2nd Green Revolution

With the movement for outdoor education and increasing youths’ general experiences in nature gaining steam, legislation referred to as “No Child Left Inside” (NCLI) passed its first major hurdle. Directly related to the work of Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, NCLI aims to combat what Louv terms nature-deficit disorder.

The state of Connecticut has their own initiative of the same name. Intended to “encourage Connecticut families and visitors alike to enjoy all the recreational resources and outdoor activities available in Connecticut’s state parks, forests and waterways”, the state’s directive aims to reconnect families with Connecticut’s natural environs. Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. National Debt

The $3.8 trillion budget that President Obama proposed today to Congress for fiscal year 2011 (starting October 1, 2010) is a record. With two on-going wars, money to spur an economic recovery, enormous costs for entitlement programs, and ballooning net interest payments on an estimated $1.3 trillion deficit ($12 trillion national debt) it seemed almost a forgone conclusion that this year would see the largest budget numbers ever. To be fair, this was not Obama’s making but it’s now his problem. Spending beyond our means has finally caught up to us and foreshadows an erosion of U.S. influence that will change international politics and the global balance of power. The new budget also shows the reality of how low clean energy and green technology rank in terms of priorities. Read the rest of this entry »

The United States government announced the recipients of $8 billion in high speed rail stimulus funding today. Three projects will receive the lion’s share of money set aside in last year’s stimulus bill. The projects will be based in California, Illinois, and Florida. According to a press release from The White House, President Obama and Vice-President Biden stated that “the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is awarding $8 billion to states across the country to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.”

The following chart from the Christian Science Monitor via the Associated Press provides a breakdown of the projects receiving more than half a billion dollars: Read the rest of this entry »

The White House announced today that President Obama will swing by the much hyped COP 15 climate change meeting taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark (the COP in COP 15 is an acronym for “Conference of Parties”, the highest body of the United Nations Climate Change Convention which meets on an annual basis). On the way to picking up his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10th, the President will stop by the international climate summit on the 9th, near the beginning of the 12 day meeting. He will tell the delegates that “the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions ‘in the range of’ 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050,” according to the New York Times. Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday marked the beginning of what could be the turning point in modernization of the nation’s electricity grid. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), “President Barack Obama . . . announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system.” In the article, the DOE provided a map of the award winners (as a PDF). Included in the statement (from the DOE) were the following measures:

• Empowering Consumers to Save Energy and Cut Utility Bills — $1 billion
• Making Electricity Distribution and Transmission More Efficient — $400 million
• Integrating and Crosscutting Across Different “Smart” Components of a Smart Grid — $2 billion
• Building a Smart Grid Manufacturing Industry — $25 million Read the rest of this entry »

From Amtrak’s “Arrive” magazine Sept./Oct. 2009, a summary of major clean energy spending provisons in the stimulus bill:

• $11 billion for smart grid
• $6.3 billion for state and local governments to modernize buildings with emphasis on improving energy efficiency
• $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs
• $2 billion to fund a $7500 tax credit for consumers buying new plug-in hybrid cars
• $2 billion for next gen battery research for electric vehicles

Van Jones, appointed as a special adviser for “green jobs” by President Obama, has stepped down after weeks of controversy about his past actions and comments. Appointed as a “czar”, he did not go through the traditional vetting process for administration officials who must be confirmed by the Senate. According to the New York Times, some of his controversial remarks included “his derogatory statements about Republicans in February and his signature on a 2004 letter suggesting that former President George W. Bush might have knowingly allowed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to occur in order to use them as a ‘pre-text to war.’” Speaking on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Jones “decided that the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual.” Gibbs said President Obama did not endorse Jone’s past actions “but he thanks him for his service.”

For more information and to form your own opinion on the whole matter, here are links to articles from a range of news sources:

Fox News
The Huffington Post
The New York Times
The Washington Post

Before getting involved in environmental and energy issues, Jones was a civil-rights activist in California and author of the Green Collar Economy (his “green” background/vision is summarized in this post). He joined the administration’s environmental council in March.

- Justin Manger

[Image Credit]

NPR reported on Tuesday, as part of their week long series on high speed rail in the United States, that the federal government has already received 278 proposal for rail projects from 40 states and Washington DC. These proposals are competing for the $8 billion (US) made available in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Tuesday’s report was divided into three stories, focusing on the Southeast, Northwest, and Florida, with the former including states from Louisiana to Georgia while the northwest project linked Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

According to the report, Florida has requested $2.5 billion (US) for the first leg (approximately 100 miles) of a statewide system stretching from Orlando to Tampa. They are hoping to be “shovel ready” in time for disbursements of the stimulus funding. NPR reports that Florida has been planning and working on a rail system for 30 years, indicating that it may indeed be ready to begin as soon as the funding is available. Florida’s department of transportation is also seeking funds to develop the next planned rail line which would connect Orlando to Miami.

In the Pacific Northwest, a high speed rail project hopes to link Portland, Oregon with Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday marked the beginning of National Public Radio’s week long series on high speed rail in America. The buzz surrounding high speed rail has been growing ever since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law earlier this year by President Obama. NPR reports that some forty states, as well as Washington DC, have submitted proposals for the funding. The $100 billion (US) in proposals are competing for $8 billion (US) available through the stimulus bill.

According to the report, many of the projects would not exceed 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour). However, the California proposal, which includes 800 miles of track, would reach speeds of 220 miles per hour. The only system currently in place that surpasses 150 miles per hour is the Acela line between Washington DC, New York City, and Boston. The average speed though for the Acela is only 80 miles per hour, as it can only travel at the faster speeds for a short stretch of track. NPR states figures that put the price of California’s project in the billions of dollars. “The estimated price tag for the California high-speed-rail project is $40 billion, and expanding this sort of high-speed rail network to the rest of the country would cost in the hundreds of billions of dollars.” Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S-China “Strategic and Economic Dialogue” that began in 2006 under then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson- mainly to address currency issues- begins its first Obama era discussions today. While the economy and financial crisis will lead the agenda, high on the list of main issues is climate change and all its related themes. Climate change is becoming more and more intertwined with the financial and economic future of countries as the energy revolution is being described as a way to combat climate change, bring countries together, kick start the world economy, provide jobs, and promote “leapfrogging” economic development in poorer countries. There is a lot of work to do before such benefits come to pass but with nations generally agreeing on the importance of the second green revolution, the possibility that these ideals will be realized becomes greater. The Financial Times sets the stage nicely in their article today about how climate may play into the meetings:

Climate: As the world’s two top carbon emitters, the US and China acknowledge they will be at the heart of any deal at this year’s Copenhagen conference. But the US dismisses any idea of the two countries forming a “G2″ group to thrash out deals other countries would sign up to subsequently. China has resisted calls for a specific cap on emissions and for the scrapping of tariffs on clean energy technology.

It is also listed as the second most important priority by Secretary of State Clinton and Treasury Secretary Geithner in a co-authored Wall Street Journal Article:  Read the rest of this entry »