It’s Getting Hot In Here

Cross-posted from the Breakthrough Blog.

Obama took a great step last fall when he announced $150 billion over ten years for clean energy. A large and ever-growing number of energy experts believe the number should be at least twice as big, but this was a major improvement over the 2004 Presidential race when John Kerry put a whopping $0 on the table despite efforts by the Apollo Alliance.

It was interesting, then, to read an interview this week with one of Obama’s top energy and climate advisors, Jason Grumet, Executive Director of the National Commission on Energy Policy. It gave a bit of insight into how Obama and his advisers think differently about the energy challenge and the role of technology and infrastructure investment. I took away a few gold nuggets.

On the importance and opportunity of public investment:

There is going to be a new generation of public investment, an opportunity to rethink, retool, and reconstruct some of our core systems, transportation and others. It’s in some ways a tremendous opportunity.

Continue reading ‘Obama’s Energy Advisor Speaks to Technology Investment’

There are times when one feels compelled to stand up for someone whose contributions to a movement deserve recognition. This is one of those moments.

Thomas Friedman is a clean energy hero.

In the Age of Noah
What Was That All About?
It’s Too Late for Later
The People We Have Been Waiting For
If I.T. Merged with E.T.
Did We Do That?
Save the Planet: Vote Smart
The Green-Collar Solution
Who Will Succeed Al Gore?
Et Tu, Toyota?
Lead, Follow or Move Aside
China in Three Colors
Doha and Dalian
Go Green and Save Money
The Green Road Less Traveled
Live Bad, Go Green
The Capitol Energy Crisis
Our Green Bubble
Only Halfway There
The Aussie ‘Big Dry’
Continue reading ‘Thomas Friedman: Clean Energy Hero’

A new fault line has emerged in the climate movement amidst a firestorm of debate over the past week. On one side is a group of old-guard and well-known environmentalists, and on the other is a newly forming alliance of climate and energy scientists who are challenging traditional beliefs held at the highest levels of the environmental establishment. What is happening should invigorate young activists to continue challenging conventional wisdom – and serve as an alarm to the entire movement.

It all began last week when a commentary by three scientists called “Dangerous Assumptions” was published in Nature, one of the most prominent scientific journals in the world. The article challenged the IPCC for being too timid in its call to climate action and for holding a set of rosy-eyed assumptions about the climate challenge. These respected scientists – Roger Pielke Jr, Tom Wigley and Christopher Green – demonstrated that the IPCC has assumed up to 96% of total world emissions reductions (to achieve 500 ppm CO2 stabilization, a level which we now know is too high) will be achieved regardless of policy change through “spontaneous” decarbonization and technological advancements.

IPCC: Dangerous Assumptions? (blue represents “spontaneous” decrease)

The danger, they argue, is that the IPCC has seriously underestimated the scale of policy efforts needed to transform our global energy systems – and that it may inadvertently be offering comfort to those who believe we possess all the solutions and do not need to invest in technological development.

Continue reading ‘David vs. Goliath: The Emerging Climate Fault Line’

Got a big idea you’ve wanted to pursue to advance the clean energy movement? Breakthrough Generation, the youth initiative of the Breakthrough Institute, is awarding ten $5,000 Fellowships to the country’s top young organizers and thinkers.

We’re seeking highly motivated, capable, and innovative young leaders who want to pursue a campus or local clean energy project while advancing the larger movement for a $500 billion federal investment in clean energy to spark an energy revolution and win on global warming.

The deadline is this Friday, March 21

Find out more — and apply now !

The Breakthrough Institute is also offering paid Breakthrough Summer Internships. The internship takes place at the Breakthrough Institute’s main office in Oakland, CA, and involves high-level research, analysis, and writing that is substantial and substantive, both individually and in collaboration with senior Breakthrough staff. Much of this will focus on the policy, politics, and technology behind clean energy and global warming. Our interns have gone on to co-author major white papers in journals such as the Harvard Law & Policy Review, and the stipend is $300 per week. More information is available at www.thebreakthrough.org/jobs.shtml.

The Breakthrough Institute, a progressive think tank directed by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, is working on several fronts – including political candidates, forward-thinking philanthropists, social change agents, and the youth climate movement – to advance a major federal investment in the clean energy economy. We believe that young people today are uniquely positioned to advance a more powerful movement and wish to support their efforts.

Breakthrough Generation — the new youth initiative of Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger’s think tank, The Breakthrough Institute — is now recruiting for a Fellowship Program that will select up to ten of the country’s top young organizers and thinkers to develop a vision and strategy for a new youth progressive movement. We are seeking highly motivated, capable, and innovative young leaders who are willing to challenge accepted political norms and possess an ability to think and work in new ways. Breakthrough Generation Fellowships will include:

• $5,000 grant: to support Fellows in the pursuit of independent projects that both achieve on-the-ground local green solutions and advance the larger movement for a major national investment in clean energy;

• Spring summit: April 18-20;

• Summer conference: June 15-22 at the Breakthrough Institute;

• Fall summit: date and location to be determined;

• Readings and discussion program: to be conducted throughout the year with the Fellows, Breakthrough Institute Founders, and other advisors and experts;

Applications should be submitted by email to generation-at-thebreakthrough.org by 5:00 P.M. (PST) on March 21, 2008. Applicants should use the editable document version of the application available on the website, www.breakthroughgen.org.

