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Two groups of American veterans and military and national security leaders are calling on Congress to take action on clean energy legislation.

Partnership for a Secure America — a foreign policy think-tank that’s calling for a climate bill for the sake of our national security — has released a signed statement calling for “a clear, comprehensive, realistic, and broadly bipartisan plan to address our role in the climate change crisis.”

The statement is signed by 32 heavy-hitters from national politics and the military and from all over the political spectrum.

At the same time, the organization Vote Vets (a pro-military organization founded by veterans of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan) is launching a new national TV ad campaign. From its website:

Featuring Iraq War veterans, (the ad) makes the case that oil profits to the Middle East fund the same terrorists we’re fighting and closes with the line that “It’s not just a question of American energy, it’s a question of American power.”

Vote Vets has also sent more than 100 veterans to Washington D.C. this week to push for passage of a bill. They are working with a coalition of other veterans and security groups called Operation Free.

NOAA just released a terrific scientific report that explains, in plain English, the current and projected effects of climate change on the U.S.

The nonpartisan report, prepared by the 13-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program, tells a grim but important story, clearly and with lots of powerful maps and charts. I encourage you to check it out to see how climate change will affect your area of the country.

Here are some of the "business-as-usual" projections that my colleagues and I find most striking and disturbing:

You think August is hot now?

By the end of this century, we could be in for much more severe summers all across the country.

• If you live in New Hampshire, summer could feel like it does today in North Carolina (p.107).
• If you live in Michigan, brace yourself for summers that feel like today's summers in Oklahoma (p 117).
• And if you live in Texas, you now experience 10 to 20 days a year over 100°F. By the last two decades of this century, look for 100 such days -- that's more than three months (p. 90).
• In 1995, Chicago suffered a heat wave that killed more than 700 people. Chicagoans could experience that kind of relentless heat up to three times a year (p. 117).
• The Southwest, including cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix, will face worse and more frequent droughts, as spring rains decline by as much as half, snow packs shrink and melt earlier, and water evaporates more rapidly (p. 129-130).

People who live on the coasts could be a lot closer to the shore

Sea level is projected to rise up to 3 to 4 feet. Here's what that means for various parts of the country:

• Portions of New York City and Boston could be regularly flooded by storms and even high tides (p. 150).
• On the Gulf Coast, approximately 2,400 miles of roads and 250 miles of freight rails are likely to be permanently flooded (p. 62). This area is home to seven of the nation's ten largest ports and much of our oil and gas industry.
• Some coastal freshwater sources will be contaminated with saltwater, meaning we can no longer use them for drinking water without expensive desalinization (p. 47)

Your grandchildren will miss out on local icons and specialties

The foods and activities that define different parts of the country are changing.

• Some western ski resorts could face a 90 percent decrease in snow pack, making the country's most iconic ski locations just shades of what they are today (p. 133).
• Thanksgiving might no longer include cranberries produced in the Northeast's cranberry bogs (p. 73).
• In the Northwest, salmon will be driven out of about one-third of their habitat. We could start to see the changes in the next ten years (p. 137).

This very thorough scientific report paints a bleak picture of what life will be like in this country if we let pollution continue at today's rate. The report's good news is that if we act now, we can avoid the most severe consequences.

But the more sobering news is that even if we cut emissions aggressively, not everything in this report can be avoided. This is a first step toward understanding how to prepare for the coming changes.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would take us off the "business-as-usual" path, will come in front of the U.S. House for a vote in a matter of days. This report gives our leaders yet another reason to do the right thing for our country's future.

With the political debate heating up over the American Clean Energy and Security Act, it's easy to lose sight of what the fight is about.

Yes, this is about people and jobs and freeing ourselves from foreign oil and creating a clean energy economy for the 21st century. But it's also about our natural heritage and the wildlife with which we share this planet.

Species from blue whales to butterflies confront growing threats. Their habitats are rapidly changing along with the climate. Global warming is pushing nature to the brink.

That's why Environmental Defense launched a new campaign, Warming and Wildlife, where we document the story through the prism of seven "ambassador species" from across America already struggling to survive.

Without action, there's a good chance these species won't make it -- we could lose them in our lifetimes.

Our seven ambassador species are:

• Sugar maple
• Monarch butterfly
• Leatherback sea turtle
• American pika
• Canada lynx
• Tufted puffin
• Polar bear

The bumper sticker is right: Extinction is forever. But, it doesn't have to be inevitable, not if we each do our part to cap America's global warming pollution and unleash the clean energy economy of the 21st century.

As some may be aware, capping carbon pollution will help create jobs, make the U.S. energy-independent, and fight global warming. A carbon cap is a crucial step towards a safe and prosperous American future — but many Americans don't have a clear idea of how a carbon cap will work.

