Saving Gros Morne

Last month's Green Drinks was special for two reasons. First, we had our best turnout to date, a group so vast it could only be captured with a panoramic shot.

Second, the prospect of another environmental project emerged, stopping the fracking of Gros Morne National Park. Today Pia Banzhaf has brought to our attention a movement to oppose this travesty. Here are two links to online petitions: one and two. Please sign them and share.

Apropos of that, last night's Daily Show guest was the director of the documentary "Gas Land part II" decrying fracking. Check out the segment and notice the clip with the flammable well water. That's what would happen at Gros Morne to say nothing of its losing its UNESCO status.  In the parlance of "Battlestar Galactica," that's frakked up!

And of course, such a move is completely unnecessary. Newfoundland has a glut of renewable energy that's largely unutilized; it's called "wind."

See you at the next Green Drinks on August 28th.

Looking forward to tomorrow...

We've had such a beautiful spring, I can't think of a better way to cap it off than meeting fellow Green Drinkers on the shore on Long Pond for a pint or two.  Tomorrow night, we're at Bitters.  Blue Drinks is joining us, too.  Can't wait to see you there.

Media to discuss next Wednesday

Next Wednesday we're having May Green Drinks at Bitters.  Recently, I've encountered some compelling media we might want to discuss.  Even if we don't, I highly recommend both.

The radio show/podcast This American Life recently aired an episode devoted to climate change, "Hot In My Backyard."  In general, I'd always recommend This American Life, but this episode is particularly compelling.

Last night MUN's Cineam Politica screened the documentary, "The Pipe," and I'm happy to say I was there.  The film tells the story of an Irish fishing community's resistance to Shell's installation of a gas pipeline through the middle of their community.  Despite the bleak subject matter, I was taken by what a fine film it was, filled with beautiful cinematography and compelling scenes.  And the final outcome isn't a complete downer.  Don't miss an opportunity to see this film.

In Two Weeks at Newfoundland's Greenest Pub

Things are looking good for the May Green Drinks on the 29th (7 pm) at Bitters.  Initially, I thought we'd do that simply because it had worked so well in February.  But then I checked Bitters' site and saw this:

Well done, Bitters!  Now I couldn't think of a better place to have it.

It looks like the turn out is going to be good, too.  I know that looking at the RSVP's on the facebook events might not suggest it.  But there are actually three events that get distributed--two facebook events and a google calendar event.  Our RSVP's are in the double digits with a few maybe's.  Plus, Blue Drinks' (another environmental group) meeting this Tuesday got scrubbed, because Bitters was closed for a private party.  So Blue Drinks is joining Green Drinks to make . . . Teal Drinks.  Sure, that's it.

(I've got logo envy.)

(By the way, should we ever find Green Drinks booted from Bitters for any reason, our back-up location will be Ben's Pub in Churchill Square on Elizabeth Street.)

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, everyone!  On this day, I feel very fortunate to be part of our community of Green Drinks where I have met so many great people who all value our natural environment.

So we are meeting again on May 29th at 7 pm.  Bitters worked so well last time that we meet there again!

About my project

At the last Green Drinks, I described my effort with a friend to use the White House petition system to petition the administration to create a national feed-in tariff which would prompt nationwide growth in renewable energy.

What attracted me to the White House petition system was that petitioners were guaranteed an official response from the administration if their petition met a certain threshold (now, 100,000) in 30 days (not much time).  In at least one case, President Obama has even responded directly.  Unlike other on-line petitions which seem to go nowhere, the White House petitions offered people a tremendous lever on power, and I thought we should use that lever to effect some environmental policy.  However, given the absolute gridlock in Congress, I thought petitioning for new legislation was an absolutely futile gesture.  I thought it was imperative to petition for a policy that falls solely within control of the executive branch.  In other words, a policy that President Obama could implement without getting passage from Congress.

So I started asking around, and my friend found this article Beyond Carbon Policy.  The article described using the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which allegedly is under the President's control, to create feed-in tariffs.  Worldwide, feed-in tariffs are the single most effective policy for the spread of renewable energy.

With this policy idea, we were off--drafting and revising our petition and strategizing on a campaign to get 100,000 signatures in 30 days.  The White House site really limited text of the petitions, allowing only 920 characters, which was a serious limitation just for introducing the topic of feed-in tariffs, let alone making a case for the policy.  Nevertheless, I was very pleased with the petition we produced.  You can see a later version of it here. 

With our petition complete, we moved on to the vetting stage, first sharing the petition with Christopher Nelder, the author of "Beyond Carbon Policy."  And that's where things went south.  Nelder informed us that since the publication of the article he had heard from two separate FERC-law experts.  Both of them told him that his policy idea was not possible for several reasons.

Naturally, I was disappointed.  I was all geared up for an exciting (though laborious) campaign for this petition.  (To that end, I'm still set to be a guest on the podcast Professor Blastoff to discuss renewable energy.)  My friend wanted to continue.  But if the policy idea wasn't sound, I saw little point in continuing.  Afterall, my motive was to actually effect a change, not just engage in some on-line activity.  (I do enough of that already.)  And more importantly, I did not feel like I could ask others to get involved (as I would have inevitably done) in an activity that I knew was for naught.

So now the petition idea is shelved until we find some un-used executve authority for improving the environment.  I contacted both of the FERC-law experts for a suggestion.  I tweeted Al Gore, too.  But none of them have replied.  (Thanks, y'all.) 

So that's the unfortunate state of my petition idea.  It wasn't successful, though I did learn a lot about FERC and feed-in tariffs.  That's useful information for a renewable energy professional, though probably not for a cocktail party.