Alternative Energy

The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this ‘dinosaur economy’ on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals and materials, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs AND a healthier environment. It’s time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let’s build it better.

Tim Flannery

Dr. Tim Flannery is an Australian mammalogist, paleontologist, environmentalist, professor and global warming activist. He was named Australian of the Year in 2007.

Flannery explains that over the last 10,000 years humanity has built a “super-organism” – a level of organization similar to that of ants, termites, or bees. The glue that holds the super-organism together is the division of labor, interdependence. As “we form this one great super-organism, where we are all interconnected, we gain the capacity to deal with environmental challenges.” Flannery sees international progress in addressing climate change and expects more in the future.
Source: Dr. Tim Flannery: A Natural History of the Planet

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council. Kennedy was in San Francisco to promote The Last Mountain, a new film that features his efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. Dirty fuels should be forced to cover their full costs, Kennedy says. Dirty fuels cannot compete without subsidies. Kennedy argues our democracy is broken, and the campaign finance system is a system of legalized bribery.
Source: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council

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Peter B. Collins interviews Scott A. Bonn

The book “Mass Deception” connects propaganda and distortions by the Bush administration to elite deviance and state crimes and violations of international criminal law. Dr. Bonn's book illustrates how those in the highest seats of power deceived and manipulated ordinary, hard-working, trusting Americans. Those Americans then sent their sons and daughters to fight in needlessly wars.
Source: Peter B. Collins on January 10, 2011, Bush’s Rehtoric and Lies Produced “Mass Deception”
 

Capturing Geothermal Energy

What if, right below our feet, we had enough potential clean energy to keep the U.S. supplied for thousands years? That's what the U.S. Department of Energy calculates. But there's a catch: we have to get to all that potential geothermal power. Reporter: Craig Miller. From the California Report.
Source: The California Report, 33x20: Capturing Geothermal Energy

Via Gizmodo

Building a Progressive California Democratic Party Platform

The Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento (PDA) held a meeting on Saturday, Jan. 9th to discuss improvements to the CA Democratic Party (CDP) Platform. All area Progressive Democrats were invited by Wellstone President Tamie Dramer and Political Affairs Chair Chris Niehaus to help shape the Party's Platform. CDP Platform Committee member Christine Thomas started off with a brief overview of the committee. CDP Progressive Caucus Chair (and PDA NorCal co-coordinator) Karen Bernal spoke about the need for Progressives in California to change the Party and how we can use our numbers to improve our platform. The room overflowed with attendees that took on issues such as Health Care, the Environment, Energy, Labor, Economic Justice, Poverty Elimination, Education & Criminal Justice.

Here are my favorite quotes from the 12/27/09 Sacramento Bee.

"California has the opportunity to be a leader in the green revolution – by showing how to make buildings more energy efficient, designing more efficient transmission lines, developing a better battery, reducing the cost of solar power, being a pioneer in technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a hundred other possibilities."

- Stephen Levy is director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto.
- Special to The Bee, Published Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
- http://www.sacbee.com/198/story/2420552.html

Tesla Unveils All-Electric Sedan, But Needs Federal Loan for Factory to Build It
And, in related news, Obama forces GM's CEO to step down in advance of federal auto-industry bailout for Detroit
Can we put one and one together here please?...
Blogged by Brad Friedman on 3/29/2009 8:51PM

Tesla Motors revealed its all-electric Model S sedan last week in Los Angeles. At half the price of its Roadster model, which was $109,000, the Model S will be priced at $49,900 after tax credits ($57,400 before such credits). "After factoring in savings on gas," Tesla points out, that's "comparable to a $35,000 Ford sedan," the New York Times reports. A blog item from the Times describes the Model S as "sleek, sporty and sexy."

Tesla hopes the price tag will come down to "less than $30,000," as the price "will presumably go down as the technology improves." They plan the manufactured version to get 300 miles to a single charge, with a 45-minute recharge time.

The dirty green line
Erecting new transmission lines for solar and wind power is a boon to coal-burning utilities and a drain on our wallets. What's an environmentalist to do?
By Katharine Mieszkowski - Mar. 23, 2009 | Salon.com

With a boost of billions in the economic stimulus plan, the White House plans to double the nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years. There's big talk in Congress of creating a national renewable-energy standard, which would mandate that utilities get a chunk of their power from green sources like solar, wind and geothermal. So long dirty energy, hello green future.

Yet as renewable energy finally takes its place as a national priority, a tripwire lurks in the rosy scenario: transmission lines. No less an authority than President Obama is promoting the goal of building thousands of miles of new transmission lines to move power from the Great Plains and Mojave Desert to the nation's energy-hungry cities and 'burbs. And he's got plenty of political might behind him.