Obama’s Grandmother Gets New Solar Panels

Obama’s step-grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, just got a brand new set of solar panels installed on the roof of her home in Kenya. Her previous ones were a gift from an airline executive who wanted her to see her grandson’s historic election on television. Sarah Obama lives in a village that does not have electricity.

From Ecorazzi:

Fast forward almost a year later and Mama Sara is now living off-the-grid with clean energy powering her entire home. Young Kenyans working with Greenpeace’s Solar Generation initiative installed the panels, along with a brand new roof. “I am very pleased that my home has been improved thanks to solar energy and I’ll make sure my grandson hears about it,” Mama Sarah said. “Solar power is clean, reliable and affordable, unlike paraffin that is widely used in the area. Also, we now have qualified youth in the village who can help with the upkeep of the systems.”

The panels were installed as part of a 20-day workshop hosted by Greenpeace’s Solar Generation with 25 participants from the Kibera Community Youth Programme, along with community members from the village of Nyangíoma Kogelo.

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Richard Mark Dobson / GREENPEACE

President Obama, a Few Green Habits You Could Pick Up in 2009

President Obama, we here at EarthFirst are incredibly proud and excited to watch your inauguration today and we’re so very hopeful about what you can do for clean energy and the environment during your time as our country’s leader. The next four years are a crucial time, when we must ramp up our efforts to fight global warming and help our economy recover through the creation of green jobs.

When it comes to greening America, we already know that you believe that changing a few light bulbs in your home isn’t enough – and you’re right. We all need to do more than that – and as much green change as you’ll be pushing through on a national and international level, there are some things you could do in your own personal daily life that would be a boon to your health and an inspiration for billions of people across the world.

1. Quit smoking. You set out to quit during your presidential campaign, and then admitted to falling off the wagon. It’s a tough process, but we’ve got faith that you can handle it. And, quitting this dirty habit will not only set a better example for your two young daughters, but will enable you to stop contributing to pollution and deforestation (wood is used in just about every step of cigarette production). Tobacco production in developing countries uses child labor and causes food shortages by diverting farmland usage, not to mention all those noxious chemicals left behind in butts that litter virtually every corner of every state in America.

2. Become a vegetarian. Factory farms are among the worst polluters in the world, and generate disgusting quantities of waste filled with bacteria, diseases, pharmaceuticals and other contaminants. Ranching is a major driver of deforestation worldwide, overgrazing has turned a fifth of all pastures and ranges into desert and the impact of methane emissions from all those cows is greater than that of CO2 from cars. A cruelty-free diet is easy to stick to when you’ve got an uber-talented White House chef who can prepare healthy vegetarian meals for the whole family.

3. Plant a White House victory garden. Instead of that vast expanse of useless, resource-hogging grass, the White House lawn could be home to an organic farm that provides fresh produce for the White House kitchen with the remainder going toward local food pantries. We’d love to see a Victory Garden replanted at the White House to serve as an example for all of America and provide food for needy Washington DC communities at the same time.

4. Evaluate & improve energy use in the White House.  In your December interview with Barbara Walters, you stated your plans to green the White House and conduct an energy efficiency evaluation as soon as possible. We’d like you to not only follow through on that but make the results public so we can all see how making small changes can use fewer resources and save us money during tough economic times.

Thrifty Washington DC Tips for Green Inauguration Visitors

Headed to DC for the inauguration? Expect it to be extremely crowded, really cold and expensive. Don’t let the chaos of the event lead you astray from your green ways, though – Maura Judkis of US News & World Report’s Fresh Greens has a thrifty guide for green inauguration visitors that covers transportation, food, shelter, nightlife, free events – even ‘glamour’.

From Fresh Greens:

Shelter

Another green choice forced upon last-minute visitors: there are no hotels to be found anywhere near this city. That’s ok, though, since there are thousands of Washingtonians willing to rent out their places to you. You can get anything from an entire house to an air mattress on someone’s floor, all priced accordingly. Staying in a house is greener than a hotel (not that you have the option) because you likely won’t be consuming any more energy than the house’s original occupants would have. Many of the apartments are in great parts of town, within walking distance of the ceremony, parade, balls and nightlife. Perhaps your carpool buddy can stay with you, if you find a great deal in a close apartment, so that fewer people will need public transit. For last-minute housing, search Craigslist or AirBed & Breakfast.

Food

You’ll need reservations now if you want to eat at one of D.C.’s nicer restaurants at any point this weekend. With millions of people expected, many of whom are already beginning to file into the city, tables will be at a premium. For upscale eco-friendly dining, I like the appropriately patriotic Founding Farmers (1924 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.). Food is local, organic and delicious, and the bar’s mixologist shakes up prohibition-era cocktails – the restaurant’s specialty. Another notable green restaurant in D.C. is Nora (2132 Florida Ave. N.W.), which was the first restaurant in the country to be certified 100 percent organic. Hook (3241 M St. N.W.) in Georgetown was recently named one of the country’s best eco-friendly restaurants by Bon Appetit magazine.

