local politics
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Cleveland, worker-owned co-ops, and new ideas for a flailing economy
Is the way forward for our ailing economy to be found along the banks of Lake Erie? Despite talk of a recovery, the national economy remains in shambles. In Sunday’s New York Times, reporter Peter Goodman brought devastating news: Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing […]
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Washington Republican helps swing climate bill vote
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka the Waxman-Markey bill) narrowly passed in the House late Friday thanks to eight bold Republicans who hopped the fence. And one of them is Washington state’s very own Dave Reichert of the 8th District (which includes Mercer Island, Bellevue, and surrounding areas). Some 44 House Democrats, mostly […]
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Seattle, utility to help pay for home energy audits
Photo: Office of the MayorSometimes, fighting climate change is a numbers game. Numbers like 20 — the percentage of Seattle’s carbon footprint caused by energy use in homes and buildings. Also 600 — the cost (in $) of a home energy audit to find out just how drafty those old windows are. But thanks to […]
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Seattle’s transit-supporting sales-tax hike goes into effect
Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives via Flickr If you noticed this week that your bar tab was a bit higher than usual, it’s probably because of that extra shot of tequila you’re now regretting the sales tax hike. As of April 1, residents in King, Pierce, and Snohomish county started paying more for their purchases — […]
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Berkeley's program to finance solar systems through property tax assessments is off to great start
The city of Berkeley, Calif. is pioneering a program to help homeowners finance solar systems through property tax assessments. How's that working out?
The first tranche of funds sold out in nine minutes.
And on Friday, the first two checks were handed out to proud owners of new solar systems. Meanwhile, we were able to tweak the federal tax code to ensure that program participants can still use the federal investment tax credit (thanks, Speaker Pelosi). And we are working with partners in eight states and counting to get enabling legislation on the books to allow more cities to replicate the model.
Note that this program can be set up to fund more than just solar electric. Solar hot-water and energy-efficiency upgrades can and should be included as well.
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How to build resilient communities in a chaotic world
This is a guest essay by Chip Ward, a former grassroots organizer/activist who has led several successful campaigns to hold polluters accountable. He described his political adventures in Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West and Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land. This post was originally published at TomDispatch, and it is republished here with Tom's kind permission.
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Now that we've decided to "green" the economy, why not green homeland security, too? I'm not talking about interrogators questioning suspects under the glow of compact fluorescent light bulbs, or cops wearing recycled Kevlar recharging their Tasers via solar panels. What I mean is: Shouldn't we finally start rethinking the very notion of homeland security on a sinking planet?
Now that Dennis Blair, the new Director of National Intelligence, claims that global insecurity is more of a danger to us than terrorism, isn't it time to release the idea of "security" from its top-down, business-as-usual, terrorism-oriented shackles? Isn't it, in fact, time for the Obama administration to begin building security we can believe in; that is, a bottom-up movement that will start us down the road to the kind of resilient American communities that could effectively recover from the disasters -- manmade or natural (if there's still a difference) -- that will surely characterize this emerging age of financial and climate chaos? In the long run, if we don't start pursuing security that actually focuses on the foremost challenges of our moment, that emphasizes recovery rather than what passes for "defense," that builds communities rather than just more SWAT teams, we're in trouble.
Today, "homeland security" and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that unwieldy amalgam of 13 agencies created by the Bush administration in 2002, continue to express the potent, all-encompassing fears and assumptions of our last president's Global War on Terror. Foreign enemies may indeed be plotting to attack us, but, believe it or not (and increasing numbers of people, watching their homes, money, and jobs melt away are coming to believe it), that's probably neither the worst, nor the most dangerous thing in store for us.
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Me, in the L.A. Times on Los Angeles' Measure B
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power works hard to exempt itself from renewable energy legislation from Sacramento, and, not coincidentally, it's also the dirtiest utility in the state. About 50 percent of the electricity they sell their customers comes from coal.
So when the utility announced a huge new solar plan, that's all good news, right? The Los Angeles Times asked me for a review of Measure B, a ballot initiative that would enable the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to install 400 MW of solar on land and rooftops within the city. I'm no Hamlet, so I dived into the messy politics, and you can find the piece here.
If you don't hear from me in the next few days, watch this for clues. Been nice knowing you.
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Looking at climate change from a regional perspective
"Climate change poses a tremendous threat to the Puget Sound and Georgia Basin area."
Clear. Concise. Depressing. The quote comes from Patty Glick, senior global warming specialist at the National Wildlife Federation, but it was echoed in the words of all the speakers at the three climate-change panels held Wednesday at the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Conference in Seattle.
Scientists of varying disciplines from all over the region shared their research and forecasts for the future. But one big question for the day arose: How do we take all of this climate change science -- which is primarily based on predictions that are global in scale -- and translate that into local management decisions?
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Washington state Senate aims to boost green jobs, construction
As Microsoft, Starbucks, and other Seattle-area giants announce layoffs, Democrats in the Washington state Senate have revealed a package of proposed laws aimed at boosting the number of green jobs in the state -- by speeding up construction projects. (Sound familiar?)
The "Clean Energy, Green Jobs" legislation will funnel money from the anticipated federal stimulus package and the state's construction budget into green building efforts. By 2030, older buildings would have to decrease their greenhouse-gas emissions and new buildings would be required to be emissions-free.
Aimed at "encouraging businesses to become more environmentally friendly," the legislation would also require state vehicles to meet 36 mpg standards, provide provisions for weatherizing low-income homes, and incorporate sales tax breaks for hybrid and electric vehicles.