Citizens' Daily Lobby

You can help send light to Haiti and learn more about climate change by taking the new Clinton Foundation quiz.  For every completed quiz, the Foundation will give $2 towards the purchase of solar flashlights to be sent to those still living in camps in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake this January.

Learn surprising uses for trash; which city is retrofitting one of its most famous landmarks; and what small urban change can reduce energy costs by up to 90 percent.

Find out how much you know about one of our planet’s greatest challenges and the solutions that are making a real difference. Plus, you’ll feel great knowing that you’ve helped send solar flashlights to people living in Haiti’s camps.

Our goal is for 100,000 people to take the quiz, so we can send 20,000 flashlights to Haiti.
Will you join the fight against climate change — and help the people of Haiti?

With Earth Day fast approaching, there couldn’t be a better time to get involved in fighting climate change and improving the lives of others.

Sincerely,

Bruce R. Lindsey
Chief Executive Officer
William J. Clinton Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 16, 2010

Contact:  Neil Sealy, Arkansas Community Organizations, 501-346-9617

RECENT POLL SHOWS THAT ARKANSAS AFRICAN-AMERICANS SUPPORT CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION

A MAJORITY SAY IT IS IMPORTANT TO THEIR DECISION

ON WHO TO VOTE FOR

Pine Bluff – A recent poll conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies was released yesterday in Washington, DC and found that 52% of African-Americans surveyed in Arkansas consider climate change to be very important in deciding which US Senate candidate to vote for.  The study shows that 55% of the Arkansas African-American respondents said that Congress should pass legislation reducing greenhouse gases before the 2010 elections.

The poll was part of a larger study entitled, Opinion of African-Americans on Climate Change and the 2010 Elections, that surveyed people in four states:  Indiana, Missouri, South Carolina and Arkansas.  A copy of the full study is attached.

The survey also found that 57% of the Arkansas respondents said they would be willing to support climate change legislation even if it meant that energy costs would increase by $10 per month and that 94% had a favorable view of President Obama.

“We are very pleased to see this survey come out.  While the economy and health care are our top concerns, we want to see Congress take action to reduce greenhouse gases and address the issue of global warming.  People in my neighborhood are very supportive of the President’s agenda, and we will evaluate the candidates on their level of support for initiatives coming out of the White House,” said Maxine Nelson, chair of the West Side Community Organization in Pine Bluff.

“The vote from our community will be important in both the Primary and the General elections this year.  We hope that the Democratic candidates for US Senate will take a look at this poll.  Their position on Climate Change legislation will be a factor in the decisions we will make on May 18,” added Ms. Nelson.

Recently Arkansas Community Organizations circulated a letter addressed to Senator Lincoln that expressed concern over her opposition to the EPA’s effort to regulate greenhouse gases.  The letter was signed by more than 50 African-American community leaders and elected officials.

Ah, Earth Day.  Time for Earth-loving people everywhere to get outside and celebrate the gift that is Nature.  (Cue Grieg’s “Morning Mood” from Pier Gynt).

Also time for the press to pull out all the stops for its annual paeans to the God of the Consumer Marketplace, Wal-Mart.  Today in the New York Times, for example,  CEO Lee Scott is lionized for his role in promoting a greener outlook for the retail giant.   It’s fair to say the company is taking steps toward sustainability.  Relatively small steps that place the majority of the cost burden on their suppliers, that is.

Environmentalism, then, is very much a modern byproduct of sound business, in Scott’s view. The architect of the company’s well-publicized attempt to foist sustainability on its suppliers said the effort has less to do with environmental altruism than a business-sense commitment to cutting inefficiencies. That core distaste for excess, he said, should be the driver behind getting emitters to see opportunity in greenhouse gas reductions rather than punishment.

How does the man who leads Wal-Mart, biggest promoter of excessive, profligate,  unbridled consumption and peddler of cheap goods made for almost instant obsolescence,  say  that “core distaste for excess”  drives his company?

Thankfully,  some have resisted the growing trend to throw flower petals under Scott’s feet.  Read to the end of the NYT article, and you’ll find this excellent summation by Michael Brune.

“Wal-Mart right now is in a spot where there is legitimately a lot of praise, but there is a lot to legitimately criticize,” Brune said. “The scale of their effort is grossly surpassed by the pace of the company’s growth.”

Brune noted that the greenhouse gas commitment is to cut the intensity of the company’s total carbon footprint, not total emissions. Deciding to build solar panels on rooftops in 20 stores nationwide is nice, Brune added, but what about the 8,000 other stores?

“It’s a very long hike” to real sustainability, Brune said.

Last week, prominent members of minority communities in the region got together to take a stand for the Clean Air Act.   The group wrote a letter (in the photo above and reprinted below) signed by over 20 community leaders, including city council members from Pine Bluff, numerous small business owners, pastors, and 2 members of the Pulaski County Quorum Court.   The action was sponsored by Arkansas Community Organizations.  This action should remind us all that clean air truly is everyone’s responsibility.

