It’s Getting Hot In Here

Today is a hot, sticky day in Delhi, almost 90 F in the shade, and in my apartment, less than ten years old, I’m sweating as I type underneath the fan. In fact, I’m sweating even when I turn on my air conditioner. And yet, outside, in Delhi’s most beautiful park, Lodhi Gardens, I can sit outside in an open air tomb built almost five hundred years ago, and I feel cool.

If I were in Jaipur right now, in hot, dry western India, where it is more than 100 F, and yet feels like 70 inside the forts of the ancient Rajput kings. Admittedly, it may be hotter now than it was in the summer of 1734, when it was built, but these palaces were designed to keep their residents cool without electricity, conditioned air and refrigerants. How? By recognizing some fundamentals of heat and physics. If we want to design for the future, we need to learn from the past. Continue reading ‘Learning from the Past, Designing for the Future’

That’s right, another oil spill.  Monday, July 26th, over 800,000 gallons (25,000+ barrels) of oil from an Enbridge pipeline spilled into a creek that flows into the Kalamazoo River.

It appears that the spill was detected and shut off much faster than the Salt Lake City Oil Spill in June, but spewed nearly twice as much greasy scum as the Chinese Oil Spill just over a week ago.  It pales in comparison to the disaster in the Gulf, but is more than enough contamination for Michigan.

Enbridge, I should mention, is proposing a new tar sands pipeline to bring Canadian tar to Asian refineries.  Because we need more pipelines and tankers… Thankfully the Enbridge pipeline is facing massive opposition.

So that makes 4 major oil spills in 4 months.  Let’s hope that we learn to break this pattern.

Continue reading ‘ANOTHER Oil Spill: 800,000 gallons in Kalamazoo River’

President Nasheed of the Maldives at the Opening of the Cartagena Group/Dialogue

“There is nothing wrong with being helped to go on living.  And that is what this[climate change] issue is all about,” stated a senior official from the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia.  I am at a ministerial gathering of 28 nations of the Cartagena Group/Dialogue for Progressive Action convening in the beautiful island of Bandos in the Republic of Maldives.  The participants are from Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Samoa, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, UK and the European Commission.  The Cartagena Group/Dialogue is an informal space, open to all countries that want ambitious and comprehensive outcomes in the UNFCCC, and that are committed, domestically to becoming or remaining low carbon.  These are “forward looking” countries, willing to work positively and proactively together within and across regional and UNFCCC groups.  The aim of the Group/Dialogue is to openly discuss the reasoning behind each other’s positions and to explore areas where convergence and enhanced joint action could emerge.  That is precisely what I see happening.

A representative from an industrialized nation stated clearly, “don’t push us, [to be even more ambitious] or you are not going to like it.”  While the words may seem a little jarring, that was not the intent.  The purpose was to make clear that negotiators and country representatives sent to UNFCCC talks can only do so much as they are at the mercy of the political winds of the countries they represent and might suffer backlash from voters.  It reaffirms that if large industrialized (and rapidly emerging) economies are to take strong action, it requires the majority of the citizens of those countries to have the will.  And while we witnessed the lack of political will to pass through climate and energy legislation before the congressional mid-term elections in the United States this week, countries small and large gathered at Cartagena have provided a glimmer of hope, giving a breath of life to the stale atmosphere that lingers within the UNFCCC post Copenhagen.  The truth is that the stiff negotiating environment of the UNFCCC rarely allows for a common space for understanding country positions and barriers to creating a comprehensive agreement.   This is especially true given such forums are reduced to a debate over choice of words in what is essentially a legal contract.  This is the second meeting of the Cartagena Group/Dialogue with regular meetings planned in the future.  The arrival of this group is also important as Copenhagen revealed that even large groupings such as the G-77 are beginning to fracture due to the rise of BASIC.  The latter’s demands conflict with many Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developing Countries (LDCs) who are calling for a 350 ppm or 1.5 degree Celsius warming target.  It remains unclear what future groupings could be like within the UNFCCC and there is no formal “Cartagena Group.” The current impasse in the UNFCCC requires new alliances and I suspect with time, a “G-X” will emerge to break the deadlock.   Continue reading ‘Cartagena Dialogue Provides a Breath of Fresh Air’

Pittsburgh Student Environmental Coalition gets front row seating at EPA hearing in Canonsburg, PA.

