Start with CFLs, and let the lightbulb go on 25

Comments View as Flat

1. 

   SMLowry Posted 4:20 am
   01 Jun 2007

   Wild RideAt some point in this wild ride we're on called climate change we have to find a way of integrating individual actions (like CFLs, more efficient cars, driving less, etc., etc.)with broad-based societal changes that seriously and realistically address the need for sweeping transformation in how we live and work. As important as individual acts are, alone they simply are not enough given the situation we face and the timeframe we have to work with. (We all  know this). So yeah, be positive. But let's also put actions in a larger, global context. And let's find ways of holding governments at all levels, organizations, corporations large and small, and institutions large and small accountable for their pollution, excess energy useage, manufacturing and selling useless, disposable crap, and so on.  

   Permalink

2. 

   JMG Posted 4:42 am
   01 Jun 2007

   The 5% SolutionThis is why we need SMART goals like "The 5% Solution."  When you talk about 80% (which is really more for those of us in the rich countries), peoples' eyes glaze over and their intestines clench as they ponder the implications.  They dig in for rejection in other words.  It's too daunting a prospect.
   But there's hardly anyone who doesn't think they couldn't get by just fine while emitting only 95% of this year's greenhouse gas emissions--there's no terror in it, and the challenge is attainable.
   A SMART goal is
    * specific (permits no waffling about progress)
   
    * measurable (can be charted and tracked)
   
    * appropriate (addresses the root problem)
   
    * realistic (doesn't overwhelm)
   
    * timed (allows progress during to be assessed)
   So let's accept that hitting people with the 2x4 of "80% by 2050" or "90% by 2030" is just setting ourselves up for immobility, and instead work to get our town/city/state/nation (all of the above) to commit to reducing total greenhouse gas emissions just 5% in the next 12 months.  
   I defy anyone to stand up and say with a straight face that we can't do it or that it would hurt the economy.
   Thus, instead of worrying about whether 80% by 2050 is enough or whether we've got enough participation by the poor/people of color/teens/ older folks/any subsection of humanity you care to name, we automatically include everyone by getting as many people and corporations and governments to sign up to implement the 5% solution.
   If it turns out that we need to bump that to a 7% solution (or a 10% solution), we'll be far better off having started than still sitting around having this debate about how we package and sell the idea of getting started.
   
   Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.

   Permalink

3. 

   claxton6 Posted 7:52 am
   01 Jun 2007

   I WILLWe haven't been able to do any sort of follow-up, but a group I'm involved in has had reasonable feedback to an "I WILL" campaign (see an example at the bottom of this post). The linked example is for "I will take the bus." Off the top of my head, we also have I WILL: eat local food, switch to CFLs, bike to work, buy Energy Star, line dry my clothes, get an energy audit, attend a low cost/no cost weatherization workshop, attend a community energy meeting ... maybe a couple of others. We're trying to provide a range of activities, and we've had problems at both ends--people can't find something they feel they can do (we're adding an "I will turn off the lights" card for them), as well as people who are already doing everything that are applicable.

   Permalink

4. 

   MilesDuvalier Posted 3:06 pm
   01 Jun 2007

   I Will! And I Promise!I will believe in everything Albert Gore believes in.  And my actions will be consistent with my words.  
   It is evident from his actions that Albert does not believe any of the ideas he espouses.  His actions show he believes the exact opposite, as do I, and as any rational person would.  
   Join Albert and me, and forget the human caused climate change trash.  For most (if not all), your actions will be consistent with your words, and you will be glad to forget about any inconsistency.  
   So will anyone else who may be burdened with your advice on how to behave or live

   Permalink

5. 

   ffletcher Posted 3:21 pm
   01 Jun 2007

   All We Are Saying is Give Reduction A Chance5% reduction per year is good rule.  Let it start with each of us.
   Start driving less, car pooling more, and enjoying the variety of temperature in your everyday life, like cold in the winter and hot in the summer.  Eat less, eat local, and eat fresh.  Ride your bike not only for fun and exercies but to get the groceries and replace fossil fueled trips.  Enjoy social interaction with your neighbors rather than people on the other side of town.  Drive less, use less, enjoy more.
   Big challenge, but you need only do 5% per year.
    