So we at Environmental Defense designed this graphic, illustrating how capping carbon pollution stimulates the economy and creates jobs.

 

 

It's designed to be easy for reporters, editors, and bloggers around the country to use. We're hoping it will help them explain the concept to readers, even while they're busy covering the the political story of the Waxman-Markey Bill working its way through Congress.

Please post or link to it from wherever you want to! (We also have a bigger web-friendly version and files meant for printing.)

Today's New York Times features a story that may not shock you, but should concern us all:

According to internal reports dating back to 1995, scientists working for the Global Climate Coalition, an industry-sponsored group set up to wage a lobbying and public relations war against global warming action, were telling their bosses that human-caused global warming could not be refuted. But, that didn't stop industry lobbyists from waging a cynical campaign to undermine the science and cloud the debate.

Read the full story here.

Americans were outraged a decade ago when cigarette makers made similar claims about the evidence linking smoking and lung cancer. And then we discovered reams of damning research hidden away in tobacco company vaults.

The only real difference between then and now is that global warming stands to threaten more than just people — millions of species face extinction, entire ecosystems altered beyond recognition, the natural world as we know it today irreparably diminished.

Mainstream media is delving into the details of climate policy at a level we just didn't see a couple years ago. Here's a sampling from this week:

Newsweek asked whether we can still afford to invest in an environmentally friendly economy, and to find out, they talked with Environmental Defense Fund president, Fred Krupp. He gave this example of how green investments make sense all around:

When we make the energy high-efficiency, low-carbon, we can create all types of jobs — jobs that weatherize homes that create dollars that stay here instead of going overseas to pay for imported oil. We can create jobs that produce the materials for weatherization, we can create jobs to make wind turbines and install them. It's not only high-tech jobs we're creating, it's a tremendous number of jobs in existing, familiar businesses. (Read the two-page interview.)

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Fred Krupp yesterday. He starts by observing:

When Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson says he favors a carbon tax over a cap-and-trade system, it's worth asking why the energy giant would want to put a government levy on its own product.

Why, indeed? A tax would not set a legal limit on the pollution created by Exxon's products. A cap would.

And finally, this line from a Los Angeles Times editorial calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business lobbying group:

There will be winners and losers in the clean-energy economy, and those who stand to lose have the loudest voices in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The winners won't just be green-technology innovators; they include everybody on Earth.

One of our most striking discoveries while working on Earth: The Sequel was just how much fun energy innovators are having. (First came the book, and now the Discovery TV show airs this week, check your local listings.)

Bernie Karl spent $20,000 building an ice hotel in the Alaskan interior, and another $700 a day on diesel refrigeration, and then the whole thing melted in the midnight sun. Forbes called it "the dumbest business idea of the year." Well, that was pure catnip to Bernie.

So he built the whole thing again, only this time he hired a dog-mushing engineer named Gwen to figure out how to use the energy in his hot springs to keep it cold. All the experts said it would fail because his water wasn't warm enough, but Bernie made it work (and suggested that Forbes can "kiss my a-").

He went on to collaborate with United Technologies on a geothermal power plant capable of using the lowest temperature heat resource ever used anywhere in the world. That opens up more possibilities than you can imagine: To turn low-temperature industrial waste heat, or the waste hot water that comes up with oil from Texas wells, into electricity.

Jack Newman is one of three young founders of a remarkable biofuels company called Amyris , which genetically engineers yeast to ferment sugar — not into ethanol, but directly into diesel, jet fuel and gasoline chemically identical to fuels made from petroleum. They've assembled an incredibly multi-disciplinary team to achieve their mission, Jack says. "They just sort of ride that wave of energy of people wanting to do something interesting that's going to make a difference, and then it just becomes a great day at work."

For some, the fun is in realizing an opportunity to grow and make money even in these difficult times. Conrad Burke, CEO of a cutting edge solar thin-film company called Innovalight , says "I'm not an environmentalist; I'm a capitalist." In January, Innovalight installed the world's first solar production line using silicon ink, which is printed onto the substrate, making for high-throughput, low-cost manufacture.

Amryis is also charging ahead: Last year it opened its first pilot diesel plant in California, and formed a joint venture with one of Brazil's largest ethanol distributors to quickly scale-up production. SantelisaVale, the second-largest ethanol and sugar producer in Brazil, committed two million tons of sugar cane crushing capacity for the initial production of their "no-compromise" diesel.

And this month, Raser Technologies began delivering geothermal power made in Utah using the technology Bernie helped develop to Anaheim California.

You can meet all these innovators and many more on the Discovery TV special or in the book, which just came out in paperback with a new afterword and illustrations.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Shatz.