On Thursday, July 22, over 1200 people attended an Environmenal Protection Agency hearing in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on the relationship between Hydrualic Fracturing and water; it was the most well attended event of the EPA’s nationwide meetings thus far. The EPA was gathering feedback regarding a peer reviewed study slated to begin in early 2011 that would detail the effects of Fracking on the quality and qauntity of drinking water.  Over 150+ registered speakers provided feedback and comments. Landowners spoke about existing water quality issues they connected to fracking, professionals pointed out the precedent in analyzing dangerous compounds used in fracking fluid, and a handful of industry representatives urged the agency to conduct “scientific” studies “not based on emotion”.

The urgency and anger communicated by residents was met by supportive applause, high fives, and ultimately a downright feeling of solidarity. Jessica McPherson, a landowner and herbalist from Pittsburgh, offered testimony that accurately summarized the meeting, “It’s as if all the Romans have gathered to ask if Rome is on fire, as it is burning.” Indeed, the presentation of the study was welcomed by those in attendance — but many are hoping it is not too little too late for those already suffering from contaminated water wells.   Continue reading ‘EPA Hears From Over 150 Stakeholders, Including Youth, on Natural Gas Fracking’

It takes a singular dedication to cowardice to keep seeking America’s energy future in dark, explosive holes controlled by multinational mafiosos. But my future is not under a razed West Virginia mountain. My future is not under a mile-deep Gulf gusher. My future is not mired in Canadian tar sands, not in a Chinese coal mine’s labor camp, and not in the clenched fists of Mid-East desert warlords.
 
I’m talking, of course, about the US Senate’s decision on Thursday to give up on comprehensive climate and clean-energy leadership. “Just for now,” they say to placate those of us who aren’t Big Oil executives.
 
Is the US Senate afraid to look up at the wind and sun for America’s energy future? Afraid to build an economy that doesn’t boil our global atmosphere? Afraid to build an economy that can compete in the global race for clean-tech innovation against China, against India, against Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain and Portugal and Brazil and Lichtenstein? All we hear are Senators whine that it’s hard to price climate pollution; that it’s complicated to annul Big Oil’s annual billions in tax breaks; that it’s too tough an economy to create millions of jobs in energy efficiency and clean-energy ingenuity. But the rest of the world’s managing all that, and so has even the US House. So it sounds like me like the Senate’s talking points are feckless whimpering from 99 of the world’s most powerful individuals.
 
Leaders of our land, grow up: prove to me that you’re better than feckless and cowardly. I have organized students, church groups, farmers, local governments, and hundreds of business leaders to build climate solutions in their own ways and their own communities. I have led marches of hundreds across entire states to demand stronger clean-energy policies. I have led rallies in the streets of far-flung UN summits, on the summits of far-flung mountaintops, and thru the halls of Congress to help citizens make their own heartfelt cases for climate solutions, clean-energy competitiveness, and for energy security.
 
I’m 24. What the hell are you doing to build America’s clean-energy prosperity today?

I started reading Eric Pooley’s Climate War yesterday – a nailbiter account of how our leaders didn’t pass any significant climate legislation from 2006 to now, which roughly corresponds with the years I’ve spent pushing for just that every hour of every day. The first half of that time, we had a deadlocked Congress and feckless president, and we had no chance of getting anything through – but we did have the beginning of a broad-based movement to prevent dangerous global warming. And despite a campaign framed by a genuinely progressive story, President Obama hasn’t achieved anything close to what can be called significant progress on climate and energy, despite the smart clean energy champs he recruited to top posts.

