Skagit Beat the Heat invites high school students in Skagit County to apply for a $500 grant that will be awarded for the best proposal and plan to slow global warming in our community.  Applications are due June 2! Download one now, or call 360-293-4048 for more information.  2008 Student Grant Application

One of our country’s leading civics textbooks has this to say about global warming: “Science doesn’t know whether we are experiencing a dangerous level of global warming or how bad the greenhouse effect is, if it exists at all.”  This text is used in high school Advanced Placement classes around the country.  It claims that “the scientific community is divided over the issue.”  PLEASE SIGN a petition demanding that Houghton Mifflin pull these books from classrooms and revise them to give our children unbiased and factual information on global warming.      http://www.fusewashington.org/page/s/HoughtonMifflin

We need a volunteer to staff a table at the Mt. Vernon High School Science Fair, May 15, 6-8 PM. This would be a great opportunity to expand our reach, connect with young people, and share info on our student grant program. Call Ron Larson, 299-8350 or Evelyn Adams, 293-4048.

We also need a volunteer to staff an info booth at the Skagit Valley College Sustainability Fair on Saturday, May 17th, 11-2 PM. We’ll be in the Multipurpose Room, which is located just behind the parking lot along East College Way. Our Energy Committee will have displays and we need someone to man a general info table on climate change. A great way to connect with people and spread the word! Call Eric Shen, 299-8553 or Evelyn Adams, 293-4048.

There’s a new rebate program available for PSE residential electric customers.  It doesn’t make financial sense to keep an old fridge or freezer in your garage or basement – not when it uses up to four times the energy of newer models. And throwing it away isn’t a good long-term plan for the environment.  To help residential electric customers save energy, Puget Sound Energy is offering a $30 rebate with free pick up and recycling for old refrigerators and/or freezers.

This offer is available for up to two units per residential address. A qualified unit of any age must be currently owned by you (the rebate recipient) and be in working condition with an inside measurement of 10 cubic feet or more.   Please allow 4-6 weeks after the pick-up of your unit(s) to receive your rebate check.

Call to schedule a pick up.  PSE has contracted with JACO Environmental, an appliance recycler, to pick up and properly recycle the units.  Visit  http://www.jacoinc.net/weborder/ProgSelZIP.aspx or call 1-800-577-0510 to schedule a pickup.  Offer is available on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted. This is a tariffed service and is subject to change or termination without prior notice.   For other information on PSE appliance programs visit:   http://www.pse.com/solutions/foryourhome/pages/rebatesOnAppliances.aspx?tab=1&chapter=1

A 28 minute presentation by Al Gore at TED in Monterey, CA.  View it online at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/243

“In Al Gore’s brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of “generational mission” — the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement — to set it right. Gore’s stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates’ climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future. “

Listen to this moving address delivered to the UNESCO International Year of Planet Earth conference in February 2008 just weeks before his death.  This presentation is the last public address Sir Arthur C. Clark made before his death in Sri Lanka in March 2008. 

” There are now clear signs that our growing numbers and our many activities are impacting the Earth’s natural systems, causing planetary stress.  We have had local or regional indicators of this stress for decades, and more recently we have confirmed our unmistakable role in climate change.  If we’re looking for the smoking gun, we only need to look in the mirror…”  Sir Arthur C. Clark, Feb 2008

Listen online or read the text of the address at the sites below:

Listen at:  http://www.yearofplanetearth.org/

Read at: http://yearofplanetearth.org/content/GLE/speechClarke.pdf

“If we Americans take the lead through all walks of life, we can reframe what is currently government’s discretion to destroy our atmosphere, into an obligation to defend our atmosphere, as a commonly held asset in the Endowment we must hand down to our children, and their children, for their survival.  If we succeed in defining that one obligation on the part of our government, we may soon find every other nation in the world engaged with us, not against us, in a massive, urgent defense effort to secure the systems of life on Earth for all generations to come.  When that dawn unfolds, Victory speakers, like you, all around the world will know this — during your moment on Earth, you ignited planetary patriotism.  ”
-  A Public Lecture By U of O Law Professor Mary Wood

http://relocalize.net/victory_speakers_for_climate_crisis_a_public_lecture_by_u_of_o_law_professor_mary_wood

Watch this inspiring Online Video on what one community is doing to reduce its carbon footprint and save energy through an innovative energy efficiency campaign.  View at:  http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/413/ .  Program can be downloaded from the website.  Wouldn’t it be great to get a similar program started in Anacortes and Skagit County!

“Could a new effort to fight global warming save money and create jobs at the same time? NOW looks at a city-wide plan in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to make all its buildings more energy efficient. Up to 80 percent of emissions in many urban cities comes from buildings. Cambridge hopes that this unprecedented effort to green its buildings will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent in just five years, the equivalent of taking 33,000 cars off the road. If every major city in America took the same approach, it would have a significant impact on the carbon footprint of the United States —and it would generate tens of millions of new “green” jobs.

The Cambridge Energy Alliance, a nonprofit group, will help clients cut their energy use 15-30 percent, which translates into a lower utility bill. The Alliance will then help clients secure loans to pay for the building retrofits, loans designed to pay themselves off by the savings on those utility bills. Retrofitting thousands of buildings could also create a new green job market in Cambridge. It’s a bold new experiment, but the Alliance hopes to become a national model that puts green thinking on display, as well as more green in people’s pockets. Will this entrepreneurial effort bring new converts to the environmental movement?”

The National Wildlife Federation website has a new downloadable report on the impacts of global warming on plants and animals at http://www.nwf.org/gardenersguide/.  The full report covering the entire U.S. entitled “Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming” is available in .pdf format for download to your computer.  Shorter regional summary reports can be downloaded by selecting the regional area of interest from an interactive map.  A 2-page summary of the key points is available at: http://www.nwf.org/gardenersguide/pdfs/GardenersConfrontGlobalWarming.pdf.

This series of downloadable reports are an excellent resource of information on climate change.  From the website:  http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/climate_change_101

“In an effort to inform the climate change dialogue, The Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the Pew Center on the States have developed a series of brief reports entitled Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global Climate Change.

These reports are meant to provide a reliable and understandable introduction to climate change. They cover climate science and impacts, technological solutions, business solutions, international action, recent action in the U.S. states, and action taken by local governments. The overview serves as a summary and introduction to the series.”

The website provides a wealth of other information on climate change - but this is a good place to start.