Call, call again!

It's just possible that Senators are going to show some backbone on climate legislation.  Here's an article from Grist giving evidence for hope.  Of course, there's nothing like us, their constituents, calling them and telling them we support strong climate legislation to help them develop backbone.  If you haven't called them yet, now is a great time, while they're enthusiastic, and before the fall elections when Republicans, few of whom have shown any interest in fighting climate change, may gain seats in the Senate.  Go here to find your Senator's contact info.  If you absolutely can't call, email, but calling is many times more effective than email.  See my last post for more details on Senate climate legislation.

If you're going on vacation, or even if you're not, remember that once you've selected the lowest-impact method of transportation possible, you can offset the rest.  Here's my blog post exploring the controversial world of carbon offsets.

Stay cool,
Bonney

The time is now to think, act, and share

Here's a sampling of comments about the new Senate climate bill introduced this week As you'll see, they vary from, "This is a horrible bill" to "This bill will do the job."  New Mexico's New Energy Economy group says, "The cap and trade bill introduced this week by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman will provide expanded control and power to polluting industries and Wall Street."  They encourage people to call their Senators in support of the CLEAR Act, the cap and dividend bill that I wrote about in my April 2 post.  According to the Environmental Defense Fund, a call is worth 100 emails.  Click here to find your Senator's phone # and other contact info. If you won't call, email, because an email is worth an infinite amount of doing nothing.  (If you can, do both!).  Repower America, a site affiliated with Al Gore, says "This is the starting gun for the Senate to craft and pass the strongest possible climate and clean energy legislation," and urges us to contact our Senators by email here.  Here's a more in-depth analysis by Climate Progress.  Whatever you decide, please contact your Senators and urge them to pass some sort of energy and climate legislation as soon as possible.  Senators are waiting to see what the public says.  Climate change will not wait while we make up our minds. Let us know what you decide in the comments, and 
Stay cool,
Bonney

Emergency Action Alert--Please call Senators today

Please go to the Environmental Defense Fund's link here for details.  While I don't like this bill as well as the CLEAR bill (see my posts on the CLEAR bill  here and here), I think any bill we can get passed this year that reduces CO2 as much as possible by 2018 is much better than no bill, and it sounds like there is a need for action today.  So I'm going to tell my Senators just that.  Please call yours, too! 
Thanks, and
Stay cool,
Bonney

The CLEAR Act

In December, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the CLEAR Act, another promising bill to reduce climate change.  CLEAR stands for Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal. Its approach is called cap-and-dividend.  Under this bill:

• the Department of Energy would auction carbon shares (1 share = a permit to emit a ton of CO2), to U.S. companies that import and produce fossil fuels
• 75% of the auction proceeds would be divided evenly among U.S. consumers each month
• 25% would go to a fund (the Clean Energy Reinvestment Trust Fund) to pay for additional greenhouse gas emissions reductions, low‐carbon energy investment, climate change adaptation, and regional economic adjustments
• The number of permits sold each year would decrease to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020 and an 83% reduction by 2050 
• The permit price would be determined by bidding on permits but regulated to be within a certain range to reduce the economic damage caused by too much price volatility 
• Only producers and importers would be required to purchase permits and allowed to bid

The apparent advantages of this bill, pointed out by Mike Sandler at the Huffington Post, are that 100% of permits are auctioned, no offsets are allowed (offsets let an emitter buy shares in a project that reduces CO2 rather than reducing the emitter's CO2 production), and no one but producers and importers can bid on permits (no speculators, investment firms, etc.). In other bills, such as ACES (Waxman-Markey, which passed the House last year), many permits were given away for free, offsets were allowed, and third parties could buy and sell permits.

What do you think of this bill?  Post your comments, and
Stay cool,
Bonney

Vets and others speak out on climate legislation

Here's the promised video by VoteVets.org outlining the link between oil dependence and war, which John  Kerry put up on the Huffington Post blog and commented on.  Here's an outline of new climate and energy legislation introduced by Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman to mirror the legislation passed by the House last June. And here's an open letter by a Grist blogger David Roberts to these Senators on what sounds like a sensible approach to getting this climate legislation passed.  Please let your Senators know what you think here.  I'll be gone next week visiting my extended family (yes, I bought offsets).  Let us know what you think of these pieces, and what you think we should be doing to fight climate change, and
Stay cool,
Bonney

Block the Dirty Air Act

President Obama last May proposed improving gas mileage standards for cars and decreasing their greenhouse gas emissions.  The EPA rule that would accomplish this is set to go into effect April 1, but Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska has proposed a bill that would block it.  The Senate could vote within days on her dirty air act.  Please click here to sign a petition urging your Senator to vote no on this act and all legislation that attempts to block or freeze enforcement of Clean Air Act limits on greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. According to Environment New Mexico, the EPA rule would save twice as much oil as we import from the Persian Gulf in a year and reduce global warming pollution by 900 million metric tons, the amount emitted by 194 coal-burning power plants.  Next week:  a video from vets urging passage of clean energy climate legislation.  Let me know your thoughts and
Stay cool,
Bonney

Operation Climate Vote and ECI Teleconference

Sorry to have been absent for so long! Many of you know I had a bicycling accident Jan. 12 and was laid up for a couple of weeks. I'm much better now--thanks for all your calls, emails, thoughts and prayers. Fortunately, no car was involved--I just fell, apparently.
Here's a couple of things we can do right now about climate change. Go here to join the Environmental Defense Action Fund's 100,000 letters campaign for a strong climate action bill to pass the Senate. They have 50,000 letters already-let's help them get the rest of the way by writing letters and spreading the word about their campaign.
The other thing we can do is to get in on a teleconference the Evangelical Climate Initiative is having on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 11 am Eastern Time. The conference call will feature a preview of what could happen this Spring regarding climate change legislation and how we can help. If you're interested, email alaushkin@creationcare.org to find out more or RSVP for the teleconference. I'm interested just to find out what the Evangelical Climate Initiative is, but I have to work then. If you find out more, let us know by leaving a comment. Be careful out there, and
Stay cool,
Bonney

