Mike, Aja and Liz at the Antioch table

On the heels of the 350.org day of global action, Vermonters met at the Environmental Action 2009 Conference last Saturday to explore the hot issues facing the Green Mountain State.  I was thrilled to be joined by Antioch EAOP master’s candidate Liz Newman, EAOP Director Steve Chase, and EAOP alumna Aja Lippincott, who now works for Global Justice Ecology Project.

Liz and I first learned of the conference working on an environmental justice project for a Vermont client through the ANE Advocacy Clinic.  We planned to meet some advocates we had talk to on the phone and to further explore possible collaborations for our client.

In addition to networking and eating great local cheese, we were representing Antioch in two primary ways.  First, equipped with banners, literature and free pens, we were recruiting potential students.  Second, we engaged potential clients of the Advocacy Clinic to think about how our pro bono advocacy work could be help them take innovative and strategic environmental action.

I talked to a group that was fighting a big box store development in their town.  I explained that Shapleigh, Maine and other towns have passed a local ordinance that gives rights to nature and allows citizens to defend those rights against corporate exploitation.  Shapleigh passed the Nature Ordinance to protect its drinking water from being sold off to a transnational bottled water company.  We were both excited about using the Nature Ordinance to protect against sprawl and bringing self-determination back to the people of a VT town.

The afternoon offered some excellent workshops.  I attended a session on Funding Real Change, comprehensive funding strategies for grassroots action.  Ginny Callahan from the New England Environmental Grassroots Fund walked us through the grant application process giving tips and encouragement from a funder’s perspective.  Mia Moore, Finance Director for Democracy for America and Alyssa Schuren, Development Director of Environment America presented donor-funding strategies and tools to increase giving and diversify funding for campaigns and organizations.  I walked away with a new understanding and excitement for donor funding.

Finally, after lunch we heard from five gubernatorial candidates about their positions on environmental issues.   All five stressed that Vermont needs to start leading in environmental action and clean energy.  I am thoroughly impressed and slightly jealous of the candidates VT has for its next governor.

Keene's 350.org march on Oct 24

This past Saturday I joined other Monadnock residents for a 350.org global day of climate action.  About two dozen marchers braved the downpour walking down Keene’s Main Street from Railroad Square to Keene State College.

Later in the afternoon Keene’s Central Square was ringed with “350″ and “Save the Earth” banners.

Keene Central Square 350 Banners

Keene was joined by actions from around the world.  NPR describes the global movement.  Photos from actions around the world can be viewed at 350.org or see the Flickr slide show below.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Bike for 350ppm

Put Keene on the map for climate efforts

On Oct. 24, I’m joining the Monadnock community for a rally at Railroad Square at noon.

We’ll be taking a stand for the Copenhagen Climate Treaty, then marching to the Harvest Festival at Keene State College Quad at 12:45 p.m. If we were the only ones marching that day it probably wouldn’t matter. But we won’t be — that day is the Global Day of Action on Climate Change, and there are more than 3,000 connected events in 158 countries around the world.

The goal for all of them will be the same: to tell our neighbors and our leaders what the latest science makes clear: we can’t tackle global warming unless we can get the carbon concentration of the atmosphere down below 350 parts per million (ppm).

Our dependence on fossil fuels has spiked the current atmospheric carbon to 387 ppm. To reach 350 ppm, we have to take local action, such as participating in the city of Keene’s 10-percent Challenge, but also send the message to our leaders and the world that we’re ready

to make the transition to renewable solar and wind energy nationwide.

Last year, Keene won national recognition by Keene State College and my school, Antioch University New England, earning spots among the top five colleges and universities in the country pledging to Power Vote, a campaign that brought clean energy to the fore of the presidential election.

Power Vote, the city of Keene’s Climate Change Action Plan, and the Keene 10-percent Challenge have positioned Keene as a leader in climate action and make me proud to live here.

Oct. 24 we’ll be sending the message to the Senate and President Obama that we’re ready for them to follow our lead in the Copenhagen Climate Treaty.

At 2 p.m., an aerial photo will be taken and added to thousands of other actions all over the globe and posted on 350.org. Let’s put Keene on the international stage as a leader in climate action.

Please join us!

Keep it simple.

President Obama and Congress are faced with 21st Century climate realities. Last week in a 600-page draft bill on energy and climate change, House Democrats detailed a complicated carbon cap-and-trade system. We can no longer delay enacting solutions to our changing carbon-constrained world, but will cap and trade work?   A better alternative is a carbon tax.

While a cap and trade program issues credits to carbon emitters to allow some pollution for free, a carbon tax applies a percentage tax on the carbon content of fossil fuels used right from the start.

Under a cap and trade program, any company may emit more carbon than allowed by simply purchasing more credits. This would create an inequity between carbon-clean and carbon-dirty towns and even nations.

On the other hand, a carbon tax would be an economic and environmental equalizer by providing a profit incentive for minimizing carbon use. Because the tax is percentage-based it would actually encourage reduction in carbon emissions rather than shifting them to cheaper pollution zones in other states or developing nations.

The cap and trade carbon market would be open to speculative profiteering of the same type that collapsed the mortgage and credit markets. Conversely, a carbon tax is not only economically efficient, but also conveys crucial price signals and spurs carbon-reducing investment and low-carbon behavior.  Let’s not create a carbon market that profits the polluter and requires a government bail out in eight years.

A carbon tax would be revenue-neutral, meaning the government keeps none of the revenue and instead invests it in renewable energy and local conservation initiatives. The City of Keene’s Local Action Plan for Climate Protection identifies the economic, social and taxpayer benefits of such a tax. As the Plan explains, a carbon tax would actually save taxpayers money by reducing property and social security tax burdens while investing in improved public transportation.

A carbon tax offers a simple, administratively inexpensive, and sustainable solution to our global carbon limits while still protecting individual communities. A permanent and increasing U.S. carbon tax is essential to reduce the emissions that are driving global climate change.

I call on Congressman Paul Hodes and Congress to take cap and trade out of the budget and give us a simple carbon tax.

Photo: davipt’s flickr photostream (Creative Commons)