Falmouth becomes Maine's ninth "Cool City"

Thanks to the efforts of some local citizens, Falmouth became the ninth town in Maine to sign the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement.

A posting by John Richardson at the Portland Press Herald (click here to read the article) says that there are 7 more towns looking at signing.

Congratulations to Claudia King and others in Falmouth who helped the town take a leadership position in the fight against climate change!

The momentum is building!!!

Companies Starting To Step Up To The Plate

A video from Sea Studios Foundation (no relation to the Sustainable Energy Alliance!) profiles how some large, forward-thinking companies see reducing global warming pollution as a strategic imperative - both due to the effect on climate and because their efforts will yield significant profits now and in the future. Click here to see the video.

It is good to see that some major corporations are starting to "get religious" about climate change. The Sea Studios website lists some organizations that are involved helping companies to make this change - and provides ways to give them positive feedback! If they know that we support what they are doing - and that we be more likely to buy their products - we can prove to business leaders that the market will respond to their efforts!

The site also has a fantastic checklist of everyday things that we all need to do to reduce out carbon footprint. Click here to see the checklist. Many of the standard suggestions, but presented in a clean, easy-to-understand way. One idea that I do not see often is:

"Turn off standby VCRs and other electronics. About 85% of your VCRs energy
consumption happens when it’s not in use. Same with your TVs and other
appliances. Buy a “Smart Power Strip” at www.smarthomeusa.com to do the work
for you."

I blogged about the Smart Power Strip in December (click here to read the blog) and highly recommend it as a way to reduce the usage of so called "phantom power."

Union of Concerned Scientists on Nuclear Power to Fight Global Warming

I've written before of my opinion about building nuclear power plants to meet the crisis of climate change. I received the most comments from that post - all against my position. But, I am not against listening to the other side and am always open to changing my mind.

The Union of Concerned Scientists website has some great information about how to stop climate change (though in my mind the goal really should be minimizing the impact of climate change...), including a position paper on the use of nuclear power. They are not against it, but feel we should start with other technologies first.

Their five conclusions are:

"1. Prudence dictates that we develop as many options to reduce global warming emissions as possible, and begin by deploying those that achieve the largest reductions most quickly and with the lowest costs and risk. Nuclear power today does not meet these criteria.

"2. Nuclear power is not the silver bullet for 'solving' the global warming problem. Many other technologies will be needed to address global warming even if a major expansion of nuclear power were to occur.

"3. A major expansion of nuclear power in the United States is not feasible in the near term. Even under an ambitious deployment scenario, new plants could not make a substantial contribution to reducing U.S. global warming emissions for at least two decades.

"4. Until long-standing problems regarding the security of nuclear plants—from accidents and acts of terrorism—are fixed, the potential of nuclear power to play a significant role in addressing global warming will be held hostage to the industry's worst performers.

5. An expansion of nuclear power under effective regulations and an appropriate level of oversight should be considered as a longer-term option if other climate-neutral means for producing electricity prove inadequate. Nuclear energy research and development (R&D) should therefore continue, with a focus on enhancing safety, security, and waste disposal."

(click here to go to the UCS website)

This seems like a reasonable response to the issue of nuclear power. There some concerns that if addressed might make it a better option, but in the meantime there are better options available for us to start with.

I am sure that we will see some sort of reemergence of the nuclear power industry in the near future. I just hope that we can find other ways to address the climate crisis.

Yahoo! Is At It Again

In March, I blogged about Yahoo's program to motivate people to install CFLs (click here to read the post). Now they are trying to get people to go even further.

You can now create your own Green Plan To Save The Planet at the Yahoo! Green website (click here to go to the site)

There are a few things that I like about this site:

• There are A LOT of different actions that are listed. Just reading through the list gives ideas of what sorts of daily decisions can make a difference - many that I've not seen listed elsewhere.
• You can have the actions listed by lifestyle, category, effort, and impact.
• Each action has an short explanation of why it is a good thing to do and where to get more information.
• The site records your commitments and totals your carbon savings.
• The site also totals the commitments of all of the people users.
• There is a map feature to see what areas have the most people participating.

