Calling themselves “Clean Energy Patriots,” dozens of environmental leaders today asked the U.S. Senate to quit serving the interests of “Big Oil” and take action on behalf of Americans who want clean energy and climate solutions.

The leaders from nearly 50 environmental and social responsibility groups signed a declaration at the U.S. Capitol. It demands  that the Senate quit stalling on climate action, and kicks off a 40-day countdown until Earth Day, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on April 22.

They urged citizens to join in what they are calling the Earth Day Revolution.

“The first Earth Day was a success because 20 million Americans demonstrated an urgent need for environmental protection and action,” said Kathleen Rogers, President, Earth Day Network. “Together, we can make the 40th anniversary of Earth Day a pivotal moment in the environmental movement. We will use the next 40 days to build momentum around a demand for comprehensive climate legislation…”

Clean energy legislation would not only protect the environment, it would create jobs and improve national security, the leaders said.

“For too long Big Oil and their special interest allies have stood in the way of a clean energy revolution. It’s time for lawmakers to listen to the millions of citizens who will recognize this Earth Day by demanding the Senate gets working to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation,” said Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. “We need more Clean Energy Patriots this year. We need an Earth Day Revolution, not just another celebration.”

The campaign will wind up with a Climate Rally on the Sunday after Earth Day, on April 25.

The following groups have signed the Earth Day Declaration:

1Sky

Audubon

American Hunters and Shooters

American Rivers

American Values Network

Campus Progress

Center for American Progress Action Fund

Clean Water Action

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

Climate Protection Action Fund

Climate Solutions

Defenders of Wildlife

Democracia Ahora

Earth Day Network

Environment America

Environmental Defense Action Fund

Environmental Law and Policy Center

Green for All

Hip Hop Caucus

Interfaith Power and Light

La Onda Verde

League of Conservation Voters

National Catholic Rural Life Conference

National Wildlife Federation

NWF Campus Ecology

Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund

Oceana

Operation Free

Rock the Vote

Sierra Club

Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

SACE

Southern Energy Network

StudentPIRGs

SustainUS

Truman National Security Project

Union of Concerned Scientists

Veterans for Common Sense

Voces Verdes

World Wildlife Fund

The Wilderness Society

Clean energy and Fortune 500 executives arrived in Washington D.C. today for the fifth and final leg of the “Race for American Jobs: Clean Energy Leadership,” a coast-to-coast virtual race to drive home the economic and job-creation benefits of national climate and energy legislation.

Sponsored by We Can Lead, a coalition of business leaders from 30 states who are pushing for new  energy and climate policies in the United States, the  the four-week campaign included events in Oregon, Colorado, Ohio and New Hampshire, before moving to Washington.

A “race” baton, calling for swift passage of comprehensive climate legislation, was delivered at Congressional today on Capitol Hill. The baton was signed by executives from Best Buy, Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss, Jones Lang LaSalle and Stonyfield, and others from clean energy companies, union leadership, and investor and youth groups.

The group believes that comprehensive climate and energy policies such as those that passed in the House could create up to 1.9 million jobs nationally from 2010 to 2020, including up to 26,000 jobs in Oregon and 61,000 jobs in Ohio, according to a recent study by the University of California.

“The time to act is now,” Sarah Severn, director of stakeholder mobilization for Nike Inc., which hosted the first leg of the cross-country race Feb. 16 at its Oregon headquarters, said in a statement. “The U.S. needs legislation that gives clean energy entrepreneurs an even playing field to compete globally for innovation and job creation.”

Jim Hanna, director of environmental impact at Starbucks, said “the sooner we develop national climate policies, the better equipped we’ll be to compete in the global race for clean energy and create new jobs here at home.”

Image: state.pa.us

A combination of federal and private sector funding will be the basis of Pennsylvania’s $48 million Green Energy Revolving Loan Fund, providing money for energy-saving and renewable energy projects in existing, non-residential buildings around the state.

The Recovery Act will contribute $12 million to the fund, while The Reinvestment Fund, TRF, will add $36 million and will serve as the program’s manager. Governor Edward Rendell cited TRF’s track record of investing in green and sustainable energy as key elements in the selection process.

