Announcing the first Sustainability Meet-Up of 2010 for Nashville’s Sustainability Events Group!
It would be good if Green Sleeves was represented.
What: Session I of X1: The Land and Parks Legacy of the Bredesen Administration
When: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:30 PM – Reception at 5:30
Where: Lipscomb University One University Park Drive SWANG CENTER – LECTURE RM 102 Nashville, TN 37204
This event will initiate an 11 month lecture series from February to December, 2010 entitled: “The Conservation Legacy of the Bredesen Administration” The first lecture in this series will focus on land and parks. Please join the following panelists and speakers for the first of eleven lectures on Tuesday, February 16, 2010. – Jim Fyke, Commissioner of the TN Department of Environment and Conservation (appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen) – Jeanie Nelson, Executive Director of the Land Trust for Tennessee – John Noel, Environmentalist, Activist, Businessman, and a Long-time Advocate for Tennessee’s Environment 5:30 PM Reception – The Lobby of Swang Center on the campus of Lipscomb University 6:30 PM Presentation – Lecture RM 102, Swang Center
Proposed Outcomes: During each lecture, note takers will record lessons offered by each presentor and from audience participation. Near the end of the lecture series, a special summary of lecture observations will be documented in a summary report tentatively entitled: “A Green Paper: Lessons Learned for Conservation and Prosperity in Tennessee”.
Background: Governor Phil Bredesen, a core team of state agency Commissioner’s and other executives, have established a significant legacy of accomplishments spanning two, four-year elected terms. The administration has secured vast acreages of newly protected natural landscapes; recruited more than $2 billion of investments by clean energy technology industries in Tennessee; advanced sustainable tourism in the state and the region; charted new directions in transportation agency management; and received a “Best In the Nation” award for Tennessee’s glorious state parks (among other successes). These activities merit attention and scholarly discussion. The Bredesen Administration’s conservation legacy will bring to a close the last decade of a prominent five decade history of Tennessee’s conservation and environmental movement. Through an objective review of the accomplishments of the Bredesen Administration and related events and experiences, apolitical lessons may be derived that could inform the incoming gubenatorial administration and Tennessee General Assembly in 2011.
It is also anticipated that these discussions will inform the leaders and efforts of the emerging sustainability movement in Tennessee.
At the recent Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee, our coalition of environmental leaders, business leaders, educators, citizens and government officials established the 2010 Sustainable TN Agenda. The top priority within the Agenda is to Restore the Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Funds. We have an urgent and important opportunity today to make a real difference for our state.
Below is a letter from Kathleen Williams, President and Executive Director -Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation, who explains the great need for this program. Since the time of this letter, the Governor has restored the Real Estate Transfer Funds in the 2010 Budget Proposal. This is great news, but our work is just beginning. We need to ensure this is included in the final budget. Here are some actions you can take to help:
1. Call or write your State Senator and Representative. Your legislator’s name, address, or phone can be found at: www.capitol.tn.gov/legislators/. Here is a sample letter you may use.
2. Call or email the Governor Bredesen at (615-741-2001) or Phil.Bredesen(at symbol)TN.Gov. Thank him for restoring the Real Estate Transfer Funds in the 2010 Budget proposal and let him know this is a top priority for you. Here is a sample letter.
3. Ask your friends, coworkers, business, organization…everyone you know…to join in this effort!
Thank you for taking action today.
Please let us know how you will be helping by sending an email to forevergreentn(at symbol)earthlink.net.
Here are some links with more information on Forever Green Tennessee: Fact Sheet Economic Benefits Forever Green Website Forever Green Blog Forever Green on Twitter (you can also find Forever Green on Facebook) Forever Green on YouTube Forever Green Tennessee — Restore Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Funds in June, 2010!
I am writing you to ask for your immediate help. The Governor is in the process of preparing our State’s budget. If you love the natural beauty of Tennessee, our woods and wildlife, our fields and farmland, let the Governor know TODAY.
Let Governor Bredesen know that our homeland is at risk and you want Tennessee to always be known as the “greenest state in the land of the free.” Please ask that his budget “Restore Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Funds in June, 2010!”
Let him know you want a Forever Green Tennessee. Twenty years ago our Tennessee Legislature passed the most important conservation bill in Tennessee’s history. Using a small increase in the Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Fees, four “dedicated” funds were established: The Wetlands Fund, the State Land Acquisition Fund, the Local Parks and Recreation Fund, and the Agriculture Resources Trust Fund. These Funds generate approximately $20 million per year and have conserved Tennessee’s most important natural treasures, bluffs, waterfalls, wetlands, rivers and wildlife areas. Successes have benefitted every corner of Tennessee with new state parks, wildlife areas, projects on farms to protect our drinking water, and matching grants for new local parks. Thank the Governor for all he’s done for conservation, but let him know that this funding must continue to conserve the Forever Green Tennessee that we want our children to inherit. Two major obstacles threaten Tennessee’s future: A silent public and a budget shortfall. In 2003 and again in 2008, these “dedicated” funds were taken and diverted to the general fund. That is not why these Funds were established. The Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Fees were increased by the legislature to offset the damage done by converting farmland and forest to developed lands; as the real estate changed hands, a small fee would be invested to PROTECT the best lands and waters in the State. These Funds represent less than one-tenth of 1 percent of Tennessee’s $29 Billion budget. Our homeland is worth this small investment. Tennessee loses 80,000 acres of farms and forests to sprawl and development every year – we are the 7th worst in the nation in how quickly we lose our farms and natural lands. Attached is a fact sheet on the Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Funds, a brief history of the Funds and a model letter to send to the Governor. But, a phone call or email would be faster and just as effective. If you love Tennessee like I know you do, please take 5 minutes and call (615-741-2001) or e-mail him today: Phil.Bredesen@TN.Gov. Also, please forward this to your members. The future of Tennessee is in our hands. Secondly, we will circulate a roster of groups or businesses that have endorsed this campaign to Restore Tennessee Real Estate Transfer Funds and plan to get support from legislators for our cause.
Please reply if we can list you as a supporter. With your help, we will Forever Green Tennessee. Join with our organization, the Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association, the Tennessee Environmental Council, The Tennessee Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Tennessee Conservation Voters and others to support this effort.
With your help, we will Forever Green Tennessee. For our kids and their kids. Thank you for answering this call. Kathleen Williams President and Executive Director Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation 1205-A Linden Avenue Nashville, TN 37212 Phone: 615-386-3171; Fax: 615-386-3115 www.tenngreen.org
Let’s talk about this at the next meeting. Feb. 18, 2pm, S-108.
Hopefully someone can go to this.
WHAT IS CONSERVATION EDUCATION DAY? Part of our Sustainable Tennesssee initiative, Conservation Education Day is one of our most important opportunities to educate Tennessee legislators about the 2010 Tennessee Sustainability Agenda and to show unity as a conservation community. TN Parks and Greenways Foundation, TN Recreation and Parks Assoc., & TN Conservation Voters are co-sponsors of this event.
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE? Individuals and organizations who care about the issues outlined in the 2010 Tennessee Sustainability Agenda and other environmental/conservation issues in TN. Forever Green Tennessee (info below) is a priority issue at this event, but this is one of the best opportunities of the year to come together as a community and show a unified front for a number of conservation issues.
WHAT WILL TAKE PLACE? Throughout the day we encourage you to
schedule meetings with your State Senator and Representative to educate them about issues that are most important to you and your organization ~ We may also have opportunities for you to attend Committee meetings ~ If you represent an organization, you may register to set up a table at Legislative Plaza and invite your members to attend, staff the table and meet with their legislators ~
At the end of the day we’ll meet at Blackstone Brewery from 4:30-6:30 to network, kick back and review the day.
TREE FACT: Studies indicate communities with more trees have less crime
TREE FACT: Planting 30 trees each year offsets greenhouse gases from your car and home
TREE FACT: In 50 years one tree provides $130,750 in total benefits including oxygen, air pollution control and storm water drainage
Tennessee Tree Project has a goal of planting 1 million native trees in Tennessee by 2020. Tree planting projects are among the most popular programs we offer at the Tennessee Environmental Council, and they bring terrific publicity and community relations opportunities for our partners. The Tennessee Tree Project offers an easy, affordable community project for organizations you may belong to including businesses, schools, churches, and non profits that would like to plant trees and offer environmental service projects in their community. Click here for more information.
The holidays are over, schools are coming back in session and the Chill Out deadline is fast approaching! Don’t forget to enter your campus project by January 31 for a chance to win $1000 and have your project recognized!
Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming is the nation’s premier competition recognizing the amazing climate leadership at colleges and universities. We’re looking for the best campus-based projects in four categories: green jobs, students in action, innovative design and campus actions.
“Struggling with escalating IT costs and a corporate mandate to take IT green? This interactive game will identify what you do know and help you with what you don’t.”
Since 1997 they have been working on restoring the Cumberland River basin throught education and cooperation. They are interested in helping Nashville State build a trail in the wooded area near Richland Creek. This would help to protect the watershed and protect the old growth trees which would reduce global warming. It would also provide a place for biology and horticulture students to go outside and study the outdoor environment.
Check out this article about the importance of trees to the environment.
“Twenty years of global ReLeaf: after 20 years and 25 million trees, global ReLeaf’s mission remains to empower people to improve the environment.”(Editorial).
NashvilleStateCommunity College in Nashville, Tennessee, is working on building an outdoor classroom/trail that will be used as an educational learning tool for biology and horticultural students, as well as community groups.In the Spring of 2009 there will be an Environmental Science course offered. We are partnering with the Cumberland River Compact, Richland Creek Watershed Alliance and local Boy Scout troops to get the trail built.The campus groups involved in this project are the Biology and Horticulture Departments, the administration, the Environmental Concerns Committee (a faculty and staff group), and the Students for the Environment club (a sub-group of the ECC).Our president has demonstrated his commitment to leadership in eliminating global warming emissions, and achieving climate neutrality by signing the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment last year.
The trail is being designed to have minimal impact on the watershed and to protect the old growth trees that are on the school’s campus and provide cover and places for wildlife to raise young.This will help reduce the school’s carbon footprint since trees produce oxygen, which is needed to help absorb carbon dioxide one of the main causes of global warming.85 acres are wooded and part of Cumberland River water basin and the Richland Creek watershed.Richland Creek was settled because of its fertile soil which is how the creek got its name “Rich” land.Along the trail there will be bird nesting boxes and bat houses.There will be tree identification and cover boxes placed to provide cover and habitat for snakes and salamanders. It is hoped that we can turn this area into an official National Wildlife Federation Habitat Area by providing the 4 basic needs of wildlife:food, water, cover and places to raise their young.We will be planting only native species.On Arbor Day, in March 2009, we will have our annual tree give-away of native species trees, and will be educating the students and faculty about the importance of planting trees to help control global warming.Some of the trees will be kept and planted on the campus, thus helping reduce the carbon footprint of the campus.The nature trail will connect to the existing Richland Creek Greenway which will promote its use as a transportation alternative for students, faculty and staff coming and going from the campus.This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels thus reducing global warming.
