It’s Getting Hot In Here

Just the facts.  Two days ago I received a letter from the Maryland State Police informing me that I was a suspected terrorist.  I have since learned that two other employees of Chesapeake Climate Action Network received similar letters, and that all of us were put under surveillance from the period of March 2005 - May 2006.  The letter informed me that the police “have no evidence whatsoever” that I am a risk of violent crimes and are removing me from this database.  What a relief.

I went public this morning, along side Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and members of the American Civil Liberties Union.   I am too upset at the moment to share any insights, but I recorded this video last night to capture my emotions. And check out Andrew Revkin’s blog post on the New York Times.

It was late Friday afternoon. I was tired from a week of promoting Power Vote in North Carolina and South Carolina.  I had less than 30 minutes to catch a flight to Michigan, but I just couldn’t help logging into our Power Update database to see how the campaign was going.  And I’m glad I did, because I got to see this!

We have a new Weekly Power Vote record holder! Appalachian State University, lead by the fearless Rio Tazewell, bumped Cornell out of #1 with a whopping 500 pledge cards in one week (at a school of 14,000).  And they are building their group from the ground up.

Cornell remains in first place with 789 pledges.  Whose going to beat Cornell and App State this week, or will they remain on top?

In other news, Keene State scored an incredible media hit in the Keene Sentinel.

WHAT’S POWER VOTE?  If you’re not following the revolution, Power Vote is a campaign to engage 1,000,000 people in fight against global warming by educating our communities, doing media, and making sure that we all vote for clean energy candidates this November.  Wanna get involved?  Register a new group to get involved and then download our awesome campaign tools.

HOW DID WE GET ALL THIS INFO?  Every week, more and more leaders across the country are tracking their success through Power Update, www.powervote.org/update.    Through this system, we help you keep track of your goals and send you updates on your progress, as well as our national progress.

Continue reading ‘This Week in Power Vote - Appalachian State Jumps to #1 with 500 Pledges’

Let me introduce you to Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia. He’s a nice guy. He’s opposed to legislation that would allow Virginians to carry hand-guns in bars and he’s good friends with Barack Obama. Oh, and he claims to care about global warming.

But here’s something you may not know - he thinks coal is clean. We’re not sure why, but it may have something to do with the $138,000 he took from Virginia Dominion Power, the largest utility in the state. Not a small chunk of change, but it was money well spent. Now Tim Kaine has become a strong proponent of Dominion’s proposal to build a new $1.8 billion coal fired power plant in the SW corner in the state, despite growing evidence that it will cost ratepayers around $1000 a year, emit 5.3 million tons of CO2, and exacerbate mountaintop removal.

Just this morning, Dominion admitted that the plant won’t actually be carbon capture compatible, as they had originally claimed. Perhaps this will encourage Governor Kaine to reverse his misguided position. Or at least cause him to give his money back.

BUT THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR REDEMPTION. Check out this video from CCAN, learn more about the campaign to stop this plant, and please call Governor Kaine, (804) 786-2211 and ask him to oppose this destructive power plant.

“Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” – Martin Luther King

We may never be able to see individual carbon dioxide molecules as they rises from the smokestacks into the atmosphere. We won’t be able to point to one atom and say “that’s the one the melted the polar ice caps”. But that doesn’t mean we can’t expose the other injustices that occur every day from dirty energy… and tracking them down just got a little easier.

Yesterday, ILoveMountains.org, a collaboration of groups across Appalachian fighting mountaintop removal coal mining, released a new tool called “My Connection” that allows you to trace the source of the coal burned at power plants across the US - so that none of us can avoid our personal connection to this destructive practice. Check out the Wallstreet Journal coverage. Continue reading ‘My Computer is Blowing Up Mountains’

It’s becoming a legacy issue for older Americans: what type of planet are we leaving our children? One of the nation’s top reporters on the environment reveals the latest science behind climate change.”

So reads the introduction to Andy Revkin’s article on global warming for the monthly magazine of AARP, the American Association for Retired Persons. Yes, this magazine in your dentist office. Yes, it does signify that you’re old. Yes, AARP is the reason your grandpa insists on getting his discount at Denny’s. But now, AARP is telling our parents and grandparents to get serious about global warming. And they have a circulation of 30 million readers.

Last week, our friend Andy Revkin from the New York Times delivered the message - and in true form it is scientific, smart, and compelling - to the thirty million members of AARP. Let us hope it makes a difference, because time is running out, and a crappy social security system shouldn’t be their only legacy.

GLOBAL MELTDOWN

By Andrew Revkin, July & August 2007

KANGERLUSSUAQ, GREENLAND

I’m staring up at the crumbling edge of the frozen white cap cloaking most of this vast Arctic island. The ice is thousands of years old, yet melting relentlessly in the bright May sunshine, sending a torrent of gray water to the sea. With me is Joe McConnell, a snow scientist who just spent three weeks drilling samples from the ice sheet, which extends over an area four times the size of California and is almost two miles high at its peak.