There are a couple of things that I do not see in this program:

• Any incentives. Wouldn't it be cool to make something like this a contest?
• Any accountability. There is a huge difference between PLANNING to do something and ACTUALLY DOING it.

But, anything that gives people ideas of how they can change their behavior to reduce their carbon footprint is a good thing. Check it out!

Recycling CFLs at Whole Foods

While shopping at the new Whole Foods store in Portland, ME last weekend, I saw that they accept compact fluorescent light bulbs for recycling. This is a good option for anyone near a Whole Foods store who does not want to wait for a town/city-sponsored hazardous waste day.

Is It Getting Hotter In Here?

Yesterday, I blogged about how the arctic ice is melting faster than models have predicted. Today, another example of models being inaccurate - in the bad direction.

An article last week from CNN (click here to read it) suggests that cities in the eastern US could be getting a whole lot hotter in coming decades. Former NASA scientist Barry Lynn, one of the study authors, stated "the problem is most computer models, especially when compared to their predictions of past observations, underestimate how bad global warming is. That's because they see too many rainy days, which tends to cool temperatures off, he said."

Who knows how accurate these models are versus other climate models. But, I have not yet seen any that suggest that climate change may not be as bad as predicted.

Artic Ice Melting Faster Than Predicted

This weekend, a report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center was featured on NPR's Living on Earth (click here to listen to the segment) reporting that the ice in the Arctic Ocean is melting much faster than climate models have predicted. This indicates that there are significant feedback systems in the Arctic that are not accounted for in even the most worst-cast climate models. Click here to read more about this from the NSIDC website.

The graph below, from the NSICD website, shows how the area covered by sea ice (shown in red) is falling faster than even the standard deviation of the predictions of climate models.

The problem with melting arctic ice is that ice reflects most of the suns energy back to space. When ice is replaced by dark ocean area, the ocean absorbs more heat. This is not good news.

The biggest fear that I have is that this type of deviation from climate predictions will become increasingly apparent as time goes on. If this happens, we may already be too late to stop significant climate change. There is also the chance - as suggested in the audio clip - that we will reach a tipping point where we will suddenly be faced with significant climate changes rather than the gradual change that we all expect. This is why it is so important that we begin the transition away from carbon-based energy.

Use CFLs Despite the Mercury

With the skyrocketing use of compact fluorescent lights comes a concern about mercury. Each CFL contain about 5 milligrams of mercury, the toxic metal that has caused, among other issues, public health officials in north eastern states to recommend that pregnant woman not eat too much fish. Some people are considering not installing CFLs, despite the significant energy savings and beneficial effect on global warming emissions, for fear of exposure to mercury during use and disposal considerations.

A fact sheet at the Energy Star website compares the amount of mercury in CFLs to other household items that we are all familiar with: "older home thermometers contain 500 milligrams of mercury and many manual thermostats contain up to 3000 milligrams. " In other words, you could install CFLs in your entire house and still not have as much mercury as in the thermometers that we used to put in the mouths of our children.

As for disposal, there is one word: recycle. If you live in Kennebunk, Maine, you can bring CFLs to the Kennebunk Light and Power District offices and they can recycle them for you. Or, many towns have an annual hazardous waste collections day where CFLs can be accepted for recycling. If neither of these options are feasible, then go to the Earth911 website (http://www.earth911.org/) to find other locations. If a bulb breaks, sweep (do not vacuum) the debris, place into a plastic bag, and recycle. There is no significant risk from exposure to such a small amount of mercury.

If you choose to not recycle (and I really hope that you DO recycle your CFLs), you will still be reducing the amount of mercury emitted to the environment. The reduction in power plant emissions is estimated to be more than twice as much as the 5 milligrams of mercury that are released when a CFL is thrown in the trash.

