environmental issues

Bill McKibben has been on a crusade for global warming awareness since the 1980s. It's not a popular topic. This morning I was having a great little chat with an elected representative until I brought up global warming. Eyes soon went right and left and the conversation ended. But we need to be thinking about serious action. Bill McKibben is calling to divest of carbon related stocks. That's pretty serious. Here's his latest article in Rolling Stone - a good, sobering read: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new...

Good people of Blue NC, especially those of you near Asheboro or within a sane drive to Asheboro (I am talking about you Greensboro!) -- why not leave work early this Friday and join me and a bunch of other people unhappy with Thom Tillis and all he represents at a rally? We'll be gathering in Asheboro at 4 PM on Friday to protest the unconstitutional post-midnight legislative session called by GOP lawmakers last month as well as their ever more lousy public policies. It will be held right before House Speaker Thom Tillis’s town hall (see details after the jump). A couple hours protesting and you can be on your way to a good weekend suffused with a sense of accomplishment -- plus we could meet in person and... there's nothing like a good protest rally to get the blood going!

North Carolina's oldest independent state-level citizen conservation group has changed its name to better reflect its current work on behalf of our state's environment. The citizen group known since 1968 as the Conservation Council of North Carolina is now the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV).

Cross-posted from a Facing South article by Sue Sturgis

A 5-month-old baby who had been living in on-base housing at Fort Bragg died over the weekend, bringing to 11 the number of infants who have passed away suddenly of unknown causes at the North Carolina military installation since 2007.

The Army Investigation Command and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are probing the mysterious deaths -- and there are concerns that drywall made from a coal ash byproduct could be a factor.

By Jennifer Rennicks, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.   Cross-posted from Facing South

At two weeks and counting, we are officially in the home stretch of the 2010 midterm election season.

Every election cycle in our country brings candidates together to debate the issues and pundits together to analyze those comments before allowing citizens to have the final say in the voting booths. This year, however, big money -- especially dirty money from fossil fuel energy interests -- may have the final say in influencing the outcome of the elections.

Charles Malone of North Raleigh is challenging the Republican incumbent, state Senator Neal Hunt, also of Raleigh. This is Malone’s first run for office, but he has a long history of political involvement and leadership

He believes his experiences as a native North Carolinian, a Vietnam era veteran, a former small businessman and journalist, and as a state employee working for protection of natural resources will well equip him to serve in the Senate and to represent the citizens of NC Senate District 15.

From article and phone interview with Commission Candidate Steve Rao:

"We have to provide basic social services; these times are tough and people need help that the county needs to continue to provide despite cuts in funds from the state."

And on the environment: "Keep Falls Lake clean and safe; the region needs to improve mass transit to decrease reliance on private vehicles and reduce harmful emissions into the air we breathe."

What I want every citizen to know is "what it was like here 30 or more years ago before Magnet schools creation and RTP creation—I’m about bringing people together to make the right decisions. We have to tackle tough issues."

Cross-posted from an article by Sue Sturgis on Facing South.

Standing out among the more than 250 people who testified at the recent Environmental Protection Agency hearing on proposed coal ash regulations in Charlotte, N.C. was one speaker with an especially distinguished background: Charles Steele Jr. (in photo at right), the first African-American member of the Tuscaloosa City Council and a former Democratic state senator from Alabama who went on to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the legendary civil rights organization whose first president was Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Steele left SCLC last year and now runs a consulting firm in Atlanta.

Cross-posted from an article by Sue Sturgis on Facing South

The Obama administration released the first-ever U.S. report to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week.

Prepared as part of the ongoing U.N. Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process that involved consultations with civil society groups nationwide, the report [pdf] acknowledges that the U.S. human rights record is less than perfect. However, it fails to address a number of pressing human rights issues facing the nation -- including the problems experienced by U.S. residents displaced by domestic disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

"While this report demonstrates the Obama administration's willingness to recommit to engagement on international human rights, the administration must now prove that it is prepared to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Program.

From Nate Aspenson, a Dem NC Advocate who met a few days ago with Senator Hagan's staff to discuss environmental legislation:

When you want to get to the bottom of something, it's always a useful hint: follow the money. Whether you're a hard-hitting journalist or you drive around in a van solving mysteries, it's usually the fastest and most reliable way to ascertain anyone's motivations. For me, the cynical assumption that everyone is after their own bottom line is a lifeline that helps keep my world in focus. So when someone with a resume like Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski's introduces legislation to remove the EPA's mandate to regulate greenhouse gases as part of the clean air act, it doesn't surprise me that she's attacking the EPA's ability to inhibit the increase of global climate change as well as her own ability to live in a world where New York City is not submerged in frigid Atlantic waters, because she's doing it to repay the interests that got her elected.