Some good news, and some fun

Here's some good news and fun to counteract the rather disappointing news coming out of Copenhagen so far: last week, after years of inaction, the EPA finally determined that greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change, endanger human health and welfare. The move is necessary to allow EPA regulation of global warming pollutants. At the same time, the EPA also proposed regulation of the largest sources of carbon emissions. EPA's actions should prod Congress to pass laws that cap greenhouse gases. A climate change bill has passed the House of Representatives, but a similar bill has languished in the Senate while health-care reform is debated. So, before you go full swing into Christmas, solstice, or Kwanzaa (or right after Hanukkah's over), please thank the EPA for these actions by clicking here. Please change the message so that it says what you want it to. And email your members of Congress to let them know you still support strong climate action despite all the tactics of the global warming deniers and those who are fighting to preserve the status quo. There is an excellent sample letter here, which can be sent to your Senators and representatives with the click of a mouse, that states clearly why the fuss over the stolen climate emails doesn't change the facts of global warming or their seriousness. Again, please change to suit your needs.

If you have a slightly sick sense of humor like I do (and don't object to violence to out-of-season vegetables), check out this funny video from Green Thing.

The New Mexican says they're deciding when to print my piece, so look for it this Sunday or the next and I'll link to it when it's published.

Resolve to do all you can to fight climate change in 2010. In the meantime, take the above actions, then relax and enjoy the rest of your holidays. I'll post again in the new year.
Stay cool,
Bonney

Tell Senate to Pass a Strong Climate Bill

As you may know, the US House of Representatives passed a climate bill in June, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). We've been nagging our Senators meanwhile to do likewise, and it's time to nag them again. Click here to find your Senator and call, write, or email urging them to pass the strongest climate legislation possible. Until both houses pass a bill and the President signs it, there can be little progress on an international treaty, which is why world leaders delayed expectations this week for a strong new treaty to reduce global warming to come out of the Copenhagen talks. Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer introduced a climate bill on Sept. 30 that we should support. It needs strengthening, as lucidly outlined by Margie Alt of the Huffington Post blog site. Alt points out that we could achieve a 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 just by investing in energy efficiency, which costs less than we're spending on energy now! We need to do more than this, and there are lots of options other than turning to nuclear energy, which is very expensive and creates waste that's radioactive for tens of thousands of years. Nuclear energy and offshore oil drilling are both being discussed in the Senate. Drilling for oil and burning coal cause global warming, they don't solve it, although sequestering CO2 from fossil fuels is an interim solution. Call or write your Senators now to urge them to pass the strongest climate legislation possible without relying on nuclear or coal. If you're traveling for Thanksgiving, have safe travels and offset your travel with the programs at the very bottom of this page! I'll post again in 2 weeks.
Stay cool,
Bonney

Good news! While the country's been preoccupied with health care debate (a very important topic), the Senate has still been working on ACES (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), the global warming reduction bill that passed the House earlier this year. A draft of the bill the Senate is working on calls for deeper reductions than the House version--20% by 2020. This is just a draft, however, and the Senate is already subject to strong lobbying by the fossil fuel industry and others to weaken the bill. Please, if you haven't already, contact your Senators and urge them to enact the strongest possible bill that includes a cap-and-trade system for limiting carbon emissions. Cap-and-trade has proven successful in Europe, despite coverage in the US to the contrary. See my August 28 post for more information on this bill. Contact your Senators here. Tell them what you're doing to reduce global warming, and that you expect the government to do its part, too.

I ride the bus twice a week and ride my bike home from work those days to reduce global warming and to get exercise. It was hard to get started, but it's been fun to actually do! Today I got a ride to the Chavez Center from Hank, rode my bike to the coffee shop to do this, and am taking the bus & bike home. It's fun to get out in the community rather than spending time alone in the car or at home. Also, my internet is down (equipment failure)! We should have it up again within a couple of days, so send me your thoughts and
Stay cool,
Bonney

Don't let them forget

Sorry about my 2-week hiatus! I thought I'd be able to post before my vacation, but no. We took the train as we have many times, and it's a great way to travel.

We need to remind our Congressional representatives and Senators that as important as health care is, they can't forget about the critical American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES for short). ACES, the first national bill that would curb global warming, passed the House on June 26, 2009. Now we need the Senate to pass it. (Obama will sign it if it passes.) The bill needs strengthening, but there's a lot of pressure on the Senate to weaken it further. Please, click here to find your Senators and either attend a town hall meeting or contact them directly to pass as strong a version of ACES as possible. Or, click here to send an email.

The fossil fuel industry is throwing a lot of money and influence into opposing this bill. The idea isn't to eliminate the use of fossil fuels anytime soon--we don't have enough alternatives developed yet. It's to develop incentives for reducing our output of greenhouse gases and develop alternative energy sources that would also provide jobs so that we can fight global warming, which threatens to make all our other problems seem insignificant. Serious effects are already being felt, and the consequences of business as usual would be dire for the human species as well as many others. Because of delays that are built into Earth's climate system, if we wait to act until the most serious consequences arrive, it will be too late to reverse them. We need to act now to prevent the worst consequences of global warming from happening. Let me know what you're doing to reduce global warming!
Stay cool,
Bonney