Americans can’t give up the muscle and “safety” of their SUVs because we think they give us a competitive advantage over more fuel efficient cars, James Surowiecki argues in the New Yorker. It’s similar to NHL players in the 70s who chose the risk of head trauma because “not wearing a helmet conferred a slight advantage on the ice; crucially, it gave the player better peripheral vision, and it also made him look fearless.”
10 Secrets to Better Climate Organizing
On Saturday, Mike Tidwell led a training for the 40 people in Maryland, Virginia and D.C who have been trained to give the Al Gore slideshow.
“TEN SECRETS TO BETTER CLIMATE ORGANIZING” was designed to share six years of learning and lessons as to climate activism, practical real steps to move from awareness to action.
Adam, a Climate Project trainee and blogger was one of the attendees and wrote a very in-depth post on Daily Kos summarizing the event.
The training is available on the U.S. Climate Emergency website and will be available on the CCAN website soon.
A Low Impact Evening
Do you have a case of the Mondays? What about a night of fun with friends and family that involves very little CO2 emissions to cheer you up? If you are in the D.C. area and are looking for a little action on Monday nights, check out Screen on the Green on the National Mall. The movies are sponsored by HBO, free of charge, and full of easy, outdoor entertainment. Shows start around 8:30-9pm and seating is available between 4th and 7th Streets. Don’t forget to take public transportation or walk or ride a bike to get to the the mall to have a low impact, highly entertaining night. Just grab some snacks and a blanket and sit back and enjoy the show.
Here’s the summer schedule:
July 16 – Annie Hall (1977)
July 23 – The Thing (From Another World) (1951)
Jul 30 – Wait Until Dark (1967)
August 6 – All the Kings Men (1949)
August 13 – Casablanca (1942)
For more information, call (877) 262-5866.
U.S. Consumes More Gas per day than 20 Large Countries Put Together!
We are addicted to oil. Even President Bush admits it. This amazing diagram illustrates exactly what that addiction looks like…
Another Day…
…and another report of the Bush administration repressing science in favor of ideology. We’ve heard it before. First they were all up in James Hansen’s junk, then they were in NOAA’s face, and now they are messing with one of their own appointees.
Yesterday, NPR’s All Thing Considered reported that in a hearing before the House Government Reform Committee, former Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, accused the Bush administration of ignoring “Anything that doesn’t fit into..[their]…ideological, theological or political agenda”.
Dr. Carmona was joined by two other former surgeon generals – Dr. David Satcher, who served under President Bill Clinton, and Dr. C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan and the first President Bush. While all surgeons faced challenges from the administration they served, all agreed that difficulties presented by the Bush administration where the most extreme. Continue reading
Poison Ivy Thrives with Climate Change
A recent study indicates that as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increase, poison ivy will grow larger and produce more rash causing oils. Even small increases in the concentration of CO2 were found to increase the size of the plant and allow it to recover faster after having its leaves removed. The study comes along with increasing evidence that vines and plants similar to poison ivy, which can cause significant harm to forests, have become more widespread in recent years. Read more about the study here
Powered by ScribeFire.
60 Seconds to Save the Earth
During the Live Earth concerts, Al Gore and Cameron Diaz, on behalf of Current TV and in association with the Alliance for Climate Protection, announced the “:60 Seconds to Save the Earth” contest. The contest challenges viewers across the US, UK and the Republic of Ireland to create 15-, 30- or 60-second ecospot PSAs about taking action or motivating change to help fight the climate crisis.
For contest rules and details and to submit an ecospot, visit www.current.com/ecospot.
Obama Clears the Air on Coal-to-Liquids
Last Saturday, Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama took the stage at Live Earth in one more attempt to realign himself with climate activists after his (failed) dirty work in the Senate to provide funding for coal-to-liquid technologies created quite a stir in the climate community.
An article in The Hill shows that after USCEC’s petition exposed Obama’s Coal-to-Liquid amendment, the Senator quickly readjusted his stance:
In a statement released before the Senate energy debate, Obama announced that he would only support the development of coal-to-liquid fuels if they emitted less global warming-linked carbon than conventional fuels.
Obama also voted against an amendment sponsored by Bunning that would have mandated the use of coal-to-liquid fuels.
Just a reminder of the great power in political action!!
Sen. Warner Fights Global Warming, Chairman Connolly Digs CCAN
So the surprising news from yesterday was that Virginia Senator Warner (R) has finally come around and become a vocal supporter of global warming solutions. The Senator, who stayed relatively mum on global warming for years, has now been quoted as saying: “In my 28 years in the Senate, I have focused above all on issues of national security, and I see the problem of climate change as fitting within that focus.”
CCAN has targeted Sen. Warner numerous times in an attempt to convince him that global warming deserves his attention. As recently as two weeks ago, CCAN hand delivered over 50 hand written letters to the Senator asking him to support a national renewable energy standard. These letters were written at the June 13th CCAN organized “Cooling the Commonwealth” Town Hall Forum that featured speakers Al Weed, Mike Tidwell, Dr. Shukla, and Fairfax Co. Board Chairman Connolly. Chairman Connolly cited CCAN and the great success of the event in his blog… So did Chap Peterson, the Democratic Challenger to the 34 District State Senate seat… NoVa, we are rocking this world… or at least Fairfax…
The Weak Senate Energy Bill
Many enviro groups have been touting the Senate Energy Bill that passed last week as a victory. I’m not impressed. In fact, I’m somewhat appalled.
Yes, the Senate passed a bill to increase fuel efficiency standards (from 25 to 35 mpg) for the first time since 1975 and yes, they managed to beat back some really bad amendments (including the amendment to promote dirty coal-to-liquid technology, which USCEC was heavily involved in advocating against). But defeating bad amendments does not mean we’re advancing, it simply means we’ve managed to avoid going backwards for the time being. And that it’s taken us over 30 years to increase our CAFE standards to a relatively low 35 mpg is nothing to be proud of.
Thomas Friedman summed it up in a NY Times Op-ed on June 24:
The whole Senate energy effort only reinforced my feelings that we’re in a green bubble