Fifteen years is a long time.  Fifteen years ago, "Married with Children" aired its final new episode on Fox. Fifteen years ago, Mike Tyson tried to bite Evander Holyfield's ear off in the middle of a boxing match. Fifteen years ago, Prodigy was still in the internet-provider business. Remember them? Didn't think so.

The point is, 15 years is a long time. So when Dominion Virginia Power presented its plans for the next 15 years of energy production to the SCC, we were curious. When we found out that the plans had NO land-based or off-shore wind and a negligible amount of Virginia-made solar power, our curiosity turned into varying degrees of frustration. So we organized. And you came. Together, we rallied. And it was awesome!

-Cross-posted at WeArePowershift.org

Last Saturday, 350.org and other similarly-minded groups organized a Climate Impacts Day (climatedots.org), where activists throughout the country "connected the dots" between climate change and its associated impacts. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) coordinated with many of these activists in Maryland and Virginia to facilitate their events. In Virginia, CCAN worked with student groups to highlight important climate sources and impacts on or near their campuses.  

This past Saturday, CCANers in Maryland and Virginia held “climate dots” and posed for photos to connect the dots between local effects of climate change and local sources of greenhouse gas emissions in their backyards.

-Crossposted at WeArePowershift.org

Students at the College of William and Mary assembled at a Bank of America location in Williamsburg, VA on May 1 to protest the bank's funding of mountaintop removal. Alongside local activists, the students waved signs and chanted outside the building, while participants with Bank of America cards went inside to close their accounts. A couple members of the group simulateneously handed out fliers at nearby businesses. As the location was along a major thoroughfare, the protesters frequently heard supportive honks from passing cars and observed locals curiously reading their signs. After spending a couple hours spreading awareness, the activists dispersed, pleased with their work and eager to do more.

Cross-posted at WeArePowershift.org

On April 22, 1970, students participated in an massive action declared by Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin. Motivated by the recent Santa Barbara oil spill, teach-ins were held at college and university campus across the United States to protest environmental degradation. "Earth Day," as the event was known, later became a prominent, annual avenue for citizens to discuss important issues affecting both their local communities and the wider world.

I can’t remember ever participating in so many actions on an issue organized by religiously-based groups over such an extended period of time. It is a very hopeful sign that among people of faith, many different faiths, there is a clear stirring into action on this huge moral issue, this threat to human civilization and the ecological systems that have allowed for its development over the last 10,000 years.

-Cross-posted at WeArePowershift.org

-Written by Dakota Thomas, a senior at the University of Virginia's College at Wise, in Wise County, Virginia

Link: http://www.highlandcavalier.com/2012/04/20/letter-to-the-editor-coal-an-unstable-foundation-for-swva-s-economy/

One can’t make it ten feet down the street of Wise without seeing a “Friends of Coal” sticker on a bumper or a sign espousing that “We keep the lights on.” And while coal is the driving force behind our economy today, people of the area’s minds are captivated by it as though the coal industry can do no wrong. But the coal industry is above all else a business. They make a profit by developing new, cheaper (read: less human dependent and more robotic) technology, or by securing legislative outcomes that favor them rather than good policy.

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.]

Water makes its way, through fields, hills and mountains
Water makes its way, it has its ups and downs
Water makes its way, it ends up in the oceans
Water makes its way, it really gets around.

I must make my way, no matter what life throws me
I must make my way, must do the best I can
I must make my way, my faith and hope they guide me
I must make my way, together we all must stand

Hopefully the resolution will pass in a strong form, but sea level rise is not the only negative effect of Virginia relying on fossil fuels. Coal-burning power plants not only put out greenhouse gases, they emit heavy metals that contaminate water and make fish from local rivers unsafe to eat. They cause asthma and disproportionately affect lower income and minority Virginians with the health effects of living in polluted communities downwind of these toxic facilities.

Returning to the conclusions that the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change made, we need to think hard about what our energy system is doing to our coastal areas and what we need to do differently. Then we’ll address a big cause of sea level rise, and a host of other problems, and not just treat a symptom.