President Barack Obama spoke about green energy Friday at MIT.
You can read the entire speech here. An excerpt:
| Countries on every corner of this Earth now recognize that energy supplies are growing scarcer, energy demands are growing larger, and rising energy use imperils the planet we will leave to future generations. And that's why the world is now engaged in a peaceful competition to determine the technologies that will power the 21st century. From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to producing and use energy. The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation. It's that simple. (Applause.)
That's why the Recovery Act that we passed back in January makes the largest investment in clean energy in history, not just to help end this recession, but to lay a new foundation for lasting prosperity. The Recovery Act includes $80 billion to put tens of thousands of Americans to work developing new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles; modernizing the electric grid; making our homes and businesses more energy efficient; doubling our capacity to generate renewable electricity. These are creating private-sector jobs weatherizing homes; manufacturing cars and trucks; upgrading to smart electric meters; installing solar panels; assembling wind turbines; building new facilities and factories and laboratories all across America. And, by the way, helping to finance extraordinary research.
In fact, in just a few weeks, right here in Boston, workers will break ground on a new Wind Technology Testing Center, a project made possible through a $25 million Recovery Act investment as well as through the support of Massachusetts and its partners. And I want everybody to understand -- Governor Patrick's leadership and vision made this happen. He was bragging about Massachusetts on the way over here -- I told him, you don't have to be a booster, I already love the state. (Applause.) But he helped make this happen. |
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Saturday, October 24, people in 181 countries are coming together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 4500 events around the world, people are gathering for International Day of Climate Action to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. Check out 350.org and find an event near you. Joining with thousands of other bloggers, 16 Kossacks invited by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse will participate in an effort to inject climate awareness in people around the planet.
B Amer wrote in 350 Pictures Already Are Rolling In!: In the photo to the right, Kids for Tigers in India, in an eco-system threatened by rising seas.
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Green Diary Rescues appear on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Today’s rescue begins in the jump. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
The latest photo diary by Haole in Hawaii gave us a view of a New Mexico Autumn: "I was a little late for the peak of the aspens near Santa Fe but as you can see there was still a little color."
blueness linked an ancient myth to a future reality in All Hail Atlantis: "A 5000-year-old sunken city off the southern Peloponnese is the latest candidate for the fabled city of Atlantis. Known as Pavlopetri, and straddling some 30,000 square meters of the ocean floor, it is the first submerged Greek city found that actually predates Plato’s 360 BCE-era references to Atlantis in Critias and Timaeus. Meanwhile, in their continuing refusal to address climate change, the planet’s industrialized nations are proceeding to slip beneath the waves new cultures, new peoples, new civilizations, new Atlanti. The Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu, for instance, is expected to disappear into the Pacific Ocean in less than 50 years.
As part of Adopt a Senator on climate legislation, a project organized and prodded along by RLMiller, two more Senators were profiled in the past two days.
RadioGirl took a look at Sen. Baucus & Climate Change, pointing out that while Baucus was a roadblock on the reform of health coverage, other issues "including enactment of comprehensive climate change legislation. We may have a significantly better chance of winning Baucus’ support for it. As a Montana voter and activist, I want that support – and I think it’s possible to get it. But we’ll have to organize like hell to make it happen, and it won’t be easy. Fortunately, we have a powerful case to make, strong arguments on our side, some very useful grist for the green energy jobs mill, and some indicators that Sen. Baucus is pragmatic about many of the issues involved."
Cpt Robespierre evaluated one of Maine’s Senators in Sen. Collins: Please Support the Climate Bill: "Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has a big opportunity to help Maine, and at the same time to reform our energy policy and influence the outcome of the US - and global - response to global climate change. If she supports the Kerry-Boxer bill, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, she wins, Maine wins, and America wins. The bill isn't perfect, but it's a big step in the right direction, and Senator Collins can be there to make that happen."
odum alerted us to what a certain Vermont Senator will be doing for International Day of Climate Action in Live webcast with Bernie Sanders: "As part of the day, The Vermont Natural Resources Council is partnering with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and NRG systems to present a rally and panel discussion with US Senator Bernie Sanders and local grassroots activists. In attendence will be members of grassroots ‘Town Energy Committees’ from across the state - the local citizens on the ground brainstorming and implementing ways to bring down our collective carbon footprint one town at a time."
