Robb Hirsch's Posts - Lead Your Revolution2024-03-29T11:04:50ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirschhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2209945406?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=3u3eaqm5zta5z&xn_auth=noLet's lead by example and enact a greenhouse gas emission feetag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2014-09-23:5317465:BlogPost:179012014-09-23T16:44:43.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>The business community, civil society, indeed people all around the world are waking up to - and speaking out about - the fact that if we sincerely care to address human induced climate change we no longer can externalize the cost of our greenhouse gas emissions but rather we must put an escalating price on the carbon dioxide and methane pollution that pervades our economy. See the article below on the host of responsible voices including business leaders that are pressing for progress on…</p>
<p>The business community, civil society, indeed people all around the world are waking up to - and speaking out about - the fact that if we sincerely care to address human induced climate change we no longer can externalize the cost of our greenhouse gas emissions but rather we must put an escalating price on the carbon dioxide and methane pollution that pervades our economy. See the article below on the host of responsible voices including business leaders that are pressing for progress on pricing carbon right now at the United Nations conference taking place in New York City. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/businesses-and-investors-pressing-for-green-policy/article_8fe750a5-8d2e-5c0e-8f89-3c6ff2430eec.html" target="_blank">http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/businesses-and-investors-pressing-for-green-policy/article_8fe750a5-8d2e-5c0e-8f89-3c6ff2430eec.html</a></p>
<p>In New Mexico businesses can get behind this call for a revenue neutral greenhouse gas emission fee and dividend by joining the <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/climate_leadership_pledge_2014/climate_leadership_pledge_2014.html" target="_blank">New Mexico Coalition of Businesses taking the Climate Leadership Pledge</a>. </p>
<p>Here in Santa Fe we don't have to wait until a new global treaty is negotiated or ratified, nor do we have to wait until our nation enacts legislation for carbon pricing. We can act now (like Boulder, Austin, Portland and a few other other leading cities are doing in one form or another) to establish a municipal greenhouse gas emission fee and climate action fund so that we take responsibility locally and in the mean time spawn all sorts of economically and environmentally empowering initiatives. We can do this in a way that is progressive for the people, rather than regressive, by using the fund to spawn solar hot water heating and weatherization in low income neighborhoods as well as water catchment and pv on pubic school roof tops for example. There are many ways that this can be done in an empowering way for our people, and therefore there is no excuse for not taking responsible action.</p>
<p>It's time to be a beacon of light to the nation and the world by community leadership and self determination.</p>President Obama deserves credit and congratulations for spearheading leadership on climate changetag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2013-06-26:5317465:BlogPost:168382013-06-26T20:36:40.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>President Obama stepped up yesterday June 25, 2013 and delivered a speech on human induced climate change that is worthy of commendation and worth a read (check it out at <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/-we-need-to-act-transcript-of-obama-s-climate-change-speech.html" target="_blank">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/-we-need-to-act-transcript-of-obama-s-climate-change-speech.html</a>). His statement at Georgetown University was not just words or empty promises. He…</p>
<p>President Obama stepped up yesterday June 25, 2013 and delivered a speech on human induced climate change that is worthy of commendation and worth a read (check it out at <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/-we-need-to-act-transcript-of-obama-s-climate-change-speech.html" target="_blank">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/-we-need-to-act-transcript-of-obama-s-climate-change-speech.html</a>). His statement at Georgetown University was not just words or empty promises. He pledged that the US EPA will now act to regulate climate pollution by limiting power plant emissions of carbon dioxide which are the most prevalent and thus most dangerous greenhouse gas. This is an historic step since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970 and an important progression after the Supreme Court ruled 6 years ago that Carbon Dioxide should be covered under the act. President Obama also called for doubling our renewable energy by 2020, enlisting the federal government to become more efficient, more prepared to address the harmful impacts of climate change and more active in forging international climate solutions with other countries around the world. </p>
<p><span>The President said, "as the world's largest economy and second-largest carbon emitter, as a country with unsurpassed ability to drive innovation and scientific breakthroughs, as the country that people around the world continue to look to in times of crisis, we've got a vital role to play. We can't stand on the sidelines. We've got a unique responsibility...<span>The actions I’ve announced today should send a strong signal to the world that America intends to take bold action to reduce carbon pollution [and] lead by the power of our example."</span></span></p>
<p>We have a long way to go and a daunting climate care deficit to crawl out of as a Nation and as a world, but if we make a collective, widespread commitment to lead the transformation necessary, we can temper our impact on the climate and help restore the sources that sustain life on earth which we have put in jeopardy. President Obama's remarks reflecting the US federal government's dedication to solving the climate challenge - with the critical mass of we the people providing the indispensable help - could be a turning point and the beginning of a new era of responsibility in this nation. </p>Help a community leader fulfill a lifelong dreamtag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2013-05-08:5317465:BlogPost:164152013-05-08T18:31:11.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<div>I am asking you to help one of our community's most inspiring PE teachers named Ted fulfill a life-long dream of his to participate in the Hawaiian Kona Iron Man. </div>
<div>Go to</div>
<div><a href="http://www.konainspired.com/">http://www.konainspired.com</a></div>
<div>then click Explore Entries and click on the entry of Ted in the gym wearing a white shirt with the slogan "Persistence, P.Ee Pushing Your Limits - An Inspiration to All" </div>
<div>Ted has dedicated himself for the last…</div>
<div>I am asking you to help one of our community's most inspiring PE teachers named Ted fulfill a life-long dream of his to participate in the Hawaiian Kona Iron Man. </div>
<div>Go to</div>
<div><a href="http://www.konainspired.com/">http://www.konainspired.com</a></div>
<div>then click Explore Entries and click on the entry of Ted in the gym wearing a white shirt with the slogan "Persistence, P.Ee Pushing Your Limits - An Inspiration to All" </div>
<div>Ted has dedicated himself for the last 17 years to uplifting elementary school kids on and off the field - by giving the best physical education and character development we could ask for - and now we would love to honor his service by helping him pursue this iron man dream. It should be noted that Ted has participated every year in our Climate Action Ride and has helped make our kids ride a success. I would love to help him be successful in running, swimming, biking - and most importantly making it to - the Kona Iron Man. </div>
<div><div>Go to <a href="http://www.konainspired.com/">http://www.konainspired.com</a> and in the Explore Entries link vote for Ted, the man wearing a white shirt, who has a huge heart!</div>
</div>
<div> </div>Focusing on positives and our possibilitiestag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2012-08-30:5317465:BlogPost:141112012-08-30T18:30:00.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Among the skepticism that has abounded regarding the United States' climate and clean energy leadership, there are some remarkable glimmers of hope of late that are worth not only acknowledging but giving our energizing attention to - as follows:</p>
<p>(1) The Federal Government and US Auto industry have established outstanding fuel efficiency standards over the coming decade(s) that will lead the world and effectively double our fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. “This is truly…</p>
<p>Among the skepticism that has abounded regarding the United States' climate and clean energy leadership, there are some remarkable glimmers of hope of late that are worth not only acknowledging but giving our energizing attention to - as follows:</p>
