The Baltimore Sun
By Mike Tidwell
I recently stood on the windy coast of North Carolina where Orville and Wilbur Wright made their maiden flight in 1903. That motorized glider, constructed with bicycle parts, lifted off and flew nearly 900 feet in 59 seconds. Americans, astonishingly, were walking on the moon 66 years later.
“The climate crisis is real, and we must act now to reduce global climate change. I believe if we act responsibly we can help reduce the effects of global warming, but also create thousands of green jobs for Maryland’s economy.”
— Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, February 19, 2008
In a dramatic press conference Tuesday, Governor Martin O’Malley threw his “strong, strong support” behind one of America’s strongest global warming bills. It was a truly historic day, and when leaders do the right thing we should show our appreciation. Please, please click here to thank to Gov. O’Malley right now. Continue reading
By Mike Tidwell
Fact: Virginia gets less than 1 percent of its electricity from “green” sources such as the wind or the sun. Fact: Virginia ranks 38th among U.S. states in energy efficiency. Fact: Climate change is real, and fossil fuel substitutes are needed, according to President Bush’s State of the Union address last year. So how would Dominion Virginia Power respond to these facts?
In my seven years as a full-time climate activist in this region I’ve never been more inspired than at the snowy “Flood Annapolis” rally on Thursday, January 17th. At least 350 people from age two to 82 came from all over Maryland to gather on a weekday morning in a heavy snowstorm! You KNOW there’s deep, deep concern about an issue when that happens. What other grassroots issue in Maryland
The Baltimore Sun
By Mike Tidwell
With ominous global warming accelerating year after year, why can’t Maryland construct a single clean-energy wind farm within its borders? Al Gore wins a Nobel Peace Prize and Gov. O’Malley’s own blue-ribbon commission says we must get off fossil fuels very, very soon. But our state – one the most vulnerable in America to global warming and one the most politically liberal – can’t achieve even the baby step of a single commercial wind farm? What’s the problem? West Virginia has dozens of modern windmills. Pennsylvania even more.
GM, proud maker of the Hummer and the biggest contributor to global warming of any auto maker in the world, recently hatched a brilliant idea: Re-publish nine recent Post articles on global warming (including one about my solar home in Takoma Park) and pepper these truthful, serious pieces with deeply deceptive ads promoting GM’s “green” bona fides.
That’s right, this past week GM paid for an entire six-page advertising supplement in the Washington Post. It’s a brilliant PR strategy on GM’s part. They cannot be accused of messing with the facts since they’ve used actual stories written by Post reporters. And coupling their “green” products with authentic pieces of climate reporting lends these products an element of legitimacy.
“Gas-friendly to Gas Free” is their slogan throughout. The five technology / issue areas they discuss are:
I won’t get into a blow-by-blow refutation here (for a more in-depth analysis, read A Siegel’s blog post on DailyKos). Suffice it to say that the company has spent millions of dollars, year after year, lobbying Congress against even fractional increases in fuel economy standards. In one spasm of anti-environmental fervor, the company organized rallies all across the country in 2004 featuring company vice presidents trashing efforts to require U.S. vehicles to get just 7.5 more miles to the gallon, a target that would bring America up to China’s automobile standard. And in 2006, afraid that rising gas prices would discourage Hummer sales, the company gave away gasoline stipends to drivers in California and Florida.
This is not the only example of blatant green washing going on this week. This Tuesday ConocoPhillips is holding a “conversation on energy.” Yep, the nation’s third largest oil company wants to know your thoughts on “energy solutions.” ConocoPhillips is holding a series of town hall meetings across the country and one of these meetings is happening right here in Columbia, MD at 6:30 PM tonight. This is a blatant attempt by a major oil company to green wash its record, and it’s happening right in the heart of Maryland! For more info, read the Baltimore Sun blog post about the event.
What can we do to refute this gross green washing? I’ve written a letter to the editor of the Washington Post calling them out on making money on GM’s deeply deceptive ads. And we’ve asked our supporters in and around Columbia, Md. to spend this evening demanding that ConocoPhillips stop destroying our climate and get serious about renewable energy. If you’re in Md., we hope you can make it to the town hall meeting tonight. If not, educate yourself, write letters and do not accept that these companies, some of the worst polluters out there, are even close to doing enough to save our life-giving climate.
By Mike Tidwell
Strange but true: Energy-efficient light bulbs and hybrid cars are hurting our nation’s budding efforts to fight global warming.
Southern Maryland News reports that “On Wednesday, August 8th, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) hosted the first meeting of the Maryland Climate Change Commission’s Adaptation & Response Working Group (ARWG). ” The executive order to create this Commission was signed by O’Malley back on April 20, 2007. The Commission is to develop a Maryland Climate Action Plan. The Commission also has three working groups: the Scientific and Technical Working Group, the Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Mitigation Working Group, and the Adaptation and Response Working Group.
Notice the word “Adaptation” coming up over and over again now.
The Adaptation and Response working group is chaired by DNR Secretary John R. Griffin, who says that, “If left unchecked, rising temperatures will cause devastating impacts to Maryland’s people, natural resources, and property.” This poor group is assigned the task of cleaning the Augean Stables. I mean they are supposed to “recommend strategies for reducing the vulnerability of the State’s coastal, natural, and cultural resources and communities to the impacts of climate change; and develop a comprehensive strategy for reducing Maryland’s climate change vulnerability” Continue reading
The House is considering, amid all the energy legislation, instituting a nation-wide renewable power standard (RPS). HR969 is up for a vote TODAY! Continue reading
The Washington Post
By Mike Tidwell
How’s this for poetic justice? In future years, the White House and all those federal agencies accused of acting too slowly after Hurricane Katrina smashed New Orleans last August will probably find their own D.C. offices threatened by catastrophic flooding from monster storms. They may be hunkering behind massive levees and fantastic floodgates, harried by the annual threat of Katrina-scale hurricanes.