It’s Getting Hot In Here

I was in the same room as his Holiness, the 14^th Dalai Lama for approximately 1.5 hours this afternoon. He made a visit to Toronto, Canada to address a crowd of over 30,000 in what could be summarized as a lesson of kindness.

What emerged from his mouth, however, reached issues including global warming and climate change. He affirmed his thoughts that humans make contributions to global warming, and dug a little deeper than most have:

“These tragedies are not natural disasters, they are human disasters. They are man-made tragedies,” he said when explaining the impacts of climate change. “It is our own carelessness,” he concluded.

His observation of progress of the United Nations climate talks was clear: “The United Nations is [telling us that] national interest is of greater importance than the global interest,” as he described the inability to come to a global consensus in Copenhagen. “This is too narrow-minded. We must broaden our perspective.”

His Holiness wove these concepts mindfully with discussing the utmost strength and importance of truth, openness, sincerity and honesty – all which he defines as necessities of building resolution. Simultaneously, he discussed the basis of working for the good of humanity, with the recognition that we all crave resolution and dislike conflict.

“Destruction of your neighbour is destruction of yourself.  Don’t remain at a distance [from each other]. Meet. Listen. Develop a spirit of dialogue. Create a sense of caring for the wellbeing of others.”

May the United Nations, countries, and individuals alike heed the Dalai Lama’s advice, because, as he says, the solutions “will not fall from the sky. It [will come] from our own action.”

All around the country it seems that environmentalists are forced to play defense in this election: prop 23 in California, the many members of Congress who voted for the weak American Clean Energy & Security Act, and various Senators with good environmental records.

But there’s one race in the heart of the heartland where we can make a huge victory for sustainability: Francis Thicke’s in Iowa.

Francis Thicke is an organic dairy farmer with a PhD in soil science. He is challenging a Big Ag-backed incumbent to be the next Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. Besides the US Secretary of Agriculture, Iowa’s is the most influential in the country when it comes to the operation of our food system. Electing Francis Thicke would be a huge gain in preparation for the next federal Farm Bill. So what happens in Iowa matters for the whole country. Michael Pollan and Bill McKibben agree.

Here’s the campaign ad, written and produced for free by young people working on the campaign.

And if you need another reason to get involved, polls show the race is very close.

By 1Sky blogger Nick Santos. See Nick’s bio at the end of this post. – Alex

It should come as no surprise to the readers of this blog that education is a cornerstone of building a movement and, ultimately, getting strong action taken on an issue like climate change. Educating decision makers is extremely important, but with so much disinformation flying around, we also need to ensure that voters understand the problem more than adequately as well so they can hold their decision-makers accountable.

It seems that we lack that understanding though. A full 52 percent of Americans would flunk a (admittedly difficult) test on climate change. The full study from Yale also reveals that only one percent of Americans would receive an A. And climate change won’t curve the test, I promise you. The full study, with an excellent executive summary, is worth looking over.

Some of the more interesting nuggets for me, as someone whose day job is climate change education (and who wants to see Congress address the issue immediately, or better yet, yesterday), involve our concept of what causes global warming. While 66% of Americans understand the greenhouse effect in concept, only 45% seem to understand that carbon dioxide traps heat. To  me, that’s a major problem that a full majority of the United States doesn’t understand the mechanism by which the Earth is warming. In fact, majorities of Americans believe that almost every other atmospheric problem we have, from the hole in the ozone layer to acid rain and aerosols (and, interestingly, the space program), causes global warming. Continue reading ‘America flunks Climate 101′

Stop the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline, Tanker Traffic & All Tar Sands Expansions to B.C.’s Northwest Coast!

The Enbridge Gateway Pipeline project is the leading and largest Alberta Tar Sands twin pipeline proposed for expansion to the B.C. northwest coast. There are currently 5 pipelines, new and expansions, proposed across Northern B.C. potentially transporting up to a gradual increase of a 700,000 barrels of oil per day. The Enbridge Gateway Pipeline project in particular will travel across approximately 1,000 pristine streams, rivers, lakes, and natural wild salmon spawning grounds, a total one-way distance of 1,170 kilometers. The diversity and sensitivity of the wildlife is far more important then transporting heavy toxic crude and volatile condensate across the region. In addition to the shortcomings of this overall project, there are a very limited number of sustainable jobs available to local people who live in the region.

The current projects being proposed are:
* Enbridge Gateway Project (2 pipelines, one condensate and one tar sands crude)
* Kinder Morgan TMX Pipeline
* Pembina Pipeline Inc.
* KSL “Pacific Trail” Pipeline

The Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Project consists of two proposed pipelines stretching 1,170 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alberta (northeast of Edmonton) to Kitimat on the northwest coast. Continue reading ‘Stop the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline, Tanker Traffic and All Tar Sands Expansions to B.C.’s Northwest Coast!’

A press release announcing the debate challenge here.

This is a call.