Federal guidelines require any potential manager to contribute at least $18 million to the fund. TRF doubled that commitment.

The $48 million total investment is projected to support 500 jobs on projects designed to reduce energy consumption by nearly 800 billion British Thermal Units — enough to power more than 23,000 average homes in Pennsylvania for one year.

Prior to the new commitment, TRF has financed more than 2,526 projects in the Mid-Atlantic region, delivering $939 million. The Department of Environmental Protection and TRF are in the process of finalizing the fund’s guidelines.

“President Obama and Congress had the foresight to make renewable energy and energy conservation a key part of the federal Recovery Act because these are areas that are critically important to the nation’s future,” Rendell said. “This new revolving loan fund is the latest opportunity to be born of that wise decision and, under TRF’s management, the program will put hundreds of people to work incorporating green technologies into buildings that ultimately, will save consumers millions of dollars each year.”

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the Environmental Defense Fund, with the support of The Meadows Foundation have developed the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook.

The project highlights that in an emerging green energy economy, green means dollars. There are more than 200 green jobs listed in the guidebook, as well as specific training and education opportunities across Texas, and the list is expected to grow. Green is not a short term trend, but a fundamental shift in political, corporate, and personal decision making, according to those advocating for green jobs.

In Texas, $6 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside for energy and weatherization programs is expected to fuel the green  job market. New bills awaiting review in Congress, such as the existing Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, could further that job growth.

“Texas is the energy capital of America,” said Kate Robertson, author of the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook and an energy efficiency specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund. When most people think of energy opportunities in Texas they think of oil, but that is rapidly changing.  Texas is the number one producer of wind energy in the country, providing opportunities all around the state, especially in West Texas where most wind farms are located. In Austin, solar energy is a fast-growing jobs sector.

From green construction to energy conservation, the green job market is vast, and the jobs listed in the guidebook reflect that, encompassing these areas:

• Clean Energy
• Solar Power
• Wind Power
• Geothermal Power
• Biogas
• Biomass
• Hydrogen Power
• Hydroelectric Power
• Green Building
• Transportation
• Waste Management
• Water Resources
• Conservation and Planning
• Environmental Research and Monitoring
• Advocacy

Also, while many green jobs are relatively new, they typically have strong local ties and cannot be outsourced overseas, providing some job security.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Image: cleanenergyweek.org

Legislators wrestling with health care reform, job concerns and a spiraling federal deficit have another group vying for their attention in Washington this week.  Thanks to a hastily thrown-together coalition, it’s Clean Energy Week, with environmental activists and business leaders descending on Capitol Hill to press for money for more and better green initiatives.

An unlikely catalyst for that change: The jobs bill, which many hope will include more green items than normal. As the week began, the Senate was considering a proposal to deploy $11 billion of the potential jobs bill for efficiency measures. Creation of a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) and a Green Bank also were part of the discussion.

Reed Hundt, co-chairman of the Coalition for the Green Bank, says the clean energy movement has been presented with a rare opportunity, however strange the bedfellows in some cases may be.

“We never expected, six months ago, that we’d be talking about the jobs bill as the bus we’d be getting on right now,” he said. “And in no way does it mean that we don’t need comprehensive energy legislation.

“It just means that if we can get a couple of passengers on the bus right now, let’s do it, because if we do get these expenditures and these lending authorities created, they will further demonstrate the relative ease of implementing all these other measures.”

With unemployment still hovering at about 10 percent nationally, environmental groups are touting the link between good, sustainable policy and good business. Hundt estimates that $2 billion in low-cost loans to utilities and other potentially green operations could stimulate up to $40 billion in total spending. That, in turn, could create up to 400,000 new jobs, he said.

More than 100 organizations and groups have banded together for Clean Energy Week, the brainchild of American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) President Michael  Eckhart and Jeff Anderson, co-founder and executive director of Clean Economy Network. When the two met for breakfast about three weeks ago, they noted that the Renewable Energy Technology Conference (RETECH), expected to attract more then 2,500 attendees, already was scheduled for Washington this week. That, plus budget discussions on Capitol Hill, created a perfect opportunity, as Eckhart put it, to “create a bit of noise” about clean energy.

