It’s Getting Hot In Here

After more than a year of letter writing, petition signing, legislative call-in days, public hearings, lobby days and a huge conference, all involving thousands of people around the state, today the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act (for the hardcore legislative fans out there, the text of the bill can be found here) by a vote of 154 to 0. This bill requires reductions of carbon emissions of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 and between 10% and 25% by 2020.

From here, the bill, which has already passed the senate, returns there for some final merging of the house and senate versions, and heads to Governor Deval Patrick’s desk for signature. This is a HUGE victory in the state of Massachusetts, and a huge victory for the our state network, Massachusetts Power Shift, which has been a major force in pushing this bill forward. In April, MAPS held a conference and lobby day in Boston, attracting hundreds of students and adults from around the state and including high profile speakers Sen John Kerry and Rep Ed Markey.

Congrats to everyone involved in this campaign! Here’s to starting a new school year with new, bigger, more inclusive and world-changing campaigns. In the words of my favorite tv president, The West Wing’s Jed Bartlet, “What’s next?”

For decades, Cleveland, Ohio, has been the perfect symbol of a greying US economy. Consistently ranking as one of the poorest cities in the country, Cleveland has been home to massive manufacturing shut downs, declining population, and a brain drain, not to mention one of the most infamous environmental disasters in US history, the burning of the Cuyahoga river.

Given its history, Cleveland would be the last place most people would look for the beginnings of a green revolution. In fact, even as a Cleveland native, I arrived home from the East Coast for a summer of environmental organizing expecting to find a disorganized and ineffectual movement, if one existed at all. I couldn’t have been more wrong. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen firsthand the quiet building of a green economy.

Here’s one example of what I’m talking about. I woke up this morning to a press release from Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), announcing the $600,000 grant from the state of Ohio to fund the school’s Green Academy, a program aimed at training residential building contractors and builders in green building techniques. The program kicks off in the fall, and the curriculum will spread statewide by the spring of 2009. Over three years, Tri-C will train over 300 builders and contractors in green design and energy efficiency. Continue reading ‘A Rust Belt Revolution’