   Permalink

6. 

   caniscandida Posted 4:41 pm
   01 Jun 2007

   environmentalists = missionaries?Frankly, it is wearying that so much of the activity of environmentalist activists must be directed toward changing the world-views and behaviors of people.  I see why that must be.  But I fear how difficult a course we have set out on, not so much because of the chance that our message may be dismissed, which is indeed possible, but because of the chance that we may be dismissed from humane, civil discourse in many quarters.
   In the late 1980s, I visited Taos Pueblo for the first time.  It was about the same time that Pope John Paul II was visiting California, and there was a controversy over his intended beatification of the Mallorcan Franciscan Juni'pero Serra, who founded a series of missions up the coast of California in the 18th century, many of which survive, and some of which grew into important cities (e.g. Nuestra Sen~ora de los Angeles de la Porciu'ncula, Our Lady of the Angels of [Saint Francis of Assisi's chapel called] the Little Piece of Land, aka today LA: yes, the second largest city in this Protestant Christian country is named in honor of the Virgin Mary).
   The controversy had to do with evidence of how Serra's Franciscans and lay Spanish followers rounded up Native Californians and kept them in a state of slavery for very many years.  Does this man deserve to be canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church?  JPII indeed received protests during his visit to California; I believe the beatification went through, but I do not know about the final canonization.
   Anyway, when I was at Taos, I asked a group of at least four young (20-something, men and women) residents about this.  I think they were supposed to be hospitable greeters, but in fact they were rather sharp-tongued, and said clearly derogatory things in Tiwa to one another, regarding us pale-faces, followed by much laughter.  So sure, whatever, we deserve hardly more than that.
   I asked them if they knew about the Pope's visit, and if they knew about Juni'pero Serra, and if they knew about the effort to canonize him as a saint.
   They said No, No and No; but, if the guy was a missionary, he should in no way ever be considered a saint; clearly he must be a great sinner.
   I worry about that, applying those Tiwas' opinion regarding missionaries to environmentalists.  Are environmentalists as offensive and insensitive as missionaries ever were?
   
   Chickens are our cousins!
   
   So are other sensitive animals!
   
   Enough is enough!
   
   No more factory farms!

   Permalink

7. 

   ffletcher Posted 5:46 pm
   01 Jun 2007

   Why Our Behaviors Must ChangeWithin the last generation of the human race we have dramatically increased our energy use and how we chose to prepare our meals.  Globally the world is seeking to replicate our behavior.  Unfortunately such behavior is not stable, it can not be maintained unless we come up with what appears to be an unbelieveable adaptation response.
   Should people seek to maintain this high energy standard of living under increasingly high cost energy they will meet economic resistance.  People will seek to maintain life, and a life as close to that which they understand as they may be able.  If they see a means to reduced energy use that provides them a life which they can enjoy they will adapt to that life style.
   By making small adjustments over time we will better discover how we might best live with less energy and with better food and may be an improved social life by relating move with our neighbors.  

   Permalink

8. 

   SustainableGreen Posted 12:26 am
   02 Jun 2007

   Frustration of excellent parallel threadsHey, all:
   This is a very helpful thread, with many useful thoughts.  I find in the last couple of days this can be said of several threads, all having at least some overlap on the subject of communication with the rest of the public who are not yet participating, and the appropriate mechanisms for making that happen.  This overlap sometimes happens despite the title or topic of the thread, so it frustrates the potential that having a cohesive thread might have.  
   Fear is an extremely important topic, since although there is legitimate fear of an unaltered future, and that fear should be expressed, it needs to be done in a balanced manner.  To me, there are two obvious problems: overstating the fear, leading to dismissal by those we most need to reach, and falling into the trap of using fear as a form of manipulation and authoritarianism.  
   A couple of stand-out ideas for me are "The 5% Solution", the SMART acronym, and the "I will" slogan.  These need to be promoted widely, as well as others, since most of us agree the abstract but still numerical "20% by 2020" and "80% by 2050" will pretty much guarantee declining interest and commitment.  
   It has been pointed out, here and elsewhere, that we are products and creators of habits, and since it is hard to change those habits, some discipline or a ritual to replace habits is very helpful.  Radical change without an obvious threat is difficult.  Simple change is, also, without some mechanism to ease and remind.  "One a Week" or "One per Month" used to help promote a sequence of improvements seems to help, because just making one small change and calling it good is no progress at all.  
   Gee, Canis, when I read your title I got a tinge of revulsion,since I have learned a little about the violent exploitative history of missionaries, especially Christians in the era you refer to.  I have worked on environmental issues since I was a kid, so even having the 2 terms mentioned together is a little upsetting.  I hope as we continue our mission (ooh, sorry) we can avoid any historical comparisons.  
   David
   
