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The Time Gloria Steinem Made Bernie Sanders an "Honorary Woman"

by Elizbeth4898 Posted on January 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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In the fall of 1996, locked in a tough re-election fight against Republican Susan Sweetser, then-Rep. Sanders got a big boost when feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem came to Burlington. At the time, Sweetser was running negative ads attacking Sanders’ liberal positions, and so the Sanders campaign held an event to highlight his support among progressive women. An opening act, a former state senator, told the audience that “a feminist is a person who challenges the power structure of our country” and “Bernie Sanders is that kind of feminist.” When it was Steinem’s turn, she started off with an announcement: “I’m only here today to make Bernie Sanders an honorary woman.”

In his memoir, Outsider in the House, Sanders, who went on to beat Sweetser comfortably, called the event “the nicest moment of the campaign.”

Watch:

Sanders won’t be able to count on a repeat performance this time around. Steinem, supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2008 and is back in her corner again.

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The Time Gloria Steinem Made Bernie Sanders an "Honorary Woman"

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When I Was a Prisoner in Iran, I Came to Fear the Sound of Hillary Clinton’s Voice

by VernaCand Posted on January 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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I rarely think about being a prisoner in Iran anymore. I’ve been free for more than four years. It’s been a long time since the sounds of hard soles on a cement floor would remind me of my interrogator or I would suddenly need to bolt from a restaurant because I couldn’t take the throngs of people after so much time in a prison cell.

Kidnapped by Iran: Read Shane Bauer’s account of how he was captured and held by Iran for more than two years.

Last Saturday, I was dripping coffee on myself during an early morning drive when I heard that four Americans were being released from Iran as part of a prisoner swap. Suddenly, my eyes welled up. I could feel the knot of excitement and confusion that had turned in my gut when my plane from Tehran hit the tarmac in Muscat, Oman, in September 2011. I pictured the way my and my friend Josh’s families looked small in the distance, their little hands waving, as we taxied toward them. I remembered the force that pulled me—running!—down the stairs of the airplane and how, at the bottom, I laughed and cried at the same time. Everyone else did too.

I was elated for these men and their families.

Later, the joy was tempered by an old, familiar frustration. While scouring the internet for updates on the four Americans, I read that shortly after their release, Hillary Clinton called for new sanctions on Iran for testing two ballistic missiles last year. I was shocked. The prisoners had not yet been let out of the country. Why would she provoke Iran when their freedom was still on the line?

I remembered sitting in my cell in 2009—I think I was trying to memorize a family tree from Greek mythology or something equally random—when I heard then-Secretary of State Clinton’s voice from a television in a neighboring cell. I ran to the door and pressed my ear into its little window. She was commanding Iran to release us immediately. My heart sank. I imagined my interrogator bringing me into his padded room, blindfolded, and ranting about how Iran would not be bossed around by America, “The Great Satan.” I came to fear the sound of Clinton’s voice. Whenever I heard her publicly slam Iran about something, I would mentally prepare for at least another couple of months in prison.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Many of our family members grew frustrated with their meetings with her and White House officials. My wife, Sarah, who was released a year before Josh and I were, shared this frustration. Once, during a meeting with us in the prison, Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu, who represented American interests in Iran, broke from her usual reassuring demeanor and said, “They will never respond to your government demanding they release you. They need to talk to the Iranians.”

Then there was Salem Al Ismaily. He was the envoy from Oman, the country most responsible for our eventual release. “No one wanted dialogue to happen,” he said to me recently. “Not Iranians. Not the US.” Our freedom was part of a larger calculus for Oman. Sitting at the mouth of the Persian Gulf just a couple hundred miles from Iran, Oman’s government believed that if tensions between Iran and the United States escalated to the point of military conflict, it would damage its economy—or worse. Salem believed that if he could get the two countries to negotiate over our case, it would provide an opening for talks on Iran’s nuclear program. To call what ended up happening in our case “negotiation” would be a stretch: It mostly took the form of Salem flying between Washington, DC, and Tehran to convince each side to do something, or sending messages to the White House through Sarah after her release.

Shane Bauer, left, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd after meeting with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in October 2011 AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt

This was not gratifying work. On one occasion, Sarah passed on a message from the Iranian government to Special Assistant to the President Dennis Ross, saying that if President Barack Obama would write a letter to then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad describing a general wish to improve relations between the two countries—without naming specific measures—then Iran would release us. Ross called it a “non-starter.” The two sides didn’t speak directly to each other, but it was through this channel that the groundwork for nuclear talks were ultimately laid.