“The purpose of Clean Energy Week is to get center stage with the Congress among the three, four, five, six major agendas our government has before it today,” he said. “It’s time to make decisions about these policies, to put these policies in place in order to put the nation in motion.

“It’s not just for us and our agenda. This is good for the country.”

The group, which planned 15 related events for the week, stated three major objectives:

• Engage Congress and the Administration to take action now.
• Educate industry and government on the practical applications for clean energy that are economically viable and will create jobs.
• Seek to encourage greater investment in clean energy and energy efficiency technology.

In addition to mobilizing environmental groups, Clean Energy Week organizers also have enlisted the business community. About 120 CEOs from across the country will stage a “fly-in lobby day” to knock on the doors of their respective representatives.

“With so many national imperatives competing, we believe the drumbeat for passage of clean energy policy must be strong, it must be consistent, and it must come from every corner of the United States,” said Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to Save Energy.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Environmentalism is getting an injection of fun, but with a serious aim.

Today, some of the nation’s best-known and critically acclaimed celebrities, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Jason Bateman, Felicity Huffman and Forest Whitaker, along with rising stars Chace Crawford, Emmy Rossum and Justin Long, are leading a campaign to help citizens sound the call for clean energy in Washington.

(Noted professor Cornell West also makes a cameo appearance in the video, impishly declaring “Tweet this!)

The program, launched today by these actors and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is called  This is Our Moment. It’s main thrust: To help people contact their senators, even flood their email boxes, make videos and generally get viral in pushing for an American clean energy bill.

Those who want to register their support for clean energy action can use social networking tools at the website to spread the message. Fans of the movement will be able to embed a video player on their Facebook page or blog, and more. (Tweet this! says West.)

This is Our Moment supports legislation to shift the nation’s energy production from fossil-fuel based power sources to non-polluting, renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

The viral campaign was timed to begin after President Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he called for passage of a clean energy bill. The U.S. House passed such a measure in 2009, but the legislation, called the Clean Energy, Jobs and American Power Act, has been stalled in the Senate.

Advocates say that passage of the bill would create local jobs, free the U.S. from dependence on foreign oil and greatly reduce carbon emissions, which scientists warn are fueling accelerating climate change.

“This is our moment – our moment to fight for a cleaner and more secure future,” said DiCaprio, a longtime environmentalist and an NRDC Trustee, in a news release. “The time is now for people across the country to stand up and have their voices heard. We all must call on the Senate to act on this historic opportunity.”

Those opposed to a clean energy and climate action bill in the Senate have raised questions about the accuracy of the science of climate change. They’ve also called for the nation to pursue all energy sources, an approach opposed by environmentalists who want less of the nation’s energy to come from the burning of fossil fuels. Gasoline engines and coal-fired power plants generate the majority of carbon emissions in the U.S. and in countries around the world.

In his State of the Union address, Obama called on Congress to pass clean energy legislation so that the U.S. can remain a world manufacturing leader.

China, as well as India and most European nations, are adding wind and solar capacity, creating a large world market for clean energy technology expertise and goods.

Major U.S. firms, such as General Electric among others, make components for wind turbines. Several Silicon Valley companies are developing cheaper and more efficient solar tools, both for large industrial and home installations.

Like what you see on YouTube? Here’s the longer version by the “This is Our Moment” celebs:

Said NRDC President Frances Beinecke: “This is one of the most important pieces of legislation of our time – we cannot let our moment pass us by. Our Senators need to hear all of us loud and clear.”

As the Copenhagen climate talks moved into high gear on Tuesday, preparing for the heads of state to join the talks, the AP released a poll showing that more Americans believe action on climate change will help the U.S. economy than hinder it.

The Associated Press-Stanford University Poll found that 40 percent of Americans said that action to slow global warming would create jobs, and 46 percent said it would “boost the economy.”

Less than one-third of respondents felt that controlling climate change would hurt the economy.