<p>(1) The Federal Government and US Auto industry have established outstanding fuel efficiency standards over the coming decade(s) that will lead the world and effectively double our fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. “This is truly a watershed moment,” Michelle Robinson, director of Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Vehicles program said in a statement. “These standards will protect consumers from high gas prices, curb global warming pollution, cut our oil use, and create new jobs in the American auto industry and around the nation.” Find out more about this extraordinary step in the direction of national clean energy leadership at <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20120828/BUSINESS01/120828029/CAFE-mpg-fuel-economy-standards-ray-lahood?odyssey=nav%7Chead" target="_blank">http://www.freep.com/article/20120828/BUSINESS01/120828029/CAFE-mpg-fuel-economy-standards-ray-lahood?odyssey=nav%7Chead</a></p>
<p>(2) There is a growing dynamic underway, with the confluence of EPA clean air rules now being enforced, of phasing out coal plants in favor of natural gas fired combined cycle and potentially new renewables. As a result of this new transformation, electric generation combustion based CO2 emissions are decreasing at an encouraging rate. Never-the-less, the American public must not be complacent as this transition unfolds but rather we need to be actively vigilant to insist on more renewable forms of energy as coal comes off line and ensure that as gas use increases, proper attention is given to cleaning up the extraction side of natural gas, wherein intense amounts of methane which is a more potent greenhouse gas is leaking into the atmosphere. For much more detail on the growing transformation underway from coal to natural gas and renewables refer to <a href="http://www.cleanlineenergy.com/sites/cleanline/media/resources/Natural-Gas-and-Renewables.PDF" target="_blank">http://www.cleanlineenergy.com/sites/cleanline/media/resources/Natural-Gas-and-Renewables.PDF</a>.</p>
<p>(3) Amid all the political divisiveness and destructive partisanship which holds our country back from achieving vast potential, there is a growing consensus across party lines that the United States should act to limit greenhouse gas emissions to address global climate change and embrace cleaner energies. Read more on this encouraging development at Yale’s climate education hub <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/climate/news/Political-Benefits-Pro-Climate-Stand/">http://environment.yale.edu/climate/news/Political-Benefits-Pro-Climate-Stand/</a>.</p>
<p>Let's as Americans not only learn about these developments but build on and harness them while forging new frontiers so we can enact on a wide-scale the vital climate leadership and clean energy transformation so very needed in this era. Let’s do so for the sake of our prosperity and competiveness in the world, for our health and national security and let's do so to uphold our generation’s integrity in the spirit of a more hopeful future.</p>Lift the (Fracking) Fog America and come March for Responsible Energy on May 14th to preserve New Mexico's Pit Ruletag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2012-05-09:5317465:BlogPost:116822012-05-09T20:30:00.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>The Students for a Sustainable Future (SSF) and the Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI) are together leading a 2012 direct action project called LIFT THE FOG which stands for Launching Integrity and Facing Truth in Fracking for Oil & Gas. It is vital that we the people hold the oil and gas industry accountable for practicing sustainable development in the extraction of these fossil fuels and likewise we must call on our elected officials to regulate fracking to comply with the…</p>
<p>The Students for a Sustainable Future (SSF) and the Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI) are together leading a 2012 direct action project called LIFT THE FOG which stands for Launching Integrity and Facing Truth in Fracking for Oil & Gas. It is vital that we the people hold the oil and gas industry accountable for practicing sustainable development in the extraction of these fossil fuels and likewise we must call on our elected officials to regulate fracking to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and a host of other essential environmental standards. Find out more about - and participate in - this important endeavor seeking a new era of energy at <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/liftthefog_signup.html" target="_blank">http://www.takeresponsibility.us/liftthefog_signup.html</a>.</p>
<p>Also come participate in the related March for Responsible Energy which is a 1 mile walk on Monday, May 14th at noon starting from Santa Fe's Historic Train Depot (410 S. Guadalupe St.) and going to the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (1220 S. St. Francis) to protest the attempt by the oil & gas industry to repeal New Mexico's Pit Rule, which provides for the safe containment of waste from oil & gas drilling operations. Make a sign, come out during your lunch hour, tell your friends about it and join this demonstration on behalf of a clean energy future (learn more about the March for Responsible Energy @ <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/PDF/MARCH%20FOR%20RESPONSIBLE%20ENERGY.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.takeresponsibility.us/PDF/MARCH%20FOR%20RESPONSIBLE%20ENERGY.pdf</a>).</p>
<p>Both the Lift the Fog direct action project and the March for Responsible Energy were featured on Project 101.5 - listen to the podcast @ <a href="http://www.santafe.com/podcasts/listen/march-for-responsible-energy" target="_blank">http://www.santafe.com/podcasts/listen/march-for-responsible-energy</a>.</p>Let's ensure New Mexico remains a leader in addressing human induced climate change!tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-12-06:5317465:BlogPost:76062011-12-06T16:22:56.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p><b>What: Come speak at the Environment Improvement Board Hearing for 3 minutes on why New Mexico should not repeal the cap on greenhouse gas emissions for the largest power plants </b></p>
<p><b>When: Tuesday and Wednesday (tonight and tomorrow), December 6th & 7th,</b><b> 2011</b> <b>at 6:30 pm</b></p>
<p><b>Where: PERA Building,1120 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, Apodaca Hall</b></p>
<p>All of our voices are needed to show how much we the people care about this matter. </p>
<p>The Climate…</p>
<p><b>What: Come speak at the Environment Improvement Board Hearing for 3 minutes on why New Mexico should not repeal the cap on greenhouse gas emissions for the largest power plants </b></p>
<p><b>When: Tuesday and Wednesday (tonight and tomorrow), December 6th & 7th,</b><b> 2011</b> <b>at 6:30 pm</b></p>
<p><b>Where: PERA Building,1120 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, Apodaca Hall</b></p>
<p>All of our voices are needed to show how much we the people care about this matter. </p>
<p>The Climate Change Change Leadership Institute's founder and executive director Robb Hirsch gave the following opening remarks at the hearing:</p>
<p align="center"><b>The Climate Change Leadership Institute’s Testimony</b></p>
<p align="center"><b>before the Environment Improvement Board (EIB) on 12/5/11</b></p>
<ol>
<li>The choice before the EIB at this hearing – of whether or not to repeal New Mexico’s modest and nascent greenhouse gas emission standards and carbon controls on large-scale industrial power plants in the state – is one of common sense, responsibility and courage. This decision should transcend special interest politics, partisanship and crony capitalism and go to the very heart and content of New Mexico’s character as a people.</li>
<li>When the Framework Convention on Climate Change was set in motion after the Rio Summit in 1992 the reasonable goal was to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to 10% below 1990 levels by the year 2000. Not only have we failed to meet that worthy early goal we have far increased our emissions since that time – to levels that are seriously endangering our civilization. Both our leading political parties have been to blame: the coal state democrats have acted as haphazardly and provincially as the Tea Party Republicans are acting now on this issue; even President Clinton shares much blame: his administration failed to act during that decade of extraordinary peace and prosperity; his administration only made it voluntary to reduce emissions and guess what? No one meaningfully volunteered. His highest profile economic advisors including treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, advised strongly against greenhouse gas regulation in America saying it would crush economic growth and halt prosperity. But meanwhile these “financial experts” were busy <b><i>deregulating:</i></b> <i>deregulating</i> derivitives, deregulating energy (remember ENRON), deregulating Glass-<br/>Steagall and ultimately they set the stage for the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. <strong>This</strong> <b>goes to show that deregulating – like petitioners want to do with the carbon cap – is not the way to generate long term, sustained economic growth and in fact deregulation more often than not causes much more economic harm than good.</b> <b>Un-checked Human induced Climate Change will systematically destroy our economy (the infrastructure damage and restoration costs alone will be unbearable).</b></li>