Rain gardens will be planted with native vegetation to control the storm water runoff from the school’s parking lot. Mulching and composting methods of gardening will be used in the gardens.Evasive species will be removed.Pesticide use will be limited. Benches will be placed along the trail so that classes and community groups can have areas for group study.
We want to build this trail to be a state of the art educational tool for college students and the surrounding community.
This is what was submitted to the National Wildlife Federation Chill Out Contest.
Interesting article about a web site that tells about Carbon Monitoring. It gives details about the carbon emissions of power plants and companies worldwide.
Here is a tip about fake trees vs. real trees. Fake trees are made overseas (translation: fuel costs) and are made of non-renewable, non-biodegradable materials. A real tree is usually grown on land that is not suitable for farming anyway, but still contributes oxygen to the atmosphere. Real live trees are also recyclable.
For each video you watch as a logged-in user, one pound of CO2 will be offset through CarbonFund. So get watching and let us know whose campus deserves your vote!
This forum is to allow for an interactive exchange of ideas, news, information, and general thoughts about walking and biking in the greater Nashville region.
Don’t be a Grinch and just dump all the Christmas wrappings and cards in the trash! Here are some great ideas for recycling Christmas.
The Ribbons, The Wrappings, The Tags, The Tinsel, The Trimmings, The Trappings
Have a bag ready to put wrapping paper in to recycle.
Break down clothing boxes immediately and put away to use again. I usually break them down Christmas morning, put them under some heavy books to help flatten them good, then take them down the basement.
Save gift bags to be reused next year.
You know those absolutely horrid, annoying, somebody must really hate parents twisty ties that come on so many toys. The ones that make parents spew foul words out of their mouth on Jesus’ birthday while their children impatiently wait one hour for a Barbie to be extricated from its packaging. They make fabulous tomato plant ties. Save them and use them to attach tomato plants or other plants to steaks.
Packing and shipping materials from all that online shopping should be saved to be reused. If you have so much that you can never reuse it all, give it away on freecycle. There’s some avid ebay-er who will be happy to take it off your hands.
The Christmas Trees
Real Christmas trees should be kept out of landfills after their time in your home is done. They make great mulch, and many towns now have curbside pick up for trees after the holidays. If your community doesn’t pick trees up, you can find a place nearby by going to Earth911.
Artificial trees should also be kept out of landfills if possible. If you are getting rid of your artificial tree and it is still in usable shape, donate it, do not throw it in the trash. They are not biodegradable and the toxins in the plastic leach into the soil in the landfill.
The Food for the Feast
It’s estimated that Americans waste about 30% of their food. I can imagine that during the holidays, that percentage gets a little higher. Our celebrations always come with lots of food. I found this advice for reducing food waste on CVS.com.
Reduce the volume of food waste you generate — buy and prepare only what you will sell or use.
Give to those in need by donating your extra food to food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters or other charities.
Feed animals by sending food scraps to accepting farms.
Donate waste oils and food scraps to industrial companies who convert them into new products, such as cosmetics, pet food, fuel, and energy.
Compost food scraps and yard trimmings.
Discard any remaining scraps as a last resort.
One thing this advice doesn’t mention is to eat your leftover food. Freeze larger portions for future meals and turn leftovers into new meals before they go bad.
We need to make sure that all the trappings of Christmas don’t end up trapped in a landfill.
Check out the Westin A. Price Foundation for finding locally-grown organic and biodynamic vegetables, fruits and grains; and milk products, butter, eggs, chicken and meat from pasture-fed animals. They have a local chapter in Brentwood. Contact: Shawn Dady (615) 336-2286, shawn@sunsetblvdstudios.com
Go to the Friends of the Earth website to tell congress that coal is public enemy number one. A ban on new coal-fired power plants is needed immediately, and we must rapidly phase out existing coal facilities and replace them with clean energy alternatives and energy efficiency.
Friends of the Earth’s campaigns are: global warming, government and industry, transportation, healthy people, energy, land, air and water.
Check them out and take action to help the environment.
Inform February 5, 2009 – Host “The First 100 Days,” a National Teach-In on your campus on the importance of the President’s Climate Action Plan and campus leadership in the pivotal first 100 days of the new administration. The kick-off webcast features David Orr, Larry Schweiger, Jessy Tolkan, Billy Parish and others.
Influence February 28-March 2, 2009 – Send your students to Washington DC to converge on Capitol Hillseeking clean energy solutions and green jobs at Powershift 2009.
Innovate April 15, 2009 Celebrate bold climate solutions and host Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming on your campus. The acclaimed national webcast showcases some of the most successful innovations to reduce the greenhouse gas footprint on campuses and beyond. The campus that registers the most people for this free program wins a free campus concert by The Steps!
We invite you to participate in all of these activities this spring! If we can help you with logistics, don’t hesitate to let us know by phone or email.
Cheers,
Julian Keniry
Senior Director, Campus and Community Leadership
703-438-6000 or 1-800-822-9919 campus@nwf.org
THOUSANDS OF TENNESSEE WORKERS STAND TO GAIN
FROM GREEN INDUSTRIES NEW REPORT ON GREEN JOBS PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO TENNESSEE’S JOB POTENTIAL
NASHVILLE – A new report released today shows Tennessee could reduce the unemployment rate, reduce manufacturing job losses and increase income growth by investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The report “Growing Green: The Potential for Green Job Growth in Tennessee” was prepared by the Research and Statistics Unit of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Employment Security Division and released to the Governor’s Task Force on Energy Policy.
“Green jobs have the potential to be an important economic engine for Tennessee,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “Transferring skills from manufacturing and other industries to the growing green job market could mark a turning point for job creation and retention in our state.”
An analysis of five Tennessee energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors – green building, biofuels, wind, solar, and geothermal energy – identified 162 occupations with significant employment potential in Tennessee.
“Solving Tennessee’s energy and environmental problems will stimulate our economy at a time when many people are looking for work,” says Commissioner James Neeley. “The report suggests that not only large employers like Hemlock Semiconductor in Clarksville are the answer, but also smaller companies involved with installation and retrofitting of buildings can bring in a lot of work across the state.”
Many of the potential gains would be in the same categories of jobs people work in today.For example, construction and modification of green buildings requires electricians, roofers and carpenters.Expansion in biofuels requires chemical engineers, agricultural equipment operators and truck drivers.Construction of wind energy sources requires tool and die makers, metal fabricators and industrial production managers, among many others.
Tennessee statistics included in the report are as follows:
-With an expenditure of $1.9 billion in Tennessee over a period of two years, it is estimated that around 45,000 new jobs could be created from expanded energy efficiency and renewable energy production.
-Early estimates suggest with an accelerated investment effort, Tennessee could gain more than 4,200 full-time jobs in wind and nearly 400 in solar components manufacturing by 2015.
-Among the 162 occupations considered to be related to green jobs in Tennessee, three out of four do not require a college education.
The complete report, “Growing Green; The Potential for Green Job Growth in Tennessee” can be found on the Internet at the following:
Drinking tap water is better for the planet than bottled water. Check the Environmental Working Group’s web site to learn about your state’s water. If your biggest concern is chlorine, try filling a pitcher and letting it sit, uncovered, on the counter overnight. The chlorine will evaporate. Then you can store it in the the fridge for a nice refreshingly clean class of water you can put in your reusable bottle to bring with you to school, instead of buying drinks from the vending machines.
The Senate will be voting on the Economic Stimulus/Recovery Bill tomorrow and we need your help.This bill contains HUGE funding for clean green technology, environmental education, and wildlife and natural resources restoration. But the senate is still considering details – both what to add and what to cut – and it’s still unclear if the Bill can get the 60 votes needed to pass filibuster.
Here are the top points for what’s already included in the Senate Bill:
Invests up to $5.1 billion for wildlife and habitat restoration.
Invests $73 billion for efficiency and renewable energy (a 335% increase from FY’09 spending on effeciency and renewables).
Invests up to $20 billion in modernizing schools, colleges, and universities with efficiency and renewable energy, and up to $400 million in green education and job training.
Invests $250 million to help advance more sustainable, next generation biofuels and energy efficiency on farms.
What the Good Amendments are:
1. Landrieu amendment: Would increase funding by $2 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to restore priority ecosystems such as the Everglades, Long Island Sound, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River.
2. Bingaman amendment: Would increase funding by $2.5 billion for habitat restoration on wildlife refuges, national parks, national forests, and other public lands and for State Wildlife Grants.
3. Harkin/Thune amendment: Would increase funding for several USDA programs that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. The programs would help advance next generation biofuels and bioenergy that are friendlier to wildlife and more sustainable than corn ethanol
If/when passed the Senate stimulus/recovery bill will be conferenced with the already passed House bill and become one of the largest environmental and conservation investment bills ever! But the senate bill needs to pass and stay green. So please call your Senators today and say:
“Pass the Stimulus Bill, and keep it green and wildlife friendly by supporting the current green provisions and passing the Bingaman Amendment, the Landrieu Amendment, and the Harkin Amendment”
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Greenways and Trails program will hold its annual forum at East Tennessee State University April 2 – 4, 2009, which will be hosted by Johnson City and the Commissioner’s Council on Greenways and Trails.
The three-day networking and skill-building conference, titled “Connect with Tennessee,” will be held at ETSU’s D. P. Culp Center in Johnson City and will feature expert presenters from across the country in addition to a variety of diverse field trips and educational sessions. Educational sessions will include topics such as, improving community health through greenways and trails, the economic impact of greenways and trails on local communities, Off-Highway Vehicle park development, funding and technical resources, historic trails, and long-range planning utilizing the new Greenways and Trails statewide plan.
Dan Burden, founder of Walkable Communities, Inc., will serve as the keynote speaker on April 3. Nationally recognized as the authority on the development and promotion of alternative transportation and sustainable communities, Burden has thirty years’ experience as a civic innovator and is recognized for his efforts to create better places to live, work and play.
“This forum is a great opportunity to learn more about the benefits of Tennessee’s greenways and trails and the positive impact they have on communities across the state,” said Greenways and Trails Program Coordinator Robert Richards. “We are especially excited about Dan Burden’s keynote address and honored that he will be sharing his expertise with the group.”
Advanced registration received prior to March 6 is $75. Registration received after March 7 is $100. Registration fees include full access to the event, including educational sessions, one of three exciting field trips, a Thursday evening reception at the Tipton Haynes Historic Site, and lunch on Friday and Saturday. For hotel accommodations, conference attendees will receive a special rate of $70 by calling the Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City at (423) 979-6413 before March 3.
