Rallying for a clean energy bill in Massachussetts, noted climatologist Dr. James Hansen told students this weekend that they must take the future in their hands.

Massachusetts Sleep Out (Photo: Ian McClellan)

“Our universe is incredibly unjust and inequitable for young people and future generations. ” Dr. Hansen said.  “Unless someone can change the direction, young people are really in trouble.  Our governments are not taking actions or planning actions that will achieve this.”

Dr. Hansen, known for sounding the alarm about climate change to Congress 20 years ago, appeared in Boston to support students and environmentalists who have been sleeping out to press Massachusetts lawmakers to commit to 100 percent clean energy for the state by 2020.

After sleeping out with the students encamped on Boston Common, Dr. Hansen joined them in lobbying lawmakers today. He testified before an informational hearing sponsored by the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. (And being cited for trespassing by Boston police.)

Others testifying included:  Dominique McCadden, Northeastern University student and participant in The Leadership Campaign; the Rt. Rev. Roy Cederholm, Jr., Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Mass.; Frank Ackerman, Senior Economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Earlier at the Sunday rally, several other supporters spoke, including:

Marla Marcum of the Massachusetts Council of Churches; Linnea Palmer Paton, a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Alex Propp, a student at Amherst College; Steve MacAusland, co-founder of the National Interfaith Power & Light Movement; Ken Ward of the JP Greenhouse; State Representative Will Brownsberger, vice-chair of House Global Warming and Climate Change Committee; and Craig Altemose, a Harvard graduate student and coordinator of The Leadership Campaign.

The Leadership Campaign, which is run by Students for a Just and Stable Future, is coordinating the protests.

It’s not just environmental lobbyists who are gearing their words toward strong action at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change negotiations.

At a recent appearance in New Orleans, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, dubbed the “Green Patriarch” by Al Gore,  minced no words about the urgency of addressing climate change:

“We have reached a defining moment in our history…the point where absolute limits to our survival are being reached,” and we “instead of living on income, or the available surplus of the earth, we are consuming environmental capital and destroying its resources as if there is no tomorrow.”

The Patriarch was speaking at the opening address for the 8th Religion, Science and Environment (RSE) Symposium that began Oct. 20.  The RSE, a non-governmental organization based in Athens, began in 1995 with the mission to protect the planet by providing common ground among the worlds of religion, science and the environment. His All Holiness Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Christian Orthodox Church, oversees RSE.

The symposiums look at the future of global waters, which cover 7/10 of the planet’s surface. Scientists, environmentalists, policy makers and representatives from the world’s major religions have developed what RSE’s website describes as “a vibrant environmental ethics movement.”

In addressing the symposium, entitled “Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River,” the Patriarch said, “We stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans and all people who seek a better life. And we are present with you to call for a renewed consciousness for environmental responsibility, and an awareness of what such a consciousness entails.”

Blessing the Mississippi, His All Holiness Bartholomew and Cardinal McCarrick

Referring to the Mississippi, the Patriarch said, “this river comprises a microcosm of our planet. In its waters, we observe many of the world’s ecological issues. We are humbled in its presence. We have come to listen to its story, to learn from its history…As the Mississippi links the prairies to the sea, we ourselves form the link between the past and the future.”

The symposium, said RSE spokesman Paul Brown, “was one of the last major gatherings before the critical climate talks to be held in Copenhagen in late November and early December.”

Although there are indications that the United States and China hope for success, “many feel that the world’s politicians do not understand the urgency of the situation, or the need for radical thinking and action,” he said.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader to 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, echoed this thought in his opening address, where he spoke of the need for change and for humans to recognize that we are at  “a defining moment in our history.”

Brown said the group hopes the serious tone is not lost on policymakers.

“Climate change,” Brown said, “does not respect national boundaries…Religion and science should transcend national boundaries: both forces need to make their voices heard and galvanize the politicians at Copenhagen into action.”

His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew has led other symposia around the world, featuring the Danube and Amazon Rivers, the Aegean and Black Seas.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Health reform has gripped your attention and dominated your computer and TV screens for weeks now.

In case you’ve got little time to spare to study up on climate legislation coming down the pike soon after this huge debate, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change has boiled it down to a summary report.

Get up to snuff on what the Kerry-Boxer bill, called the The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, by reading the Pew synopsis.

Willing to dig deeper? See Sen. John Kerry’s website for summaries by section of the bill. It’s written in even plainer English and makes it clear what’s in (natural gas and nuclear power) and what’s out (it does not raise the federal deficit by one single dime).

The bill developed as the Senate counterpart to the House’s Waxman-Markey climate bill, but it differs in key ways, for instance, focusing mainly on how to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Most notable, given the origins of the bill in the more conservative Senate, it aims higher, shooting for a 20 percent reduction in GHG from 2005 levels by 2020 compared with the Waxman-Markey goal of  a 17 percent reduction for the same time frame.

The ultimate goal: An 83 percent reduction in GHG’s by 2050, just inching past the standard 80 percent reduction that scientists argue for.

After setting that critical threshold, the bill, like Waxman-Markey, aims to create clean energy jobs and promote energy security by underwriting local, renewable energy sources and installing a cap-and-trade system that puts a price on pollution.

(The authors are Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

A version of this story appeared in the Albany Times-Union [1] on Oct. 8, 2009.

A preliminary report [2] from a consultant hired by New York City warns that “nearly every activity” associated with natural gas drilling could potentially harm the city’s drinking water supply and that while the risk can be reduced with strict regulations, “the likelihood of water quality impairment…. cannot be eliminated [2].”

That assessment contrasts sharply with the picture presented by an environmental review released by state officials last week [3]. Aside from clauses that ban some waste pits and promise additional consideration for drilling within 1,000 feet of the city’s reservoirs and water infrastructure in upstate New York, the environmental review does little to respond to New York City’s long-standing concerns [4] that the watershed deserves special environmental consideration and instead paves the way for drilling to proceed throughout the watershed.

The issue appears to be emerging as a point of controversy in New York City’s mayoral election.

City comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson criticized the state’s environmental review in a news release and said Mayor Bloomberg should be more outspoken. “I am also concerned that the City and the Water Board have been extremely lax in responding to this threat,” he said.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Bloomberg’s office, said the mayor will withhold judgment until he sees the final version of the report the city commissioned from Hazen and Sawyer, a New York City-based environmental engineering firm. The full report isn’t expected to be delivered until December, after the public comment period for the state environmental review has ended.

LaVorgna emphasized that the Bloomberg administration has invested heavily in the city’s water system and would not rule out a protracted fight to protect it.

“This is not a fringe issue for this administration,” LaVorgna said. “This is a mayor that adamantly orders tap water every night he dines out.”

In one of his few statements on the subject, Bloomberg, who has generally supported the idea of energy development, told WNYC radio Thursday [5] that “if this has the danger of polluting, we will fight it.”

The clashing reports seem poised to reignite long standing tensions between upstate New York and New York City, which depends almost entirely on water delivered from rural, upstate areas.

“The stakes are very high based on the conclusions of this report,” Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in an interview with ProPublica. The report, he said, “suggests that city elected officials have a role to play here and a responsibility to step up and say, ‘What does frack drilling mean to New York City residents?’”

Last week Stringer announced he was launching a Kill the Drill campaign.

New York is one of four major cities in the United States with a special permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing its drinking water to go unfiltered. That pristine water comes from a network of upstate reservoirs and rivers spread across 1,600 square miles in five upstate counties. Those reservoirs – which all lie west of the Hudson River – supply 90 percent of the drinking water for 9 million downstate residents, nearly half the state’s population. If the EPA were to rescind the city’s special permit, New York City would have to build a treatment facility that could cost between $10 billion and $30 billion, according to various estimates.

Hazen and Sawyer’s early findings [2] were summarized at a city meeting last week and posted on the city’s Department of Environmental Protection’s Web site Tuesday evening, after repeated requests for the document by ProPublica over the past several days.

The report [2], and an accompanying summary Powerpoint presentation, lays out several areas of concern. The consultants found that drilling “introduces hazardous chemicals into the watershed” and that “the well bore, which acts as a conduit between geologic formations, can allow previously isolated contaminants to flow into shallow groundwater or surface water.”

The research also warned of “enormous volumes” of wastewater and said there are no treatment plants in the region designed to treat these wastes. It said the disturbance from hydraulic fracturing could cause seismic shifts or otherwise damage the tunnels or aqueducts that bring the water to the city. Hydraulic fracturing shoots millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground with such force that it breaks rock and releases pockets of gas.

So far, New York City’s top officials have preferred a behind-the-scenes approach as the public debate over the state’s natural gas drilling policy unfurls in Albany. City DEP officials have protested to the DEC in private letters, but have said little publicly.

In a letter obtained by ProPublica in July 2008, then New York City DEP commissioner Emily Lloyd asked the DEC commissioner [6] to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and to consider a partial ban on drilling near the reservoirs that supply New York City’s water. Shortly afterward, and following an investigation by ProPublica, Gov. David Paterson ordered the environmental review [7] that was released Sept. 30. Called the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, it supplements gas and oil drilling rules established in 1992 [8]. New York City officials have since sent several additional letters to the state DEC voicing their ongoing concerns.

A spokesman for the state DEC did not return repeated calls for comment.

The state supplemental draft report discloses many of the drilling chemicals, as Lloyd had requested, and it also strengthens several other environmental protections. But it did not recommend a full or partial ban on drilling in the watershed.

The supplementary impact statement is now subject to a 60-day public comment period, after which final guidelines will be issued. But Stringer and others are pressing the state for a 30-day extension, which would allow the findings from the Hazen and Sawyer report to be included.

Read the “Rapid Impact Assessment Report [2]” by consulting firm Hazen and Sawyer.

Read our full coverage of natural gas drilling [9].

ProPublica reporters Joaquin Sapien and Saprina Shankman contributed to this story.

In a nod to greener times, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Congressional Record is now being printed on 100 percent recycled paper. The Speaker received her first environmentally friendly copy of the Congressional Record Friday from the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Each day the federal government’s General Printing Office produces 4,130 copies of the Congressional Record — despite the document’s availability online. But that number is down more than 75 percent from 1995 because of the Internet.

“What we are doing now will reduce landfill waste, reduce 1.4 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually, support private industry efforts to develop new, environmentally friendly technologies,” Pelosi said in a statement. “It puts the official proceedings of Congress on recycled paper and that is good for our environment and good for our future.”

The move is part of the larger “Green the Capitol” Initiative, started by Speaker Pelosi in 2007, which has instituted sustainability practices to make the House a leader in resource conservation and energy efficiency. She called the initiative “long overdue.”

“This effort, the effort to green the nation, obviously must start at home,” Pelosi said. “And home for us in the House and in the Senate and for Members of Congress is right here in the Capitol. This is one more step in the ‘Green the Capitol’ program – making sustainability a priority, placing conservation and energy efficiency at the top of our agenda, and putting America’s leaders at the forefront of an issue that affects all Americans.”

January Jones, star of the Mad Men TV series and an ocean advocate, went to Washington this week to lobby for the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 and stronger US leadership for saving the ocean’s top predators.

January Jones (Photo: American Movie Classics)

“We should be scared FOR sharks, not of them,” said the Golden Globe nominee. “The survival of sharks and the health of our oceans depend on it.”

Jones met with various members of Congress, including Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The actress, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the critically acclaimed Mad Men series on the American Movie Channel, became a spokesman for Oceana’s Save Sharks campaign earlier this year.

Sharks have survived in the oceans since the age of the dinosaur, but today some species are nearly extinct due to overfishing and killing some sharks just for their fins, Oceana reports. As the ocean’s top predators, they play a critical role in keeping ecosystems healthy; their decline is causing potentially irreversible changes in the make up of the seas.

The Shark Conservation Act would outlaw shark “finning,” in which the animals fin is sheared off at sea with the body discarded. The law would require that all shark brought in to land would be whole.

The Act was introduced by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in April. A similar measure introduced by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), passed the House of Representatives in March.

For more on sharks and why their survival matters see the Oceana website. There you can also find out about Ms. Jones’ recent trip to swim with sharks (no, that’s not the same as the Washington tour).

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Evander Holyfield

Four-time heavy weight boxing champion Evander Holyfield is ready for another fight. Except this time, he is fighting for the planet. Known as the Real Deal in the sports world, Holyfield will also be going by a new nickname, Lean Green Fighting Machine. Holyfield has announced that in partnership with Global-NES-Georgia, Inc., he plans to build a 40-acre solar energy farm on his estate in Georgia.

“I am proud to be a partner in the green movement to heal the earth,” said Holyfield in a press release. “I am also dedicated to an approach which minimizes disruption to the local community and ecosystem.”

“Global NES-Georgia, Inc is proud to build this project,” said Ed Ukanonu, CEO of Global NES. “Global NES-Georgia, Inc. is committed to providing today’s most comprehensive, yet affordable, renewable energy efficiency programs, systems & technologies.”

In addition to the solar farm, another acre of land will be dedicated to an organic garden that will be maintained by the Evander Holyfield Foundation. The garden will be used as a teaching tool for neighborhood youth to understand the importance of going green.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Daryl Hannah brings a personal sweetness and actor’s intensity to the stage of environmentalism, a term she doesn’t like.

Like many environmental terms — green, eco, sustainability, organic – “companies have co-opted and glommed onto these words,” she told an audience in Fort Worth this week. Luckily, she says the public is learning to be more informed.

“People are making ethical choices that help all living things to thrive, not to just sustain,” said the casually dressed actress who has starred in many memorable films such as Splash (with Tom Hanks), Steel Magnolias (with Sally Fields), Roxanne (with Steve Martin) and two Kill Bill movies directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Hannah, who was the headliner for a green event benefiting the Texas Trees Foundation and the North Texas Clean Air Coalition, said that although she has lived off the grid for 20 years, she didn’t speak about it until 9-11.

“It was after 9-11 that I realized we didn’t need to go to war for oil,” she said. “There are other options available and we have the infrastructure to do it now.”

Hannah has two cars – a 1984 El Camino that is powered by vegetable oil from local restaurants and the other, her “Kill Bill Trans-Am” that has been converted to running on alcohol. “I don’t remember the last time I went to a gas station, except to use the restroom,” she said.

“Rudolf Diesel built the original diesel to run on vegetable oil,” she pointed out. “The idea was that farmers could fuel the vehicle with their produce.”

Noting that the Chevy Volt is expected to debut in 12 months, she said the public will have to recognize that their energy may still be coming from dirty, fossil fuels.

“Electric cars are important,” she says, “as long as they are not plugging into the grid. If they are you might as well be burning coal in your home.”

By living off the grid, Hannah has no utility bills. Her home runs on passive and active solar-power and was built using non-toxic and recycled materials. She uses no petroleum products and uses spring water. The Rocky Mountain home, built in the 1800s and snuggled into an insulating  mountain, is no mansion, she says.

“It doesn’t have 19 bathrooms.”

On the outward facing side of the house, solar panels collect and retain energy to power the home, and while a biodiesel generator is available for backup power, Hannah says she hasn’t had to use it. The home is designed so that all the water from the sink, dishwasher and shower – the grey water – is used to water the garden.

A vegetarian since she was 11, Hannah says she believes that not eating meat is the most effective thing a person can do for the environment.

“The meat industry puts out more carbon emissions than the transportation industry,” she says. “Even giving up meat for a weekend, helps.” In her case, she became a vegetarian, because, “ I couldn’t disassociate from the creature on my plate.”

Hannah’s love for all living things is the inspiration for her video blog, DHLovelife.com.

“I was going to do a TV show with the Discovery Channel, but I was suspicious of some of their sponsors.” Instead, she chose to produce videos on her own and not worry about censorship. “I want to focus on solution to the crises that we face,” she says. She writes and shoots most of the vlog herself, with the exception of some of the interviews she conducts with oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and environmental scientist Dr. David Suzuki.

Hannah sees a three-way solution to global warming: Conserve, renew and offset.

Conserving can be accomplished by buying locally grown food, giving up meat, using a fully loaded washer, air drying clothes, installing CFLs and unplugging small appliances.

By renewing, Hannah suggests buying the new, more energy-efficient large appliances such as refrigerators; insulating hot water heaters; and using public transportation. As for offsetting, she suggests checking out the many websites that can help you calculate how much carbon you are responsible for and then offset it buy purchasing wind power or planting a tree.

Of course, she adds, “It is less important to offset and more important to ask the question: Do I need so much stuff? We need re-evaluate our lifestyles…for our own health and our kids’ future. And we’ll save money in the long run. ” And, she adds, “get the poisons out of your house.” Check to see if the deodorant, makeup, cleaning products you are using are non-toxic and biodegradeable.

Hannnah points out that despite what some may think, something that is carbon neutral isn’t all good. For instance, she points out, a so-called carbon-neutral nuclear plant contains radioactive waste. And while natural gas burns clean, it is still a fossil fuel.
The basic thing, she says, is that “we need clean air, clean water and unpoisoned soil to grow our food. It’s common sense. And it’s not a partisan thing.”

Education is key, she says. As her mentor, aquanaut Sylvia Earle, says, “You can’t care, if you don’t know…Once you know, you don’t go back.”

Hannah recommended several authors to the crowd including William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which talks about making ethical choices that will help all living things to thrive, including all children in all species, for all time. There’s also The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. Food should be grown in the ground or on a tree, says Hannah. If it’s processed or packaged, it’s not really food.

Lending her celebrity name to a good cause had gotten Hannah arrested twice. Once, she was arrested in South Central Los Angeles for supporting an urban garden that was being threatened by a developer (the garden was subsequently razed). In June, she protested mountaintop removal mining alongwith NASA climate scientist James Hansen.

“Civil disobedience is a useful tool when something’s not right. It brings awareness and supports a struggle. A recognizeable name can help, “ she admits. “When I got arrested in West Virginia, the police were very respectful…they all wanted their picture taken with me,” she said with a grin.

Although making movies are still part of Hannah’s life, she says, “more of my time and energy is being spent on educating ourselves. There are solutions.” She notes that people around the world look to the American Dream subscribing to the concept that “big is better.”

“ I think we can redefine the American Dream as beautiful, well-made, but keep it simple and essential without excess.”

Hannah’s Camino is a good example. It’s hardly the luxury vehicle of a movie star. But it gets 40 miles to the gallon and its fuel has virtually no toxicity (about the same as table salt). She demonstrates this in one of her DHLoveslife videos by actually pouring a glass of grease fuel and taking a drink.

Hannah is an actor who has become immersed in her environmental role and doesn’t just talk the talk. But drinking grease fuel? “I really did that,” she said. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

When Jay Leno launches his new prime-time show next week, he’ll include a “Green Car Challenge.”

“We have celebrities in green cars race and we see who the fastest green celebrity is,” Leno said in a statement. “And if some crash and burn, YES!”

Ford said its all-new battery electric Ford Focus will be the exclusive vehicle for “Green Car Challenge.” The battery electric vehicle, specially made for the show, foreshadows elements of the electric Focus that Ford will begin selling in North America in 2011.

“Having our Focus battery electric vehicle on the show is a great way to demonstrate how fun to drive these cars really can be,” Lisa Drake, chief engineer of Ford Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicle Programs, said in a statement. “Beyond the immediate excitement of driving, it demonstrates that Ford is investing in this technology and that we’re committed to electric vehicles.”

Ford officials say they plan to put at least four electrified vehicles on the road in North America by 2012, including the Focus BEV in 2011, as well as new hybrids and a plug-in hybrid.

The company said its hybrid and battery electric vehicle program team worked with Ford Racing to develop the special BEV for the show. It took three weeks to build the car and another couple of weeks to properly tune the suspension so it could be driven fast on a racetrack. The development work was done at Ford’s Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, Mich.

The Focus BEV built for the show has a split battery pack, with one battery in the cargo area and one underneath the car in the space normally occupied by a fuel tank.

Oceana raised nearly $900,000 at last weekend’s second annual SeaChange Summer Party, where it honored celebrities Glenn Close and Morgan Freeman.

The gathering supporting the ocean protection group was star-studded. Attendees included Oceana board member Ted Danson, last year’s honorees Harrison Ford and John Picard; Kate Walsh, Aaron Peirsol, Lauren Hutton, Anne Heche, Jeff Goldblum and many others.

Actress Close works with Arbor Day programs in her native New York City and has been a longtime supporter of human and animal rights, including assisting the Fountain House in New York City, a recovery facility for people with psychological disorders.

Freeman, an advocate for fighting global warming, has been active in the recovery efforts related to Hurricane Katrina. The Memphis native helped co-found PlanIt Now, a non-profit focused on hurricane preparedness.

Glenn Close has been nominated for five Academy Awards for her work in Dangerous Liaisons, Fatal Attraction, The Big Chill, The Natural and The World According to Garp.S he won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for her role as ‘Patty Hewes’ on Damages and is a three-time Tony Award winner.

Freeman won an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2004, and was nominated for an Oscar three times before for acting turns in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy and the Shawshank Redemption. He has narrated many movies including March of the Penguins.

Oceana has been cited by Kiplinger Magazine as among the nation’s most effective environmental groups.  The summer party took place at a private residence in Laguna Beach. The event had a long list of sponsors, including Lugano Diamonds, the Harriet E. Pfleger Foundation and many national and local businesses.

]]> http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/26/oceana-honors-glenn-close-and-morgan-freeman-at-summer-fundraiser/feed/ 0 http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/24/southern-governors-sign-on-to-ecodriving-campaign/ http://www.greenrightnow.com/kgo/2009/08/24/southern-governors-sign-on-to-ecodriving-campaign/#comments Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:05:49 +0000 Tom Kessler http://www.greenrightnow.com/?p=4561 From Green Right Now Reports EcoDriving, a national initiative to promote green driving habits, has won the support of 10 more governors. The Southern Governors Association announced yesterday the latest states to join the EcoDriving movement that was launched a year ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO), the Environmental Defense Fund and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "EcoDriving was introduced to empower consumers to take green driving into their own hands by adjusting their driving and vehicle maintenance habits," Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement. "The educational program offers Americans a simple way to be more fuel efficient, and save at the pump.]]> From Green Right Now Reports

EcoDriving, a national initiative to promote green driving habits, has won the support of 10 more governors. The Southern Governors Association announced yesterday the latest states to join the EcoDriving movement that was launched a year ago by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO), the Environmental Defense Fund and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

“EcoDriving was introduced to empower consumers to take green driving into their own hands by adjusting their driving and vehicle maintenance habits,” Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in a statement. “The educational program offers Americans a simple way to be more fuel efficient, and save at the pump.

The newest governors to endorse the program are Bob Riley (R- AL), Haley Barbour (R-MS), Jay Nixon (D-MO), Martin O’Malley (D – MD), Bev Perdue (D-NC), Luis Fortuno (R – PR), Mark Sanford (R- SC), John De-Jongh (D – USVI), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).

That group joins governors Sonny Perdue (R-GA), C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-ID), Steve Beshear (D- KY), Jennifer M. Granholm (D-MI), Brad Henry (D-OK) and Jon Huntsman (R-UT), along with governors Schwarzenegger and Ritter, in supporting for EcoDriving.

EcoDriving is focused on raising awareness of how subtle and easy-to-use driving and vehicle maintenance best practices can improve mileage by an average of 15 percent. The program helps improve the mileage of every single vehicle, regardless of vehicle size and age. The benefits are potentially huge:

• If just half of all drivers nationwide practiced moderate levels of EcoDriving, annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be reduced by about 100 million tons, or the equivalent of heating and powering 8.5 million households.
• If all Americans practiced EcoDriving, it would be equal to 450 billion miles traveled on our roadways without generating any CO2 emissions. That’s 1,500 CO2-free miles for every man, woman and child in the United States each year.

Last week, President William J. Clinton made a stop in Chicago to address the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment at its annual Climate Leadership Summit. Since leaving office, President Clinton has spent his time focusing on issues that, to him, make a difference. One that the former president has chosen to tackle is the environment, and in his opinion, the economy and the environment go hand in hand.

In his view, the future is green and in relation to the economy, green is gold. Count him among those who believe we can best increase economic activity by investing in the new emerging energy economy.

President Clinton acknowledges that in a time of great economic uncertainty, it is hard to put up the investment when the savings are not immediate, but realized over time. Yet according to President Clinton, environmental change has the potential to not only make for a better planet, it will greatly stimulate the economy.

“Lester Brown (founder of the Worldwatch Institute, which is devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues) says if you invest a billion dollars in a coal fire plant you get 870 jobs” Clinton said. “If you invest a billion dollars in solar power (depending on which type) you get 1,800-1,900 jobs.  If you invest a billion dollars in wind power, if you actually manufacture and assemble the windmills in the jurisdiction where they are put up, you get 3,300 jobs.  If you invest a billion dollars in energy efficiency you get 6,000 jobs.”

Those are compelling estimates at a time when America has lost 6.7 million jobs in the recession.

“This is the cheapest, surest, most certain way to generate the increased employment we need, that will also spread confidence throughout the economy and get hiring going again in every sector,” Clinton said. “I do not believe there is another option available for the United States at this time that would do more in less time to generate the jobs we need.

“We have to demonstrate how to do this in a way that actually has a transformational impact on our economy and the global economy, and a way that generates more broadly based prosperity as well as saves the planet for our children and grandchildren,” said Clinton.

As a solution to the financing road block, he explained the idea of “decoupling,” which means “a utility company does not have to sell more electricity to charge more, so instead can finance efficiency and then split the savings with the homeowner, the business owner or the building owner.”

California has been using this system for a while now.  Which is why “the average Californian uses 55 percent as much energy per year, as the average American,” according to President Clinton.

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is involved in many projects in cities around the world. Recently, the organization worked with Johnston Controls on an energy efficiency design for New York City’s Empire State Building. The project, self-financed, will cost $33 million and reduce greenhouse gases by 38 percent. It is projected to save $4.5 million per year in utility bills and be completely paid off in only 7.5 years.

“It will have the equivalent effect of that one building taking 19,000 cars off the road, so we are hoping that it gets other New York buildings to get into this more rapidly,” said Clinton.

The CCI also is in the beginning stages of a project that will make the entire island of Puerto Rico completely self-sufficient.

Clinton’s Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., was the first federal building to receive a Platinum Level LEED Certification. So he is currently urging the federal government to upgrade all its buildings, and to require that each new structure meets LEED standards.

President Clinton also is passionate about the problem of deforestation, calling it “18 percent of the global problem.” While Brazil is facing great challenges in relation to deforestation due to cattle ranching, other poorer countries are burning down forests for other reasons: to live. Clinton believes that in most places, people burn down trees to be able to cook dinner, using Haiti as an example. In these countries, he said, the incentive to burn down the trees must be removed. In Haiti they have developed a product made of saw dust and wet paper, which sells for a penny each. It burns as effectively as coal, but for one fifth of the cost.

Decisions are being made that affect all of us, he warns. While you may not be able to solve the crisis of global warming or even get a vote in Congress, every little bit makes a difference.

“All I know is, if you do a million little things, you have done a very big thing,” Clinton said. So perhaps, all we can do is just try our best, one little thing at a time, he urged. The state of our environment is no longer an issue for the future; it is an issue for today. We cannot solve problems using the same thinking that created them. It is time for a change.

In a powerful closing, President Clinton said simply: “I would like to do more, and I hope that you will help.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media