Dear Senator Lincoln:

We are community leaders in Arkansas who are working to improve health conditions in low- and middle-income neighborhoods.  We appreciate your vote for health care reform last year, and we hope you will continue to move health reform forward even if it means using reconciliation.

We are writing you, however, on a different matter that affects the health of our communities here in Arkansas and across the nation.  We believe that a clean environment is essential to improving health, especially for those of us who live in underserved neighborhoods where we have the least access to health care.  That is why we strongly support the effort by President Obama and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases.

The pollution from coal-fired plants is the single largest contributor to climate change in our country.  Low-income communities will be impacted the greatest by global warming.  We have fewer resources to deal with the severe weather patterns and the heat waves that will result from climate change.  Greenhouse gases and other pollution from coal-fired plants contribute to health problems such as increasing the incidence of severe asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments.  Many of us live near the White Bluff power plant, and we are aware that it is one of the dirtiest of the more than 600 power plants operating in the United States.

We were disappointed at learning that you are co-sponsoring a resolution that would prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases through implementation of the Clean Air Act.  We understand that many of the “Murkowski resolution’s” co-sponsors are among the top recipients of political contributions from the fossil fuel and power industries.  Isn’t it time that Congress put the welfare and health of our country ahead of political fundraising from big corporations?

We call on you to support President Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in their efforts to clean up our environment by using the authority given to them by the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases.  Please reconsider your support and co-sponsorship of this resolution and other legislation that would obstruct efforts to enforce the Clean Air Act by the Obama Administration.

Sincerely,

Photo courtesy of Arkansas Community Organizations.

The cap and trade system proposed in the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House last year could actually lead to increased farm income, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. This is due to the fact that agricultural enterprises would not be “capped” under the bill, but would still be eligible to make additional income via offsets.    This is in contrast to regulation of CO2 by the EPA without passage of cap and trade legislation, which is predicted to place additional cost and regulatory burden on farmers.  Of the three methods of regulating greenhouse gas emissions (cap and trade, regulation, and carbon taxes), cap and trade is the friendliest to agriculture.   Under cap and trade with offsets, the return to farmers  (of commodities, at least)  might look something like the data presented in Table 2.  The Center acknowledges that without some control of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of climate change on agriculture would leave agriculture “vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change not only in the US but in the world”.   Full story here.

It will be important for agriculture to carefully consider the offsets available and to choose those that don’t take too much cropland out of production (ie, for forestation).   I would be interested to see what the data might look like for returning land that is currently in commodity production to growing produce and animal protein for local markets.  Mainstream agricultural economics doesn’t do a very good job of looking at serious alternatives to our current agricultural system.

Last week I was asked by CREDO to vote for my favorite of three anti-Lincoln billboards, one of which will ultimately be erected here in Blanche Lincoln country.  The billboards aim to call the Senator out for her stance on the Murkowski amendment that would take the teeth out of the Clean Air Act regarding CO2 emissions.  The billboard contest was created by CREDO Action and Friends of the Earth.    None of the three proposed billboards is exactly what I would call a triumph of political advertising, and, let’s face it, none of them would exactly resonate with Arkansas voters.  I have said it before, and I’ll be happy to say it again:  if you’re going to mess with Arkansas politics, you should probably know Arkansans.

Billboard number 1, “Senator Lincoln:  Don’t Choke Our Razorbacks.  Hands off the Clean Air Act” comes complete with a non-official Hog cartoon.    Even if the hog were a genuine, NCAA-approved, legitimate Razorback, the billboard would still strike me as condescending.  Not only that, but it’s just not an effective message.   What the creators of this particular billboard probably do not know is that a football coach from the Fayetteville area once famously declared during a public hearing that his high school team “bows down” to the smokestack of a local coal plant and thanks God for that plant.  Money talks.

Billboard number 2,  “Arkansans Love Clean Air, Why Doesn’t Senator Lincoln?” is better.  The problem with this one is that the photo of Senator Lincoln is virtually unrecognizable.  Judging by the photo, the text should read something like “B-r-a-i-n-s…B-r-a-i-n-s.”

Candidate number 3 is simply an official-looking photo of the Senator with the phrase “Corporate Polluters, I support you-Blanche Lincoln.”  Too detached.   Arkansas voters are simply not concerned about “corporate polluters.”

I think I may be able to help these people out.  Here are two billboards that are almost certain to resonate in Arkansas:

A coalition of environmental groups has taken Senator Lincoln to task for her support of the Murkowski amendment that will essentially take the teeth out of the Clean Air Act with regards to CO2 emissions.   Audubon Arkansas sends the following release:

LITTLE ROCK, AR (February 16, 2010) — Today, a coalition of Arkansas conservation organizations sent a letter to Senator Blanche Lincoln expressing their disappointment with her support for Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block enforcement of Clean Air Act requirements to reduce global climate change pollutants.  The coalition urged Senator Lincoln to reconsider her decision and instead work to ensure that the Congress passes a strong clean energy and climate plan.