During Salem’s efforts to free us, he was repeatedly frustrated by Clinton. “Why can’t your Hillary just keep quiet?” he blurted to me once, in a break of his characteristic poise, on a visit to Evin Prison. It was a paternalistic sounding outburst, but the stakes were high. He believed he was going to be bringing us home with him on that occasion. He said he was so close to convincing the Iranians, but they backed out at the last minute after another blustery statement by Clinton.

So far as we know, the extent of Clinton’s role in our ordeal was limited to making public demands and speaking to our families. In fact, there isn’t evidence of much action from the US government on our case. Two years ago, I filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the State Department, CIA, and FBI for records on our case. I received some records only after suing. The lawsuit is ongoing, but the records I have received over the last year indicate State Department officials did little beyond meeting with our families and receiving news reports from staffers.

Thankfully, the United States’ relationship with Iran has improved since then. Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly speaks regularly with his Iranian counterpart. A monumental agreement over the nuclear issue is in place and the international sanctions on Iran’s oil and finances have been lifted. The tension is easing, and the release of these four Americans is further proof of that.

For years, Iran has operated a revolving door of American captives; one gets released and then another is picked up. Amir Hekmati was arrested just days before Josh and I were released. The charges against these captives are inevitably bogus and the reasons for their detention are always political. My interrogator was frank about that: After two months of blindfolded interrogations, he told me he knew I was innocent, but that our release was dependent on political negotiations. The correct term for people in that situation is “hostages.”

It’s too soon to say whether the era of Iranian hostage taking is over. The unjust imprisonment of innocent people will always be Iran’s responsibility, and it’s up to its government to end it. But we don’t need to make things worse. Right after these four Americans flew out of Iran, the Obama administration announced it would be applying new sanctions on Iran—the same sanctions Clinton had called for. It had been planning to do this, it turns out, for some time, something the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic nominee was likely aware of. To be sure, these sanctions, which target just a few individuals and small companies that send crucial technologies to Iran, are nothing like the ones that were just lifted. The old ones cost Iran $30 million a day, draining its economy and weighing on the lives of regular Iranians, many of whom oppose their government. But these sanctions send the wrong signal. There may have been a time when they would have made sense as a way of putting pressure on Tehran. But if our goal is to move forward with Iran, the day after such a breakthrough is the wrong time.

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When I Was a Prisoner in Iran, I Came to Fear the Sound of Hillary Clinton’s Voice

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100 Women All Over the Country Just Shared Their Abortion Stories

by NeilMcgehee Posted on January 20, 2016

Mother Jones

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On Tuesday, 100 women of all ages from around the country participated in a six-hour livestream to tell personal abortion stories and provide a voice for women advocating reproductive rights. The live stream was hosted by the 1 in 3 campaign, a movement aimed at reducing the stigma around abortion. The organization’s name comes from the fact that 1 in 3 women have had or will have an abortion at some point in their lives.

Former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards were among the women of all different backgrounds and ethnicities who spoke about the difficulty of making the decision, their access to care, and their feelings about their choice.

This is the second time 1 in 3 has hosted such an event. But Tuesday’s live stream comes at a time when reproductive rights activists have been under fire in continued attacks against Planned Parenthood and its centers around the country following the release of deceptively edited and widely discredited videos that appeared to depict the organization selling fetal tissue—a practice that is illegal.

The live stream also focused on Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, an important abortion case that will be decided by the Supreme Court this year. For more on the monumental case, check out our explainer here.

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100 Women All Over the Country Just Shared Their Abortion Stories

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Cop Tells Drivers to Run Over Black Lives Matter Protesters

by SharylLightfoot Posted on January 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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A St. Paul, Minnesota police officer has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly telling drivers to run over Black Lives Matter protesters who planned to block traffic as part of a march on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Around 1 a.m. on Saturday, a Facebook user named “JM Roth” posted a comment on a Pioneer Press article about the scheduled protest that said: “Run them over. Keep traffic flowing and don’t slow down for any of these idiots who try and block the street.” The comment then suggested how drivers could legally justify hitting protesters with their cars:

Screenshot by Andrew Henderson, via St. Paul Pioneer Press

Andrew Henderson, a local activist who maintains the Minnesota Cop Block Facebook page, first noted and reported the comment, which has since been deleted, to the St. Paul Police Department. In phone conversations he recorded and uploaded to YouTube, Henderson told Saint Paul Police Department officials that the “JM Roth” account belonged to Sergeant Jeffrey M. Rothecker. Henderson said Rothecker had admitted in previous comments that he was “JM Roth.”

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief Thomas Smith have denounced the comment and announced that an investigation into the matter is underway. Senior Commander Shari Gray, the head of the department’s internal affairs unit, also met with Henderson on Sunday, according to the Pioneer Press.

“There is no room in the Saint Paul Police Department for employees who threaten members of the public,” Coleman said in a statement released on Monday. “If the allegation is true, we will take the strongest possible action allowed under law.”

The St. Paul Police Federation, the union for officers, is representing Rothecker, according to the Star Tribune.

The news comes one year after motorist Jeffrey P. Rice struck a teenage girl who was protesting outside a Minneapolis police station. The girl was part of a November 2014 demonstration that took place after a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. The girl suffered a minor leg injury. Last October, Rice, who is from St. Paul, pleaded guilty to a charge for failing to yield to a pedestrian. He was fined $575 and ordered to attend a driver’s education course.

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Cop Tells Drivers to Run Over Black Lives Matter Protesters

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This South Carolina Republican Wants to Create a "Registry" for Responsible Journalists

by BenedicD53 Posted on January 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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Perhaps inspired by Donald Trump’s recent call for a Muslim database, one South Carolina representative just introduced a measure to create a different kind of strange registry—this time to track journalists deemed “responsible” by the state.

The bill, proposed by Republican state lawmaker Mike Pitts, would establish vague requirements for journalists to submit to a registration process by the state. Journalists found in violation of the registry, by either not registering or breaking his rules, would be subjected to monetary fines and even criminal penalties—a lighter version of how the Kremlin treats its own pesky champions of free speech. As the Post and Courier reports, quoting Pitts, the Secretary of State’s Office would maintain a “responsible journalism registry” and create the criteria, with the help of a panel, on what qualifies a person to be a journalist—similar to the licensing for doctors and lawyers.

More from the very real “South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law” proposal:

When asked if the proposal was retribution for some unflattering press coverage directed towards Pitts—the lawmaker has been repeatedly cited for some of his more eyebrow-raising spending habits—he told the Post and Courier it was actually aimed to combat stories he believes have been unfairly targeting gun ownership.

“It strikes me as ironic that the first question is constitutionality from a press that has no problem demonizing firearms,” Pitts, a lifetime NRA member, said. “With this statement I’m talking primarily about printed press and TV. The TV stations, the six o’clock news and the printed press has no qualms demonizing gun owners and gun ownership.”

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This South Carolina Republican Wants to Create a "Registry" for Responsible Journalists

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Supreme Court Throws Out Arkansas’ Abortion Ban

by JeffDeSalis3584 Posted on January 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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In February 2013, Arkansas passed the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, a bill outlawing abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy if a heartbeat is detected. The new law came at a fine moment for the state’s anti-abortion legislators: In recent months, they’d passed a bill doubling the state’s mandated abortion waiting period, and had passed a 20-week ban on abortion.

The 12-week ban, however, was at the time the most restrictive abortion ban passed not only in the state, but in the nation. A pair of Arkansas doctors challenged the bill as unconstitutional and two lower courts prevented the ban from going into effect. Today, the Supreme Court rejected Arkansas’ bid for reconsideration of the abortion ban. The high court’s decision not to take this case, Edwards v. Beck, and to uphold lower courts’ decisions to throw out Arkansas’ law, could send a signal and help curb early abortion bans in other states.

“Arkansas politicians cannot pick and choose which parts of the Constitution they want to uphold,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Supreme Court has never wavered in affirming that every woman has a right to safely and legally end a pregnancy in the US—and this extreme abortion ban was a direct affront to that right.”

When this bill was first passed, pro-choice advocates and medical professionals pointed out that at 12 weeks most fetuses may have a heartbeat, but none are viable. Viability is the critical point when a fetus is sufficiently developed so it can survive outside the womb. In 1973, Roe v. Wade introduced viability as a standard and established that women have the right to an abortion until the end of their second trimester of pregnancy—about 27 weeks. Nineteen years later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the high court shifted the time limit discussion from trimesters to one of viability, ruling that states can only outlaw abortions of viable fetuses.

