On to the Next Step

The House of Representatives has passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by a vote of 235-181. The bill, which would significantly increase automobile fuel economy standards for the first time in 30 years while also rolling back oil industry tax breaks and encouraging the use of alternative energy, now faces tough sledding in the Senate and a threatened veto by President Bush. So, while it's a huge victory, it's still just a bill ...

Change in Climate

I was at the California release of the U.N.'s Human Development Report, subtitled "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." To mark the event, the Commonwealth Club organized a panel to discuss the issues including Ad Melkert(Undersecretary of the United Nations, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme), Larry Brilliant (Executive Director, Google.org), Andrea Gardner (Sustainable Solutions Manager, CH2M Hill), and Nancy Pfund (Managing Director, JPMorgan).

What they collectively underscored was that, while we here in the West think of climate change as something coming and something to worry about for our legacy, in places like Bangladesh climate change is about the here and now. The poorest are paying the highest price for our standard of living.

They were largely hopeful in their message, pointing to Australia's Kevin Rudd defeating John Howard in what is being described as the first climate-change election, states and cities making policies to fight climate change (with the event being held in California and San Francisco, lots of props were given to the state and the mayor), many corporations looking to do things differently (Google.org, for instance, just announced a big climate change initiative), and conditions looking right for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. There was of course, much shaking of heads over American federal politics.

Unexpectedly none of the panelists were in favor of nuclear power, with Google's Larry Brilliant being the most outspoken. They were in favor of shifting subsidies to renewables in a large way, but with an emphasis on incentives, basic r&d and funding of programs to turn out engineers. They thought that the costs of the solutions were going to be much cheaper than the costs of protecting ourselves.

"But one percent of our GDP to save the planet?" asked the moderator (Greg Dalton, who did a fine job). "One percent!" said Larry Brilliant. "It's a bargain! Who wouldn't want that?!"

Instant CARMA

Three new sources for keeping tabs on coal power have been made available on the Web, one of which is our very own New Coal Plant Tracker, which lists all of the 138 new American coal plants currently on the drawing boards, including info on what type of plant each one is, who owns the project and who's providing the funding, as well as the projected CO2 output for each. You can view the data on Google Maps or download a file to plot the it all in Google Earth. It's part of our campaign to Stop the Coal Rush.

Meanwhile, the Center for Global Development has launched CARMA (Carbon Monitoring for Action), which takes the global view, charting some 50,000 power plants owned by more than 4,000 companies.

And finally, Appalachian Voices offers visitors a chance to see their personal connection to the rapacious practice of mountaintop removal mining. Type in your zip code and see where your power comes from.

If the picture that emerges from all this seems rather bleak, just remember: Knowledge is power too, people.

Prayin' for Rain

Georgia Governor and stalwart global warming skeptic, Sonny Perdue, is looking to the Lord to free his state from the extreme drought currently afflicting it and much of the Southeast. "We have come together, very simply, for one reason and one reason only: To very reverently and respectfully pray up a storm," he said at a recent rally in which the faithful beseeched the Almighty to, for God's sake, let it rain.

This report in The Independent ("The big thirst: The great American water crisis") looks at the environmental record of the region's leadership, highlighting its monetary ties to the coal-fired behemoth, Southern Company (according to a report in today's Washington Post, "a single Southern Co. plant in Juliette, Ga., emits more [carbon dioxide] annually than Brazil's entire power sector,") its lack of initiative when it comes to conservation measures, and its recalcitrance on the issue of global warming. As the report notes, "Georgia's state assembly recently organised a climate change summit in which three of the four experts invited were global-warming sceptics." The Georgia Sierra Club's Patty Durand tells the paper:

It's very backward here. ...It also has to do with money as almost all the politicians here are funded by big polluting industry. There is little awareness of the environmental impact of industry. In spite of the drought, Georgia now wants to build a new coal-powered plant that will suck away another 25 million extra gallons of water and pour ever more carbon into the atmosphere. They just don't get it.

The situation is especially dire in the mountain village of Orme near Chattanooga, where the water is shut off for 21 hours a day. Says one resident of the normally lush locale: "This drought has turned us into hillbillies."

A School for Skeptics

Just a few days ago, several of us were talking about an endangered species: the climate-change skeptic. By now, most Americans accept that global warming is a problem, and that humans are the cause of it. But what about the minority? Many of them are sincere in their doubts and, in a way, it's hard to blame them. Perhaps some of the people who remain the most skeptical are the same ones who would feel the gravity of the situation most keenly if they had to accept it.

