This Saturday 5/5/12, people across Maryland and the world will take action to "connect the dots" between climate change, extreme weather and other climate impacts that are already affecting our lives. Organized by 350.org, Climate Impacts Day is shaping up to be another powerful demonstration of the grassroots determination to spur global action on this most urgent of global crises.

Here in Maryland we got off to an early start with our efforts to connect the dots when I traveled to Annapolis this week to chat with hardcore, Annapolis-based sailor Matt Rutherford.

Event information was sent from Baltimore student Thalia Patrinos

Towson is having a activism panel and screening event all about the issues surrounding coal!

On Thursday, September 15th, 6:00 - 7:30 We will have panel discussions featuring Climate Ground Zero's Mike Rosell and Antrim Caskey, two key figures in the social movement against Massey Energy. Then from 7:30 - 9 we will have a Community Resource Fair, featuring several organizations committed to working with labor movements.

On Friday, September 16th starting at 4 will be a large teach-in on Freedom Square.

There will also be a film shot, edited and produced by Towson University student David Resiche as well as a photo exhibition by Antonio Hernandez, both exploring the struggles of local communities against Massey.

THIS EVENT IS FREE!

If you have any questions, please contact Antonio Hernandez:
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At last Saturday's Rappahannock Electric Cooperative Annual Meeting, more than a dozen REC members turned out to show the most visible presence against a coal plant at any electric cooperative annual meeting in Virginia

The Virginia General Assembly session just wrapped up and your legislators have headed back to their districts. Here's a run down on what happened in the last 46 days:

The Good
These bills had our full support and passed this session:
HB 2191 and SB 975 Patroned by Delegate Adam Ebbin and Senator Mary Margaret Whipple:
You have heard from us frequently throughout session about this legislation, which establishes a voluntary solar resource development fund. Through this fund, Virginia homeowners can apply for low-interest loans to put solar PV or solar thermal on their rooftops. This fund will help homeowners with the upfront costs associated with these installations while creating jobs in the clean energy sector in the Commonwealth. Anyone can contribute to this fund once the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy creates it later this year.

HB 1686 Patroned by Delegate David Toscano:
This legislation will promote distributed solar generation by setting up a pilot program for utility-owned facilities. It also allows utilities to create a tariff to encourage citizens to own distributed solar generation.

HB 2389 Patroned by Delegate Albert Pollard:
The Virginia Resource Authority (VRA) provides cost-effective financing to Virginia municipalities for various projects. HB 2389 allows the VRA to add more renewable energy projects to its list of projects it can already finance for municipalities.

In a post Citizens United v. FECworld, where industry can pay

We all know that Maryland gets almost 60% of its electricity from coal, but what many people don't know is that lots of that coal is being extracted from western Maryland and that in the past decade the amount of environmentally destructive surface (or strip) mining has increased significantly.

Families and kids rallied outside the EPA this morning to urge them to keep children and communities safe from toxic coal ash that needs to be regulated. With just two days left before the end of the public comment period on choices between regulations, today CCAN helped with the Sierra Club to pull out all the stops in support of Subtitle C

Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli are making a name for themselves on the national climate denier scene. They've engaged Virginia in a lawsuit against the EPA and have gone as far as accusing leading scientist Michael Mann of fraud by seeking public funding for his research. So the irony was not lost when Gov. McDonnell yesterday announced that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has designated 59 counties as primary natural disaster areas because of the excessive heat we've seen in 2010. Farms in this area

Coal is having a rough year.

This is written by Jeff Biggers and crossposted from The Huffington Post.

In one of the most bizarre Big Coal public relations ads yet, online readers of the Washington Post today were forced to view a fatuous "clean coal" ad prior to viewing an extraordinary photo galley on "Death at American coal mines."

In an excellent and in-depth look into regulatory failure, Post reporters David A. Fahrenthold and Kimberly Kindy examine nine deaths in various mines since the Upper Big Branch disaster in April. The Post reporters conclude: "For safety experts and miners' families, these recent disasters tell a familiar story: Enforcement efforts have been hampered by a backlogged appeals system and the lack of penalty for repeat offenders. The new federal crackdown still couldn't ensure safe conditions underground."

Even more notable: An estimated 450-500 coal miners have died from black lung disease in the last six months, according to figures from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In one of the most scandalous crises in workplace safety in the United States, over 10,000 coal miners have died needlessly from black lung disease (from the inhalation of coal dust) in the last decade.

Black lung disease was first diagnosed in 1831. Coal mining communities wait todayfor new rules and stricter enforcement procedures.

Why are coal miners still dying today?