Environmental Action
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- Vote in the CNN Poll
If you check out CNN, they have a 'Heroes' section where they pick a handful of 'regular Joes' who work on specific issues. This week, they're highlighting 'saving the planet', and Larry Gibson of the I Love Mountains coalition is in the running!
It's a pretty great step that CNN is including the fight against mountaintop removal mining in this contest, and obviously if Larry wins, there will be even more coverage. So what are you waiting for? Get off your duff and vote!. Right now Larry is trailing, so let's make it count!
Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:45:27 -0700 - Solid Bill to Fight Mountaintop Removal Mining
By know you're aware how much I loathe mountaintop removal mining. Thankfully, a bill in Congress right now (H.R. 2169) would limit MTR by banning the pollution of streams and rivers. This move would severely limit the coal industry's ability to practice MTR.
Unfortunately, this bill is stuck in committee right now. Thankfully, the woman in charge of the committee is Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas. I know you don't normally think of 'Texas politician' and 'pro-environment' in the same sentence, but in this case it's true. Rep. Jackson-Lee has a long history of supporting the environment - which means she'll listen to folks like us.
Please take a moment right now, and ask her to move this bill out of her committee, and back into Congress for a vote. Click here to send her an email.
Mountaintop removal has ravaged the landscape of Appalachia. From the destruction of hundreds of mountains, to the pollution of thousands of miles of streams, it's one of the most destructive practices thought up in a long time.
Sometimes, a gentle push is all a committee chair needs to keep legislation alive. Please take a minute to ask Rep. Jackson-Lee to keep this legislation alive.
Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:41:37 -0700 - Energy Demand far Outpaces Population Growth
While not a favorite past time of many people, I enjoy poking around the Department of Energy website. Today, I was looking at United States energy use from 1949 to 2006.
The pretty frightening thing is that US energy use has increased 1038% between 1950 and 200, which compares to a population change of 87% in that same time period.
To break that down a little further, in 1950 every person in the U.S. used 2,220 kilowatt hours of energy each year. By 2000, that had jumped to 13,510 kilowatt hours per person, a 509% increase for every person.
Then, when you look at percentages of where our energy comes from, it gets even freakier. As you can see from the chart below, the % of our energy from fossil fuels has gone from a little under 70% in 1949 to a little over 71% in 2006 - however, even though the percentage has stayed about the same, the actual use has increased 11-fold.
When you look at renewables and nukes, the picture is even more bleak - we've gone from over 30% of our energy coming from renewables in 1949, to less than 10% in 2006, and nukes have gone from nothing to about 20%.
Now, the encouraging part of all of this is actually nukes. To be clear, I'm dead set against any increase in nuclear power, BUT, the fact that the energy sector could actually embrace a new power source to the degree that within 20 years it takes over a fifth of our energy supply seems encouraging, if only they'd embrace solar and wind the same way.
At least it destroys the argument that they can't just introduce some crazy new energy source, because they already have. Sadly, it was the wrong one. Let's make sure they get it right this time.
Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:34:08 -0700 - Black Lung Doubles in Coal Workers
The AFL-CIO blog reported a little while ago that black lung disease in coal miners has doubled.
Overall, 9% of miners with 25+ years of experience had developed black lung when examined in 2005-6, opposed to just 4% ten years ago. And this is almost forty years after the a federal mining law limiting the coal dust allowable in miner's air.
Obviously, this is a terrible trend - imagine if 1 in 10 people in your profession suffered a debilitating and terrible disease like black lung. Also, imagine if that profession also led to the destruction of some of our most beautiful wild places as mountaintop removal mining is doing in Appalachia, and also contributed to the world's growing global warming crisis. Seems like maybe we should find an alternative to even having this profession, no?
Sadly, that is not how our current political leaders see it. Instead, they want to expand coal mining, and have somehow managed to get the expression 'clean coal' into the public vernacular.
