The Washington Nationals ballpark is the first stadium to be LEED Silver Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Yet the Nationals continue to accept millions of advertising dollars from Exxon, by far one of the world’s biggest contributors to global warming.
Nationals executives need to hear: “Exxon = $4 gas + Global Warming. NOT baseball!”
Get involved at www.strikeoutexxon.org Continue reading
That’s right, there are still a few spots available for the Brita Climate Ride.
The ride is a fundraiser like none other
This week I’m going to be in Wise County, where Dominion Power is planning to build a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant. Members of the Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and CCAN are putting on events around the meeting of the Air Board on Tuesday.
Today was the final day of the Air Board Hearing concerning the Wise County coal plant. The room was full of hope after yesterday’s comment period, and the board acknowledged the powerful citizen outcry over the plant’s health and environmental impacts. But ultimately, they unanimously approved the plant. While they significantly strengthened the emissions regulations, they did nothing to address mountain top removal mining or CO2 emissions.
They went as far as they could, without doing more harm than good. Fearing litigation from Dominion, they made no strong statement about regulating CO2 Continue reading
With all the rain that’s coming down, it’s no wonder that 2 of CCAN’s staffers had to deal with flooded basements last week. I came home (after being soaked at the Radiohead concert) to ankle deep water, which was coming in through the walls and floors. I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice to have a rain barrel so that I could collect some of this water?
As luck would have it, Aquabarrel is offering CCANers a 20% discount on their rain barrels! Contact me at susanna@chesapeakeclimate.org for the promo code.
Check out this awesome video from Carrotmob, a group who’s starting up a new way of organizing to promote clean energy in business practices. Basically, what they do is organize consumers to make purchases that give financial rewards to those companies who agree to make environmentally friendly choices. It’s the anti-boycott: using the power of spending to promote an idea. What do you think?
Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.
With Maryland in the midst of figuring out its energy future, it is up to citizens to voice their opinions about what is best for themselves and the environment of Maryland. Recent strides towards increased nuclear development, especially at the Calvert Cliffs Power Plant near Lusby, MD, not only threaten the health of the Chesapeake Bay, but area residents as well. It is time for Maryland to speak out, and this Earth Day, someone is going to get $500 for doing just that.
Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) are using the recent book “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free; A Roadmap for U.S. Foreign Policy” by IEER President Dr. Arjun Makhijani as the basis for an Earth Day Viral Video Contest. The contest challenges citizens to create a video to be put on YouTube that addresses the concept outlined in Makhijani’s book.
Submitted videos cannot run longer than 3 minutes and group submissions cannot exceed more than 10 people. Every group must register via e-mail and submit their video by April 17th. Those submitting the winning video will receive $500.
The video submissions will be shown the evening of Earth Day, April 22 at St. Mary’s College following a presentation by Arjun Makhijani, author of “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free; A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy.” After the viewing, the winning submission will be announced and a $500 cash prize will be given to the winner(s). All submissions will be put on YouTube.
Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. His book, published in 2007, outlines the plausible transformation of the U.S. to a carbon emissions free society by the year 2050 without the use of nuclear energy. Instead, he emphasizes energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The use of viral sharing has been pivotal in recent environmental and political campaigns and is a hallmark of the future of grassroots organizing. The contest is intended to us this method while exploring viable energy solutions for Maryland and the country as a whole.
For additional information about the Earth Day Viral Video Contest, or to register contact Rachel Roscoe at rroscoe@citizen.org or at (202) 454-5129.
I went and observed the first day of a 4-plus day evidentiary hearing at the Virginia State Corporation Commission yesterday. The hearing is set up like an actual trial, with Dominion’s Wise County coal plant construction permit at the heart of the case. The first day consisted mainly of two of Dominion’s Senior Vice-Presidents. They were the first of Dominion’s witnesses that submitted direct testimony. The evidentiary hearing is held so that each side of the case (Dominion as the applicant and Southern Environmental Law Center representing App Voices, Sierra Club, SAMS and CCAN as one of a few of the respondents) to cross-examine each parties expert witnesses.
We attended the Virginia Conservation Network-Va. League of Conservation Voters-Va. Garden Club training, Legislative Lobby Day 2008. The hall was crowded; about 300 people with a variety of conservation interests from all over the state attended, including half a dozen of our friends from up the road at the Williamsburg CAN.
(BTW, look beyond the roses before you pooh-pooh the Va. Garden Clubs; they are formidable–an extremely large, active, effective, and well-connected conservation group who are take quite seriously by the General Assembly.)
During the day we met with six Hampton Roads legislators or their legislative assistants during the day to express our support for many pending acts:(a complete list can be found on our site http://www.twcan.org/docs.cfm, ga2008.pdf ) 
On January 8th, hundreds of people from all over the state descended upon Richmond to have their voices heard by the State Corporation Commission on the issue of whether to build another coal fired power plant in Wise County. By our count, there were over 300 dissenters at the hearing (a number so large that we required a spillover courtroom to hold us all), 177 of which were registered to testify. These numbers are in addition to the 815 people who submitted written testimony to the SCC by the December deadline. The testimony was strong, and the message was clear: we don’t want coal!
Lawyers who have been working with the SCC for upwards to 30 years have said that they have never seen anything like the public turnout that the Wise County plant is receiving.
But this is more than just the sheer numbers; this is about who was there, where they were from, and how they got there.
Today is the last day for placing questions and comments before the Virginia State Corporation Commission (VSCC) (comments) about two major issues from Dominion Virginia Power.
CCAN has had excellent discussion and impassioned calls on the first, the UNWise County coal-fired plant. And again, since today is THE LAST DAY to submit your comments against the Wise County coal plant, please take a moment to do so>>
Now let’s turn to the Power Line question. Quite simply, there has been no efficiency focus in the power line debate, with too much NIMBYite focus. Public officials, before rushing forward with approval of Dominion’s proposal, should ask the questions that follow and consider potential responses.