Green Options » Caitlin Sislin

Obama’s Inauguration Will Be the Greenest Ever

Caitlin Sislin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:32:30 +0000

This is a guest post by Caitlin Sislin, a public interest environmental attorney in Oakland, California and founder of the Transformative Advocacy program of Women’s Earth Alliance.

Barack Obama is committed to slowing and reversing climate change. Environmentally-friendly initiatives such as green jobs are at the center of his economic stimulus plan. So it’s no surprise that Obama’s inauguration will have the smallest “footprint” of any president in history.

The four-plus million people expected to flood Washington, D.C. in two weeks will be treated to numerous eco-friendly perks:

For the first time ever, the Environmental Protection Agency will advise event organizers on techniques for throwing a greener party.
Festivities will include not one, but two carbon-neutral Green Inaugural Balls — one hosted by Al Gore.
Organic food will be served at official events.
Bicycle-riders will be treated to valet parking.
Public restrooms will feature air dryers instead of paper towels.
Many of the festivities will be lit using energy-efficient bulbs.
All catered events at the House of Representatives will use compostable or biodegradable plates and utensils.
A small-wind turbine display from Southwest Windpower and Mariah Power

Environmental groups will also be on hand, working to raise awareness about sustainability among the millions of event attendees. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will hand out used fur coats to homeless people, as well as hot chocolate with soy milk in cups that read “Thank You for Not Wearing Fur!”

Senate Democrats Call for Stricter Toxics Rules After Coal-Ash Disaster

Caitlin Sislin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:27:21 +0000

[This is a guest post by Caitlin Sislin, a public interest environmental attorney in Oakland, California and founder of the Transformative Advocacy program of Women’s Earth Alliance.]

On Thursday, a group of senate democrats responded to what may be the largest coal-related disaster in history by calling for more stringent rules on toxic byproducts from coal-fired power plants. Senator Barbara Boxer led the charge, condemning federal rulemakers for their “inaction” and demanding a stronger regulatory regime, which would include broader oversight of power plants by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The December 22, 2008 disaster, which began when an earthen dike broke at Tennessee’s Kingston Coal Plant, caused over 1.1 billion gallons of toxic coal-ash sludge from a 40-acre settlement pond to flow onto several hundred acres of surrounding land near Knoxville, TN. The spill threatens the immediate health and safety of the community and the local environment, blanketing the area with mercury- and lead-laden sludge up to 9 feet deep in some areas, and jeopardizes the region’s drinking water source, the Emory River.

U.S. Permits Expansion of Coal Mine on Navajo Sacred Ground

Caitlin Sislin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:47:17 +0000

This is a guest post by Caitlin Sislin, a public interest environmental attorney in Oakland, California and founder of the Transformative Advocacy program of Women’s Earth Alliance.

On December 22nd, 2008, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining granted Peabody Western Coal Company a “life-of-mine” permit for its Black Mesa project. The permit authorizes the Kayenta mine, which generates 8.5 million tons of coal per year to the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, to continue unabated until 2026.

Navajo and Hopi activists protest this permit as an unacceptable desecration of Black Mesa mountain, regarded as a living, female being and a central component of Native religion. Wahleah Johns, co-director of the activist organization Black Mesa Water Coalition, said that “[t]his decision will uproot the sacred connection that we have to land, water and all things living on Black Mesa.”

Peabody has operated the Kayenta and Black Mesa mines on the sacred Black Mesa mountain since the mid-1960s, to the great detriment of the Navajo nation. Coal extraction destroys the environmental integrity of the mountain, contaminates the air with methane gas, and threatens miners with illness and injury; coal burning is among the most highly-polluting forms of energy production in existence. Navajo land throughout Arizona and New Mexico is littered with coal mines and coal-fired power plants, nearly all of which fail to provide power to Navajo residents, instead exporting the coal and power to far-away urban communities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles.