By WeBuyItGreen: promoting green living and fair trade

Warning:  Contains abstract, philosophical references that may cause boredom.

Several decades ago, as a young political science student, I was impressed by a little classic called The Logic of Collective Action, by Mancur Olson.  Olson explained why large groups of people who share a common interest in securing public goods often fail to act collectively to attain them.  For example, consumers may have a common interest in making sure that the automobiles they drive are safe, but for decades, Ralph Nader and a comparatively small group of people had to work very hard in order to mobilize enough public opinion to successfully impose stricter federal safety standards on the automobile industry.

Let's see, Tennessee. So, we're not the Saudi Arabia of wind. Even counting every square inch of our rocky hillside, we can't generate as much sun-soaked thermal solar energy as 92 miles squared in the desert South-West would. Our Tennesse Valley Authority produces most of it's electricity not with hydroelectric power as is commonly thought, but with some of the dirtiest coal plants in the nation.

So how can Tennessee help meet favorite son Al Gore's challenge of producing an inspiring 100% of our nation's electrity with clean & renewable sources? Maybe getting our republican politicians out of the way in Washington would be Step Zero.

Follow me below the fold for a plan I just discovered that looks like a road map that every Tennessean, red, blue, or purple, can use to turn green...

Al Gore has asked for our help.  I am responding to his request.  I hope you will do the same in kind.

It doesn't get much more visionary and ambitious than Al Gore's recent speech on energy and climate change, and this sentence in particular:

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

If you missed it, you can find the full text here or read a helpfully annotated version here.

My only quibble with this fantastic speech was that Gore said little about the transportation sector, which is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Changing our transportation policies and funding priorities could greatly help us address the climate change emergency. More on that after the jump.  

UPDATE: Once again I am asking for signatures on a petition to get the Traditional Media to tell the truth about the relationship between Global Warming, or as I prefer to call it, Climaticide, and extreme weather events. Given Al Gore's Challenge to Americans speech yesterday, it seems appropriate to once again call for signatures from the Daily Kos community. People can not make informed decisions if they aren't told the truth.

If you have already signed, thanks a ton. If you haven't please do.

You can sign here or read more below the fold.

In an auspicious presentation at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Friedman spells out in no uncertain terms the challenges mankind faces in the Energy Climate Era now underway in the 21st century.

1. Energy and resource supply and demand.

2. Petro-dictatorship.

3. Biodiversity loss.

4. Climate change.

5. Energy poverty.

These five trends, which have met or passed their 'tipping points', will define humanity going forward. It was a tour-de-force clarion call.

"We are the first generation of human beings that are going to have to think like Noah," he said. "We are the first generation of humans who are going to have to think about saving the last two pairs."

Watch the videos of Friedman's speech.

Friedman throws down the challenge.

Al Gore 's speech (video) points to a solution.

The world is changing fast around us, and will not give us a second chance. We had better get started now.

Albert Gore, the Nobel Prize winning climatologist---oh wait! he's got zero training in climatology.

Albert Gore, the Nobel Prize winning meteorologist---oh wait, he's got zero training in meteorology.

Albert Gore, the Nobel Prize winning astrophysicist---oh wait, he's got no training in astrophysics either.

Here is the NYT analysis of the speech:
http://www.nytimes.com/...

Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of electric power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.

Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy famously embraced that goal.

Update:  

"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.

(Update: I have the whole speech text in Update IV)

[Obama Comments in Update V)    

Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.

Gore sets 'moon shot' goal on climate change

Gore will be giving a major speech today on energy security, climate change, and the economy, which he correctly sees as interrelated.

Update: But some Dems are running scared already.

We need to have Al's back on this.  Some Dems are grumbling:

The Hill: Some finding Gore’s timing inconvenient

More, after the fold.  

As President George Bush has steadily rolled back environmental protections – his shocking commitment to open up our beautiful coastlines to offshore drilling is only the latest outrage – the responsibility to protect our environment has fallen to cities, states and many dedicated individuals.

San Francisco is one of the greenest cities in the country today because we did not wait for Washington. We are taking action now to green our environment and our economy from the ground up. But we are making so much progress because we are working with so many talented people.

You can find more posts on climate change science, policy, and news at Environmental Defense Fund's Climate 411 blog.
 
 

I noticed that the Netroots Nation website links to the Burnt Orange Report’s Guide to Visiting Austin. Number one on the list of things to do is swimming at Barton Springs Pool.  
 

Barton Springs is indeed a very special place. It’s also a very visible reminder of one of the most unique and fragile geological features in Central Texas – the Edwards Aquifer.
 

Follow me over the fold to learn more about this special resource, and how you can help protect it during and after your visit to my hometown.

