Environment -- Commemorating Earth Day

April 22, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, Benjamin Armbruster, and Sarah Dale

ENVIRONMENT

Commemorating Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across American observed the world's first Earth Day. On that day, the nation was faced with rampant and highly visible forms of pollution -- valleys filled with drums of hazardous chemicals, thick clouds of smog hung over our cities, Ohio's Cuyahoga River caught fire, and towns were constructed on toxic waste sites. Although much has changed since 1970, the Earth is far from protected. In the last 100 years, the planet has warmed by 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Global carbon dioxide levels are at their highest levels in 650,000 years, possibly 20 million years. As polar ice sheets recede,"sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half meters by the end of this century." As Americans from coast to coast commemorate Earth Day with clean-ups, summits, parties and concerts, today is a reminder, in the words of Vice President Al Gore, that the next generation will either ask, "What were they thinking?" or "How did they find the courage to rise and solve a crisis so many said was impossible to solve?" "That choice is ours and we must make it now."

GREEN JOBS: At a time when the economy is at the forefront of Americans' minds, the appeal of "green-collar" jobs is reaching beyond the traditional environmental crowd. "The green revolution isn't just creating new and different jobs," said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a joint venture between two unlikely bedfellows, the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers. "It's revitalizing and creating new investment in a lot of the jobs we already have." Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, explains, "If we are smart about it, building a green economy will mean new economic development, greater prosperity, and more opportunity for those who need good jobs most." While much of the hype surrounding green jobs has focused on entrepreneurs, most of the jobs are being created in less glamorous sectors: weatherizing homes and offices, installing solar panels, and retrofitting factories with energy-efficient technologies. "This is not an eco-elite, eco-chic movement for people who can afford to buy hybrid cars and shop at Whole Foods," says Van Jones, founder of Green for All, a California-based organization that promotes green job training for low income people. "The green economy to come is going to be a broad-shouldered, mass movement of American labor." Although the development of new technologies is part of the story, green jobs are also about job security. "Making homes, offices and factories more energy efficient not only saves money, it also represents a huge growth opportunity for the people who build our communities and keep them running," said Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We're talking about architects and engineers. Drywall and lighting contractors. Electricians and carpenters. Everything from construction to computing. And these are jobs that cannot be shipped offshore, and pay lasting dividends to the American economy."

THE ECONOMICS OF CONSERVATION: Sustainable practices offer both environmental and economic benefits. A recent study released by the Environmental Protection Agency indicates that the global warming reductions mandated by pending global warming legislation, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, would have "limited impact on overall economic growth, and lead to very small increases in electricity prices." A paper released by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) yields similar results. The EDF finds "a clear consensus among leading economic models that a cap-and-trade policy to cut global warming pollution is consistent with long-term economic growth." Nathaniel Keohane, EDF's director of economic policy and analysis, explains the economic impact of conservation in layman's terms. "Put another way, our gross domestic product is projected to reach $26 trillion in January 2030. If we capped greenhouse gases, according to these studies, the economy would hit that same mark by April." This week Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) plans to introduce a bill giving incentives to lenders and financial institutions to provide lower interest loans and other benefits to consumers who build, buy, or remodel their homes and businesses to improve their energy efficiency. The Sierra Club calculates, "Replacing 10 regular light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) would net you savings of $92 in one year."

GREEN SUCCESS: Schools, businesses, communities, cities, and places of worship have taken progressive steps towards cost-effective energy efficiency. The owner of seven franchised fast-food restaurants in Oklahoma has shown that the installation of energy-efficient lighting, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, ceiling fans, and ice makers can reduce energy costs by 40 percent and save $20,000. Small towns in industrial Michigan are making bolder, greener moves. Ypsilanti is testing out LED street lights. Wyandotte is installing solar panels on its schools and preparing to build wind turbines on the Detroit River. Ferndale is working to develop a full fleet of fuel efficient city-owned vehicles. A group of Catholic nuns renovated their 80-year-old Motherhouse by including geothermal heating, a graywater recycling system, green plumbing, and cooling and electrical systems. Even in parts of the United States that have long touted environmentalism, Americans are going above and beyond. According to a new Sightline report, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho have cut back on per capita gasoline consumption by 11 percent from 1999 to 2007, or nearly a gallon a week on average. Portland ranks as the top large American city for the number of commuters biking to work. As explained by Rep. Earl Blumenhauer (D-OR), founding member of the Congressional Bike Caucus, "Bicycling is one of the cleanest, healthiest, most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transportation that exists today."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS -- SENATE REPORT FINDS WOMEN ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED BY SLOW ECONOMY: On Friday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released a report titled "Taking a Toll: The Effects of Recession on Women." The report found that women's real wages, which are 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, fell 3 percent last year, whereas men's wages fell 0.5 percent. Women have also been disproportionately affected by unemployment and the foreclosure crisis, according to the report. Unemployment for women jumped 20 percent last month, compared to only 17 percent for men, and women are 32 percent more likely than men to have subprime mortgages. The report was released ahead of today's Equal Pay Day and "symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year." Today, Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), will "call for passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843), which ensures equal pay for women and minorities in the workforce."

