Do you remember our Oct. 30, 2012 post, toward the end of the post there were photos of Time Square Connect The Dots Action “End Climate Silence” by 350.0rg ? The more I’ve looked into 350.org, the greater I felt that it resonated well with what Sun Is The Future is trying to accomplish. Our goals are quite compatible with one another;promotion of use of solar energy would ultimately help to reduce the CO2 emission in the atmosphere. Allow me to share what’s been stated in wikipedia about 350.org, below:
The organization was founded by author Bill McKibben, an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the need for more localized economies. McKibben promotes the organisation, for instance by writing articles about it for many major newspapers and media, such as the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian.
The organising effort drew its name from climate scientist James Hansen‘s contention in winter 2008 that any atmospheric concentration of CO2 above 350 parts per million was unsafe. James Hansen opined that “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm, but likely less than that.” Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, rose by 2.3 parts per million to 389 ppm in 2010 from the previous year, and continued to increase with January 2012 atmospheric CO2 concentration at 393.09 and crossed 400 ppm on monitors in May 2012 in the industrialized Northern Hemisphere’s Arctic region.
McKibben first started to organize against global warming with a walk across Vermont, his home state. His “Step It Up” campaign in 2007 involved 1,400 demonstrations at famous sites across the United States. McKibben credits these activities with making Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama change their energy policies during the presidential campaign. Later, the continued melting of the polar cap pushed him into starting 350.org, based on Hansen’s 2007 book Climate Code Red.
Rajendra Pachauri, the U.N.‘s “top climate scientist” and leader of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has come out in favor of reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to 350 ppm. McKibben called news of Pachauri’s embrace of the 350 ppm target “amazing”. Some media have indicated that Pachauri’s endorsement of the 350 ppm target was a victory for 350.org’s activism.
The organisation had a lift in prominence after founder McKibben appeared on The Colbert Report television show on Monday August 17, 2009. The organisation disseminates its message through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. In 2012 the organization was presented with the 2012 Katerva Award for Behavioural Change.
The 350 movement is treating the 350ppm cap as a rallying cry for a 2009 COP15 international treaty. 350 member Alec Appelbaum stated that “We need global compacts to enforce carbon caps, because emissions change the climate whether or not they come from regulated sources. But we also need ingenious businesses to make those caps meaningful. That’s true because no matter how severely we warp the climate, we have to go on living.”The overall goal is to influence governments to adopt policies that would lower carbon dioxide emissions.
Below is the press release (on Nov. 6, 2012) for an upcoming event of 350.org,
Environmentalists Announce New Keystone XL Demonstration at the White House on November 18, 2012
Oakland — In the wake of President Barack Obama’s re-election, environmentalists today called for a demonstration outside the White House on Nov. 18 to show the president that he has their support if he denies the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
The demonstration will follow 350.org’s “Do the Math” event at the Warner Theatre and will feature thousands of activists, a 500-foot pipeline, and several speakers–including Bill McKibben, who led the Keystone XL protests last summer in which 1,252 people were arrested.
The full letter is below.
CONTACT: Daniel Kessler, 350.org, 510-501-1779 , daniel@350.org
Dear friends—
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, as the warmest year in American history draws to a close, as the disastrous drought lingers on in the Midwest, everyone is looking for ways to make a real difference in the fight to slow climate change. We’d like to ask you to come once more to Washington, to resume the battle to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, mid-afternoon on Nov. 18th.
This summer President Obama took the biggest step of any president to date when he raised fuel efficiency standards — a move that will cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 10% when fully implemented. Many of you worked to make this happen. Thank you. It’s an important step in the right direction. Let’s take a few more.
As you’ll recall, your efforts last year slowed down the decision, giving the State Department more time to consider the impacts of a dangerous export pipeline that will transport one of the world’s dirtiest, most carbon-intensive fuels. Although they did go ahead with the southern segment, where many of our colleagues are waging a remarkable fight against its construction. But now that the election is over a decision by the President is imminent—the administration has hinted a decision could come in the first quarter of 2013.
