It’s Getting Hot In Here

Please add comments and questions so we can better adjust the content/flow of the vlog.

Thanks

“My neighborhood’s crazy.” Waylon said, “there’s drugs, alcohol, violence, stolen motor vehicles, robbing, getting into porno—we’re trying to do whatever. This program,” he said, referring to Asheville Green Opportunities or Asheville GO, “makes it not that hard. “And,” he said, “we get paid.”

Waylon was introduced to Asheville GO after serving time in prison. When I visited the Burton Street Community Peace Garden, the eight corps members were winding down the work day. As Waylon sucked down watermelon, Delario and Darius put away shovels they were using to build a green house.

D, Waylon’s co-worker, looked over at me, his hands dyed red from building a cob pizza oven next to the garden. “It’s awesome,” he said. “We’re like  family.”  The GO members not only learn how to grow food, build living roofs and  cob ovens made from Buncombe County’s own red clay, they also learn valuable life and job skills.

Embracing a growing green economy, Asheville GO focuses on resource savings. The emerging program provides young men and women with skills to improve their lives and restore ecological balance to their communities. “By providing members with the foundation they need to launch successful green careers,” Asheville GO director Dan Leroy explains, “we breach environmental, economic and social injustices”

According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the major barriers to a more rapid adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency in America are insufficient skills and training. Asheville– blossoming in green home construction, solar energy, and local—is ripe for a group helping channel young people with innovative skills.

Asheville GO designed a unique curriculum. During the first semester, GO members will prepare for apprenticeships with businesses in local green industry through service projects in the Asheville community. The program focuses on five career pathways: green building, clean energy, materials recycling, sustainable agriculture and landscaping, and ecosystem restoration. The first half of each day is dedicated to introductions and trainings that inform the service projects. Also included in the curriculum are life skills, like team work and GED preparation, which are transferable and useful in any job.

The leadership and green job training program is not unique to Asheville. Similar projects are springing up all over the country. Van Jones, co-founder and President of Green For All, the year-old national organization based in Oakland that spearheads the call for green-collar jobs is busy developing the online infrastructure to connect the projects. “It’s a movement that exists,” he says, “it just can’t see itself yet.

“The best answers for the planet are the best answer for people and gas prices,” Jones said in a recent interview. “It is clear we are in a climate crisis.  Now people are confused about the solutions.” Jones explains that promotion of things like “clean coal” and off-shore drilling as a part of a comprehensive approach to the energy crisis do not address root causes but are false solutions to climate change. “We are working with the greenest solutions for the poorest people” he said.

As emerging leaders in the green-collar jobs movement, Waylon, D and the other GO members exemplify true solutions for real people. As D explains, “I was tired of doing the things I was doing. I like learning how to do things in a new way.”  According to D, meeting all different kinds of people and having more opportunities will make a significant difference in his life and the life of the planet.

Crossposted from the Understory

RAN released a new report today, “Financing Global Warming: Canadian Banks and Fossil Fuels“, which calculates for the first time the carbon footprint from financing of fossil fuels by 7 leading Canadian banks - RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, Desjardins and Vancity. Along with the report, we also launched a new website, climatefriendlybanking.org.

The report results are striking. The half a million tonnes of CO2 operational emissions - the greenhouse gas emissions from running their buildings, employee travel and the like - are completely dwarfed by the 625 million tonnes CO2 of financed emissions resulting from their $155 billion in financing of fossil fuels, which are the principal driver of climate change. A lot of this money is flowing into expansion of the tar sands, one of the largest and dirtiest fossil fuel projects on the planet.

But what does this mean for the typical Canadian bank customer. Every dollar we deposit with banks, they can leverage into $10-15 in new loans and financing. Are banks using your money to finance fossil fuels and global warming? We created a special checking account carbon calculator where customers of any of the seven banks we studied can enter the average amount of their deposit accounts (or the amount they wished they had!) and measure its carbon footprint in kilos of CO2 per year. It turns out where you bank can have a big impact on the climate. Switching $10,000 in deposit accounts from the biggest carbon Bigfoot bank, Scotiabank, to the low-carbon climate friendly leader, Vancity (Canada’s largest credit union), would reduce your annual carbon footprint by 1.4 tonnes of CO2, a very meaningful reduction.

Learn more at www.climatefriendlybanking.org

Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss, Sun Microsystems and Timberland Challenge Lawmakers to Raise the Bar for U.S.Climate and Energy Policy; Call for CO2 Emission Cuts, Clean Energy Investments, Coal Plant Limits

Cross-posted from WattHead - Energy News and Commentary…

Today, five leading US companies joined Ceres investment group to launch a new coalition of corporate citizens calling on Congress to quickly enact strong U.S. climate and energy legislation that will spark a new clean energy economy and reduce global warming pollution. The new coalition issued several key principles for climate policy today, including proposals to stimulate renewable energy, promote energy efficiency and green jobs, cap global warming pollution and auction 100% of pollution allowances, and limit new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions.

The group, which includes Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss, Sun Microsystems and Timberland, calls themselves Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, or BICEP for short, and aims to flex some lobbying muscle to support climate and clean energy action.

The coalition’s goal is to work directly with key allies in the business community and members of Congress to pass meaningful energy and climate change legislation consistent with the following eight core principles:
Continue reading ‘Good Corporate Citizens: Five Major US Companies Call for Climate, Clean Energy Solutions’

Cross-posted from WattHead - Energy News and Commentary

In a prepared video address delivered today at the Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles, CA, President-elect Barack Obama pledged to turn over “a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change.”

In the short address, viewed by an audience that includes leaders from around the nation and the world, Obama emphasized the importance of the upcoming international climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland, and said he was “looking forward to working with all nations to meet [the climate] challenge in the coming years.”