ADMINISTRATION -- GOVERNMENT TO FORCE AIRLINES TO FINGERPRINT ALL FOREIGNERS LEAVING U.S.: The federal government is expected today to "order commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a security initiative that the industry has condemned as costly and burdensome." The program is expected to cost airlines $2.3 billion over 10 years, an exorbitant amount, airlines say, "at a time when carriers are struggling with safety concerns, high fuel costs and passenger complaints." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has accused airlines of blocking the project, saying recently that if it's not in place by the end of year, "it will only be because the airline industry killed it." One airline industry representative called the demand "ludicrous," adding, "We can't afford anything in the billions to support a program that should be a government program." Besides financial concerns, Chertoff has also dismissed privacy concerns in the past, stating bluntly that "a fingerprint is hardly personal data because you leave it on glasses and silverware...they're not particularly private."

ECONOMY -- AMERICANS PAYING MORE FOR LESS GASOLINE: According to data released by the Energy Information Agency (EIA), gasoline consumption in the United States "so far this year is down about 0.2 percent compared to last year" with a forecast "that gasoline demand will be down 0.4 percent this summer and 0.3 percent for the year." If those predictions stand, "it would be the first time since 1991 that there's been a decline in annual gas consumption. And it would be only the eighth year since 1951 in which demand for gasoline has declined." But despite the decrease in demand for gasoline, Americans are spending more. The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) found that "U.S. households spent more than $100 billion on gasoline during the first quarter of this year, more than double the $40 billion spent in the same period just six years ago." The obvious reason: skyrocketing gas prices. According to AAA, prices for gasoline in the United States topped out yesterday at $3.50 per gallon of regular self-serve, "the highest average price the national auto club has ever recorded." Despite using less gasoline, Americans are still feeling the pinch. A CFA survey of "representative Americans" during the first week of April found that 60 percent said "rising gasoline prices caused them much or some hardship."

The Environmental Defense Fund released a report on the eve of Earth Day "that suggests implementing a cap-and-trade program to cut greenhouse gas emissions would not slow the U.S. economy or cost jobs, contradicting a report released recently by a group of manufacturers that oppose a climate change bill." Overall, the report says that "the economy would continue to grow at an average clip of 3 percent."

69 percent: Americans who disapprove of the job Bush is doing. "The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.”

At least two dozen detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere "say they were given drugs against their will or witnessed other inmates being drugged." The allegations have resurfaced since the release this month of a 2003 Justice Department memo by former DOJ official John Yoo "that explicitly condoned the use of drugs on detainees."

In a speech last night at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Defense Secretary Robert Gates "said he believes Iran is 'hell bent' on acquiring nuclear weapons," but he warned that "another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need and, in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels." Despite his warning, Gates said he "favors keeping the military option against Iran on the table."

"For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women." "This is a story about smoking, blood pressure and obesity," said study co-author Majid Ezzati of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health.

According to Pentagon records, "the Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty" -- known as "stop-loss" -- "to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order last year to limit it." Since May 2007, "the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235 in March."

And finally: Being president "really takes its toll." Pop Photo has designed a feature mimicking the "ravages of time" and allowing people to "see how the current candidates would fare after a term in the Oval Office." Full results here.

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"U.S. registrations of new hybrid vehicles rose to record levels last year. Sales were up 38 percent in 2007 to more than 350,000 vehicles."

NEW JERSEY: State Supreme Court rules that "Internet service providers must not release personal information about users in New Jersey without a valid subpoena, even to police."

CALIFORNIA: "Los Angeles is at the leading edge of a U.S. demographic trend, with half of its workforce immigrants."

COLORADO: State Rep. Douglas Bruce (R) calls immigrants "illiterate peasants."

THINK PROGRESS: Hawks Max Boot and John Podhoretz claim that the Pentagon propaganda machine is no big deal.

WONK ROOM: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misleadingly claims that in Iraq, "Badr has decided to be an organization, not a militia."

TPM MUCKRAKER: Scandalized Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson gets a royal send off.

EZRA KLEIN: Fox News's Chris Wallace engages in "trickery" to claim that 50 percent of people being taxed for capital gains make under $50,000.

"But let's be honest about stop-loss. This is sort of a myth of the left."
-- Author Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, 4/10/08

VERSUS

"Lieutenant General James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end 'stop-loss.' He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice -- an action that critics have called a backdoor draft.
-- AP, 4/22/08

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