CFLs are a cheap, easy way to reduce your carbon footprint and help to stop global warming and climate change. Though they contain mercury, their benefits far outweigh the risks that they pose.

Haiku for a Friday Afternoon

A frog in water
Doesn't feel it boil in time.
Dude, we are that frog.

(From grist.com)

Option 1: Turn off the stove.

Option 2: Jump?

Time Magazine's "Global Warming Survival Guide"

As many have said - even Fox News! - the debate about the reality of global warming is over. Though there are remaining skeptics, they are getting pushed further and further to the fringe. Most everyone agrees that we have a problem. Most everyone agrees that we need to do something about it.

The cover story of this week's Time Magazine is "The Global Warming Survival Guide: 51 Things That You Can Do To Make A Difference." The online version can be seen by clicking here.

The article starts, "Can one person slow global warming? Actually, yes. You—along with scientists, businesses and governments—can create paths to cut carbon emissions. Here is our guide to some of the planet's best ideas, with an assessment of their impact and feel—good factor."

The standards are on the list - use compact fluorescent lights, take a bus, etc. But, there are others that you might not have considered:

• 2. Get Blueprints For a Green House
• 6. Ditch the Mansion
• 8. Give New Life to Your Old Fleece
• 11. Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes
• 15. Move to a High-Rise
• 19. Buy Green Power, At Home or Away
• 22. Skip the Steak
• 39. Make Your Garden Grow
• 45. Make One Right Turn After Another

I get overwhelmed when I look at a list like this. After all, making 51 changes at once is a huge task. But, making one small change, then another, then another.... Before you know it, you look back and see that significant progress was made!

This is the idea behind the Community Climate Challenge sponsored by the Sustainable Energy Alliance and Campaign Earth. When you sign up for this program, we will send you a Challenge (via e-mail) to focus on for the month. After a year, you will have made small changes in 12 different areas of your life. One by one, we will all be making a difference. Join the Community! Sign up for the Challenge by clicking here.

Supreme Court Rules Against EPA's Inaction on Climate Change

In November, as I posted in this blog (click here to read the post), the Supreme Court heard a case brought by 12 states, including Maine, and various environmental groups to force EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. EPA claimed that the Clean Air Act did not give the Department the authority to do so.

In a decision handed down today, the Supreme Court rejected the Bush Administration's case. While not saying what the regulations should contain, the 5 - 4 decision supports the claims of the plaintiffs that EPA must regulate global warming pollution.

Reuters reports (click here to read the article) that "the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 'has offered no reasoned explanation' for its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide and other emissions from new cars and trucks that contribute to climate change... Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the court majority, rejected the administration's argument that it lacked the power to regulate such emissions. He said the EPA's decision was arbitrary, capricious or otherwise not in accordance with law.'"

Hopefully, this decision is another example of the tide turning. With leadership from the federal level through the EPA, along with work being done in Congress, we may see a coordinated attempt by the United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, to address this critical issue while we still have time to minimize the impact of climate change.

Click here if you want to read the Supreme Court's opinion "MASSACHUSETTS, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ET AL. "

Greening your electronics

If you are looking for ways to reduce the effect that your electronic gadgets have on the environmental and on global warming, then Treehugger.com is a resource that you should look at. Their article titled "How to Green Your Electronics" (click here to read it) gives some great ways to go green. The page includes:

• Top 10 Tips - including "Kill vampire power," "Bright idea: The Solar Charger," and "Look for EPEAT"
• So You Want To Do More - including "Offset Your Energy" and "USB-It"
• By The Numbers - "40% of the energy used for electronics in your home is used while these devices are turned off." Ouch!!
• Going Techie - Information about Li-Ion and NiMH batteries
• Dig Deeper Into Treehugger - including a list of various products to help reduce energy usage (including some solar chargers that I am dying to get my hands on...)

This is a fantastic article for everyone who is plugged into the Electronics Age (all of us with our iPods, cell phones, laptops, PDAs...)