America is finally on the cusp of enacting a federal law to cap global warming pollution and the focus on how it will affect our economy has never been greater. When President Obama last week called on Congress to send him such a bill, he underscored the economic necessity of creating new jobs by reinventing our energy supply. Not surprisingly, longtime opponents of taking action argued that a cap will hurt business and consumers.

But the most important piece of this debate has largely been overlooked. Right now, tens of thousands of workers in hundreds of communities are poised to benefit from a nationwide cap on carbon emissions — and they're right in our backyards.

When America caps its carbon emissions, manufacturing companies from coal country to the rust belt and beyond will see a surge of customers looking to cut pollution, reduce energy use and expand their use of renewables like wind and solar.

These are real companies with real employees in real American communities. And it's time for their stories to be heard.

Take Dwayne Esterline of Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Dwayne spent 15 years manufacturing auto parts for everyone from General Motors to Daimler Chrysler. In June 2008, with the auto industry struggling, he took a chance and joined Dowding Industries. Dowding has been in Michigan for over 40 years, and they'd recently begun manufacturing large-scale machine parts for wind turbines.

Dwayne's manufacturing background was a perfect fit, and he sees his story as a model for workers across the country.

"I look at the future of the wind industry, and this is a positive place to be," he says. "It's nice to be a part of something that's growing and creating jobs. I think people in communities like mine need to reinvent themselves and apply their skills to the green energy revolution."

LessCarbonMoreJobs.org, a new resource created by Environmental Defense Fund, was designed to give a voice to stories like Dwayne's. Users can search by city, state, Congressional district and media market to find companies like Dowding Industries in twelve key manufacturing states — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Florida, Colorado and Arkansas.

We chose these states because their elected representatives in Washington will play a key role in deciding whether we place a cap on carbon this year, and because their workers are ready and waiting for economic opportunities.

Bill Keith of St. John, Indiana, operates a company that employs 25 of those workers at its main facility and many more in its local and regional supply chain. A few years ago Bill, who co-owned a roofing company with his brother, invented a solar-powered attic fan that vents hot air and reduces energy bills. Demand took off quickly, and today Bill's fans are installed in the Honolulu airport, the Michigan governor's mansion and the visitors' centers at several national parks.

Now Bill runs a company called SunRise Solar that builds and sells his fans, and he — like entrepreneurs across the heartland — is waiting for the customers that will come knocking when America passes a carbon cap and industries big and small look to lower their energy consumption.

"We've been greeted with overwhelming support and demand," Bill says. "But we know there's much more to do. We're hoping Congress finally puts the economy on a path to embrace these technologies. My operation is ready to grow, and I know others companies like mine are ready too."

Of course, many companies in this sector are struggling in the midst of the recession, and they're a part of LessCarbonMoreJobs.org too. Firms that saw rapid growth — and hired quickly — are now hoping for something to reinvigorate demand as they try to avoid layoffs. The clock is ticking and these companies don't have much time to lose.

Short-term steps, like the funding for efficiency and renewables in the recent stimulus bill, will help. But nothing will compare to the flood of private investment in solutions — and the companies and workers to produce them — that a cap on carbon emissions will unleash.

The science tells us we have to act now to fight climate change, and the thousands of business owners and workers on LessCarbonMoreJobs.org tell us that unless we move quickly, we risk losing the progress made in so many manufacturing communities. Let's hope our leaders see the opportunity at hand, and embrace it.

This was originally posted on Huffington Post.

Jackie Roberts is Director of Sustainable Technologies at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Who is right when a national environmental group holds a video competition and the public and the "experts" disagree on who should win?

At the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the jury of film experts chose Forty Shades of Blue as the best dramatic film. The Audience Award went to Hustle & Flow. I don’t know which was a better film, but I do know Hustle & Flow went on to earn $20 million in wide release in the U.S., while Forty Shades of Blue topped out at $75,000. I’m sure it doesn’t always happen that way, but it goes to show that the experts don’t always know what will succeed in the marketplace of ideas.

We at Environmental Defense Fund just finished something a bit like a film festival — a competition that challenged participants to make a 30 second ad that explains how capping greenhouse gas pollution will help cure our national addition to oil. This week we announced two winners, one selected by our staff and another chosen by thousands of voters online. Like at Sundance, the voters and the judges chose different winners…in fact, the video chosen by us "experts" came in dead last in the online voting.

I thought it might be interesting to explain our decision and see what others think. (more...)

In 2008, the wind energy industry added so many new jobs that it now employs more people than coal mining. That and other compelling numbers were released this week by the American Wind Energy Association.

This is a great example of how clean energy investment creates jobs. Unfortunately, with investment of all kinds down, experts don't expect 2009 to be quite as rosy for the wind industry. But the long-term outlook is good for people seeking jobs in this sector — once Congress puts a cap on carbon pollution, the investment dollars will start flowing again, and the hiring will kick back into high gear.

(Hat tip to Green Wombat.)