It’s Getting Hot In Here

Our good friend over at Think MTV, Pete, had a splendid idea to build environmental consciousness into MTV’s most popular show, The Real World. MTV has been a good ally to the youth climate change movement–from Break the Addiction to covering Power Shift — and this is another testament to great ways of reaching out to a young audience. I had the privilege of joining Peter in showcasing the house. Listen to how the cast responds to it too! I love it.

I don’t know how to post the videos for some reason, so you can view all four of them here.

On the centennial celebration of President Theodore Roosevelt’s landmark 1908 Conference of Governors which beckoned the nation’s governors to the White House for a summit that effectively launched the conservation movement, Governors will come together at Yale University to discuss tackling Climate Change for their states. Please take note if your governor is coming:

Jon Corzine, Governor of New Jersey

Chet Culver,* Governor of Iowa

Jim Doyle,* Governor of Wisconsin

Deval Patrick, * Governor of Massachusetts

Jodi Rell, Governor of Connecticut

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California

Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas

Christine Todd Whitman, Former EPA head and former NJ Governor

Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Nobel Prize Winner

Theodore Roosevelt IV, Managing Director, Lehman Brothers

Jean Charest, Quebec Premier

Eduardo Bours,* Governor of Mexico’s Sonora State

Martin Bursík, Czech Environment Minister

WHEN: FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008, 8:30am – 3:00pm

WHERE: Yale University Campus, New Haven, CT (Exact location to be announced by noon on Thurs, April 17)

Events to Include:

Ø Governors Signing Session

Ø Press Conference

Ø Discussion of Governors on State-level Innovation

Ø Public Address by:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

&

RK Pachauri (Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

and Winner of 2007 Nobel Prize with Al Gore)

Contact Vanessa Friedman, Tel: 212-751-3342 if you are “Press” and would like to go.

* To be confirmed

Word on the street has it that The Governator is bringing together a Captain Planet-team of state governors to begin taking solid steps to fight climate change. That’s a great opportunity for Yalies and other locals to get together to stage their own climate change demonstrations and talks. (GET PHOTOS, GET VIDEOS, and POST AWAY!) I’ll highlight more as the details unfold. Check out Yale Daily News highlights from Thomas Kaplan:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to visit Yale next month to deliver an address on climate change, University officials confirmed last week.

Continue reading ‘Governors Unite: Landmark Global Warming Conference to take place at Yale’

#3. “The Amazon Rainforest is not being used for sugar cane for ethanol. This is absolutely wrong! The Amazon region is far from the consumer centers and ports to ship. It needs water in the soil. It is a stupidity to grow cane in the Amazon rainforest. It is stupidity. We will never destroy the Amazon rainforest for sugar cane biofuels.”

- Roberto Rodrigues, former Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Co-Chairman of the Interamerican Ethanol Commission (IEC)

Note: When a student came up to ask him if he would go on record saying that, he dodged the question by not answering it. As far as I am concerned, he went on record saying that when he got up to talk. - SRO

#2. “It’s cheap as dirt to dig up coal.”
- Klaus S. Lackner, Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics at Columbia

Note: It’s as cheap as coal to dig up coal…unless you ask those that are being affected by mountaintop removal. - SRO

#1. “Clean coal” as part of a solution in memo to the upcoming President.

- Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute of Columbia

Note: He also directly quoted his book review in The Economist in the Presidential memo, which said, “If everyone were as sensible as Jeffrey Sachs…” - SRO

To listen to the talks at State of the Planet, click here; (You may have to register).

The State of the Planet Conference convened at the Earth Institute at Columbia University this past Thursday and Friday. Man, have special interests grabbed the environmental movement like a bulldog by a throat, or what? Perhaps I’m getting increasingly hypersensitive as we continue to slog on, but panelists seemed more divided by the issues this year than in 2006. In short, we all agree that we must do something, but none of us can agree on what that may be.

Can you hear me now?
Of course if you ask a telecommunications person what will solve world poverty, he’s going to say, “Telecommunications;” and ask an agronomist what will help solve the fuel crisis, and he will emphatically respond, “Agriculture.” Ask a buttoned-up economist how he sees the world, and he’ll say, “an industrialized free market economy,” and give the Chairman of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority the podium on climate change solutions, and she’ll talk up nuclear like it’s a half-silver bullet solution out of hell.

As for the latter—given by U.K.’s Lady Barbara Thomas Judge, (“Babs,” as I like to call her)—was one of the more egregiously one-sided talks of the afternoon. For a balanced discussion, you can’t just give the benefits of an energy (and yes there are benefits to all forms of energy depending on how you slice it), without some of the embedded costs and a look into an alternative, well-informed opinion.

Continue reading ‘State of the Planet Puts Nuclear on the Table’

Since Powershift and the rollercoaster ride that Juliana refers to, I’m looking forward to kicking back over the Holidays to reflect and plan next steps for 2008 and beyond. I literally have not been able to stop talking about what we’re doing, calling my Senators, and thinking about more of what we can do in the New Year. In the meantime, some friends of friends keep asking me what kind of materials they can get their family to learn more. Since it is the holidays and I haven’t really reviewed any climate change books, I’m wondering what all of you out there think of the following books (for young kids, newcomers, and slightly seasoned climateers)? Are there any that I’m missing?

- Laurie David and Cambria Gordon - A Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming

- David de Rothschild - The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change

- Al Gore - An Inconvenient Truth

- Bob Henson - Rough Guide to Climate Change, Parts 1 and 2

- Dessler & Parson - The Science and Politics of Climate Change

- Jennifer Hoffman, et al. - Climate: The Force That Shapes our World and the Future of Life on Earth

- Linden - The Winds of Change: Climate, weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations

Watch the 11/06 DISCOVERY NEWS clip on Power Shift 07 HERE. Discovery gives a great overview of the rally and testimony. Let’s here it for the people that support us!

WHEN RUSH LIMBAUGH GETS YOU DOWN, CLICK ON THIS VIDEO HERE. STAND STRONG, SMILE. WE ARE ONE.

A packed Power Shift sings to one of the many amazing musical acts at the summit.