But what is the exact point at which a fetus is viable? In Casey, the court ruled that viability begins at 23 or 24 weeks, slightly before the end of the second trimester, in part because medical advances have made it possible for some pregnancies to be viable at that point.

When proposed in 2013, the Arkansas bill moved swiftly through the state legislature, even though the 12-week cut-off clearly violated the Supreme Court’s decision on fetal viability. It was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe in March 2013, but within two days, the Legislature overrode his veto and passed the bill into law. A month later, two local physicians and some of their patients sued the state medical board, asking the court to bar the law from going into effect. In 2014, two courts—first a district court, and later the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals—threw out the ban, ruling that there was no evidence a fetus can be viable at 12 weeks.

Oddly enough, the Arkansas Medical Board made no effort to make a scientific case for 12-week viability. “The only factual record presented in this case was by plaintiffs,” wrote one 8th Circuit judge, pointing to the testimony and data the doctors had presented showing that a 12-week fetus can’t survive outside the womb. “The State offered no competing evidence” on fetal viability, wrote the district court judge.

In asking the Supreme Court to review this case, Arkansas made the argument that viability is an outdated standard and that the law should allow states to get involved with a woman’s decision-making at an earlier point in her pregnancy. The brief noted: “This case is about the impropriety of a judicially-imposed rule that sets in stone ‘viability’ as the point before which the State’s profound interests must give way to a woman’s desire to terminate her pregnancy.”

Despite the Supreme Court’s rulings on viability, 15 states have since 2010 passed abortion bans that would outlaw the procedure at 20 weeks, or earlier. Many of these so-called “fetal pain” bills—model legislation originally drafted by the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee—base the 20-week cut-off on the medically incorrect assertion that a fetus can feel pain at that point in its development. Now that the Supreme Court has rejected this case, the viability standard established over decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence remains intact—for now.

After today’s decision, advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are turning their focus back to a pivotal case challenging a Texas abortion law that is before the Supreme Court this term, Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole. Arguments are scheduled for March 2, and a decision will be announced later this year.

“We now look to the Justices to ensure Texas women are not robbed of their health, dignity, and rights,” said CRR’s Northup in today’s statement.

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Supreme Court Throws Out Arkansas’ Abortion Ban

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Get Solar Energy Without Putting It On Your Own Roof

by ErnestiHillard Posted on January 3, 2016

As appealing as clean energy is, you might be among the millions of people who can’t put solar panels on their own roof or pop a windmill up in their backyard.

Worry not. Here are two ways you can still get access to power that is not generated by coal, oil or other fossil fuels whose emissions pollute the air and cause climate change.

1) Stick with your utility, but switch to a clean energy provider. Solar and wind companies are setting up arrays of photovoltaic cells or fields of windmills, generating power and then shipping the electricity they generateto utility companies via power lines. The utility companies then distribute that power to customers who opt for clean energy through their existing grid. You get billed by your utility, receive uninterrupted service and if there’s a power outage, you contact your utility company, not the wind or solar provider.

It will cost you a little bit more money but it’s a pretty easy way tosupport a greater level of utility company investment in renewable energy technologies. The smallpremium on your electric bill helps cover the incremental cost of the additional renewable energy. As of the end of 2014, nearly 850 utilities across the nation, including investor-owned, municipal utilities and cooperatives, offered a green pricing option, says the U.S. Department of Energy.

You can switch back to primarily fossil fuels at any time without penalty. Usually you can sign up easily online, but as it happens, I signed up with someone who knocked on my door and had all the paperwork ready to go.

To find a clean energy provider in your area, contact your local utility company and find out who they do business with. You can get their number from your monthly bill or simply by searching for your utility by name on the internet.

Several companies compare all of the providers in your area to show the varying rates per kilowatt hour the companies charge. For example, ChooseEnergy.com provides rate comparisons for the following states: California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.

You can also check this map developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. Click on your state to find out where green power is offered nearby. You’ll find utility green pricing programs (how much utilities charge to deliver non-fossil fuel power to your home) and a variety of other options for avoiding coal, gas and oil.

2) Join a solar coop or network. The Community Power Network is a great resource for consumers who want to support solar but don’t have the ability to install it on their own homes. You’ll find a variety of models to choose from.

For example, the Farmers Electric Cooperative’s Solar Garden Program in Iowa invites customers to buy part of a “solar garden” located at its main office building in exchange for a reduction in their monthly bill.