On the basic level, it’s very simple; it’s a call for youth leaders all across the country who are ready to dig down into the grassroots and work with people in their communities to create solutions. We’re looking for leaders who want to plan a summer program next summer that will start, grow, and expand green ventures at the community level that meet the needs of our neighbors (food, housing, transit, energy, jobs), show the world what is possible, and start to out-compete the dirty energy systems that run our world.

You’re in? Just find a friend who agrees and APPLY HERE. Priority deadline midnight 10/24 – just give us a heads up if it will take a bit longer.

Need more background? Check out this video by my co-worker Matt Kazinka, read the background info in the application, or check us out at www.summerofsolutions.org

But really, this is about a lot more than running a cool program next summer. This is  a call about changing the game for our economy, our communities, and our climate.

Continue reading ‘Launch the Summer of Solutions: Change the Story’

Chevron spends around of $90 million a year on advertising, that’s over twice as much as what they spent on their sham clean up of the worst oil-related disaster on earth in Ecuador. Today that very public relations bravado and those slick advertising campaigns caught Chevron up in something they try to avoid…the truth. (We also saw this last week as Chevron CEO John Watson scurried away from tough questions at a luncheon)

Today was supposed to be Chevron’s big day. Unrolling a multi million-dollar ad campaign is like Christmas morning to corporations. This afternoon however, Chevron finds itself in a public relations debacle after their new “We Agree” ad campaign was flipped on its head by some  superb timing and creativity from the Yes Men, Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch.

Hours before Chevron launched their own campaign www.chevron-weagree.com went live along with a faux Chevron press release announcing the campaign. Expecting such a campaign to be in their inbox, because of the Wall Street Journal’s Friday scoop, some outlets reported this as Chevron’s newest ad blitz. Easy enough mistake, but while the ads look the same the content of these ad is the last topic Chevron wants to talk about in public, accountability.

Continue reading ‘Chevron’s New Ad Campaign Hijacked by Truth…and the Yes Men’

Great news today about the Spruce mine.

Another nail in the coffin for mountaintop removal.  We’re part of a mass grassroots movement using legal, political, community and direct action tactics over and over to end this atrocious practice.   A few weeks ago, it was Appalachia Rising, next week it’ll be Mountain Justice Fall Summit on Kayford Mountain.

Like Judy Bonds says, we need to keep fighting,  and keep our “eyes on the prize” Continue reading ‘Spruce Mine: Another Nail in the Coffin for Mountaintop Removal’

Cross posted from gulfdelegation.blogspot.com on behalf of Lauren Ressler

Our last day in New Orleans was a productive one, and the people that we were able to meet with today clarified many of the issues that we have discussed thus far. Throughout this weeklong expedition we have heard a variety of different perspectives on the oil spill, and today’s experiences helped tie everything together for us.

In the morning we met with Professor Mitch Crusto, who teaches environmental law courses and specializes in environmental management at Loyola School of Law. Having been exposed to some fairly extreme views on both sides of the oil spill debate, Professor Crusto’s objectivity on the topic was a welcome change.  In describing the history of the oil industry in Louisiana and the corporate culture that opens the door for disasters like the BP spill, Crusto reiterated many of the concerns that had been voiced by the groups we met with earlier in the trip.   What made Crusto’s remarks compelling, however, was his analysis of the problem and the possible solutions moving forward.

At the root of the BP spill is Louisiana’s reliance on – and America’s addiction to – oil as the primary source of energy.  In Louisiana, the oil industry is a primary economic driver, employing a substantial portion of the state’s population and contributing heavily to state tax revenues.  A desire to reign in oil companies by enacting tougher environmental and safety regulations is always met with hostility by those who value the economic benefits that the industry provides.  Indeed, oil is a practically indispensable component of Louisiana’s economy.   If the state will not regulate the oil industry for fear of economic repercussions, how do we avoid environmental disasters in the future? Continue reading ‘When energy is the problem, oil can no longer be the solution’

Published by National Journal
Energy & Environment Expert Blog

By Teryn Norris
October 14, 2010

Only a couple short months after the demise of cap and trade, a new bipartisan flag for national energy and climate reform has officially been flown. It stands as a report released yesterday called “Post-Partisan Power” by scholars at three major U.S. think tanks – including the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the centrist Brookings Institution, and the Breakthrough Institute – and represents a powerful new rallying point for U.S. clean energy and climate advocates of all stripes.

The heart of the plan is to overhaul the U.S. energy innovation system with strategic federal investments in clean energy, on the scale of $25 billion annually, to rapidly drive down the cost of low-carbon energy technologies for deployment in the U.S. and abroad. Based on the same federal model that developed microchips, the Internet, and numerous other technological breakthroughs, the investment would easily pay for itself in economic growth and increased federal tax revenue.

The bipartisan approach is already receiving widespread recognition as representing perhaps the only serious and viable alternative to cap and trade. As David Leonhardt wrote in the New York Times, “To put it another way, the death of cap and trade doesn’t have to mean the death of climate policy. The alternative revolves around much more, and much better organized, financing for clean energy… It’s an idea with a growing list of supporters, a list that even includes conservatives – most of whom opposed cap and trade.”

Continue reading ‘The Next Bipartisan Energy Agenda’