A tale of two Earth Day heroes: Tim DeChristopher and Sandra Steingraber
"It's no accident that the emerging fossil fuel resistance has sent so many people to jail in the last few years. That's because the overwhelming wealth of the fossil fuel industry means we can't outspend them; we need other currencies with which to work. Passion, spirit, creativity. And sometimes we have to spend our bodies."
About stepping it up a notch:
"Earth Day /.../ its remarkable debut in 1970, when one American in 10 went out in the streets to demand action on clean air and water. That unprecedented activism laid the groundwork for the swift passage of legislation, and the almost-as-swift rehabilitation of lakes and rivers. But in the years after, many Earth Day celebrations drifted in a slightly more corporate direction; there wasn't anything wrong with them, but they didn't seem to be helping arrest environmentalism's slide into relative impotence.
This year, however, the holiday really resonates, because there are two heroes reminding us of the sacrifices they've made to move the fight forward, and the way the rest of us need to step up our game."
This year, however, the holiday really resonates, because there are two heroes reminding us of the sacrifices they've made to move the fight forward, and the way the rest of us need to step up our game."
"last week the TCA held a behind-closed-doors secret vote and, free from any public comments, approved construction of a 5-mile section of the controversial road. If built, the freeway would cover much of San Onofre State Beach in asphalt, and would choke off sand flow from nearby San Mateo creek that stabilizes the cobblestone reef at Lowers."
It would appear that piecemeal intrusions into nature, thus flying under the radar of the often redundant or outdate environmental legislation has become somewhat of a hype in the Building world:
"Building the project in piecemeal may be TCA's attempt to side-step the environmental impact concerns voiced by, among other groups, the Surfrider Foundation and the National Resources Defense Council."
"The National Resources Defense Council's Joel Reynolds points out that this "segmenting" approach is illegal according to state and federal precedent, because once the first section of road is built, later decisions by government officials about extending the toll road would invariably be influenced by the already-existing five-mile extension of the 241 toll road.
By voting in secrecy, the TCA has contradicted its earlier assertions that the group would always allow for public participation in any future decisions about the toll road project."
By voting in secrecy, the TCA has contradicted its earlier assertions that the group would always allow for public participation in any future decisions about the toll road project."
The gist:
"Solar power and other distributed renewable energy technologies could lay waste to U.S. power utilities and burn the utility business model, which has remained virtually unchanged for a century, to the ground /.../: is the assessment of the utilities themselves."
"The report /.../ is one of the most prescient and brutally frank things I've ever read about the power sector. It is a rare thing to hear an industry tell the tale of its own incipient obsolescence."
The nice parts of the above post are the three quotes from the report of the US Utilities it referes to. I especially like the below one. And I ask myself:
since this is the prevailing logic in all businesses and <often old> investors <who might not live to see the environmental, social, economic, ... consequences of their investment choices in fossil fuel extraction/industry>, where are we going to? Will they give it some final pushes in the next few years, trying to ban private energy supply and independece, as the food industry has basically managed to do? (FDA ...)
since this is the prevailing logic in all businesses and <often old> investors <who might not live to see the environmental, social, economic, ... consequences of their investment choices in fossil fuel extraction/industry>, where are we going to? Will they give it some final pushes in the next few years, trying to ban private energy supply and independece, as the food industry has basically managed to do? (FDA ...)
"Increased uncertainty and risk will not be welcomed by investors, who will seek a higher return on investment and force defensive-minded investors to reduce exposure to the sector."
Source: http://grist.org/climate-energy/solar-panels-could-destroy-u-s-utilities-according-to-u-s-utilities/
"One implication of all this — a poorly understood implication — is that rooftop solar fucks up the utility model even at relatively low penetrations, because it goes straight at utilities' main profit centers. (It's already happening in Germany.)"
"Remember, too, that these utilities are not Google or Facebook. They are not accustomed to a state of constant market turmoil and reinvention. This is a venerable old boys network, working very comfortably within a business model that has been around, virtually unchanged, for a century. A friggin' century, more or less without innovation, and now they're supposed to scramble and be all hip and new-age? Unlikely.
So what's to be done? You won't be surprised to hear that EEI's prescription is mainly focused on preserving utilities and their familiar business model. But is that the best thing for electricity consumers? Is that the best thing for the climate?
We'll dig into those questions in my next post - How can we boost distributed solar and save utilities at the same time?"
So what's to be done? You won't be surprised to hear that EEI's prescription is mainly focused on preserving utilities and their familiar business model. But is that the best thing for electricity consumers? Is that the best thing for the climate?
We'll dig into those questions in my next post - How can we boost distributed solar and save utilities at the same time?"
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