In the “Special Purpose Entity Model,” individuals join in a business enterprise to develop a solar project the community shares. In my own state of Maryland, the University Park Community Solar LLC and Greenbelt Community Solar set up limited liability companies that enables Maryland residents to develop solar power generation on buildings in the community.

In nearby Washington, D.C., the Sidwell Friends School (attended by Pres. Obama’s daughters) invited members of the community to purchase “solar bonds” so a solar system could be installed on the school.

There’s even an option for people who live in apartment buildings. Grid Alternatives is a nonprofit that helps people install solar on multi-family buildings by working together to get financing and figure out what photovoltaic system works best for the structure at hand.

Want to get started in your own community? Check out this Guide to Community Shared Solar put together by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Related
11 Solar Energy Myth Busters
6 Reasons to Get Excited About Obama’s New Solar Energy Plan

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Get Solar Energy Without Putting It On Your Own Roof

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The Solar Industry’s Christmas Miracle

by LeeGetz986282874 Posted on December 24, 2015

Mother Jones

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This story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

We all know the hallmarks of the classic business-themed Christmas movie. A good, well-meaning executive faces some tough business fundamentals as the holiday season approaches. Unexpected events deepen the gloom. But just in time for Christmas, a miracle arrives from on high, ensuring peace, prosperity, and happiness for years to come.

It’s a Wonderful Life? Yes. But it’s also the story of solar companies in the past few months. In November, things were looking bleak for the renewable energy sector at large and for solar companies in particular. The sector has been booming since 2009. The price of installing solar panels has come down sharply as scale has risen, new business models have hastened the spread of the technology, and giant companies are entering contracts to buy huge volumes of renewable energy. But none of that would have been possible without 1) the special federal tax breaks and credits for owners of solar panels, and 2) abundant capital seeking returns in a world of extraordinarily low interest rates. And in the second half of 2015, the investment thesis that kept solar stocks burning bright began to dim.

The solar investment tax credit—in which owners of solar-panel systems get a 30 percent tax credit—was always meant to be temporary and is set to expire next year. The Republicans in Congress generally favor fossil fuels over renewables, generally oppose anything President Obama is for, and deny the need to deal with climate change. So as fall settled in, investors began to focus on the fact that by the end of 2016, the solar investment tax credit of 30 percent would fall to 10 percent for commercial systems and disappear entirely for home-based systems.

Another problem: Renewable energy is as much about financial engineering as it is about electrical engineering. For solar to work, investors had to believe that the structures rigged up to build solar would stand up over time. In recent years, energy companies had hived off renewable energy projects into special, publicly traded vehicles—yieldcos—that were supposed to pay dividends. But many of them failed to deliver expected results. Worse, the attractiveness of such fixed-income investments stands in inverse relation to the interest rates available elsewhere. And with the Federal Reserve telegraphing an interest rate increase in December, investors began to flee yieldcos.

Finally, the entire renewable industry depends to a large degree on the zeitgeist. When the world is in a green mood, when it looks like there will be a widespread, coordinated effort to combat climate change, investors get psyched about solar. When it appears that the will for collective action is fading, investors get the blahs. And throughout October and November, it was common to hear observers argue that the much-bruited Paris conference was going to be a bust, that it would deadlock over conflicts between rich and poor nations.

There’s a cruelty and ruthlessness to the markets, which can provide a fire hose of capital on Monday only to shut it off entirely on Tuesday. And that’s what began to happen in November. Stock markets are famously futures markets, and forward-looking investors suddenly didn’t like what they were seeing in the future. The stock of SunEdison, the self-proclaimed “largest global renewable energy development company,” fell from a high of $31.50 in July to a low of $2.86 on Nov. 19—a loss of 91 percent. The stock helped sandbag the performance of well-known hedge fund manager David Einhorn, whose sale of a big chunk of SunEdison stock helped increase the melancholy. Analysts began to question the company’s liquidity, which is poison for a company with lots of debt. SolarCity, the giant rooftop-panel installer founded by Elon Musk and his cousins, saw its stock fall from $62 in May to $25 in early November, a decline of about 59 percent.

Like George Bailey, investors and executives at solar companies were essentially teetering on the bridge outside of town.

And then a series of miracles happened. On December 12, the Paris climate talks concluded with an unexpectedly strong agreement among countries to attempt to limit emissions. The US publicly recommitted to green policies, and a large number of giant, influential global companies signed on to an initiative to get 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources. Investors began to reconsider their pessimism.

