2nd Green Revolution

On or around the first of every month, 2nd Green Revolution updates the green events calendar for the coming month. Last November we began including a post highlighting some of the intriguing events for that month. This month has fewer events, but some intriguing themes have emerged in the post-Copenhagen world. In the United States, there are two conferences dealing with carbon caps and emissions.

Several international conferences dealing with sustainability and clean energy are also on the horizon this month. Here is a sampling of a few domestic and international symposiums that caught our eye.

Conference: The New Green Economy
Dates: January 20-22nd
Location: Washington, DC
Further information: http://ncseonline.org/conference/greeneconomy/ Read the rest of this entry »

Exhibiting a quick wit and sharp sense of humor, Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu joined John Stewart on The Daily Show earlier this week. In the monologue leading up to the interview, Stewart reviewed the Waxman-Markey bill (officially known as H.R. 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) passed by the House of Representatives last month. Many of the compromises weakened several of the initial measures that were in the bill. Among those that Stewart pointed out were the change from a 20% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 to 17% and a renewable energy mandate that was reduced from 25% by 2025 to 15% by 2020, which according to Stewart’s acerbic commentary could be lowered by individual states. In addition, Stewart pointed out the concessions that led to reduced regulatory oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

When Chu came on the show, he displayed his sense of humor by presenting Stewart with an honorary membership to NAS Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past century, the number of Americans living on farms has fallen from nearly 40% to less than 2%. As large agribusiness and monoculture farms take over, smaller farmers have had difficulty finding ways to compete. Michael Pollan featured Polyface Farms in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, his treatise on food. By making sure that the land was cared for, the owners and operators of Polyface ensured its long term viability. They engaged in management intensive grazing, where the animals are rotated through a plot of land to ensure that the right mix of consumers and decomposers scour the land and that the producers are given time to regenerate.

With the passage of the cap-and-trade bill by the House of Representatives at the end of June, more opportunities may arise for small farmers who practice no-till farming, a technique in which they do not turn over the soil, releasing carbon dioxide that has been fixed in the ground. This has the ultimate effect of fixing, or sequestering carbon in the roots of plants. In this story from Colorado Public Radio’s KCFR, farmers may earn money in the future via the Colorado Climate Action Plan. The program may resemble the Chicago Climate Exchange, with a local focus. Proponents of the program hope that Colorado farmers would earn more than $1 per acre (presumably per year), which according to KCFR’s report is the going rate for offsetting the emissions of one ton of carbon on the Chicago exchange. Companies would be able to purchase offsets from Colorado farmers, instead of national or international projects. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Friday, June 26th, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the “American Clean Energy and Security Act” (H.R. 2998). Though far from becoming law, the 219-212 vote in favor is the first step toward placing a cap on the amount of green house gases industry and businesses can emit. It also sets up a market allowing entities that pollute less to sell their carbon credits to businesses that pollute more. It is a major, if imperfect, first step towards moving America in the direction of a clean energy future. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it faces an even tougher path to becoming law and may not even come up for vote before the Copenhagen climate conference in December. Without at least 60 votes in favor of the legislation, the bill will surely face a filibuster and may never come to vote. Read the rest of this entry »

The British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Service (BBC) produces a weekly series, One Planet, that delves into environmental concerns facing society. In this week’s installment, host Mike Williams spoke to James Smith, the head of Shell Oil’s United Kingdom division. Mr. Smith discussed the increasing demand for energy and the need to curb carbon dioxide emissions. In the interview, he claims that humans are approaching the peak of oil production. As a result of a reduction in the availability of so-called “easy oil”, he believes that production of oil will top out within the next decade. Currently 85 million barrels of oil per day are produced globally, with Mr. Smith claiming that the peak will be less than 100 million barrels because much of the remaining oil is in more difficult places to reach, which require more energy to extract. Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), is an expanding alliance of major businesses and leading climate and environmental groups that have come together to call on the federal government to enact legislation requiring significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. According to their website, the group believes that “swift legislative action on the USCAP solutions-based proposal, entitled A Call for Action, would encourage innovation, enhance America’s energy security, foster economic growth, improve our balance of trade and provide critically needed U.S. leadership on this vital global challenge.”Here is the pledge found on their website:

“We, the members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, pledge to work with the President, the Congress, and all other stakeholders to enact an environmentally effective, economically sustainable, and fair climate change program consistent with our principles at the earliest practicable date.”

Last Saturday’s edition of the New York Times had an op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center at Copenhagen Business School, that raised a good argument. In regards to climate change, his main point was that the focus should be making clean energy cheaper in order to “make low-carbon alternatives like solar and wind energy competitive with old carbon sources.”

There is a lot of talk about tackling global warming but the reality is that it falls at the bottom of Americans’ priority list, as a recent Pew survey has shown. What’s more, there is no consensus as to the best way to tackle what most people see as the real and serious threat of climate change. Mr. Lomborg argues that countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark in December should not focus on how to cut emissions. Instead, he proposes an agreement that calls for “every country to spend one-twentieth of a percent of its gross domestic product on low-carbon energy research and development.” This would make green energy sources fall in cost, eventually becoming competitive with traditional energy sources. The question is whether this would provide enough incentive for quick and broad development of alternative energy. Or is it necessary to have emission cuts backed by a cap and trade system that rewards those who reduce emissions in order to truly invigorate the private sector? Would such government action lead the private sector to experiment and mass produce clean technology more than a policy of allocating one-twentieth of a percent towards R&D? Thomas Friedman espouses that “he’d settle for any carbon price mechanism — cap and trade, fee-bates, carbon tax and/or gasoline tax — as long as it is real and provides consumers and investors a long-term incentive to shift to clean cars, appliances and buildings.” The battle is on not only for whether there will be climate change legislation but also over what shape that legislation will take. Read the rest of this entry »