Get the rest over at Fresh Greens, including details about both green inaugural balls. Have fun, be safe, and take lots of photos!

Link [Fresh Greens]
Photo credit: PIC2009.org

Your Prius Can Act as an Emergency Generator

Owning a Prius has more benefits than simply saving money on gas and lowering your carbon footprint – it can also get your family through a snowstorm by providing power. And while, technically, any car battery hooked up to an inverter can do the same thing, the Prius uses far less gas while doing so, meaning you can drive away when the storm is over.

The Harvard Press in Massachusetts reported that during a recent ice storm, resident John Sweeney ran his refrigerator, freezer, TV, woodstove fan and several lights through his Prius for three days on roughly five gallons of gas.

“When it looked like we were going to be without power for awhile, I dug out an inverter (which takes 12v DC and creates 120v AC from it) and wired it into our Prius…These inverters are available for about $100 many places online,” he wrote.

The device allowed the engine to run every half hour, automatically charging the car battery and indirectly supplying the required power.

The New York Times points out that what Sweeney did is essentially along the lines of “smart grid” technology.

The idea is that the battery of an electric car — a plug-in, in most smart-grid scenarios — can feed power to the electricity grid when the grid needs it.

Even President-elect Barack Obama has endorsed this idea, as seen toward the end of this YouTube clip in which he said: “We’re going to have to have a smart grid if we want to use plug-in hybrids — then we want to be able to have ordinary consumers sell back the electricity that’s generated.”

Of course, it seems as if Mr. Sweeney could have saved a bit of energy by putting his food out in the snow and ice – instead of keeping the refrigerator and freezer running in freezing cold weather – but what he did is smart all the same. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more energy efficiency breakthroughs in the coming year as people realize that we’ve been a bit wasteful in the past.

Link [The Harvard Press] + [The New York Times]

Tell Obama To End Mountaintop Removal

Mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. The process is known to be devastating to fish, wildlife, and bird species and contributes to increased flooding and deforestation in heavily mined areas.

Not only is it bad for the environment, the effects on nearby homes and communities can be devastating. The Environmental Protection Agency says:

“Dynamite blasts needed to splinter rock strata are so strong they crack the foundations and walls of houses. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others. In many coalfield communities, the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.”

Local, state, and regional organizations across Appalachia are working together to end mountaintop removal through their program iLoveMountains.org. They’re urging people to sign a petition to ask Obama to end mountaintop removal.

In his first 100 days as President, Mr. Obama has the power to stop most current mountaintop removal mining. Here’s how:

• Reverse the Bush Mine Waste Giveaways: In the 11th hour, the Bush administration weakened the Stream Buffer Zone, allowing companies to dump mine waste into streams and rivers, worsening an earlier Bush ruling that has accelerated the pace of mountaintop removal coal mining.
• Enforce the Law: The coal industry has routinely ignored the Clean Water Act and the Stream Buffer Zone Rule. President Obama should demand that these and other rules be enforced, and hold the EPA, the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement, and the Army Corps of Engineers accountable.
• Urge Congress to Pass the Clean Water Protection Act: The Clean Water Protection Act is necessary to both permanently protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities and to protect Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution as a result of mountaintop removal.
• Prioritize Appalachia in America’s Clean Energy Future: Some mountaintops in Appalachia have huge wind power potential and would be more beneficial in that regard than as flattened landscape. President Obama should make Environmental Impact Assessments and economic analyses mandatory as part of his New Energy for America Plan. With finite and declining coal reserves and jobs, Obama needs to ensure Appalachia receives attention and support in the Administration’s new energy plan that includes $150 billion dollars invested in green, union jobs.

Here’s the story of one mountain community struggling with coal mining praticies in Wilson Creek, KY:

How Do We Get There: Gore’s 100% in 10 years

When Al Gore challenged America to shift to 100% renewable energy within a decade, the question on most people’s minds was, “Is he nuts?” After all, such a goal is more than a little ambitious – particularly for a country that is still wedded to the oil and coal industries. When it comes to energy, America is practically as dirty as they come. The past 8 years of Bush leadership has done nothing to change that; rather, Bush did everything he could to further the interests of dirty energy.