   Sustainability For Life
   Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

   Permalink

9. 

   caniscandida Posted 2:23 am
   02 Jun 2007

   "revulsion": a digressionRight, David, I understand your reaction.  I was just thinking out loud, so to speak, and was certainly not suggesting that environmentalists have ever exploited, enslaved, imposed, destroyed or whatever, in any way like what Christian and Muslim missionaries have done (and still do?), all too often, in many parts of the world.  But you see the sole point of comparison, I hope: at least inasmuch as (many) environmentalists are committed to changing the attitudes and behavior of others, "for their own good," they resemble missionaries.
   It is interesting, by the way, that Taos Pueblo itself, where those tough young Tiwas were denouncing the activities of missionaries, was visited by Franciscan missionaries in the 17th century, a century before Juni'pero Serra was running up and down California.  And it boasts a beautiful Catholic church.  Presumably all those tough young Tiwas had been baptized in that church, even as all their deceased ancestors buried in the graveyard were likely baptized there, and had their Catholic funerals there.  And that seems to be the situation in all the pueblos of the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico, and as far west as Acoma (I do not know enough about Zuni, on the Arizona border), and as far east as the impressive, extinct pueblo now called Pecos, SE of Santa Fe.
   And -- this is the interesting part -- all these pueblos maintain their traditional, pre-Christian religion, cults and liturgical calendars, even as they also maintain their more recent Catholic identity.  That would suggest that at least in that mission territory, the Catholic padres are significantly more open-minded than missionaries have been in other places, e.g. in Mesoamerica in the first decades following the Conquest.
   
   Chickens are our cousins!
   
   So are other sensitive animals!
   
   Enough is enough!
   
   No more factory farms!

   Permalink

10. 

    JMG Posted 2:47 am
    02 Jun 2007

    Speaking of missionsThere's a website out there that Sam Smith pointed out--it has a link to the "Mission Statement" and when you click on it, it says something like:
    Missions were used to subjugate and oppress the native peoples of the American continent.  We oppose them."
    
    Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.

    Permalink

11. 

    amazingdrx Posted 3:02 am
    02 Jun 2007

    StrikeTime to initiate a strike.  Disconnect now!
    Utilities need to be scared into acting.  Even a tiny number of people using home based renewable energy and plugin vehicles to withdraw from the grid and the oil supply would get a high profile.
    Make it a friendly strike, we will reconnect but not until we get paid for supplying green power to the grid and major moves by government to back electric cars with backup generators are acomplished.
    CFLs and other more power structure friendly activities are fine.  But a vocal protest would really move the public and policy debate along about now.  A recent article here pointed out there is a disconnection movement underway.  I say make it a protest and start the bargaining.
    Doom and gloom is for depressive characters stuck in their own death cycles.  
     
    
    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

    Permalink

12. 

    spaceshaper Posted 9:32 am
    02 Jun 2007

    Strike?Even a very slight awareness of industrial history will tell us that strikes have been successful only when pretty much all of the workforce is fully engaged. Not some small fraction of 3%.
    The utilities are right now struggling to keep up with rising demand and are soon to get their hands on the transportation energy monopoly as well via the electric car.
    They must be shaking in their shoes.
    
    The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

    Permalink

13. 

    SustainableGreen Posted 3:32 am
    03 Jun 2007

    Revulsion, etc., and Electrical Utility StrikesHey, all:
    Hey, Canis:
    Please don't for a minute think I was offended by your reference to environmentalists as missionaries.  It stems from my personal revulsion to religion, given my interpretation of history, plus personal experience and observations.  And you are probable right, Islamic missionaries past and current are no better than the Christians.  I do understand your message as well--"missionary zeal" is a well-understood concept, and there is some of the 'this is for your own good' mentality, which may be a subset of an elitist mentality.  We need to avoid the 'TIFYOG' approach in any case.
    Hey, Amazing:
    While I certainly like your spirit, and I had not thought of  such a strike, it suffers from a paradox.  First, as Spaceshaper says, the numbers are very small, but more importantly, the potential participants are in the wrong places.  States that have incentives such as net-metering and net-pay have all the gird-connected energy sustainability customers who would disconnect without energy penalty, vice versa in the states that would be the preferred targets.  
    A strike would need a great deal of sympathy participation from others including some who would like the incentives, but if they shut down, there goes the AC and fridge.  Others would benefit from reduced rates due to competition, but getting the word to them is difficult because they are an entrenched part of the 97%.  
    Please don't be dissuaded, but these are some issues to address.  
    David
    
    Sustainability For Life
    Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

    Permalink

14. 