But Obama’s hands-off plan on climate isn’t the only reason the US Senate dropped climate like a bad date. In his book, Pooley describes the incredibly complex dealings Senators like John Kerry and Lindsey Graham made with utilities, oil companies (including BP) and the nuclear industry to pull together a bill that eventually collapsed under its own weight yesterday. Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid wouldn’t even bring a climate bill to the floor for a vote.

Nobody in power, except for a notable few, was twisting any arms on climate. And therein lies the age-old lesson about democracy that we all seem to forget when our guys are in charge: change doesn’t happen without power from below. It’s not enough to chase around Senators and officials whispering in their ears. Climate deniers and the right-wing media machine deserve a lion’s share of the blame. Obama deserves our ire, too, as do the US Senators on both sides of the aisle who continue to shamelessly deflect responsibility and cast doubt on science.

Continue reading ‘What’s Next for the Climate Movement?’

Today, the Senate failed yet again to bring forward a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill. Could what’s missing be a healthy sense of competition?

350.org just released a new video to jump-start the Great Power Race, a clean energy competition between students in China, India and the US. The campaign’s goal is to push all three nations to start racing towards climate solutions.

Al Gore offered his endorsement of the competition: “I’ll be keeping a close eye on the outcome of the Great Power Race, because it’s exactly the kind of competition we need –a friendly contest to create a vision for our collective future, one where we don’t cling to the past but instead strike out boldly in a new direction.”

Continue reading ‘Great Power Race Video Launch!’

RAN activists just disrupted Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s talk at the National Press Club sending him a strong message:“Your coal is not Clean, Safe or Forever.” They were eventually escorted out by security.

Pictures Video

Washington, D.C. (7/22/10)— Today activists with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) attended Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s National Press Club speaking event. RAN was there to call attention to Massey’s repeated mine safety violations, including the April 5 Upper Big Branch mine explosion in which 29 miners tragically died, as well as the company’s lead role in mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). Blankenship has gained quite a reputation for his company’s mine safety violations as well as his indifference to environmental protection and climate change.

“Massey is the BP of the coal industry: reckless, arrogant and an obstacle to the clean energy future that the president and the country is calling for,” said Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network. “The bottom line is that clean, safe and forever are three words that Massey Energy can never credibly say.” Continue reading ‘BREAKING:RAN Activists Send Message to Massey CEO Don Blankenship at the National Press Club: “Your coal is not Clean, Safe or Forever.”’

On Wednesday evening, I was interviewed on TV as part of The Alyona Show in a segment called “China Leaves U.S. in Clean Energy Dust,” aired live in Washington DC, New York City, and Los Angeles.

In the midst of a raging nation-wide debate on energy and climate policy, Alyona asked me what will it take for lawmakers to realize the U.S. is falling behind in the global clean energy industry and take the necessary action to regain our position.  We discussed the clean energy race and implications for federal policy, the need for a “third way” energy and climate strategy based on public investment in technology innovation, and the DOE Clean Energy Ministerial as an alternative global forum for climate change mitigation.

This weekend, Moab residents hiked up to Delicate Arch to call on governments and banks to stop funding the expansion of tar sands in North America, as part of the International Stop The Tar Sands Day.

Utah could soon have first tar sands mine in the country, located north of Moab in the Colorado River watershed. Canadian company Earth Energy Resources aims to extract 2,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil from their PR Springs Mine. Earth Energy Resources has received all of the required permits to begin operation except for the Conditional Use Permit from Grand County.

“Grand County Council has the power to choose between investment in a dirty fuel that destroys our land, water and wildlife, or development of clean energy sources that enhances our beautiful and vibrant way of life,” said Moab local Ashley Anderson. Continue reading ‘Moab Joins the International Fight to Stop the Tar Sands’