Ben Chou posted this great piece earlier today on the NRDC's Switchboard blog - follow the link below to head on over and check out the full article.

Preparing for Climate Change: A Tale of Two States, Maryland and Virginia

Although separated by only the Potomac River, the District of Columbia, and parts of West Virginia, the states of Maryland and Virginia could not be farther apart when it comes to preparing for climate change. According to a new NRDC report released today, Ready or Not, Maryland is among the states doing the most to prepare for climate change while Virginia is among 29 states that are far behind in their planning efforts. [Click here to read the rest.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many people have heard that the Tar Sands Project in Alberta, Canada is one of the most environmentally destructive oil projects ever, but it's hard to appreciate until you hear the details. I can't imagine what it's like to see in person. Just how far will we go for crude? Consider this excerpt from a telling article published in National Geographic:

"To extract each barrel of oil from a surface mine, the industry must first cut down the forest, then remove an average of two tons of peat and dirt that lie above the oil sands layer, then two tons of the sand itself. It must heat several barrels of water to strip the bitumen from the sand and upgrade it, and afterward it discharges contaminated water into tailings ponds like the one near Mildred Lake."

Cutting down forest, moving 4 tons of earth, using lots of water which is heated by natural gas, and then finding somewhere to store all the waste water, and we still haven't transported it (all this effort for one barrel mind you) to market!

The next phase involves the construction of the appropriately controversial "Keystone XL Pipeline," which thankfully is drawing disapproval in the wake of the recent pipeline spill in Montana. The project is a proposed extension of existing pipelines that will carry the Tar Sands crude all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.The two pipelines are "very similar," notes Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) International Program Director Susan Casey-Lefkowitz. The EPA also released a negative critique of the State Department's analysis of the Pipeline, citing numerous concerns including likelihood of spills (especially as they relate to groundwater), increased refinery pollution, global warming pollution, wetlands destruction, risks associated with migratory birds

Lately, the news is ablaze with reports about the wildfires burning out west. Climate scientists, to the chagrin of many climate change deniers, have published studies that indicate how climate change is exacerbating wildfires, as noted recently in the Huffington Post and New York Times, just for starters.

Surely, environmental activists have been repeatedly frustrated by the denial crowd's steadfast rejection of anything implying a more complicated dynamic in nature than they would allow, as a means of abasing concern and therefore action on environmental issues.

No academics are saying explicitly that global warming caused this fire, that drought, or those tornadoes. In the world of anthrogenic climate change, change happens over time, one subtle increment after another resulting in different long-term trends. And, as we all know by now, in the world of politically tainted discourse, subtlety knows no quarter. Perhaps debating with deniers is a lost cause, but what about the many who are "on the fence" so to speak, and the many more who are simply apathetic to the necessity of renewable energy?

The thing is, for the sake of conveying urgency in climate and renewable energy action, there exists an abundance of not so subtle, perhaps even ridiculous examples of environmental degradation that tie directly into fossil fuel consumption and thus global warming. From entire mountains disappearing in Appalachia and the ensuing toxic runoff, to people apparently being able to ignite their tap water on fire as seen in the 2010 documentary, "Gasland", to the now infamous Gulf Spill, what exactly does it take to get people to engage?

Unfortunately, a major hurdle appears to be that only when a community is unambiguously and dramatically affected by some form of environmental issue do they take action. But, massive grassroots action is needed immediately to curtail the eventual dramatic consequences of say, a subtle increase in global temperature. Icecaps and glaciers worldwide are already melting at alarming rates, threatening our coastal cities. By the time these cities are inundated and there is no room for apathy, it will be too late. Ideas anyone?

CCAN members are the best.

As the Senate, the House, the White House, the Republicans and the Democrats hash it out over what to do about the expiring tax cuts, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, co-author of the CLEAR Act, is leading an effort to extend an also-expiring program that has played an important role over the last couple of years to build the renewable energy industry.

Unfortunately, in the compromise framework for a deal between the White House and Republicans, this program was not included. It should be, in whatever is finally voted on.

Senator Cantwell's initiative is supported by Maryland Senator Ben Cardin and 25 other Senators. It has to do with the extension of the "Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program." See the link here for more info: http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=328729

This program will expire at the end of this year. If it is not extended, it will be a "hit" on the renewable energy industry. In the words of a statement signed by the 26 U.S. Senators in support of extending this program, "Absent an extension of the TGP, the anticipated total financing available for renewables is expected to decrease by 56 percent in 2011."

I've heard that Harry Reid has indicated support for trying to make this happen.

If you agree that this as an important issue, a possible win during the lame duck session, please reach out to U.S. Senators about this, as soon as you can.

For the last several months CCAN has been actively involved with a new national alliance of climate, religious, environmental, labor, public interest and community-based groups. It was formed after the passage of the cap-and-trade, Waxman-Markey climate legislation in the House of Representatives last June to advocate for "solutions to climate change that withstand the reality check of the best scientific evidence, the precautionary principle, the values of fairness and justice, the polluter pays principle, and the need for U.S. policies to be consistent with robust international responses."

