Sorry I haven’t posted anything for so long. I’ve been busy helping the (recently formed) Chicago Environmental Justice Coalition prepare for the Energy Elections we are holding all over the city. I’ll write more about this later today.

I want to bring you an update on the status of the movement to pass comprehensive Climate legislation here in the U.S.

I’m excited to say that around May 21st 2009 the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill. This is an exciting moment in our history, the first time a “serious” climate bill has made it this far in the House.

The bill would cut greenhouse-gas emissions about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and about 80 percent by 2050, while promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.

However, the bill holds many concessions to the powerful coal, oil, bio fuel and nuclear lobbies who hired high-profile lobbyists in order to weaken the bill…and it shows.

Again, the passage of this bill through the committee is historic but there are many divisions among environmentalists on its current form. Should we move to get this legislation passed? Or should we get a different, stronger bill and offer less concessions to dirty energy? Read this piece about Al Gore and Greg Hansen debating the bill.

One of the better takes on the bill that I’ve seen is a piece by Daphne Wysham of In These Times (below).

1) It won’t protect the poor from price-hikes as the price of carbon is slowly internalized into our energy bills, but will protect polluting industries by allowing them free pollution permits; 2) It opens the door to fraud and shell games instead of real climate action by setting up a huge carbon derivatives market; 3) It makes a mockery of our common understanding of “renewable energy,” favoring dirty smokestacks over truly clean, renewable energy.

Right out of the starting gate, the bill provides a ridiculous number of giveaways to industry — something President Barack Obama campaigned against as unfair to consumers: Upwards of 85 percent of pollution allowances are being given away for free to the electricity sector, with many of these free permits not phasing out until 2030. This means little to none of the revenues coming into the public coffers from this “cap and trade” scheme will be used to protect low and moderate households from energy price increases, as envisioned by Obama.

Read her analysis on how the direction of the renewable energy movement is moving towards a new promise land…one that leads to a utopia imagined by the likes of Big Coal and Big Oil and all their friends.

Do you think “renewable energy” means windmills or solar panels? Think again. The windmills and solar panels of our renewable energy dreams are being supplanted by the smokestacks of our nightmares. All it takes is a little imagination — and a high-paid lobbyist — to claim that just about anything is “renewable energy.”

Take biomass burners: There are plans afoot to cut down 100-year-old trees, throw them into a burner, and call this “renewable energy.” …

Or consider the municipal solid waste incinerator recast as “waste to energy” projects. This waste could otherwise be recycled (generating 10 times as many green jobs as an incinerator, by the way) or composted, providing rich fertilizer. But, in the twisted logic of the Waxman-Markey universe, incinerators are “renewable” because there is an endless supply of waste going to landfills; if one burns that waste and turns the heat into energy — presto, change-o — this, too, becomes a “renewable” form of energy. This in spite of the fact that burning garbage produces more CO2 per unit of electricity generated than the dirtiest coal power plants.

Here’s the link to the full piece.

And what about those pollution permits? Is a market-based Cap and Trade system going to be effective in reducing pollution and providing money for green tech projects? Greenpeace (which is unofficially listed as being against the bill in current form with its concessions to the dirty energy industry) offers there view of those aspects of the bill. From the Greenpeace site.

The draft bill has always failed to explain how it would allocate the money made from the sale of pollution permits within the emissions cap and trade scheme proposed by the bill. This money should be used to build clean energy solutions – like a smart grid. Instead, the discussion draft contains giveaways and loopholes for the dirty coal industry and false solutions such as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Even worse, we are hearing reports that the bill has become significantly worse in this area over the past week. Bloomberg recently reported that Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is offering as much as US $40 billion in free pollution permits to “utilities, refiners and manufacturers.”

President Obama initially called for 100 percent of pollution permits to be auctioned off and to use up to 83 percent of the revenues to help taxpayers to pay for higher energy costs. According to reports, the bill might actually end up giving as much as 55 percent of the permits away for free. The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme originally gave away so many permits that pollution permits were trading for as little as 1 euro cent, providing no incentive for polluting industries to clean up their act. Now the fossil fuels industries – who have spent some $45 million lobbying against the bill – are succeeding in convincing House Democrats to make the same mistake.

The bill originally called for roughly what scientists say is necessary to avert the worst effects of climate change: 25 to 40 percent below 1990 emissions levels by 2020. However, now the bill looks like offering a cut of 4 percent on 1990 emission levels. To make this look good the baseline has been shifted to 2005, allowing the politicians to present it as a much bigger cut.

Late last year I signed a petition to get the new President to plant a garden on the White House lawn. I though it was a great cause and I think there was even a bus going around on tour promoting organic gardening and sustainability.

Now it seems like it will finally happen and who better to take the lead on this then Michelle Obama.

I think this act of planting a garden at the White House will raise awareness on urban gardening and I hope its a gesture, by the Obama camp, that they are willing to lead in some capacity on supporting the new farmers of the country.

