It’s Getting Hot In Here

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This past weekend, fifty students and young profressionals from across Massachusetts descended upon the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to continue the planning efforts for Mass Power Shift.  This second planning meeting drew upon the strength of an earlier planning meeting, which saw 70 students, community members, and young professionals from around the state attend.  (Amherst is a bit tougher to get to for Boston area students). For the second meeting in a row, the excitement of the planning team was captured on film by a professional documentary maker.

 Our planning efforts are well on our way, with space confirmed at Boston University (including the Track & Field Center with seating for up to 5,000 and 50 classrooms for workshops and strategy sessions) and on the Boston Common for our exciting rally Soul Purpose Live, an event we are partnering with local band Melodeego to put on.  We’ve already scored our first press hit, and have successfully engaged environmental and community organziations from across the state to join in our planning efforts, including the Sierra Club, Clean Power Now, Clean Water Action, MassPIRG, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light, the American Instittue of Architects - Central Massachusetts, the Worcestor Immigrant Coalition, and many many more!  Workshops are getting confirmed and our planning team continues to grow.

 While we are targetting our recruitment at folks within the state as we will be lobbying in favor of the Global Warming Solutions Act on the House side (the Senate is voting today on this important 80% by 2050 bill), students and community members from anywhere and everywhere are welcome to attend.  For more information, check out our website at www.masspowershift.org or contact Craig Altemose at craig@masspowershift.org

Widely reported in the news today is the fact that Hilary Clinton’s campaign “planted” a question in the audience.  What was the question the Clinton campaign was so eager to have asked?

“As a young person, I’m worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?”

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007.  The DAY AFTER POWER SHIFT.  The day after we take to the nation’s capital to demand action on climate change, the leading democratic candidate for president has a question about youth and climate change planted at her Iowa rally. 

The coverage of Presidential elections in the American media is sadly more about appearance than substance.  I’ve scoured the web looking for her answer to this question.  All I can find is this:

“ Well, you should be worried.  You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it’s usually young people that ask me about global warming.”

NONE of the sources I find actually go into her plan to combat climate change.  NONE.  OK.  A question was planted.  Clearly she had something she wanted the people to hear.  What was it?  The press didn’t seem to think that was important.

 It seems like this might be a solid opportunity for some Letters to the Editor.

 The press missed the real story:  youth are demanding climate solutions, and politicians are paying attention.  Let’s help them see that.

Remember, Remember

The 5th of November

The Day the Youth Cried Out

I Know of No Way

Power Shift Lobby Day

Will Ever Be Forgot

This week marked the first national gathering of visionary leaders in the Campus Climate Movement. No fewer than 285 College and University Presidents have now signed up to the Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging themselves to 100% Climate Neutrality. They came together to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to congratulate each other on their boldness, and prepare for the road ahead. (A similar gathering of students - at a much larger scale - will take place October 19th-22nd…be sure to check it out!)

I am proud to say that the President of my undergraduate institution, Eckerd College, is among those to have signed the agreement. Unfortunately, my graduate school, Harvard University (along with Stanford, Yale, and Princeton), have shown a tremendous lack of leadership and vision, especially given the enormous amount of resources at their disposal.

Continue reading ‘How Real Presidents Show Leadership….’

The British Labor Party (to be led shortly by Gordon Brown), is challenging the Torries’ claims that they are best able to lead the fight against climate change. The Torries, currently in opposition, have proposed a tax on airfare to reduce climate emissions.

But Gordown Brown - Tony Blair’s heir apparent - wants to seize the initiative from them.

“On Tuesday the government will launch its Climate Change Bill, which puts the government’s long-term goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050 into statute.

However, the Bill does not include plans for strict annual targets for emissions reductions, as demanded by the Tories.”

Read more about it at:

BBC News

This is what we need here in the States…having our two main political parties arguing over which will do more to stop climate change!

Humans’ beef with livestock: a warmer planet

American meat eaters are responsible for 1.5 more tons of carbon dioxide per person than vegetarians every year.

By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

As Congress begins to tackle the causes and cures of global warming, the action focuses on gas-guzzling vehicles and coal-fired power plants, not on lowly bovines.

Yet livestock are a major emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. And as meat becomes a growing mainstay of human diet around the world, changing what we eat may prove as hard as changing what we drive.

It’s not just the well-known and frequently joked-about flatulence and manure of grass-chewing cattle that’s the problem, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Land-use changes, especially deforestation to expand pastures and to create arable land for feed crops, is a big part. So is the use of energy to produce fertilizers, to run the slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants, and to pump water.

“Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems,” Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November.

Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that’s more than the emissions caused by transportation.