Climate Change

I must say that sometimes the workings of our federal government’s legislative branch, properly known as Congress, aka The Hill, escape me.  Certainly there are disparities in the proportional representation in the Senate which complicate things.  That Wyoming (pop. 515 thousand) or Vermont (pop. 624 thousand) have the same number of representatives in the Senate as California (pop. 36.5 million) or Texas (pop. 23.5 million) might be seen by some as, well, undemocratic.  (Each state also has the same number of representatives as Senate members – exactly two - in the Electoral College, plus, of course, the number of House members.)  Gordon Wood reviewed a couple of books on the Constitution a year and a half ago in the “NY Review of Books” - How Democratic Is the Constitution.  The answer seems to be that there are serious flaws in the Constitution, not the least of which is the decidedly unproportional representation in the Senate.  You can also look at Master of the Senate, the third installment in Robert Caro’s amazing Lyndon Johnson biography, to see how the South controlled the Senate in the 1940’s and 50’s and blocked even the most benign civil rights legislation.

What’s this got to do with climate change?  A lot, I fear.  For instance, when the two Senators from one state, Michigan, hold one brief only – that of the auto manufacturers – in the case of energy legislation that will effectively, enormously reduce our reliance on oil, they throw up roadblocks.  That another Michigan representative, a powerful House committee chair, is given such enormous sway, to block or greatly hinder important legislation, then there’s a fly in the ointment, to say the least.  I’m not even going to get into the psychology of the megalomania in play with some of these folks, let alone the sheer narrow-mindedness.  I’m just thinking about people given too much sway to represent special interests against the interests of the nation, the citizenry, and the health of the planet that supports us all.  The money that simply courses through the system is, of course, another impediment to creating good public policy.

Bob Bingaman and Arlen Specter are introducing a “bipartisan” bill in the Senate to address global warming.  It cobbles together bits and pieces of language that’s been kicking around for a few years.  It’s weak.  It also – and this is where I get really confused – is being introduced before we know what the energy legislation is going to be.  (See my posts below on the Congressional action - and inaction - on energy.)  Why not get the energy bill in place and then see where you are?  There is so much work that still needs to be done to hammer this out.

The Sierra Club called this bill weak.  Here’s what the “NY Times” reported on another important environmental group’s reaction:  “But David Doniger, climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the new bill was evidence that Congress had gotten the message on global warming. Mr. Doniger said that it probably would not pass this year or next, but that the starting point for legislation was moving steadily in the direction of more assertive regulation of heat-trapping gases.

“‘The bills you can’t pass this year are a lot better than the bills you couldn’t pass a year ago,’ Mr. Doniger said.”

On the House side, the energy legislation is still front and center, but as I’ve mentioned here before, the battle between Nancy Pelosi and John Dingell is at the heart of things now.  Will Ms Pelosi override the will of Dingell and move the MPG legislation directly to the floor for a vote in the final consideration on the energy bill?  Here are two recent articles (from “The Hill” and the “Detroit Free Press” respectively) that give you some good insight into this:  Democrats’ climate clash heads to floor and Lawmaker sets up fight in House over fuel rules.

What will be the disposition on some of the other items in play?  Renewable portfolio standards?  Taxes?  Maybe we’ll know more this week.

We are just back from a three-day weekend at the house of some friends in Columbia County, NY.  We took a half-day trip too over to visit a nursery school pal of my daughter whose parents are working at a theatre festival in an old Western New England college town.  The college is also my wife’s alma mater.  Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery. 

Last night we went outside around 10:00 (my daughter asleep after a long day), and saw not only spectacular stars but a galaxy of fireflies.  My heart leapt up to see so many of them.   Why?  When I was a kid, fireflies were everywhere in the summer, but as the 70’s and 80’s progressed (and sometimes regressed), the fireflies seemed to decline.  For the past several years I’ve noticed, though, what I perceive to be a big comeback.  Last night I was just overcome because all the beautiful lightning bugs twinkling in the warm night air meant some sort of renaissance of the earth to me.  It signified that a particular species that had been magic to me as a kid (and most other kids I imagine) was back from the threat of extinction.  To what do I attribute this?  Environmental laws protecting wetlands, general awareness of the dangers of pesticides, particularly for the purposes of lawn care and other frivolous purposes, and specifically the indiscriminate use of DDT.  (See my post of May 24 and the item titled “The War on Rachel Carson.”)  See also this post on fireflies and links from the cool “Bug Girl.”

I do hope that all this splendid work that’s being done all over the world - and intensifying - around climate change, and renewables and energy efficiency, and sustainable development, and forest protection and reclamation, etc. is a signal that we are finally waking up from a very long sleep indeed to find our earth as a partner, as a teacher, as a parent, and as a child to be protected and nurtured.  The great Barry Commoner wrote a book a few years back called Making Peace with the Planet.  That title says a lot for me in terms of what we need to be doing – and have been doing of late.  Kevin Hydes (referenced in my previous post), pointed out a new book to me the other day:  Blessed Unrest by the author and environmental activist Paul Hawken.  The book reports on the burgeoning of the environmental movement over the past few years.

The return of the fireflies and the blossoming of environmental awareness is just the tonic for an old hippie like me who’s been waiting and hoping and occasionally fighting for these days to come. 

I’ve been preparing an article for the FPA on green building and coming up with some great stuff some of which I wanted to get out now.  There are some incredible projects out there and more on the drawing boards.  I’ve interviewed Kevin Hydes, chair of the World Green Building Council,  for the article.  (See Solar Boating and Green Building from May 14 for more about Kevin.)  He said that exciting projects are “blossoming” all over the world.