As Gore sees it, there are five steps to achieving this goal. First, he wants Obama and the new Congress to offer large-scale investment in incentives for the construction of solar thermal plants in the Southwestern desert, wind farms in the corridor from Texas to the Dakotas and plants in geothermal hot spots. Second, he believes we should be building a unified national smart grid for the transport of renewable electricity from the rural areas where it’s generated to the cities where the majority of it is used.

Third, he wants to help America’s automobile industry make the shift to plug-in hybrids that can run on renewable energy. Fourth, he suggests embarking on a nationwide effort to retrofit buildings with better insulation, energy-efficient windows and lighting. Finally, Gore believes the U.S. should put a price on carbon here at home and lead the world’s efforts to replace the Kyoto treaty with a more effective treaty that would cap global carbon dioxide emissions and encourage nations to invest together in efficient ways to reduce global warming as quickly as possible.

Gore’s plan may seem at first blush like pie-in-the-sky, never-gonna-happen kind of extreme wishful thinking. But, it’s not impossible. It would take swift action, strong leadership and plenty of funding – but 100% renewable energy in a decade is not out of reach.

There are literally cheap, abundant sources of energy all around us. It’s really kind of absurd when you think about it that we put so much effort into drawing fossil fuels out from underneath the surface of the earth when all the power we need is right here, and we don’t have to destroy the environment to use it. Furthermore, these budding renewable energy industries are already teeming with players eager to research, plan and carry out new energy infrastructure. They just need funding.

Solar, wind and geothermal companies already abound in the U.S., and recent economic woes are the only reason they haven’t continued their explosive growth. There are a lot of green businesspeople out there just waiting to jump in to this new industry and help it expand, and plenty of people out there ready to fill the jobs that it will create.  As billionaire oilman and renewable energy proponent T. Boone Pickens pointed out in a recent CNN interview, building the wind corridor from Texas to North Dakota would create 168,000 jobs in the first year – up to 3 and a half million jobs in the course of a decade.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have already learned the hard way that the way they’ve been doing business isn’t sustainable. They’ve made far too many a business decision based upon the idea that Americans would always want – and be able to afford – huge gas-guzzling SUVs. After the credit crisis caused auto loans to dry up and auto sales to drop dramatically, automakers like GM find themselves in need of a government handout.

This is where Gore’s goal to help automakers switch to plug-in hybrids could really pick up steam. Though automakers, when profitable, used to fight tooth and nail all government attempts to green up their industry via higher fuel efficiency standards and reduced emissions, now they’re at the government’s mercy.  The government may make a bargain with the industry, offering financial help – and in exchange, automakers must focus on producing high-mpg cars, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars.

The number one concern most people have voiced about Gore’s plan is the cost. No doubt, it would be staggering. But, at the risk of sounding like a broken record – since we have brought up Van Jones and Green for All again and again here at EarthFirst – the key is turning this switch to renewable energy into a massive jobs and economic revitalization program. Van Jones covers this concept extensively in his new book, The Green Collar Economy.

The current state of the economy certainly makes it much, much harder to achieve Gore’s goal. Our government is giving hundreds of billions of dollars to failing corporations when that money could be put to much better use in the form of a ‘green bailout’. But all isn’t lost: the Center for American Progress has prepared a $100 billion, two-year recovery plan that could put renewable energy on the fast track. The proposal, entitled ‘Green Recovery: A Program to Create Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy’ (PDF), outlines exactly what we need to do climb out of this economic hole and make the switch to renewable energy at the same time.

It also addresses the fourth part of Gore’s plan: retrofitting buildings with high-performance windows, improved insulation and energy-efficient appliances. Weatherization assistance could be fully funded to the level authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act, and the energy-efficiency retrofit program in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program should be expanded. The federal government should also match state public funds and other locally based programs that support energy efficiency and green building retrofits to both public and private buildings. Strong financial incentives, including tax credits and loan guarantees, should also be used to encourage private property owners to participate.

Perhaps most important of all is the need for a new smart grid. Our current outmoded, decaying power grid simply can’t do the job of transporting green power from rural areas where it’s produced to the rest of the country. Gore estimates the cost of a new green energy grid at around $400 billion over the next decade. Obama has already said that a smart grid is an absolute necessity, telling Rachel Maddow of MSNBC,

“One of, I think, the most important infrastructure projects that we need is a whole new electricity grid. Because if we’re going to be serious about renewable energy, I want to be able to get wind power from North Dakota to population centers, like Chicago. And we’re going to have to have a smart grid if we want to use plug-in hybrids then we want to be able to have ordinary consumers sell back the electricity that’s generated from those car batteries, back into the grid. That can create 5 million new jobs, just in new energy.”

