drives me, environmental issues and autism are at the top of my list and I'm personally invested in each. Both fall squarely under the classification of crisis in virtually every sense of the word. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you probably need no convincing of the very real environmental crisis at hand. As for autism, latest figures show 1 in 91 to 1 in 100 American children ages 3-17 have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, the collective cost is $60 billion per year, the estimated collective cost ten years from now is $200 - $400 billion, and the current yearly cost for each directly affected family is $6,200."
In a diary that caught a lot of flak, Alexander Lee claimed to have the answer to Why Energy Efficiency is Not (Often) a Good Thing...: "Environmentalists have made a religion out of energy efficiency, but maybe that is a mistake, according to a growing number of people looking at these investments.In economics, Jevons Paradox (sometimes called the Jevons effect) is the proposition that technological progress that increases the efficiency with which a resource is used, tends to increase (rather than decrease) the rate of consumption of that resource. Classic example: As cars have become more efficient, people drive them further and further. ... We need to rethink what we are doing before it is too late and we should not be afraid to sacrifice some holy cows (like energy efficiency) before their methane does us in..."
In another magnificent piece of writing that Kossacks have come to expect from boatsie, she wrote ecojustice: "the world will be saved by the western woman"*: "’The women of the world are demanding a paradigm shift that ensures their participation and leadership on decisions that affect their very survival and that of their families and communities,’ says Lorena Aguilar, Senior Gender Advisor for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Wangari Maathai, chair and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, agrees, pointing out that while the climate crisis threatens all humanity, it is woman and children who stand to be bear the brunt of the impending crisis. ‘It is extremely important for women to be considered, because since they have not contributed much [to climate change] it would be unfair to allow them to suffer, as is expected, without the help that their governments in that region need in order to create solutions,’ says Maathai."
people power granny wondered why Wasting is making the USA a Garbage Dump!: "I'm the first to admit that the only place for some stuff is in a landfill, but lots of stuff ends up there that should have been put to better use. It's our community's responsibility to tell us what and where the better uses are."
chloris creator pointed to the benefits If all Americans gave up meat: "just one day a week for a year - it would be the same as taking 19.2 million cars off the road for a year. two days a week for a year - this would be the same as replacing all household applaince with energy efficient ones. three days a week for a year - save 300 megatons of greenhouse emissions. The same as replacing all US cars with Toyota Prius models. Maybe you can't quit meat entirely. But you can eat less of it certainly."
Gimme Shelter – The Problem of Housing in New Urbanism was Vikingkingq’s latest installment in The Realignment Project: "Make no mistake, the politics of housing are the politics of class (and race). To give one example, today the city of Santa Barbara where I live recently voted on Measure B, an ordinance designed to lower building heights from a maximum of 60 feet to a maximum of 45 - effectively lopping off two stories of potential development, in an attempt to prevent ‘canyonization’ of downtown Santa Barbara. While on first glance, this would seem to be one of those ‘non-ideological’ issues of good governance, the campaign over Measure B quickly became a struggle about wealth and who controls it."
RLMiller investigated the effects of the EPA sending CO2 endangerment finding to White House: "The Environmental Protection Agency has sent its formal finding that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, to the White House for review, Reuters reports. It's a necessary step on the road to full regulation. And it may be Chicago-style hardball politics to ensure that the climate bill doesn't get stuck in the Senate."
Continuing to hammer on the export of those supposedly unoffshorable green jobs, Muskegon Critic lamented And Here I Thought There Was a Blue/Green Alliance: "Either the stimulus CAN or it CAN NOT create a decent return in green jobs, with wind or solar panels, in the United States right now. If it CAN, let's do it. If it CAN'T, let's not steal money allocated for the unemployed and give it to alternative energy. But it shouldn't be an either/or situation. We need to work together.Right now, 84% of the stimulus grants for wind energy are going outside the country, as well as most of the jobs. Money that would otherwise be spent more directly on job creation is being spent to promote alternative energy...not a bad expenditure...but also not the purpose of the stimulus bill. If these grants can't create jobs...then we're robbing from one important cause to give to another."
Our resident Frenchman, Jerome a Paris, gave some background about the problems with The stimulus and green jobs: 1. one of the reasons US projects need to import foreign-manufactured turbines is that the US-based production capacity is currently equal to less than 2/3 of the overall US market for new installations. Just under 8,000MW will be installed this year, with a capacity of 5,500MW. Many manufacturers are investing to build new factories, but this will take time; 2) the main reason there is not enough manufacturing capacity is because the US has an appalling track record in supporting the industry: 3 times over the past decade, Congress allowed the main regulatory instrument, the PTC, to elapse, causing a catastrophic drop in installations."
He also wrote about Some predictions on the forthcoming Russian-Ukrainian gas 'crisis': "We've recently heard more veiled threats from Putin about Ukraine being unable to pay for gas (thus presumably leading to new attempts at cutting them off), which suggests that Russia is getting itself ready to start a new crisis."
