Los Angeles’ program to reduce trucking pollution is working faster than planned, but it has come under attack by the trucking industry.

Today, the city celebrates the one-year anniversary of the  Clean Truck Program (CTP), which has taken more than 2,000 polluting trucks off the road and helped placed more than 5,500 clean vehicles into service. The changes mean that ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are now two years ahead of schedule in their master plan to reduce shipping truck emissions by 80 percent. The two ports have collaborated to reduce air pollution from both trucks and ships using the hubs.

Photo: Port of Los Angeles

“Los Angeles is home to the worst air pollution in the country, which plays a role in thousands of heart attacks, respiratory ailments and deaths every year,” said David Pettit, senior attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in a statement. “Knowing those statistics, the Port of Los Angeles decided to take proactive and permanent action to reduce those deaths and invest in sustainable jobs at the ports.”

But, like so many air cleansing efforts, this one faces opposition from the polluters, who until recently hadn’t been asked to pony up for their effects on the environment. The American Trucking Association is fighting the program, arguing that it costs too much and will put independent truckers out of business. The ATA also opposes pending climate legislation in Congress as too costly.

It’s not cheap to clean up “dirty trucks” and replace them with retrofitted or new cleaner operating  diesels or biofuel vehicles.

The CTP is spending an estimated $1.6 billion to replace an aging fleet of 17,000 trucks with newer, cleaner vehicles at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach before 2012. So last February, the port authorities began collecting a $35 container fee (applied to each 20-foot container) to help offset the purchase the clean trucks.

The ports have reported that the fund created by the $35 fees will allow them to subsidize up to 80 percent of each new truck.

The ATA sued, citing a federal law (the Federal Aviation Admnistration Authorization Act – FAAAA) that prevents the local authorities from asking the trucking companies to meet environmental standards set by local authorities.

Environmentalists and local proponents of the Clean Truck Program say the suit has put the Clean Trucks Program, which they consider a model for other ports, in jeopardy.

But the Truck Association says the program puts an unfair burden on trucking companies .

The ports, the NRDC, Sierra Club and the Coalition for Clean Air are fighting the  ATA’s lawsuit. The groups also are working with federal legislators to update the FAAAA law  so that it would allow the Clean Truck Program to go forward.

Sustainability and clean air advocates have lavished praise on the ambitious truck clean-up program, which they believe will help reduce asthma and other respiratory-related ailments from air polllution.

The Bay Area, which has plans for a similar program at the Oakland port, is watching developments in LA closely.

“Congratulations to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, environmentalists, port truck drivers and residents for leading the way to green growth at our nation’s ports. Nearly 6,000 clean trucks put into service, and 2,000 dirty trucks off the roads in the blink of an eye. It’s simply awe-inspiring,” said Nikki Bas, Executive Director of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy in a news release Thursday.

Bas continued:  “California’s port officials must be able to finish the job they set out to do. Oakland’s port clean-up efforts to get roughly 2,300 polluting rigs off the roads came to a grinding halt when the ‘profits before people’ mindset of the American Trucking Association obstructed LA’s continued emissions-reduction progress in court. The Clean Truck Program is legally sound but this devastating development has put the Port of Oakland’s plans on hold.

“In the meantime, the cost to our health and our pocketbooks skyrocket because the industry refuses to take responsibility for cleaning up its dirty air…”

The debate walks a more delicate line with workers. The ATA argues that truck drivers are being burdened. But the groups favoring continuation of the Clean Truck Program say that drivers are only unduly affected if industry refuses to pay for their air pollution.

County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo issued a statement supporting the Clean Truck Program, and blamed the trucking industry for paying for the costs of clean trucking by keeping down the wages of contract drivers.

“A backwards-looking industry lobby has sued to block this pollution-fighting plan, creating a murky legal environment that has allowed unscrupulous employers to put the burden for truck leases back on their impoverished immigrant contract drivers. These drivers eke out a living on $10-11 an hour and cannot afford the proper upkeep and maintenance of these clean-technology vehicles,” Durazo said.

The CTP is part of a larger Clean Air Action Plan devised by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to expand business operations and reduce air pollution. The ports plan to expand over the coming years.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office said Saturday that he would veto legislation requiring a third of California’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, choosing instead to mandate the change through an executive order. >> Read the full story

Considering how the desert challenges our green aspirations, it’s surprising there’s not already a reality show: Extreme Green — Finding eco-friendly solutions in hostile places.

OK, so the title could use some work. The facts remain – the desert is great for producing heat and making solar power. But when it comes to human habitation, it’s an air conditioning-dependent, rugged place.

They understand that in Palm Desert, a small city in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, which gets about 350 days of sunshine a year, endures four months of 100-degree-plus weather and would make a good candidate for the Extreme Green pilot show. Palm Desert both wrestles with, and accepts its environs.

“Palm Desert has a long history of interest in the environment both in energy conservation and saving water and respect for the environment,” said Lauri Aylaian, director of community development for the resort city of 50,000.

Let’s start with transportation.

Look around the town and you will see tourists on the main drag, El Paseo, browsing the shopping district from courtesy golf carts, residents running errands in golf carts and golfers in, yup, golf carts zipping around the environmentally conscientious Desert Willow resort.

In the 1990s, (practically prehistoric times in terms of the recent green movement), Palm Desert began a test program using the golf carts as a way to keep the town pedestrian friendly, avoid traffic jams and reduce exhaust fumes. The slow, emissions-free electric travel became so popular that city leaders later went to the state and won enactment of a law making it legal to use golf carts on the majority of roadways in Palm Desert.

“You can get to most places in the city using your golf carts, about the only thing you can’t do is go on state highway 11 that runs through town,” Aylaian says.

Not only was Palm Desert an early adopter of green travel, its neighboring Desert Willow Golf Resort, is greener than one might realize just looking at it, Aylaian says. The resort’s two golf courses use native landscaping on the land surrounding fairways, which is healthy for wildlife and water-conserving; irrigation systems use recaptured gray water, and the resort has applied for Audubon certification, available to golf courses that retain areas suitable for indigenous birds and wildlife, she said.

As for golf course water use, she says that the course defies the common conception that golf courses are water hogs; city surveys show that water use on the course is no more per acre than in residential areas. (Leaving aside that apples-to-oranges comparison, it’s safe to say that the golf course does far better than many of its kin, with native vegetation saving on water and reducing runoff.)

Many other activities in this vacation spot, just a few miles from better known Palm Springs, are relatively green pursuits, like hiking and biking in the surrounding San Jacinto Mountains. There also are hot air balloon rides offered in the Coachella Valley, and less-than green jeep tours (which Aylaian won’t dismiss, but does note that they occur outside the town’s boundaries).

But while Palm Desert displays many features of the usual glitz-plus-nature consumer-based vacation spot, there are more environmentally mindful — even ground-breaking — green developments happening at the municipal level.

The municipal fleet, including the service trucks, is almost 100-percent powered by alternative fuels. The cars and trucks include hybrids, natural gas and electric vehicles.

But the city knows the rubber meets the road when it comes to off-street power use, and has set up aggressive incentives for making buildings more efficient.

“Air conditioning is essential in the desert; same as in Phoenix or Las Vegas,” says Aylaian.

Palm Desert has confronted energy use head-on with a five-year plan to reduce consumption by 30 percent. Halfway into that program, the city is seeing results, she said.

A key way that the city fosters energy independence is through a direct loan program crafted by Palm Desert leaders and enacted into state law in 2008. Under the program, residents can use money provided by a city/power company collaboration to finance alternative power systems, such as solar photovoltaic rooftop panels. Once installed, the homeowner pays the loan back through an assessment on property tax bills, Aylaian said.

The “enormously popular” program, which is only available in only one other California city, Berkeley, is largely funded through a partnership with Southern California Edison and other power providers, she said, The initial $5 million and the second influx of $2.5 million has all been “been snapped up,” she said.

The money also can  be used to finance more efficient air conditioning systems, white roofs and insulation.

Like the golf cart initiative, the power loans required a new state law (AB 811 also known as the Energy Independence Act), which Palm Desert leaders helped craft and lobbied for.

