It’s Getting Hot In Here

Through recorded audio, we got to expose API’s upcoming “Vote4Energy” campaign, which debuts January first on CNN during major political programs. Audio recordings from inside the Vote4Energy commercial shoot can be found on the Greenpeace website, and on Yahoo News. More can also be found at the Checks and Balances Project, where Deputy Director and youth climate leader Gabe Elsner has more recordings from inside the shoot.

Continue reading ‘Climate Activist Punks Big Oil’s “Vote4Energy” Commercial Shoot’

Occupy Denialism: Toward Ecological and Social Revolution

This is a reconstruction from notes of a keynote address delivered to the Power Shift West Conference, Eugene, Oregon, November 5, 2011.

All of us here today, along with countless others around the world, are currently engaged in the collective struggle to save the planet as a place of habitation for humanity and innumerable other species.  The environmental movement has grown leaps and bounds in the last fifty years.  But we need to recognize that despite our increasing numbers we are losing the battle, if not the war, for the future of the earth.  Our worst enemy is denialism: not just the outright denial of climate-change skeptics, but also the far more dangerous denial — often found amongst environmentalists themselves — of capitalism’s role in the accumulation of ecological catastrophe.¹

Recently, climate scientists, writing in leading scientific journals, have developed a way of addressing the extreme nature of the climate crisis, focusing on irreversible change and the trillionth ton of carbon.  Central to the scientific consensus on climate change today is the finding that a rise in global temperature by 2° C (3.6° F), associated with an atmospheric carbon concentration of 450 parts per million (ppm), represents a critical tipping point, irreversible in anything like human-time frames.  Climate models show that if we were to reach that point feedback mechanisms would likely set in, and society would no longer be able to prevent the climate catastrophe from developing further out of our control.  Even if we were completely to cease burning fossil fuels when global average temperature had risen by 2° C, climate change and its catastrophic effects would still be present in the year 3000.  In other words, avoiding an increase in global average temperatures of 2° C, 450 ppm is crucial because it constitutes a point of no return.  Once we get to that point, we will no longer be able to return, even in a millennium, to the Holocene conditions under which human civilization developed over the last 12,000 years.  Many of you are aware that long-term stabilization of the climate requires that we target 350 ppm, not 450 ppm.  But 450 ppm remains significant, since it represents the planetary equivalent of cutting down the last palm tree on Easter Island.².

Continue reading ‘Occupy Denialism’

Credit: Michael Drazdzinski

Solar panels adorning the tops of Harvard buildings. A bright, towering wind turbine on the St. Olaf campus. Libraries and dormitories chock full of blue recycling options and even composting bins inside the dining halls, at the University of Washington.

Campus sustainability has come into its own over the last decade, with renewable energy, tray-less dining, and sustainability director jobs popping up at campuses across the country. While many colleges and universities can implement some or all of these programs to reduce their carbon footprint, many projects are done piecemeal, without a regular source of funding or the institutional support to make it the first step in a larger commitment.

Being a sustainable campus can be so much more than just a green garden or showcase project. Sustainability projects can often reduce the overall operating costs for the campus, saving energy and money, keeping tuition low. But high upfront costs can be a barrier to administrators experiencing steep budget cuts and rising energy costs.

One way for any college or university to achieve these results is through a sustainability financing mechanism called the Green Revolving Fund.

On the main stage at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s national conference in Pittsburgh, PA, the Billion Dollar Green Challenge will be launched in front of the largest gathering, to date, on sustainability in higher education. The Challenge is inviting colleges to establish green revolving funds to invest in significant energy efficiency upgrades on campus.

At the time of the launch, 32 institutions have joined the Challenge’s Founding Circle. Founding Circle participants range in size from large institutions such as Arizona State, Harvard and Stanford, to small and innovative institutions such as Northland College, Green Mountain College and Unity College.

Green revolving fund projects are diverse and versatile, and can be easily adapted to a school’s priorities. Have an active student body? Consider operating a student-driven fund, like at Oberlin College’s EDGE Fund, where students work with faculty and staff to initiative sustainability projects. Want to retrofit your campus buildings? Take a page from the University of Pennsylvania’s Energy Reduction Fund, which reduces energy through building upgrades.

Existing green revolving funds prove that sustainability efforts can be profitable and even fund larger and more ambitious projects, as they have an average return on investment of 32 percent annually.

Clearly, the benefits of joining the Challenge and operating a green revolving fund are numerous. They are a bright spot in a rocky economy, helping to create green jobs in campus communities while substantially reducing operating costs. The Challenge is a broad network of like-minded institutions focused on improving campus sustainability throughout their operations.

For participating institutions, it will be a best practice forum for what kinds of projects have proven successful, what programs have had difficulties, and what programs you should consider on your own campus, based on real-life examples.

As energy prices rise and concerns about resource scarcity increase, it is a risky venture to not invest in environmental initiatives on campus. By joining the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, institutions can both save energy and grow money.

Cross-posted from Solar Mosaic Energy 2.0 Blog

Tim DeChristopher understands why he’s going to jail. As he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview, “What I did was a threat to the status quo, so I understand why those in power want to put me away.”

Tim represents a new breed of disruptive, bold climate activists who are putting their lives on the line to bring about the transformational change we need. And he considers Solar Mosaic part of that transformation. Asked what it would take to fundamentally transform our energy system, he pointed to Solar Mosaic as proof that we’re on our way. For the folks at Solar Mosaic, this is both a huge compliment and a great expectation to fulfill.

A quick recap on Tim: One the eve of Obama’s inauguration, a 27-year old economics student from Utah entered an auction set up for oil and gas companies, became the top bidder, and won the lease rights. He had no intention of paying for the land; he was acting to protect public land from destructive extraction. Despite the fact that the leasing plan was flawed and has since been revoked, Tim faces up to ten years in prison for his actions. His sentencing was recently rescheduled for the tenth time and is slated for late July. To read Tim’s full story, click here.

I take a lot of inspiration from Tim, for his personal resolve and his commitment to confronting the inadequacies of the grey economy and spurring on a new energy transformation. I’m also inspired to witness this new paradigm taking hold in concrete ways around the country. Indeed, Solar Mosaic – which aims to democratize clean energy in Oakland, California and around the country – represents a radical departure from traditional top-down fossil fuel systems.

DeChristopher speaks of a future that promotes local power, justice and prosperity for all, and an economy based on human goodness. Solar Mosaic embodies these tenants, putting the energy in the hands of people, creating jobs and helping community institutions save money, and building an economy that reflects the values we strive to live by.

This post was co-written with Michael Davidson.

Just in case our 5 years of swarming state capitals decked out in green hard hats, running campaigns calling for more jobs in clean energy, and vowing to only vote for candidates who support renewable energy companies hasn’t made it clear — youth really want more green jobs.

While young people have been some of the biggest advocates for green jobs, no one has really tried to answer the question of whether green jobs will be youth jobs? Will more green jobs mean more jobs for youth, or will young people miss out on the very green jobs we’ve worked so hard to create?

So far, the answer has been “we don’t know.” That’s because, despite all of the green jobs studies that have been done, none of them has really looked at the different kinds of people who actually get green jobs (one exception is for income and education level). This is especially true across different races, ethnicities, genders, and, yeah, ages. So, we set out to change that, writing the first study we know of to look at youth access to green jobs, and also the first written by youth. Continue reading ‘Will Green Jobs Be YOUTH Jobs?’

Cross posted from Greenpeace’s staff blog. Blogpost by Chris Eaton.

Right now a Guinness World Record attempt is underway, and you too can make your mark on history.  For the next 24 hours, Greenpeace’s ‘Unfriend Coal’ Campaign is taking aim at the record for most Facebook comments within a 24-hour period.

Comment and share, that’s all you need to do.  But collectively we need to do it 50,000 times to set the record within this timeframe: http://bit.ly/f9YMAR.

Hit up www.facebook.com/unfriendcoal to leave a comment now!  Then ask your friends to help set the record as well.

Greenpeace is also delivering your messages directly to Facebook staff all day on a scrolling screen outside their office, so post your comment now and be seen.  The 50 best commenters will win a t-shirt from the ‘Unfriend Coal’ Campaign.

Tips to help us set the record:
- You have to ‘like’ www.facebook.com/unfriendcoal to comment
- Comment multiple times – it still counts!
- “@nametag” ten friends in the comment so they can join in the record too.
- Share the link on your profile
- Stay on topic – Facebook and renewable energy.  Send your message to Facebook staff.  Ask questions.  Give opinions.  Spark debate.  Tell your story!

