350 is now the most important number on the planet

The bills are coming due. And not just, or even mainly, the bills from a failed Bush presidency, but the bills from 200 years of burning fossil fuel. Twenty years ago when we started worrying about global warming, we thought we’d have a generation to pay those bills off. But we were wrong — the planet was more finely balanced than we’d realized. The melting Arctic is the call from the repo man. As NASA climate scientist James Hansen has said,

If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleo-climate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO₂ [in the atmosphere] will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm [parts per million] to at most 350 ppm.

from “President Obama’s Big Climate Challenge” by Bill McKibben…

350.org

Now What… The change we need?

Our nation just made history. The American people clearly are calling for bold change.

With our support, Barack Obama can be a President who can steward this kind of change, even in the face of special interest lobbies. Check out the new Repower America ad that’s going up today, then send a message to Barack Obama, letting him know that you’ll be there to support a bold approach. Just click on the video:

Now’s not the time for small steps or a narrow focus. It’s time to go big. Our challenges are large and are deeply connected. As Al Gore has said, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.” With a bold plan, we can make that change in 10 years. In fact, only a bold plan will cut through the special interest politics in Washington and inspire the nation.

Send a message of support to Barack Obama and his team, view the new ad, and check out the Repower America plan, detailed on the website. Just click here:

http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/obamapetition.

On Tuesday Barack Obama said, “And I know you didn’t do this just to win an election. And I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime–two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

“We can Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. It will push our economy out of recession, create millions of new American jobs, end our addiction to dirty coal and foreign oil and solve the climate crisis. Big problems need big solutions. History is watching.

from wecansolveit.org

Frontline: HEAT

Watched PBS-Frontline program called HEAT which is a 2 hour documentary dealing with the troubling facts of difficulty in implementing any meaningful CO2 lowering measures.. with the knowledge that climate change is physically evident to all beings, and now that the damage appears to be increasing faster than predicted.

FRONTLINE: heat | PBS

It’s another morning in the empire of consumption… connecting dots?

On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave a nationally-televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a “crisis of confidence” among the American people. This came to be known as his “malaise” speech, although the word never appeared in it:

I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy… I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might. …

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.

I’m asking you for your good and for your nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel… I have seen the strength of America in the inexhaustible resources of our people. In the days to come, let us renew that strength in the struggle for an energy-secure nation.

Dear Mr. 44th President and members of the 111th Congress…

Please support The Institute for 21st Century Energy’s Blueprint for Securing America’s Energy Future (PDF full – 4.43Mb) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. With more than 75 energy policy recommendations (PDF summary) for the next President and Congress, the Institute’s bold energy blueprint is worth your attention.

The blueprint puts specific recommendations behind the 13 fundamental pillars for a comprehensive energy strategy outlined in the Institute’s Open Letter to the next President and Congress.

THE 13 ENERGY PRINCIPLES

Aggressively Promote Energy Efficiency

Reduce the Environmental Impact of Energy Consumption and Production

Invest in Climate Science to Guide Energy, Economic, and Environmental Policy

Significantly Increase the Funding for Research, Development, and Demonstration of Advanced Clean Energy Technologies

Immediately Expand Domestic Oil and Gas Exploration and Production

Commit to and Expand Nuclear Energy Use

Commit to the Use of Clean Coal

Increase Renewable Sources of Electricity

Transform our Transportation Sector

Modernize and Protect U.S. Energy Infrastructure

Address Critical Shortages of Qualified Energy Professionals

Reduce Overly Burdensome Regulations and Opportunities for Frivolous Litigation

Demonstrate Global Leadership on Energy Security and Climate Change

Freedom Fuels film

Freedom Fuels takes an in-depth, solution orientated look at renewable fuel sources, such as biodiesel, ethanol and vegetable oil. It explores the petroleum industry’s suppression of alternative fuels and examines the potential positive and negative impacts of biofuels.

Download the free full version at Mofilms.org
(Running time: 50 min, File size: 196.05 MB)

Lazy Lawmakers Daydreaming of Turkey

I cannot believe, well, yes I can… that in order to get the most recent U.S. Energy Bill (fast-tracked, as it were) through Congress before Thanksgiving break on Friday November 16, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to remove a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and all tax provisions benefiting renewable energy. The renewable portfolio standard, was to have set a target of getting 20-25% of the nation’s electricity from renewable resources by 2025, will no longer be in the bill.

Is there not a looming threat of terrorism based on theoretical dwindling energy reserves? Does not our climate seem to be changing at an almost exponential rate compared to the the consistency of historical norms? As apparently such, are not a vast majority of animal species disappearing at an unprecedented rate? Are we not already paying too much for energy, and not just monetarily? Cannot we continue to pillage this previously tolerant planet indefinitely?

We need leaders that will pass bills with our future best interests in mind. NOT leaders(?) that drop much needed provisions because they are thinking about how much they are going to enjoy their turkey break. For our future:

• Clean energy means jobs and energy independence.
• America needs carbon-free renewable energy, now.
• The fight against climate change will only be won by a transition to renewable energy.
• The energy bill must extend investment tax credits for solar and wind energy.
• Our future depends on some strong leadership.

Isn’t that what leaders are supposed to do?

What also sucks, is that this just came down on Thursday (11/08) and we only have to Tuesday to give’em a piece of our collective minds… Do it now, through SEIA.. if you please.