David Brosch had a problem many Americans can relate to. He wanted solar power, but wasn’t able to put it on his house. His roof had the wrong orientation, a tree partially blocked the sun, and it was more than he could afford. Many of his neighbors were in the same situation — some were renters, others were too busy to handle the process of an installation on their house.

They got together and formed a company, University Park Community Solar (UPCS), and approached a local church with a large roof and good solar orientation. In exchange for placing solar panels on it’s roof, the church would be guaranteed a long-term low price of electricity. David told us: “We wanted a project that could stand on it’s own. Not one funded by donations, but something that was financially viable that folks would be willing to invest in. A solar project done right can turn a profit, so we thought, let’s pool our money and do it together.” Sounds simple enough, right?

As far as we can tell, no one had ever pulled off a project quite like that before. UPCS needed to come up with the right legal entity, faced Securities regulations that restrict non-accredited investors (i.e. non-wealthy people) from investing in the project, and had to figure out how to utilize federal credits that required “passive income” to apply it to. It took nearly three years but this Maryland group finally installed the 21.9 kW system this past May. It is believed to be one of the first community-initiated and owned solar electric systems in the U.S.

The project is expected to generate a 7-8 percent return on investment over the life of the project for the 30-plus area members. By providing clean electricity for the Church of the Brethren, UPCS will be reducing the region’s reliance on coal-based power. PEPCO, the major electric utility for Washington, D.C., and the Maryland suburbs, purchases more than half of its power from coal-burning generating plants, which get their coal from destructive mountaintop removal mining operations in Appalachia. [Check http://www.ilovemountains.org to see if your electricity comes at the expense of mountains too.]

You’d think the federal government would do anything it could to support the replication of the University Park model. It’s a market-based solution to the unemployment problem, while also helping achieve clean energy and climate objectives. But it’s actually the federal government that’s in the way.

One of the biggest roadblocks is the 1933 Securities Act [PDF], which was designed to protect “widows and orphans” from crooked securities dealers during the era’s financial depression. Today it prevents people who make less than $200k a year or who hold liquid assets of less than $1m from investing in a whole host of unregistered securities, including most clean energy projects. There should to be a way for average people to invest without the need for deal-killing securities registration requirements.

Another roadblock is that most of the incentives for clean energy development are structured as tax-credits [PDF], so most potential community organizations (including non-profits like churches and schools, Native American tribes, etc.) can’t take advantage of them. Because UPCS completed their project prior to the end of 2010, it can trade the tax credits for a 30 percent grant through the U.S. Treasury as a result of the federal stimulus bill. However, solar projects completed after 2010 will not be able to receive the grant, reducing their financial viability.

University Park Community Solar ran into every bureaucratic red-taped government wall and jumped over, dug under, and blew it up. They changed the model, one of many groups across the country working not only to clean up but to democratize energy in America with community solar power. They’re already planning a second project. We hope others follow their lead.

(written with Daniel Rosen)

As I’ve learned, usually the hard way, big visions only become reality through perseverance, hard work and often a bit of luck or good timing. I only lasted six months in Grand Forks, North Dakota, all of which were somehow during the winter, but one of the things I remember best was that any of the plans we devised had to contend with the 800 pound gorilla in the state. Basin Electric, a rural electric cooperative with 2.8 million members across Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming was the populist face of big dirty coal. Headquartered in Bismarck, ND, they seemed to run state politics and they weren’t interested in wind.

So when I saw the headline “Rural Electric Cooperative Completes $240 Million Wind Farm in 4 Months” I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. This 115.5 MW project will be the largest wind project entirely owned by a consumer cooperative, AND IT WAS COMPLETED IN JUST 4 MONTHS!! Basin, which got 94% of its power from coal in 2005 (and only 1% from wind) now has a goal to reach 20% wind by the end of the year.

As we work towards a rapid and massive ramp-up of clean energy across the country, we should look to consumer cooperatives and municipally-owned utilities, both of which are non-profit, community-controlled structures with jobs and revenues that stay in the communities they serve. In 2008, rural cooperatives expanded wind energy capacity 65% compared to just 25% nationally, and municipal utilities, like in Long Island and Austin, are implementing some of the most innovative and aggressive renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the country. Check out the American Public Power Association, which represents over 2,000 community-owned utilities, for more information.