There’s also a growing chorus of voices saying that there’s no reason why renewable energy can’t be produced locally. Many people believe that huge, remote renewable energy plants and farms aren’t green at all, and that creating energy on a local level with technology like micro-wind, for example, is a better choice. That would lessen the need for a huge, expensive new power grid and would spread jobs out across the country. Perhaps their ideas will be heard, too, in the months to come as the Obama administration seeks the best way to tackle this challenge.

There are still plenty of obstacles that will have to be overcome. Of course, we’ve got to keep in mind the fact that the dirty energy industries aren’t going to go down quietly. They’ve enjoyed the unique privilege of having a good buddy in the White House for nearly a decade, who has helped them make record profits and gain even more power. The oil and coal industries in particular would tell you that greenhouse gas emissions, mountaintop removal and other environmental catastrophes are the price we must pay for affordable energy, but of course that’s not true. They’re desperately clinging to their status and they aren’t going to merely step aside.

Big Oil in particular has unleashed a squirming army of lobbyists on Washington in the past few decades, and they’re fighting renewable energy and environmental hurdles with all their might. The Bush Administration has been very accommodating to their demands, and there are certainly still many members of Congress in the pockets of oil companies. But Obama is already in the midst of an unprecedented crackdown on lobbyists, so they shouldn’t expect to continue receiving the kinds of perks they’ve enjoyed under previous presidents.

With Obama in office, Gore’s plan will certainly get more traction than it would have if John McCain – or any other Republican – had won the election. Indeed, Obama has already voiced support for a shift to renewable energy sooner rather than later. In a taped message to the Bi-Partisan Governor’s Global Climate Summit earlier this week, President elect Obama left no doubt that his administration is committed to making serious investments in a clean energy future. He also addressed the final part of Gore’s plan: the need for real government commitment to the fight against global warming.

In the address, Obama stated,

My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process.

That will start with a federal cap and trade system. We will establish strong annual targets that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80% by 2050.

Further, we will invest $15 billion each year to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future. We will invest in solar power, wind power, and next generation biofuels. We will tap nuclear power, while making sure it’s safe. And we will develop clean coal technologies.

This investment will not only help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, making the United States more secure. And it will not only help us bring about a clean energy future, saving our planet. It will also help us transform our industries and steer our country out of this economic crisis by generating five million new green jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.

I promise you this. When I am President, any governor who is willing to promote green energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that is willing to invest in green energy will have an ally in Washington.  And any nation that’s willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.

After all of this, you might be thinking, why ten years? Isn’t that kind of crazy, considering the state of things? The thing is, long deadlines that are decades away don’t exactly spur immediate, passionate action. A sense of urgency is just what we need to make this happen. Plus, a 10-year deadline comes with the benefit of being 80% Obama administration.

None of this would be easy, but what would be even harder is trying to survive on an increasingly inhospitable planet where extreme weather dramatically affects the world food supply.  The very existence of the human race on this planet is at stake, and that’s what makes all of this worth fighting for. And, it would be far better to take on this challenge and fail than not to try at all. We’d still be much further along than we are now.

But let’s not forget the power of this country to make something happen. Despite this country’s history of racial inequality – and lingering tension – we elected a black man to be our leader in a time of crisis because he is the best man for the job. We rose above our past so that we can have a better future, and we’re going to do it again.

As Gore said himself,

In an earlier transformative era in American history, President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years. Eight years and two months later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface. The average age of the systems engineers cheering on Apollo 11 from the Houston control room that day was 26, which means that their average age when President Kennedy announced the challenge was 18.

This year similarly saw the rise of young Americans, whose enthusiasm electrified Barack Obama’s campaign. There is little doubt that this same group of energized youth will play an essential role in this project to secure our national future, once again turning seemingly impossible goals into inspiring success.

Obama Energy & Environment Team Gets Busy

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how President-elect Obama’s Transition Team is approaching climate issues. According to Heather Zichal, a member of the Energy & Environment Transition Team, the new Obama administration is working hard to turn all the good talk about the environment into action.

In keeping with their “open government” image, the Obama team is asking the American people to send in our thoughts and opinions about environmental policies. So, channel your eco-angst into a good brainstorming session and submit your ideas at change.gov/environment.

Obama Cites Global Warming, Renewable Energy as Top Priorities

We already knew that President elect Barack Obama is serious about tackling climate change and switching this country to renewable energy as quickly as possible. Tuesday, in a surprise video appearance at an international conference on climate change convened by California Gov. Schwarzennegger, Obama reconfirmed his dedication to both issues.

Obama addressed the audience in taped remarks repeating his campaign promises to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050, and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies. Watch the video below:

From The New York Times:

“Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” Mr. Obama said. “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”

“My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process,” Mr. Obama said.

State officials and environmental advocates were cheered that Mr. Obama choose to address climate change as only the second major policy area he has discussed as president-elect. In a press conference and television interview last week he said that his first priority as president will be to revitalize the economy.