More information on the “Connect with Tennessee” forum, including a list of speakers, an official event brochure, event sponsors and registration forms is available at: www.tn.gov/environment/recreation/#gtforum.
The annual forum also kicks off Greenways and Trails statewide “Connect with Tennessee” marketing campaign, designed to promote the use of Tennessee’s outstanding greenways and trails. To access the Greenways and Trails Web site and the new statewide plan, please visit: www.tn.gov/environment/recreation/greentrails.shtml.
“Tennessee Curbside Recycling, Inc. (TCR) is a curbside recycling service located in Mt. Juliet, TN. They offer service to residential and commercial customers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.” Currently serving Mt. Juliet and Old Hickory.
All Paper – Newspaper, computer paper, magazines, phone books, envelopes, junk mail, shredded paper, etc.
Cardboard – All cardboard, examples are food boxes, paper towel/toilet paper tubes, soap boxes,etc. Please flatten all cardboard before recycling it.
Aluminum – Cans, food containers, etc. Please rinse out food waste before recycling.
Plastic – Check the recycling symbol on the plastic. If it has a #1-7 it can be recycled. Examples are plastic bottles, baby food containers, yogurt containers, milk cartons, detergent containers, etc.
Glass – All glass can be recycled. Just remember to wash out any food waste. We ask that you do separate glass from your other recyclables because it is taken to a different location.
Do not recycle: Fabrics, windows, mirrors, used paper towels, black microwave trays or anything with a wax coating.
All containers must be completely rinsed out before recycling.
Check out their site for some easy tips to going green.
$80 billion for clean energy, public transportation and green infrastructure, the largest such investment in our nation’s history.
1.6 million new green jobs, including 135,000 green jobs created by a $4.5 billion investment in greening federal buildings — an investment that your contributions to our online ads helped spare from John Boehner’s budget axe.
A 68 million ton reduction in our nation’s carbon footprint, a cut equivalent to a city the size of Chicago, IL going completely carbon-free.
We even managed to convince congressional leaders to drop a controversial $50 billion loan guarantee for the coal and nuclear industries, thanks in part to 20,000 online petition signatures urging our congressional leaders to keep President Obama’s recovery plan clean and green.
It’s big, it’s bold, it’s green, and while winning it wasn’t pretty or easy, it was well worth the effort.
Together, we helped President Obama make an enormous down payment on a new energy future for America. Today, our staff will join him in Denver, Colorado, when he signs it in to law.
The Metro Beautification & Environment Commission would like to invite students to participate in the May 14:
Great American Cleanup Focus City Event at Bicentennial Mall.
Learn more about how you can help Keep Nashville Beautiful by touring our education display area, which will be open between the hours of 10am – 3pmon May 14 at the Bicentennial Mall.
This is a national and state-wide event that will include education about litter prevention, recycling, and community beautification as well as volunteer cleanups at selected locations in the area.Nashville is one of three U.S. cities selected by KAB to host national spotlight events this year, Mayor Karl Dean and KAB President Matt McKenna announced today. Held annually from March through May, the Great American Cleanup™ has become the nation’s largest volunteer coordination effort.
Nashville will host the final national event on May 14 with a day of community projects, volunteer cleanups and educational exhibits in and around the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall State Park. Planned activities include a kickoff rally, “green” exhibits and education programs, and community cleanups in surrounding neighborhoods.“My goal is to make Nashville the greenest city in the Southeast,” Mayor Dean said. “As a national Spotlight City in this year’s Great American Cleanup, we have the opportunity to showcase to the rest of the country our commitment to clean streets and livable communities.”
Check out the recycling videos at the Metro Beautification website. They make you think.
Here is a quote about the importance of water:
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water… Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares the future; it moves under the poles and wandered thinly in the heights of air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining bone cast up by the sea.” — Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey.
I’m happy to report that the 2009 “Tennessee Beverage Container Recycling Act” has been finalized and is now in the pipeline. Our job now is to make sure legislators know that Tennesseans want a bottle bill, so feel free to send this message to others. In the meantime, I’ll be issuing a press release and following up with the media.
This e-mail is lengthy, so if you are pressed for time, please at least read items 1, 2 and 3.
1. VITAL STATISTICS
The bill number is SB1404 and HB1167. You can see it at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/; type in either of the bill numbers in the search box called “Find Legislation.” IMPORTANT NOTE: An amendment has been filed that reduces the distributors’ fee to 1/8¢ (we started out at 1¢), but as of this morning it has not yet appeared on the website.
I know I say this every year, but this time I absolutely mean it. This year’s bill:
Places no new cost on beverage distributors
Will generate hundreds of small businesses (“redemption centers”)
Will create as many as 2,000 new jobs
Has the support of major industries and industry trade groups
Will eventually recover 85% of 4.5 billion containers a year, compared to 10% now
Will create access to recycling even in rural areas
Will dramatically reduce litter while preserving the existing litter grants program
Will keep 200,000+ tons of valuable container material out of landfills
Will save local governments millions in waste-hauling and landfill tipping costs
Will avoid the equivalent of 150,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases
Will save enough energy to power 85,000 homes for a year
Will create job training, jobs and income opportunity for nonprofits and their clients
Has bipartisan legislative support
Has 80% public support (UT survey)
3. WHAT YOU CAN DO
The first thing you can do issend an e-mail to Governor Phil Bredesen; to your own state senator and state representative; and to the members of the key committees(Environment, Conservation and Tourism in the Senate, and State and Local Government in the House). The bill has not been “put on notice” yet, but we expect hearings could begin by late March.
You’ll want to keep your message brief, but consider pointing out that this bill addresses every legitimate concern that has been raised by legislators, the beverage companies, the retailers, the recyclers, the manufacturers, the counties, the state’s solid waste professionals and the consumers.
Legislators love to hear from their own constituents, so if your legislator happens to be on one of these committees, that is great. However, since committees are the “gatekeepers” deciding which bills make it to a vote by the full legislature, committee members expect to hear from the rest of us. To see who they are, check the list at the bottom of this e-mail. To find your legislators, go to http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/. Under “Find my legislator,” enter your street address and city.
4. NO NEW COST TO DISTRIBUTORS
Last year’s bill required distributors to pay a container-recovery fee of 3¢ per container to fund program operations and compensate “redemption centers.” (Redemption centers are what keep the empty containers out of the grocery stores.)
Last year’s hearings, however, convinced us that legislators will not accept a 3¢ fee. So we’ve spent the intervening months conferring and researching and crunching numbers, and have now determined that we can run the deposit program with a fee of just 1/8¢ from the distributors. This happens to be almost precisely what they will NO LONGER BE PAYING in “litter taxes” on beer and soda.In effect, therefore, there will be no new cost to distributors at all.
(And keep in mind that though the litter taxes will be eliminated under this bill, Tennessee will still have its litter programs, including Keep Tennessee Beautiful and litter crews from the county jails, because the bill requires that these programs now be funded with unclaimed deposits.)
In order to reduce the cost to distributors, we had to retool the compensation to redemption centers. They will now be paid a maximum of 1.5¢ per container, which will come almost entirely out of the unclaimed deposits, as available, plus accrued interest. At the same time, redemption centers will now sell thealuminum, plastic and glassto processors. (In past bills, the processors got the scrap for free.) Scrap prices are down right now due to the economy, but in normal years, bottle-bill scrap collectively works out to an average of about 1.5¢ per container, depending on quantities and other factors.
5. INDUSTRY SUPPORT
As I mentioned in an earlier e-mail, container deposits now have the backing of some major industries and their trade groups, including the Aluminum Association, the Glass Packaging Institute and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers. These three associations together represent more than 200 processors and manufacturers, from Alcoa to Mohawk to Owens-Illinois. Some of them are actively helping to lobby this bill in Nashville.
6. OTHER KINDS OF RECYCLING
Because redemption centers are now authorized to sell their scrap to processors, at least some of them may want to become collection sites for other recyclables as well, such as cardboard. This offers an immediate, cost-effective solution to the lack of recycling in Tennessee, especially in rural counties. It also defuses the beverage industry’s latest argument that “what Tennessee really needs is comprehensive recycling via curbside collection.”
Curbside recycling is a good thing, but it is not a magic bullet.Curbside programs can be expensive (in contrast to redemption centers, which cost local governments nothing). They aren’t practical in rural areas (in contrast to redemption centers, which will be everywhere). Without some kind of incentive, such as “pay-as-you-throw” restrictions on weight or number of bags or certain items, curbside (especially in the South) tends to have low participation rates (in contrast to bottle bills, which have participation rates that average 80% nationwide).
And unlike a bottle bill, which produces an extremely “pure” scrap (i.e., properly sorted by material and color), curbside materials tend to be of considerably lower quality, because they cannot avoid being contaminated by other materials (e.g., broken glass baled with newspaper). This is especially true in the much-touted “single-stream” type of curbside, because once you’ve thrown everything into a single bin, it’s impossible to completely “unscramble the egg” at the sorting plant. So while citizens may like single-stream for its convenience, communities find that the materials generate less revenue and are harder to sell. Indeed, some processors won’t buy scrap from single-stream programs because of the potential damage to their processing equipment. In some cases, the community winds up paying to landfill the very materials it just paid to collect!
7. DON’T IGNORE LITTER
8. MORE SUPPORT FOR NONPROFITS
After seeing thriving nonprofit redemption centers in other states, we’ve decided to set an informal goal of having 25 percent of redemption centers in Tennessee owned by nonprofits such as Goodwill Industries or Habitat for Humanity. While the bill doesn’t actually stipulate any goal, it does allow program funds to be used to help redemption centers get up and running. If we make the effort, I think Tennessee can become a national model for nonprofit redemption centers, thus providing social services while relieving the strain on public coffers.
9. COMMITTEE INFO
The bottle bill has been assigned to the Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee in the Senate, and to the State Government Subcommittee of the State and Local Government Committee in the House. Here are the members:
THANKS!!!
Marge Davis, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Pride of Place/Tennessee Bottle Bill Project
One other key limitation of curbside is thatwhile it addresses municipal solid waste, it does nothing to address litter. Bottle bills do both. Because beverage containers account for roughly half of Tennessee’s litter, and because each container will now be worth a nickel, we can expect to see container littering in particular drop by 80% to 90%, resulting in an overall litter reduction of around 40%. After a few more years, we could see an overall reduction of 60%. And if we are like Maine, Vermont, Iowa, Oregon and the other deposit states, we can ultimately look forward to the day when litter is no more than an occasional eyesore.
Compare this to what we have here in Tennessee under our current litter-control system, which is based on a stubborn insistence that education alone changes littering behavior. For almost three years now, Tennessee has been paying for an aggressive anti-litter campaign, known as ”STOP IT,” that features billboards, TV ads, radio spots, t-shirts, placards and so on.
How effective has this campaign been? Not so much, judging by the latest litter figures from the county litter grants program. Since the campaign was launched, Tennessee’s litter has increased by 15%–from 22.3 million pounds in 2005-2006, to 25.9 million pounds in 2007-2008.
The litter & recycling solution based on a 5¢ Tennessee container deposit
• June 6 at Shelby Nature Center in conjunction with the Catfish Rodeo and Water Festival, 10 am
• July 11 at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, 10 am
• August 15 at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, 10 am
See a date you like? Call 862-8539 to register!
The mission of the Cumberland River Compact is to enhance the water quality of the Cumberland River and its tributaries through education and by promoting cooperation among citizens, businesses, and agencies in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Think of transportation and exercise as a glorious package deal.
Can walking/biking/rollerblading to work, school or to errands and appointments eliminate the need for a gym membership, and its associated expense and resource consumption.
I’ve given up on my effort to use cool e-mail stationery. We’ve got more important things to focus on. Like . . . VICTORY!
For once I’m not going to go on and on and on. I’m just going to give you a handful of action items (along with the usual list of key features) and ask you to pour your hearts out for these last few hours before Tuesday’s all-important Senate Environment Committee hearing.
Action items:
PLEASE COME TO THE HEARING TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! The Senate Environment Committee convenes Tuesday (April 7) in Room 12 of Legislative Plaza, corner of 6th and Union in downtown Nashville. Start time is 11 a.m. rather than 11:30. Our bill (SB 1404) is next to last on the agenda, so it probably will be 11:30 before they get to it.
Note: There is no House hearing on April 8. This will likely happen on April 15, IF the bill passes out of committee on Tuesday. Plan to come to that, too.
Know any FARMERS?? If so, send me their contact info, asap. We need a farmer to testify on Tuesday. This is planting season, and none of our usual farmer-supporters is available.
Got any great images of litter? If so, e-mail them to me, and I’ll put them in a slide show to be aired at Tuesday’s hearing. If we are going to survive the opposition’s efforts to kill the bill by putting it into a “summer study committee,” we need to remind them that a container deposit does as much about litter as it is about recycling. The opposition bills do nothing to address litter. (And they do little, realistically, about recycling.)
contact committee members if you haven’t already done so (see list below), especially chairman Steve Southerland
Key features:
The bottle bill will dramatically and permanently reduce TN’s litter, roughly half of which is bottles and cans. The 11 states with bottle bills found that overall litter dropped by an average of almost 40% within a few years of passage, and container-only litter dropped by as much as 80%.
This year’s bill imposes NO NEW COST on the beverage distributors. Under an amendment that will be voted on on Tuesday, beverage distributors will pay only a “container-recovery fee” of 1/8 cent, which works out almost exactly to what they now pay in “litter taxes” to fund inmate litter crews and Keep Tennessee Beautiful. Funding for these programs will now come out of the bottle-bill revenues.
Empty containers do NOT get returned to the grocery store under this bill. Returns are to any of hundreds of independent businesses known as certified redemption centers. These may be owned by individuals, businesses, scrap yards, local governments and nonprofit agencies.
Redemption centers make a living by (1) selling the container scrap to local scrap dealers or end-users; and (2) receiving a handling fee of 1 cent per container, which is paid out of the accrued unclaimed deposits.
Redemption centers may, if acceptable to the local government and the local recycling infrastructure, also accept non-deposit items such as cardboard, newspaper and pickle jars.
The bill is endorsed by the Tennessee Association of County Mayors.
Manufacturers prefer bottle-bill scrap not only because it gets collected in such high quantities–the national average is 80%–but because it’s properly sorted by material and color, and with none of the cross-contamination, foreign materials and low volumes that tend to plague drop-off and curbside recycling programs.
For the first time in history, all three of the major container-commodity trade groups–the Aluminum Association, the Glass Packaging Institute and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers–now support container deposits.
In addition to recovering $50 million or more of scrap each year, this bill will save landfill space, reduce collection and hauling costs, save 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a year and avoid 150,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases.
Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee members:
Marge Davis, Ph.D.
Coordinator
Pride of Place/Tennessee Bottle Bill Project
A Project of Scenic Tennessee, Inc.
45 Burris Court
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
home (615) 758-8647
fax (615) 754-0966
cell (615) 294-2651 www.tnbottlebill.org margedavis@comcast.net
This week’s long-awaited hearing on the bottle bill was cut short, due to endless discussions of other items, and will resume next week. That’s the bad news.
The GOOD NEWS is that the little bit of testimony that we had time for was absolutely perfect! See the short press release below.
The other GOOD NEWS is that the delay may prove to be a blessing in disguise, because it gives us that much more time to hammer away at the 5 votes we need.
In the meantime, here’s how you can help, one more time . . . And don’t forget to share this e-mail with your own network and beyond. You never know whose desk it might land on.
1. COME TO THE DAD-GUMMED HEARING! TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 11:30 CDT, LEGISLATIVE PLAZA, ROOM 12
I hate to say it, but except for our legion of speakers, Tuesday’s hearing room was PRACTICALLY EMPTY. Folks did trickle in over time, and we are grateful to every one of them. But if this bill is really as popular as we say it is, we should be able to PACK THE HEARING ROOM!!! Shame on us if we cannot.
Think of it this way: One way or the other, you’ll see history being made. Either the bill passes, which will be hugely historic; or I explode into a thousand pieces, which will also be historic, though not nearly so pleasant.
But seriously: Next week, we’re the second item on the agenda, following a budget presentation by the Department of Tourist Development. That will probably take 20 minutes, so feel free to arrive closer to 12 noon. We should be finished–one way or the other!–by 12:30.
2. WORK YOUR CONTACTS IN THREE SWING DISTRICTS
We need to be sure of five votes, and we can’t take any chances. The following three senators in particular need to hear FROM THEIR OWN CONSTITUENTS by Tuesday morning, and preferably by Saturday evening. (Please don’t call on Sunday–that’s Easter.)
They’ll all be back in their districts later today and will return to Nashville Monday afternoon. If you personally don’t live in one of these districts, try to think of folks who do. Tell them the basics–using the bullet points below if you like–and then give them the contact info.
Thanks as always!
1. SENATOR MIKE FAULK (R-Church Hill)
Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson and Union counties
Bottle Makers to Senate Committee: “We Support Bottle Bills”
Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the proposed “bottle bill” (5-cent deposit on glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers) was cut short by the clock, but not before executives from the nation’s second-largest glass-container manufacturer told lawmakers, “We used to oppose bottle bills. Now we support them.”
Peter J. Walters, vice president for purchasing and distribution at Muncie, Ind.-based Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc. (formerly the Ball Corporation), explained that container-deposit programs alone provide the quantity and quality of recycled glass required by his industry.
Other collection systems, such as curbside and drop-off bins, not only yield low volumes, he said. What material they do generate is often mixed with unacceptable items such as test-tube glass, Pyrex bowls and ceramic coffee mugs.
The problem is not simply the cost of buying and installing expensive sorting equipment, said Walters, nor is it just the added energy cost of running furnaces at higher temperatures. It’s the fact that even the best sorting systems can’t always filter out minute contaminants. Champagne bottles have been known to explode because of the weakness created by a tiny bit of embedded stone.
Also giving testimony on Tuesday was Jai Templeton, mayor of McNairy County in southwest Tennessee. Templeton is a member of the Tennessee Association of County Mayors, which has endorsed the bottle bill.
Templeton told the committee that he personally favors the measure, in part for its ability to create jobs and reduce solid waste at no cost to local government, but equally for its ability to reduce litter. According to the county sheriff’s deputy in change of litter pickups, he said, at least half of McNairy County’s litter is beer bottles, soda cans and other beverage containers.
The proposed bill is expected to eliminate 80% – 90% of beverage-container litter while continuing to fund the county litter crews and other litter programs.
Hearings on SB 1404 are scheduled to resume Tuesday, April 7, at 11:30 a.m. in the Senate Environment Committee.
###
A summary of key points:
This year’s bill (via an amendment that was approved on Tuesday) poses no new cost to beverage distributors. They will pay only a “container-recovery fee” of 1/8 cent, which works out to roughly what they now pay via the ”litter taxes.” These taxes will be repealed when the bill passes, and the funding for the litter grants will instead come out of the bottle-bill revenues.
Empty containers do NOT get returned to the grocery store. Returns are to any of hundreds of independent businesses known as certified redemption centers, which may be owned by individuals, businesses, local governments and nonprofit agencies.
Redemption centers make a living by (1) selling the container scrap to local scrap dealers or end-users; and (2) receiving 1 cent per container out of the unclaimed deposits. Assuming 5 billion containers a year, 85% redemption, 500 redemption centers and a 5-year average of scrap prices, this provides an average annual gross revenue of more than $200,000 per center.
Redemption centers may, if acceptable to the local government and the local recycling infrastructure, also accept non-deposit items such as cardboard, newspaper and pickle jars. This potentially doubles the number of “convenience centers” in the state, at no cost whatever to the state or to local governments. And because people will be going to the redemption centers to get back their deposits, their recycling of these other items will also increase. (Overall residential recycling in deposit states is 3 times what it is here–31% vs 10%.)
The bottle bill will dramatically reduce TN’s litter, half of which is bottles and cans. A 5-cent deposit will reduce this portion of litter by 80% to 90%, and will reduce overall litter by at least 40%, perhaps more.
A randomized survey of 777 registered voters by UT’s Social Science Research Institute found that 80.4 percent of Tennesseans support a 5-cent deposit.
All three of the major container-commodity trade groups–the Aluminum Association, the Glass Packaging Institute and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers–now acknowledge container deposits to be a legitimate and effective way to get both the quantity and quality of container scrap their members need.
80% of all containers are beverage containers; and 80% of all returned containers (including virtually all of the glass and aluminum) are used to make new beverage containers. The plastic that is not used in containers is used in such products as carpet and fleece.
The bill will keep more than 200,000 tons of material, collectively worth at least $50 million, out of landfills, while saving the energy equivalent of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a year and avoiding 150,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases.
The bill will actually help hold down future beverage-price increases, because in most cases, it’s less expensive to make new containers out of recycled ones. Beverage prices are lower, on average, in the 11 deposit states.
Clif Bar Green Notes marries the power of music with a passion for the environment, partnering with musicians to reduce the environmental impact of their tours.
Buy the benefit album: Protect the Places We Play on iTunes.
NASHVILLE CLEAN WATER PROJECT: WAY TO GO NASHVILLE, WE’RE KICKIN’ BUTT ON TRASH!
You can make another huge difference on Saturday, May 2, from 8 am until 5 pm (and snag a fun, free boat ride) by participating in the third Nashville Clean Water Project at Percy Priest Lake. We have trash bags, gloves and sunscreen for you… we have snacks, hand sanitizer, T-shirts and hats… …we also have gobs of giveaways.