Cross-posted from itsgettinghotinhere.org

Less than 400 miles away in Oslo, Norway, President Obama is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” If ever there was a time and place to live up to that honor, now, in Copenhagen is it.

Four former Nobel Peace Prize winners have endorsed a target of 350ppm. On December 12th, 2008, at the international climate talks in Poznan, Poland, Al Gore (2007 winner) said to a huge crowd: “Even a goal of 450 parts per million, which seems so difficult today, is inadequate. We need to toughen that goal to 350 parts per million.”

On December 20th, His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama (1989) wrote: “It is now urgent that we take corrective action to ensure a safe climate future for coming generations of human beings and other species. That can be established in perpetuity if we can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350ppm. Buddhists, concerned people of the world and all people of good heart should be aware of this and act upon it.”

On August 25, 2009, Rajendra Pachauri, who accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC said, “As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations. But as a human being I am fully supportive of [350ppm]. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target.”

And on October 23, 2009, two days before what CNN called the “most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history”, Archibishop Desmond Tutu, who has been an ambassador for the 350 campaign and won the Peace Prize in 1984, wrote in USA Today: “Many top scientists agree that there’s a number the world needs to know. It’s 350 — as in 350 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The growing consensus is that it’s the most carbon we can have in the atmosphere without causing terrible climate havoc. Since we’re already past that level, at 390 parts per million, it also implies that we need much swifter political action than governments have supported in the past to reverse this trend.”

It is time for President Obama to join them. It may not be the politically pragmatic path, but it is the only path with the potential to lead to peace and prosperity. The climate crisis is a unique challenge in human history and Copenhagen is a unique opportunity to rise to that challenge. As Bill McKibben writes, “the adversary here is not Republicans, or socialists, or deficits, or taxes, or misogyny, or racism, or any of the problems we normally face — adversaries that can change over time, or be worn down, or disproved, or cast off. The adversary here is physics.”

The physics says the limit is 350 ppm. That is the upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere if we want Earth to continue to resemble the planet we’ve come to know and love. Despite the fact that we are 390 ppm and climbing and his inaugural promise to “restore science to its rightful place” Obama and the US delegation are negotiating in Copenhagen with a stated target of 450ppm.

Fortunately for us, there are some world leaders who do not view the climate crisis as a primarily political problem. Ninety-two nations, all poor and vulnerable to the early affects of climate change have endorsed a target of 350ppm. President Nasheed of the Maldives has stated “we will not sign a global suicide pact, in Copenhagen or anywhere.” And Ambassador Lumumba, coordinator of the G77 and China Group in Copenhagen made it clear that the $10 billion of “aid” proposed for African countries by Europe and President Obama is ‘not enough for Africa to buy the coffins to bury us in’ if the climate crisis is allowed to continue.

This weekend, people are organizing candlelight vigils around the world calling on world leaders to break through the political logjam. Many will be outside American consulates and embassies, and at Senator’s offices throughout the United States, because without U.S. leadership here, the negotiations will likely fail.

On the Young and Future Generations Day, I look at Tohanna and wonder how she’ll feel in 20 years. Will she look at me and my generation and ask why we didn’t do more? What will I tell her?

If we don’t get this right, right now, what will you, President Obama, say to Sasha and Malia in 20 years? That it wasn’t politically feasible? That we didn’t know the extent of the challenge we were facing?

We know the science. We know the consequences. The United States and you, President Obama, need to continue “to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and commit to a fair, ambitious, and legally binding agreement based on a target of 350ppm.

As I get ready to head to Copenhagen this Saturday for the international climate negotiations, I’m thrilled to see the success of The Leadership Campaign and their efforts to have Massachusetts use 100% clean electricity by 2020.

On Monday, Representative William Brownsberger will file their bill, An Act to Re-power Massachusetts, in the Massachusetts House, calling on Gov. Deval Patrick to create a task force to formulate a plan to get Massachusetts to100% clean electricity by 2020.

To draw attention to their campaign, they have refused to sleep in homes, dorms, apartments powered by dirty electricity until Massachusetts commits to 100% clean electricity in 10 years. Since October 25, hundreds of students, activists and engaged citizens have spent at least one night camping out. Some haven’t slept in a bed in over a month — [check out a personal account here].

Each Sunday, members of the campaign come together to camp out on the Boston Common. They face citations for violating the 11pm curfew, but each week they gladly except the consequences of their protests.