climate science watch reviewed Climate Cover-Up: New book by DeSmogBlog team takes down the denial machine: "Climate Cover-Up traces the evolution of the global warming denial campaign from these beginnings, drawing stunning parallels with the tactics used by the tobacco lobby to confuse and mislead the public about the dangers of cigarette smoke. Despite a scientific consensus that global warming poses a serious threat to human life as we know it, these fossil fuel-dependent companies sought to promote the notion that the evidence was still unclear, and the costs of mitigation too high. Rather than present counter-arguments backed up by scientific research, they have used specious claims to call into question the validity of current data, and promoted them through conservative think tanks, like-minded political figures, and manufactured ‘grass-roots’ movements."
bern couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the Deeds running an ad against cap and trade: "Creigh Deeds is losing because the Democratic base in VA is depressed. It's that simple. This is a base turnout election and half of the Democratic base in VA has never heard of Creigh Deeds. The enthusiasm gap is costing him the election. His strategy for making up the gap in base enthusiasm? Attack the two top priorities for liberals in 2009/2010: the public option and climate change. ...It makes me cringe to say this, but goof ball Terry McAuliffe would have been a better candidate than Creigh Deeds. Why? Because he'd run around the state repeating "jobs, jobs, jobs". And he'd have the funding to compete. Deeds is being outspent by McDonnell almost 2-1, because he can't raise any money, because he's ignored the Democratic base. McAuliffe is a goofy guy, and he would have some negatives...but I promise you he'd do better outreach to the netroots and he'd find a way to get the Democratic base engaged in this race. His blog strategy during the primaries was sound."
RiotLibrarian took a didactic approach in The Scientific Environmentalist: All About Metals: "Most people are aware of some of the common toxic metals, such as arsenic, lead, and mercury. Toxic metals (which are sometimes called 'heavy metals', although that term has no real scientific meaning) are some of the oldest known poisons, and are some of the worst and most common environmental contaminants. Toxic metals are particularly interesting and complicated as an environmental pollutant. Unlike most pesticides and industrial solvents, metals are not only naturally occurring, but ubiquitous. In addition, many toxic metals are also essential nutrients. They also have a maddening tendency to take on a dizzying variety of chemical forms and change as they make their way through the food chain. So what are heavy metals, when are they dangerous, and what can we do about them?"
"51% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Now Come From Meat & Dairy Industry" wrote Ellinorianne, who said: "I'm proud of my bleeding-heart-tree-hugging-ways. And our household is made of omnivores, we pride ourselves on eating all the way down the food chain. And we've been moving further down, shunning red meat more and more and having vegetarian meals at least twice a week (and lots of breakfasts and lunches). Headlines like this help reinforce this choice. We don't have to wait for cap and trade to really affect carbon emissions, if we really want to see change, we just have to change what is on our dinner tables a few nights a week, collectively, we can lower CO2 emissions and save some money as well."
Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, offered us a teaser about The Must-See New Film "Coal Country".
veritas curat reported on the Long Term Hope for the Planet: "At Copenhagen the rhetoric will be thick and heavy. And many fine sounding words will be deployed. (As in 'Clean Coal': Harnessing the vast untapped potential of the word 'clean.' (Stolen from someone's sig line)) Nothing which will substantially alter the real CO2 concentration in the real atmosphere, however, will actually be done. The reason for this isn't that hard to discern. On one side is the science - math, physics, melting glaciers, CO2 ppm, etc. - on the other side is the economy. Most livelihoods depend upon constant economic growth of the system that is directly responsible for the destruction of the natural systems upon which our ultimate livelihoods depend.
In Building Walls Against Rising Sea-Levels in Australia, Patric Juillet reported that Beach homes in Australia to be fortified. "Many scientists say Australia is experiencing what they call ‘accelerated climate change.’ Because of its extremely dry climate which results in frequent storms, severe droughts, Australian authorities and environmentalists have estimated that the average temperature rises in the region could go up to between 1.4 to 5.8 degrees by 2100. Climate change, if not mitigated globally, is likely to result in more intense hailstorms and cyclones. As my partner says, the chickens are coming to roost: the billions and billions of tons of carbon that humanity has dumped into the atmosphere over the last two centuries are now wreaking havoc upon us in the "developed" world and gravely affects the very regions that contributed little to this planetary disaster. Sadly, the world seems to lack a sense of urgency over the importance of the incoming U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen."
