It’s Getting Hot In Here

Last Friday’s EPA protest ended with these words of understanding from the EPA officials.  The 13 activists who sat in the building for over 4 hours felt like their point had been made loud and clear and left of their own free will, without any legal action.

I posted a live-blog during the event, with the press release and photos as they came in.  An EPA official sent me this email over the weekend as a follow up to that blog.

EPA Desk Statement

“Today 13 mountaintop removal protestors spent approximately four hours
in nonviolent obstruction at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC. After
having an opportunity to share their concerns with EPA officials, the
protestors exited the building of their own accord.

“EPA respects the concerns around the issue of mountaintop mining and
understands the high emotions felt by many Americans. Under the
leadership of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, the Agency has taken a
number of unprecedented actions within the scope of the law, and in
partnership with other federal agencies to ensure the safety and health
of mining communities. We welcome and seek the voices of all Americans,
and look to them to guide our efforts to protect health and the
environment. We will continue to solicit the input of affected
communities, and engage with the public on this important issue.”

 

I’m curious to hear folks thoughts on this.  Was the protest successful?  Is the EPA ‘doing all it can’ to stop the problem of mountaintop removal?

As registration tops 400 with 4 days left and zooms towards our anticipated goal of 500 participants, Powershift West organizers have released a promo video for the conference to lure in anyone left unregistered.

For those out there who doubted that the lil ol’ barely-populated Northwest could deliver an outstanding Powershift conference, better think again.  We’re building a movement and have folks streaming across 13 Western states (and a couple Eastern ones too) to converge this weekend and you can still register!

Check out our video and our line up of keynote speakers, panelists, and killer workshops.

Keynotes:

Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate for Environment California

Riki Ott, Alaskan Community Activist, former professional fisherma’m, and story teller

Jefferson Smith, Founder of the Oregon “Bus Project” and OR State Representative

Dan Carol, Political Strategist and Co-founder of the Apollo Alliance

Alisha Fowler, Educator with the Alliance for Climate Education based in Bay Area, CA

Nathan Jones, Co-founder of the Cascade Climate Network, Sierra Student Coalition long-time leader, founder of the Northwest Institute for Community Energy, and much much more…

Jeremy Blanchard, one of three core organizers who are making Powershift happen and an all around fabulous guy.

Panels: http://west.powershift09.org/conference/panels

Workshops: http://west.powershift09.org/Workshops

It’s not too late to come, we’ve got space for YOU on a floor someplace.  Register today and join us in Eugene, OR this weekend!

This is UMD for Clean Energy’s big event of the semester, and the culmination of the election phase of our Green for College Park campaign. We are looking to elect a fiercely green city council that will make College Park the gold standard for sustainability in our state. Last week we announced our endorsements, and tomorrow, we will march to the polls to vote and demonstrate that we want our city to be a green leader. Another update will come tomorrow! The Diamondback article is re-posted below. The video is from the kickoff event for our campaign back in September. Continue reading ‘Green Activists March to City Hall Tomorrow’

This video is of and by my friend and co-worker Matt Kazinka. He’s making the case why you should join the Summer of Solutions. The youth-led grassroots program is already growing rapidly – we had 1 program in St. Paul, Minnesota – last year it blossomed to nine nationwide. Dozens of grassroots activists have jumped on board the process of “making it happen“, and are generating climate and energy solutions that also build economic opportunity and social justice all across the country. As one of our grassroots leaders wrote last spring as the 2009 wave of solutions was ramping up – this is just the beginning. Its a grassroots movement led by young people who are creating solutions with their communities while building careers growing the green economy. We know you have the solutions, so please join in!

APPLY HERE to design and lead a Summer of Solutions program in a community you know and love!

Priority deadline is Wednesday, November 11th, so please act fast.

Seeking solutions? We’ll meet you there.  Let’s make it happen.

This week on November 3^rd, polls will open in communities across America. The ballot may not be filled with Presidential or Congressional candidates and the money spent on the campaigns is substantially less, but voting is still essential. Local politicians shape the communities we live in and should be taking action to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to ensure that our community’s energy sources are safe and clean.

A couple events this week have made me inspired by the work of local politicians and the importance of strong communities. The first occasion was the Asheville 350 rally in which over 300 people turned out in a city of 75,000 and listened as the mayor and I issued a call for bold climate action.

The second occasion was at our UNC Asheville environmental club meeting this week where a city council candidate came to ask for our votes and tell us about all the incredible sustainability projects she was already working on in city council.

However notable this one visit is, it was compounded by the fact that she was the third city council candidate to ask to speak to our club this month.

They get it. They know that young people are fed up with seeing job losses, dirty energy, and runaway climate change direct our future and that they will be voted out if they do not seek solutions. Continue reading ‘Vote Locally – Think Globally’

A couple of days ago, I myself and three other young people were in a meeting with one of Senator Jeff Merkley’s field staff in Portland, Oregon.  We were there to talk about the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which Senator Merkley is already working to pass in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  A freshman senator, Merkley has quickly emerged as a champion for clean energy and climate issues in the Senate, and the four of us in the meeting didn’t have to convince his office of the need for comprehensive climate legislation.  However, despite the fact that we do have a few good climate champions like Jeff Merkley in the Senate, his field assistant was quite frank with us: passing Kerry-Boxer in the Senate while keeping the best provisions of the bill intact is not going to be easy.  It’s going to be really, really hard.

“Really hard” does not mean it can’t be done.  However, one of Kerry-Boxer’s most significant improvements over the climate bill which the House of Representatives passed this summer is going to come under violent attack as the bill moves through the Senate.  This is the provision of Kerry-Boxer which preserves EPA authority to regulate greenhouse emissions from coal plants and other sources under the Clean Air Act.  With that provision in the bill, Congress can pass a less-than-perfect climate bill, and the EPA will still be able to provide a regulatory “safety net,” making sure that we don’t slide backward in national efforts to curb pollution from coal plants.  With the EPA’s authority removed, however, the situation becomes frankly frightening: Kerry-Boxer could actually take us backwards by hamstringing the EPA’s ability to make full use of the Clean Air Act, and failing to replace Clean Air Act protections with equally tough standards for coal power.

It’s time to rally around the Clean Air Act, and let our senators know this isn’t up for compromise. Read on for the five simplest steps YOU can take to make this happen.

Continue reading ‘Save the Clean Air Act in Five Simple Steps’