Last May,I wrote about how climate activists need to rethink the rules of engagement and not accept the “rules” of a rigged game. I’m thrilled to see the students and leaders of the Leadership Campaign doing just that. It’s a great sign for our cause and an example we can all follow.

If you’re in Boston this weekend, join the Leadership Campaign for their final sleepout on the Boston Common. They’ll be joined by one of my favorite people, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of The Hip Hop Caucus. The rally begins at 3pm at the Boston Common across from the Statehouse.

This entry is cross-posted at Green Owl Records.

Last week, the Labor Department reported that youth unemployment stands at 18.2%, nearly twice the national average of 9.8%. The percentage of young people without a job is a staggering 53.4 percent, the highest figure since World War II. Looking deeper, the statistics for youth of color are terrible and telling. 

According to the most recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 40.7% of black youth between 16-19 are unemployed, almost double the amount of whites teenagers (23%). For Latinos the same age, the rate is nearly 30%. Get a little older and the gap grows wider. Unemployment for black Americans aged 20-24 is 27.1%, over twice that faced by white youth (13.1%) in the same age range.

The glaring differences indicate that unemployment is not only decidedly raced, but also that the current economic condition is wholly unforgiving for young people of color. Only a massive, well-funded set of green jobs programs explicitly designed to close those racial gaps can create a truly vital, full-employment economy.

Without more opportunities for young people, those un- and under-employed will suffer in the short and long-term, especially in their ability to attend college, afford health insurance, buy homes, and save for retirement. In short, they won’t be able to make a living. The great promise of the green economy to end poverty as well as environmental suffering can only be fulfilled if we’re prepared to fight, not just for green, but also for racial and economic equity.

There’s a long history of clashes between environmentalists, workers’ organizations and racial justice movements, as each operated on the assumption that they had conflicting goals. Yet, the objectives of all three are interdependent for two big reasons. First, poor economies and environmental degradation have a disproportionate impact on communities of color. People of color occupy jobs in the most hazardous industries and homes in the most environmentally degraded neighborhoods. That’s not accidental. It is a predictable result of persistent segregation, which strips communities of color of their power, facilitating the discriminatory placement of toxic incinerators, power plants, factories, and other big polluters in their communities.   

While economics has contributed to the dual degradation of the environment and communities of color, racism has accelerated environmental and economic problems. “White flight” from inner cities fueled suburban sprawl, leading to more driving, more highways, and more carbon in the atmosphere. And in industries like agriculture and food production, with prominent racial hierarchies, employers find it easy to generate competition and scapegoating between various groups of workers, killing unionization drives that could produce better wages and conditions for all of us.

Luckily, a growing number of people know better than to separate environmental and economic recovery from race. Local groups have started green jobs programs for young people that are inclusive and future-oriented. In Oakland, California, for example, the brand new Green Media Youth Center boasts a green job training program that can help create pathways out of poverty for young people in the city. Last Friday at the Center, Milani Pelley recorded her latest song in a brand new studio. Jhamel Robinson showed off the permaculture garden behind the building. And the list goes on.

But great programs here and there aren’t enough. We need to bring those programs to scale, and create both training and the actual jobs through federal, state and local policy. We need to spend real money funding job creation, and then closely monitor implementation to make sure new programs generate local hiring, affirmative action, great wages and benefits and long term career paths, among other elements that will make them work.  

This year, a national alliance of organized labor and civil rights, social justice and environmental groups has worked to create a vibrant clean energy economy that can not only improve the environment and economy, but also close the racial gap. In the House version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), this alliance secured the eleventh-hour addition of a billion dollars for green jobs training, as well as equity provisions for access to the jobs created. The Senate version released last week maintains those provisions.

These policies are a good start, but if they’re to survive and lead us to the additional billions and effective implementation that we need to get control of unemployment, we have to be prepared to fight on the race front, as well as the green. All signs indicate that opponents will bait American racism with brutal inventiveness. If the right’s attack on Van Jones isn’t enough of a warning, then we should take our lessons from the health care debate. We can expect conservative pundits to call equity guidelines reverse racism, or to put up immigrants rather than corporate pollution as the true cause of environmental collapse.

To counter that rhetoric, we need to be able to articulate more than a “lift all boats” approach – which improves things but leaves the racial and poverty gaps in place. We need to move support for a “fix all boats” approach that ensures full recovery for all. It’s our responsibility to change the rules and structures that threaten to exclude people of color from taking part in the new, green economy.