    SustainableGreen Posted 3:43 am
    03 Jun 2007

    Oooooooh!!!Hey, all:
    How about an hour-long, nationwide, Internet-organized electrical shutdown at a single coordinated time and date across the country?  I gotcher blowback right heah!
    "Make Your Meter Stand Still!"  
    What are the pros and cons here?  
    David
    
    Sustainability For Life
    Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

    Permalink

15. 

    amazingdrx Posted 9:56 pm
    03 Jun 2007

    PublicityI'm thinking of it as an ongoing publicity device rather than a real strike.
    We really need higher profile for solutions that actually work right now.  By demanding we get payed for the renewable energy we generate, it also creates the basis for a class action to get access to the power grid.
    A level playing field where we can buy and sell renewable kwh amongst the like minded on energy policy reform.  
    This would create more publicity.  would these efforts ever be succsessful by themselves in overturning the status quo?  Doubtfull.
    Here is the problem we face.  Any green minded politician we support will likely be targeted for swift boating by the power monopolists if they propose reform.  
    But with grassroots pushing hard enough, our green politicos (mainly democrats, excepting exceptional republicans like Kristy Whitman) can say they are merely responding to there constituents direction, as democracy is supposed to do.
    What will the swift boaters say?  These eco-terrorists are trying to tax your gas and raise the price you pay for electricity!  
    Our guys and gals can then say no, they are trying instead to bring relief for the people who elected them from high energy prices and climate disaster and endless oil wars brought on by corporate monopolists and their bought and payed for members of government.
    We need to be idealistic and politically practical at the same time.  My epiphany after seeing our new (progressive) congressman here negotiating the crowds at a fundraiser and town meeting.  Pragmatic idealism.  
    It might just work where politics as usual is continuiong to fail miserably in the face of disaster ...economic, environmental, and international.
    Oh and BTW, what percentage of the workers of this world has any labor strike ever encompassed?  1%?  Maybe.  Look at the vast improvement in working conditions, pay, safety, health, and pensions that this tiny percentage has won for the rest.  
    There is phenomenal power in collective bargaining.
    
    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

    Permalink

16. 

    spaceshaper Posted 11:59 pm
    03 Jun 2007

    "Strikes"Amazing: "Oh and BTW, what percentage of the workers of this world has any labor strike ever encompassed?  1%?  Maybe.  Look at the vast improvement in working conditions, pay, safety, health, and pensions that this tiny percentage has won for the rest."
    Very little of these advances have been won by strikes, which because of the suffering they invariably cause to the participants have generally been treated as a very last resort, when all other negotiations have failed, by the unions who organize them. As for the numbers: the British General Strike of 1926 involved over 1.5 million workers, the French General Strike of 1968 over ten million. Both were ineffective in achieving their objectives.
    It's actually both inaccurate and disrespectful of the hard-won gains of the labor movement both in this country and internationally to call this proposed action a strike in any case. The correct term would be a boycott.
    
    The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

    Permalink

17. 

    Tod Posted 4:44 am
    04 Jun 2007

    General StrikeSpaceshaper -
    Clearly, you know of Eugene Debs and the history of successful (and not) strikes in the past 100 years.
    In the United States, a general strike has not been lead in neary a century. It is a tool that can be employed to incredible, earth-shaking effect and one that should not be left off the table, however difficult it would be to organize.
    The Pinkerton Detective agency - those tools of early administrations who assassinated and bludgeoned strikers into submission, have their modern counterparts but they are only men and can be broken like so many bits of straw under the weight of a united citizenry.
    AHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Thinking of the U.S. citizens uniting for a better world is beyond hilarious!!!
    But . . . in a fantasy land where they were decently educated and motivated beyond the acquisition of things, the General Strike would be quite powerful.
    
