It’s Getting Hot In Here

For the last few months, as a fellow at the Energy Action Coalition, I’ve been working with partners, state networks and youth leaders to collaboratively design campaigns.  As someone active with the Sierra Student Coalition and previously involved with state networks, I know how powerful it can be to put young, energetic leaders in the drivers seat.

Define Our Decade came as a result of these discussions with leaders all across the country. In the wake of Copenhagen, and in light of a lack of ambition in Congress, we asked ourselves what could we do together. Through conference calls, chat rooms and surveys it became clear that what we needed to do was define our decade on our own terms and use the great work happening on campuses and communities across the country to demonstrate solutions and get our leaders to follow suit: what we wound up with was hundreds of communities articulating their vision for the decade, and thousands more rallying around a nationwide call for 100% clean electricity by 2020, and in just this week their will be over 25 meetings with elected leaders to declare this vision.

Building off of this, and with anticipation building around the midterm elections, it’s time to build an electoral campaign in the same way.  A campaign that is empowering to all its participants; a campaign that builds power behind local issues and solutions that can make real change, demonstrates to our leaders the possibilities of a clean energy economy, and that the Millennial generation is determined to make those possibilities a reality.

Continue reading ‘Let’s Build an Electoral Campaign From The Ground Up’

The surprising progressiveness of Iowa (surprising at least to me, used to thinking of Iowa as one of those flyover states) was part of the discussion during the March 30 Let’s Talk: Iowa conference call.  James Rice, a member of Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff (R), and Eldon Boes, who works for Senator Tom Harkin (D), spoke together on the call about the priority of a climate bill in the Senate now that the health care bill has passed, what type of carbon control policy the Senators support, and their opinion on EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. Continue reading ‘Let’s Talk: Iowa’

Photo: Charlie Deboyace, Diamondback

Cross-posted from: The Dernogalizer

Last night, UMD for Clean Energy held its major event of the semester, Making East Campus a Beast Campus, and it rocked!  I counted 70+ students, College Park civic activists, half the College Park City Council, the Mayor, and Vice President for Admin Affairs for the university, Ann Wylie.  At this event, we called for the university to make it’s upcoming $900 million East Campus development a model for universities across the country.

I personally got to speak about the need for the buildings to be carbon neutral.  It was great to get a discussion going between students, politicians, experts, and university administrators about the largest investment in our college town in several decades.  After the event, students, residents and members of the City Council talked to myself and other members of the group, fired up about making sure that our growth is truly green.  Below is the front page Diamondback article on the event.  We’ve already pushed into the blogs (#1, #2, #3), opinion section of our newspaper, created a new website page for how citizens can influence the development, and a video from UMD students explaining why we need to build green.  We even spread the event info via Twitter!  We’re expecting a big hit from Maryland’s Prince Georges Gazette this Thursday.  **Update** : Here it is

Continue reading ‘A Beast Event for Greening East Campus’

Coal River Mountain Watch sent the following message earlier this afternoon. For complete coverage of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster check Ken Ward Jr.’s blog – Coal Tattoo.

Tragedy has struck the Coal River Valley. 25 men are confirmed dead and 4 missing, after an explosion ripped through the Upper Big Branch underground mine at 3:00 PM Monday. In the wake of yesterday’s events our thoughts and prayers go to the miners of Upper Big Branch and their families. Like everyone in Coal River, we are waiting to hear about the fate of family, friends, and neighbors.

The Upper Big Branch Mine is in the Coal River Valley, three miles south of Whitesville. It is operated by Performance Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy. The mine lies beneath a vast expanse of Massey-operated mountaintop removal surface mines. This is the worst mine disaster to strike the Coal River Valley and the worst mine disaster in the USA in 25 years.

The Upper Big Branch mine’s history is riddled with safety violations. In 2009, the Upper Big Branch mine had 458 safety violations, incurring a total of $897,325 in fines. Since January 1, 2010, the Miner Safety and Health Administration has issued the Performance Coal 115 safety violations for the Upper Big Branch mine. For six of the past ten years, it has exceeded the national average in safety violations.

As yesterday’s tragedy makes all too clear, coal mining is dangerous work. Its impacts shape every aspect of modern life; from the energy infrastructure that powers our homes, work, and gadgets, to the exploitation of miners and coalfield communities. The men and women who go underground deserve our respect and solidarity. At Coal River Mountain Watch, we are devoting growing energy to diversifying the local economy so that men and  women no longer need to risk their lives for their livelihoods.

Our friends at the Whitesville restaurant and craft shop, Nuttin’ Fancy, are at work cooking food to serve rescue workers and family members. Please make a donation to support their volunteer efforts – make checks payable to Nuttin’ Fancy and mail them to P.O. Box 452 Whitesville, WV 25209.

The West Virginia Council of Churches has set up a fund as well. Donations can be made from their website.

Today, we ask that you keep the families of the lost miners, and the four still missing, in your hearts. Pray for them and pray for all coalfield communities. Reflect on your connection to coal, and work for a diversified economy and energy infrastructure in Appalachia and across America. The past cannot be undone, but the future is yet to be made.

solidarity,

Coal River Mountain Watch

Greenwash of the Week is BACK!

Every week, RAN hosts Brianna and Nick investigate cases of corporate and political greenwash, designed to deceive the public into believing that something is “green” when it’s not.

This week’s episode explores Chevron’s recent solar announcement. Chevron, the 4th largest oil corporation on the planet, announced “Project Brightfield”, a solar panel beauty pageant in California’s central valley.

