In this week's Climate Minute Rob and Ted show why they didn't go to law school as they talk the Supreme Court's decision to hear cases related to EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases. We also take Emily Rooney to task (lightly and respectfully) for crediting the Koch Brother's efforts as "debunking," which implies something we don't think (hope) she didn't mean to imply, and we hail the creation of the first Community Solar Garden in Massachusetts which gives everyone, regardless of roof or tree situation, the ability to get in on clean, renewable ...
In this week's Climate Minute Rob and Ted show why they didn't go to law school as they talk the Supreme Court's decision to hear cases related to EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases. We also take Emily Rooney to task (lightly and respectfully) for crediting the Koch Brother's efforts as "debunking," which implies something we don't think (hope) she didn't mean to imply, and we hail the creation of the first Community Solar Garden in Massachusetts which gives everyone, regardless of roof or tree situation, the ability to get in on clean, renewable power.
The Links
We did a minor roundup of initial reaction to the Supreme Court's granting of certiorari for several cases involving the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations in a blog this week. Here's an updated post from Legal Planet with more thoughts about what this case means. Energy and Environment TV has an interview with an ex-Deptarment of Justice official who provides some of his thoughts, here.
Next time you get frustrated with something going on (or not) in America, remind yourself if could be worse. The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunset, which has been involved in anti-drilling activities in the arctic, was stormed by "baclava-masked" Russian security agents and the 30 people on board have been arrested and charged with piracy (which carries a 10-15 year prison sentence in Russia). The latest is that Russian authorities claim to have found drugs on-board, which Greenpeace categorically denies. Now granted, the activists did try to board a Russian ship and oil rig, but "piracy"? Clearly Putin's not about to have his dreams of Arctic drilling derailed.
Emily Rooney of WGBH got Ted's goat when she gave the Koch Brothers a little too much credit by calling their work "debunking" -- rather than outright denial of fact... But maybe that's just us. You can read more here (check out the comments), or check out the video below.
http://youtu.be/djVh1td7m7Y
Cyclone Phailin was a category 4, "Sandy-sized" storm that hit the second most populous nation in the world, and did you hear a thing about it? Probably not. Here's some neat satellite imagery of Phailin, as well as two other mammoth storms impacting Asia.
We spoke briefly of greentech investor Jigar Shah and his feelings that market innovation is at least as important as technological innovation in advancing renewables. You can hear the podcast here.
Speaking of the market, WGBH had a short segment discussing the changing energy market in New England, and how these changes influenced the announced closure of the Brayton Point Station power plant. Here's the embedded video:
http://youtu.be/r04FpKhlZPI
We discussed the Harvard Community Solar Garden, a first-of-its-kind community solar project in Harvard, Massachusetts. The Garden is similar to "community supported agriculture" where individuals can become subscribers and buy a share of the solar array's output. Anyone in the National Grid western and central Mass (WCMA) load zone (check out your community's zone here) can purchase a 3kw to 15kw "share" of the project and receive a portion of the solar production. For more about the Harvard project, go here. For more about Solar Gardens in general, check out the Solar Gardens website here.
Finally, for a little video to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, check Vice President Biden and Gina McCarthy welcoming EPA employees back to work.
Things to do:
On the 22nd there will be another opportunity to hear where the two remaining candidates for Mayor of Boston stand on energy and environmental issues. The second conversation regarding energy, the environment and the green economy will be held on from 1 to 2:30pm at the Old South Meetinghouse. You can download the flyer here. The event is free, but you can register for it here.
Go hear MCAN Board Member (oh, yeah, and head of the Better Future Project) Craig Altemose as he speaks about the need to build a movement to address the climate crisis on October 25th, at 7:30pm, First Parish, Concord. Here’s our calendar listing.
Cambridge City Council candidates will meet at a forum on Energy and the Environment onOct 30th, at the Cambridge Senior Citizens Center.
Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do.
As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here. Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email. You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog.
When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.
So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…