Read More…

Sometimes the naughtiest words are the most important ones to say. The New York Times reports that a controversy has exploded because the newest winner of the prestigious Newberry Award (think “Oprah Book Club of Children’s lit) uses a really naughty word in it’s first page - scrotum! The word is used as a lead-in to a child’s exploration of his body, something that seem reasonable as I recall giggling at the mention of it during Sex-Ed in 6th grade. But that hasn’t stopped libraries across the country from banning the book.

It got me thinking about how words play an intrinsic role in visions and social movements. In a recent discussion with a friend from Energy Justice Network, we discussed people’s discomfort with the term “Electric Car.” I’ll admit, I still cringe at the mention of it in public. Not because I don’t believe in the idea of an electric car, but because it still has the ring of a far-left hippy idea that most of the public will dismiss.   Hybrid cars are sexy, but electric cars are still scary to people.  Truth be told, electric cars are as viable today as hybrids, but if we can’t say it, we sure can’t build it.  It may be a scary term to use. It may put people off.  But should that stop us from using it? Or encourage us? Continue reading ‘Scrotum, Vagina, Electric Car, and other naughty words’

Who is this beautiful women and why is she on my blog? Model, actress, slashy (model/actor)? No, she’s Miss Rhode Island, and she has a message you’ve got to hear.

If the President’s State of the Union left something to be desired, tune in this Monday for the ‘Real’ state of our union - the Miss America Pageant. Laugh if you must, but chances are there will be more solutions proposed for this impending global catastrophe on the Country Music Station (Monday at 7:00) than we saw from the president.

Why? Because Miss Rhode Island (aka Ali Rogers) is on a mission to STOP GLOBAL WARMING. This former Climate Campaigner and SustainUS activist rocked the socks off Boston when she was at Harvard and we can expect nothing less tomorrow night. She was selected as Miss Rhode Island for her dedication to “going green” (among other things) and plans to bring that message to the Misses.
Ali has already done more than the average Miss America to save this world and is by far the coolest person to compete in this contest (not that I’ve actually watched it). She has chosen an amazing course to bring this issue to the public and we should all be proud. If you can take a break from trying to find pictures of Miss Nevada, tune in to this year’s Miss America to learn the true state of our union and what we can all do about it.

Three months ago, I wouldn’t have seen it coming. Maybe I had a few too many wiskey and gingers at the open bar. Maybe I don’t have a sense of propriety, or maybe I just don’t care. But when I saw soon-to-be-Governor-of-Maryland Martin O’Malley at the Maryland Environmental Banquet a few months ago, I couldn’t help but walking right up to him and posing the question. “Where do you stand on the Maryland Clean Cars Bill?” His response was funny but not encouraging. “There are two things you don’t $#@! with. People’s cars and their pets!” And he smirked. Just like this. ==>
At the time, this wasn’t a very encouraging sign for our clean car campaign in Maryland, and I wondered how many letters and calls it would take to get him to wake up. I’m guessing about 10,000, because that’s how many we sent, and our man came through.

This morning, the Washington Post (in a front page story I might note) reported that Governor Martin O’Malley threw his support behind the Maryland Clean Cars bill, which will make Maryland the 12th state to adopt California’s stricter auto-emissions standards. This is a huge step forward for Maryland, a state exceptionally vulnerable to global warning. This isn’t just about passing a bill… it’s about political power. When you see recently elected officials charging forward on a global warming bill, you know you’ve got something. And we’ve got something. Continue reading ‘Maryland Governor Endorses Clean Cars - global warming goes mainstream’

There is something changing in the air besides the climate.  It’s a movement brewing.  And it’s not just young people… it’s everyone.  Last year, a town hall meeting on global warming drew 50 people (100 if you were lucky and in a big city). Well, things are different now.

On Tuesday, January 9th, 253 (two hundred and fifty three) people crowded into the cafeteria at local elementary school to discuss global warming and the need to pass a Maryland Clean Car Bill. But what’s really significant? It was in Greenbelt, Maryland. Not Baltimore, New York, San Francisco, or Chicago. Greenbelt, Maryland, population 21,000. I wonder - are these actual signs of a citizens movement.

But you know what’s really amazing - it came from the ground up. We (the ‘paid’ organizers) didn’t do anything. The planning was 100% volunteer, 100% local It was co-sponsored by 6 different community groups. The mayor made a speech. Six state Senators and Delegates came by to show support. Citizens wrote letters. The local paper wrote a story. Is this the new face of the global warming movement? Well hopefully the new face is a little younger. But this is still hot!  Annapolis here we come!

Continuing the theme, check out think clip of Andy Revkin, Climate Reporter for the NY Times and Senator Inhofe’s favorite author, singing his own climate ballad “Liberated Carbon”… to his class at Columbia. You can find more music by Revkin with his band, Uncle Wade. Apparently you can have a life and work on global warming too. You just need to become a NY Times reporter. Andy, got any openings? I write for this amazing blog…