<li>Both political parties, subsequent administrations, economic advisors and congresses have majorly dropped the ball: the status quo of accelerating greenhouse gas emissions has continued unchanged and human induced climate change – one of the most vital and serious challenges in our history – has gone completely unsolved: We are witnessing over the last 2 decades a complete lapse of national leadership, a failure to govern and an abject inability to solve pressing problems at the national level (in large part this is because of a corrupted system of influence peddling by crony capitalists and cowardly politicians who do their bidding rather than the bidding of the people); so in this back-drop any leadership must start with direct action by our people and any problem solving must happen at state level to fill the national void {which is exactly what this modest ghg regulation in New Mexico does is provide some elementary leadership and problem solving in the absence of any} {President Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers would applaud us here as he said “every generation needs a new revolution” (this is our clean energy revolution), as he preferred state over federal authority, and as he wrote to Madison in 1789 “No generation can contract debts greater that may be paid during the course of its existence.” We as consumers and power plant owners as the generators are contracting debts in the form of massive greenhouse gas pollution and collectively we are not paying for it}. </li>
<li><b>Let’s not forget what is in the best interest of our economy: competition, creativity, efficiency, stability, transparency.</b> <b>Not externality</b>. The power plant owners – those who are wanting to do away with this reasonable EIB rule – are externalizing the cost of their power plants and they are wanting all of us, the public at large – to pay for their power plant emissions of greenhouse gases – pay for the droughts, wildfires and extreme weather that they cause, pay for the acid rain they produce, pay for the water quality impacts of their coal ash ponds, pay for the asma and cancer their fossil fuel energy plants cause – they are wanting us all to pay the costs of their pollution AND THIS IS NOT MORALLY RIGHT NOR IS IT ECONOMICALLY EFFICIENT. And this begs the point how can we trust PNM and other utilities in this case if they are fighting tooth and nail not only to overturn the modest cap on carbon dioxide emissions but they are also fighting the EPA to get out of complying with modern clean air and water standards of one of the worst polluting coal plants in the nation – San Juan Power Plant. Again they are externalizing the true costs of their power production by making us pay in the form of public health and environmental degradation the pollution costs instead of them. </li>
<li>In conclusion – There are 2 questions that I want all of us and especially the EIB to consider and the power plant owners to answer:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Firstly, <b><i>now that we know that human induced climate change is happening in large part by the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases</i></b> (and we can ask all the national academies of science, over 97% of the world’s leading scientists for definitive scientific proof), <b><i>how can we possibly in our right minds not do everything in the world to reduce the harmful impact of our energy production and consumption?</i></b> Like slavery in our economy, power plant pollution of the climate, of the air and of the water is wrong and not soon enough but at least as soon as possible we must do away with it as a Nation, as a civilization or else <b><i>how on Earth can we possibly live with ourselves?</i></b></li>
<li>Secondly, <b>how can we not honestly and eagerly transition away from the dirty fuels when there are economically cost effective alternatives in place, already available right now</b> – I encourage everyone to read Reinveting Fire by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute because he clearly and plainly lays out how we can presently transition from coal and oil in a way that is most economically efficient and empowering. </li>
</ul>
<p>I would like - indeed the state neeeds - a genuine, most sincere answer to those 2 intertwined questions. But I submit to you that there really is no morally or economically sound answer. The EIB should in their right mind reject this outlandish petition and preserve a modest cap on carbon/ghg emissions, petitioners must internalize the dirty impacts of their power production and transform themselves, and the judicial system should hold them all to it. If so this could lead to a new era of collaboration where both sides in this case put aside differences and work together to innovate and lead the way forward to a responsible & successful future. If not, if crony capitalism and political cowardice prevail in this case, then it is incumbent on we the people to act and boldly act we will to ensure the health, prosperity, security & well being of New Mexicans & our Land of Enchantment.</p>
<p> </p>McKibben at Lensic; CCLI presents him the 2011 Climate Courage Award; Keystone Pipeline delayed; Realizing the power of direct actiontag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-11-10:5317465:BlogPost:70052011-11-10T22:31:05.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-size: 18.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">Bill McKibben spoke eloquently at the Lensic last night about the grim realities of human induced climate change playing out harmfully all over the world including in the form of extreme droughts in the Southwest; but he also spoke of the real hope (spurred on by groups like his own called <a href="http://www.350.org/" target="_blank">http://www.350.org/</a>) when people bear…</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-size: 18.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">Bill McKibben spoke eloquently at the Lensic last night about the grim realities of human induced climate change playing out harmfully all over the world including in the form of extreme droughts in the Southwest; but he also spoke of the real hope (spurred on by groups like his own called <a target="_blank" href="http://www.350.org/">http://www.350.org/</a>) when people bear witness to the climate crisis and spearhead a real change in US policy that is so direly needed to address the problem. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-size: 18.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">Following his talk, the Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI) awarded Bill McKibben the 2011 Climate Courage Award for his brave civil disobedience getting arrested with over 1000 citizens for protesting the Keystone Pipeline at the White House in August. Read the letter, linked here <a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2234371646?profile=original">2011%20Climate%20Courage%20Award%20Recipient%20Letter.pdf</a>, elaborating on McKibben's Courage Award. To safeguard life on earth and prevent the contradictory demise of the climate, it is - as McKibben has demonstrated recently and taught over the course of his life's work - incumbent on the living generations to put ourselves on the line and make the collective commitment necessary to transform America to a beacon of sustainable energy, conservation and climate restoration.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-size: 18.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">Today, the day after McKibben spoke in Santa Fe, the US State Department announced that it will delay a decision to permit the pipeline (planned from the Tar Sands of Canada through our heartland to the Gulf of Mexico) until 2013 in consideration of the growing environmental and public concerns -<a target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/us/politics/administration-to-delay-pipeline-decision-past-12-election.html?_r=1&hp">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/us/politics/administration-to-delay-pipeline-decision-past-12-election.html?_r=1&hp</a>. This is a blow to the corporate interests driving the Keystone Pipeline's permitting approval through the US and a victory, albeit a temporary one, for the resounding voices of reason. As NASA scientist James Hansen said, if the Tar Sands - with nearly the same quantity of oil as Saudi Arabia's reserves - is fully extracted and exploited "it's essentially game over for the climate."</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-size: 18.5pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">The bottom line is: employing direct action in bold, creative and disciplined ways can be the game changer by overcoming the deeply entrenched political and economic interests holding us back and ascending in its place America's climate leadership in the world.</span></p>