Young people are going to have to take the lead in this because they’ve got the most at stake. The decisions we make as a country now will affect them far longer than anyone else. The powers that be like to call these Millennials the first “post racial generation.” They claim that young people take racial equality so much for granted that fighting racism is low on their list of priorities. The polluters of the gray economy will take that idea straight to the bank, unless young people themselves make it clear that they understand racism shows up in all our issues, including the environment.

We should amplify and grow efforts to build an inclusive green economy. In doing so, we must always ask two key questions about new policies and programs: is it green, and is it fair

Rinku Sen is the Executive Director of the Applied Research Center, which promotes racial justice through media, research, and activism.  Billy Parish is the founder of the Energy Action Coalition, a national youth clean energy coalition.

This entry is cross-posted at The Huffington Post.

The New York State Senate and Assembly, too often a model of corruption and dysfunctionality, rose above petty politics last week to pass forward-thinking legislation on climate and energy, setting a precedent for bipartisanship and a sensible cap and trade system.  The State Senate passed the groundbreaking Green Job/Green New York Act, with strong support from Republicans, Democrats, and the Working Families Party, which spearheaded the legislation. The bill — expected to be signed into law this week by Gov. David Patterson — leverages $112m in revenue from the Northeasts’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) into $5 billion of private investment to finance home weatherization, energy efficiency projects, and green jobs creation.

We should all be paying closer attention for three reasons:

1) It is one of the first large-scale pieces of legislation that concreteley demonstrates why green jobs are a win-win-win. Homeowners win by reducing their energy costs. The private sector wins by gaining a safer investment with strong expected returns. And New Yorkers benefit through the creation of 16,000 new jobs and the increased economic activity and tax receipts the program will generate.  It’s a blueprint that can work in other states and regions as well.

2) It’s also a model for sensible national climate and energy policy. While the version of the American Clean Energy & Securities Act that passed in the House gives away a substantial portion of the pollution allowances to utilities, the RGGI program in the Northeast auctions off the credits creating the $112 million in revenue, which the state is leveraging 50x to create new jobs and save homeowners on their heating and electricity bills. 

3) Finally, the Green Job/Green New York Act highlights the power of bipartisan efforts to achieve common sense solutions. Republican support is what made the bill possible. Rather than fight any effort for sensible policy like the national Republican leadership, local leaders have proven to be in touch with the concerns of their constituents, helping to pass the bill 52-8 in the Senate and 147-0 in the Assembly. But putting politics aside and the needs of New Yorkers first, they showed the way for national cooperation on this issue.

To learn more about the bill and its passage, check out David Sasson’s piece on SolveClimate.org.

But eight years ago, many in my generation couldn’t vote. We didn’t choose the President, his wars, or his policies. In fact, young Americans have largely rejected the politics of fear and division that dominated those formative years of our political consciousness — voting 2 to 1 in favor of Barack Obama. Today we remember the victims and honor our heroes, but we also have a new President, new crises, and three new numbers: 3-5-0. 350.

350 is the most important number in the world. 350 parts per million (ppm) is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. It’s the number agreed upon by many of the world’s leading scientists and recently endorsed by 80 countries, but it’s not the number in the current version of the climate and energy bill under debate in Congress or the target that seems likely to be set at the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

350 is where we need to be “if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,” as James Hansen, NASA’s top climate scientist so dryly puts it. The bad news is that we’re already at 390 ppm and climbing. So, is it too late?

Is it too late for the obese man to quit junk food and start exercising? Is it too late for him to lower his cholesterol and prevent a heart attack? Absolutely not. But until he changes his lifestyle, he remains at a higher risk. And until we change our lifestyle, the Earth will remain in the danger zone. There is still time to bring carbon dioxide levels back down, but it’s going to take a major transformation in how we think and act. Getting back to 350 means developing a thousand different solutions. It means building wind farms, not coal plants. And it requires that world leaders recognize our interdependence and work together like never before.

Eight years ago, I felt a swirl of emotions. I was scared for my family and friends in New York City, where I was born and raised. I was angry at the people who had done this to us. I was hurting for the victims and their families, especially those from Hook and Ladder Company 25, the firehouse where I used to play when I was a child. And I radiated with the patriotism that swept America, reveling in our shared sense of purpose. That night, I gathered with friends in my Yale dorm to mourn together and mark the immensity of the day. We knew our world had fundamentally changed and that that day marked a turning point for our nation.