K S LaVida asked Are no nukes good nukes?: "Few aspects of energy policy are as controversial as nuclear power. Once promising energy "too cheap to meter", then delivering Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear power still provides a large share of American needs, and a larger share of other countries with fewer carbon-fuel resources. We progressives have generally opposed nuclear power, for good reason. It is potentially dangerous, and is associated closely with nuclear weaponry. The nuclear fuel cycle is incomplete; there is still no permanent storage solution for detritus of 50-year-old reactors. But are the alternatives worse?"
davidwalters wrote installment No. 9 in the Daily Kos Nuclear Low Carbon Energy Round Up: "Applications are being taken for the second batch of nuclear students in the United Arab Emirates as the first batch begins its studies. The program provides UAE nationals with a full scholarship to enrol in some of the world's finest universities and pursue a Bachelors or Masters degree in nuclear, mechanical, or electrical engineering. Once the studies are complete, the selected UAE national scholars will work in the UAE's growing nuclear energy industry."
In a diary I missed last Thursday, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse explored the Chamber of Commerce’s New Role in Climate Change Legislation: "The Chamber has maintained global warming is beneficial, and advocated a ‘Scopes monkey trial’ on climate change science. Now, the Chamber says it supports legislation but it's unclear whether its ‘changing its tune, or just its tone?"’ This is important because Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman have commenced a process to broaden support for climate change legislation in which the Chamber's views are essential but the details will not be publicly aired."
If you could have seen him, you can be sure that A Siegel had a grin on his face while he was writing Major Scientific Society: "In your face, Deniers!": "For awhile now, Global Warming deniers (no, not ‘skeptics,’ but active purveyors of misinformation demonstrating severe anti-science syndrome) have sought to get the APS to turn aside from the Society's 2007 Statement on Climate Change. The APS's consideration of their petition was warmly (and loudly) proclaimed among those seeking to distort the national (and global) discussion re Global Warming and the bests paths forward to mitigate against catastrophic climate change. Yesterday, the APS leadership council did an 'in your face' response to these efforts to promote unscientific arguments Council of the American Physical Society has overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to replace the Society’s 2007 Statement on Climate Change with a version that raised doubts about global warming."
Steven D had some praise for A Small Slice of Conservative Sanity: "...I salute Professor Tahoe and her husband Pastor Farley for making the effort to reach out to their fellow believers with the truth about climate change and why it is occurring. The sad irony is that they likely will be condemned by many Conservative Christians for ‘drinking the liberal Kool-Aid’ on global warming because so many right wing believers would rather put their trust in liars and hatemongers like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who act as well paid shills for the disinformation campaign of Big Oil, Big Coal, and other industries with a vested interest in the use of fossil fuels, than in dedicated scientists who share their faith, like Professor Tahoe."
Lefty Coaster was pleased to announce that an Underfunded volunteer powered populist campaign has elected Environmental Activist Seattle Mayor: "After a September election that knocked Seattle's incumbent Mayor out of last week's runoff election leaving two political novices in the race, Mike McGinn (49) the former chairman of the local chapter of the Sierra Club is well on his way to becoming Mayor of Seattle. His low budget campaign was badly outspent by over 11 to 1 by his opponent a former T Mobile executive running with a professionally staffed campaign, that had the backing of the old boy network that makes up the State's political establishment. Against that McGinn had a campaign staffed with an impressive network of energetic, and mostly young volunteers."
Princess Politics plunged into Promises and Population Growth: "Population growth has a way of upending the best-laid plans of government programs, as suggested by a cautionary tale emerging from the island nation of Tonga. The Kingdom of Tonga is taking steps to reduce powers of its monarchy. ‘The changes would mark a large shift for Tonga, a former British protectorate consisting of 171 islands dotted across the Pacific Ocean,’ reports The Telegraph. Media reports suggest that the Oxford-educated king is behind the changes, yet don't delve into reasons, including gender inequality and population growth.
Dale Husband went technical in Those terrible twins of climate change, CO2 and H2O: "One of the most commonly held misconceptions about the man-made global warming hypothesis is that temperatures must increase every year and evenly over the world. No one knowledgable about climate issues would seriously claim that, so it’s an obvious strawman. The question is, why do temperatures fluctuate so much and does global warming explain this? Indeed it does!"
Lefty CoasterWatch the Video EPA had taken down
Two 20 year veteran EPA attorneys in the Bay Area made a video critical of the Cap and Trade proposal making its way through the Congress. Apparently these two attorneys (who are a couple) were willing to put their careers on the line to make this video. Take a look.
123idaho let us known about Sustainability Projects at University of Idaho: "Through an competitive process, thanks to $25,000 in funding provided by the University of Idaho Sustainability Center and the Sustainable Idaho Initiative, nine projects have been selected to advance sustainability efforts at the University of Idaho's Moscow campus in surrounding communities. The annual grant competition is one collaborative way the university's sustainability efforts move forward. The funded projects will be led by students, faculty and staff and will support problem solving across a broad spectrum of sustainability issues. The grants support initiative work in broad areas such as transportation, food systems, waste minimization, energy and education."
beach babe in fl wrote another in her series, Macca's Meatless Monday...Glass Onion: "And now the long anticipated results from last weeks poll. We asked the question ‘Did you go meatless today?’ we had 28 yes responses and using this calculator the amount of CO2 carbon emissions saved by 28 of us going meatless for one day is 20,104 pounds ! Are we an action diary or what?"
Other green diaries included:
Orange Clouds/Jill Richardson meetup Nov 18 NYC by plf515.
Chamber Me This by jamesboyce .
Action for Copenhagen by djabanete .
One Man's Fight Against Climate Stupidity by bogmanoc
The American Energy Future by mark louis