Republicans opposed to a national climate bill have argued that curbing global warming will be expensive, raise energy costs and hurt the U.S. economy. A delegation of these climate action opponents plans to visit the Copenhagen Climate Conference in Denmark this week.

The AP’s story about the poll quoted one responder as saying that the Republicans “are wrong.” Under climate action, Americans will shift to new jobs, the Seattle man said.

Another man, from Connecticut, told the AP that he saw a green revolution as promising jobs for those in need of work.

“I don’t know if anybody has looked around lately, but the economy is dead,” said Jake Berglund, a home-improvement contractor from Portland, Conn. “We are in a sinking ship, and Obama has bought us enough life rafts to keep on going. But we need to figure out how to build a new boat when we are still on the water.”

But while those polled were mostly in favor of green jobs, they were not as enthusiastic about  a carbon cap-and-trade market, if it meant their energy bills would be higher.

A majority of those polled, 59 percent, said they would not support a cap-and-trade system if it meant they would have to pay $10 extra a month for electricity.

Over the last eight years, green construction has created 2.4 million jobs and contributed $173 billion to the US economy. It is estimated that in the next four years, despite an unstable economy, both numbers will more than triple, according to a new study from the U.S. Green Building Council and Booz Allen Hamilton.

The study reports that green building will support 7.9 million U.S. jobs, adding $554 billion into the American economy, including $396 billion in wages.

“The study demonstrates that investing in green buildings contributes significantly to our nation’s wealth while creating jobs in a range of occupations, from carpenters to cost estimators,” said Gary Rahl, Officer, Global Government Market, Booz Allen Hamilton.

The report was released this week at USGBC’s annual GreenBuild International Conference & Expo. “Our goal is for the phrase ‘green building’ to become obsolete, by making all building and retrofits green – and transforming every job in our industry into a green job,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC in a statement. “This study validates the work that the 25,000 people gathered here at Greenbuild, and every member of our movement, do every day.”

The report factored in everyone involved in green construction from the design architects, to the laborers, and even the truck drivers that deliver the materials.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, (Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Not every abandoned automobile manufacturing plant is doomed to a future of dust, rust and general obsolescence. Thanks to a creative deal between Ford Motor Co., the state of Michigan, and a pair of energy concerns, a shuttered facility near Detroit soon will be cranking out renewable energy and creating new jobs for the region.

Xtreme Power of Austin,Texas and Clairvoyant Energy of Santa Barbara, Calif., reportedly will pay $725 million for the former auto plant in Wixom, Mich. The plan is to use about half of the 4.7 million square feet to manufacture battery-based energy storage systems and high efficiency solar panels. The new owners hope to find other green companies to fill the remaining space.

In its heyday, the Wixom plant employed about 5,000 auto workers and produced about 6.6 million cars over more than five decades. The workforce had dwindled to about 1,000 before the the facility shut down in 2007. It has been maintained by a skeleton crew ever since.

“The Wixom Assembly Plant served Ford well for half a century and we wanted to ensure it served Michigan well into the future,” said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford. “Thanks to the collaborative efforts of two visionary energy companies and the leadership of state and local officials, we are transforming our Wixom facility into one of the largest renewable energy parks in the United States. I can’t imagine a better way to use this facility – for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.”

New ownership expects to begin refitting the plant in the first quarter of 2010, with full operations targeted for late 2011. In time, the project could provide up to 4,000 new jobs in the area, not including positions created indirectly.

State and local tax credits and incentives helped facilitate the deal. Gov. Jennifer Granholm insists the money will be well spent.

“It’s a great example of the Phoenix rising from the ashes, and it’s all part of our strategic plan to diversity Michigan’s economy,” she said.

Clairvoyant Energy already has announced plans to build up to 2.5 million solar panels a year at the Wixom site. That output alone, the company says, could replace the need for one large coal-fired power plant.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

By Lyanne Melendez

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KGO) — Green technology is sparking hope that could help pull California out of a recession. On Friday, the governor visited a synthetic biology company in South San Francisco. But will the so-called “green jobs” really drive the economy? >> Read the full story

At first, I was confused about the resignation of Van Jones, a man so well-suited to his post as the White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs that his tenure should have been long and fruitful. Here was a man who’d founded a human rights organization championing the underprivileged, and then another group, Green for All, that pioneered the idea of re-engaging the working class in progressive new fields of employment like green building and alternative energy. He literally wrote the book on green-collar jobs, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Solve Our Two Biggest Problems (Harper One 2008) before most people had heard the phrase green collar jobs.