This is great news for people who feared that the need to focus on the economy would, by necessity, put global warming and renewable energy on the back burner. Those of us in favor of the Green Collar Economy idea, however, are well aware that finding a solution to these three issues means addressing all at once. Now, we’re just waiting for Obama to offer a high-level position in his administration to Van Jones,

Link [The New York Times]

Coal Industry in Limbo Over Regulating Greenhouse Gases

Scores of new coal-burning power plants were set to begin construction soon, but the plans are now on hold as the industry awaits decisions by the Obama administration about the regulation of greenhouse gases.

Coal industry lawyers are nervous after the Environmental Protection Agency appeals panel recently rejected a federal permit for a Utah Plant, which one lawyer described as “a punt to the Obama adminstration”. The panel said that the EPA’s Denver office had failed to adequately support its decision to create the plant without requiring controls on carbon dioxide.

From MSNBC:

The matter was sent back to that office, which must better explain why it failed to order limits on carbon dioxide. This is “an issue of national scope that has implications far beyond this individual permitting process,” the panel said.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shrader said the agency was reviewing the ruling by the appeals panel, which traditionally gives great deference to agency decisions.

Environmentalists and lawyers representing industry groups said the ruling puts in question permits — some being considered, others approved but under appeal — of perhaps as many as 100 coal plants.

“It’s going to stop everything while EPA mulls over what to do next” about how the federal Clean Air Act is to be used to control carbon dioxide, said David Bookbinder, a Sierra Club lawyer. “And that will be decided by the next administration.”

Though we don’t yet know exactly how Obama is going to tackle the regulation of greenhouse gases, it’s safe to assume that his approach will be different from that of George W. Bush, who opposed using the Clean Air Act to do so. The Supreme Court has told the EPA that it must decide whether carbon dioxide endangers public health and welfare, and if it does it must be regulated. Obviously, it does, but under Bush, the EPA wouldn’t admit it.

The people Obama chooses for top spots in the EPA will make all the difference in cases like this – and we’re pretty confident that for once they’ll be capable of doing the job.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Why Can’t Obama’s New Presidential Limo be a Hybrid?

We aren’t supposed to know much about the President’s main ride, since it’s kind of a security issue. So, nobody’s really sure exactly how many miles per gallon the rumored new Obama Mobile gets – but according to reports, it might be pretty eco-unfriendly. Obama may have driven a hybrid SUV before winning the presidency, but once he’s in office this January, we’re hearing that he’ll be rolling in a souped-up limo that looks like a Cadillac GTS but is based on GM’s line of heavy-duty 2500 trucks.

Treehugger reports that even a non-souped-up 2500 series truck gets single-digit MPG and emits 16 tons of CO2 per year, earning it the worst possible climate change rating from the EPA. For security reasons, Obama’s limo will probably be even worse since all that 5-inch-thick glass and blast-proof ceramics are awfully heavy. But for all that, Treehugger doesn’t see why the new presidential limo couldn’t be a hybrid.

From Treehugger:

Clearly the limo — which is currently probably diesel-powered — has to be super strong, bullet-proof, and fast. But why can’t it also include a new drivetrain, electronics and some batteries? Ford made a conventional hybrid limo with the Mercury Mariner. If he needs something more militarized, can’t Obama car get something along the lines of those hybrid Hummer upgrades he earmarked as a senator? He did after all once call for every government car to be a plug-in hybrid.

And after all, wouldn’t a hybrid drivetrain help with accelerating such a behemoth? One commenter at CleanMPG speculates that the car might already be a hybrid for that reason.

Treehugger goes on to note that the limo could be a plug-in hybrid, though the threat of electromagnetic pulse could interfere with its electronics (a job for military engineers?).

It would be pretty awesome if they could pull that off, but when it comes to ferrying around a president with an unprecedented number of threats to his life, safety is definitely first. Hopefully this behemoth will make up for its abysmal MPG by keeping Obama as safe as possible.

Link [Treehugger]

Obama Might Be Able to Overturn Bush’s Environmental Measures, After All

President Bush has been all too eager to use his last few months in office to get in as many favors for industry buddies as he can. He’s been pushing forth measures left and right that compromise our water quality, open national parks to destructive drilling and invade the habitats of endangered species. It’s been looking as though Bush’s final desperate moves would be difficult for Obama to quickly reverse, leading many conservationists to feel as if years of work have been lost. But, Congressional Democrats might just have found a way to roll back Bush’s midnight regulations, including ones that have already taken effect.

From Politico:

“Fortunately, [the White House] made a mistake,” said a top Senate Democratic aide.