This new information about the increase in black lung really only underscores the point that 'clean coal' ranks up there with other concepts like "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."
Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:30:07 -0700 - Snark Thursday
Welcome to what may or may not be a new feature here at the EA blog: Snark Thursday. As everyone around the enviro blogosphere has been covering Bush's 'climate summit', I don't really feel it needs more commentary per se. But, I have to throw this one out.
CNN reports today that Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice (who, in the interest of full disclosure, once had an oil tanker named after her) has announced that we need to fight climate change like terrorism.
I can only assume this means the administration is going to completely ignore climate change and launch the world's most massive recycling program instead.
Zing!
Seriously though, could there be anything more hypocritical than any member of the Bush Administration calling for 'action' on climate change? Well, maybe not, but it's also a genius move on their part.
By calling for 'change' but actually pushing for 'the status quo' the Administration, yet again, gets to set the terms of the discussion, even if everyone on the world stage knows it's a complete joke, though not a particularly funny one.
Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:43:02 -0700 - You're not citizens - get out of my democracy
I'm sure you're all thinking how terrible I am. Before you whip off the angry email, please know that I am in no way talking about immigration. I'm referring to corporate America. While poking around ExxonMobil's website, I can across this quote:
ExxonMobil believes that registering and voting, keeping informed on political matters, serving in civic bodies, and campaigning and office-holding at local, state, and national levels are important rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a democracy.
According to Open Secrets, ExxonMobil contributed $9,253,864 to candidates between 1990 and 2006. As that figure represents more than 50 times what I've earned working my entire life, I've donated substantially less to political campaigns and parties. And I'm an actual citizen. Pretty frustrating.
The thing is, the courts deemed ages ago that a corporation has all of the rights of a flesh and blood American citizen, but has severely limited their responsibilities. So, a corporation can donate seemingly through the roof because they're a 'citizen', but can also get away with spilling millions of gallons of oil into our oceans and get away nearly scott free.
Imagine if say, your next door neighbor took a 55-gallon barrel of crude oil, and poured it directly into your hot water heater? Odds are you could have them charged with aggravated assault at the minimum. Not so for corporate America.
This is perhaps one of the greatest legal injustices of the last century. But beyond that, corporate America has taken the cue and all of the worst companies have a section on their website devoted to 'corporate citizenship'. Using the word 'citizenship', which most people associate as a good thing, they've hornwinked the public into thinking that they're just regular joes, or as State Farm describes themselves, 'Good Neighbors'.
Look at BP. Beyond Petroleum, right? Wrong. They recently proposed increasing the toxic dumping into Lake Michigan. Thankfully a number of state environmental groups responded quickly, and helped get the proposal stalled (check out their excellent ad here).
The bottom line is that corporate America deserves none of the privileges of citizenship, until they embrace the responsibilities as well.
Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:06:08 -0700 - Film Fest in New Mexico
I found out about the Taos Mountain Film Fest recently, and it sounds pretty great. If you live in New Mexico, you should go check it out.
It runs from Oct. 5-7, and their website lists their mission as:
Taos Mountain Film Festival features films of adventure, culture and wildlife of the world's remote regions. Mountain Film also examines threats to the environment and human rights.
The Festival presents mountaineering films and personalities, as well as symposia, photography exhibits, and readings from mountaineering literature.
Through still and moving images, Taos Mountain Film Festival is committed to conveying the inspiration to be found in wild places.
There may be no better town on Earth to hold this festival than Taos, New Mexico. Taos has a special blend of landscape... everything from high Alpine peaks to upper Sonoran desert. The terrain affords the outdoors enthusiasts world-class skiing, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, rafting and kayaking.
Through its remote location, pristine air quality and low-impact development, Taos has earned the reputation of an environmentally aware community. Taos also has deservedly gained a name for having a 'spiritual awareness.' These facets of Taos character are reflected in the festival programming.
Pretty good indeed. Check it out.
Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:40:32 -0700 - Nunavut Cuts Polar Bear Hunt Quota
In an interesting turn of events, the Nunavut government is cutting its polar bear hunt by nearly a third.
This is a fairly surprising move from the community who launched a massive PR campaign last year to convince people that cutting the polar bear hunt would be detrimental to the health of the tribe.
A few short months ago, they were decrying listing the polar bear on the U.S. endangered species list, and now they're voluntarily limiting themselves.
Aside from this, of course, I'm extremely happy that the Nunavut have turned around on their views, and thankfully are doing so based on the science of polar bear species' decline, and not on politics.
The net result is that their original hunt would've gone after 56 bears, and will go down to 38, and if there is no improvement in population data, down to 8 next year.
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:51:42 -0700 - Survey on Mountaintop Removal Mining
I meant to write about this last week, but 700Mountains.org released the results of their survey on MTR last week.
The results are not terribly shocking. Two-thirds of the people are against Bush's proposed weakening of environmental regulation around MTR. 71% say they would oppose MTR if it was happening within 50 miles of their home, and 77% agreed with the statement that the Bush Administration should focus on conservation, not more mining.
But, you know what was shocking to me?
On an unaided basis, almost half (45%) of Americans say that they 'have heard of a coal mining industry practice known as 'mountain top removal,' which involves the leveling of an entire mountain to get at caol.
This ridiculously low percentage is exactly why we need to get the message about this issue out far and wide.
Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:04:27 -0700 - Excellent Court Decision on Tailpipe Emissions
Yesterday, a federal judge in Vermont bolstered state's rights to limit tailpipe emissions. Vermont along with a dozen other states has followed California's lead in limiting tailpipe emissions. These limits on greenhouse gases could actually have the impact of increasing fuel economy, a move the Congress has failed to do for over two decades.
This is an amazing ruling because the reality of the market dictates that if automakers have to make one kind of car for thirteen of fourteen states, it's unlikely they'll make ANOTHER car for the rest of the country - particular if 10% of the country's population lives in one of those thirteen states.
Obviously, this could be a major boon in the fight against global warming and CO2 emissions.
The LA Times reports:
Kim Custer, the communications director for the Assn. of International Automobile Manufacturers, which includes Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other foreign firms, said the association was worried that the country could "end up with a patchwork of different regulations as more and more states opt for the California regulations."
This is ridiculous. First of all, the states in question are basically copying the California emissions regulations, so there would be no patchwork, it would all be the same! Secondly, maybe, just maybe, if the auto industry hadn't fought any and every type of emissions legislation for the last....forever...and had compromised, then groups wouldn't have taken it to state governments to make change. I'm sorry, but they bought Congress, and they got what they paid for. Now they're just sad they couldn't afford all the state houses too. If you listen closely, you'll hear the world's smallest violin, playing softly for the auto industry today.
Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:29:59 -0700 - Christians Rally Against Mountaintop Removal Mining
There's a great article in Grist today written by Rev. Allen Johnson talking about his work to organize Christians into fighting mountaintop removal mining.
I couldn't applaud this effort more. For way too long, the environmental and religious movements in America have seemingly been at odds. Unfortunately, environmentalists seem all to often to write off 'Christians' as 'George Bush-style cronies', and Christians seem to write off environmentalists as 'Gaia worshiping tree-hugging pagans'. Obviously, neither side is correct in their gross over generalization of each other.
The ironic thing is that the majority of Americans identify themselves as having a level of spiritual faith, and the majority of Americans support environmental efforts like wilderness protection, clean air & water, and fighting global warming - so why on earth would these two segments of society be at odds?
I know it's a bit of a cliche, but I have to point out the media's interpretation of both groups. When writing stories about Christianity, they're often described as 'right-wing christians', and a large percentage of stories about 'environmentalists' focus on the fringe elements of that movement - be they direct action activists, or the Sheryl Crowe-use-one-sheet-of-toilet-paper variety.
Of course, my experience has been that when religious and environmental groups actually talk to each other, there are way more similarities than differences.
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:03:08 -0700 - Good Article on MTR
We're starting to see some good coverage on mountaintop removal mining. Today, Wired News did a great story on the dangers of MTR.
Wired reports:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, MTR destroyed more than 1,200 miles of Appalachia's streams and 7 percent of its forests between 1985 and 2001. Approximately 800 square miles of mountains were leveled.
According to the EPA, waste from MTR will bury another 1,000 miles of streams in the next decade. Mulhern says the effects are also felt downstream.
The EPA estimates that at least 2,300 square miles of forest -- an area the size of Delaware -- will be lost by 2010. In the past, cleared mountaintops have been vegetatively reclaimed by grass and shrubs rather than the region's characteristic hardwood forests.
Frightening news indeed.
Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:51:40 -0700 - Bush Supports Nukes
It came as not much of a shock that in meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, that President Bush called for a massive increase in nuclear power as a solution to global warming.
They then proposed, boldly some would say, that any emissions limits placed would have to be non-binding. Admittedly, I've never passed a law before, but would say, speed limits work if they were non-binding? What about theft and murder laws?
Yet another example of the complete and total lack of U.S. leadership on coming anywhere near solving global warming. Sadly, it's turning into a world leader problem, not just a Mr. Bush problem.
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:02:16 -0700 - Hike 'em if you got 'em!
One of the scariest things to me about mountaintop removal mining is the reality that if we let this happen in Appalachia, we're opening up the doors for it in our own neighborhoods. What if they found coal in the Rockies? More gold in the Sierras? What if they do these things where you live?
So the next step in our campaign to stop mountaintop removal mining is to make sure it's known how much we love and treasure our mountains - so, on Columbus Day weekend, we want to have people around the country hiking up their favorite mountains or hills to make our voices heard. Obviously, we need people to host these hikes - click here if you think you can help out.
These hikes should be pretty easy and fun. Just let me know where it'll be, and when. Then, I'll invite other folks from Environmental Action to join in, and you can invite your friends and family too. Then, take a hike!
Once at the top of a mountain or hill (or Central Park, for you New Yorkers) take a picture of your group with a sign calling for an end to mountaintop removal mining, and we'll get them out all over the internet, and into the hands of the media and elected officials.
I think these events will be really fun, and I definitely hope you'll join in!
Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:49:04 -0700 - Mountaintop Removal Coverage
I've got to admit that so far I've been amazingly underwhelmed by the media coverage of mountaintop removal mining. For example, a Google news search of 'mountaintop removal' brings up 110 stories. A Google news search on 'Paris Hilton' brings up 6,525, Burger King brings 1,807, and iPhone a whopping 11,337.
This is a little ridiculous.
Thankfully, what little coverage does exist, has been quite good. For instance, The Boston Globe editorialized against the new Bush proposal today, and the NYT ran six letters on the subject last week.
But, let's face it, this isn't nearly enough coverage.
And, truth be told, it's not just the 'mainstream media' failing to cover the issue. So far I've found very little coverage in any of the major political blogs or online outlets, save Grist, and in particular David, 'coal is the death of us all' Roberts, who have stuck by this story for quite some time.
The bottom line is that this is an issue that needs to be picked up on. It may not be as (forgive the pun) sexy as the Sen. Craig story, or seem as important as the Gonzales issue, but the bottom line is that we're allowing the coal industry to run roughshod through Appalachia, and the people fighting this battle down there need our help, our encouragement, and our support.
So, I'm throwing down the gauntlet - talk about this issue. Blog about it, write letters to newspapers about it, talk to Presidential candidates when they stump in your town, and dear God in heaven, if you haven't done so, please tell the Bush Administration you oppose an expansion of mountaintop removal mining.
Because you know what? This is kind of activity is not acceptable in ANYBODY'S backyard.
Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:46:51 -0700