Fortunately, the leadership of the city, founded in 1970, has always been environmentally aware, Aylaian said, providing the backbone for such changes.

“I think the city founders have long been sensitive to the fact that we live in the desert, which is a hostile and fragile environment, and they’ve been concerned with preserving the environment and developing a climate that will be attractive in perpetuity.

“People choose to spend a lot of money to vacation here, and it’s important that we preserve the desert and the natural attributes of the desert so people will continue to enjoy coming here.”

Palm Desert continues to look for ways, big and small, that it can make a dent in power use. The city encourages energy improvements by waiving permit fees for energy upgrades. It operates a LEED-certified visitors center and runs a trade-in program for Christmas lights in which residents can turn in outdated incandescent for a free new string of LED lights that use at least 70 percent less energy. That’s a way to light up for the season, put cash into residents’ stockings and still keep slowing the city’s electrical meter.

Residents can probably expect more green gifts from persistent Palm Desert, a city that’s growing comfortable with pushing innovation to get what it needs.

Take those courtesy golf carts on the main street. They’re not only emission-free, they soon could be carbon-neutral. Palm Desert has applied for a grant to develop solar panels for their rooftops, so they can recharge while on the go without using any electricity.

Already the city-owned courtesy carts are unique in another way: They’re completely wheelchair accessible. When the Palm Desert could find no golf carts that were already manufactured to accommodate people with mobility issues, it ordered them custom made.

Extreme Green? Bring it on.

(Photo credits: Palm Desert downtown, city of Palm Desert; Desert Willow golf course, Desert Willow Golf Resort; Electric courtesy cart, city of Palm Desert)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Once, long ago, a winemaker promised to sell no wine before its time. Now, a different company is promising to sell no wine (one label of wine anyway) without helping humans atone for past crimes.

The rhyme may not be as good, but the thought is more altruistic.

Trinity Oaks, a wine brand in the portfolio of Trinchero Family Estates, is pouring itself into this project by partnering up with Trees for the Future, an organization that plants trees around the world, promising that for every bottle of wine consumers purchase, they’ll plant one tree.

The California company also is diverting money usually spent on printed marketing material toward environmental causes, to combat global warming.

“The tree planting campaign, in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Trees for the Future,
helps restore tree cover to tropical landscapes throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America,” said Juliana French-Arnold, public relations specialist for Trinchero Family Estates.

“The purpose of our work is to improve people’s livelihoods in developing countries through helping them restore health to their land, increase their food security, and improving their ability to generate income. This is all possible primarily through planting multi-purpose, beneficial trees in gardens and fields, and on degraded lands. Furthermore–though this was not how we began planting trees twenty years ago, it is of increasing importance presently–planting trees is also the best way we have available to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere thereby helping to reduce pressures from climate change,” said Gabriel Buttram with Trees for the Future.

“For instance, if Trinity Oaks plants one million trees with us over the course of a year in the tropics they would sequester around 25,000 tons of CO2 each year,” at the beginning of the campaign, Buttram said.

There is no limit to the amount of trees the company will plant. To date, the One Bottle One Tree program has planted more than 1.8 million trees. The campaign that began in the summer of 2008 will run until next summer.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

In the journal of green urbanism, you don’t find much about Detroit, Birmingham, Salina or Stockton. These cities have proud histories, but they’ve not eco-agitators, like say, San Francisco.

Movers and shakers in Stockton, though, say they’re ready to step up to the plate. Developers there just announced a large, green development called The Preserve which they say will make the mid-sized city east of the Bay area an authentic player in the green space. The Preserve, conceived of as a large, but nature-loving mixed use development, should become a magnet for businesses and residents that might not otherwise consider the city a green destination, its developers say.

“The Preserve will demonstrate to all that Stockton has a bright future, a future that benefits from forward thinking about our environment,” said David Nelson, Executive Vice President of A. G. Spanos Companies, the national developer, which is based in Stockton.

Spanos says The Preserve will have half the carbon emissions of a similarly sized conventional development and will preserve a large swath of the cities wetlands. It is being designed by San Francisco office of Gensler, a widely known architectural firm, in accordance with the guidelines of the One Planet Community, a global outreach that.

One Planet Community encourages “true sustainability” by guiding developers and cities to consider public transit, economics, natural habitats, energy and water, jobs, education and human health.

“The Preserve is on track to be endorsed as an official One Planet Community, joining a prestigious network of the world’s greenest neighborhoods,” said Greg Searle, executive director of BioRegional North America, the environmental organization that developed the ten principles that make for a sustainable community.

Among The Preserve’s features:

• An area of protected farmland that will extend to neighborhoods, allowing for residents to grow local produce and with a goal that the community will produce 3 to 10 percent of its own food.

• A permanent greenbelt on the city’s north side, connecting parts of The Preserve to help keep driving to a minimum. Nearly half (45 percent) of the development will be devoted to green spaces or lakes.

• Higher density development with housing for all sizes of families and a community hospital.

• All of the communities non-potable water will be from recycled systems or harvested rainwater.

The developers hope that The Preserve will support 12,000 jobs on-site, linking work spaces with housing to reduce commutes and generating $2 billion in investment and new jobs. A Gensler spokesman said the firm expects The Preserve to be “a model of responsible development.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

One or two of the seven dwarfs would enjoy these houses, but certainly not all of them, and forget about Snow White. In Peter Pan, the lost boys made such a house for Wendy. And when Alice landed in Wonderland, she too experienced the tiny house phenomenon.

So, now in 2009, what’s the appeal of a home that ranges 100 to 800 square feet? Is there a market for them? Are people really downsizing to this level?

The economy may be one factor, but most folks who are attracted to these miniature homes are seeking a simpler, scaled down lifestyle –one that is kinder to the environment. Such a home uses less energy and takes advantage of renewable resources.

Simon Hare, a designer/builder in the Boston area, has resurrected an 150-year-old former gunsmith workshop and is now living in a very efficient 750-square-foot home in the dense urban setting of Roxbury, Mass. Dubbed the Pratt House project, the house is being constructed by Placetailor Inc.,  a design/build company that renovates city environments. Hare is one of five associates who work at Placetailor. The house, says Hare, “is named after Henry Pratt, the 19th century gunsmith who used it as his workshop when Roxbury was still mostly a rural settlement on the outskirts of Boston.”

Through the Looking Glass

“We just moved in this summer,” says Hare, who lives here with his engineer wife and one-year-old child. “In fact, the house isn’t finished yet. We live on the top floor, while the downstairs is being completed. We like small spaces — we’ve lived in studios before. It’s good for the environment, it’s easier to control and it’s good financially.”

Placetailor has managed to eliminate a traditional heating system (see picture right), amazing for anyone who has experienced a New England winter. “We keep the heat from a hot shower and the heat emitted by a refrigerator, by having great insulation. We also seal the building to make it airtight and situate the openings to best take advantage of the sun. By putting windows on the correct sides of the building, we minimize the amount of heat that is lost. We use no oil or gas, in fact, the house is designed to consume no energy.”

“Our walls,” says Hare, “are made of 12-1/4″ thick Styrofoam sandwiched between two layers of plywood. This is one of the many construction details we used to make the most of our house, both energy wise and otherwise.

“We don’t have a lot of appliances,” says Hare. Their washer-dryer is one unit and contains a condensing dryer, which is very efficient. It fits beneath the counter, similar to a dishwasher. “The clothes go in dirty and come out dry and clean,” says Hare. The unit does not emit exhaust like a typical dryer, so no heat is lost. As for cooking, the Hares use a convection microwave oven and a small cook top range, designed for a sailboat. Their fridge is measures 10 cubic feet.

The plumbing system consists of an electric tank less and instantaneous hot water heater located in a special wall cavity between the bathroom and kitchen, which are back to back. There are three lines, one goes to the lavatory, says Hare; the others go to the shower and the kitchen sink. There is no traditional water heater, “so we avoid having water standing around,” says Hare.

Basically, it’s a big house condensed into a smaller one, he says. “We’ve cut out a lot of things. And it’s taken a lot of trips to the local thrift shop to donate what we don’t use. There’s no room for storage.”

The second floor has two areas for sleeping, but no partitions. “The house is good for our small family, but would also work for empty nesters,” says Hare. In addition, he says, “we’ve found that people put out heat themselves and now with the addition of our baby, that helps…

“Of course,” he says, “there are other reasons for having kids!”

FedEx has added 92 hybrid-electric trucks to its fleet, all of which are converted standard delivery trucks.

The increase represents a jump of 50 percent in the company’s hybrid fleet, bringing it to a total of 264 hybrid-electric vehicles. FedEx estimates that its hybrid fleet has saved an estimated 1,521 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions since 2004. That’s equivalent to taking 279 cars off the road annually.

The hybrid conversions, which retrofitted 2000 and 2001 model trucks, also helped boost green jobs in the Charlotte, N.C., area, creating 50 new, although temporary jobs, the company reported in an announcement today.

“FedEx and our suppliers have demonstrated that converted hybrids are a viable, lower-cost option compared to purchasing new hybrids,” said John Formisano, vice president, Global Vehicles, FedEx Express in the statement.

The retrofitted vehicles will be placed into service in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.

FedEx credited California with helping FeEx initiate its hybrid program in 2004 by providing incentives for hybrid vehicles.

In today’s announcement, Formisano urged the federal government to keep incentives alive to make projects such as the retrofits more scalable.

“We now need government incentives to end a Catch-22 situation: Production volumes are low due to high cost, and costs will only come down with higher production volumes,” he said.

The new hybrid trucks are projected to improve fuel economy by 44 percent. They will produce almost no particulate matter compared to the old combustion engine trucks (a 96 percent reduction) and also will have significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, the company reported.

For more information on FedEx, which employs 280,000 people worldwide, its hybrid vehicles and other energy saving measures the company uses, see news.fedex.com

San Joaquin County announced it is developing a statewide paint stewardship program aimed at reducing the 8-million gallons of leftover paint Californians generate annually. The California Paint Stewardship Program will focus on teaching consumers how to buy the right amount of paint, properly store leftovers, and provide reuse and recycling options. For paint that cannot be reduced or reused, the project goal is to increase collection of unused paint for recycling and stimulate the recycled paint market.

Studies show that consumers frequently misjudge their paint needs, leading to large volumes of leftover paint. California’s local governments are spending almost $16 million annually to collect unused paint through Household Hazardous Waste programs, with taxpayers and garbage rate payers paying about $8 per gallon to operate the programs.

Because of the high cost, the waste management board is interested in finding long-term solutions that will reduce system costs by addressing source reduction first, then reuse and recycling. The program is being funded by a $400,000 grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

“Educating retailers and consumers on how to buy the right amount of paint and donate or use-up what is left will cost far less than the taxpayer- and ratepayer-funded collection systems currently in place,” Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the California Product Stewardship Council, said in a statement. the primary contractor for the project.

San Joaquin County will collaborate with Tehama and San Francisco Counties to implement the project, which will build on progress from the National Paint Product Stewardship Initiative. Partners include Visions Paint Recycling, the National Paint and Coatings Association, and other experts.

Odwalla is continuing its successful plant-a-tree program by donating $100,000 worth of trees to be planted in state parks in California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.

Visitors to www.parkvisitor.com/odwalla can choose their preferred state to receive a tree — no contribution or registration is required. The trees will be used to support important reforestation and planting initiatives across the country.

Since debuting in 2008, the Odwalla Plant a Tree program has provided more than 60,000 trees to state parks across the country. Trees donated through the 2008 program were planted through volunteer and other events at local parks.

The Odwalla Plant a Tree program runs from May 27, 2009 through December 31, 2009. The species of trees donated will vary by region and will be planted in fall 2009 and early 2010.

Cars.com recently released its second Green Cities Index, ranking cities on their interest green vehicles. The list was calculated by evaluating the number of hybrid searches as a percentage of overall car searches in each market, then ranking them.

West Coast buyers, particularly the Pacific Northwest, showed the greatest interest in hybrid vehicles. Eight of the top 10 cities on the list are in Oregon, California or Washington, with Eugene, Ore.; Portland, Ore.; and Santa Barbara, Calif., taking the top three spots.

“What’s interesting to note is, aside from the cities on the West Coast that one might guess would have a very strong interest in hybrid technologies, college towns rank high on the list for their interest in hybrid technologies,” Cars.com senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder said in a statement. “Among the top 15 cities on the list are a group of smaller cities with large state universities where hybrids are very popular, including Charlottesville, Va., home to the University of Virginia; Gainesville, Fla., home to the University of Florida; and Madison, Wis., home to the University of Wisconsin.”

The Cars.com Green Cities Index monitors hybrid-vehicle shopping in all 210 designated market areas across the country. Here are the complete rankings:

RANK CITY
1 Eugene, Ore.
2 Portland, Ore.
3 Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo,
Calif.
4 Monterey-Salinas, Calif.
5 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.
6 Charlottesville, Va.
7 Medford-Klamath Falls, Ore.
8 Chico-Redding, Calif.
9 Juneau, Alaska
10 Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.
11 Boise, Idaho
12 Eureka, Calif.
13 Gainesville, Fla.
14 Austin, Texas
15 Madison, Wis.
16 San Diego, Calif.
17 Phoenix, Ariz.
18 Butte-Bozeman, Mont.
19 Salt Lake City, Utah
20 Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif.
21 Lexington, Ky.
22 Denver, Colo.
23 Honolulu, Hawaii
24 Helena, Mont.
25 Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
26 Glendive, Mont.
27 Idaho Falls-Pocatello, Idaho
28 Rochester-Mason City, Iowa-Austin, Minn.
29 Portland, Maine
30 Fairbanks, Alaska
31 Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y.
32 Billings, Mont.
33 La Crosse-Eau Claire, Wis.
34 Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Wis.
35 Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque, Iowa
36 Missoula, Mont.
37 Reno, Nev.
38 Bangor, Maine
39 Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville), N.C.
40 Palm Springs, Calif.
41 Washington, DC (Hagerstown, Md.)
42 Springfield-Holyoke, Mass.
43 Columbia, S.C.
44 Tucson (Sierra Vista), Ariz.
45 Lafayette, Ind.
46 Lansing, Mich.
47 Boston, Mass. (Manchester, N.H.)
48 Bend, Ore.
49 Fresno-Visalia, Calif.
50 Tallahassee, Fla.-Thomasville, Ga.
51 Ft. Wayne, Ind.
52 Spokane, Wash.
53 Los Angeles, Calif.
54 Kansas City, Mo.
55 Yakima-Pasco-Richland-Kennewick, Wash.
56 Sioux Falls (Mitchell), S.D.
57 Casper-Riverton, Wyo.
58 Harrisonburg, Va.
59 Charlotte, N.C.
60 Nashville, Tenn.
61 Wilmington, N.C.
62 Great Falls, Mont.
63 Bowling Green, Ky.
64 Anchorage, Alaska
65 Louisville, Ky.
66 Syracuse, N.Y.
67 Las Vegas, Nev.
68 Albuquerque-Santa Fe, N.M.
69 Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney, Neb.
70 Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville,
N.C.-Anderson, S.C.
71 Omaha, Neb.
72 Terre Haute, Ind.
73 Fargo-Valley City, N.D.
74 St. Louis, Mo.
75 Cincinnati, Ohio
76 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
77 Jacksonville, Fla.
78 Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.
79 Wausau-Rhinelander, Wis.
80 Ft. Myers-Naples, Fla.
81 Des Moines-Ames, Iowa
82 Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill.
83 Columbus, Ga.
84 Green Bay-Appleton, Wis.
85 Tulsa, Okla.
86 Springfield, Mo.
87 Topeka, Kan.
88 Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.
89 Panama City, Fla.
90 Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va.
91 Charleston, S.C.
92 Mankato, Minn.
93 Indianapolis, Ind.
94 Oklahoma City, Okla.
95 Ft. Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers,
Ark.
96 Chattanooga, Tenn.
97 Rochester, N.Y.
98 Milwaukee, Wis.
99 Colorado Springs-Pueblo, Colo.
100 Dayton, Ohio
101 West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Fla.
102 Providence, R.I.-New Bedford, Mass.
103 South Bend-Elkhart, Ind.
104 Knoxville, Tenn.
105 Peoria-Bloomington, Ill.
106 Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo.
107 Hartford-New Haven, Conn.
108 Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.
109 Richmond-Petersburg, Va.
110 Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson (Williston), N.D.
111 Evansville, Ind.
112 Pittsburgh, Pa.
113 Lubbock, Texas
114 Joplin, Mo.-Pittsburg, Kan.
115 Dothan, Ala.
116 Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), Fla.
117 Binghamton, N.Y.
118 Columbus, Ohio
119 Macon, Ga.
120 Jackson, Tenn.
121 Bakersfield, Calif.
122 Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.
123 San Angelo, Texas
124 Rockford, Ill.
125 Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
126 San Antonio, Texas
127 Abilene-Sweetwater, Texas
128 Johnstown-Altoona, Pa.
129 Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Pa.
130 Salisbury, Md.
131 Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Ill.
132 Greenville-New Bern-Washington, N.C.
133 Buffalo, N.Y.
134 Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa), Ala.
135 Grand Junction-Montrose, Colo.
136 Columbus-Tupelo-West Point, Miss.
137 Sioux City, Iowa
138 Baltimore, Md.
139 Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C.
140 Atlanta, Ga.
141 Philadelphia, Pa.
142 Augusta, Ga.
143 Chicago, Ill.
144 Marquette, Mich.
145 Toledo, Ohio
146 Wichita Falls, Texas-Lawton, Okla.
147 St. Joseph, Mo.
148 Watertown, N.Y.
149 Traverse City-Cadillac, Mich.
150 Utica, N.Y.
151 Twin Falls, Idaho
152 Presque Isle, Maine
153 Memphis, Tenn.
154 Erie, Pa.
155 Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Ark.
156 Wichita-Hutchinson, Kan.
157 Elmira, N.Y.
158 Cleveland-Akron (Canton), Ohio
159 Tri-Cities, Tenn.-Va.
160 Huntsville-Decatur (Florence), Ala.
161 Quincy, Ill.-Hannibal, Mo.-Keokuk, Iowa
162 Sherman, Texas-Ada, Okla.
163 Amarillo, Texas
164 Ottumwa, Iowa-Kirksville, Mo.
165 Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo.-Harrisburg,
Ill.
166 Rapid City, S.D.
167 Youngstown, Ohio
168 Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.
169 Parkersburg, W.V.
170 Savannah, Ga.
171 Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.
172 Tyler-Longview (Lufkin & Nacogdoches), Texas
173 Hattiesburg-Laurel, Miss.
174 Cheyenne, Wyo.-Scottsbluff, Neb.
175 Houston, Texas
176 Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
177 Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach),
Fla.
178 New York, N.Y.
179 Charleston-Huntington, W.V.
180 Detroit, Mich.
181 Baton Rouge, La.
182 Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.
183 Clarksburg-Weston, W.V.
184 Lima, Ohio
185 Yuma, Ariz.-El Centro, Calif.
186 Montgomery-Selma, Ala.
187 Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas
188 Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas
189 Odessa-Midland, Texas
190 Monroe, LA-El Dorado, Ark.
191 Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, W.V.
192 New Orleans, La.
193 Jackson, Miss.
194 Wheeling, W.V.-Steubenville, Ohio
195 Jonesboro, Ark.
196 Shreveport, La.
197 Lafayette, La.
198 Corpus Christi, Texas
199 Zanesville, Ohio
200 El Paso, Texas
201 Albany, Ga.
202 Lake Charles, La.
203 Alpena, Mich.
204 Alexandria, La.
205 Victoria, Texas
206 Meridian, Miss.
207 Greenwood-Greenville, Miss.
208 Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen, Texas
209 North Platte, Neb.
210 Laredo, Texas

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Side by side, hunched over mounds of dirt with shovels in hand, students from Scripps College and inmates at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino, California, plant an organic garden. It’s not the most conventional pairing – twenty-somethings in jeans and t-shirts and women clad in prison uniforms growing fresh produce along stale concrete walls. But it’s a pairing that works. And to those involved, it makes a lot of sense.

“The garden is about connecting communities,” explains Scripps College senior and Criminal Justice Network co-leader Adrian Hodos. “These are two populations that don’t come into contact with each other enough. And now with the garden, they do.”

Hodos and her Scripps colleague Hannah Segal founded the Criminal Justice Network three years ago with the goal of raising awareness about prison related issues on their campus. In May 2008, Segal spearheaded the idea of planting an organic garden at the CIW, a women’s prison about 35 minutes from the university. After nearly a year of working on the project with the help of funding from the Strauss Foundation, the first seeds were planted in early April.

“I was looking for a more permanent project for the organization,” Segal says. “Something with a bigger impact.”

While searching for ideas Segal came across the book Doing Time in the Garden: Life Lessons through Prison Horticulure by James Jiler. Jiler ran a successful horticultural vocation program at New York City’s Rikers Island jail system, the largest jail complex in the U.S. Segal thought planting an organic farm would be a good way to promote lasting relationships between network members and women at the prison. And she knew the farm could provide fresh produce and serve as a rehabilitative activity, advantages that have been recognized by prisons across the country.

Efficient solutions and sustainable projects like organic farms have garnered a lot of interest in recent years, especially since local jails continue to operate at near full capacity. Since the end of 2000, the nation’s prison and jail custody populations have increased by 19 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice.

Facilities like the Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, Washington, are embracing greener solutions. Cedar Creek prisoners grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables last year, and they raise bees and compost 100 percent of their food waste.

The Indiana Department of Corrections in Indianapolis installed water boilers that run on waste wood chips to help minimize costs and environmental impact. The Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., uses solar panels to collect energy and North Carolina’s Department of Correction uses chemical-free cleaners and vegetable-based inks.

The American Wind Energy Association released its annual rankings of industry leaders today, showing that the nation’s wind production companies and turbine manufacturers are growing at warp speed, creating thousands of jobs and helping top wind states provide millions of households with clean energy.

First the states: Texas leads the nation with the ability to produce electricity from wind with 7,118 Megawatts of power capacity, or enough to provide 1.75 million homes in electricity.

The Lone Star state is followed by Iowa (2,791 Megawatts of wind capacity); California (2,517 Megawatts); Minnesota (1,754 Megawatts); Washington (1,447 Megawatts) and Oregon and Colorado (each with just over 1,000 Megawatts).

All together, wind installations were able to provide 25,300 MW of power by the end of 2008 and that is expected to grow in 2009 — with wind capable of powering 7 million “average American homes,” according to the AWEA.

Indiana and Michigan are growing fastest in wind, with Indiana moving from zero capacity to 131 Megawatts of capacity.

Ten new manufacturing facilities came online; 17 were expanded and 30 newly planned operations were announced in 2008, according to the AWEA. These investments affect 24 states, from Pennsylvania and New York to Oregon and Montana, with several Midwest and Southern states also involved in wind and wind equipment production.

The wind association estimates that 85,000 people are now employed in the industry, a 70 percent increase from a year ago, making wind a more powerful recession salvo than many realize.

“The wind energy industry today generates not only clean energy for our economy, but also hope and opportunity for American workers and businesses,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode in a statement. “Whether it is building or maintaining a wind project, or producing wind turbine components, you’ll find people employed in wind power in nearly all 50 states today.”

As for the companies that run these wind projects, NextEra Energy Resources, with wind offices in Minnesota, is the top “project owner” with 6,290 Megawatts in wind power assets — or roughly 25 percent of the total installed in the U.S..

Next on the wind scene are three companies that comprise another 25 percent of the market: Iberdrola Renewables, MidAmerican Energy and Horizon-Energias de Portugal.

Providing the equipment for these projects are GE Energy, which accounts for 43 percent of all the new wind capacity installed in the U.S., followed by Vestas (13 percent), Siemens and Suzlon (9 percent each) and Gamesa (7 percent).

Bode said the wind industry needs strong support from Washington to continue its progress forward.

“We need the right policies in place for our industry to maintain its momentum. A national Renewable Electricity Standard, requiring utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025, is vital to provide the long-term, U.S.-wide commitment businesses need to invest tens of billions of dollars in clean energy installations and manufacturing facilities, and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs,” she said.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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