Muskegon Critic posted photos of Dunes in the Fall: "Two ecosystems sheer off against one another, sandy dune ground against the edge of the fertile woods, where the trees stop and dune grass begins. Trees on the edge expose their deep gnarled roots on one side, and on the other side they grip tightly to the edge of their habitat. They deposit seeds that eke out a living as tiny scrub oak and thin maples."
rperks wrote Scientists turn big spotlight on biomass emissions: "If the words ‘climate accounting’ make your eyes glaze over, you’ll love ‘renewable biomass.’ My colleague Dan Lashof of NRDC’s Climate Center explains why it’s so crucial to accurately account for global warming emissions from biomass. Today Dan highlights a new analysis by prominent ecologists and climate scientists appearing tomorrow in Science."
citisven reprised an Interview with visionary bassist Kai Eckhardt: "Last weekend visionary musician Kai Eckhardt presented/performed at the 2009 Bioneers Conference. Perfect time to dig up excerpts from an interview I did with him in 2005, during a period of great darkness. In it, he speaks of the power within each of us to use creative expression and our imagination to change the social and psychological dynamics that have put our planet in such peril. Looking back at that time it's astonishing how far we have come in four short years and it gives me hope that with our reawakened collective energy for peace, collaboration, and justice, we will continue to transform toward a more sustainable world, both physically and spiritually."
Professor Smartass had some tough words for a petroleum icon in T. Boone Pickens confirms Iraq War for OIL: "T. Boone Pickens said if we leave Iraq, China will get all the oil concession contracts, essentially confirming that our troops are being used as a gun to the Iraqis head to force them to negotiate terms ‘our’ oil companies dictate. If they get what they want, what are the chances they would share their good fortune with us?
mogmaar gave us some on-the-ground-in-the-front-lines information in Bail Money Needed: MTR Fight heating up: "I spent last weekend in West Virginia, because I'd been hearing about the coal-fields so much and really just needed to go myself. 150 of us camped for the weekend at the tiny bit of land in Rock Creek, huddling around the campfire and learning about what it will take to stop mountaintop removal once and for all. The weekend was inspiring and much more hopeful than I had expected. Hopeful because we are winning this fight. The coal enthusiasts are more and more on the fringe, and the movement to stop it is growing fast. However, that fight isn't cheap. Please read-on for the heroic actions taken just this week, and why we need $16,000 in bail. Remember, its a pretty small price to pay, compared to the $35 million the coal industry spends lobbying to promote itself."
maracatu reported on Explosions at Gulf Refinery in Puerto Rico: "Governor just gave a news conference [noon time]. He said that the fire is contained. Puerto Rico will not suffer a fuel shortage. The weather continues to be favorable to pushing the toxic cloud offshore. No more dramatic developments to report, fortunately." You can see photos here.
Cook for Good was surprised to see State fair food going vegetarian: "When my in-house recipe taster and I went to the North Carolina State Fair yesterday, we were looking forward to hot crisp french fries, the gardening exhibits, and the midway. We'd long ago given up planning to eat real meals at the fair and this year's publicity about chocolate-covered bacon didn't make us think it would be any different. We were wrong: the state fair is on its way to becoming a veritable vegetarian paradise!"
sarahnity wrote another installment in her long-running, recession- and eco-friendly Frugal Fridays series, Trimming Your Budget To The Bone: "Although there have been some promising signs that the US economy as a whole may be rebounding, it's going to be quite a while before those trends (if they are, in fact, truly positive) make their way down to the household finances of many individuals. So lots of people are still looking for ways to trim their already frugal budgets even further."
Following up on a Muskegon Critic diary earlier in the week, NotActingNaive urged readers to Prevent an eco-emergency: Please take action!: "The dreaded Asian Carp grows up to 4 ½ feet, weighs up to 100 pounds, eats voraciously, and reproduces prodigiously. First introduced into Arkansas fish farms in the early 1970s, it has made its way to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, about 25 miles southwest of Lake Michigan. Because it eats nearly any aquatic vegetation, the Carp is disastrous to the food chain it invades. It is feared the fish would take over the ecosystem of the Great Lakes if it reaches Lake Michigan."
ceratotherium clued us in on The naked TRUTH about polar bears!! Revealed!!: "I am going to reveal the naked, unvarnished, plain, ungilded truth about polar bear populations! Follow me below the fold--but only if ye be brave souls, for polar bears are top predators who think nothing of eating human beings, the vicious carnivores!"
Other diaries included:
Obama, climate, and loving America by murphstahoe.
Weekly Mulch: Autumn Fools by Raquel Brown, Media Consortium Blogger.
The Smearing of Van Jones by durrati.
High speed rail becoming more popular! by jovie131.
Cap and Trade Changing Everything by bluewill .
