Get Energy Smart! NOW!

Those fighting against achieving a prosperous, climate-friendly society go through stages of trying to confuse the discussion and inhibit necessary action:

• Global Warming isn’t real
• It is all natural
• We can’t do anything about it
• Doing anything will cost too much

These four have one simple thing in common. Very simply: LIE! LIE! LIE! LIE!

This last, truly, becomes the most dangerous.

The discussion we are hearing, that we will be hearing, is “environment versus the economy”. That we can’t afford this seeming luxury of “taxing” energy, dragging down the economy, all in the vain hope of doing something about Global Warming. These are all untruths.
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More than a month after the column that spark a storm of outrage and after having only published a sarcastic (correct, but not a refutation of Will on the substance) letter to the editor, the Washington Post published an opinion piece by Chris Mooney (author, Republican War on Science) and a strong letter to the editor from the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

These were, published, by the way, without any form of editorial comment or acknowledgment. In other words, publishing two strong refutations, five weeks later, after allowing Will another shot at deception, does not absolve Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post editorial board, and The Washington Post Writers’ Group from their responsibilities as aiders and abetters of deception and dishonesty on the most crucial issue of the 21st century.

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The United States has a bright, classy, and dedicated First Family. Virtually every day brings another example of how we might actually have the real “Best and Brightest” living at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue.

This evening, I took care of the heirloom tomato seedlings emerging on the windowsill and went to check some of the best bloggers out there … good news: Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and perhaps Barack might doing the very same thing this evening. Friday morning, Michelle will be bending her back and digging up part of the White House lawn for a vegetable, an organic vegetable garden. While the food from the garden (such as Arugula) will help feed the first family, the savings on the White House grocery bill isn’t the driving force.

its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at time when obesity has become a national concern.

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Yesterday, Michelle Obama and I visited the Mall for YouthBuild USA’s 30th Anniversary. (Okay, truth in advertising, Michelle was there at 10:30 and I was there at 2 pm, but we did both visit the same event.) Looking at them from the web, YouthBuild impresses. In person, YouthBuild inspires.

Clearly, the program inspires the involved youth to something better, often taking them quite literally from gangs and drugs to productive contributions to their communities and society. And, having a chance to wander and talk with members, graduates, and some staff inspires one with a confidence that problems can be solved, that multi-faceted solutions do exist, and that successful programs are getting attention and resources to replicate their successes elsewhere.

At one moment, the situation ‘clicked’. I sat down to hear the ‘luminaries’ speak, readying for note taking from speeches. And, well, to be honest my toes got stepped on so I moved my feet a little. A young man, a 2002 graduate, had brought someone to meet his mother, sitting in the row in front of me. And, another person a few minutes later. And, another … And, another … The boundless enthusiasm is hard to overstate. The credit the young man gave these people, all in different ways, for turning his life around. The ongoing activities he spoke about. These were staff members, other participants, government employees, and others. And, looking around, this sort of confident and impassioned enthusiasm was not limited to just one person, not just one location. This is a program that turns peoples’ lives around, at a cost affordable level, and helps get them in a situation where they are making something better of themselves while making something better in their communities.

In the coming days, there will be a number of posts about YouthBuild and their Greening efforts. The speakers at yesterday’s event, from program participants to funders like the Walmart Foundation to the founder (Dorothy Stoneman) to luminaries/supporters like John Kerry and Michelle Obama are worth relaying … and will be.

Instead, I want to focus a moment on the speech given by 2005 graduate Ely Flores who has gone from high-school dropout to renewable energy activist and entreprenour as part of Grid Alternatives, working to provide solar-panel systems to low-income families in south and central California. [Read more →]

One of my favorite events, every two years, on the Mall is the Solar Decathlon (coming again this fall). 20 or so university teams from around the world competing to have the most attractive and most functional off-the-grid, solar powered home possible.

Well, it won’t be 20 teams. And, it won’t be a house that I’ll be salivating to move into. Yet, tomorrow looks to be something meriting the same sort of excitement and attention. On 17 March, over 100 students and graduates from YouthBuild USA programs around the country will be showing off green building techniques on the Mall and, in a tent next to the building going up, taking seminars about green building-related practices (event program (pdf)).

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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele decided to go all-in with a public demonstration of his anti-science syndrome (ASS) crredentials.

And when a listener scoffed at the notion of global warming, Steele eagerly ran with the baton.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said. “We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this.”

As Sam Stein of Huffington Post explains:

Greenland, for the record, likely had forestation some 450,000 to 800,000 years ago. But its name was derived, as is most commonly believed, from Erik the Red, who wanted to trick people into going to that island as opposed to the more hospitable Iceland.

Yes, Michael, it was called Greenland for a reason: to deceive people. Ever so fitting that you would seize on that as you seek to be deny the work of scientists and push ideology over the scientific method.

In any event, air quotes aside, Steele is 180 degrees away from the truth. There is not a cooling process and, yes, sadly, we are warming.

