Remember back in December when 250 laid-off workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors Plant in Chicago? As you may recall, the company was obligated to give the workers 60 days notice, but their creditor, Bank of America, had cut of the company’s line of credit, even after receiving $25 billion in government bail out money, making it difficult to pay the workers. The workers refused to leave until they got what was due them and, miraculously, they won.
Well now an even bigger miracle has occurred. Some of the workers are getting their jobs back because of around provisions in the stimulus package that put aside about $30 billion in subsidies for improved home energy efficiency. You see, California based Serious Materials, a producer of energy efficient building materials, took a look at that particular part of the stimulus package and realized they were going to be getting seriously busy since their windows qualify for a $1500 tax credit. Recognizing the need to expand to meet the coming demand for things like energy efficient windows, and having a desire to do some good in the world and to have a midwest location, they thought why not purchase the former Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago, and while we’re at it, why not rehire some of those union workers, at their former union wages, and teach them about making our energy efficient products? So that is exactly what they did.
The Reality Coalition has a new campaign ad exposing the lie behind “clean” coal. This one was directed by Academy Award winning film makers, Ethan and Joel Coen, and includes the great line, “clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word clean”.
Paper appears to be high on the agenda of a number of organizations this week. It’s necessary. Paper is so ubiquitous – from tissues to toilet paper to memo pads to catalogs to the mess on your desk - that it is easy to forget, or perhaps more convenient to ignore, that paper manufacturing has significant environmental repercussions.
Paper production is the third largest contributor to climate change, the biggest source of deforestation and has a significant impact on water issues. It’s a dirty business, from the use of toxic chemicals and chlorine bleaches to clear cutting of forests like this one on the North Carolina Coast:
If the streets of your town suddenly seem to have less young people than normal next weekend, that’s because more than 10,000 of them are expected to converge on Washington, D.C. February 27th – March 2nd for Powershift 09. While there, these young people will be carrying a message for Congress: we want bold, comprehensive and immediate federal climate action.
They will also receive training to become the future leaders of the climate action movement, with workshops on a variety of topics like lobbying members of Congress, corporate accountability, environmental justice, organizing 101 and more. They will also be connecting with other participants from their states and will be invited to a career fair hosted by Idealist and a graduate school opportunities fair.
When I first met Josh Tickell a few years ago, he was a blonde-haired, baby-faced, young man driving around the country in a diesel van painted with yellow sunflowers that he was running on used fast food vegetable oil. He called it the Veggie Van and he was an unabashed biofuel evangelist.
I asked Josh my favorite biofuel question at the time: If Willie Nelson can figure out how to run a car on vegetable oil, why can’t Detroit? I’d like to think we bonded a little over that. He had me test drive a diesel Volkswagen and told me that he had written some books and was going around the country in the Veggie Van, lecturing on the benefits of biofuels. He also said he was working on a film. I didn’t think much of the film making bit. I live in L.A. Every one is working on a film about something. Still, Josh had a sincerity and contagious optimism about him that was distinctly antithetical to being just another L.A. film guy.
As part of the 2009 Greener Gadgets Conference in New York on February 27th (read about the 2008 conference here), the design magazine Core 77 is presenting a green design competition. There are 50 green gadget finalists and by voting before February 20th, you can help determine which will be the top 10 that make it to live judging from the stage during the conference.
Right now, Hernando Barragan’s environmental traffic light called Social-environmental Station is leading with 1182 votes. These gadgets look like traffic lights and are meant to be placed in public areas. They will measure things like CO2 and visually display them so that environmental phenomena become more immediately visible to the public and less of an abstraction. Essentially, they will be “environmental signals that support decision making on environmental issues”.
During the eight environmentally dismal years of the Bush administration, environmental advocates learned how to effectively use the U.S. court system to aid their cause. We saw this with a number of lawsuits including the Supreme Court’s ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are pollutants that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Now Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and 4 cities, including my very own hometown of Santa Monica, California, have settled a suit of almost 7 years (Friends of the Earth, Inc., et al. v. Spinelli, et al.) that will force two U.S. government run financing agencies, Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to take into account the effects of their overseas projects on climate change.
It’s nice when people put their money where their mouths are. For some time now, labor has been on the green jobs bandwagon. At this week’s Good Jobs Green Jobs conference, the AFL-CIO announced a $1 million investment from the Working for America Institute to create a Center for Green Jobs, showing just how committed they are to the symbiosis between green jobs and union jobs.
At a press conference announcing the center, United Steelworkers Union President Leo Gerard said:
We need to send the economy in the direction where the primary emphasis is on good jobs and green jobs. Don’t let anybody tell us that can’t be done.
We reject the notion that we have to choose between good jobs and a clean environment. It’s not one or the other. It’s both or neither. – AFL-CIO
The next time someone tells you about clean coal, remind them of the coal ash spill in Tennessee, bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster. Or better yet, point them to the Think Progress video that shows the reality of the clean coal oxymoron in just 34 seconds.
Just over a year ago, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Roxanne Christensen, co-founder and President of the Institute for Innovations in Local Farming. The Institute promotes Small Plot Intensive (SPIN) farming techniques first codified by Wally Satzewich, a farmer from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The idea behind SPIN farming is to give step-by-step instructions for creating a profitable farm on an acre or less of land in order to promote the development of local, organic food supplies. Through their method, even a 1/8th acre part time hobby farm can generate $10,000 – $20,000 a year with a full 1 acre farm bringing in $50,000 – $65,000 a year.
This year, they have come out with a SPIN gardening guide for the home gardener. It is not just for those with large backyards, either. Like the SPIN farming guide, it can be used to help organize community gardens and neighborhood produce co-ops. The original SPIN farm, run by Wally and his wife, is spread out over 25 neighborhood backyards.
The idea of the SPIN garden is to turn your home garden or neighborhood land into a significant, valued food source. The guide helps you understand how to grow high value crops – those that retail for more than $50 per harvest per short bed - and calculate the value of your harvest, so you know exactly what you are saving by growing your own organic produce. At the same time, it gives you a list of equipment you will need, and estimated costs, so you can garden like a pro. High value crops include heirloom varieties of carrots, tomatoes and potatoes, salad and mesclun mixes, onions, shallots and scallions, fresh herbs and more.