Last May, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten instructed federal agency heads to make sure any new regulations were finalized by Nov. 1. The memo didn’t spell it out, but the thinking behind the directive was obvious. As Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute put it: “We’re not going to make the same mistakes the Clinton administration did.”

President Bill Clinton finalized regulations within 60 days of the 2001 inauguration, meaning Bush could come in and easily reverse them.

It could take Obama years to undo climate rules finalized more than 60 days before he takes office — the advantage the White House sought by getting them done by Nov. 1. But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996.

The law contains a clause determining that any regulation finalized within 60 legislative days of congressional adjournment is considered to have been legally finalized on the 15th legislative day of the new Congress, likely sometime in February. Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate.

In other words, any regulation finalized in the last half-year of the Bush administration could be wiped out with a simple party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Despite the fact that the Congressional Review Act can’t be filibustered, Congress could still run into difficulty overturning Bush’s midnight regulations. But Jerry Brito, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University thinks the Obama administration can simply package all the Bush regulations it wants overturned into one large vehicle to be voted up or down. That will limit the special pleading that’s sure to come from the people who stood to benefit from Bush’s moves.

What a relief. There’s hope after all! Imagine the mess Obama would have had to wade through trying to fight these final desperate acts of Bush’s while also dealing with the economic mess. That’s probably what Bush was counting on. If Congress can overturn all f these business-first, environment-last regulations, it’ll be a huge victory for anyone who cares about the earth.

Link [Politico]

Obama: ‘We Can’t Solve Global Warming Because I F—ing Changed Light Bulbs’

Gotta love this: Newsweek caught several candid Obama moments during their behind-the-scenes Special Election Project, and one of the statements he made was pure gold.

From Newsweek, via The Huffington Post:

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that's green], and I say, you know, ‘Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, ‘I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, ‘Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”

Obama is rad (and right). Sure, changing your light bulbs is an important step, but it’s very small in the scheme of things.  It’s nice to get these snippets of off-the-cuff remarks from Obama since his oration is so carefully scripted.

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Jonas Karlsson/Vanity Fair

Who Will Obama Choose for Important Environmental Cabinet Posts?

During these 8 long years of George W. Bush’s presidency, we’ve had little trust in the Environmental Protection Agency to do their job. Since Bush has aggressively pushed his business-first agenda and put undue influence on the EPA in their decision-making process, the agency has become little more than a front, allowing Bush and Co. to trample all over human and environmental health so corporations can pad their bank accounts even more.

In these last few months before he’s forced to vacate the White House, Bush is on the warpath along with his puppet-like EPA chief Stephen Johnson to push through as many business-friendly measures as possible. He has eased pollution restrictions on factory farms, making it easier for factory farm operations to contaminate drinking water supplies with huge amounts of waste. He has rushed to ease endangered species laws so that building projects can go forward despite encroaching upon the habitats of threatened animals.  And, quietly, amidst the excitement and chaos of the election, Bush is doing all he can to allow power plants to operate near national parks and wilderness areas.

In an Obama administration, things will undoubtedly change – in a monumental way. No longer will we shake our heads in anger and frustration over yet another EPA decision that allows businesses to get away with polluting the earth, destroying ecosystems and threatening species. Anyone Obama chooses will automatically be more effective than Jones, simply because Obama actually cares about the environment. But Obama has an opportunity here to choose a true environmental leader – someone who will take the job of protecting the environment seriously.

One prominent name that’s been bandied about as of late is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said to be Obama’s first choice. Kennedy is an environmental lawyer and has long worked toward cleaning up the water supply in New York City. The outdoorsman’s obvious personal dedication makes him a popular choice among environmentalists, especially given his experience fighting anti-environment legislation in Congress in 1995 and 1996.

Lisa Jackson has also been mentioned as a possibility. Jackson, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, has been tapped to co-chair Obama’s transition group overseeing the EPA. That puts her on the shortlist to be named administrator, according to anonymous sources.  Jackson was recently appointed Chief of Staff to New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, the first African-American to serve in that position in the state.

For Secretary of the Interior, The Huffington Post has speculated that Democratic congressmen Norm Dicks of Washington and George Miller of California could be in the running. The Interior Department is yet another federal agency that has been plagued by appointees that saw industry profits as more important than conservation.

Rep. Miller is a member of the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus as well as the House Natural Resources Committee, and has a long history of supporting America’s wildlife and public land systems. Rep. Dicks is also a member of the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus and is chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. He recently won the 2008 Ansel Adams Conservation Award from the Wilderness Society, mostly for his efforts to increase budgets for public land systems.

Though some have mentioned Democrat Tony Knowles – the man who lost the governorship of Alaska to Sarah Palin – as a possibility, his support for drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge makes him less than palatable.