One of the ones that jazzed him the most was the reclamation - and vast improvement - of an area in Seoul that had been blighted for years by a freeway.  The Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project, described in this fascinating article, Buried Treasure, from “Civil Engineering  Magazine,” peeled the freeway away to restore a long-hidden stream and provide truly great access for the public.  It’s quite a fairytale – but it’s true.  “O brave new world…”

There is another exciting project across the Yellow Sea from Korea in Shanghai.  Dongtan is going to be built on Chongming, a 750-square-mile island at the mouth of the Yangtze River.  The world’s first “ecocity” is being built by the Chinese in partnership with international firms like Arup and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.  Arup’s website has a discussion of the project with several informative videos with their director of sustainability, Peter Head.  SOM’s website has a great overview with some vivid graphics.  Great stuff.  Finally, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development has an article focusing on the project but also giving an overview of China’s quest for sustainable projects.  (WBCSD has a big initiative on green building that I’ll discuss in my forthcoming FPA article.)  Dongtan is one giant leap for China. 

My friend, Mike Vickerman (see his guest post from July 2), was in town and was walking around Midtown Manhattan and was impressed by the building site that is to be the BofA Tower at One Bryant Park.  The Bank of America headquarters will be the world’s “most sustainable skyscraper.”  This interview with the architect, Bob Fox, takes you inside the project.  (GreenerBuildings.com is a superb resource.)  I hope to get a look inside another major Manhattan green commercial development soon – The Hearst Tower. 

In the Middle East, there’s a lot of construction, to say the least.  Kevin told me he’d heard that 17% of the world’s construction cranes are in Dubai.  Here’s just one exciting project from W.S. Atkins & Partners in Dubai:  The Lighthouse.  Only on the drawing board at this stage – but check out the website for the stunning design – this tower will employ “… passive solar architecture, many low energy, low water engineering solutions, recovery strategies for both energy and water and building integrated renewables – including large scale wind turbines and photovoltaics.”  Yee haw!

Finally, for now, I’m going to leave you with another new sustainable city design – in the middle of the desert.  The first project of the “Masdar Initiative,” in Abu Dhabi, will be a  “… 6 million square meter sustainable development that uses the traditional planning principals of a walled city, together with existing technologies, to achieve a zero carbon and zero waste community.”  Sweet.  See the project plan and some graphics from the architects, Foster and Partners.

There’ll be more here on green building for sure.  I just had to get some of these out for your viewing pleasure today.  Enjoy.

Dingell v Waxman (and others) – Congressman John Dingell has been in the House of Representatives since 1956.  He holds the seat held by his father from 1933 to 1955.  If you want to follow the federal energy legislation wending its way through Congress, you have to know the players and John Dingell is near the top of the list.  I’ve referenced Big John several times along the way here at the blog, but here’s another useful contribution from “The New Republic.”  (Registration is required, but it’s free.)  Henry Waxman, Dingell’s long-time nemesis, is another critical player, and a hero to old-time enviros like me.  When he was chair of the Health & Environment subcommittee of Dingell’s Energy & Commerce committee back in the 80’s and 90’s, they had some pitched battles.  The TNR article describes the present state of play – or conflict, as the case may be – between them. 

The Oil Drum – Without endorsing anyone’s particular approach to effecting federal legislation, I would simply point out a very useful blog, The Oil Drum – Discussions About Energy and Our Future.  They have a wealth of valuable information on the subject of energy, but particularly, though, they are following the federal legislation.  See this for an update and overview with some excellent links.

“One Planet Leader” – WWF (the NGO formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund) had an eye-grabbing ad in “The Economist.”  “Serious about sustainability?  Ready for the next step?”  Well here’s the punch line:  “One Planet Leaders is an exciting new corporate responsibility programme for business managers and senior executives looking to explore, challenge and apply the latest thinking on sustainability issues.”  If you don’t think business and financial industry leaders are taking this stuff seriously, then here is further tangible evidence.  (You can also see my numerous blog posts referencing all this activity under Business and Economics.)

Media Notes – The Sundance Channel has a website, The Green, with some interesting content, including video.  Also, Hearst Corporation, has a new website in beta:  TheDailyGreen will be half information resource and half social network.  Here’s some more from MediaWeek.

Of course, world media event of the week, if not the summer, should be LiveEarth.  They announced today that “… more than 7,000 ‘Friends of Live Earth’ events are now registered in 129 countries, all 50 states…”  Saturday’s the day.  Even if you can’t make one of the concerts, or Al Gore’s not your main man, you will find a ton of useful information at their website.

Speaking of Al Gore (which I haven’t done in a while), he had an op-ed, Moving Beyond Kyoto, at the “NY Times” yesterday that, predictably, got a lot of attention. 

And speaking of the “NY Times” op-ed page, there is an offering today from the estimable Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, on congestion pricing:  Clear Up the Congestion-Pricing Gridlock.  (I’ve talked about Livingstone here before.  He was the driving force behind the creation of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.)   

Recycling – I noted two fascinating renewable energy stories the other day (June 25) from The Economist’s recent “Technology Quarterly.”  The truth about recycling is a slightly scary title given this venerable publication’s often-cynical take on things.  However, it is a nicely comprehensive, focused, and upbeat long piece about the enormous role that recycling is playing and can play further.  (I had my own stab at this a few years ago.  I offered the City of New York a master plan for solid waste management – Urban Gold – and it gathered more attention than I could have hoped for at the time.  There are several key elements to the idea, among them:  a materials recovery facility [or MRF], waterborne transportation, and the co-locating of the MRF with an “ecoplex” where the recovered materials could be manufactured into all sorts of useful items.)

I mentioned the superb work of RENEW Wisconsin and my old friend, Michael Vickerman, at Some Notes on Renewable Energy from April 30.  Michael has been kind enough to share his impressions from a recent major renewable energy event.

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Random Thoughts from this Year’s Renewable Energy Fair