Obama reconfirmed his campaign commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 through a national cap and trade program and again pledged to “invest $15 billion each year to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future.”

Convened by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other US governors on the forefront of global warming solutions, the Bi-partisan Governors Global Climate Summit convenes in Los Angeles today and begins two days of dialog designed to spur global cooperation on climate change in advance of the UN-sponsored talks in Poland next month. To this crowd of climate leaders, Obama said:

“Few challenges facing America — and the world — are more urgent than combating climate change. Many of you are working to confront this challenge….but too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office.”

Watch the short video address below (full transcript below the fold):

Continue reading ‘Barack Obama Commits to “New Chapter” on Climate Change’

Remember how we kept saying the real work would begin AFTER November 4?? Well, we meant it. We are not content to merely vote or create amazing change on our campuses and in our communities. We are going to fight until this country has 100% clean energy, millions of green jobs, every coal/nuclear/dirty energy facility is shuttered, and we have the boldest climate policies ever both here and internationally.

Carrying oversized welcome cards and gifts of model windmills, citizens across the country today are welcoming their members of Congress to office with a call to bold leadership on clean energy and climate change. Over 4000 grassroots climate activists in over 430 congressional districts in all 50 states will participate in the visits. Additionally, concerned citizens rallying in Washington, D.C. today have a special gift for the President-Elect: a giant plane ticket symbolizing their request to Obama to attend the crucial United Nations Climate Conference in Poland in December.

Organized by the 1Sky campaign, the youth-led Energy Action Coalition, 350.org, and a number of other local and national organizations, this nationwide “welcoming party” demonstrates the tremendous public support for bold climate action and a new green economy. Citizens and climate leaders are offering their encouragement to the nation’s new leaders as they work to re-engage the world, re-power America with clean energy, and re-build the nation’s economy.

Hundreds were expected at a noon rally in D.C.’s Upper Senate Park to show their support for clean energy, green jobs, and bold climate policy. Immediately following the rally,  some activists delivered the giant plane ticket to President-Elect Obama’s transition team, while others will descend on Capitol Hill to deliver welcome cards to every representative in the House and Senate.

Share your “welcome party” stories on ItsGettingHotInHere.org! We wanna know the juicy details of what happened all over the country..

We want to let you know about an exciting opportunity for college students, the Clinton Global Initiative University. This event challenges college students and universities to tackle global problems with practical, innovative solutions. It will be taking place from February 13-15th, 2009 at the University of Texas at Austin, but the final application deadline is December 12th, 2008.

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) is a non-partisan catalyst for action that brings together a community of global leaders from various backgrounds to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

The Energy Action Coalition was featured at the 2008 CGI annual meeting in September and is excited to see the push to include the future (college youths) in their internationally acclaimed program.

Apply Now for CGI U 2009

http://www.cgiu.org

- deadline is December 12, 2008 -

Space is filling up quickly for the second Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University being held at The University of Texas at Austin, February 13-15, 2009. Visit http://www.cgiu.org today to apply to attend CGI U 2009.

The 2009 meeting-hosted jointly by President Clinton and The University of Texas at Austin-will focus on issues related to education, energy & climate change, global health, peace & human rights, and poverty alleviation. All attendees are required to make a Commitment to Action-a concrete measure to make a difference within any of these five areas.

Attending CGI U is free, and travel assistance is available for those who qualify. The final application deadline is December 12, 2008. However, applications are being processed on a rolling basis so please apply as soon as possible. We hope to see you there!

So proud of my alma mater right now:

*Relax for a sec and watch the video.

This past weekend youth from across the Pacific Northwest united in Seattle to continue planning, learning and networking to bring about a clean and just future. More than 20 colleges and high schools and over 100 students represented. The summit, called Re-Energize the Northwest, was sponsored by the Sierra Club and the Sierra Student Coalition and organized by the Cascade Climate Network, the regional youth climate network that has been growing steadily since its inception just over a year ago. This was the second large youth climate summit the CCN has organized this year, following Cascade Powershift in Eugene, OR last February. This is Power Vote follow up in action!

The summit was held in the Lutheran Center, the same building that the first ever NW youth climate summit took place in two years ago and where the first seeds for the CCN were first planted. It is a tetament to the growth of this movement to see how far we have come in our organizational efforts in only two years. Not only are we all talking to each other more often and more effectively, we are essential players in the growth of green jobs, clean energy, sustainable foods and transportation solutions.

Continue reading ‘Youth Re-Energizing the Nortwest’

Thousands of Australians heard a passionate speech by 17 year-old high school student Sasha Hunt at yesterday’s Walk Against Warming in Sydney, Australia.

Having brought many of the Sydney crowd to tears, in her first public speech Sasha told the crowd that “We have the opportunity to create the changes that will sculpt the world in which we live.”

“Looming on the horizon is the destruction of my future,” Sasha said.

“It is by acting in unity that we will be able to divert our course from the horrors of climate change and avoid ever having to look into our children’s eyes and explain why we didn’t try harder.”

A Lismore High School student who finished her HSC just days ago, Sasha is a high schools organiser with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

She says that speaking at the climate change rally was one of the highlights of her life.

“It was an amazing experience speaking to that many people about climate change – an issue which I feel so passionately about.

“The fact that it’s now all across the papers and on the news has been overwhelming.”

Sasha volunteers from Lismore with the ‘Switched On Schools’ program is helping organise Power Shift 2009, a national youth climate summit for April next year.

Here’s the transcript of her speech:
Continue reading ‘17 Year-Old High School Student Addresses Crowd of Thousands at Walk Against Warming’