It’s the largest water cleanup in Nashville’s history so of course it’s going to be huge! And, yes, it’s absolutely free. Boats will depart from Nashville Shores Water Park to specific lake locations every 45 minutes; just choose your departure time with the yellow “Register” button on any page.
Participants must be 16 years or older. To register, click here.
MAY 14th BUILDING OUTSIDE THE BOX MONTHLY MEETING
Join us for the BOB Meeting on Thursday, May 14th at 11:30 for a special tour of the new Beaman Park Nature Center… contact Gwen for meeting details.
NASHVILLE NAMED A NATIONAL HOST VENUE FOR 2009 GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP™
Tennessee’s capitol will have the chance to showcase its Volunteer spirit and green initiatives this spring for Keep America Beautiful Inc.’s Great American Cleanup™. Nashville is one of three U.S. cities selected by KAB to host national spotlight events this year. Nashville will host the final national event on May 14 with a day of community projects, volunteer cleanups and educational exhibits in and around the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall State Park. Planned activities include a kickoff rally, “green” exhibits and education programs, and community cleanups in surrounding neighborhoods.
Organizers are looking to recruit 1,000 volunteers from all 95 counties in Tennessee to demonstrate the “Volunteer State” moniker in action.
The meeting is designed to tell the members of the Red River Watershed Association, other local residents and interested parties what the karst project is and what TDEC and Kentucky will be accomplishing. Contact Jim for more details.
June 6- Catfish Rodeo and Water Festival
Shelby Park, 8 am- Contact Laura for registration details or to VOLUNTEER.
Rain Barrel Workshop
In conjunction with the Catfish Rodeo and Water Festival, Shelby Bottoms Nature Center – 10am Call 862-8539 to register.
August 22- Dragon Boat and River Festival
Riverfront Park, Contact Brooke to register your competitive team!
The mission of the Cumberland River Compact is to enhance the water quality of the Cumberland River and its tributaries through education and by promoting cooperation among citizens, businesses, and agencies in Kentucky and Tennessee.
If you want to be a part of the Compact’s current initiatives, but don’t have the time, give a little in the form of a charitable, tax-free donation here.
“When people ask me ‘What can I do?’ — I say, ‘There’s two things. One, you must realize that, unlikely though it seems, your little life does make a difference, what you do each day. And secondly, leading from that, people must learn a little bit more and think a littlebit more about the consequences of the choices we make each day — what we eat, where it comes from, how it was made, has it got chemical poisons in it, whether it involves the torture of animals.” – Jane Goodall.
To help us make better choices in our purchases we can shop at a new “green” store the Green Wagon at 4429 Murphy Rd. (across from McCabe’s Golf Course). Everything is made America, and many of the products are made in Middle Tennessee. They are all environmentally friendly.
A small but steadily growing legal discipline is training lawyers to defend one of the world’s most under-represented clients: the environment. You can also visit our site and archives at: http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/climateedu/
Interesting article on why we need to ban plastic on campus. When fish injest bits of plastic they float and cannot swim down to eat, and then they die.
This Spring, plant herbs for cooking and medicinal purposes, and you will save money at the grocery store and pharmacy, and eliminate lots of packaging.
For some help on herb gardening check out the library’s book collection.
Call numbers to browse are SB321 – SB404.
One example is: The Chef’s Garden — SB321 .C77 1999
The library also subscribes to quite a few good gardening magazines.
Examples are: Organic Gardening and Fine Gardening.
The comprehensive litter and recycling solution based on a Tennessee bottle bill
The bottle bill is still very much alive. At its final hearing in the Senate Environment Committee, the sponsor, Sen. Doug Jackson, opted to roll it, intact, to next year.
All things considered, this is a good outcome. We knew we faced a whole new slate of legislators and committee members this year, and I think we made good progress getting them to understand the legislation. We heard a lot of excellent testimony, gained some vital allies and logged more press endorsements. Most important, the bill itself is now essentially perfect. It poses no new cost to distributors, it levels the playing field for recyclers, and it eliminates what I call the “mayonnaise jar” argument, by allowing redemption centers to accept other, non-deposit recyclables as well as deposit beverage containers.
Anyway, now that we have a perfect bill, we need to spend the rest of 2009 making sure it has the votes to pass in 2010. Here’s what I have in mind; please let me know which of these you’d be willing to help with:
1. Gain endorsements from all 95 county commissions (we already have three!)
2. Do door-to-door canvassing in Williamson County 3. Organize “Litter-&-Legislators” roadside cleanups
4. Expand our support network (Facebook, Twitter, blogs?)
5. Make sure the bottle bill is an issue in the gubernatorial race
1. Gain endorsements from all 95 county commissions
Three county commissions have already passed resolutions (Loudon, Hickman and Maury) supporting the bill; our goal is to gain the endorsements of the remaining 92. As most of you know, the TN County Mayors Association has already done so. Commissioners tend overwhelmingly to like this bill for the same reasons (more jobs, more revenue, less litter, lower waste costs and more money for schools, all at no cost to county budgets).
I’ve written a sample resolution (borrowing from Maury County’s) and am sending a copy to each county mayor and commission chair, along with a letter and brochure summarizing the revised bill. (Midtown Printing here in Nashville has generously donated 4,000 copies of the brochure.)
I’ve also promised to make sure the commissioners have whatever other information they need, including testimony from county residents. If you can help out in your county, let me know, and I will plug you in.
2. Go door-to-door in Williamson County
Although folks are welcome to canvass their own districts, this effort is aimed at Williamson County, home of District 23 Senator Jack Johnson. (His district also includes a small part of Davidson. To see if you are a constituent, click on this link: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/districtmaps/Senate23.pdf.)
Sen. Johnson is a high-powered legislator who led the opposition when the bill came before Senate Environment Committee in April. His chief objection, he said, is that it is a “$250-million tax” that is opposed by most of the businesses in his district. He dismisses the results of the UT poll that showed 80 percent support among voters.
Some politically astute folks have told us that the best way to address Johnson’s opposition is to talk directly to his constituents. The plan is to have volunteers go door-to-door in District 23, briefly summarizing the bill and asking respondents (1) if they support the measure, and (2) if they consider the deposit to be a tax. We’ll pass the results on to Sen. Johnson and other Williamson County legislators. We may also share them with the press. If you can help organize or take part in these efforts–esp. if you live in Williamson County–contact me.
3. Get youth to organize “Litter-&-Legislators” roadside cleanups
Everyone says we’ve got to get young people involved. Why not have them–Scouts, outdoor clubs, etc.–persuade legislators to join them in picking up local roadsides?
Our system is real simple. Participants simply put all the deposit-beverage containers in one 13-gallon drawstring garbage bag; put everything else in another bag; and tally the results. We had great success with a similar series of cleanups in 2005-2006 that showed 50% of litter volume is bottles and cans. Contact me if you want to know more, or go to www.tnbottlebill.org, click on “Events and Cleanups,” and download the guidelines for “X Marks the Spot.”
4. Expand our network using new-fangled tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs
I’ve just been introduced to the brave new world of social networking. Granted, all I’ve done so far is create my own profile at Facebook, and I’ve never even sent a text message, let alone Twittered. Nonetheless, I know it’s the organizational tool of the future. If you know how to do such things, please set up a blog, Facebook and/or Twitter network for POP, tell me how to use it, and I’ll notify everyone else.
5. Help make sure the bottle bill is an issue in the governor’s race
Nashville businessman Ward Cammack, one of the Democrats running for governor, recently became the first mainstream candidate for any office, ever in the history of the state, to publicly call for passage of a bottle bill! This really is an act of courage (one of the other candidates owns a beer distributorship!) but it can only help give this issue more credibility and visibility.
I’d like to see every candidate take a position publicly on the bill. If you know any of them–or even if you don’t–contact them, and ask if they have a position on the bill. If they have no position, offer to provide them information so that they can take one. If they are opposed, suggest that they look more closely at the bill. And if they support it, consider putting your own support–and money–into their campaign–and make sure they know why you are doing so.
Here are links to their campaigns:
a. Ward Cammack (D) www.wardcammack.com SUPPORTS BOTTLE BILL
b. Kim McMillan (D) www.kimmcmillan.com c. Mike McWherter (D) www.mikemcwherter.com
d. Roy Herron (D) www.tndp.org/group/royherronforgovernor
e. Bill Haslam (R) www.billhaslam.com
f. Ron Ramsey (R) teamronramsey.com
g. Zach Wamp (R) www.zachwamp.comh. Bill Gibbons (R) www.gibbons2010.com
June 11, 7:00 pm at Radnor Lake visitor center. The talk will be about “creating a butterfly-friendly backyard” by Regional Naturalist John Froeschauer.
Check out this article on “Gardening for Butterflies.(attracting butterflies)” from Audubon magazine. (May 1999) The library has the magazine.
“The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.” Theodore Roosevelt
Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Study Enters Next Stage Public Meetings Scheduled for July 27-30 The Nashville Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) will host a series of public meetings between July 27 and July 30 to report on the development of a Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Study: A Strategic Vision for Walking and Bicycling in the Greater Nashville Region. This study relies on information gathered and priorities identified at community meetings held earlier this year and will incorporate input from the upcoming public meetings. After a presentation on the progress of the MPO report, attendees at the July meetings will have the opportunity to ask questions and to provide feedback on prioritizing needs for future bicycle and pedestrian projects. A meeting is scheduled for each county in the MPO area as follows:
• Davidson County on Monday, July 27 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at East Park Community Center, 700 Woodland Street, Nashville, 37206.
• Rutherford County on Tuesday, July 28 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Smyrna Town Centre, 100 Sam Ridley Parkway East, 37167.
• Williamson County on Tuesday, July 28 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Williamson County Public Library, 1314 Columbia Ave, Franklin, 37064.
• Wilson County on Thursday, July 30 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Lebanon City Hall, 200 Castle Heights Avenue North, 37087.
• Sumner County on Thursday, July 30 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Hendersonville Public Library, 140 Saundersville Road, 37075.
The Nashville Area MPO is the regional planning organization federally established to carryout transportation planning within the greater Nashville region. The MPO policy board is comprised of local elected Mayors and County Executives and guides federal and state funding of transportation projects such as roads, bridges, sidewalks and bikeways, and transit within the greater Nashville region. Additional information on the project can be found by logging on to the MPO website. Public input is welcome – email the Project Manager.
Proposed Urban Forestry specialty plate will benefit communities across Tennessee.