Six weeks from today, on October 24, I hope for a similar turning point. The largest ever global grassroots action on climate change will take place, calling on world leaders to make 350 ppm the target in the global climate treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen. I’ll be in Flagstaff, AZ, where I live, spreading the word about 350 and joining with over 1,400 groups in 110 countries (so far), from the Great Barrier Reef to the Taj Mahal, who are organizing on behalf of our planet. Anyone can join a group or start their own by going to 350.org.

While October 24 is a day of hope, America is still being threatened by a politics of fear, hatred, and division. Witness Glenn Beck’s vicious smear campaign that led to the resignation of Van Jones, my friend and one of the most visionary leaders in the nation. We need fewer Glenn Becks and more Van Joneses. People, ideas, and events that inspire hope, justice, and collective action.

That’s why I love 350. 350 is a bright line to which we must return. It doesn’t belong to one group or one nation — it belongs to all of us alive today and those yet to be born.

350 slices through all the confusion and misinformation around the climate crisis. It’s about being prepared. Eight years ago, we were caught off guard. This time there is no secret memo. Everything we need to know is for all to see, out in the open.

I can’t wait to live in a post-350 world where the disastrous affects of climate change have been averted, and a thriving clean energy economy unites the planet. I hope some day my now one-and-a-half year old daughter looks back on my work with pride, and that she and her generation are up to the finishing the job. This is an intergenerational challenge and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

This entry is cross-posted at The Huffington Post.

In case you missed it, dirty energy is back to dirty tricks. This time with the help of DC lobbyists, Bonner & Associates, who forged letters to Congressman Tom Perriello of Virgina’s 5th District. The letters, written on “official” letterhead from the local NAACP chapter and a Hispanic group, Creciendo Juntos, asked Perriello to vote against the American Clean Energy & Security Act.  Now we know that the fossil fuel industry will stop at nothing to prevent the creation of a just, clean energy economy, but this is a new low!

If we are going to pass effective legislation this year, it’s time we step up the effort and fight the dirty industries that pollute our communities and jeopardize our children and grandchildren’s future. Here are seven ways to do it:

1. Help Pass Real Healthcare Reform First – Real progress in our climate and energy policy will require strong leadership from President Obama and a unified progressive block that will stand up to dirty energy interest groups. The same dynamics are playing out right now in the debate over healthcare, and the President and Congress have made clear that the health care bill comes before the climate/energy bill.  You can help the climate and energy agenda by calling your Senator or Representative today and telling them that you want quality, affordable healthcare now.

2. Mobilize Now – It’s now or never if we want to prevent the worst consequences of climate change and successfully transition to a prosperous clean energy economy. I’m reminded of the scene in Return of the King, the final Lord of The Rings, where as the climactic battle looms, the message to mobilize is spread by lighting fires from mountaintop to mountaintop. We need that now. We must mobilize all able forces or expect defeat to a better funded, entrenched opponent. Everyone with an interest in a renewed American economy and greener future needs to work together for us to win. Then we need to expand our base by reaching out to new constituencies who share in a cleaner, more just future.

3. Build Online to Offline Organizing Power – Our forces are tech-savvy and skilled at online organizing, but we are currently splintered — local leaders belong to different national organizations and may never learn about each other or figure out how to work together.  We need better tools and organizational cooperation to empower local leaders with resources, and most importantly, connections to each other to build the power they need to pressure their representatives to support real change. Thankfully, 1Sky, the Energy Action Coalition and others are building this collaborative web platform and recruiting Climate Precinct Captains in the 300,000 voting precincts across the country.  You can sign up to be a climate precinct captain here and join the largest and most systematic grassroots infrastructure initiative ever on climate change.

4. Stick With the Science — 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 450 ppm is the stated goal of ACES, the climate bill that recently passed the House. That’s a huge difference, especially when we’re already at 389 ppm and climbing. Join with the folks at 350.org for the largest grassroots action on climate change ever this October 24. Groups around the world will gather from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to your town green, to spread the word about 350. So far over 1,200 groups in 83 countries have come up with an idea for how they want to spread 350. Join an existing group or start your own.