Next, Washington delivered—defying the conventional wisdom. Newly installed House Speaker Paul Ryan realized that he’d have to negotiate with congressional Democrats if he wanted to get a budget and tax deal before the end of the year. And as they came to the table, another miracle happened: The Democrats held fast. On December 14, Democrats indicated they would be willing to support the Republican-backed effort to lift the ban on oil exports—but only if the Republicans would consent to measures including a multiyear extension of renewable energy credits. It worked. Last Friday, Congress voted to extend the 30 percent solar investment tax credit through 2019, and then to reduce it to 10 percent through 2022.

That move instantly made the US solar industry viable for another six years. Investors were elated. SolarCity’s stock popped as details of the budget agreement began to emerge and then soared on its announcement. By Friday, the stock was above $56, up about 117 percent from its November low. SunEdison’s stock closed on Friday at $6.51, up 127 percent in a month. The Guggenheim Solar ETF is up about 30 percent from Nov. 19 through last Friday.

God bless us, everyone.

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The Solar Industry’s Christmas Miracle

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9 Surprising Ways You Can Mitigate Climate Change

by Paisley154 Posted on December 4, 2015

Though climate change is a global problem, many of the solutions to it are local and dependent on the actions all of us individually take to reduce the build-up of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.

You’ve probably heard that you should fly airplanes less or drive an electric car or install solar panels to help use less coal, oil and natural gas, because burning fossil fuels causes climate change. But buying a new car or putting solar on your roof may not be within reach.

Here are 9 actions that definitely should be within reach, and you can take them right now.

1) Eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat. It takes a lot of energy to produce meat. More than one-third of the fossil fuels produced in the U.S. are used to raise animals for food, says this Care2 analysis. That’s because of the large quantity of resources it takes to produce the grain and soybeans needed for animal feed. It’s also because it takes a lot of energy to slaughter the animals, truck them to processing plants, process them, then get them to the grocery store. Plus, the hundreds of millions of farm animals raised generate methane, which in itself is a potent global warming gas. Switching to a more vegetarian diet would reduce fossil fuels burned and methane gas emitted. Here’s how you can get started eating a more plant-based diet.

2) Swap and share more, and buy less that’s brand new. Producing anything new requires a new infusion of natural resources, other materials and of course energy to run the entire operation. But once those goods are produced, very little energy is consumedand few greenhouse gases emittedto extend their life through sharing, swapping, lending, borrowing or buying it gently used from a thrift store. Sure, you might like something new, but does it have to be brand new? The planet says “no.”

3) Choose ENERGY STAR appliances. The ENERGY STAR program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has inspired appliance manufacturers to produce highly efficient appliances to help consumers save energy. If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, washer, dryer, air conditioner or electronics, be sure to purchase a model that sports the ENERGY STAR logo. You’ll save more energy and not even notice it. And remember, any time you save energy, you save money. One more thing: keep your refrigerator coils cleaned so this appliance, which runs pretty much all the time, will run as efficiently as possible.

4) Tighten up your house and program your home’s energy use. Some homes may waste as much as 20 or 30 percent of the energy they consume because their windows and doors leak and the attics and crawl spaces aren’t insulated. First steps: get a home energy audit to see how much energy you’re actually wasting, then take advantage of state and federal tax credits to pay for improvements. At the same time, install a programmable thermostat so you can automatically turn the heat down when you go to sleep or when no one is home and up when you’re active in the house.

5) Buy renewable energy from your local utility company. Many utility companies now offer their customers the option to purchase energy that’s generated by wind or solar. The utility will purchase power from a wind or solar supplier and pass that along to you. It will cost a few pennies more in most places, but it’s generally affordable. Contact your utility or go to the company’s website to explore the options available to you.

6) Support family planning and birth control. People need energy to live, and the more people there are, the more energy the world needs. Family planning gives women access to birth control so they can have as few or many children as they wish. The Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco reports that providing contraception and abortion services for 225 million under-served women worldwide would cut more carbon than even solar and wind. You can read their entire report here.

7) Replace these 5 lights. The U.S. government’s Energy.Gov website recommends replacing your home’s five most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs with ENERGY STAR models. You’ll save $75 a year on energy costs. The most frequently used light fixtures are usually the overhead light in thekitchen and bathroom, table lamps in the living room, and outdoor porch lights. Here’s a sample of the energy-saving bulbs you can choose from.