Nashville, TN. (August 7, 2009) – The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council (TUFC)
Trees work hard for all of us. They reduce air pollution, replenish water tables, prevent erosion, absorb noise, cool urban areas, reduce household and business energy costs, increase property values, trees even reduce crime and foster safer, more sociable neighborhoods…all for free. But it’s hard work and each day brings increasing demands on their time and energy. Now there’s a way you can help trees and communities across Tennessee by doing something most of us do every day… Drive. But drive with a cause!
The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council, a statewide nonprofit organization, needs your help to gain approval for the Tennessee “Trees Make a Difference” specialty license plate! To meet the legislature’s requirements, 1,000 “Tree Tags” must be pre-sold by June 30, 2010 before production can begin. Proceeds from the Tree Tag help fund programs including:
The Tennessee Tree Fund, supporting tree plantings throughout the state.
Urban Forestry Workshops, facilitating new urban forestry programs in communities and enhancing existing programs.
Tennessee Groves, a memorial, honorary and environmental landscaping program.
The Arboretum Certification Program, boasting 50 certified arboreta serving as exemplary educational outreach resources for local communities.
The Landmark, Historic, and Heritage Tree Registries, recognizing and preserving trees with distinguished historical, geographic or cultural significance.
The Notable Trees of Tennesseeexhibit, traveling for free and captivating audiences with photographs of some of our state’s most majestic boughs.
Urban Forestry Toolboxes, providing technical tools, educational resources, available on loan for free to tree boards, urban foresters and utilities.
A standard “Trees Make a Difference” plate will cost $35, with an additional $35 to personalize it.* For more information about the Tree Tag and the benefits of urban forestry visit www.TennesseeTrees.org. You may also order the tag directly from TUFC’s site www.tufc.com. Make Tennessee a cleaner and greener place for generations to come, plant a Tree Tag on your car and help Urban Forestry GROW!
About the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council
The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council, established in 1991, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to public awareness, understanding and improving Tennessee’s urban forests. Our mission is to serve as an advisory body to promote healthy and sustainable urban and community forests in Tennessee by providing leadership and assistance through education, planning, advocacy and collaboration.
*All specialty plate costs are in addition to the standard yearly renewal fees based on county of residence and generate funds for the designated organization each year they are renewed. Please see www.TennesseeTrees.org for more details about the specialty plate program.
The Tennessee Urban Forestry Council is also on MySpace and FaceBook:
Campus Sustainability Day (CSD) celebrates sustainability in higher education. On a designated day in October, colleges and universities are encouraged to create events on campus and elsewhere that draw participants for the exchange of ideas and knowledge among faculty, staff, and students, from across all departments and disciplines, and even from across the campus “edge” between town and gown. This is the kind of integrated, comprehensive planning that is a major focus for higher education planners among SCUP’s constituency, as well as for the increasing number of professionals who hold campus sustainability positions.
Watch for developments on Nashville State’s campus.
Check out this article on “Green goals” for college and university campuses.
If you would like to see Nashville State be a sustainable campus and celebrate Sustainability Day, see Sally Robertson in the library about becoming involved in the Students for the Environment organization.
“Conservation is something perceived as stopping everything cold, as holding whooping cranes in higher esteem than people. It is up to science to spread the understanding that the choice is not between wild places or people. Rather, it is between a rich or an impoverished existence for man.” — Thomas E. Lovejoy, World Wildlife Fund.
I bet you didn’t realize that part of your Verizon Wireless bill is being spent to support an anti-environmental rally did you?
Well it is. Verizon Wireless is sponsoring the “Friends of America” rally this weekend at a coal mine in West Virginia. Verizon’s partner in this event? None other than Massey Energy, best known for having to pay the EPA $20 million for over 4,500 violations of the Clean Water Act! Take action by doing one or both of the following:
Click here to tell Lowell McAdam, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless to immediately withdraw their sponsorship and publicly state why they support this extremist, anti-environmental rally.
If you are Verizon Wireless customer you can hit them where it hurts the most, in their wallet, and drop their service. CREDO Mobile, is offering a special promotions where they will cover the costs of the termination fee if you switch to their service so check it out. We currently use Verizon for our office phones are in the process of ending that contract. Join the movement!
It’s important to note that this is just one example how energy companies and corporations are working to misinform people about our movement. They have many more resources than us which allows them to easily create big events, throw a lot more money at organizing people, and influence media which can be seen through Fox News’ Sean Hannity being listed as a speaker at this one sided event. So much for ‘fair and balanced’ right? This is why it’s that we grow our movement bigger and stronger than ever right now!
If your not already part of this movement please forward this email to your friends to get them join the movement by clicking here.
So maybe I’m just exaggerating the facts to make it seem like this peaceful picnic has some anti-environmental agenda right? Here is what Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s invitation to the event said…you decide:
“Hello I’m Don Blankenship and I’d like to invite you to a Labor Day rally in West Virginia. We’re going to have Hank Williams and have a good time but we’re also going to learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs.“
Destroying jobs? Isn’t that the exact opposite of what the millions of American’s who are trying to create new jobs and economic opportunities by investments in clean, renewable energy are all about?
If you’re like me, you also probably thought this rally was sponsored by some local Verizon Wireless affiliate and the national corporate office doesn’t know anything about this and if they did they would do the right thing and back away from these extremists right? WRONG!
James Gerace, VP of Corporate Communications at Verizon Wireless is not only aware of the sponsorship, but defended it by dismissing, then demeaning, the activists who brought it to his attention. The VP of Corporate Communications is the official spokesperson for a company so his words that dismissed environmental concerns and put down youth activists should be taken literally as the position of Verizon Wireless. This is why we all need to act now. Take one of the actions above today!
While planting trees, repairing trails and restoring shorelines on National Public Lands Day, don’t forget to bring those cameras — photo and video– and take some great shots of your fellow volunteers.
Participate in our Ninth Annual “Volunteers in Action” Photo and Video Contest. This year, a new category for short videos has been created for those talented but undiscovered film directors out there.
Alison Gannett is a lot like Eddie Van Halen: she does things on skis (and with other sports paraphernalia) that you cannot even dream about, and she looks totally cool. So don’t even think about it.
Having conquered most of the world’s tallest mounts, Alison has her eyes fixed on an even higher goal: saving the planet, one CROP at a time. CROP is Alison’s innovative tool for de-carbonizing lifestyles. She is CROP-ing her way to low-carbon existence, and you CROP yours too. http://www.ospreypacks.com/Athletes/AlisonGannett/.
Here’s how.
CROP has four elements. First, compute your carbon footprint. Second, learn how to reduce your footprint. Third, identify strategies for offsetting your greenhouse gas emissions. Fourth, generate your own power. Let’s recap:
This ”is a national movement of youth transforming the world by investigating and eliminating toxic exposures in daily lives, schools and communities, advocating for change in policy and habits to protect our health, and educating peers and the community about greener alternatives. Through collaborative change, these young leaders inspire us all to work toward healthy people and a sustainable future.” — website.
was launched in the Spring of 2008 harnessing the inquisitive nature of teens to investigate their schools and find the greener alternatives available to replace toxic products and practices.
“Teens Turning Green: Schools became the new name of the campaign, encompassing all aspects of the teen initiatives under one umbrella. The campaign focuses not only on cosmetics and personal care products, but broadens the scope to all areas of a teen’s life that potentially exposes them to harmful chemicals.” — Website.
The world could start to run out of oil in the next ten years, sparking soaring energy prices and a rush for even more polluting fossil fuels, an influential new study by the UK Energy Research Council has warned.
by Louise Gray
The exact date of “peak oil” – when the amount of oil being pumped out of the ground every day reaches its highest point before beginning an inexorable decline – has been hotly debated for decades. Environmentalists have tended to warn oil could run out at any moment, while oil companies insist there are plently more oil fields yet to be discovered.
Oil supplies could start running out before 2020, according to a new study. (Photo: Getty Images)
The most recent estimation from the International Energy Agency, that advises Governments around the world, said conventional oil would not peak until after 2030.
However an authoriative new study from the Government-funded UK Energy Research Council called this prediction “at best optimistic and at worst implausible”. The peer-reviewed research looked at 500 studies from around the world and took into account the difficulty of accessing new oil fields as well as growing demand. It predicted oil will begin running out before 2030 and there is a “significant risk” peak oil will be reached before 2020.
“In our view, forecasts which delay a peak in conventional oil production until after 2030 are at best optimistic and at worst implausible. And given the world’s overwhelming dependence on oil and the time required to develop alternatives, 2030 isn’t far away,” said the report’s lead author Steve Sorrell. “The concern is that rising oil prices will encourage the rapid development of carbon-intensive alternatives which will make it difficult or impossible to prevent dangerous climate change.”
Robert Gross, Head of Technology and Policy Assessment at UKERC, said as soon as oil begins to run out it will make energy more expensive, sparking a knock on effect on industry and economies around the world. Petrol prices would rise and long distance travel become more expensive.
“The age of easy and cheap oil is coming to an end,” he said. “It doesn’t suddenly come to an end, obviously it’s a gradual change, but we’re moving away from easy and cheap oil to increasingly difficult and expensive oil.”
At the moment oil is around £44 ($70) per barrel after peaking at around £92 ($147) per barrel earlier in the year during the height of the economic crisis.
Dr Gross said the spectre of peak oil should encourage Governments to invest in more energy-efficient vehicles such as electric cars, renewable energy like wind or solar and improving energy efficiency in industry and homes.
But he said there was a risk that instead the world will start to look at even more intensive forms of fossil fuels, therefore producing more carbon emisions and causing “catastrophic climate change”. Alternatives include heating tar sands to produce oil at huge cost both environmentally and financially.
“The danger is high oil prices push us into high carbon resources just as much as they might help push us towards renewables,” he said.
“The challenge for policy makers is to make sure, on a global scale, that that isn’t the response to more difficult and expensive oil.”
The world produces around 85 million barrels of oil every day. It is estimated this could rise to more than 100 million barrels per day before declining.
Oil companies like BP claim billions more barrels are availabe in new oil fields discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
However Mr Sorrell said these new supplies are extremely difficult to access and will only delay peak oil by a few weeks or even days.
Even if the new fields are exploited, he said the world needs to move away from oil in order to stop global warming.
But Mr Sorrell said the UK Government had no contingency plans for oil peaking before 2020.
“If these problems are ignored and we do not make these changes ahead of time, we are heading for trouble,” he warned.
The IEA is due to release its latest report on peak oil this November, just before the world meets in Copenhagen to decide a new deal on climate change. The report will be a key influence on whether the rich world is willing to agree to set targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, while also helping poor countries to switch to a low carbon economy.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change is currently considering the UKERC report.
“We are already well aware of the significant challenges for investment in future oil production and that there is a role for Governments to play in reducing demand for fossil fuels,” a spokesman said. “Our climate change, energy efficiency and energy security policies outlined in the UK low carbon transition plan are not only reducing the UK’s carbon emissions, but are consistent with the need to reduce our use of fossil fuels.”