The economy is the only topic of conversation nowadays. Maybe not intentionally, but it’s hard not to picture dollar amounts next to every event, meal and book.

So we’re all looking for ways to save — and it shows. According to the Seattle Times, Americans are starting to buy into the idea of growing their own food:

This is exactly what I had in mind for Chicago. Especially for the communities that are feeling the worst of the hard times.

Harvested rainwater needs filtration before it is potable. Pollution, particles from the air, debris from the collection system (your gutters) are not things you want to find in your tall glass of ice water. Instead of investing in a garage-sized Brita pitcher, Stephen and Rebekah have another idea: sand.From The Carbon-Free Home:

Chelsea Green » Blog Archive » Project: Harvest Rainwater with Sand Filters

The City of Chicago’s Environmental Department sells rainbarrells for $30-45 at different events.
Sign up for their emails at http://egov.cityofchicago.org/Environment/

This is a great victory already for working class people of color who are suffering the most because of the failing capitalist economy. This economy destroyed the markets, caused banks to implode, ruined businesses, but even more dangerous than all of those…it destroyed our environment and the communities.

If there is one champion in the fight for equal opportunity to capitalize on the “green” stimulus money it is Van Jones.

Congratulations Van!!

This is a great group of young people actively particpating in their community’s discussions and debates. Their mentors should also be comended for their focus and perservance. Wow that sounds like an award ceremony speech!

But really, this is a great group and if you’re in the area you can follow the link to see how you can get involved, and stay involved.

I will try to host a workshop/panel on sustainability, environmental justice, and actions against coal.

In case you have nothing to do on Spring Break (which is a rarity) and you would like to participate in this action, visit this site.

Let me know if you’re interested because I may be able to help you with travel and housing.

Take Action After Power Shift ’09

Lets Use the Alliances we’ve built at Power Shift ’09 and show the world we are ready to fight for comprehensive climate legislation in the U.S.

Whats up everybody this is Martin Macias Jr. from the Southwest Side of Chicago! Thanks for visiting my vlog/blog/plog Science is Poetry. This is my first entry for this travel-blog and I hope you will continue to visit in the future. The purpose of this blog is to document and reflect on the people in my community and how they interact with environmental justice issues, local green initiatives, anti-coal actions in Chicago, and all other things related the fight against global warming. The people in my neighborhood are mostly young and middle-aged working class and/or immigrant people of color who are facing, what they say are, far more immediate issues such as: home foreclosures, job lay-offs, and even putting food on the table, among other things. So when I’ve knocked on their door and shared an idea on how easy it is to transition to an organic diet I understand when I get a cold stare that explains that families already desperate situation. That being said, it’s difficult, or insufficient, to carry the emblem of the environmental movement through these communities when we as environmentalist have historically failed to include, or even acknowledge, those groups who have marginalized by society.

I’m currently traveling across the country to Washington DC. Whats in DC you say? Patience my friends…it is written. So I’m on a train because I prefer it over a plane ride, first; because this way I don’t risk ending up in the Hudson River, second; there’s a lot of beautiful scenery, and third; you have more time to get to know all these great people you meet along the way.

I’m lucky enough to be on the train with a really interesting group of Latino youth from LVEJO in Chicago (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization). The close-knit group is comprised, mostly, of high school students from the Southwest Side Chicago neighborhood of Little Village, or La Villita as it’s called by it’s residents. Keep checking this page for audio/video interviews with this incredible group of environmental activists.

Throughout this weekend and up to March 3^rd I will be writing to you all from Power Shift ’09 and from the Capitol Climate Action in Washington DC. Power Shift is a youth environmental justice summit that brings 10,000 people from across the U.S together to share ideas and strategies on fighting global warming in their own communities. Please visit the home page to find out more.

The Capitol Climate Action is going to be, possibly, the largest act of civil disobedience EVER in the U.S. A group of about 2,000 people will stage a protest outside a coal power plant that is near Capitol Hill.

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On another note:

I firmly believe that the communities who are most at risk and directly affected by environmental INJUSTICE are largely left out of the national conversations and actions of mainstream environmental justice/sustainability movements, whether by design or not. It is also clear, at least in the neighborhoods closest to me, that the same people who are unfairly exposed to toxins, dirty air, and have virtually no access to healthy, organic, non-GMO food, are also the same communities that are on the receiving end of many social injustices. For example Little Village, where LVEJO is based, is home to one of the biggest and oldest coal-fired power plants in Illinois: Crawford. One group puts the total number of deaths caused annually by Crawford at 49; total number of asthma cases is: ???? It’s also grandfathered which means it doesn’t have to abide by the the regulations of the Clean Air Act.

Little Village is also home to the largest Latino and other minority populations. It is a mostly working class, low-income community with a large population of immigrant workers.

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