Why has Greenwash of the Week nicknamed ‘Project Brightfield’ Project Bull$#!^? Continue reading ‘Greenwash of the Week: Chevron’s Solar ‘Project Bull$#!t’’

From the WWF-Canada Blog.

Media headlines in the past five months have not been particularly strengthening to the reputation of climate change science. It all started with a massive email hacking into East Anglia University, site of some of the world’s leading climate scientists who contribute to reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) . The hacked emails were coupled with claims that scientists were trying to manoeuvre the data in their favour, thus discrediting the work of the IPCC.

A recent inquiry into the issue was completed by the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. They found that the hacked emails show no evidence of foul play on behalf of the scientists: “…insofar as we have been able to consider accusations of dishonesty we consider that there is no case to answer.”

Continue reading ‘Climategate or bust? Bust it is.‘

I said those four sentences about 20 times in three hours on Saturday. It was just before I asked one of my neighbors if they had thought about ways to save energy in their home and would they like to sign up for the Commonwealth Challenge? It’s a funny thing, meeting your neighbors. I remember watching movies where people would welcome new people to the neighborhood with a home-baked pie. Have you ever gotten a home-baked pie? Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never gotten a pie and I don’t usually take time to meet my neighbors. This is nice though. Now as I’m walking from the train to my house, I can say “Hey Neal!” or “What’s up Angela?” instead of nodding my head “Hello”.

A local energy professional checks for insulation in a Boston apartment

The Commonwealth Challenge is building community. Massachusetts neighbors are helping their neighbors save a little money, find a job, and do something about the most daunting crisis the planet has ever seen – climate change. If we are going to weather the storms ahead, we are going to have to learn how to come together. The Challenge is also about bridging the personal and the political. Let’s take the example of Angela, a woman I met on Saturday, to see how it works:

1. She signs up. On Saturday, I asked Angela if she would be willing to get an energy screening in her house to identify options for insulating and retrofitting the place. After I explained that screening was funded through the MassSAVE program she was already paying for through a $.0025/kWh charge each month on her utility bill, she said “sure” and signed up. Continue reading ‘“Hi. I’m Josh. I’m your neighbor. I live down the street on Grampian Way.”’

I was recently given the writing prompt: “Describe something destroyed.”  Then I watched the amazing movie Coal Country and this was what I wrote.

First her hair was shaved off. Overburden they called it, hiding the rich seems beneath the skin and bone. Then they came with drills and they bore down into her cheeks, her chin, her forehead. Attempting to protest she found her tongue had been cut, her voice taken away. They filled the holes with explosives, fire moving through her like a flood. And then they ignited it and her face rose and fell in a giant fleshy wave. The bone underneath cracked and protruded from the skin at odd angles and her skin flaked away. Then they brought in the machines to remove what was left, to scrape away at her skin and bone. They scraped away her cheeks, her nose and her chin, shoveled it from her face down onto her neck and chest until the weight of it caused her to gasp for breath. Finally, with the flesh and bone gone, they went at the prized muscle, at the power. They scooped it out in giant buckets, her red, pulsing muscle, and dumped it on belts to take it away to power something else, somewhere else. When the last scoop was gone, they shoveled back her skin and her bone and patted it down onto her hollowed out face. Gave her a smear of lipstick and a spot of rouge, called her good as new.

It’s Getting Hot In Here: Create Our Climate is a month-long series to feature the creative work of the youth climate movement.  Through poetry, prose, visual and performance art, we aim to use these different media to communicate the passion, struggle and imperative of our work tackling climate and energy issues.  Please join youth leaders for posts on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout April.

Another short piece after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Create Our Climate: The Mountain Lady’

Photo courtesy of The Age

A coal ship struck the Great Barrier Reef this weekend, spilling heavy oil over several miles of the reef.  The ship was carrying coal from Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal, to China, the world’s largest consumer of coal.  The Neng Sheng 1, a Chinese-owned freigher struck the reef 15 miles outside shipping lanes in a restricted portion of the reef.  The 950 tonnes of heavy fuel oil has already covered a 3km by 100m strip of ocean in a slick, and if the ship breaks up the 65,000 tonnes of coal would cover a portion of the reef.

Australian authorities plan to “throw the book” at the operators, who could face a $1 million fine to the company and a $250,000 fine for the captain, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told The Age.  Yet reports say this could be one of the most challenging sea clean-up operations ever, with the vessel still impaled on the reef in moving water and leaking fuel oil.

Australians tend to shy away from the fact that the national economy’s current boom is largely supported by resource demand from growing economies in Asia.  Mining exports account for 35% of national exports. Australia is the largest exporter of coal in the world (with 35% of total global coal exports).  Mining makes up 5.6% of the Australian economy, which doesn’t sound like much, until you realize that of developed countries only Canada and Norway have comparable levels.  And mining employs a disproportionately small number of Australians at 1.3% of the total labor force. Continue reading ‘Coal and Oil Destroying Great Barrier Reef’

As you might’ve heard, the Vermont State Senate voted earlier last month to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant as scheduled in 2012. When Vermont Yankee (VY) closes down, there will be a substantial gap in the state’s energy portfolio. So far, it’s unclear what will fill this gap.

A coalition of young Vermonters see the closing of Vermont Yankee as an opportunity for Vermont to develop clean energy options that will bring green jobs to Vermont and make Vermont a leader in clean energy. That’s why we’re asking all six Vermont gubernatorial candidates to join us in a pledge to bring 100% clean energy to Vermont by 2020. Talk about “Defining our Decade”! Continue reading ‘Vermont Students Challenge Gov. Candidates in “Race to Replace Vermont Yankee”’