<p> </p>Climate Ride!tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-10-16:5317465:BlogPost:63012011-10-16T12:52:27.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Come out for the Climate Ride (see event details and links below).</p>
<p>It's a beautiful fall day, perfect for biking and supporting a great cause.</p>
<p>Come to the Tesuque Village Market later this morning.</p>
<p>Bike rides depart at 10am (for the 60 miler), 11am (for the 40) and Noon (for the 20 and Chidlren's guided loop)and the after ride luncheon starts at 2pm.</p>
<p>Join us!…</p>
<p></p>
<p>Come out for the Climate Ride (see event details and links below).</p>
<p>It's a beautiful fall day, perfect for biking and supporting a great cause.</p>
<p>Come to the Tesuque Village Market later this morning.</p>
<p>Bike rides depart at 10am (for the 60 miler), 11am (for the 40) and Noon (for the 20 and Chidlren's guided loop)and the after ride luncheon starts at 2pm.</p>
<p>Join us!</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/ClimateRide11/info.html">http://www.takeresponsibility.us/ClimateRide11/info.html</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.santafe.com/podcasts/listen/ccli-climate-ride-sunday-10-16-in-tesuque">http://www.santafe.com/podcasts/listen/ccli-climate-ride-sunday-10-16-in-tesuque</a></p>
<p>Santa Fe New Mexican's local news brief: "Climate ride aims to raise awareness <br/>A local effort to promote awareness of climate change also promises to let participants get some exercise. The second Climate Ride takes place Sunday, sponsored by the nonprofit Climate Change Leadership Institute. <br/>Riders can choose a 60-, 40- or 20-mile loop ride that begins and ends at the Tesuque Village Market. Children can register for a 5-mile guided ride. <br/>Proceeds from the $65-a-person event support the institute's seed grants, youth internships and action projects. This year's climate challenge is "Cool the Climate." People can register for the ride or join the challenge at <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>.<br/>This year the institute will honor (at the Tesuque Market's after-ride luncheon) the Jemez Pueblo, adobe builder Mike Lopach, and algae biomass expert and Santa Fe Community College teacher Charles Bensinger (and on Nov. 9 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center) environmental activist Bill McKibben with students from St. John's College, for their efforts in sustainability. <br/><br/></p>Common sense trumps all at the American Renewable Energy Day conferencetag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-08-23:5317465:BlogPost:46012011-08-23T23:00:00.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI) participated in the American Renewable Energy Day (AREDAY) conference in Colorado this past weekend with many clean energy leaders from civil society (including Ted Turner, General Wesley Clark and T. Boone Pickens), the non-profit sector (including the National Wildlife Federation, Center for Public Integrity) and business sector (including GE Water & Power and Shell WindEnergy) along with the all important active citizenry as well as media…</p>
<p>The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI) participated in the American Renewable Energy Day (AREDAY) conference in Colorado this past weekend with many clean energy leaders from civil society (including Ted Turner, General Wesley Clark and T. Boone Pickens), the non-profit sector (including the National Wildlife Federation, Center for Public Integrity) and business sector (including GE Water & Power and Shell WindEnergy) along with the all important active citizenry as well as media alike.</p>
<p>The conference focused on effective and cost efficient ways to adopt a transformative clean energy economy in America. There were widespread viewpoints on the rationale for doing this: whether it is to <em>advance our national security</em> (General Clark and Vice Admiral McGinn spoke about the high cost and moral danger of having our men and women in the US military protecting our oil interests in the Middle East and around the world when we could be developing our own resources right here at home), whether it is to <em>protect our public health</em> (Larry Schweiger of NWF made a very strong testimonial about the vital importance the American people give to clean air and clean water that should guide our energy choices), whether it is to <em>do the right and/or at least scientifically prudent thing</em> in light of human induced climate change (Dr. Sylvia Earl, an oceanographer and the former chief scientist at NOAA spoke of the interwoven biological interdependency of our world, how humans are pushing the envelope by now knowingly tampering with the hospitality of life on earth and called for a more humble stewardship), and/or whether it is to <em>create new jobs and advance our economy</em>. See summarizing information on the various compelling presentations by going to <a href="http://www.areday.net">http://www.areday.net</a>.</p>
<p>Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) encouraged all of us not to get bogged down in the why but just implement the what, meaning: drop our egos and let people participate from where they are at rather than lecturing or pandering to them and just focus on the unifying solution to all of these prospective motivations. For him that most powerful, unifying solution is for America and the world to cost effectively get off the 19th and 20th century fuels of oil and coal and get on with 21st century innovation by embracing a trilogy of vehicle design revolution (which consists of electric powered vehicles made economical, lighter and stronger with carbon fiber), 50%+ better energy efficiency in our buildings and a fully renewable and intelligent electricity system. Lovins has a new book coming out this fall called <em>Reinventing Fire</em> which fully details this most economic and sensible solution (for a sneak preview go to <a href="http://blog.rmi.org/InsideAmericanRenewableEnergyDay">http://blog.rmi.org/InsideAmericanRenewableEnergyDay</a>).</p>
<p>For me as a concerned parent and citizen, a volunteer founder and executive director of CCLI and also someone who works in the renewable energy business, I appreciate the fact that not only do we have clear knowledge of the dangers of business as usual (as far as exacerbating/perpetuating climate insecurity, health insecurity, economic insecurity and moral insecurity by the burning, extracting, protecting and transporting of fossil fuels) but we now have an economically effective and wide scale security empowering alternative. There need not be fear but hope in changing our ways. There is no excuse not to. And ultimately once again now, as usual with the historic advances of our democracy and modern civilization, it comes down to the bravery and common sense of we the people and our civil society to make this epic transformation happen in real time!</p>We must dig deep and revitalize ourselves in this lagging economy.tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-08-10:5317465:BlogPost:42012011-08-10T22:41:20.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>The state of the economy is grim. The DOW has plummeted, the US credit rating has been downgraded (because of political ineptitude and inability to address our long term structural deficits), fears have heightened of slipping back into recession and, most concerning of all, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high and may be climbing. These are very tough times for a vast majority of Americans (not to mention people the world over), and we all should be humble and offer foremost…</p>
<p>The state of the economy is grim. The DOW has plummeted, the US credit rating has been downgraded (because of political ineptitude and inability to address our long term structural deficits), fears have heightened of slipping back into recession and, most concerning of all, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high and may be climbing. These are very tough times for a vast majority of Americans (not to mention people the world over), and we all should be humble and offer foremost compassion and generosity to those here and abroad who are struggling the most.</p>
<p>There is consolation in the fact that our Nation has been through much tougher times before and re-emerged on a much greater footing, as after the Great Depression & World War II (as well as after the Revolutionary, Civil and Cold Wars) when we achieved remarkable periods of peace and prosperity.</p>
<p>These tough economic times provide an opportunity for gratitude, knowing that we are so much more than just a financially driven or economically oriented species: our health, our families, our hearts, our human spirit - all matter more than our respective lot in life; and so putting things in perspective, many of these deeper fundamentals are alive and well in America and they always do and will trump the market fundamentals of say GDP, price to earnings ratio or the consumer spending index. What's more important: the financial ability to get ahead or that basic, universal love in all of us that enables us to give back. Take any crisis in time - say the Midwest floods, the tornados that recently ripped through Joplin, MO or the dire joblessness or home forelcosures that abound. Who comes to the rescue during these crises? <i>We all do!</i> Friends, family and perfect strangers alike all come to the rescue at one point or another during one another’s hardships - whether it's by helping rebuild shelters or offering up our own shelter for families to stay in when they have been foreclosed on. </p>
