Second Part of Diversity Column

This has been cross posted from: http://madrad2002.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/second-part-of-diversity-column/

So last week, I wrote the first part in a 2 part series on the need for more diversity and inclusion in the environmental movement. My second part is this week. In case you haven’t read the first part or would like to re-read it, go here: http://madrad2002.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/column-on-lack-of-minorities-in-environmental-groups/

For this weeks column, link is here: http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2009/02/17/Opinion/Green.Diversity.Cross.Cultures.Save.The.World-3632931.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

Green diversity : Cross cultures, save the world

Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Opinion

I met with a black state delegate about a bill a few weeks ago and made sure to ask him what the environmental community was doing wrong in reaching out to minorities. In his response to me, he made a good point. It’s difficult to tell someone they need to put a solar panel on their roof or to get the roof insulated when they’re working hard just to keep that roof over their head. He also stated the situation was unfortunate, because minority groups are most affected by global warming, rising energy costs and pollution. They also stand the most to gain from a clean energy economy if they’re involved in creating it. How do we stress that linkage? He didn’t have an answer. I have ideas.
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One Tiny Step Forward, Two Giant Steps Back

cars
Yesterday Gov. Kaine applauded Virginia’s electrical co-ops for donating energy efficient lights to Virginia State Parks, hailing it as “a major step forward” for Virginia.

It’s great that Virginia is taking strides to be more energy efficient. Considering Virginia spent just $84,000 statewide on efficiency measures in 2006, compared with $400,000 in Alabama and Mississippi and $3.8 billion in North Carolina, we certainly need to be stepping up our commitment to efficiency.

It’s also great that this is a “major step.” What exactly does that mean? Continue reading

Time to Power Past Coal!

power past coal
As a new President and a new Congress are about to take office, ending eight long and difficult years under Bush/Cheney, we are glad to be writing to you about important national initiatives being undertaken by the climate movement. We are stepping up our activism to reflect the deepening urgency of the climate crisis, and we hope you will be joining in!

The major focus of these early-2009 initiatives is on coal, for some very good reasons. Coal is dirty and dangerous. It’s responsible for ripping the tops off mountains and creating toxic coal ash. We’re demanding no new coal plants and a quick — and just — transition away from coal to genuinely clean and renewable energy sources.

We need to Power Past Coal, and, indeed, that’s the name of an important new project linking a diverse network of organizations across the nation (www.powerpastcoal.org). USCEC was at the founding meeting of this effort in Charleston, WV. right after the November elections. We are proud to be playing an active role in its “100 Days of Action to Expose the True Cost of Coal and Plug into New Power.” Continue reading

Monsters Eating Mountains?


The Green Gorilla cartoon takes on mountain top removal mining in their latest episode called “Turn it Up Day”. As the city turns up their power, the kids investigate where the power comes from. KJ helps the gang find out that “clean and green” is actually a massive coal-seeking mechanical worm on its way to remove their favorite mountain. That’s when they get active.

This isn’t your typical Saturday morning cartoon but it’s also not that far from the reality of life in SW Virginia. I’m not even talking about the destructive practice of Mountaintop Removal coal mining that has already destroyed or “eaten” 29 mountains. That’s clearly a reality here and on West Virginia’s Coal River Mountain.

The part that seems hard to swallow is the idea that amidst rising energy costs and in the face of global warming that there would really be a “Turn it up” day. As much as we love love love our cars and warm homes. We understand rising energy costs in terms of dollar and cents right? The reality is we don’t and if you don’t believe me, maybe you stopped by the Grand Illumination in downtown Richmond earlier this month. This is where business turned on every single light in order to illuminate the downtown area. Since the connection isn’t as clear as one would hope I’m grateful that the Gorilla in the Greenhouse was able to connect the dots for those unaware.

Coal to action: Join us March 2 as we protest a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill

This is a letter to colleagues from Bill McKibben, scholar in residence at Middlebury College, a director of Grist.org, and co-founder of 350.org, and Wendell Berry, farmer, critic, and prolific author.

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capitol power plant
There are moments in a nation’s — and a planet’s — history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived, and we are writing to say that we hope some of you will join us in Washington, D.C. on Monday, March 2, in order to take part in a civil act of civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill.

We will be there to make several points:

* Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level — below 350 parts per million CO2 — lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.

* Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy, and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.

* Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.
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Ruling: Coal Plants Must Limit C02

Sierra Club Press release

November 13, 2008

Contact:
Virginia Cramer, 804-225-9113 x 102

Ruling: Coal Plants Must Limit C02

In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

“Today’s decision opens the way for meaningful action to fight global warming and is a major step in bringing about a clean energy economy,” said Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club Senior Attorney who argued the case. “This is one more sign that we must begin repowering, refueling and rebuilding America.”

“The EAB rejected every Bush Administration excuse for failing to regulate the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. This decision gives the Obama Administration a clean slate to begin building our clean energy economy for the 21st century,” continued Spalding

The decision follows a 2007 Supreme Court ruling recognizing carbon dioxide, the principle source of global warming, is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.

“Coal plants emit 30% of our nation’s global warming pollution. Building new coal plants without controlling their carbon emissions could wipe out all of the other efforts being undertaken by cities, states and communities across the country,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “Everyone has a role to play and it’s time that the coal industry did its part and started living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”

The Sierra Club went before the Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2008 to request that the air permit for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative’s proposed waste coal-fired power plant be overturned because it failed to require any controls on carbon dioxide pollution. Deseret Power’s 110 MW Bonanza plant would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“Instead of pouring good money after bad trying to fix old coal technology, investors should be looking to wind, solar and energy efficiency technologies that are going to power the economy, create jobs, and help the climate recover,” said Nilles.

To get background information and see how the case unfolded visit www.sierraclub.org/coal/plantlist.asp

A copy of the decision can be found here: http://yosemite.epa.gov/oa/EAB_Web_Docket.nsf/PSD%20Permit%20Appeals%20(CAA)/C8C5985967D8096E85257500006811A7/$File/Remand…39.pdf