We live in an oil-dependent world, and have got to this level of dependency in a very short space of time, using vast reserves of oil in the process – without planning for when the supply is not so plentiful. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities, which will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials. They can also encourage the development of local currencies, to keep money in the local area.
The book has three sections, the Head, the Heart and the Hands. The Head explores the issues of peak oil and climate change, and how when looked at together, we need to be focusing on the rebuilding of resilience as well as cutting carbon emissions. It argues that the focus of our lives will become increasingly local and small scale as we come to terms with the real implications of the energy crisis we are heading into. The Heart looks at where we find the personal tools for responding to what can feel like overwhelming challenges. It argues that key to our success will be our ability to generate positive visions of future, to harness the power of engaged optimism, and overcome powerlessness. The Hands offers a detailed exploration of the Transition model, setting out its principles, its origins, the 12 Steps of Transition, how they were applied in the first year of Transition Town Totnes, as well as offering a taste of how the model has been applied in a range of other settings. The book also contains lots of ‘Tools for Transition’, exercises and activities that can help to deepen this work in your community.
With the health care bill dragging into its second year of debate, there is talk from house leader Nancy Pelosi that a “procedural action” called Deem and Pass may be used to move the health care bill through the House. Half vote and half procedural action, the Deem and Pass action – otherwise known as the “Slaughter rule” – has raised blood pressures on both sides of the aisle, but unless you are a career politician, deem and pass can get more confusing than no fax payday loans very quickly. So here’s the basic primer on deem and pass for all the non-politicians out there. (more…)
You’re invited to Go Green Expo NY! Go Green Expo will exhibit the latest in eco-friendly products & services and host a variety of seminars with green industry leaders including Ed Begley Jr. and Mariel Hemingway. This three-day event will include a business-to-business expo followed by two days for eco-minded consumers. Visit http://www.GoGreenExpo.com for tickets & details! To Exhibit contact Nancy: 212-655-4505 ext 225 or email NMathew@gogreenexpo.com
Where: Piers 92/94
Price: $25 for a weekend pass
When: 10:00am Fri 3.19.10-5:00pm Fri 3.19.10 with 2 other showtimes 3.19.10 through 3.21.10
Stimulus money to be given to energy efficient shoppers this spring
Federal economic stimulus money will start providing rebates to Pennsylvanians, as early as this April, on the purchase of new, Energy Star-rated hot-water heaters, furnaces and boilers.
Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday that applications for rebates are expected to become available in April on the state’s stimulus Web site, www.recovery.pa.gov.
Rendell says the $11 million rebate program could benefit more than 30,000 Pennsylvania households and provide long-term energy savings.
The Recovery Act-funded rebates also include “white goods” such as washers, dryers and refrigerators.
The rebates will be worth $100 to $500. The higher the equipment’s efficiency rating, the larger the rebate.
The rebates only apply to non-electric residential heating equipment. Rebates on electrical appliances may be available through regulated electric utility companies.
Los Angles Times:: Karen Kaplan- With increasing vigor, public health experts and think tanks are calling for extra taxes on foods and drinks that are heavy in calories and light on nutrition. New York Gov. David Paterson proposed an 18% soda tax last year as a budget-balancing measure, only to abandon it three months later in the face of stiff public opposition. Lawmakers in at least five other states have gone on the record in support of the idea.
Junk-food taxes are often mentioned as a way to help fund a restructuring of the healthcare system, though no one in Congress has endorsed them.
The notion is catching on with the general public, however. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll last month found that 55% of respondents favored a tax on unhealthful snack foods, up from 52% in April. Support for a soda tax rose to 53% from 46%.
And 63% of those who opposed the idea said they would change their minds if the revenue were used to fund healthcare reform and combat health problems related to obesity.
A report this summer from the Urban Institute said such taxes are needed to ensure that rising obesity rates don’t cause the average American life expectancy to fall for the first time in history. (more…)
The 2010 Obama budget reveals the major tax hike that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama are counting on to fund the outrageous bailout and stimulus spending that is propelling federal spending to record levels-27.7 percent of GDP in 2009, an all-time record other than the four peak years of World War II.
The tax hike is a broad-based energy tax that will wallop every American who fills a gas tank, pays an electric bill, or buys any product that has to be grown, shipped, or manufactured.
The mechanism is cap-and-trade, which is like a tax on coal, oil, and natural gas but instead of being set at a specific amount, the total level of use is capped and companies are forced to pay the government for emissions permits-which Wall Street wizards at companies like AIG and Goldman Sachs can in turn trade on sophisticated exchanges and derivative markets.
White House Budget Director Peter Orzcag admitted that decreasing carbon emissions imposes costs on the economy, and “much of those costs will be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for energy and energy-intensive goods.” (more…)
By Patrick Rodgers patrick@connectsavannah.com
At 12:30 p.m. yesterday, the President entered Eckburg Auditorium at Savannah Tech, where hundreds of invited guests, elected officials and media had been waiting for his arrival. After rounds of applause and a barrage of camera flashes, the President began his comments against a backdrop of blue curtains and several American flags.
Obama talked about his tour of the campus, including facilities where students learn about green technology that will “help transform how we produce and use electricity.”
He pointed out that the Recovery Act has helped fund 300 road projects in the state at the moment, and also mentioned the billions of dollars in loan guarantees he announced last week for the construction of Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle, which he says will create 3,000 construction jobs and over 800 permanent jobs upon completion. This drew applause from the crowd.
The loan guarantee also drew several anti-nuclear protesters outside, including one who was wearing a pig suit and waving a sign decrying “nuclear pork.”
Foremost on the President’s agenda was green technology, jobs and the Recovery Act, all of which segued into his announcement of the new Home Star program.
He did not discuss whether the program would be paid with unused Stimulus money, or whether it would require further investment of taxpayer money.
“My job is to make sure every American can find a job,” the President told the crowd.
The Home Star program will include incentives for home owners to make their homes more energy efficient, upgrades like better windows, insulation and more, which would also stimulate jobs for contractors and construction workers. The improvements would also save homeowners money.
The program could make a significant difference in our national energy consumption.
According to Obama, “40 percent of the energy we use is in our homes and buildings.” (more…)
Wednesday morning, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn, N.Y. was repeatedly chastised by House decorum masters for correctly and quite passionately asserting that the Republican Party is a “wholly-owned subsidiary of the health insurance industry.”
He even made a correct (and all-too-rare) public side-note that certain members of his own Democratic Party are also highly indebted to the insurance industry, and are equally responsible for the piecemeal, one-step-forwards-three-steps-backwards approach Congress has taken when it comes to health care reform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQiC_bdiXw0 AP PHILADELPHIA—First lady Michelle Obama is set to visit Philadelphia as part of her efforts to curb childhood obesity.
The first lady will visit a North Philadelphia elementary school on Friday. Obama will discuss steps the city has taken to address the problem of so-called “food deserts.” Those are poor communities where it’s hard to find stores with healthy foods.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack will accompany the first lady on her visit.