<p>We are remarkably resilient and restorative peoples. This is one of the main reasons why I am so hopeful. I am hopeful in our human race and I am hopeful in the American character that indeed we will pick ourselves up and together find a new and better way to thrive as a people and as Nation. I believe we can come out of this period of major downturn and economic challenge stronger than before because we will be more attuned to what really matters - our integrity, our responsibility for our fellow man, our love for our children, our resourcefulness and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>I recently read a review of new books that have been written about Mohandas Gandhi, the 20th century leader for non-violent direct action. The reviewer wrote two points on Gandhi among others that I found most compelling. The first was "his spiritual beliefs were crucial: the assumption, in particular, that regardless of the regime (or condition) people lived under...they always possess(ed) a freedom of conscience, an inner capacity to make moral choices in everyday life." The second was "the ever renewable power of cooperative action…is a truer measure of Gandhi's legacy than his many failures."</p>
<p>Ultimately, through the course of the economic trials at hand, if the American people puts at the forefront our deepest fundamentals including making the hard, moral choices in our everyday life - whether it regards energy pollution or our national debt - to live in a way today that does not harm or encroach upon the health, opportunity or freedom of future generations, we will indeed rejuvenate, innovate and collaborate our way to a new sustainable growth and in the process become a braver beacon of light to the world.</p>Our energy is the way we strike the greatest and most lasting blow to terrrorismtag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-05-06:5317465:BlogPost:30022011-05-06T18:30:13.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p style="text-align: left;">The most recent and successful US covert operation against the terrorist mastermind is justice. President Obama, who made this his number one CIA priority and who made the call with all the risks involved, deserves the most credit along with all the military, spies and Navy seals who carried it out: these service members deserve our abiding gratitude. Also CIA Director Leon Panetta and Defense Secretary Gates along with the whole national security team (who kept…</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The most recent and successful US covert operation against the terrorist mastermind is justice. President Obama, who made this his number one CIA priority and who made the call with all the risks involved, deserves the most credit along with all the military, spies and Navy seals who carried it out: these service members deserve our abiding gratitude. Also CIA Director Leon Panetta and Defense Secretary Gates along with the whole national security team (who kept this absolutely top secret from Pakistan and our media) deserve lasting commendation. It is a patriotic moment, and also one the whole world can celebrate. Ultimately, the hope is that all of this news is part of a broader and much greater story and trajectory of success and responsibility on the part of the United States. In order to make this hope a perpetual reality and in order to strike the greatest and most lasting blow to terrorism (not to mention the profound benefits for energy security, economic security, health security, environmental secuirty, etc.), the United States should now lead the greatest campaign the world has ever seen for energy stewardship, for clean power and for energy independence. Please refer to the following declaration <em>written in early 2004</em> for a more complete elaboration: <br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>A Vision for Global Leadership and Responsibility</strong></span> <br/><br/>These unprecedented times call for unprecedented action. I am a husband, father and concerned citizen of the United States. I do not want my newborn children to grow up in a world where their native country pursues war as the principal means of addressing the threat of terrorism. Such a path is inherently unstable the further down we go. The fateful policy of unilateral preemption against Iraq must be the exception and stop there. Otherwise our national consciousness will become blinded in imperialism, bankrupt of imagination and frail in terms of mustering integrity-based leadership. <br/><br/>I know in my heart that as a beacon of freedom (freedom from oppression and intolerance, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of ideas, freedom to strive for daring dreams) we were founded for greatness. September 11th was a wake up call for us to live up to who we really are, as we have done crisis after crisis in our history. Now – at the dawn of the 21st century in a world that is as interconnected, as insecure, and as opportune as ever – is the time to be bolder and brighter than ever. <br/><br/>I summon my country to assert true leadership by waging a colossal campaign for energy stewardship. This means that we bravely become energy independent at home as soon as possible through unparalleled acts of efficiency and conservation and by massively tapping our unlimited reserves of renewable energy. In the mean time, we import energy only from responsible nations and absolutely not from states that in any way support terrorism; <strong>our national policy should be to boycott fossil fuel energy from Iran, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere as determined by verifiable intelligence. In doing this, the U.S. will lead by setting a remarkable example, and we will not act alone. We will work deliberately and effectively in concert with other nations and multinational institutions.</strong> <br/><br/>The impacts of this courageous operation will be powerful and empowering beyond measure. <br/><br/>At home, we will enlist our fellow citizens to sacrifice with higher energy costs in the short term; but ultimately through innovation we will stimulate our economy to levels never seen before – millions of satisfying jobs will be created in the energy industry, economic development (especially in hard pressed rural areas) will soar as we develop more efficient solar, wind, biomass and, in the transition, natural gas (allowing no clean water act and clean air act waivers), and revenue will stream in to the point of enabling surpluses as far as the eye can see. <br/><br/>On the terrorist front, we will transcend mere symptomatic responses and advance more to the sources of solution: overcoming our hypocrisy by once and for all demonstrating true responsibility in the world and non-violently debilitating the unaccountable regimes that spawn terrorist acts of immoral desperation. A strong and broad coalition of nations unequivocally boycotting these regimes’ oil – which is what accounts for their corrupt existence in the first place – will fundamentally disrupt their essential element of control. This will meaningfully contribute to the genuine rise of civil society and self-governance as well as human welfare because the people will be compelled to be resourceful without the impeding crutch and tyranny of oil. <br/><br/>In the global horizon, our profound policy will restore the sanctity of international law and cooperation: in a united front we will whole heartedly address the global problem of human-induced climate change, which if not proactively resolved would wreak more havok on human civilization than terrorism ever has or ever will. At last we will lead the way on a most honorable journey to benefit all of humankind and life itself. <br/><br/>We are destined for greatness: to embark on, give our all for, and pass to the next generation the quest for harmony on earth. I believe that in this most meaningful endeavor – because the human spirit and power of freedom are so deeply engrained in us – we will prevail humbly and triumphantly for all.</p>Another concerning story about Natural Gas's pollution implications...tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-04-14:5317465:BlogPost:20012011-04-14T21:00:00.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/fugitive-methane-stirs-debate-on-natural-gas/">http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/fugitive-methane-stirs-debate-on-natural-gas/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/fugitive-methane-stirs-debate-on-natural-gas/">http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/fugitive-methane-stirs-debate-on-natural-gas/</a></p>