This is a very interesting blog by a aging musician turned urban bike commuting advocate. His book is a chronicle of his adventures and musings while traveling around the world with bicycles.
Find out how much land it takes to support your lifestyle by taking this quiz.
“Paper Trail”American School and University. 82(1) Sept. 1, 2009. From the Academic OneFile Database (A TEL database). About what educational institutions can do to reduce their school’s carbon footprint.
The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is a broad network of high school and college-aged youth from across the country working to protect the environment. The SSC is the youth-led chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.
Appendix A contains the “Talloires Declaration” which is a document, signed by college and university presidents from all over the world, stating that their campuses will do what they can to be more environmentally sustainable and help educate their students about the need to take care of the earth. It was written in 1990 in Talloires, France at Tufts University.
Dr. Van Allen, president of Nashville State CC, has signed this declaration.
November 5 at 2:00pm Eastern Students in Action: On campus sustainability and climate action
This webinar will focus on campus sustainability projects initiated and lead by students highlighting strategies to engage students, student/staff partnerships, community partnerships, administration support and more.
November 19 at 2:00pm Eastern Preparing for a Green Workforce: How are community colleges and other campuses preparing their students? This webinar will focus on how community colleges and other schools are helping the U.S. prepare for a clean energy future by providing training and resources for students interested in green careers. Highlights include models on green jobs training programs, employer partnerships, and more.
The webinars, with Q&A, will be 1 hour. Participants will receive dial-in and URL information two days before the conference. Participants that want to participate via the phone only can request a copy of the presentation.
John McFadden, Director of the Tennessee Environmental Council, talks about the incredibly important work of the council in preserving and protecting our natural resources through a series of programs involving education, advocacy, hands-on restoration work, and the development of state legislative policy goals through the two day “Summit for a Sustainable TN” coming up on Nov. 13th and 14th in Lebanon, TN.
(See registration info. below in “events”). John’s passionate commitment to conservation and his personal charisma are contagious!
Next week;
Pete Vash, Managing engineer and systems designer for Lightwave Solar Electric, talks about his role in this groundbreaking company, and offers a wealth of information on photovoltaic energy and design, market trends, cost, and the current state of business and residential incentives for solar here in TN.
Showtimes: Tuesdays @ 7pm, Thursdays @ 10am, Saturdays @ 10pm and Sundays @ 2pm on CATV / Comcast 19, Davidson County
Short clips of shows available on youtube HERE (these will be added by tonight).
Upcoming Events
Wed, Nov. 4th
”Green Drinks” at Blackstone Brewery, 7pm
Sun., Nov. 8th, 4-7pm
TAP (Tennessee Alliance for Progress) House Party
Home of Mark Burnett and Ann Olsen / 617 Harpeth Trace Drive / Nashville, TN 37221
Food, Wine, Conversation, Speakers, Music
Tickets: $50. Two for $90. / Limited space. Register now!
You can register online at TAP’s new website at www.taptn.org or by sending a check to TAP, PO Box 60338, Nashville, TN 37206.
WED. – NOV. 11TH
Learning Green and Living Green
7 PM@ Little Hamilton Collective, 1318 Little Hamilton St, 37203
Join ‘Local Green Revolution’ for a discussion on learning green at Gaia University, and growing green with year-round gardening and wild edibles. Representatives from Gaia University and Cindy Moonrose, a local homesteader, gardener and wild food enthusiast will present.
Come hear about learning green through Gaia University ’s unique programs and areas of study. Gaia, located at the Farm in Summertown, TN, offers majors such as “Green Business”, “Integrative EcoSocial Design”, and “Re-Localization”. With a mission aimed at building leaders for local and global sustainability, justice and peace, Gaia is a unique opportunity for students interested in sustainability and the environment. Also hear Cindy Moonrose discuss growing green by using year-round gardening techniques. Cindy will also detail wild edibles and identify many local, wild plants that can be eaten at home.Please RSVP to Kate Kiefling at kate_kiefling@yahoo.com or Shavaun Evans at Shavaun.e.evans@vanderbilt.edu – Sponsored by the Nashville Peace and Justice Center ’s ‘Local Green Revolution’
THURS, NOV. 12th
“Coal Country” Viewing and Discussion
7pm @ Sue and Gary’s / 4806 Michigan Ave., Nashville 37209
We will gather at 7pm. Folks are encouraged to bring a snack or beverage to share. The film, which deals with the devastation of mountain-top removal coal mining in the Appalachias, will begin at 7:30 and run approx. 40 minutes. Discussion will follow. Please RSVP at www.sierraclub.org/coalcountry
Click “find an event” and enter our zip code. We can comfortably accommodate about 30 people. Hope to see you there!
Fri. and Sat., Nov. 13th and 14th
Summit for a Sustainable TN / Ward Agricultural / Center, Lebanon, TN
The 3rd Annual Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee brings together citizens, conservation groups, environmental policy experts, elected officials and representatives of private business and industry to forge new partnerships and innovative solutions to the most pressing conservation issues in Tennessee.
Clean Air / Cool Planet is a web site for campuses, communities, science centers, corporations and climate policy centers to use to help find solutions to global warming.
We are in the business of solving the global warming problem through civic engagement, education and effective policy.
Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) is the leading organization dedicated solely to finding and promoting solutions to global warming:
We partner with companies, campuses, communities and science centers to help reduce their carbon emissions.
We help our partners, their constituents, and other regional opinion leaders and stakeholders understand the impacts of global warming and its best available solutions, through comprehensive outreach efforts celebrating commitment, innovation and success in climate action.
We showcase practical climate solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits associated with early actions on climate change.
We propose and recommend the implementation of effective policy solutions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the state, regional and national levels.
CA-CP is a science-based, non-partisan, 501(c)3 non-profit. 2008 Annual Report
Are you taking climate action on campus? Are you a hard-core grassroots organizer? Chair of the Sustainability Committee? Have you spurred an initiative on your campus that reduces its carbon footprint?
If so, Chill Out is the competition for you! We are looking for campus projects that reduce global warming pollution, including projects in green jobs, students in action, innovative design and campus actions.
Coal Country is a stunning new documentary that reveals the devastation of mountaintop-removal coal mining to the forests, streams, and communities of Appalachia. Produced by Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller, Coal Country brings us inside the lives of Appalachian residents who are directly threatened by mountaintop-removal, a destructive mining practice where mountaintops are blasted away to expose the coal; the waste is then dumped in the waterways of nearby communities. As it takes us through each stage of coal mining and processing, Coal Country reveals the shocking true cost of America’s over-reliance on coal.
We need to get this film in the hands of Americans nationwide. Help spread the word and end mountaintop-removal coal mining by attending a Coal Country House Party. These community house parties will happen nationwide the week of November 9th through 15th.
Coal has an impact on every single community — one way or another. Join this national movement by sharing this important film with your friends and neighbors.
Watch the sneak-peek of Coal Country (a 40 minute version of the original film).
Hold a discussion about the movie and mountaintop-removal coal mining.
Take action by writing a letter to the Obama administration asking them to end mountaintop-removal coal mining.
Make new friends!
*The deadline to receive the host packet and free sneak-peek DVD is now passed. If you sign up to host after November 1st you will not receive a host packet in the mail.
Project Blue Streams (PBS) protects and restores Nashville’s small streams. Partnering with neighborhood groups, schools, churches and businesses, Project Blue Streams restores streams using a collection of tools ranging from tree planting, to stream bank restoration, to in-stream habitat rehabilitation.
One initiative of PBS is to plant 10,000 trees in Davidson County over the next five years.
PBS will move closer to this goal with a Fall Planting. On Saturday, November 21st, PBS will partner with Neighborhood Associations in the East Nashville area for a huge planting. Other partners include the Nashville Tree Foundation, Nashville Electric Service, Metro Tree Advisory Committee, Metro Parks, and Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. To join the effort, contact Mekayle Houghton, PBS Director.
On November 19th & 20th, students and youth all over the country will be taking action and calling President Obama to remind him that It’s Game Time and we need his leadership on climate and energy policy. We’re asking him to meet with young leaders, give a national address outlining his strategy and to attend Copenhagen in person.
President Obama is listening: He said he would attend the critical Copenhagen climate negotiations IF it is deemed necessary to clinch a deal. We know it’s necessary, so we’ve got to let him know it’s game time! Will you host a Call-in Day Event?
We can get this message across to Obama by getting our voices into the White House. When lots of young voters call in with a consistent demand, it doesn’t go unnoticed. We can make sure this happens by hosting Call-in Day events across the country.
Can you help make sure this critical message reaches Obama in the White House? Call-in Days are fun and simple. All you need is a couple of hours, a public location, and a small group of volunteers. See our Call-in Day Event Guide here.
Are you taking climate action on campus? Are you a hard-core grassroots organizer? Chair of the Sustainability Committee? Have you spurred an initiative on your campus that reduces its carbon footprint?
If so, Chill Out is the competition for you! We are looking for campus projects that reduce global warming pollution, including projects in green jobs, students in action, innovative design and campus actions.
Last Saturday, President Obama and other world leaders announced that a global climate treaty wouldn’t be finalized in Copenhagen next month after all. Instead, they will create steps for a comprehensive deal that will set the stage for a treaty sometime in 2010.
We were disappointed to hear this, of course — but there is still promise to set the stage for a global treaty. President Obama has said we can still lead the way and rally the world around a strong political agreement that will result in a fair, ambitious, and binding (FAB) treaty next year.
We need President Obama’s leadership on climate now more than ever:
We need President Obama to show America’s seriousness about tackling climate change by attending the conference. The President must use his enormous prestige to push for a blueprint that will lead to a strong treaty in 2010 — and to keep pushing Congress for the strongest possible clean energy and climate bill.
Let’s show the President and the media that the grassroots are paying attention to his actions leading up to Copenhagen. We’ve already surpassed our goal of 25,000 petition signatures — help us reach our new goal of 30,000 and spread the word by writing your local newspaper:
We finally have a president who understands the consequences of inaction, and the enormous benefits of building a clean energy economy. Now we need him to step up his leadership on climate — and to show him and the media that there’s a vibrant grassroots movement ready to support bold climate action. Sign the petition and write your local newspaper today!
Organize to be Heard is a competition to see which youth leaders can generate the most activity to raise awareness with our elected officials about the importance of passing climate change legislation NOW. The Consequence Campaign is working with Senator John Kerry’s office to encourage America’s youth to take action.
This contest lasts throughout the month of November and you can join anytime. You will receive points based on the activities you engage in!
• Media Coverage: 50 points
• Printed Letter to the Editor: 25 points
• Letter to Representative: 10 points
• Call to Representative: 5 points
• Signing Petition: 2 points
All points will be added up at the beginning of December and the top point earners will win a free trip to D.C. to meet with non-profit leaders, and elected officials! Don’t waste any time! Register now and start making a difference.