Also, I am an avid reader of the Lifehacker blog. Their post that discussed this Treehugger.com article has some great comments that include other ideas about how to reduce your electricity usage. Check out the Lifehacker blog at "How to go green with your electronics" (click here to read it).

UNH "Power to the People: A University Dialogue on Energy"

The University of New Hampshire has a group of short discussion papers that look at issues related to global warming and climate change. The papers examine subjects ranging from the problem of US reliance on foreign oil to the basics of solar energy to the ethics of energy consumption.

The following papers are included:

• The Power of One, Walt Alderman
• Here Comes the Sun: the Promise of Solar Energy, Carmela Amato-Wierda
• Peak Oil, Geopolitics and the Need for Relocalization, John Carroll
• Hop on the Bus, Gus: The Power of Public Transit, Sönke Dornblut
• Powering Down Technology, Janine Jacques
• Energy's Human Face: Immigrant Stories in Song, David Ripley
• Overpowered: American Domination, Democracy and the Ethics of Energy Consumption, Ruth Sample
• Our Energy (In)Security, Stacy D. VanDeveer
• Energy – The Not-So Bottomless Oil Well and the Alternatives, PT Vasudevan
• Climate in the Balance, Cameron P. Wake

Click here to go to the UNH website to read these excellent articles.

Portland Press Herald reports SEA's Community Climate Challenge

The Portland Press Herald ran an article yesterday about the Community Climate Challenge - a new program from the Sustainable Energy Alliance, in partnership with Campaign Earth (visit their website at www.campaignearth.org).

Click here to read the article "Residents challenged to fight warming".

(If it is removed from the Press Herald's site, then you can find it in SEA’s Online Community at http://www.seachangehappen.org/smf/index.php/topic,96.msg258.html .)

The Community Climate Challenge is a program that tries to motivate people to make small changes to their daily lives - each of which will help to prevent some of the global warming pollution associated with our daily lives. Click here for more information and to sign up!!

Sydney, Australia to have power blackout to raise climate change awareness

Here is a fascinating idea: On Saturday, March 31, Sydney will have a 1-hour long blackout to raise awareness about climate change. It is being planned by the World Wildlife Foundation and is being supported by the city as well as thousands of businesses.

I wonder if this sort of event to focus attention on the issue would ever be supported in the United States by a major city...

To read more about this event, click here to go to the website for Cosmos Magazine and click here to go to the website for the event.

Blue Man Group on Global Warming

The Blue Man Group thinks that we need to do something about global warming.

/c

Fox News Changes Positions - The Debate Really Is Over

In the YouTube clip posted on Calvin Jones' blog "Climate Change Action," you can see something that I, personally, never thought that I'd see - Sheppard Smith of Fox News stating that global warming is real.

"Those who would doubt global warming need to read up," Smith says. "Scientists say that we have to act quickly and go 'carbon neutral.'"

This gives me hope. Now that Fox News has finally stopped trying to debunk the evidence and the predictions of global warming experts, maybe we can all focus on the solutions that will be required to prevent significant climate change.

Click here to go to the "Climate Change Action" blog and see the video.

The time for debate is over. The time to act is now.

Free Showing of "The Global Banquet: Politics of Food"

A movie from Old Dog Documentaries called "The Global Banquet: Politics of Food" will be shown on Friday night (March 16th) at 7:00 PM in Kennebunk. The event is sponsored by the Sierra Club and the Environmental Justice Committee of the Kennebunk Unitarian Universalist Church.

"The Global Banquet exposes globalization’s profoundly damaging effect on our food system in terms that are understandable to the non-specialist. It debunks several underlying myths about global hunger:

• That hunger results from scarcity;
• That small countries don’t know how to feed themselves; and
• That only market-driven, chemically-based, industrial agriculture can feed the world."

More about this movie can be found by clicking here.

For more information about this event, call Bob Weurthner at 207-985-0387.

"I Want To Reduce My Energy Usage, But Where Do I Start?"

This is a question that many people have asked, especially once they see Al Gore's film. But, where do you start? If you have already installed compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), where do you go next?

Posting by Gregg Dinino on the Sustainable Energy Alliance Online Community (click here to view the post) directed readers to the "Home Energy Saver" calculator. This website is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and helps people identify ways to reduce energy usage in their homes and provide assistance to getting the work completed.

The calculator is the primary focus of this website (click here to go to the calculator). After entering your zip code, there is a questionnaire that takes about 3 minutes to complete. Questions range from the size of your house to the type of heating and cooling you use to the number of windows in the house.

The result is an estimate of your current energy bill and the projected reduced bill if recommended upgrades are completed.

The Existing Home bar shows your estimated annual energy spending and the categories (heating, cooling, lighting, etc). The "with Selected Upgrades" bar shows how you can reduce each category and save money.

This calculation is interesting, but the best part of this site is the list of options available, including estimated costs, and the specific comments about how to implement each. The information includes Economic Benefits, Additional Benefits, Upgrade Description, Purchasing Tips, and More Information. Click here to view my report.

This list is long, but doable. The important thing to realize is that that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Make a list, hang it on your refrigerator, and start crossing them on one by one.

10 Personal Solutions to Global Warming from Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists (click here to visit their website) is a "science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world." Global warming is one of many issues that they focus on.

It seems that there are a million different lists of "10 Things YOU Can Do To Fight Global Warming." The UCS list has some unique items:

"1. The car you drive: the most important personal climate decision.When you buy your next car, look for the one with the best fuel economy in its class. Each gallon of gas you use releases 25 pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Better gas mileage not only reduces global warming, but will also save you thousands of dollars at the pump over the life of the vehicle. Compare the fuel economy of the cars you're considering and look for new technologies like hybrid engines."

I've never seen this listed as "the most important personal climate decision." I have not done the calculation, but these guys are a whole lot smarter than I am - so I will take their word for it.

"2. Choose clean power: More than half the electricity in the United States comes from polluting coal-fired power plants. And power plants are the single largest source of heat-trapping gas. None of us can live without electricity, but in some states, you can switch to electricity companies that provide 50 to 100 percent renewable energy. (For more information go to Green-e.org.)"

Residents and businesses who are customers of Kennebunk Light and Power can choose to buy some or all of their electricity from green sources through the KLPD Village Green program. For more information, contact sastaz@klpd.org.

If you do not get your electricity from KLPD, then contact your utility and ask how you can buy green energy. If nothing else, it will let them know that there is a demand for such products. Customer demand - knowing that there are people willing to pay a premium for clean energy - is a key to getting power companies to offer green electricity.

"4. Unplug a freezer: One of the quickest ways to reduce your global warming impact is to unplug the extra refrigerator or freezer you rarely use (except when you need it for holidays and parties). This can reduce the typical family's carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 10 percent."

The amount of electricity consumed by an extra freezer is significant. If you can get away with only one for even a part of the year, you will save money AND carbon dioxide emissions.

"8. Buy good wood: When buying wood products, check for labels that indicate the source of the timber. Supporting forests that are managed in a sustainable fashion makes sense for biodiversity, and it may make sense for the climate too. Forests that are well managed are more likely to store carbon effectively because more trees are left standing and carbon-storing soils are less disturbed."

Another consideration is to buy things made from bamboo, which is a fast-growing type of grass that can be made into everything from kitchen utensils to flooring to clothing.

"10. Let policymakers know you are concerned about global warming: Our elected officials and business leaders need to hear from concerned citizens. Sign up for the Union of Concerned Scientists Action Network to ensure that policymakers get the timely, accurate information they need to make informed decisions about global warming solutions."

This is true for local and state officials as well as federal ones. Let your representatives know that you fully support their efforts to met the challenges of global warming - and that you want action sooner rather than later.

The whole list can be found on the UCS website (click here to see the list) along with other information about global warming.