Here’s what’s changed since last year: the Arctic has melted disastrously.
Here’s what hasn’t changed: Keystone XL is still a crazy idea, a giant straw into the second biggest pool of carbon. Even if it doesn’t spill, it would add 900,000 barrels of oil worth of carbon each day to the earth’s atmosphere, or as much as the new auto efficiency regulations would save. It would, in other words, cancel out the whole long fight to increase auto mileage. Those tar sands are still the dirtiest energy on the planet.
And more and more people are realizing it. Our brothers and sisters in Canada have effectively blocked the so-called Gateway Pipeline to Canada’s west coast. It won’t be built anytime soon, depriving the administration of their only halfway decent argument—that the oil would just go somewhere else. No, Barack Obama is now even more the man who holds the fate of the tar sands expansion in his hands.
No one needs to get arrested this time—though that may come as the winter wears on. For now we simply need to let the President know we haven’t forgotten, and that our conviction hasn’t cooled. Please be there if you possibly can.
Many thanks,
Michael Brune, Sierra Club Naomi Klein, author James Hansen, NASA Tzeporah Berman, author Jane Kleeb, BOLD Nebraska Michael Kieschnick, Credo Mobile Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network Gus Speth, author and professor of law, Vermont Law School Maura Cowley, Energy Action Coalition Rebecca Tarbotton, Rainforest Action Network Joe Uehlein, Labor Network for Sustainability Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Michael Mann, Penn State University Earth System Science Center Bill McKibben and May Boeve, 350.org Stephen Kretzmann, Oil Change International Bridge the Gulf Project Tar Sands Blockade
gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, more editorial comments about this in the next post. Any of your comments/suggestions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Dear Readers, Friends, and Fellow Solar Enthusiasts,
It is my greatest pleasure to inform you that the first 100% Solar business loan (for micro Solar Lighting Kits in Tanzania) at Kiva and also the biggest loan ($49525)at Kiva EVER (thusfar) became fully funded within ten days after its listing! A great round of applause for all of you (1034 lenders from all corners of the planet earth)who have participated: thank you to my friends and readers at Kiva, Facebook, Twitter, Sunisthefuture, etc. This has given us great hope for potential future solar entrepreneurs throughout the planet earth. This has clearly demonstrated to us that individuals, regardless how much each and/or any of us has in asset, we can combine our effort cooperatively across the globe to light up our planet using Sun’s Energy. We will look forward to helping more solar entrepreneurs to stand on his/her/their own two feet in spreading the sunshine across our planet earth. At this point, I’d like to share a celebratory tune by the Beatles to thank you–Here Comes The Sun, with all of you….
~have a bright and sunny day~
written & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://sunisthefuture.net
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
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Dear Friends and Readers,
If you have not yet read our post on Jan. 17, 2012, please do so. Today is the day of the Internet Blackout.
Google (English) blackout on Wed., Jan. 18, 2012 in protest of SOPA and PIPA
Wikipedia (English) Blackout on Wed., Jan. 18, 2012 in protest of SOPA and PIPA
This is due to the protest for the potential bad law (SOPA/PIPA) currently under discussion. Please do the research and become familiar with Senate Bill 968 and contact your legislators to convince them to vote against SOPA and PIPA. Since SOPA may potentially affect this and many other internet sites (such as Wikipedia, Reddit, WordPress, Facebook, SunIsTheFuture etc.), I would like to use today’s (Jan. 18, 2012) and yesterday’s (Jan. 17, 2012) posts to help all of us to become familiar with the topic of SOPA and PIPA and urge all of us to take action in defending our internet freedom (CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS!!!). Several other sites that you may also want to refer to, below
If you are in favor of renewable/CLEAN energy, please sign the petition page showing support for FIT/CLEAN Program at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065 Thank you.