Download Application Here (180 Kb)

Entrants will receive an email confirmation after submission. Finalists will be determined by March 24th and may be asked to take part in a phone interview the following week before Fellows are announced on March 28th. For those who are interested in becoming involved with Breakthrough Generation but cannot commit to a full Fellowship, we will select a limited number of individuals to participate in the April summit along with our Fellows and Advisors. Please direct all questions to generation-at-thebreakthrough.org or visit the Breakthrough Generation webpage at www.breakthroughgen.org.

Jack Johnson caught our attention this week with the release of his latest album, Sleep Through the Static, and with some interesting thoughts on environmental philosophy. In an interview with the Santa Barbara Independent, he said:

“I read in a book recently by my friend Michael Shellenberger, a book called Break Through — he also wrote The Death of Environmentalism — but he wrote this book saying that if you consider humans to be part of nature, then the word environmental becomes a bad synonym for everything. It’s about the interconnectedness of all things…”

Jack points out an important question raised by Michael and Ted: is the category of the “the environment” any longer useful? As they wrote in Break Through:

If “the environment” includes humans, then everything is environmental and the concept has little use other than being a poor synonym for “everything.” If it excludes humans, then it is scientifically specious, not to mention politically suicidal.

The youth climate movement has transcended this outdated concept of traditional environmentalism by interpreting the meaning of global warming to be human-centric rather than nature-centric (rarely do I see any of us focusing on images of polar bears these days). The challenge for us now is to take this more holistic thinking to the next level.

The question facing us has become, which of the many human meanings of global warming do we place at the center of our movement’s politics? We’ve all recognized that global warming has multiple human meanings. As we move forward, one of our greatest challenges will be to make sure we’re being as intentional as possible in the way we construct our politics so that we can create the kind of powerful and transformational politics our movement needs to succeed. Right on, Jack!

[For more info see http://thebreakthrough.org/...]

Letter to Members of Congress and Presidential Candidates

Dear ______,

Dear Member of Congress,

We the undersigned urge you to accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy with the ambition of an Apollo or Manhattan program, by dramatically increasing America’s investment in innovative new energy technologies and systems.

A wide range of policies aimed at increasing conservation, efficiency, and reducing emissions is vital, but carbon prices and regulations alone will not create new, clean and affordable energy systems soon enough or at the scale needed.

America should be ramping up to invest a minimum of $30 billion per year to develop, demonstrate, and stimulate the commercialization of a range of technologies and approaches that can provide affordable carbon-neutral energy and use that energy more wisely. This is less than half of what America already invests in military research and development.

The United States is in a unique position to take the lead in this research and development effort, but we must work with others. The world, including China, India and other developing nations, needs affordable clean technologies now to avoid the lock-in of massive carbon emissions from conventional coal plants.

Energy sources available today cannot provide enough power to drive economic growth without damaging our climate system. We cannot predict with confidence which energy technologies will win in a future marketplace. For this reason, we need a diverse and strategically selected portfolio of investments. Potential solutions need to be explored and tested with hardware. Because the taxpayer dollar should be invested wisely, a relatively open process should be established that will select and support research and development projects based on technical merits.

Public investment in clean energy will more than pay for itself, just as did the U.S. government investment in computer science and aerospace during the 1950s and ’60s. Much of our economic growth since World War II resulted from technological developments that were accelerated and incubated by public investment – the Internet being only one example. Particularly critical are technologies that can be commercialized in five to twenty-five years — too long for venture capital, too short for basic research. Private firms are not making — and cannot be expected to make – the necessary level of long-term investments in energy and energy infrastructure research and development.

The major problems confronting the nation and world require clean, secure, and affordable energy.

Sustained public investment now in a diverse portfolio of energy technologies will reduce climate risk, increase energy security, revitalize education, enhance our competitiveness, and strengthen the American economy.

Sincerely*, Continue reading ‘Energy Scientists Call for $30 Billion Annual Public Investment to Overcome Global Warming and Oil Dependence’

Breakthrough Institute 2008 Youth Conference: Breakthrough Generation

Download Application Here

April 10th — 13th, 2008, Washington, DC

Sick of politics as usual? Ready for the current political establishment to retire? Have a few big ideas of your own? Then you may be part of the Breakthrough Generation.

On April 10th, 2008, a small group of the country’s top young progressives and post-environmental thinkers and activists will come together in Washington, DC to outline a vision and a strategy for a new progressive movement, one that leaves behind the old generation’s narrow and complaint-based politics.

Young people today are faced with an unprecedented opportunity to change the course of this country. The collapse of the Bush presidency has ended three decades of conservative ideological dominance, and U.S. political identities are adrift. It is clear that how young adults seize this opportunity will determine the course of U.S. politics for years to come.