But those of us who do think that global warming is a serious problem that needs to be addressed before it's too late could use the help of those skeptics. And if we can't convert them (and, let's face it, a certain percentage will never budge), it would be nice to at least counter them with the facts. What we need, we figured, is a list of answers to climate-skeptic canards like "The Medieval Warm Period." Before we could get around to putting one together, though, the BBC did it for us.

Sample:

"As the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) puts it: 'The idea of a global or hemispheric Mediaeval Warm Period that was warmer than today has turned out to be incorrect.'"

Television Versus Reality

Most of the time, I wish television were a more accurate representation of reality. Whether that is the news or "reality" TV, it often leaves much to want.

The past few weeks, though, my wife and I have been watching the Amazing Mrs. Pritchard. It's Mr Smith Goes to Washington meets The West Wing in 10 Downing Street, with some great writing and a fabulous cast of mainly female characters.

What might be of interest to the readers of this blog in particular is her impulsive decision (after a "mealy mouthed" G8 summit; the show is not friendly to Tony Blair or George Bush) to ban private cars one day a week.

This is where I wish reality were imitating television.

Waking Up in Wake Forest

Cool, kids. Majorly!

Scary Outlook

Last week saw the release of The United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook. It is a rather monstrous 540 pages (22.5-mb PDF), but the press release alone is frightening enough.

Maybe what is scarier is that I was hard pressed to find much mention of it in any U.S. press. Perhaps, they are still hard at work digesting the full weight of it. There is, however, plenty to read in foreign papers.

The Times (U.K.) science editor, Marc Henderson, writes in his piece: "Though the report's language might sound extreme, with talk of 'humanity's very survival' at risk, the structure of the WEO actually lends itself to conservatism. Its findings deserve to be taken very seriously as a result -- this is not scaremongering to make a point."

When the point's as important as this one, is scaremongering really such a bad thing? OK, point taken that this report is pure, peer-reviewed science -- and scary to boot.

Although the report does highlight and praise some progress, it points to persistent and intractable problems. Can you guess what those might be?

Apollo's Fire on Tour

Has anyone had a chance to check out Apollo's Fire, the new book on energy solutions by Washington Congressman Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks? Rep. Inslee is currently in the middle of a book tour, and Our Man in Seattle says he did "a great job of conveying the importance for our state and federal government to step up to the plate and match the innovation and leadership that is being shown by individuals, entrepreneurs, and local governments around the country to address global warming and put clean energy solutions in place." I couldn't find an online listing of his remaining appearances, but I did get a schedule from his publisher, which I'll include below in case anyone wants to hear him firsthand:

Bellingham, WA -- November 3 Village Books/First Congregational Church,7 p.m.

Seattle, WA -- November 4 Seattle Town Hall/Elliott Bay Book Company/ Seattle University, 2 p.m.

Iowa City, IA -- November 12 Prairie Lights Books, 7 p.m.

Cambridge, MA -- November 15 Harvard Bookstore, 7 p.m.

Portsmouth, NH -- November 16 River Run Books, 7 p.m.

Los Angeles, CA -- December 3 Vroman's Books, 7 p.m.

59 Days and Counting...

Is it just me, or do the green holiday tips appear earlier every year? I mean, we haven't even taken down our green Halloween decorations. Wait a minute -- we haven't put them up yet! And now Newsweek's already admonishing us not to buy an artificial tree. That's alright, though. We love a good green tip as much as anyone, and you can hardly fault Newsweek for relying on a source as expert as Sierra Club Green Life maven Jennifer Hattam. So, sure, bring on the reversible bamboo cheese boards and eco-spa gift certificates, please. And don't buy an artificial jack-o-lantern, OK?

Of Lightbulbs and Leaders

Nice piece in The New York Times by Thomas Friedman, about yellow cabs turning green. We can do our share as individuals to curb carbon emissions and hold off the consequences of global warming, but what we also need to do--beyond changing light bulbs--is to change leaders. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg put it simply:

When it comes to health and safety and environmental issues, government should be setting standards. What you need are leaders who are willing to push for standards that are in society’s long-term interest.

The Volt Vette Project

Sure, I like my Prius alright -- but I have to admit it pales next to this.

What car do you secretly wish you could electrify?

Boom and Bust

Investors have been bullish on ethanol, but the tide seems be turning against them as biofuel stocks are starting to tank. A recent headline in the The Wall Street Journal summed it up: "The Ethanol Boom is Running out of Gas." What happened? On Slate, Daniel Gross blames the government for heavily subsidizing production without also stimulating the infrastructure improvements needed to transport and retail the sudden increase in supply. As of this spring, he reports, there were there were 120 ethanol refineries with a capacity of 6.2 billion gallons per year. Now just try to buy some. Supply is one thing, but minus adequate distribution, well, another boom goes bust.