Are you ProWind?

Some facts for you:

• 79% of Britons support the idea of developing wind farms with just 8% opposed.
• 74% of British bill-payers are in favour of the Government’s ambition to generate 20% of the UK’s electricity from renewable power sources by 2020
• 69% of Britons support construction of wind turbines in their local area.

This week I began working on a new campaign that Dom Rowland and I were inspired to start after seeing Franny Armstrong’s Age of Stupid.  The campaign, named ProWind, does what it says on the tin.  It it links up local pro-wind groups in order to create a grassroots network of pro-wind campaigners.  When a wind turbine proposal is submitted for planning permission, we hope to have a group of local campaigners ready to back it.  ProWind aims to support these campaigners by helping them to represent the silent majority.  We will help their local campaign to reach the national media, and also allow other pro-wind individuals in the UK to support their cause financially.  We will also put them in touch with sympathetic experts that are keen to help their cause, such as a planning lawyer willing to work pro-bono, or an experienced graphic designer.

The amazing thing about the opinion polls above is that they were all published before 2005—yes before climate change became an issue of national public concern.  Today I would expect these numbers to be even higher.

It is time that we had a national group to go up against the likes of WindWatch (I can’t bare to link to them so their URL is here: http://www.wind-watch.org/).  Don’t worry folks—it’s coming soon!

National Climate Policy Assessment Report

Last week I helped edit Climatico’s first quarterly assessment report.  Simon Billett (lead editor) has written a piece on it here.  With some help from Derek Pieper, we actually snagged an interview on CBC’s (Canadian Broadcast Company) Newsworld, and also on CBC’s Radio One (on World Report to be precise - scroll down to “vrc Lunn”).  Many thanks to everyone that was involved!

The budget battle begins…

Obama’s weekly address on Saturday:

“I realize that passing this budget won’t be easy.  Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington.  I know that the insurance industry won’t like the idea that they’ll have to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs for American families.  I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable.  I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy that will create new jobs and new industries.   I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak.  My message to them is this:

“So am I.”

Wow!  The battle is on.  NGOs are mobilising to get this passed, while lobbyists are stepping in to stall the budget.  This is from MoveOn.org’s latest campaign. Unfortunately they don’t have it online yet so I’ll post it in full here…

10 things you should know about Obama’s plan (but probably don’t)

The plan:

Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American. [source]

Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won’t go up one dime. [source]

Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.[source]

Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities. [source]

Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class. [source]

Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies.  [source]

Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever. [source]

Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover. [source]

Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street. [source]

Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama’s budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America’s priorities are, what they cost, and how we’re going to pay for them. [source]

This is the change we voted for. President Obama has done his part, now we need to do ours.

And of course, not mentioned here is the cap-and-trade mechanism that has also been included in the budget.  I’m glad Obama is making good use of his 100-day honeymoon!

A way around a GOP filibuster on a US climate bill?

This is from the NYT yesterday.  If Senator Boxer et al. manage to include a cap-and-trade scheme in the budget, I’ll be very impressed.

As part of his budget blueprint submitted to Congress today, Obama included almost $645 billion in assumed revenue by 2019 for a new cap-and-trade program.

Senator Inhofe sounds pretty angry, calling the idea “liberal arrogance”… Let the battle commence!

New Inauguration Climate Report Released

What Kind of Change? Obama's Climate Policy in 2009

To honour the fact that we now have a new and talented President of the United States of America, I co-authored a report on Obama’s 2009 climate policy strategy for Climatico.

I was very impressed by Obama’s Inauguration speech.  It marked a significant change from his campaign speeches when he would use his prowess in public speaking to whip the crowd into a frenzy.  This was a more measured and intelligent speech, addressing both the challenges ahead and the immense possibility for change that has emerged out of this hardship.

Some of my favourite lines in his speech addressed climate change in a way that no previous president has ever discussed the issue.

“Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

“We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”

“And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”

“Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter”

Finally a president that ‘gets it’ on energy and climate change.  Good luck to him!