Scientists have set thresholds for nine key environmental processes that, if crossed, could threaten Earth’s habitability. According to the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, three have already been exceeded.
Check out this three-minute video and then take action!
Chris Llewellyn is an amazing climate activist from Williamsburg. She was our CCANer of the Month back in June of 2007, which prompted me to go back and find that archived newsletter. Just a quick side note: It’s pretty amazing how far CCAN’s e-newsletters have come.
More importantly, I wanted to share her letter to the editor of the Daily Press about the Cap-and-Dividend solution, which was published earlier this week. Check it out below:
Make it CLEAR
BY Chris Llewellyn
Daily Press
March 8, 2010Despite what our state attorney general says, the science is clear
I am thrilled to announce that Restaurant Nora — one of DC’s most famous eateries and America’s first certified organic restaurant — will cater a special reception from 6-7 PM as part of CCAN’s Artists for the Climate event.
Their participation was just finalized and you’re the first to find out about it.
Owner Nora Pouillon will prepare a range of delectable appetizers and refreshing organic beverages to help honor authors Bill McKibben, Jeff Biggers, and Mike Tidwell.
For a donation of $150 dollars, you will enjoy some of the city’s absolute best food and have the opportunity to personally meet the authors. In addition, you will receive your choice of two free, autographed books from the featured writers.
Forty front row seats will be set aside for our reception guests. Space is limited to 40 guests so get your tickets now!
This blog (cross-posted from Students for a Sustainable Campus’s blog) was written by student Zoe Keller about a recent action on MICA’s campus- showing the strong student support for sustainability!
When a small group of Students for a Sustainable Campus members met with Fred Lazarus, Timothy Millner, Dusty Porter and Mike Molla last year, the administrators asked how many MICA students really care about sustainability. SF/SC seized MICA’s Town Hall Meeting as the perfect opportunity to respond. The MICA Town Hall Meeting is the big meeting between administrators and students that happens once per semester. Spring 2010’s Town Hall took place on Wednesday, February 17th in Main 110. Even with the school closed due to snow for the week leading up to the meeting, SF/SC still managed to gather 241 signatures in a creative petition.
Town Hall meetings have, in the past, used an index card system to ask questions; instead of raising your hand and directly asking an administrator about building hours, for example, you filled out your question on an index card and the moderator (the SVA president) sorted through the index cards and read as many as time allowed. SF/SC members wrote out 5 important questions about sustainability on a huge stack of index cards, and students were asked to sign the card with the question they felt most passionately about. Continue reading
I’ve lived in DC on and off for nearly 30 years and have never experienced snow like this. Which is not surprising given that DC hasn’t had snow like this since 1899.
All this extreme weather’s got people talking…
ClimateProgress.org ran an article Monday featuring Dr. Jeff Masters, one of America’s best meteorologists.
According to the National Climatic Data Center, the expected return period in the Washington D.C./Baltimore region for snowstorms with more than 16 inches of snow is about once every 25 years. This one-two punch of two major Nor’easters in one winter with 16+ inches of snow is unprecedented in the historical record for the region, which goes back to the late 1800s.
Read the rest of the essay — with stunning data — here.
It’s simple: A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. So extreme precipitation events are increasing across the United States — including extreme snow storms — even as temperatures rise.
The National Wildlife Federation issued a very well timed report in January explaining just that. While climate change is expected to bring shorter, milder winters overall, some U.S. areas will have more intense snows, they found. NWF’s resident climate scientist lays in out well in this video.
Reuters covered the NWF report and the Union of Concerned Scientists chimed in as well. And then today the New York Times ran this front page story.
Leave a comment below and let us know what do you think. Then watch this amazing video:
The enormous cap-and-trade bill is stalled in Congress but global warming and extreme weather continue to accelerate.
Luckily, there is an alternative that’s preferable to the loophole-laden, cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House of Representatives. And Virginia Senator Jim Webb could play a crucial role in passing this cap and “dividend” bill in the spring.
He needs to hear from you today!
Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) recently introduced the “Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act,” which takes a different approach to reducing global warming pollution. Under the CLEAR Act, all carbon polluters must pay to emit carbon, there are no complicating offsets, and most of the revenue raised is returned in equal monthly payments to every legal U.S. resident.
The Economist called it “a refreshing dose of honesty” and the Washington Post editorial board agrees. To learn more, watch a short video where I explain this bold and refreshing new perspective on how to cap carbon emissions in the United States.
Senator Jim Webb has been sharply critical of the House-passed bill and has indicated interest in this different approach. So far, though, he has not signed on to the CLEAR Act. It’s time for some clear answers from Senator Webb!
The Cantwell-Collins bill is our best shot at comprehensive climate legislation and Webb’s co-sponsorship would help immensely.
Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network explains a bold and refreshing new perspective on how to cap carbon emissions in the United States.
Also, here’s an interesting TV interview about the bill that Mike Tidwell conducted with John Passacantando, former director of Greenpeace USA. The interview is part of a cable-access show called The Coffee House that is viewed on stations nationwide.
Last night the Dendron town council moved forward on permitting the Cypress Creek coal-fired power plant. Can’t say they really voted for it since the 3 council members against the plant abstained from voting. The Mayor decided that this was still considered a tie vote and cast the deciding vote in favor of re-zoning the land. Legal experts feel that this highly unusual so we shall see what happens on that front.
During that meeting, an economic analysis was publicly released for the first time. The analysis estimates that during the height of construction, only 3 Dendron residents would be employed to build the plant and only 14% of those temporary construction jobs would go to Surry County residents. Even fewer locals would be permanently employed if the plant is built due to the highly specific skills required for the jobs needed. You have to wonder how half of the Town Council and the Mayor could still vote in favor of such a destructive project with so few jobs coming to the local community.
Nevertheless, coal plant opponents are winning. You may be scratching your head wondering how I came to that conclusion, so let me tell you. ODEC submitted its applications for this project to DEQ in December 2008. A year and 3 months later they are just now getting the local permits so that that application can begin moving forward. What should have been the easiest part of this lengthy process for them took over a year. ODEC should be wondering if this is how long the EASIEST part is going to take, how long will the more in-depth applications take? Only time will tell, but we will be there along with thousands of other Virginians to stop this plant in its tracks. They may have won this battle but we prolonged it and we WILL win the war!
First the good news: Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. just announced that it is testing the waters of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle charging stations in anticipation of the cars hitting Greater Baltimore streets later this year.
There’s no doubt that cars with cords are coming. According to Wired, most of the major automakers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, and at least two of them
Mike Tidwell has an Op-Ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch today about how the efficiency bill introduced by Sen. McEachin is exactly the kind of jobs bill we need right now.
Repairing Virginia’s Economy
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has been yelling it from the rooftops for months: The best way to repair Virginia’s ailing economy is to improve the state’s flawed energy policies.
He’s absolutely right, of course, and now he faces a test. With inauguration festivities over, a landmark energy bill awaits McDonnell in the General Assembly. It would create lots of new jobs and, potentially, build badly needed bipartisanship in Richmond.
The highlights: Senate Bill 71 would spur up to 10,000 new jobs and billions of dollars in new investments in a state where unemployment has doubled since 2007 and the budget deficit is a staggering $4 billion. This is not, however, an “offshore drilling” bill to promote oil platforms along the Virginia coast. Nor would it finance new coal-fired power plants and nuclear energy. Instead, it’s a straightforward energy efficiency bill. Using the same common-sense appeal to fiscal sanity that helped McDonnell get elected, SB 71 would promote energy efficiency across the state while saving money for Virginia families.
And the job-growth numbers are for real. Continue reading