Natural Resources Defence Council Action Fund

Back in May 2007 I pointed out that you could help environmental causes by joining the NRDC Action Fund. You can join for free and though they will ask you for donations, none are required (I participate through a payroll deduction plan, and so do not frequently make other contributions). What you gain by joining is the ability to influence national environmental policy by writing your senator and congressmen on important environmental issues. The process is fast, easy, and painless. I have pasted the latest communication from Frances Beinecke, the President of the NRDC Action Fund, below.

You can join the Action Fund here.

On June 19th, "the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the first-ever bill designed to unleash clean energy opportunities, create millions of jobs and combat global warming.

"Al Gore called this showdown "the most important environmental vote of this generation." And President Obama promised that a Yes vote would "open the door to a better future."

"Still, the bill's passage defied expectations. Back in January, few people believed that six months into a new session and a new administration -- and in the midst of an economic meltdown -- we could pass transformative clean energy legislation in the House.

"Well, we did it! And we did it because millions of people like you made their voices heard on Capitol Hill. You fought alongside the NRDC Action Fund because you know that this is America's single best chance to defuse the climate crisis and create a greener, more prosperous future.

"House leaders Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, and Ed Markey deserve a great deal of credit for this success. This was no easy fight. The bill touched off regional differences and challenged Big Oil's and Big Coal's stranglehold on America's energy supply.

"Waxman, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, had to corral many opposing interests to create a bill that would get out of committee and survive the bumpy journey through the Senate and on to the White House. One of the keys to this bill's success was that Americans from all walks of life urged their lawmakers to back climate action.

"I saw it for myself. In the past year, I traveled the country to help build momentum for national climate legislation, and the people I talked to -- from clean energy entrepreneurs in Cleveland to labor organizers in Chicago, from national security experts in Georgia to religious leaders in New York -- all believe that building a clean, sustainable energy future will unleash enormous opportunities for America.

"I know you agree. And that's important because we're going to need you to make your voice heard again and again in the months ahead. We'll be fighting to make this bill even stronger -- and advance it through the Senate and on to the president's desk. And we need to do all that before the international climate negotiations begin in December in Copenhagen.

"The fight in the Senate will be challenging. But just as we defied expectations in the House, we can defy them in the Senate -- especially if we have your strong support.

In the coming weeks, the NRDC Action Fund will be turning all its attention to this final push. The House's historic passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act just gave our efforts powerful momentum. "

Windspire Turbine: Affordable Home Wind Power

Wind power comes to your backyard. Well, if you have ca. $6,500 and an average of 12 mph winds for 2,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. Still, this is really cool. Follow the link below to find out more.


Windspire Turbine: Affordable Home Wind Power

Reality is a dream?

If not a dream, then what? Or is it what we think it is?

Rethinking the Global Money Supply

I know it is a little strange to be posting on the global money supply to an environmental blog, but it is becoming more and more clear that the human and natural worlds are inextricably linked. To save the earth we must understand our place in it, and this involved understanding the forces that drive its exploitation. These forces are largely economic.

The linked article is from Scientific American, and deals with China's recent suggestions that the international monetary system move away from the dollar at the currency to which others are "pegged" (i.e., against which their value is set). This may seem like a very esoteric issue, but understanding it is crucial to understanding the current economic crisis, and the effects of that crisis on the environment. Jeffrey Sachs' linked article does a great job of putting this all into context, and making it comprehensible. When he speaks of "overly expansionary monetary policies by the Federal Reserve" he means that the US central bank has printed, and thus borrowed, a lot of money. This has been going on for years. It has gotten worse lately, but it is not a recent phenomenon.

By the way, Jeffrey Sachs is the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. So I am not the only one who thinks that these issues are important to saving the Earth.

#30 Do not use illegal drugs

There is a huge human cost to the drug trade, even when you take the damage to the consumers out of the equation.

The Mexican journalist Alma Guillermoprieto describes part of the problem this way in a recent issue of the Berkeley news. "Drug traffickers pray for a good death — instead of torture or beheading like many of their victims — to the saints of new "narco-religions." There is the cult of La Santa Muerte, "the Holy Death" (which Guillermoprieto described in a November 2008 New Yorker article) and the cult of Jesús Malverde. In Sinaloa state where the latter originated, you can even buy fingernail sets featuring a tiny image of the santo on each nail." - "In the emptiness of meaning that you need to become a mass murderer, you look desperately for redemption and for meaning."

Or how about this account from a "mule" a single mother recruited to carry drugs into the US.

"They took us away and searched us. I had swallowed drugs, but I also had some hidden in my vagina. It was these that they found when they searched me." - "I carried drugs because I had no help supporting my children and things were very difficult for us. You will do whatever you have to do for your children. I wanted them to have a better life, without so much hardship." Now she is serving a five year sentence in Britain. He children are living with her brother. they think she is working in England. She has not seen them since being caught, and has only been allowed to speak to them three times in the past four years.

Deaths? Over 5,000 people were killed in Mexico in 2008 as part of that county's drug war.

"The 2008 death toll means that the drug war in Mexico alone (that is, not including the copious number of drug war deaths in Colombia) is more deadly than illicit drugs in the United States, which is the biggest drug market in the world and the destination for the overwhelming majority of the American continent’s drugs."

The major drug responsible for these Mexican deaths? No not cocaine, or heroin - marijuana.

Someone died for your high.

Think about it.

Addicted to Plastic

To be broadcast on the Sundance Channel, Tuesday, April 28 at 10 PM.

#29 Be Green at Work

They are small things, but if we all did them they would make a difference.