In reference to the things we can and should do now as the climate bakes, he puts it to all of us here and now, and asks us to act now for our children and grandchildren.

“Even if you have no children or grandchildren, do the right thing. This is not just an environmental issue. For Christian, Jews, Muslims, Pagans and atheists alike, it is civilization’s defining moral moment.
Share this essay with friends and colleagues. Ask all to call Sens. Hagan and Burr, and call the White House, too. We can’t afford to kick this ball down the road, and shame on us if we do.”

Read and share the full op-ed here.

From the abstract:
“This article explores one part of the Appalachian Transition solution that can be ramped up in a short period of time and can start to bring the region toward a more sustainable economy: the Renew East Kentucky plan. We propose that the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), a rural electric co-op made up of 16 distribution co-ops serving 87 counties in the state, launch an aggressive, well-funded, five-year initiative in the EKPC service area in cooperation with local, state, and national agencies and organizations. This proposal presents concrete steps, such as expanding residential efficiency and weatherization programs, funding the projects through new, creative on-bill financing with low-interest loans from the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, and installing local renewable energy projects, such as small-scale hydroelectric at existing dams. This program could create thousands of local jobs and, by diversifying the regional energy portfolio, yield additional economic benefit to struggling families. It would work in collaboration with ongoing regional efforts in affordable housing and more recent efforts to re-tool Kentucky’s workforce for green energy jobs. The proposal may serve as a road map for transition in other areas.”

Read the full article here

…and they’ve detected a not-so-surprising but oh-so-disturbing counter current in these negotiations:

Electric Utilities, the largest polluters on the planet, want to remain exempt from the “fully accounted cost” of their externalities; i.e. we the rate payers continue to pay the electric utilities profitably for their power - and we pay additionally to clean up their mess.

Hmmm…I buy dinner at a restaurant and then have to wash my dishes, sweep and mop the floor, wipe the table, and take out the trash. I sure hope I left enough tip…

Here’s a tantalizing excerpt to whet your appetite for the full blown post on Grist’s Blog:

The power sector is terrified. After putting off needed investments in new, cleaner generation for years and years — aided and abetted by simpatico regulators in D.C. — all the sudden they’re going to have to start making those investments. And quickly! They might have to scramble, and innovate, and maybe even change their business models! Some of them might even have to … gasp … raise rates (which have been artificially suppressed for years)!

The cost of nuclear generated electricity
vs. solar generated electricity

Check out the rest of the post on FacingSouth’s Blog HERE.

Below is a teaser to tide you over until the FacingSouth Blog loads:

The report points out that both new solar and new nuclear power sources will cost more than present electricity generation. However, power bills will rise less with solar generation than with new nuclear.

Duke Energy and Progress Energy, North Carolina’s largest utilities, estimate that proposed new nuclear plants would generate power at a cost of 14 to 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. But commercial-scale solar developers are already offering utilities electricity at 14 cents or less per kWh.

Today an average North Carolina homeowner can have a solar electricity system installed for a net cost between $8,200 and $20,000 or more, depending on generation capacity.

Ready to provide your home and neighbors with solar electricity that is nearly “too cheap to meter”?

See what a North Carolina solar system might cost you by using AIRE’s “North Carolina Solar Electric System Pro forma Calculator”.

Lance’s NEW car: The ALL ELECTRIC Nissan Leaf

Watch the Interviews with Lance where he discusses his passion for electric vehicles at the links below:

http://ecotechdaily.com/2010/07/05/lance-armstrong-featured-in-new-nissan-leaf-electric-car-video/

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/video/view/lance_armstrong_talks_leaf?intcmp=leaf_lance_video.about.events.P3#/leaf-electric-car/video/view/lance_armstrong_talks_leaf

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (right)

“No one has more to loose on this well than BP.” That was Mississippi governor Haley Barbour’s parting comment on an NPR segment that I just happened to hear on June 29th. This was jaw dropping, but alas, disturbingly typical and uncritical. There couldn’t be a more perverse logic than portraying BP as the victim in the colossal disaster of its own making. Then to shift the blame to the Coast Guard because, according to Barbour, they were unprepared to clean up is just the zenith of arrogance.