5. Expand Financing for Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency – To achieve the necessary investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, we are going to need more capital than is included in ACES or that the private sector can provide – see a recent story in Time magazine summarizing the need well.  Luckily, there are two exciting possibilities. The first is Clean Energy Bonds that would work like Liberty Bonds and Victory Bonds of the past and give Americans a clear and direct stake in the successful transition to a clean energy economy. (Green America is developing a technical paper on the options). The second suggestion comes from William Grieder’s piece on reforming the Federal Reserve in the current issue of the Nation. Grieder suggests that if Congress were to take back it’s constitutional authority, “to coin money [and] regulate the value thereof, “ it could “create a stand-alone development fund for long-term capital investment projects.” Those investments in clean energy, energy-efficiency, and smart infrastructure could provide the capital currently absent from ACES and the private sector.

6. Think Globally, Act Locally – While addressing the climate crisis requires coordinated actions from national and international bodies, some bold and forward-thinking folks have refused to wait for others to solve the problem for them. If you want to help educate and prepare your local community, the Transition Town movement is a great place to start.  There are lots of other examples too — from city and state stimulus planning to local climate change preparedness efforts to the Mayors for Climate Protection and the Campus Climate Challenge.

7. Go “Beyond Talk” – If you’re really ready to put yourself on the front lines to create a better future for our children and grandchildren, sign up with Beyond Talk and join thousands who have already pledged, “to perform non-violent civil disobedience and risk arrest in order to get our leaders to make the right climate-change choices.”  Non-violent civil disobedience has been a core tactic of movements for justice throughout history — from Indian Independence, to Civil Rights, to the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. It has already played an important role in blocking or shutting down dirty energy facilities in the movement for climate justice, and I suspect has an even greater role to play in coming months and years. 

These are my suggestions for what we can do as movement to create meaningful change in our climate and energy policy this year. I’d love to hear you’re suggestions as well. Please leave them in the comment section below.

This entry is cross-posted at The Huffington Post.

500 marshmallows organize for climate action.Robert van Waarden / Spectral Q

Already, churches are ringing their bells 350 times and Buddhist monks have formed a huge 350 with their bodies against the backdrop of the Himalayas. People are baking 350 cakes, planting 3,500 trees, and doing whatever they can to spread the word about 350. On October 24 it’ll get even bigger with events from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef. Over a thousand groups in almost sixty countries have signed up for what should be the biggest day of grassroots action on climate change ever. The movement’s gaining particular momentum in the developing world where the impact could be greatest.

There is a lot to like about the number 350. We are already at 389 ppm and climbing. While there is an overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that climate change is real and is already having disastrous effects on the planet, the public is still slow to jump on board. There’s been so much misinformation spread that people don’t know what to believe. 350 slices through all that. It doesn’t ask you to make a judgment call or a moral decision. It says, this is the reality we face and here’s the line in the sand. 350 doesn’t have an agenda. It doesn’t belong to one group or one language. Or one people. It’s just a number. But a number that could save the world. So do whatever you can to spread the word about 350. Bake a cake, organize an event, or write a blog post 350 words long.

This entry is cross-posted at It’s Getting Hot In Here.

Billy Parish is a co-founder of the Energy Action Coalition, a u.s. and canadian youth climate coalition, and lives with his family in Flagstaff, AZ.

…in Ireland.

This is great news for the people of Ireland. But we need to create those jobs in the U.S. too. In Ireland, a country of four million, 10,000 “green” jobs were created in the last three months in organic farming, energy efficient construction, electric cars, and other green industries. With US GDP falling by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2009 we need more action and investment from our government and the private sector. Passing effective climate and energy legislation this year will increase both public and private investment in a clean energy economy, creating new jobs and lifting America out of the recession.

The Waxman-Markey Act recently introduced in the House could be the right start, but it currently falls far short of what we need. An analysis by the Breakthrough Institute found that of the $1 trillion in cap and trade revenue between 2012-2025, only $9 billion a year will be invested in clean technology. “This $9 billion is far less than what Obama promised ($15 billion) and far less than the $30 billion that three dozen energy scientists and experts, including several Nobel laureates, called for in a sign-on letter during the fall of 2007.”

Strong climate legislation will also encourage investment from the private sector, giving American businesses the opportunity to compete in a global economy. Currently, only 6 of the top 30 companies in solar, wind, and advanced batteries are US companies.  We can do better. The recession is the perfect opportunity for forward-thinking businesses to invest and put America back on the path to prosperity. Let’s hope we can print headlines here, like the one above, very soon.