Uppity Wisconsin

It may be impolitic to say this while we are encouraging people to attend public hearings on the Clean Energy Jobs Bill, but the first public hearing on the bill, held Wednesday by a special State Senate committee, was a nightmare if you were a member of the public trying to have a voice.

Most of the activists from the Carbon Free Nuclear Free campaign, opposed to the nuclear section of the bill,waited more than eight hours to testify for four minutes in a nearly-empty room with almost all of the committee members gone. Environmental groups, who supported the bill, didn't fare much better.

If you had the misfortune to be a woman, or a person of color, you were at the absolute bottom of the barrel. With a single exception, a parade of white men in suits testified for the first eight hours. The one exception was a woman representing an electric utility.

The hearing on the comprehensive 174-page bill drew a full house in one of the State Capitol's biggest hearing rooms. Many of the CFNF representatives -- which included most of the women in attendance -- got there early and registered before the hearing started at 10 a.m., when the room was less than half full.

We’re diving deep into “geek world” today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.

If we successfully break the monopoly, we’ll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country—and if we don’t, somebody else owns the 21st Century. Ironically, the global warming we’re trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.

There’s a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today’s story, the revolution will be televised.

It’s time, once again, to bring you the news that is not yet news.

For those not yet aware, there will be a climate change conference in New York City next week, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. The 100 world leaders who will be participating in the conference will be arriving on Monday, and if you’re in New York City the same day, you have a chance to participate in a not-to-be-forgotten “welcome event” and pranking opportunity.

Follow along and I’ll tell you how to get involved—and if you do, they’ll even send you home with a lovely parting gift.

The long, lazy days of summer are upon us, and it’s time to have a little fun—but it’s also a great opportunity to volunteer a bit of spare time for a good cause.

So imagine how cool it would be if you could combine the two...and even better, do it in a way that doesn’t take a bite out of your wallet...and even better yet, if it was something you and the kids could do together.

Imagine no more, because it has been done; which is why today we are going to be talking about lead in the soil of New Orleans, Operation Paydirt...and Fundred Dollar Bills.

Profuse apologies to John Lennon. But that refrain was in my brain after reading Tom Still's plea that Wisconsin consider nuclear power. "What do we have to lose?" he asks. (More on that later)

Still, president of something called the Wisconsin Technology Council, thinks it's a crying shame that Wisconsin has a moratorium law on the books that won't allow the state to even consider nuclear power as an option.

It will come as a surprise to many -- but not, I suspect, to Tom Still -- to learn that there is no nuclear "moratorium" in effect that bans more nuclear power plants in the state.

What is on the books is a perfectly reasonable law that says if you want to build a new reactor here, there are two requirements that must be met first:

(1) There must be a federal site to dispose of the dangerous, high level radioactive waste the reactors produce, and

(2) The Public Service Commission must find that nuclear power makes economic sense.

That's no ban or moratorium. It merely sets some reasonable requirements. But since the law was passed in 1984 the nuclear industry has not been able to meet those tests. So now it wants to relax the law.

It has been more than 50 years since the US began generating nuclear power -- and nuclear waste.

Governor Doyle has for years supported the idea of an independent DNR secretary.  This system served Wisconsin well for many years, until the Thompson administration, which changed the DNR secretary from being chosen by the DNR board to being chosen by the Governor. Yet, now that for the first time there is a real chance for the bill to move the secretary back to being appointed by the DNR board, Doyle has magically reversed his position.  The position that he has held for most of his term in office.  The position he has campaigned on. The position on which he possibly could now win.  Yet - this week he explained to conservationists around the state that he has changed his mind, and that a governor-appointed secretary serves the state best. 

This is ironic, as it was only last week that I and over 600 other Wisconsinites went to Madison for Conservation Lobby Day - at which one of the primary agenda items was to lobby to pass the bill currently under consideration to put the DNR secretary back under control of the board. Doyle's response to this lobbying effort was to send an email saying that he had changed his mind (letter attached below). 

The continuing economic downturn is having growing effects in many areas.  One of them is the declining revenue most municipalities are receiving from recycling, which is endangering recycling programs across the country.

Most of Outagamie County currently has no recycling at all , since the contracted recycling vendor has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and can no longer afford to handle the county's recyclables.  This could easily just be a temporary oddity, but a continuing decline in recycling revenue could make this a common occurrence, filling our landfills with even more needless junk. 

H/T to TrulyTerrie

This is the initial organizing meeting for the Community for Change organization.  Together we...
...Work on local issues that impact Racine County
...Train volunteers in the organizing techniques we used to elect President Obama
...Elect state and local candidates who share the same vision for our country
...Help President Obama pass legislation through grassroots efforts
 

You can RSVP here.  Come join us as we decide how to continue the momentum of the election. I hope to see you there!

Here, and in 9 other battleground states nearly 1,600 have signed up to volunteer in the critical 96 hours before the election.

We're putting out names down for the last 96 hours because we worry this race could be much closer than the polls predict.

Will all of the hard work and long hours be enough?

With your help, it will be.

Click here to Volunteer in the final 96 hours

Here are a couple of reasons why we shouldn't take anything for granted.

I became an environmental activist in the early 1970s just as I was completing my doctorate in ecology at the University of British Columbia. It was the height of the Cold War and the height of the Viet Nam War and we were compelled to take a very public stand against activities we thought to be catastrophic both for people and for the planet.

I joined a small committee that was meeting in the basement of the Unitarian Church. We organized a protest voyage against U.S. hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska and had tens of thousands marching in the streets. When that H-bomb was set off at Amchitka Island in November 1971, it was the last hydrogen bomb the U.S. ever detonated.

It was the birth of Greenpeace, the organization I co-founded, spending 15 years in its top committee, helping to lead environmental campaigns around the world.

But it's ironic in the extreme that, as we mark the 100th anniversary of drinking water chlorination, my old organization and other activist groups aligned with it continue to oppose this most important public health achievement.

Reality can be so inconvenient.

If the U.S. allows drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, not only will it take 10 years for the oil to hit the market, it will only save about 75 cents per barrel.

Nevermind the costs of environmental rape.

So can we put this silly idea to rest already?

This is so cool!

Four UW-Madison students have developed an interactive, online map to help promote and locate Wisconsin farms and restaurants that serve locally-grown food.

The average American meal travels 1,500 miles to reach your plate for consumption.

Get Uppity! Buy local! 

Update: The map is in beta stage and will get more usable in the coming weeks.

One of the few positive things that can be said of President Bush’s 2009 budget is that it reveals the outrageous priorities of the Republican Party as America dashes through the high-stakes 2008 campaign.

The GOP candidate(s) are going to have to decide whether to use the dead-on-arrival Bush budget as a punching bag or an embarrassing political imprecation from which they should run at full speed.

The Bush budget is devoid of commitment to the public welfare, revealing an ideologue’s mind-set to slash at anything that collectively advances human concerns.

From today’s NYT: