It’s Getting Hot In Here

Here in Washington we’re feeling like pretty good leaders in the climate change movement what with all our great climate change legislation passing and all. But there’s always more to be done, key among them keeping a wary eye out for false solutions as we move ahead. One of those false solutions has tried rearing its ugly head here and we aim to stop it before it’s got a change to flourish. That would be “clean coal“, the only coal option in Washington thanks to our strict emissions limits. You can read all about the plant and it’s history here. It’s currently on hold due to concerns from the Port of Walla Walla, but they plan to try again in the Fall and we’ll be there to say no again.

So, the campaign: It began out of a Fossil Fools Day idea but grew much bigger and just wrapped up last week. The Cascade Climate Network and friends collected 795 photo petitions from eight different universities and colleges in Washington, all speaking out against coal and advocating clean solutions and green jobs. We’ll be sending the finished book to key players in the clean energy future of Washington as well as a few Washington Congressmen who have yet to sign onto the new Clean Water bill that would effectively end mountain top removal.

All in all a bitchin’ effort and a great example of what students can do if they unite across the state and region.

You can check out the finished photo petition, put together in a high school yearbook-style format, as well as a similar photo petition calling for No LNG in Oregon at www.CascadeClimate.org.

I attended a five hour long talk this past week with leaders in both the national and local world of alternative jet fuel research and development. Alternative jet fuel seemed a long ways off until the recent announcement that Virgin Atlantic Airlines had managed to fly a Boeing aircraft on a bio-fuel blend. That fuel was supplied by a Washington state company and the largest supplier of biodesiel in the U.S., Imperium Renewables. Imperium’s president was on hand as were a number of other important figures in the world of alternative jet fuels, including the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force, a Boeing representative, a few folks from NETL (National Energy Technology Lab), climate champ Congressmen Jay Inslee and a rep from CAAFI (Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative).

The conversation was divided into two primary possible solutions, bio-jet fuel and coal to liquid technology.

First, the good news. It seems that the movers and shakers behind bio-fuels are beginning to understand that we cannot power our vehicles (on the ground or the air) on either our food crops or on unsustainably harvested plants from the Amazon. The mix used on the Virgin flight was made in part from the babassu nut, a nut that thrives in a complete eco-system (although it still comes from South America). Congressman Inslee, a long time proponent of alternative fuels, spoke about the need to develop sustainable alternative fuels that would reduce green house gas emissions without contributing to further environmental destruction. There was also much excited talk about the prospects of algae as a fuel source. And the Air Force is certainly on board, both with making their aircraft more efficient and with helping in the advancement of alternative fuels. And as we all know, when the military gets behind something, things get moving. (And yes, their main motive is still to “put fire and steel on the bad guys” as one colonel put it).

Now for the bad news. Coal to liquid technology.

Continue reading ‘Biojet Fuels: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get to see the Dalai Lama on his five-day trip to Seattle. He was here for an event called Seeds of Compassion. The event was focused around compassionately teaching and caring for children. On Tuesday they will be busing in thousands of children from around the area to see the Dalai Lama in person. All in all it’s quite an amazing effort to reach out to a world that often times forgets what compassion truly looks like and its importance in fostering a new generation of caring individuals. And who better to get the message across than the Dalai Lama, right?

While I could write pages about the amazing day, I wanted to focus on a few things the Dalai Lama said that I think have direct relevance to us and our fight for a better future for all.

First off, in his opening remarks, the Dalai Lama said that he would be dying eventually as all people do and that in this regard it was important that youth continue the good fight, as it will be our world. I think we all know this, but it was nice to hear it from the Dalai Lama himself. Continue reading ‘Because the Dalai Lama Said So’

This past weekend I attended Seattle’s first Green Festival [ed note: that's JP looking surprised at the Green festival!]. The Green Festivals are a joint collaboration between Co-Op America and Global Exchange and are held in cities across the U.S. (this year in Seattle, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago).

The Festivals invite in luminary speakers to participate on panels and give speeches. This year’s speakers included Frances Moore Lappe, famed author of Diet for a Small Planet, Amory Lovins, brilliant founder of the Rocky Mountain Insitute, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and plenty of others both local and national. But the main focus of the festival and by far the biggest draw for most of the thousands of attendees were the commercial booths. If you were looking for a bumper sticker to express your love for the planet while driving your car, t-shirts, Amazonian miracle fruits, books, lotions, Bush punching bags or any matter of other liberal hype crap, then the Green festival was the place to find it.

Before I get too critical of the Festival, I do want to say that it wasn’t all bad. A few panelists actually seemed to understand the magnitude of the problem and the actions needed to address it and the festival organizers were nice enough to set aside a panel focused on the youth movement. And random run-ins are always nice networking opportunities.

But now for the critical. Let me focus on the commercial aspect to start off. There was so much crap being sold at the festival that it made my head spin. Too much of it was simple Bush bashing and the stuff that wasn’t was utterly unnecessary, the kind of stuff that regularly fills up our landfills and our thrift stores. Now of course, all these vendors went through a screening process to make sure they were both people and earth friendly, and all those t-shirts were organic cotton, but really, who gives a damn when it’s still something we simply do not need. Simplicity people! And simplicity does not mean owning ten pairs of Simple brand shoes. What scares me the most is that the large majority of people will leave this hyper-green consumerism and go out into the real world again with that same consumer mind-set and buy, buy, buy, whether their purchases are eco or not. Continue reading ‘Critical Look at Seattle’s Green Festival’

I recently had the pleasure of shepherding a group of elementary school children around a Water Festival. The day’s myriad events focused on everything from salmon habitats to sea kayaking lessons. It was great to watch little kids get excited about nature in its most basic forms. I think it’s something that I, and maybe others, forget when we’re working on globe spanning issues like climate change. Remember that we were once little kids too, our minds being blown by the simplest joys nature could offer. To watch a room full of a hundred kids all imitating the sounds of a Killer Whale is pretty awesome.

The day made me realize/remember how important it is to reach kids at this young age when a love of nature is still embedded deep within their inherent nature. Kids dig nature. It’s important that we recognize that love and connect it to the bigger picture so that as they grow older and are bombarded by life’s million other messages, they also grow in understanding of the entire cycle of life; the fact that Killer Whales, the slimy worms and the seashells are all part of a bigger picture that we must also protect.

It is also important that we as educators work to strive towards living the lessons we teach. I watched educators drinking bottled water (in Washington state where we have some of the best tap water in the country) and others throw away mountains of recyclables. As educators of the younger generations, we have to walk the talk or they will see right through us.

If we’re not careful and considerate of the generations behind us, we could be seeing a repeat of what we’re currently fighting so hard against.

I recently attended a talk by a visiting Chinese professor of environmental history. The talk was on China’s attempts thus far to green the upcoming Bejing Olympics taking place this August. China was denied hosting the summer Olympic games the last go around largely due to Australia’s proposal emphasizing the importance of “greening” the games. China went back to the drawing board and came up with an ambitious green Olympics proposal, winning the bid this time around.

The visiting professor’s talk was largely positive, focusing on Bejing’s green building practices (one stadium is built to attract nesting birds and the aquatics center uses mostly recycled water) as well as efforts to reduce waste and better the water and air quality. (Those Olympic athletes tend to breathe a lot of air and drink a lot of water).

The professor finished his talk with a question: What will it take to keep Bejing on the right track once they have finished preparing for the Olympics and the international community is no longer scrutinizing its efforts?

One answer is a continued sharing of technology and information on renewable energy development. Here in Washington state, Governor Christine Gregoire has opened up those talks, meeting with Chinese officials to facilitate a transfer of clean, renewable technologies. This thinking, that developed countries must share the knowledge and technologies to help developing countries move towards clean energy, was also one of the few positive things to come out of the Bali talks. It is also extremely important in countries like China with its vast supply of cheap coal.

Continue reading ‘Bejing’s Green Olympics’

Last month while lobbying our Washington state legislators for climate change solutions, a legislative aid asked me, “Well, do you want climate change action or green jobs?” Thankfully some of our legislators understand you can’t have one without the other.

Yesterday, Washington state passed a historic climate change action bill. The Climate Action and Green Jobs Bill passed out of the Senate unamended and is now awaiting the signature of Governor Christine Gregoire. Gregoire requested the legislation this session and has supported it all along the way, so there is little doubt that the bill will pass into law early next week.

The bill makes Washington just the fourth state in the nation to enact binding limits on greenhouse emissions in the state, after California, New Jersey and Hawaii. The bill states that the state shall reduce greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020; 25% below 1990 levels by 2035; and 50% below 1990 levels by 2050 and charges the state Department of Ecology with developing plans to achieve these reductions.

The bill also contains a green jobs portion that will help colleges and technical programs across the state which are already interested in green jobs programs really get off the ground and start churning out a new workforce ready for the new green economy. The bill is groundbreaking for coupling reduction emissions targets with support for new green jobs.

Continue reading ‘State Climate Victory: Green Jobs and Climate Action for Washington!’