One of the least reported but most important stories of this congress is their failure to renew the Renewable Energy Tax incentives necessary for industries such as wind, solar and geothermal to compete with the heavily subsidized death fuels (nuclear, oil, coal and natural gas).  With the threato of a Bush veto and the inability to get enough votes to avoid a filibuster, the slim Democrat majority found itself in a stand-still.

    Behind the heavy Republican opposition stand many of the big energy firms, from Big Oil, to large Utilities, desperately swimming against the current in order to maintain their profits in a rapidly warming world.

    There is one corporation that is fighting back, and it shows a great example of how Market Capitalism can be regulated to make sure that Big Companies do Good Things.

If you've been paying any attention to the Presidential primaries, you must have seen the cheerful and hope-ful ads of Americans from Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) and the new-name-same-story American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. In these ads you see decent, diverse, hard-working blue collar Americans talking about the solution to all our problems:

CLEAN COAL

Unfortunately, what these people aren't telling you is that burning coal = Burning The Future.

I recently blogged about my perceived solution to climate change and my criticism of nuclear and coal solutions. Some people replied aggressively saying that Nuclear is 'safe and cheap' and calling me shortsighted.

    I would like to share a couple of articles about nuclear energy that I read recently.

    Most development experts will tell you that clean water scarcity is one of the greatest obstacles to lifting people out of poverty.

    Check out this video from the winning entry of the "Innovate or Die" competition to develop a pedal powered device which has a positive impact on the environment.

http://www.cargocycling.org/ 

     Even though this isn't goint go solve the problem on its own, might not be practical or affordable or a believable solution (I really don't know enough about the product or the issue to judge), what I love about this is that it shows our potential to innovate sustainably.

More fun bike stuff here. 

    To celebrate the anniversary of our ‘mission accomplished’ in Iraq, here are some of the connections between war and climate.

    The other day a friend from school asked me to help her find a climate change article for a class she is teaching. After looking around for a short while, I recalled reading one titled "Beyond the point of no return" by Ross Gelbspan, one of the most exciting authors on global warming. This is not the traditional "We can do it!!" article because Ross, along with most other climate gurus, recognizes that we are past that point. This article is a sobering reminder about the situation that we are in and our moral imperative to do something about it.

    The first time I read this I was deeply touched and sent it to everyone I know. I feel that now is a good time to bring it back and urge all of you to read it.

      If you had to read one and only one article on climate change, make it this one.

According to this article from the NYT, the recent spike in food prices sparked riots in "countries including Haiti, Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Italy."

Yesterday I went out to Sushi with my progressive co-workers and, as a good environmentalist, I sent them information about which fish are sustainable to eat along with a friendly message about how 90% of our fisheries are depleted. I didn't want to guilt trip, just educate, cause I don't think that people will change their habits because of gloom and doom heckling. Problem is, more I read about our fishy troubles, more I realize what a dire situation we are in and that however we can get people to change their ways, it needs to happen fast. 

Once again, today's youth loudly proclaimed that the answer to our problems lies in efficiency, not ethanol.

A group of High Schoolers beat out over 250 college students in a Shell competition to build the most efficient car. 

This competition is yet another example that we already have all the technologies we need to fix much of our little 'carbon problem'. If a bunch of high schoolers can build a 2,843 mpg car, I'm pretty sure giant corporate car manufacturers can figure out how to reach 30 mpg by 2020 (our current fuel efficiency goal and Europe's present standard). 

 The government needs to stop lavishing Archer Daniel Midland, Cargill, Peabody, Massey, Ford, GM, Chrysler and other traditional corporate overlords with research money for ethanol, advanced coal, and nuclear waste disposal. It is time that the government invest in technology deployment and forcing corporations to stop wining and adopt the most recent efficient technologies. 

 This switch from R&D to technology deployment will have widespread effects, from drastically and quickly reducing our Greenhouse Gasses to reducing the financial burden on low income families due to increases in energy prices.

 So-called "Generation Q" is leading, will our predecessors follow our leadership and enthusiasm or will they continue in their own path leading to our doom?

We believe that a child born tonight should have the same chances whether she arrives in the barrios of San Antonio or the suburbs of St. Louis, on the streets of Chicago or the hills of Appalachia.

             The beginning of the presidential race was extremely exciting for climate change fanatics, with all the democratic contenders trying to one-up each other and McCain taking back the Republican lead despite his calls for higher fuel efficiency and climate protection.

             But my enthusiasm gave way to frustration as I looked into each candidate's platforms. Edwards was the only candidate calling for moratorium on coal and no nuclear. Barrack Obama and Hillary continue touting the 'clean coal' bandwagon while McCain claims that nuclear, and nuclear alone, will solve the climate crisis. Just in case you have been giving in to the brainwashing by the cutzie 'clean coal' commercials on CNN, or McCain's rhetoric on nuclear, let me explain why, as youth, we should be up in arms about these solutions... that are not.