Are your interests more international? Do you want President Obama to take a stand at Copenhagen and show the world we’re ready to lead the way to a clean energy economy?
Tell the President: It’s Game Time Obama!
This movement asks President Obama to take 3 key actions during November:
1. Invite young leaders to discuss climate and energy issues with him and his staff.
2. Follow up on that meeting with a public speech outlining specific goals for national and international climate policy.
3. Publicly commit to attend the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Tell President Obama that as Captain of the U.S.A. it’s time he lead his team to victory against climate change! Or stop by NWF’s Action Page and send President Obama a “ticket” to Copenhagen.
No matter how you choose to take action. The important thing is that you take action NOW!
The NWF campus team is continuing our outreach to campuses nationwide encouraging schools to enter the Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming competition – entries are due December 31! There are 4 prizes – each $1000 each.
This year we have added a new category: Green Jobs and Education! Check below for more details and be sure to enter (complete online form and submit video) at www.CampusChillOut.org by December 31.
COMPETE AND WIN TO TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT!
Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming is the nation’s premier competition recognizing colleges and universities for their efforts to reduce global warming pollution. And we’re looking for the best campus-based projects in:
FOUR CATEGORIES:
Campus Actions in Administration, Operations, and Planning
Undergraduate students in NC, SC, GA, FL, TN, AL, LA and MSare encouraged to submit applications if they are interested in working with multiple colleges and universities to assist in collectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions both on campuses and in some cases, specific cities.
Timeframe/Compensation: The Fellow will serve a term of 2 semesters, Spring 2010, and receive a stipendof $2000.00 for their work.
The United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen is here! It began Dec. 7 (today). Keep up with what’s going on at the Friends of the Earth website.
Generation E Students Leading for a Sustainable, Clean Energy Future
35 ways students are creating a sustainable future at U.S. colleges and universities – cutting carbon emissions, saving resources and equipping the coming generation for a green energy economy.
Generation E is a 70 page, example-rich, best-practices report on exemplary student-led sustainability activities and programs at schools around the U.S. Like other guides in the NWF Campus Ecology Climate and Sustainability Series, it features dozens of examples from postsecondary institutions of all types; public and private, urban and rural, large and small. Generation E spotlights more than 160 campuses from 46 states plus the District of Columbia.
The National Wildlife Federation sent a delegation to the global climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark to speak up for a climate treaty that protects our natural resources and reduces global warming pollution.
We all know that up to 30% of plants and wildlife species will be at risk for extinction if we don’t act now.
A strong climate treaty will protect our communities, cap carbon emissions, set up a clean energy economy to benefit workers, and protect our planet’s wildlife and natural wonders for future generations.
Today, news leaked [1] that the U.S., Denmark, and a cabal of other wealthy nations that are among the world’s biggest polluters have, in secret back-room dealings, produced an alternative draft text to the one that’s officially under negotiation.
This secret alternative — known as the “Danish text” — would let rich countries shirk their responsibilities to lead the way in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and force poor countries to bear an unfair burden of the costs of keeping the climate stable.
The United States must reject this secret text and renounce the type of underhand wheelings and dealings that have produced it. We’ve already filled the atmosphere with far more than our fair share of greenhouse gas pollution. The climate negotiations should not be about helping the U.S. save face, they should be about spurring effective global cooperative to solve global warming.
With all the “Ho Ho Ho” of the holiday season upon us, here’s a simple way to do something green instead of killing a pine tree for Christmas.
The green way is to rent a live Christmas tree for the holidays and then have the tree returned to the environment, alive.
And, the glory of this approach is that you don’t have to do any of the work, you just order the tree and it arrives potted.
After the holidays, the company picks up the tree and bingo, a green Christmas. Your company joins the ranks of those adopting a green office strategy.
Two companies, Evergrow Christmas Trees Co. and Carbonsync Christmas offer the live-tree rental service for about $100 a tree. The trees are returned to nurseries until needed next year. Normally, a tree that takes six to twelve years to grow into a Christmas tree is turned into mulch after a single season.
By renting a live tree and returning it to the nursery, the trees continue to soak up carbon dioxide, so the rental service is yet another way to minimize emissions that create climate change.
In other green Christmas developments, how about running the lights on your tree in a carbon-free manner?
In Copenhagen, home of the big international greenhouse gas emission conference, the city’s Christmas tree lights are powered by pedal power — a team of stationary bicyclists power the tree’s lights
Right now, the National Wildlife Federation has a delegation at the global climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark to speak up for a climate treaty that protects our natural resources and reduces global warming pollution.
We all know that up to 30% of plant and wildlife species will be at risk for extinction if we don’t act now.
A strong climate treaty will protect our world’s forests, cap carbon emissions, set up a clean energy economy to benefit workers, and protect our planet’s wildlife and natural wonders for future generations.
This week the Sierra Club’s Big Picture Campaign won its biggest victory yet when the Obama Administration finalized the Endangerment Finding, giving the EPA the authority to fight global warming emissions.
Thanks to the tens of thousands of Sierra Club activists like you who sent messages to the EPA, attended rallies coast to coast, and testified at public hearings the EPA finally has the power to fight climate change – now it’s time to use it.
Did you know that only a handful of huge factories emit over half of all global warming pollution in the US? It’s time to make these Big Polluters clean up their act, and that’s exactly what the EPA is proposing to do with the new authority granted by the Endangerment Finding.
Big Oil and Coal are already fighting the EPA’s plan to use the Endangerment Finding to hold them responsible. We need your help to show that Americans are tired of Big Polluters putting us all at risk.
Would you like to see your institution recognized for its sustainability achievements? Or is your campus just getting started with sustainability and wondering where to begin?
AASHE now offers a tool designed to meet these needs: STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System. Developed with extensive stakeholder engagement over the past three years, STARS establishes a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education.
Through December 31, campuses have the opportunity to register for STARS 1.0 Early Release at a reduced rate:
For institutions that register on or before December 31, 2009:
AASHE Member…….$650
Non-Member…………$1,150
For institutions that register on or after January 1, 2010:
AASHE Member…….$900
Non-Member…………$1,400
Over 70 institutions have already registered as STARS Charter Participants. (All institutions that register for STARS by August 15, 2010 will be considered Charter Participants.).
Learn more about how to register for STARS 1.0 Early Release. You’ll need to identify a “STARS Liaison” for your campus and an executive-level administrator who will be copied on initial emails. Don’t miss this opportunity get the discounted registration rate!
On January 19, 2010, AASHE will formally launch the STARS program in Washington, D.C. The centerpiece of the launch will be an interactive webinar, “Measuring Campus Sustainability: Reaching for the STARS” (12 pm Eastern). The event is free, and will address how STARS helps meet the needs of the campus sustainability community. You’ll be able to ask questions of these distinguished presenters:
Nan Jenks-Jay – Dean of Environmental Affairs, Middlebury College
Dave Newport – Director of the Environmental Center, University of Colorado at Boulder
Chris O’Brien – Director of Sustainability, American University
Paul Rowland – Executive Director, AASHE
RSVP for the webinar to receive log-in directions and learn more about this highly anticipated program.
Please visit the STARS website, for more information on the program, including the downloadable STARS 1.0 Technical Manual and a list of FAQs. You can direct any questions to stars@aashe.org, Hope to see you on the webinar and as a STARS Charter Participant!
Streetsfilm reports from Copenhagen during the UN climate summit, looking at the city’s innovative bicycle infrastructure, including a prominent bicycle counter next to a lane to inspire civic pride.
Watch the video, which Streetsblog says features “‘the busiest bicycling street in the Western world’, and lots of other you-gotta-see-them-to-believe-them features including bike counters (featuring digital readouts), LEDS, double bike lanes (for passing) and giant hot pink cars.”
By signing you will join the group of 80,000 people committed to speaking up for wetlands, which provide us with clean water and flood protection, as well as critical nesting and breeding grounds for many of America’s iconic wildlife species.
The Clean Air Act — the key federal tool that can cut the pollution that causes global warming — is under attack.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, is expected to offer an amendment on January 20 that would stop the Obama administration from using the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Last month, the Obama administration finalized its formal conclusion that global warming substantially endangers the health and well being of the public. Because of this endangerment finding, the administration is now required to move forward with sensible regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But Senator Murkowski’s amendment would reverse this endangerment finding. Her amendment represents an attack on an existing law, an attack on science, and an attack on efforts to strengthen our economy by transitioning to clean energy.
The amendment is also an attack on the millions of people — including her own constituents in Alaska, where glaciers are disintegrating and permafrost melt is causing property damage — who will be harmed by climate change if we don’t rapidly cut emissions.
Congress should be working to find smart, creative new ways to reduce emissions, but instead Senator Murkowski is trying to roll back the most important existing tool at the federal level. We need your help to defeat this wrongheaded amendment so we can go back to advocating climate solutions.
P.S. Senator Murkowski explains her behavior by claiming the Clean Air Act threatens the economy, but the exact opposite is true. Transitioning to clean energy and the green economy of the future as the Clean Air Act requires won’t just create millions of new jobs, it will also prevent the economic devastation certain to be caused by climate change impacts if global warming continues unabated.
Greener Transportation – How are campuses greening their transportation systems and tracking their emissions?
This webinar will focus on how campuses are greening their transportation systems, tracking their emissions as part of their campus climate action plans, and providing alternative transportation options for students, faculty, and staff.
The webinar, with Q&A, will be 1 hour. Participants will receive dial-in and URL information two days before the conference. Participants that want to participate via the phone only can request a copy of the presentation.
World Wildlife Fund is proud to announce Earth Hour 2010 will take place Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 pm. National Monuments including Mount Rushmore, the Empire State Building, the Las Vegas Strip, and the Golden Gate Bridge have already pledged to participate but what we really need is for you to participate again. Standing nearly one billion people strong, we made last year’s Earth Hour the single largest mass action in human history. This year we need you to grow it. We have worked tirelessly to bring the international community, governments around the world and corporate leaders to the brink of breakthrough action on climate change in 2010. That’s why it’s so important we make our voice heard again. Please join millions of people around the world in turning off the lights for Earth Hour to raise awareness and demand action to fight climate change. Grow the movement by sharing this message with your friends and family. Working together, we can overcome one of the greatest challenges facing our planet. Visit our new site at EarthHour.org to access to videos and toolkits to help grow the movement as well as fantastic ideas on how to make Earth Hour a special event in your home, community or business.
![[Oil supplies could start running out before 2020, according to a new study. (Photo: Getty Images) ]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/oil_rig_1475967c.jpg "oil_rig_1475967c.jpg")
Oil supplies could start running out before 2020, according to a new study. (Photo: Getty Images)