After watching Gore's TED lecture (ted.com), a then global-warming-depressed student e-mailed me today to ask what I thought we could do to fight global warming. He's in Iceland right now and he said he could imagine the disappearance of the small islands surrounding the mainland. He said he's recycling, planting trees, and riding his bike, but it all seems so little compared to the magnitude of the problem. Johnnyrook's book review (Right and Wrong in a Warming World) reminded me of the moral dimensions of the issue, so it seemed worth repeating here what I wrote to him...

In the introduction to The Ethics of Climate Change: Right and Wrong in a Warming World, James Garvey, Secretary of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (given that title you might expect him to be a white-haired old duffer, but in his photo he appears quite young, perhaps around 30] explains his motivation for writing it:

Science can give us a grip on the facts, but we need more than that if we want to act on the basis of those facts. The something more which is needed involves values. Climatologists can tell us what is happening to the planet and why it is happening, they can even say with some confidence what will happen in the years to come.  What we do about all of this, though, depends on what we think is right, what we value, what matters to us.  You can not find that sort of stuff in an ice core.  You have to think your way through it.

I gave Barack Obama $25 today.  Why does that matter? Because I maxed out for Edwards and had not contributed to Obama yet.

Why did I do it?

I'm still pissed about his move to the right the last few weeks.  I'm not happy with his FISA vote.  I'm not disillusioned, because I never was illusioned.  During the primary I saw him as slightly left of center.  I still do, and "slightly left" seemed to be overstating it lately.

I am a progressive populist and clearly to the left of Obama.  Many of us here are.  And he needs to know there is a left in this nation.  We matter, because we often are right, morally and pragmatically.

McCain always has been worse, but that's not why I gave.  It's because of something positive Obama did.  Today, I saw the 2002 Obama whom I liked when I first heard about him in his Illinois race for the senate.  The one who understands there are limits to the American Empire, the one who may not be fully comfortable with Empire.  That's real hope.

He was right on many things today in his speech.  Come around, after the fold, and I'll explain why I gave and what I like.

Those of us who are science buffs or practicing scientists tend to value data, descriptions based on repeatable, controlled events, and explanations that make testable predictions. But to be heard above the din of pop culture and reach the vast majority of non-scientists on a topic as complex as climate change, we might do better if we resist those rational impulses and engage the lay public in other, more entertaining ways.

Randy Olsen, producer of Flock of Dodos, is back with a new movie that does just that: Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (Trailer). The first part of the movie follows the frustrating and yet light-hearted, almost slapstick back story about the making of a serious global warming documentary. But a little over half way through the film dramatically veers away from that script and takes viewers on all too real journey through one sobering illustration of the devastating heartbreaks nature may have in store for all mankind in the not so distant future. I don’t think it was quite as good as A Flock of Dodos -- which would be hard to top -- but I don't want to give too much away, so let's just say all in all it's an interesting, non-traditional approach to educating the public about climate change and one I recommend checking out with a non science friend .

This thread is now wide open.

Last Monday I wrote a diary on the state of the Arctic sea ice in response to a picture I received at my job from a friend of mine. The picture came from this site run by NOAA.  Here's today's picture:

Temperature at 2.5°C.  This view is probably 180° turned around from last week's.  Rather cloudy and gloomy this time, compared to the sunny conditions last week.  Examining the video from the camera shows that it was turned on 9 July.  The last slide in the animation at 14:41 Greenwich (London) time today showed a temperature of 7°C ... pretty warm, I suspect.  Follow me below to see the condition of the Arctic Ocean sea ice as of today's observations.

The July issue of the Physics Today magazine has the theme of “Energy today and tomorrow.”  While access to most of the articles on-line requires a subscription, two of them can be accessed for free at Physics Today.  These are “Home photovoltaic systems for physicists” and “Education for the global energy challenge.”

Physics Today lies somewhere between peer reviewed journals and magazines such as Scientific American.  It provides news about physics and physics education, and generally has three main articles of good quality.  It is a publication of the American Institute of Physics.

There are other energy related articles that I will summarize in this diary, but the main motivation for this diary is to provide information from this issue about a new on-line energy research journal.  The journal will be described after the jump, and then I will add summaries of some of the energy related articles in the July issue of Physics Today.

Australian protesters from the Camp for Climate Action-Australia shut down a coal-train line for about 6 hours yesterday as part of ongoing protests against the export of coal from Newcastle's Port Carrington Terminal.

According to the Daily Telegraph:

More than 1000 protesters shut down the Newcastle coal link yesterday before the police riot squad moved in to arrest 37 environmental activists who were fighting to stop climate change.

The protesters boarded a coal train, lay across railway tracks and chanted for the end of coal exports.

Camp for Climate Action is an international movement for direct action against global warming. This weeks protest in Newcastle are part of ongoing actions in Australia, where damage from Climaticide is already clearly visible. See the Garnaut report for more info.  [The first chapter is a summary of the very large report.]