8) Wash clothes in cold water. The arrival of detergents formulated to work in cold water means you don’t have to heat water any more when you do your laundry. ENERGY STAR estimates that almost 90 percent of the energy consumed by a washing machine goes to heating water, so making the switch to cold water washing would use far less energy and save about 1,600 pounds of the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.

9) Plant three trees. Planting the right tree in the right place will help you save energy at home by providing wind protection, shade and cool air. Plus, trees add beauty, privacy and wildlife habitat, says the Utah State University Extension Service. Deciduous treesthose that lose all their leaves each fallprovide summer shade, but then allow for direct solar gain into homes that have windows on the south facing side of their structure. Evergreens, on the other hand, save energy by slowing cold winds in the winter.

What other ways have you found to save energy at home and reduce your climate change impact? Please share.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Originally from:

9 Surprising Ways You Can Mitigate Climate Change

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This Map Shows Where the Next Clean Energy Gold Mine Is

by WallaceHartmann Posted on November 11, 2015

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It’s an area half the size of Rhode Island. Shutterstock The desert in Southern California could be in for a climate-friendly makeover, after the Obama administration released its plans to develop more renewable energy projects on federally owned land. On Tuesday the Interior Department released the final version of a plan that would open up about half a million non-contiguous acres—half the size of Rhode Island—for projects such as wind and solar farms in the Mojave Desert and surrounding areas. It would also more than double the amount of land dedicated to protecting delicate desert ecosystems that are home to vulnerable species, including the desert tortoise. The Mojave Desert, which stretches across most of Southern California, is a potential gold mine for clean energy. Earlier this year, the world’s largest solar farm opened there, near Joshua Tree National Park. According to Interior, the desert and the its surrounding area have the sun and wind potential to support 20,000 megawatts of renewable projects, about equal to the amount of solar energy installed nationwide today. In announcing the plan, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said that public lands will “play a key role” in helping the United States meet its goal of procuring 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (excluding large hydro dams) by 2030—up from about 7 percent now. But over the past few years, efforts to develop all that potential have sparked clashes between clean energy buffs and conservationists who don’t want to see pristine landscapes blanketed by vast arrays of solar panels. One pioneering project, the Ivanpah Lake solar farm, became a pariah after environmental groups said that it encroached on tortoise habitat and that its sunlight-concentrating panels were blasting superheated rays into birds’ flight paths and killing tens of thousands of them. Subsequent estimates put the death toll much lower, but the Ivanpah controversy underscored just how hard it can be for government planners to find common ground between competing environmental interests. The new plan (finalized in October but made public Tuesday) is meant to clear the air by painstakingly analyzing a 2 million-acre swath of Southern California and offering a comprehensive take on where to focus clean energy development. Scientists and planners from a host of agencies stockpiled research on wildlife, water, agriculture, historic and cultural sites, and other features in an effort to find spots that have high renewable energy potential with minimal environmental impact. In the map below, the pink and red areas are where the Bureau of Land Management recommends that private developers focus their efforts. Orange and blue hatching shows areas proposed for conservation: BLM Anyone who wants to build a wind or solar farm in these areas still has to go through the normal permitting process that any development on public land has to clear. But the plan is meant to help developers avoid headaches by showing them the areas that the feds have already decided are either not ecologically sensitive, or that are already too degraded to worry much about building in. That’s a departure from the previous modus operandi, in which federal officials made case-by-case decisions on each proposed project. “It’s a real change from how BLM has approached renewable energy development in the past,” said Erica Brand, California energy program director at the Nature Conservancy. The agency, she added, is “protecting desert landscapes by directing development to areas that are more degraded.” Similar reviews of private and state-owned land will be released over the next year. And you can bet that there will be plenty of interest from renewable energy companies. California has the country’s most favorable investment climate for renewable energy, according to Ernst & Young, and the state recently adopted the country’s most aggressive renewable energy target: 50 percent of its electricity mix by 2030. That’s up from 20 percent now. “The [Mojave] Desert has some of the most intact natural landscapes in the lower 48,” Brand said. “As we transition to cleaner energy sources, and work to meet our climate goals, we also have to keep those natural resources intact.”

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This Map Shows Where the Next Clean Energy Gold Mine Is

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This Map Shows Where the Next Clean Energy Gold Mine Is

Posted in alo, cannabis, eco-friendly, FF, For Dummies, G & F, GE, green energy, growing marijuana, horticulture, LAI, Monterey, ONA, organic, OXO, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This Map Shows Where the Next Clean Energy Gold Mine Is