Grist has additional possibilities for both EPA Administrator and Secretary of the Interior as well as top names for Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Agriculture and possible new position ‘Climate Change Czar’. To get the names on their list, Grist spoke to campaign advisors, academics, nonprofit conservation advocates, lobbyists and others who might have the low-down.

Though Obama has been far quicker to begin the process of choosing his staff than previous presidents, don’t expect a definite appointment too soon. Officials are uncertain when Obama will be making a selection.

Whether it’s tomorrow or next month, what a relief it is to know that the environment will once again be in capable, empathetic hands.

Link [The Huffington Post] + [Politico] + [NJ.com] + [Grist]

Obama Victorious! Let the Green Collar Economy Begin

‘President Obama’. Doesn’t it feel great to say that? We’re ecstatic about Barack Obama winning the presidency for so many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we’ve now got the government on our side in the push toward a green collar economy. His historic victory means that instead of fighting against our leaders, we can be confident that they’ll be on our side.

Cleaning up Bush’s mess won’t be easy. We can’t fool ourselves into thinking that an Obama administration will magically be able to make everything better.  With the state the economy is in, we need swift, decisive action to prevent the situation from getting any worse.  That’s where Van Jones and his Green Collar Economy come in.

We already know that Obama and Biden plan to set bold new goals for America on energy efficiency; they want to create 5 million green collar jobs and start a shift toward renewable energy sources. They will increase fuel economy standards, add millions of plug-in hybrids to the roads, enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies and aggressively work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Watch Obama’s August 4th 2008 speech on energy, if you haven’t already:

Obama and Biden will have the power to get these initiatives rolling, and Van Jones has the on-the-ground experience to help them achieve their ambitious goals.  Jones’ background in social justice and environmental activism makes him the ideal green economy advisor for Obama’s administration.

So, how about it, President-elect Obama? Last night, you made history and the world will never be the same. We’re a rejuvenated America, damaged by eight years of mismanagement but so hopeful about the future, so eager to pick up the pieces and start anew. It’s as good a time as any to create a new position in your administration – one that will allow Van Jones to help you bring your energy plan to fruition. Here’s to a green collar economy, and all of the good it will bring this country!

Link [Barack Obama] + [Amazon]

Who’s Who in Green: Barack Obama

Barack Obama may not be an environmental activist, a green businessman or the inventor of any  important eco-technology.  But, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t contributed greatly to the cause. Obama, in his time as a United States Senator, has proven with his voting record that he’s passionate about the environment – and he has long called for a clean, green energy revolution.

The Illinois senator’s record shows that he has been solidly behind replacing fossil fuels with cleaner renewable energy.  Sen. Obama has actively sought to reduce our dependence on oil, voting for legislation that supports technology like solar and wind power. He has voted to remove oil- and gas-exploration subsidies, and to make oil-producing cartels illegal. He backs windfall profits on petroleum companies.

Sen. Obama has also voted to provide incentives for companies that lowered dependence on oil, improved conservation and reduced pollution.  In 2005, he voted in favor of a failed amendment that sought to improve automobile efficiency, which would have helped reduce air pollution as well as energy consumption, and in 2006 he sponsored legislation raising the standard fuel economy four percent per year until 2018.  You can read Senator Obama’s full list of environmental accomplishments and contributions at Grist.org.

Perhaps nothing shows the depth of Sen. Obama’s understanding of our climate crisis as well as the speech he made on April 3rd, 2006 in Chicago, entitled ‘The Coming Storm: Energy Independence and the Safety of Our Planet’. Sen. Obama relates stories about ice melting in tiny villages in Alaska, explains how global warming is threatening the earth and expresses frustration that the Bush administration has continued to cling to oil and has not acted in any meaningful way. He also offers a ray of hope: the promise of alternative energy.

“The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we’re contributing to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.”

As President, Barack Obama will fight global warming proactively and without the corrupt ties that have bound our previous leaders to the oil industry. Obama’s plan for energy and the environment stresses the importance of invigorating the economy with green jobs, capping emissions, investing in renewables, and phasing out oil as an energy source. Obama has also called for all new buildings in America to be carbon neutral by 2030, and for 25% of U.S. electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025.  Read Obama’s full New Energy for America plan at the Barack Obama website.

Barack Obama’s Green Score: 60,489 (and we’re sure it’s going to go through the roof in the next 8 years!)

McCain and Obama Spar on Energy, Environment During 2nd Presidential Debate

During the second Presidential debate of 2008, candidates Barack Obama and John McCain answered questions relating to the environment and how they believe we should move forward on energy concerns.  McCain, while pointing out that he disagreed with Bush’s record on the environment, offered nuclear power as a solution – never mentioning renewables like solar and wind.  Obama stated that we can help the American economy grow with alternative energy innovation, pointing out that McCain has voted against alternative energy 23 times.

