MD Student State Summit! 4/25-4/27

The Maryland Student Climate Coalition (MSCC) is hosting a State Summit! With the momentum of their recent victory in making the University System of Maryland to go carbon neutral the MSCC is gathering to plan their next big campaign.

Our movement is growing and the MSCC is expanding to include ALL SCHOOLS in MD!

Here is a message from Erica Stout, Co-Coordinator of the MSCC:

Come be a climate leader for the state of Maryland!!

A lot has happened this year around global warming in MD, from
PowerShift in our own state, to our fight for the Global Warming
Solutions act, to the Maryland Student Climate Coalition’s victory in
getting 13 Universities in MD to pledge climate neutrality!!!!

There are HUGE opportunities to make MD a leader in the fight against global
warming and we are building immense momentum at all of our schools.
Now it is time for us all to come together and plan what steps we can take,
to use our power to make change in our state!! Come celebrate the end of Earth Week

with us and culminate your work for the year at the Maryland Student Climate Coalition Summit!!!

STATE SUMMIT, @ UMD April 25-27

Join dozens of other climate leaders from across MD at a

STATE SUMMIT April 25-27 where we will plan our next
campaign, get trained, and begin to build our momentum to hit the ground

running next semester!


Click here to register for the summit!

SUMMIT LOGISTICS:

WHEN: Friday April 25- Sunday April 27!!! We will begin Friday evening and finish Sunday, early afternoon.
WHERE: University of Maryland, College Park.

Sleeping Arrangements: We will be buddying up people from other schools to stay with UMD students. Mark in the registration form (Register Here!!) if you will need a place to stay in College Park.

Logistics: We hope to cover a majority of the meals (vegetarian, with
vegan options) with a contribution from our hosts from Clean Energy for UMD through the MD
Co-Op. Yum! Breakfast may be on your own.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NOW:
1. Register for the summit!!!!
2. Tell your friends and your group!!! Pass around a sign up sheet at your next meeting, then register them through the same form.
3. Help us make this a success! Email me at ericastout@gmail.com or Andrew at anazdin@gmail.com if you would like to help out. Email Liz at lizlacoco@gmail.com to join the recruitment working group, or Hanna at hpoffenb@umd.edu to help with the agenda

Email me if you have any questions, thoughts, suggestions or concerns!!!

Erica Stout

(301) 787-2059

Co-Coordinator

Maryland Student Climate Coalition

Ask James Hansen a personal question.

“What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster – a guaranteed disaster,” Hansen recently told the Guardian Newspaper in London.

Hansen will give his first major public address since announcing that governments and climate researchers have grossly underestimated the severity of the effects of carbon dioxide emissions next Tuesday at CCAN’s Super Rally.

Since Hansen is coming to DC to talk to us, I figure we have to get him to answer at least one personal question. I kinda want to know what climate catastrophe keeps him up at night, but I’m a little scared to know what that would be. Ideas? Post your questions for Hansen in the comments

Pres. Bush attempts to stay relevant and trot out lip service on climate change

President Bush will lay out his “principles” on climate change at a press conference today. Many are saying that he is finally trying to make an attempt to stay relevant when the movement in congress heading toward legislation regulating carbon emissions. But neither the president nor congress are making the steps that James Hansen says are necessary to avert catastrophic climate change. With James Hansen setting the goal at 350 ppm, the movement in the federal government is more of a budge than a step.

Coal is the number one target. Coal generates approximately 40% of the world’s electricity

CCAN's Tom Owens featured in LA Times

“Global warming has a new battleground,” the LA Times wrote this week. “Coal plants”

Abingdon_rally

CCAN’s Va. Student Organizer Tom Owens marches with students and activists in Abingdon, VA as part of Mountain Justice Spring Break (Tom’s in the black coat with the hood up). Photo by David Crigger / Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier

Judy Pasternak at the LA Times wrote an important piece this week on the national effort to stop coal plants (the full article is below). This comes only a day after the Wall Street Journal wrote a piece focusing on the Virginia coal plant fight. And it comes less than a month before our big rally on May 8th in front of Dominion’s headquarters in Richmond.

Environmental lawyers make a concentrated effort to stop new ones from being built; a coalition claims 65 victories in the last year. But industry groups are fighting back.

WASHINGTON — Every time a new coal-fired power plant is proposed anywhere in the United States, a lawyer from the Sierra Club or an allied environmental group is assigned to stop it, by any bureaucratic or legal means necessary. Continue reading

Solutions for Maryland's Energy Future Inspire Contest

With Maryland in the midst of figuring out its energy future, it is up to citizens to voice their opinions about what is best for themselves and the environment of Maryland. Recent strides towards increased nuclear development, especially at the Calvert Cliffs Power Plant near Lusby, MD, not only threaten the health of the Chesapeake Bay, but area residents as well. It is time for Maryland to speak out, and this Earth Day, someone is going to get $500 for doing just that.

Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) are using the recent book “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free; A Roadmap for U.S. Foreign Policy” by IEER President Dr. Arjun Makhijani as the basis for an Earth Day Viral Video Contest. The contest challenges citizens to create a video to be put on YouTube that addresses the concept outlined in Makhijani’s book.

Submitted videos cannot run longer than 3 minutes and group submissions cannot exceed more than 10 people. Every group must register via e-mail and submit their video by April 17th. Those submitting the winning video will receive $500.

The video submissions will be shown the evening of Earth Day, April 22 at St. Mary’s College following a presentation by Arjun Makhijani, author of “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free; A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy.” After the viewing, the winning submission will be announced and a $500 cash prize will be given to the winner(s). All submissions will be put on YouTube.

Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. His book, published in 2007, outlines the plausible transformation of the U.S. to a carbon emissions free society by the year 2050 without the use of nuclear energy. Instead, he emphasizes energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The use of viral sharing has been pivotal in recent environmental and political campaigns and is a hallmark of the future of grassroots organizing. The contest is intended to us this method while exploring viable energy solutions for Maryland and the country as a whole.

For additional information about the Earth Day Viral Video Contest, or to register contact Rachel Roscoe at rroscoe@citizen.org or at (202) 454-5129.

Let's Go the Distance for Clean Energy!

The Coalition for Wise Energy launched the campaign to stop the boondoggle Wise County power plant hoping to present a mile-long petition to Dominion Power at its shareholders meeting in May. That was back in November. Now it’s April and we’re close to reaching out goal! Sign the petition below and then help the opposition to this coal plant grow by clicking on ‘adopt a yard!’

Kansas Notices Virginia Coal Fight

The Kansas City Star Newspaper has picked up on Virginia’s fight to stop Dominion power’s controversial coal plant proposed for Wise County. The artcile compares the struggle in Virginia to the notable struggle in Kansas

  • …what’s not good for Kansas also may not be good for Virginia. More dependence on coal, that is. [But,]Kansans have a strong governor, Kathleen Sebelius, who vetoed legislation that would have lifted all control of future coal-fired plants from state regulators.

What a notable difference leadership makes! Over and over again all we hear from Governor Kaine is that his hands are tied and that new coal generation is necessary.

Maybe Governor Kaine can learn something from Governor Sebelius, and be the clean energy leader that we all would like for him to be. I will happily embrace him as the environmentalist he claims to be the day he stands up for our mountains and our climate.

Want to stop the coal plant, click here to help!

How did your Rep. vote on GWSA?

The Maryland Global Warming Solutions Act was voted down by the House Economic Matters Committee Tuesday night by a margin of 18-2. The bill, which would have required a 25 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, had earlier passed the Senate.

It is important to note that the senate version had a “poison pill” amendment that would have rolled back the regulatory authority of the Maryland Department of the Environment and required multiple future votes by the General Assembly before the state agency could take any steps to reduce pollution.

Among those voting last night to kill the weakened Senate version of the bill were leading Democrats, including Del. Dereck Davis, chairman of the economic matters committee, and Del. Brian McHale of Baltimore, a strong union supporter.

Below is a list of delegates and how they voted. Since the bill had been weakened in the Senate, so much so that the Maryland League of Conservation Voters opposed the final version, it is not possible with just this information to determine whether the legislators voted against the bill because the didn’t want it at all or because they didn’t want the weakened version.

We will be compiling more information on why legislators voted they way they did but while we do that, why not ask them yourself? Below is a list of how your legislator voted, with email addresses: Continue reading

Lawmakers, Steelworkers Kill Global Warming Bill

Other environmental bills survive, with multiple victories for the climate

Maryland lawmakers killed a bill last night that would have required major cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. The bill was a victim of the crush of work and lack of time that usually plagues the last day of the session.

For environmental lobbyists, the defeat stung. The global warming bill was one of the top priorities of a coalition of environmental and conservation groups.

“The legislature really dropped the ball,” said Claire Douglass of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Cindy Schwartz, director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, attributed the defeat of the bill in part to fear-mongering. She said the threat of losing jobs due to the bill – even though that’s only conjecture – is a tried-and-true way to kill a bill.

“It’s very powerful to say to someone if this bill passes, they’ll lose their jobs. It’s not a new tactic,” she said in an interview with the Annapolis Capital.

Despite the defeat, there were multiple victories for the climate:

Strategic Energy Investment Program: Create funds to decrease energy demand and increase energy supply.
Energy Efficiency: Set goal of a 15% reduction in per capita electricity consumption by 2015.
Renewable Energy Portfolio: Boost to 20% portion of state energy portfolio derived from wind, solar and other renewable sources.
Energy-efficient buildings: Require new or renovated state buildings and schools to meet standards of efficiency.
Solar Energy Grant Program: Increase amounts of grants available.

For more depth on this session’s climate victories, visit the Maryland League of Conservation Voter’s 2008 Environmental Legislative wrap-up.

CCAN, the Alliance for Global Warming Solutions, and everyone else working on this bill are not giving up. The fight for comprehensive global warming legislation in Maryland goes on.

Last Chance for Global Warming Solutions Act

Today MD House Economic Matters Committee is considering the Global Warming Solutions Act. If passed out of committee, the House and Senate are expected to pass the bill quickly before session ends at midnight tonight. For a good overview of the narrative of events, check out the Baltimore Sun’s Blog.

The debate over this bill, I think, is going to be indicative of the struggle ahead for two reasons:
1. Separation of green jobs opportunities and job losses
2. Strong leadership support

Green jobs have the potential to create an entire new industry in Maryland. By encouraging development of a green jobs sector now, before the mad rush begins, Maryland gets ahead in building the infrastructure, knowledge, and expertise in the industry. Jobs may be lost in some industries, but those workers could be provided with a just transition to this new, lucrative, green economy. Opposition has pitted job losses against the bill without making the connection to green jobs opportunities. Specifically, MD’s United Steelworkers have come out to oppose the bill because of potential losses at Sparrows Point steel mill. Despite the opportunities that green jobs would create for these workers and despite the support of the national arm of United Steelworkers for a transition to green jobs, the local group has launched a concentrated attack on this bill.

The other important element of this fight is the presence of overwhelming leadership support. Governor O’Malley’s “strong, strong support” of this bill has been a cornerstone of this campaign. The environmental community has come together and formed one of the strongest coalitions in Maryland to date. The Alliance for Global Warming Solutions has brought together over 100 partners in support of this bill. For a list of all the organizations, go to the Alliance website here:http://www.alliancemd.org/plan.htm.

We have yet to see whether the house and senate leadership can come together today. Stay tuned for more updates!