The CRC alliance's statement of purpose went on to say:

"We are committed to speaking out about these failures of leadership, supporting real progress from elected officials and regulatory agencies, and doing all we can to change our country's political response until it is consistent with environmental justice and the reality of what is needed to avoid potentially catastrophic climate change and energy impacts.

"Our groups have a variety of strengths, and we believe that by working together, we can leverage these strengths to contribute to a broader movement for climate justice and true climate and energy solutions."

One of CRC's first actions was to organize an open letter to Senator Barbara Boxer and others in the Senate in late August, 2009 signed by close to 400 organizations. It called for Senate legislation on climate much stronger than Waxman-Markey, legislation that "provides the transformational change and greenhouse emissions reductions required to avert catastrophic climate impacts."

In mid-July of 2010 CRC coordinated a July-August "No More Oil Spills" month of action, which included a demonstration on the three month anniversary of the BP Gulf disaster by about 150 people on Capitol Hill. CCAN played a major role in this action.

About 25 organizations have joined so far, with an outreach campaign to enlist additional groups about to be launched. Some of the member groups include: Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity, 350.org, Church World Service, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Greenpeace, Labor Network for Sustainability and Public Citizen.

The coalition has established several active committees to advance its work. It meets weekly via national conference calls. It is an important new development and shows every indication that it will be a growing and increasingly visible part of the climate movement next year and in coming years.

For more information go to http://www.climaterealitycheck.org.

Media reports of the massive and important One Nation Working Together demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday reported on its diversity, the mix of cultures and issues represented. Indeed, when compared to the Tea Party/Glenn Beck, virtually-all-white event on August 28th, the contrast is striking.

This isn't surprising, of course, given that the Tea Party is essentially re-packaged, big money-supported, ultra-right-wingism: hostile to affirmative action, immigrants, an African American President, low-income people, the idea of health care for all, equality, justice and much more.

Regarding diversity at yesterday's rally, the Washington Post commented in its news story that "members of the mine workers union rallied with environmental activists."

It was intriguing to read this just a few days after helping to organize and participating in the very successful "Appalachia Rising" (www.appalachiarising.org) conference and demonstration September 25-27 in Washington, D.C. The major emphasis of this mobilization was to demand an end to the devastating practices of mountaintop removal and strip mining. On a rainy Monday morning, the 27th, hundreds of Appalachia residents joined with hundreds from outside of Appalachia, 2,000 or more strong, for a rally at Freedom Plaza in downtown D.C. and a march to the White House.

At the White House, in the biggest climate-related civil disobedience action ever in the United States that led to arrests, 118 people were arrested as they conducted a sit-in in front of the White House. Four others were arrested down the street at a sit-in inside PNC Bank, one of the major financers of mountaintop removal coal mining.

The importance of this action for the climate movement and for the broader progressive movement cannot be overstated. As Gary Houser put it in an article about Appalachia Rising on the Common Dreams website, "Those who traveled to Washington DC to take part in

Last week, a couple of days after Harry Reid announced that there would be no floor debate and no vote until at least September on ANY legislation having to do with the BP blowout disaster, energy policy or climate change, I was part of a group of people that went up to Capitol Hill and presented "oily hands awards" to staff people for Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. This action was initiated and organized by the 1Sky coalition.

Unexpectedly, our group of 10 people got into a polite but pointed and direct back-and-forth with one of Lisa Murkowski's top aides, Chuck Cleeschulte, before we gave him a big foam hand covered in brown paint, the "oily hand."

Some Thoughts on the Democratic Party's Failure to Fight on Climate

"I am firmly convinced that the passionate will for justice and truth has done more to improve (the human condition) than calculating political shrewdness which in the long run only breeds general mistrust."
Albert Einstein, "Moral Decay," 1937

1)---Harry Reid's statement yesterday about why he would not be putting forward legislation on the climate crisis blamed the Congressional Republicans. It's true that, with a few exceptions, Senator Susan Collins of Maine being at the top of the list, the Republican Party deserves withering criticism for their joined-at-the-hip allegiance to Big Oil and Dirty Coal.

July 20th will be the three month anniversary of the BP oil blowout disaster.

To call attention to this fact--to demand strong climate legislation that reduces carbon emissions and promotes clean energy--to call for getting dirty energy money out of politics, a broad coalition of 19 national, regional and state organizations (see list below) issued a call a couple of days ago for local "Congress: You've Got Oil on Your Hands" events around the country on July 20th. The coalition urges that actions be held in front of the offices of members of the Senate or the House who have taken a large amount of money from Big Oil or who have refused to support strong action on climate. More info on Big Oil campaign contributions can be found at http://www.followtheoilmoney.org. MoveOn.org is setting up a website operation where local organizers can register their events and get more information.

Given the continuing ecological and economic disaster unfolding in the gulf, and because the U.S. Senate will be debating and voting on offshore drilling/energy/climate legislation this month or early in August, it is right-on-time that these actions are happening. This is the time to really step up grassroots pressure on the U.S. Senate!!