Check out the video:

“Senator McCain talks a lot about drilling, and that’s important. But we have three percent of the world’s oil reserves and we use twenty-five percent of the world’s oil.  So what that means is that we can’t simply drill our way out of the problem.  And we’re not going to be able to deal with the climate crisis if our only solution is to use more fossil fuels that create global warming.  We’re going to have to come up with alternatives and that means that the United States government is working with the private sector to fund the kind of innovation that we can then export to countries like China that also need energy and are setting up one coal-fired power plant a week.”

Once again, while McCain’s solution is to look back to the 20th century for help with solving a 21st century problem, Obama is looking forward toward green tech as a way to solve our energy crisis, boost the economy, battle climate change and help ensure that countries like China don’t undo our efforts with their ever-increasing reliance on dirty fossil fuels.  Whose plan sounds better to you?

Link [YouTube]

What Was Green at the 2008 Democratic Convention

Yoga, condoms, gay tea parties and a pro-choice bowling night: it sounds like a Bill O’Reilly joke about the Democratic Convention, but all of these things actually happened this year, in and around a political event that was strange and new and yet at the same time… recycled.

While all of the sideshow spectacles like Trojan representatives inviting delegates to see how fast they could put a condom on a banana and the Stonewall Democrats’ tea party for gay delegates were not actual parts of the convention proceedings, they did add to the chaos and confusion that took place in Denver this week.

It may have been hard to see amongst the crazed, hysterical Hillary supporters holding ‘Rise, Hillary, Rise’ posters and protests by a ragtag group of pro-lifers, Libertarians and neo-nazis, but we’ve discerned a basic rundown of what the DNC did to be green this time around.

The Democratic Convention of 2008 set out to be the greenest ever, with organic food, biodegradable cutlery, recycling and compost bins, loaner bicycles and energy star Coke machines.  Convention-goers received lanyards that stated ‘I used to be a soda bottle’.  Convention swag was all recycled, from the fabric tote bags to the key chains and pens.  BPA-free reusable water bottles were offered, with filling stations located all around the convention grounds. Bulk-rate carbon credits were offered to offset the travel emissions of the 6,000+ delegates and alternates.

Official cars ran on flex fuels, and all DNC offices went paperless. Motion-sensors in the offices turned lights off automatically when people leave the room. Food handlers wore biodegradable gloves. Vendors were instructed in waste diversion, and 900 volunteers helped sort the garbage. The stage that speakers addressed the crowd from was made mostly of recycled materials.

The Huffington Post reports that not all of the DNC’s green efforts worked out.  The loaner bike thing sounded like a great plan, but it turns out Denver doesn’t have enough bike racks for the 1,000 bikes – and on top of that, bicycles aren’t allowed near the Pepsi Center or Invesco Field.   Over 70 hotel chains provided special room swipe cards made of ‘sustainably harvested wood’ which reportedly didn’t always work and have locked guests out of their rooms.

There were bound to be pitfalls at such a big event, though it seems ludicrous that someone didn’t think of the bike thing ahead of time.  Considering that they essentially planned a party for 70,000 guests – and not all of them are going to care about recycling and energy efficiency – it seems like they did a great job.  It’s been like one big commercial for sustainability and environmental responsibility, and that’s definitely a good thing.  Let’s see the RNC top that.

Link [The Washington Post] + [The Huffington Post]

Biggest Wind Turbines in the World Being Built in Colorado

The Bush administration might be doing everything in its power to derail the environmental movement, but that’s not stopping our country from moving right along in their efforts to produce wind turbines.  And not just any wind turbines – the biggest wind turbines in the world.  Billions of dollars of private equity have been dedicated to new renewable energy technology including solar and wind.

Trend Hunter magazine’s photo of a piece of one of these wind turbines, currently being built in Colorado, resembles a giant gray whale.  Holy bigass turbine!  Like Trend Hunter, we can’t wait until Obama settles into the Oval Office and starts funneling money into green tech.  There’s a whole wide world of clean, environmentally friendly technology out there just waiting to be developed.

Link [Trend Hunter]

Obama: Republicans Take Pride in Being Ignorant

At a town hall meeting in Berea, Ohio, Obama struck back at attempts by McCain and the Republican National Committee to ridicule him by passing out tire gauges labeled ‘Barack Obama’s Energy Plan’. This, of course, was after Obama suggested that one thing ordinary Americans can do to save energy is to keep their tires properly inflated.

“They’re making fun of a step that every expert says could absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3-4%! It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant!”

Awesome, and so true!

Link [Gristmill]

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