Hearing the news of his resignation over the weekend, I consulted the website of Green for All, the Oakland-based project he co-founded and ran before accepting the White House appointment. GFA expressed sadness and obliquely referred to “the buzz and speculation surrounding this news.”

Clearly, this was a murky issue, and Green For All wanted to avoid the mud.

Once I figured out that Jones had been heckled out of his job by right-wing ideologue, Fox News TV commentator and Supreme Heckler Glenn Beck, I knew there had to be lots more to read.

Chris Kelly had a wickedly blunt column on Huffington Post (though it preceded Jones’ resignation and was mostly about Meg Whitman) that drilled right to the core. He concluded that Jones had come under right-wing fire because he was black and a Marxist. “You might even call him a black Marxist. Because of how black he is. And because he’s a Marxist.”

As more news emerged, it became obvious that race was central. Beck had attacked Jones in retaliation for a boycott of his show led by Color of Change, an African-American advocacy group co-founded by Jones and James Rucker. The group was angered when Beck called President Obama a racist.

Ariana Huffington came on board today with a column thanking Glenn Beck for returning Van Jones to the public sector, where he can be more effective anyway: “Van Jones is a thoughtful leader who knows how to use words to move people to action,” she said. “…Now, thanks to Glenn Beck, we’ve got that voice back. No longer tied to his desk with a sock in his mouth, Van is now freed to do what he does best: inspire and energize groups around the country.”

There’s a scary thought, a black man on the loose inspiring the country. Next thing you know he’ll be wanting to speak to our youth about personal responsibility, fortitude and striving to do well in school.

Speaking of voices. Beck, Kelly and Huffington are all notably partisan, albeit at different political poles.

Which makes me wonder what moderate regular folks think? Could it be that most Americans, stressed by health care, job losses, real estate issues and the continuing war in the Middle East, simply see all this yammering as a missed turn in the road to getting things done? (That is, if they’re aware of it at all.)

For the majority of us who reside outside the political fray, this resignation is simply unfortunate because we need a strong leader guiding us toward more sustainable ways, especially here in the US where we gobble an amazing 40 percent of the world’s resources. We need to transition to new energy sources, green building and efficient business operations that can steer us clear of climate change catastrophes. These changes can and will provide economic renewal in the form of green jobs. That’s not just a hope. Green changes are already happening on a micro-scale, in wind turbine plants, on organic farms, at solar plants and electric car facilities.

The high-level post at the fulcrum of the action is so pivotal, and yet so vulnerable.

On hindsight, anyone serving as the green jobs chief was likely to be skewered in a country that still debates whether global warming exists… and is caused by carbon emissions from human enterprises.

Now we need someone who will help bring us together. Someone who can talk to us about personal responsibility.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The New York Botanical Garden, historically green by nature, is helping New Yorkers cultivate ever greener ways. This summer it is featuring “edible evenings,” a celebration of home-grown food with tips from chefs and help for getting kids involved in gardening.

The eco-outreach will continue during the Garden’s Fall Open House on Sept. 12, which will feature a day (from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)  of lectures, demonstrations and classes in botanical art, botany, floral design, landscaping and horticulture and horticultural therapy

Green classes will continue throughout the year with these offerings:

• Growing Green with Roses, 3 Thursdays starting September 24

• Organic Greenhouse Methods, 3 Saturdays held in November

• Organic Gardening and Ecological Landscaping: The Natural Approach, 6 Wednesdays starting January 6, 2010

• Does “Organic” Really Work?, January 19, 2010

• Environmentally Safe Lawn Care, March 10, 2010

• Native Plants Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Open House also will feature career talks for those who are interested in learning more about landscape design, horticultural therapy, or horticulture. To find out more how the Garden’s Continuing Education program can help people find careers in these industries, see the website or call 800.322.6924.