The new progressive movement has begun, and youth are already taking the lead. The youth climate movement has quickly become one of the largest student movements in decades, and it has the potential to significantly influence national politics and establish new and lasting political identities. In November, the Power Shift 2007 Conference took the movement to a new level, drawing over 6,000 students from across the country and gaining the attention of key federal policymakers.

Breakthrough Generation – the youth initiative of the Breakthrough Institute – aims to capture this moment by fostering the creation of a new and powerful politics that transcends the politics of the Baby Boomer generation and establishes strategic vision and clarity among today’s young leaders for overcoming our present and future challenges. This conference will be its foundational meeting.

The founders of the Breakthrough Institute have made their own case for a new politics to overcome our ecological crises. But they do not view these writings as the final word on the new politics, and are committed to an intellectually fervent, open debate that engages youth. Breakthrough Generation will be led by a new generation of leaders who are hungry for a fresh, positive, inspirational approach to our challenges, and it will develop its capacity to become a key intellectual innovator and advocator for young Americans.

Continue reading ‘Breakthrough Institute 2008 Youth Conference: Breakthrough Generation’

Global Warming After Gore
By Teryn Norris
Published: Alternet.org, Nov 10th

Al Gore’s Nobel Prize was a momentous event we should all applaud. Now it is time to move on and get smart about the climate movement’s next steps. First, we should deal with some of our own inconvenient truths: global warming continues to rank extremely low among voter priorities, and Congress is going nowhere fast. The question we should ask ourselves is, how can the climate movement retool its politics for the post-Gore era?

It is high time for global warming activists to leave behind their focus on the “planetary crisis” and the regulatory-centered agenda, and embrace an energetic and inspiring vision that captures people’s minds, hearts and votes.

Despite last year’s “tipping point” in public attitudes toward climate change, Pew polls find that it still ranks dead last among voter concerns. It is of little surprise, then, that the Washington Post ran a front-page article on recently titled “Climate Is a Risky Issue for Democrats.” Nor is it surprising that the best provisions of today’s congressional energy bill would still allow U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to grow 22 percent by 2030, effectively making the recommendations of the world’s leading scientists unattainable.

One of the most hopeful signs is young activists, who are already making the breakthroughs necessary to build an expansive climate movement. The Campus Climate Challenge has rapidly grown to include over 500 colleges and achieved hundreds of innovative clean energy policies across the country. Power Shift 2007, the first-ever national youth summit on global warming, drew 6,000 students to Washington, D.C., last weekend and featured guests ranging from Nancy Pelosi to Van Jones. Indeed, the youth movement is quickly becoming the largest and most influential student movement in nearly a half century.

How can young activists best capture the moment? Thomas Friedman offered some ideas in his recent op-ed, “Generation Q.” He said that today’s young adults are “too quiet, too online, for [their] own good, and for the country’s own good.” We’ve got to wake up, he said, and reform our tactics: “Activism can only be uploaded, the old-fashioned way — by young voters speaking truth to power, face to face, in big numbers, on campuses or the Washington Mall.”

But Friedman is mistaken. It is easy to get nostalgic for the ’60s, but the direction of today’s youth movement must be profoundly different from that of the baby-boomer era. Vietnam was about stopping a war. Civil rights were about equalizing freedoms. The energy and climate movement, in contrast, is about creating an entirely new clean energy economy — a fundamentally different undertaking that requires us to transcend the models of the past.

Continue reading ‘Global Warming After Gore: Power Politics for the Power Shift’

Every week Thomas Friedman sounds a bit more like Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus. Not only is he using the word “breakthrough” ever-so-often, but he is reaching similar conclusions about where the climate movement should focus its efforts and how it can become powerful enough to solve our energy challenges.

In yesterday’s op-ed, “If I.T. Merged with E.T.,” Friedman declared that breakthroughs in clean energy technologies are the key to unleashing the economic potential of the developing world:

“If only we could make a breakthrough in clean, distributed power — an E.T. revolution — it could drive the I.T. revolution into every forgotten corner of the world to create jobs, light up schools and tap the innovative prowess of rural populations, like India’s 700 million villagers. There is a green Edison growing up out here — if only we can give them the light to learn.”

The link between economic opportunity and climate solutions is what Shellenberger and Nordhaus have been emphasizing ever since they helped found the Apollo Alliance in 2003, and today they are advancing a $300 billion public investment project into clean tech to achieve the breakthroughs necessary for fast, clean, and cheap energy sources to be deployed globally. In their recent New Republic piece, “Second Life: A Manifesto for a New Environmentalism,” they expand upon Friedman’s point:

“How could such a massive undertaking be achieved? Not, as environmental leaders insist, by limiting human power but rather by unleashing it… The highest objective of anyone concerned about global warming must be to bring down the real price of clean energy below the price of dirty energy as quickly as possible – most importantly, in places like China. And, for that to happen, we’ll need a new paradigm centered on technological innovation and economic opportunity.”

Continue reading ‘Friedman & Shellenberger: Long Lost Brothers?’