A recent column by David Morris published on Alternet provides a review of George Monbiot’s new book Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning. The book picks up where Al Gore left off on global warming, offering real solutions without sugar-coating the large personal sacrifices they will require.
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The 2006 openings followed the launch of nearly 90 bookstores in 2005. “2005 was the first year in memory that there were a significant number of new store openings,” said Oren Teicher of the American Booksellers Association. The locations of the new stores spanned 35 states and included a wide range of cities and small towns, from Los Angeles to Pierre, South Dakota, and Homer, Louisiana.… Read More
Our January 2007 report, Lessons from the Pioneers: Tackling Global Warming at the Local Level looks at ten of the most visible and successful cities involved in global warming solutions and finds that reducing GHG emissions below 1990 levels will be a major challenge.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), a group that has long been been tracking state-level developments related to net metering and distributed generation interconnection activities, has released its first monthly summary of state-level activities required under the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).
Biofuels won’t single-handedly solve the climate crisis, nor will they deliver energy independence. But a base of widely dispersed, farmer- and citizen-owned biofuel plants can displace significant amounts of fossil fuels — while also building local economies. ILSR’s recent column in Grist Magazine outlines a federal energy and agriculture strategy to move us in the right direction.
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A modest tax incentive proposal in Boulder, Colorado, creates a solar renewable energy fund from local sales tax revenues on solar energy equipment. About one third of the revenues will go for partial sales tax rebates and the other two-thirds will go to upgrade and fund new solar projects in the city at low income and nonprofit organization sites.
A growing number of communities are fighting back against the rising power of large retail stores like Wal-Mart. But real change won’t come until we stop thinking of ourselves as consumers and start thinking of ourselves as engaged citizens.… Read More
One of the first orders of business for the new Congress should be to eliminate a single sentence in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The language was added in the waning hours of the conference committee negotiations. According to ILSR, if it does not, the commercialization of ethanol made from cellulose could be delayed.
The article below by David Morris provides and overview of the mess.
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A three-year-old campaign to encourage people in northwest Washington state to "Think Local First" is having a dramatic effect on spending behavior, according to a recent survey. … Read More