Why is Greenpeace doing this?  Because it would be awesome to hold a World Record.  And because the Earth Day deadline that we gave Facebook to announce a plan to go coal-free is fast-approaching.  As of yet, there has been no indication that the company plans to replace dirty coal and nuclear with clean, renewable energy.

Just two of Facebook’s data centers use the same amount of electricity as over 65,000 average American homes.  We are asking Facebook to power those data centers – and all future ones – with renewable energy, and to ‘unfriend’ dirty coal and dangerous nuclear.  We’re pretty sure that 50,000 comments on their website will get Facebook’s attention.

Today we are showing Facebook staff the huge global support that exists for a coal-free Facebook.

Go speak your mind.  Be part of a Guinness World Record attempt for the greatest number of comments on a Facebook post within 24 hours!

http://www.facebook.com/unfriendcoal

The news that residents in Eastern Oregon are trying to halt production of a new wind farm because of health concerns over noise, lights, stress reminds me of similar, community-related issues occurring around the country related to wind energy

This potential stoppage is not the first of its kind. Recently, a different proposed wind farm in Oregon was put on hold after the discovery of an eagle’s nest in the area.

The wind farm in Eastern Oregon, residents say, will be loud, obstructive eye-sores. Residents also fear that the wind farm will be harmful to their health, cause property values to decrease, and endanger wildlife. One teacher feared the harmful effects of the farm’s proximity to a local school.

Continue reading ‘The Wind Farm Wars’

Greetings fellow activists and mindful citizens;

I wish to share news of an exciting development unfolding in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina. The Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE) is preparing to launch a cooperative business venture for community-owned renewable energy. We’ve been working for the past 18 months to develop and tweak a model of collaborative financing that makes purchasing PV solar considerably cost effective; with a potentially significant return on investment within 5 or 6 years. Currently we are organizing demonstration projects here in western North Carolina, while drafting our strategic and business plans for expansion.

We are a nonprofit organization. However, we are pioneering a “hybrid” development model, in which we seek to establish a network of community-owned Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) comprised of small businesses, congregations of faith, individual homeowners and other community constituencies; to pool their finances and invest in renewable energy. These locally owned LLCs will take advantage of state and federal tax incentives, which are generally written to benefit wealthy investors and large corporations. By forging these innovative partnerships we seek to build the capacity of communities to generate their own electricity using clean, renewable resources … while creating sustainable economic opportunities for local interests, and reducing dependence on the monopolized power grid.

AIRE was recently awarded funding from a progressive private foundation to write an in-depth business plan, upon the completion of which we will potentially be given a “transformational grant” … which would enable us to launch our vision for community-owned renewable energy far and wide. One step in the process of finalizing our business plan involves gathering public interest data on community-owned renewable energy and other related issues. Please, consider taking our quick survey … it will be of great assistance in our efforts to restructure the modern energy economy to be more clean, sustainable, and democratic!

<<< http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/aire-nc >>>

Chevron CEO John Watson was invited to speak about “The Energy Economy” at the University of Chicago business school, Chicago Booth this morning. The event provided audience members a chance to ask Watson questions, and as it just so happens, we have a few we’ve been meaning to ask him.

Some friends and I were concerned about Chevron’s attempts to evade both the law and the company’s moral responsibility to clean up the 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste it deliberately dumped in the Amazon, killing 1,400 people and poisoning thousands of others. So we paid him a visit.

Chevron CEO John Watson flees up a staircase (Watson is on the top left) while we hold banners.

Dressed business casual, we came in early and each took seats in different parts of the room. We listened to John Watson distance Chevron from the BP oil disaster. He reassured us all that Chevron is a thoughtful oil company. He went on to say that, above all other objectives, “No goal is more important than operating in a safe and responsible manner.”

On that note, Debra Michaud, a University of Chicago alumna, jumped up to express her dismay that a fellow graduate would be involved in poisoning the communities of 30,000 people. She asked Watson to speak to Chevron’s toxic legacy in Ecuador.

Watson was quick to evade the question, claiming that the damage was not Chevron’s responsibility. He seemed relieved at the end, as if he was thinking, “Phew, glad that’s over.” But it wasn’t.

Continue reading ‘Activists Derail Business School Q&A With Chevron CEO John Watson’

by Scott Adams

“I prefer a more pragmatic definition of green. I think of it as living the life you want, with as much Earth-wise efficiency as your time and budget reasonably allow. Now back to our story.”