    
    
    "Because the world doesn't matter if you don't have the strength to go ahead and choose something that's really true." - Julio Cortazar
    
    
    
    http://www.todbrilliant.com

    Permalink

18. 

    amazingdrx Posted 3:29 pm
    04 Jun 2007

    SpaceyA scab huh?  Hehey.  
    Many hate the labor movement, that's a shame.
    
    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

    Permalink

19. 

    SustainableGreen Posted 12:54 am
    05 Jun 2007

    How and Why this has valueHey, all:
    Well, it has been pointed out it is not a strike, but a boycott, and the nature of a utility shutdown means it could not last very long at any given time, but this is the type of idea I am looking for to gain attention, exposure, and to add pressure to change the system.  
    JMG signs off with "Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5%  annually."  A boycott like this is one means of achieving that goal, which by itself is just too abstract for people to act on.  A boycott is a message to the utilities, saying "we have power, too", plus it might also inspire people to save power on their own.  "Wow, this feels kinda strange not to have anything on in the house/apartment/business/farm/warehouse.  I can get used to this for short periods."
    Now all we have to do is sign up a few million customers, give them a time to do it, and shut the system down for an hour.  I guess people will have to figure out all over again how to stop the blinking "12:00" on all the appliances....
    David
    
    Sustainability For Life
    Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!
     

    Permalink

20. 

    spaceshaper Posted 12:13 pm
    05 Jun 2007

    Scab?You seem unaware of the meaning of the term, and I suspect, drx, that you have no experience of suffering through an actual strike, as my parents and my grandparents have done. You disrespect the history of the union movement with this comfortable foolishness. As I said before, this proposal is no strike, has no claim to the dignity of that name.
    
    The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

    Permalink

21. 

    amazingdrx Posted 10:10 pm
    08 Jun 2007

    YowWell that's very different then.  Never mind.  
    Sorry for insulting the labor movement and your forebears.
    
    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

    Permalink

22. 

    amazingdrx Posted 10:25 pm
    08 Jun 2007

    That's the idea DavidBut for a higher profile,rather than an hour long boycott, a boycott until power companies actually start paying for renewable energy.  Net metering only allows one to reduce the power bill to zero.  
    Paying people around 15 cents per kwh for the power from their wind, solar, and/or biogas would allow them to payback the cost of their systems faster and actually offset the electricity that they use to recharge electric car batteries from the grid when away from home.
    Even if only a tiny percentage go off the grid with their own renewable power it would send out a high profile message across the media.  Would it eclipse Paris Hilton news?  of course not.  
    But it might get a mention in mass delusional media outlets ocasionally.
    Right now as people disconnect no one notices.  Maybe that could change?  In Germany people are payed 50 cents per kwh for their solar electricity.  All we need here is 15 cents.  And/or a power grid that allows us to buy/sell clean kwh amongst our green selves.
    Power companies backed by government as usual will go nuclear and clean coal if they have the choice in this.  We need to get some sort of collective bargaining going.  Call it what you will, I think the same spirit behind the labor movement is out there for renewable distributed energy generation and storage.
    Some think that's an insult to labor.  That's a shame.  Word games won't get the job done.
    
    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

    Permalink

23. 

    Erik Hoffner Posted 1:00 am
    11 Jun 2007

    voluntary blackout demosConsidering the ideas above, I wonder what can be learned from the campaigns this fall in France and this spring in Australia stemming from calls to turn out the lights briefly:
    The French
    http://www.greencoast.org/node/30341
    Aussies
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6509437.stm
    
    The Orion Grassroots Network: 1000+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
    
    

    Permalink

24. 

    Ron Steenblik Posted 1:13 am
    11 Jun 2007

    It was only a moderate success in ParisThe lights on the Eiffel Tower went out but most people were not aware of the campaign until after the fact. (I got my family to turn off all lights except for those in the kitchen: it was dinner time.) Still, national consumption dipped briefly by 1%. I think that perhaps next time the participation rate will be greater.
    The experience in Sydney, Australia seems to have been better organized, even fun. Of course, it was mid-summer in Sydney and mid-winter in Paris.

    Permalink

25. 

    Erik Hoffner Posted 1:56 am
    11 Jun 2007

    moderate successThanks, Ron. Interesting.
    So towards downplaying the doom and gloom aspect, taking Sydney's lead in making anything like this fun has got to be a key element.
    
    The Orion Grassroots Network: 1000+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
    
    

    Permalink