Yes, lets ride the fossil fuel free blast to the bitter (and inevitable) end. Lets ignore the potential for disaster (precautionary principle man, this is not a “leak”…this thing is gushing! Count the months!). Lets pretend that “technology” can plug a gushing hole in the Gulf then defund agencies that we will later assail when the disaster happens (gonna need a scape goat!). Lets complete the delusion by pretending the actual guilty company is the victim. Of course this narrative is all too familiar in our national energy discourse. Unfettered so-called “market rule” trumps people and planet. Don’t believe for a minute that “cheap energy”
is actually cheap.

BP’s financial losses, however large, pale in comparison to the loss of (a) culture, (b) livelihoods, (c) a vast ecosystem, and (d) ultimately the biosphere. For fishermen, net makers, shrimpers and folks making their living from the land, the losses are real. For BP it’s only money and a corporate “person” doesn’t feel pain or sorrow. Unfortunately nor does BP feel a sense of responsibility and accountability. And for the corporate apologists who claim the oil jobs trump all else… killing things (like people, places, living creatures, and ecosystems) has no worth in a moral, sustainable economy.

Time to reorient our energy mind set now.

Grist has been following this negative development. Here’s a taste of Grist’s post on this development:

“On Tuesday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended their radio silence nine weeks after sending cryptic letters warning lenders against permitting the use of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) — but it wasn’t the follow-up PACE advocates were hoping for.

FHFA’s letter amounts to a middle finger to PACE, which has drawn excitement from clean-energy advocates, home-improvement contractors, and homeowners who want to use the system to pay for projects like rooftop solar arrays and retrofits that cut energy waste.

The agency is arguing that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, saving homeowners money on utility bills, and creating local jobs working on homes are not “traditional community benefits.” It’s making another argument too: That it should get to decide what projects have local-community benefits.”

Read Grist’s full post here

The Valle Crucis Community Park
Mast General Store
Appalachian State University
Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE)

What:

Unveiling of Self-Sufficient Solar Stage, known as H’s Stage

Where:

Valle Crucis Community Park beside the Mast Store Annex in Historic Valle Crucis

When:

Friday, June 25, 2010, 7 p.m.

Why:

Celebrating community partnerships and renewable energy

This year the Valle Crucis Community Park will be powering their concert series with
the sun. Through a partnership uniting the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy
(AIRE), the Valle Crucis Community Park, and Mast General Store, this event will
honor the memory of H. W. Mast by continuing to give back to the community by
sharing the talents of local musicians in a beautiful venue using clean power on a stage
that bears his name.

The evening’s concert will feature local favorite Upright and Breathin’ (funky bluegrass).

The concert is free, but donations are encouraged. Join your friends and neighbors for a
fun evening of music and off-the-grid fun.
Community partnerships can make renewable energy a reality. AIRE, the Valle
Crucis Community Park, Appalachian State University, and Mast General Store
are hoping to use this community gathering place to educate the public on how
renewable energy options can be affordable and not as complicated as one might think.

For more info:

Caroline Gandy, Valle Crucis Community Park - 828-963-9239
Jeffrey Scott - AIRE - 828-265-1137
Fred Martin - Mast General Store - 828-963-6511

For those interested in sustainability and Appalachia, have a look at Solutions special Appalachia issue. Here’s what the Folks at Solutions Journal have to say about the issue:

Together with a dynamic group of academics, business leaders, and activists—each living and working in Appalachia—Solutions will present a special issue dedicated to creating a brighter future for Appalachia. Appalachia is a special place—one of the most biologically diverse and culturally rich regions on the planet. But it is only one of several regions in the United States with an economy dependent on fossil energy production and where the people fear they will suffer when America makes its necessary transition to a low-carbon economy. The challenge in each of these regions will be to make the transition as deliberately and thoughtfully as possible. Central Appalachia has the potential to become a national model of the positive transition to America’s clean energy future. Our members will receive $5.00 off the low subscription rate that keeps Solutions going.