The Climate Minute

The MCAN Climate Minute – The Year in Review

Good morning, not from the pink and orange coffeehouse, but from a cubicle in a small-town public library.  With the end of the year rapidly approaching Ted and I thought we'd take a look back at 2012 and talk about some of the lasting impressions we had from Two Thousand and Twelve, Anno Domini. Click on the “MCAN Climate Minute” picture to the right to start the recording in a new window. Here’s more information about some of the things we talked about in this edition of the Climate Minute: Check our our blogs on Falmouth wind and the Plymouth wind moratorium attempt.  For a look at the propsed wind siting reform legislation, go here.  And if you're interested at seeing what the opposition, WindWise, has to say, check out their site here. For a good overview of the wind power production tax credit, check out DSIRE's page here. Ted had a great time at the Government Center Vigil, and spoke with some of the folks there. Here's our blog on the Arctic melt maximum this fall.  To read more about the opening of the Northwest passage go here.  The level of the Mississippi River is discussed here, hopefully the recent blizzard in the midwest will make a difference. We wrote about Bill McKibben's "Do the Math" tour here, and his excellent Rolling Stone piece about the most important three numbers is here. As we mentioned, even merchandiser Kohl’s is getting in on the action, but Beacon Hill leadership isn't getting message yet, as the bottle bill languishes for another year. The Boston Globe wrote about the B corporation movement in their Ideas section, and MIT's Sloan School journal had an article here. Finally, as we wrap up the year with the slightest glimmer of a chance for a white Christmas, Think Progress is writing that 2012 will almost certainly be the hottest year on record. We've enjoyed our conversations with you in 2012, and look forward to coming at you from the pink and orange coffeehouse, or places yet to be discovered, in the new year. And, as always -- remember, for these reasons we have discussed, the United States must place a price on carbon.  Have a great weekend, and we look forward to talking with you again next week!

The Climate Minute: The White House gets it right on climate... oh, sorry, wrong Whitehouse.

Good morning from the pink and orange coffeehouse.  The Whitehouse made a rousing speech about the Climate Cliff and the danger we are in ignoring the realities of greenhouse gasses and climate change. Oh, sorry.  That was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, not The White House.  Well, perhaps the President was taking notes for his own speech on the climate, right? Well, don’t be too distressed, there’s still a lot of great stuff going on. MCAN’s Climate Minute Dec 14 2012 (And let us know what you think about our snazzy new graphic… Do you like it?) Anyway, here’s more information about some of the things we talked about in this edition of the Climate Minute: Forecast the Facts is hoping you’ll send Senator Whitehouse’s speech to your Representative or Senator.  They’ve set up a webpage where you can send a message to your legislator.  Here’s the Senator’s speech as prepared for delivery, and here’s theYouTube video of the Senator’s speech on the floor of the Senate. Here’s a story about Amazon.com’s agreement with Massachusetts regarding the collection of sales tax. 350.org is planning an anti-Keystone event in Washington DC on President’s Day weekend on February 17th.  For more about the event visit 350.org’s site here. The Conference is coming — we can’t wait!  Here’s a link to the conference page.  More information will be rolled out as it becomes available, and you will be able to register after the first of the year.  You can give us feedback now as to what you’re interested in doing at the conference on the webform on the conference page. For more climate events, visit the MCAN Climate Calendar and submit your own event. Finally, to get Mr. Burns’ take on the fiscal cliff, his YouTube announcement is here. And, as always — remember, for these reasons we have discussed, the United States must place a price on carbon.  Have a great weekend, and we look forward to talking with you again next week!

Climate Hawk's Companion - the Massachusetts Clean Energy Plan

This edition of “A Climate Hawk’s Companion” focuses on the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020. The plan puts Massachusetts into a leadership role among all fifty states in developing concrete plans for addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Click on the picture over there on the left and listen to the podcast to get some background on the plan, and then explore the links. The Executive Summary and full report of the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020 are available at the links. If you aren’t prepared for that much reading, a couple of slide show presentations by Mr. Steve Clark and Mr. David Cash give you the main ideas with a lot less words.  Here's a link to the website of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. This office was created early in the Romney administration, and reflects our state’s long-standing bipartisan commitment to wise environmental policies. A description of the Green Communities Act is here, and here is the Global Warming Solutions Act, and Mass DEP's GWSA page. An Environmental Defense Fund report on the Obama fuel standards and an introduction to HydroQuebec are available. The Boston-based think-tank MassInc commissioned an assessment of the Clean Energy Plan. Here is our own blog on the release of this assessment report from last April. The assessment, entitled Rising to the Challenge will be the topic of the next edition of “A Climate Hawk’s Companion” podcast. Stay tuned!

Community Supported Fisheries on The Climate Hawk Companion

We've finished our second "Climate Hawk's Companion," and we had a great time talking with Ben Cowie-Haskell, the leader of MCAN Chapter Sustainable South Shore, and one of the driving forces behind SoSsexi... (Now that's a way to drive up web traffic!) In all seriousnes, Sossexi is the nickname of the South Shore Seafood Exchange, a new community supported fishery on the South Shore of Massachusetts.   You can visit their site and check out their program, get a few recipes, and sign up here. While subscription community supported agriculture programs have been around for several decades, it appears this kind of program is new for fishing, according to this The New York Times story about the first community supported fishery, Port Clyde Fresh Catch in Maine. To find a community supported fishery near you, check out the locator on LocalCatch.org. In addition to helping get Sossexi off the ground, Sustainable South Shore has been busy getting ready for the second annual South Shore Celebration, which is happening thie Saturday, October 6th at the Marshfield fairgrounds.  This wonderful event focuses on sustainable living and local food.  This year's edition features a seafood "throw-down" between two great chefs competing against each other to prepare the most delicious meal based off a mystery fish!  (Think Iron Chef goes South Shore.)  For more information on the celebration, check out their website here. And if you live on the South Shore and want to get involved with a truly excellent group doing great work on climate change and sustainability, check out Sustainable South Shore's website. Thanks for listening, and remember: for these reasons, the United States should put a price on carbon!

Climate Hawk's Companion - What the heck's a REC?

This edition of “A Climate Hawk’s Companion” is a beginner's guide to Renewable Energy Credit, or REC. In this episode Ted talks about what RECs are and gives a basic overview of why they are important, plus we provide some links to get more information. In order to hear the podcast, click on the icon to the left. Here are some links discussed in the podcast: The  Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance website is a good place to buy clean electricity. (These programs include New England Wind and New England GreenStart.) They buy the REC’s that make your electricity green. Here are some definitions of RECs from Wikipedia and the EPA. For example: A REC (pronounced: rěk) represents the property rights to the environmental, social, and other nonpower qualities of renewable electricity generation. A REC, and its associated attributes and benefits, can be sold separately from the underlying physical electricity associated with a renewable-based generation source. Here are some references for the ideas discussed: Idea 1: Electrons are identical. Idea 2: The utilities can measure what goes on and off the grid. Idea 3: The ability to separate the physical electrons from their environmental benefits Idea 4:  Value in the environmental benefit environmental benefit, as distinct from value of electrons. Idea  5: The ability to decouple the “greenness” at point of production from point of use. Idea 6: The ability to use market forces to encourage the growth of renewables. This includes ways that certification cab avoid double counting here and here. There is some information on Renewable Portfolio (RPS) Standards and the voluntary markets. This is just a start. Good luck investigating this topic. …Ted McIntyre