<p> </p>Continue Protecting the Environmental Protection Agencytag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-04-08:5317465:BlogPost:19012011-04-08T13:00:47.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Our House of Representatives and our US Senate just tried and failed to pass legislation to bring down our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and with it the protection of our clean air, clean water, safe soil and hospitable climate: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-20110407,0,3087158.story" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-20110407,0,3087158.story</a>. These are the basic foundations of life itself. Without them it…</p>
<p>Our House of Representatives and our US Senate just tried and failed to pass legislation to bring down our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and with it the protection of our clean air, clean water, safe soil and hospitable climate: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-20110407,0,3087158.story">http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-20110407,0,3087158.story</a>. These are the basic foundations of life itself. Without them it does not matter what our annual GDP is or our quarterly earnings because we would not be around to appreciate this fleeting prosperity.</p>
<p>The EPA founded was founded in 1970 to protect our health and environment, and it has done an outstanding job at that. Most notable is the institution's landmark legislation known as the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. Even though this latest effort was beaten back, know that the proponents of growth at all costs will try again, and what is most in jeopardy besides the watchdog power of the agency as a whole is the extent, monitoring and enforcement of the nation's Clean Air Act which among other safeguards moderates power plants from recklessly spewing sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, mercury and the like into our air.</p>
<p>Thanks to the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision (Massachusetts V. EPA) upholding the agency's right to regulate Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gasses as pollutants under the Clean Air Act, the EPA can also help safeguard our climate. This is what the Congress - acting as an agency of the oil, gas and coal industries - is most afraid of, the prospect for meaningful climate pollution prevention standards and regulation. Many in Congress, including many coal state democrats, want to undue the polution prevention authority the agency maintains.</p>
<p>We the people must not let the oil, gas and coal industry and their congressional cronies ever prevail on this most important matter. We must continue to stand up, rise up and help protect the Environmental Protection Agency because a sustainable economy, justice and our lives depend on it. Of course call the senators and condemn the 50 of them who supported the EPA curtailment and commend the other 50 of them who rejected the proposed legislation to limit the EPA. Susan Collins in particular is to be commended as the sole Republican to stand up for our clean air, water and climate.</p>
<p>More than that, most importantly, get involved - support clean air, clean energy and clean water in your everyday life - because nothing protects our environment and health (and economy and national security and democracy and our dignity...) better than we the people.</p>Worldwide Turmoil in Conventional Energy Underscores Value of Scaling Renewables & Conservationtag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-03-18:5317465:BlogPost:16012011-03-18T16:32:14.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Our hearts go out to the Japanese people as they deal with the nuclear crisis and the aftermath of their most devastating earthquake and tsunami. We offer our support and affection as they nobly begin the long process of rebuilding their country.</p>
<p>It's clear that this very sad and unfortunate nuclear crisis will deeply affect the nuclear industry as far as safety perceptions and permitting of new projects go. And while it is also clear that nuclear offers the world a major way forward…</p>
<p>Our hearts go out to the Japanese people as they deal with the nuclear crisis and the aftermath of their most devastating earthquake and tsunami. We offer our support and affection as they nobly begin the long process of rebuilding their country.</p>
<p>It's clear that this very sad and unfortunate nuclear crisis will deeply affect the nuclear industry as far as safety perceptions and permitting of new projects go. And while it is also clear that nuclear offers the world a major way forward to produce electricity without emitting harmful greenhouse gases, it is unclear what the public's appetite will be in the short term for expanding this energy source given this newest reminder of nucelar’s un-foolproof radioactive ramifications.</p>
<p>There are no perfect answers for establishing true energy security today - no silver bullet for instantaneously generating reliable, cost effective, round the clock, risk free and pollution free energy. The most conventional energies in the widest scale use today have the most glaring imperfections: imperfections evident in the case of nuclear by the Japan nuclear crisis and the more than 8 years it takes to permit new plants; imperfections evident in the case of oil and gas by our dependency on middle east oil with the turmoil there threatening our economic recovery with major inflation risks as well as imperfections evident by the worst oil spill in our history in the Gulf of Mexico last year not to mention oil and natural gas’s vast pollution threats; imperfections evident in coal by its gruesome by-products of air, water and climate pollution and the associated unrealized high costs of clean-up that will be necessary; and imperfections evident in hydro-power by dwindling levels of our fresh water resources affecting reliable output.</p>
<p>Perfection will come as a work in progress but it should now in the 21st century be resoundingly clear - especially after all these natural and man-made disasters rearing their heads within this last year - that <em><strong>immediate wide-scale conventional power conservation and the unprecedented large scale development of unconventional renewable power, while intermittent in some cases (which will be solved by battery storage and other innovations) and while still pricey in others (which will be solved by economies of scale and conventional energies being truely priced to their pollution impacts), offers us the best hope for a sustained world of energy and economic security.</strong></em> Therefore we must now be totally committed and make it a central organizing principle to building this responsible energy society - start today:</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://takeresponsibility.ning.com/">http://takeresponsibility.ning.com/</a></p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://2ndgreenrevolution.com/2011/03/16/clean-energy-stocks-get-a-boost/">http://2ndgreenrevolution.com/2011/03/16/clean-energy-stocks-get-a-boost/#</a></p>
<p> </p>The Middle East should be a wake up call for economic freedom, clean energy independence and democracy in Americatag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-03-07:5317465:BlogPost:12022011-03-07T20:30:29.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p><span class="font-size-2" style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';">Our economic recovery is in serious jeopardy because of our dependency on foreign oil coming to the forefront now from the high price of crude oil with the turmoil in the Middle East. Even Saudia Arabia, and its immediate neighbors, are not immune to major changes from within which could lead to brutal retaliation from the top and then who knows what will ensue. We at CCLI applaud…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';" class="font-size-2">Our economic recovery is in serious jeopardy because of our dependency on foreign oil coming to the forefront now from the high price of crude oil with the turmoil in the Middle East. Even Saudia Arabia, and its immediate neighbors, are not immune to major changes from within which could lead to brutal retaliation from the top and then who knows what will ensue. We at CCLI applaud all the democracy movements there, in Egypt and the surrounding region. What we do not applaud is Administration after Administration, Congress after Congress in the US failing to learn all the writings on the wall including the lessons of the 1970s (when we had crippling stagflation, sky high interest rates and other major economic problems that were all directly tied to our dependency on oil, to the high price of oil and instability in the Middle East).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';" class="font-size-2">Since then we should have been, and really should be now, aggressively diversifying our energy portfolio, developing a wise US energy policy and building up our own energy self sufficient capabilities right here at home. Since then we should have been, and we really should be now, mass producing clean and abundant renewable energy resources, establishing electric vehicles as the norm, becoming energy efficient to the Nth degree and conserving like our lives depend on it - because they do. The Middle Eastern regimes and monarchies like Saudia Arabia's spawn terrorism which directly threatens our national security as we witnessed on Sept 11, 2001 (when all but one of the terrorists was from Saudi Arabia). These regimes should be thwarted by the people there and by us not propping up their undemocratic existence through our gluttonous oil dependency. Likewise human induced global climate change threatens the basic hospitality of life on earth and also greatly endangers our economy and therefore we should aggressively be weaning off all of the greenhouse gas emitting fuels - starting with foreign oil.