Back to Steele, the sentences that followed the material above:

Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long.

Well, Michael, are we talking the time of your interview, your lifespan, the time since 1776, or, I guess, the 6000 years that the Earth has been in existence according to you?

Evidently, Michael believes that scientists and science can’t tell us anything about time before humanity.

As Joe Romm put it,

Most of us know that homo “sapiens” sapiens has been here a while, and, more importantly, that science can tell us about the planet even before “we” were here.

I suppose Steele thinks we’ve only been here 6000 years, which in any case is apparently long enough to trash the place.

I don’t “love” this — and I rather suspect that future generations will utterly loathe people like Steele.

Clearly, Michael Steele is a George Will devotee, following his lead into Will-ful Greenland ignorance.

Humanity engages in many outrages, against each other, against ourselves, against the hability of our planet. Genocide … hunting species to extinction … CO2 emissions and global warming/ocean acidificiation … And, sadly, there seems to be a tendency toward ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for many of these, for many of us. We have our lives to live, the problems before us and the pesky inbox often dominate our thinking and our action over the large, serious problems that don’t necessarily slap us in the face and stand outside, it seems, our ability to impact.

When it comes to ‘out of sight, out of mind’ on energy issues, there is a long list of items. But, when it comes to raping the environment to feed our wasteful energy habits, North America has two extremely egregious examples: mountain-top removal (MTR) and Canadian Tar Sands.

Now roughly accounting for 10 percent of the United States’ oil imports, the processes for transforming tar sands into fuel for America’s gas guzzlers makes traditional oil production (even into ANWR) look benign in comparison. Devastating for the local (water, forests), regional (air pollution, bird), and global (GHG emissions) environment, Tar Sands is the wrong answer to North America’s energy challenges.

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Every day, I strive to Make Energy CENTS from the Home to the Globe. Whether programming the thermostat to low temperatures overnight to providing comments on national energy policy drafts to opening discussions as to Energy COOL technologies and concepts, my efforts to Energize America to a prosperous, climate friendly future cross a broad spectrum.

Thus, discussions on efforts within my own home, from the simple (leak sealing, efficient lighting) to the (often annoyingly) complex (solar hot water). Last discussion: heating with wood. Tonight’s discussion: transitioning to LED lighting.

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Earlier today, in a very interesting session featuring Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sven Teske (Greenpeace), and Joe Romm (Climate Progress), Greenpeace released the latest in their series of Energy [R]evolution analyses. This high quality report conducted by the German Aerospace Center lays out, using quite conservative estimates, how “the United States can meet the energy needs of a growing economy and achieve science-based cuts in global warming pollution – without nuclear power or coal.” And, do so not just cost-effectively, but profitably. While not in total agreement with the report, I recommend it highly and hope that this report and the type of meticulous work it represents becomes a meaningful part of the dialogue as we strive for a sensible path forward.

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Earlier today, in a very interesting session featuring Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sven Teske (Greenpeace), and Joe Romm (Climate Progress), Greenpeace released the latest in their series of Energy [R]evolution analyses. This high quality report conducted by the German Aerospace Center lays out, using quite conservative estimates, how “the United States can meet the energy needs of a growing economy and achieve science-based cuts in global warming pollution – without nuclear power or coal.” And, do so not just cost-effectively, but profitably.

Save the planet and make a profit. Sounds great. As Senator Sanders said, “We should congradulate Greenpeace for recognizing, as does President Obama, that amid the crisis is a great opportunity.”

Even so, perhaps the most striking thing about this excellent study is what is missing.

For the average American, Greenpeace is some ‘loony, left-winger, enviro-extremist’ group, known for direct action like being out in small boats, in rough seas, disrupting whale fisheries or climbing coal plants to hang signs. This report comes from what many in the US view, quite incorrectly we should add, as some form of “environmental extremists” and yet … and yet … these “extremists” have issued an extremely conservative report that quite significantly understates the real value of pursuing the path that they outline.

What is missing?

• The avoided costs from catastrophic climate change.
• The avoided costs from reduced acidification of the oceans.
• The savings and benefits of reducing the 24,000+ deaths annually, in the United States alone, attributable to pollution from coal-fired electricity plants. (Not to mention the 500,000+ asthma and 38,000+ heart attacks).
• The improved average IQ (in the US and globally) through reducing mercury (from coal emissions) inthe food chain.
• Improved water supplies due to reduce fossil-fuel processing and power plant demands, and reduced pollution of supply sources.
• Improved National Park views due to reduced fossil-fuel pollution.
• Improved business productivity (“greening” work spaces leads to 10-25% productivity improvement) and educational performance

And, the list can go on, and on, and on …

Greenpeace should be applauded for the quality of result from their project. This is a meaningful study. A study that shows that we can achieve a prosperous and climate-friendly society, meeting scientific targets for greenhouse-gas emission reductions, and do so at a “profit”. While recognizing this, we should also be clear: this report greatly underestimates the true value of pursuing an energy efficiency and clean energy future.

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