“The Clean Air Act is a proven success, with a 40-year track record of cost-effectively cutting pollution to protect our citizens and the environment and to drive technological innovation,” said Ellen McNulty, National Wildlife Federation.  “Instead of embracing progress, this attack on the Clean Air Act would put public health at risk and jeopardize long-overdue action to hold the biggest polluters accountable, reduce American’s oil dependence, and jump-start a vibrant clean energy economy.”

In the letter, the coalition urged Senator Lincoln to work with Congress to pass strong energy and climate legislation with market-based emissions trading programs to reduce global climate change pollutants and create a much-needed clean energy economy.  The letter cites a December 2009 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that projects real gross revenues for agricultural carbon offsets to increase from $800 million per year in 2015 to $30 billion per year by 2050.

“Support for Senator Murkowski’s resolution is a major step backwards for Arkansas’s economy, agriculture, public health, and environment,” said Ken Smith, Audubon Arkansas.  “A resolution to block all or part of the Clean Air Act would turn our back on the overwhelming science of climate change and further exacerbate the crippling uncertainty facing industry, holding back billions of dollars in job-creating clean energy investments.”

The coalition includes: 1Sky – Arkansas, Arkansans for Clean Energy Jobs, Arkansas Climate Awareness Project, Arkansas Earth Day Foundation, Arkansas Nature Alliance, Arkansas Sierra Club, Arkansas Solar Initiative, Arkansas Wildlife Federation, Audubon Arkansas, Clean Air Arkansas, The Ecological Conservation Organization, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Faulkner County Supporters of Sustainable Communities, Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers, National Wildlife Federation, OMNI Center Climate Change Task Force, and Ozark Society.

The letter can be found at www.ar.audubon.org.

Senator Lisa Murkowski will get a vote on a rider that will undermine the Clean Air Act.  This is an attempt to block the EPA from regulating CO2 emissions from big polluters like coal plants.  The rider will remove enforcement funding for the Act from the EPA, effectively neutralizing the agency.   Several groups have petitions circulating.  You may sign at MoveOn.org, CREDO, Repower America,  and the National Wildlife Foundation.   As always, please follow up with a letter to our Senators, urging them to vote against the Lisa Murkowski EPA amendment.

Through Conservative media outlets, the right has billed climate change as a hoax perpetrated by left-wing environmentalists and their goofy scientist-type friends.    Like the Theory of Evolution, climate change has become more a matter of a belief system than a discussion of scientific evidence.   As with other issues where the Right has controlled the dialogue, Americans are confused about climate change.   A recent Pew Center for the People and the Press survey demonstrated that fewer Americans now trust the evidence for “global warming” than last year.    And fewer Americans believe it is caused by human activity, or even that it is a serious problem.    Most disturbing is data showing that more Republicans than Democrats say they have heard “a lot” about global warming.   The most well-informed about cap and trade policy are Conservative Republicans.  That should ring as a challenge to all of us who are committed to seeing strong climate change legislation passed.  We need to get the facts out there.

It is encouraging to note that half  of Americans polled still support setting limits on carbon dioxide emissions and charging companies for those emissions, even if it means higher energy prices.   Only among Conservative Republicans do a majority oppose such policy.    51% of moderate Republicans support such policy.   Finally, in a bit of good news, the South is not bringing up the rear on this issue.  The Midwest and Mountain West have a higher percentage of people who do not trust the evidence of global warming.

I take issue with the Pew organization for its continued use of the term “global warming.”  That term is inaccurate and has been branded by the Right as ridiculous.  A better term is climate change, which accounts for the different effects that warming of the Earth as a whole will have in various regions.  Here are a few links to help you in discussions of climate change.

Arkansas facts from USCAN

Arkansas facts from the Wildlife Federation

On this international climate change day of action, it’s important to remember why we fight for strong climate change legislation world-wide.

October is perhaps the  most beautiful month of the year in many parts of America, including Arkansas.  Today, my family and I are enjoying the absolutely breathtaking scenery in the Boston Mountains and Buffalo National River area.   We will use this as the backdrop to our action day photograph.   Climate change is not just about getting warmer or colder over time.  Climate change is about drought, storms, and floods.  If left unchecked, climate change will eventually lead to alteration of the very landscape.

Climate change legislation will have another benefit for the environment (hopefully):  decreased reliance on and extraction of fossil fuels.  Extraction of coal, natural gas, and oil wreak devastation on the environment.  Burning fossil fuels releases many toxins that wreak havoc on human bodies.

So today, take some time to join the Day of Action.