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';" class="font-size-2">Unfortunately today we are more dependent of foreign and middle eastern oil then we were in the 1970s; we consume more fossil fuels per capita; we do not value the ethic and act of conservation and we emit tons more greenhouse gases than we did then. We are dangerously backtracking. The fossil fuel industry in general and oil companies in particular, along with the elected officials on both sides of the isle who do their bidding, not to mention our own complicit complacency, are to blame. They have railroaded us to be gripped on the energy status quo for decades - at the highest expense of long term peace, prosperity and sustainability.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','sans-serif';" class="font-size-2">It's high time the American people, not just the daring people in the Middle East, take over the steering wheel and lead a new democratic movement here in our country on behalf of economic freedom, national security, job creation and sustainability. America can fuel itself, we can put our people back to work and we can do so with clean energy, innovation and conservation rather than the fossil fuel economy of old which has polluted our air, poisoned our water, endangered the climate (which enables our civilization to begin with) and our people for far too long. Let’s not ever again let our economy (integrity, security and health) be hijacked by a multi-national industry and bankrupt US policy.</span> <span class="font-size-2">Let's transform the use and source of our energy once and for all. Let's lead the American clean energy revolution. Our children when they come of age in the future will thank us for the self determination and character, pride & purpose we demonstrate today.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://my.firedoglake.com/repjohngaramendi/2011/03/01/electric-current-events-middle-east-revolutions-and-the-need-to-revolutionize-american-clean-energy/">http://my.firedoglake.com/repjohngaramendi/2011/03/01/electric-current-events-middle-east-revolutions-and-the-need-to-revolutionize-american-clean-energy/</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://g2bgreen.com/category/oil-dependency">http://g2bgreen.com/category/oil-dependency</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.onemillioncalls.org/">http://www.onemillioncalls.org/</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"> </span></p>Our future pays the price for the fossil fuel industry's irresponsibility; imagine if America shouldered the real price today...tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-03-04:5317465:BlogPost:13012011-03-04T17:59:37.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>While natural gas could serve as an interim energy source that could among other things help in our vehicle fleet as we transition away from the dirtier C02 emitting fossil fuels of oil & coal and while it can also help provide us energy independence, the natural gas industry must come clean with the American public. President Obama's inclusion of natural gas as a "clean energy" in his State of the Union is untrue and inappapropriate because the industry is concealing the truth and…</p>
<p>While natural gas could serve as an interim energy source that could among other things help in our vehicle fleet as we transition away from the dirtier C02 emitting fossil fuels of oil & coal and while it can also help provide us energy independence, the natural gas industry must come clean with the American public. President Obama's inclusion of natural gas as a "clean energy" in his State of the Union is untrue and inappapropriate because the industry is concealing the truth and shamefully failing to clean up its act. The low price for natural gas is also inappropriate because it does not reflect the necessary clean-up costs involved in gas extraction and pollution prevention. These costs are being stealthily avoided by the industry at the expense of our health, well being and long term prosperity. The following investigative report <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04gas.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04gas.html</a> reveals not only the industry contstantly wiggling out of meeting the very basic standards for clean air and clean water, but also that the natural gas lobbyists and proponents - with a nod from both our elected and federal officials - are hiding from the public the hard scientific facts about the industry's messy extraction, its hydrofracking pracitices and its many other pollution outputs.</p>
<p>Once the fossil fuel industry and the public pays the true price for these pollution ridden fuels (instead of kicking the cost can down the road for the next generation to pay for) then we will at last face our moment of truth and perhaps then once and for all we'll move to establish a new energy normal based on renewable energies, innovation, conservation and state of the art efficiency. When the fossil fuel industry stands on its own two feet without its desperate need for political favors, waivers, exemptions, subsidies and the like, but rather is really held to account and forced to clean up its act, then there will no longer be a need for the relatively minor amount of subsisdies for clean power providers - they will do fine in the free market on their own thank you very much - because the true price of oil, coal and yes even natural gas will be higher than what America's clean energy sector will deliver and the marketplace will chose the cleaner, cheaper variety.</p>INTRODUCING COOL THE CLIMATE - CCLI'S 2011 EDUCATION/ACTION PROJECTtag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-01-31:5317465:BlogPost:6552011-01-31T21:11:50.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p><strong>The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI)</strong> invites you to <strong>Cool the Climate</strong> at <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>.</p>
<p>As the politics of global warming heats up, as fossil fuel interests fight to keep a stranglehold on our economy, <i><u>we the people</u></i> <u>must stay cool-headed & focused on the facts regarding human-induced climate change</u>. Fear will govern us to be divided and in denial about this…</p>
<p><strong>The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI)</strong> invites you to <strong>Cool the Climate</strong> at <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>.</p>
<p>As the politics of global warming heats up, as fossil fuel interests fight to keep a stranglehold on our economy, <i><u>we the people</u></i> <u>must stay cool-headed & focused on the facts regarding human-induced climate change</u>. Fear will govern us to be divided and in denial about this major problem; but our intelligence and integrity summon us to <u>unite behind constructive solutions</u> and to <u>lead an empowering economic & clean energy revolution</u> instead.</p>
<p>Now is the time to <b>cool the climate</b> @ <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>.</p>
<p><strong><i>The Climate Change Leadership Institute (CCLI)</i> </strong>is a Santa Fe based non-profit organization dedicated to tackling human-induced climate change by achieving a clean energy revolution in America. CCLI offers leadership incentives, stewardship workshops, student internships as well as annual education and action projects. Sign up and join with with us today @ <a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us/">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>.</p>
<p> </p>US President's clean energy goal is ambitious and worthy of our full-on supporttag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2011-01-28:5317465:BlogPost:6532011-01-28T18:54:34.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Clean energy was the major focus of innovation leadership that President Obama called for in the State of the Union address -- see more details in the Daily Energy Report and Climate Solutions: <a href="http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2011/01/obama-state-of-union-address-80-clean-power-by-2035/">http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2011/01/obama-state-of-union-address-80-clean-power-by-2035/</a> ; …</p>
<p>Clean energy was the major focus of innovation leadership that President Obama called for in the State of the Union address -- see more details in the Daily Energy Report and Climate Solutions: <a href="http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2011/01/obama-state-of-union-address-80-clean-power-by-2035/">http://www.dailyenergyreport.com/2011/01/obama-state-of-union-address-80-clean-power-by-2035/</a> ; <a href="http://climatesolutions.org/cs-journal/state-of-the-union-we-should-be-subsidizing-tomorrow2019s-energy">http://climatesolutions.org/cs-journal/state-of-the-union-we-should-be-subsidizing-tomorrow2019s-energy</a> -- We the poeple should do whatever we can in our workplaces, homes, communities and municpailites to help implement this worthy goal.</p>No giant national leaps (yet) but still some important progress at year's end on climate and clean energy stewardship.tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2010-12-28:5317465:BlogPost:6492010-12-28T18:24:46.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>In 2010, our nation regrettably did not enact meaningful climate legislation, we did not institute a price for emitting carbon dioxide, nor did we enact a national renewable energy~electricity standard -- all of which are critical to our future success and sustainability. But the United States did make some incremental progress which is worth noting, protecting and building on in 2011.</p>
<p>Vital tax incentives were extended for renewable energy development (see the NYTimes story…</p>
<p>In 2010, our nation regrettably did not enact meaningful climate legislation, we did not institute a price for emitting carbon dioxide, nor did we enact a national renewable energy~electricity standard -- all of which are critical to our future success and sustainability. But the United States did make some incremental progress which is worth noting, protecting and building on in 2011.</p>
<p>Vital tax incentives were extended for renewable energy development (see the NYTimes story below).</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/tax-cuts-for-energy-too/">http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/tax-cuts-for-energy-too/</a></p>
<p>The EPA very importantly just announced its intention to carefully regulate (under the clean Air Act) the emissions of carbon dioxide for power plants and refineries which are the largest emitters of this greenhouse gas (see Washington Times story below).</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/12/epa_announces_plans_to_regulat.html">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2010/12/epa_announces_plans_to_regulat.html</a></p>
<p>The international Framework Convention on Climate Change during its annual conference held this year at Cancun, Mexico (while not announcing any major, direly needed breakthroughs) did take some pragmatic and forward moving steps to address human induced climate change (see PEW's summary conference summary below).</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/cancun-climate-conference-cop16-summary.pdf">http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/cancun-climate-conference-cop16-summary.pdf</a></p>
<p>And, not to ever be underestimated, our civil society - reflected by individuals, families, schools, small businesses, non-governmental organizations, corporations and many others - have consistently been demonstrating leadership to move our nation in a cleaner and more innovative direction.</p>
<p>Let us in 2011 bear down, protect these and other advancements, extend on them and really start digging deeper in order to be the generation who took responsibility and built up our nation as the Beacon of Light for climate and clean energy stewardship. </p>
<p>To a brave and wise New Year!</p>Eco Flight + Clean Energy Workshop at Santa Fe Indian School = Bright Eyed Studentstag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2010-11-11:5317465:BlogPost:6292010-11-11T22:09:27.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>On Wednesday Eco Flight (<a href="http://www.ecoflight.info/">http://www.ecoflight.info/</a>) which gives politicians, business leaders and students an eagle eye perspective of the polluting and non-poluting energy projects around the country, Bill Brown a Taos based renewable energy expert with the Climate Project <a href="http://www.theclimateprojectus.org/ourpresenters.php?id=61">(http://www.theclimateprojectus.org/ourpresenters.php?id=61</a>) and CCLI (…</p>
<p>On Wednesday Eco Flight (<a href="http://www.ecoflight.info/">http://www.ecoflight.info/</a>) which gives politicians, business leaders and students an eagle eye perspective of the polluting and non-poluting energy projects around the country, Bill Brown a Taos based renewable energy expert with the Climate Project <a href="http://www.theclimateprojectus.org/ourpresenters.php?id=61">(http://www.theclimateprojectus.org/ourpresenters.php?id=61</a>) and CCLI (<a href="http://www.takeresponsibility.us">www.takeresponsibility.us</a>) a Santa Fe based non-profit helping to lead a clean energy revolution together did a presentation at the Santa Fe Indian School. And it's worth noting that the participating & attending students (including from SFIS and St. Mikes) were thoughtfully engaged, genuinely excited and truly hopeful about a bright future in the making -- so come check out the respective websites, get involved and help lead the way forward by your personal example!</p>Lead Your Revolution Bike Event and CCLI Fundraisertag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2010-10-22:5317465:BlogPost:6132010-10-22T15:15:33.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
Checkout today's New Mexican <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Cycling-event-benefits-climate-group">http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Cycling-event-benefits-climate-group</a> and this week's radio interview <a href="http://www.project1015.com/sound_bytes/view/session/october_19_2010/246/">http://www.project1015.com/sound_bytes/view/session/october_19_2010/246/</a> encouraging community involvement in the bike ride event and reporting how all proceeds go to…
Checkout today's New Mexican <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Cycling-event-benefits-climate-group">http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Cycling-event-benefits-climate-group</a> and this week's radio interview <a href="http://www.project1015.com/sound_bytes/view/session/october_19_2010/246/">http://www.project1015.com/sound_bytes/view/session/october_19_2010/246/</a> encouraging community involvement in the bike ride event and reporting how all proceeds go to locally empower the clean energy revolution through innovation grants, education development, climate courage awards, paid student internships and annual action projects. Participate in the lead Your Revolution event as well as this on-going social action network and keep passing it on by inviting others to join with us.If our military can do it so can we...tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2010-10-06:5317465:BlogPost:6022010-10-06T20:48:17.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
<p>Yesterday's lead story about the US military converting to renewables is most encouraging and underscores that a renewables revolution is at hand and that making this transormation to pollutoin free power is in our foremost economic, health and national security interest. The aspiring goal of the armed forces is to become 50% renewable by 2020. We should more than applaud this development, we should keep pace by pushing our selves, our workplaces, our communities, our municipilaties, our…</p>
<p>Yesterday's lead story about the US military converting to renewables is most encouraging and underscores that a renewables revolution is at hand and that making this transormation to pollutoin free power is in our foremost economic, health and national security interest. The aspiring goal of the armed forces is to become 50% renewable by 2020. We should more than applaud this development, we should keep pace by pushing our selves, our workplaces, our communities, our municipilaties, our states and the nation to follow the lead (settling for nothing less than of a civilian conversion of at least 25% renewable by 2020 and onward to 100% pollution free power by mid century).</p>
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<p>Check out the story at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/earth/05fossil.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/earth/05fossil.html</a> and keep pressing for and building on progress!</p>Help New Mexico Lead by Example!tag:takeresponsibility.ning.com,2010-10-04:5317465:BlogPost:6002010-10-04T21:16:20.000ZRobb Hirschhttp://takeresponsibility.ning.com/profile/RobbHoungHirsch
I look forward to speaking up at the public session this evening at the PERA bldg (Apodaca Room) on behalf of New Mexico curbing and capping excessive emissions of carbon dioxide from factories and industrial plants. We hope as many of you as possible come along, stand up and speak out in support of New Mexico breaking away from the old era of fossil fuel pollution and advancing a responsible future of clean power, energy efficiency and conservation!
I look forward to speaking up at the public session this evening at the PERA bldg (Apodaca Room) on behalf of New Mexico curbing and capping excessive emissions of carbon dioxide from factories and industrial plants. We hope as many of you as possible come along, stand up and speak out in support of New Mexico breaking away from the old era of fossil fuel pollution and advancing a responsible future of clean power, energy efficiency and conservation!