If you are concerned about energy security and independence, clean environment, and climate change…are in favor of renewable/solar energy, job creations, and economic prosperity for state of Florida and USA…then check out http://sunisthefuture.net for information, by typing in various topics in the search box at right side of the web site, on: Feed-In-Tariff, Solar Incentive, Solar Cars, Solar Plane, Solar High Speed Trains, Solar Shingles, Solar Hot Water Heater, BIPV, Solar Cells, etc. Please pay special attention to Feed-In-Tariff/CLEAN Programs for there is a series of 16+ episodes of discussions on Feed-In-Tariff, an incentive program that allows individual home owners, small businesses, organizations to sell the power they produce to the power company .
Talk to your friends, family, neighbors, and legislators about Feed-In-Tariff/CLEAN programs and help us to make the transition into renewable/solar energy age in the coming century. I was talking to a lady from Denmark at the Y the other day and she commented that she was surprised how little solar activities there are in Florida rooftops compared to Denmark. For those of you who aren’t sure where Denmark is exactly, it is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe, definitely with a lot less sunshine and insolation than what we have here in Florida. Then the natural thing is to ask, why is this happening? INCENTIVE, or lack thereof ! We need incentive for individual home owners, small businesses, organizations such as schools, Y’s, hospitals, etc. with rooftops and surface areas, that would provide us with sufficient economic incentive to move into the renewable age. Here is an example (in the next video, with data provided by World Future Council) of another country, Germany, with far less sunshine and insolation than we have here in Florida, but with the help of Feed-In-Tariff (key features listed below):
Gives RE (renewable energy) priority access to the grid
Obliges grid operators to purchase electricity from RES
Sets the price for RE electricity for fixed periods
Sets no limit to amount of RE feeding into the grid4
Feed-In-Tariffs have been so successful in Germany and many other countries because of the long term planning security it provides by having 12-20 year contracts ( this is crucial to investors);it gives technology-specific incentives (this is crucial for driving new technologies into the market);it adapts to technological development (this fosters innovation).
Germany was able to create more than a quarter million jobs in renewable energy sector in less than five years, economic impact of new industry development with total turnover from renewable energy sources of approximately 25 billion Euros in 2007, and saved about 150 tons of CO2 emissions…all due to the help of Feed-In-Tariff. Most importantly, Feed-In-Tariffs have made Germany the world leader in solar power. Another important lesson to take away from the presentation of World Future Council video clip is the fact that majority (more than 80% in Germany & or 90% in Florida) of the market share is from residential rather than the utility scaled facility (about 10%). That means we, the individuals, will have far more combined impact on the industry and would benefit from the industry of renewable energy via Feed-In-Tariff. Please allow me to show you this clip right now:
My fellow Floridians and residents of USA, I know that Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) may not be easy to understand, so I implore you to carefully view all discussions on this topic (Feed-In-Tariff) at http://sunisthefuture.netby typing Feed-In-Tariff in the search box and listen to those people from different parts of the world who have implemented or benefited from this policy. Our neighbors in Gainesville, FL, can attest to the economic prosperity FIT had brought them. Why shouldn’t we all benefit from our generous sunshine?! Then talk and write to your friends, family, neighbors, and your state legislators about introducing this policy so your local communities may prosper. We need and want more jobs and more small businesses to thrive and pave our way into the renewable energy age. It is time…we cannot afford to sit idly by and be left behind. Individually, we may not have millions of dollars to spend on lobbying for this policy, but I believe that our combined strength will enable us to achieve what is necessary to push this through. After all, we here in USA, historically have a track record of doing what had been impossible. In response to Rachel and other readers of Sun Is The Future who want me to write more: if I put up a petition page, will you all be willing to sign the petition in showing your support for Feed-In-Tariff ? Please keep checking back for future petition page(s). In the meantime, Facebook, Tweet, or chirp your friends/relatives/family/neighbors/state legislators about Feed-In-Tariff. I would also like to introduce you all to several organizations and web sites , listed below:
