Fall service projects the topic of Aug. 3 V4CF General Meeting

The whys and wherefores of three planned Volunteers For Change-Fresno service projects will be the topic of our next General Meeting, scheduled 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, in the large community room of the Fig Garden Library, 3071 W. Bullard Ave. in Fresno. The library is on the southwest corner of Bullard and Marks, in the shopping center.

At the meeting, members and guests will be invited and encouraged to commit to participating in one of three service projects, each intended to draw additional attention to a serious issue affecting our community. The projects will fall into the areas of combating hunger, homelessness, and air pollution leading to climate change, and each will take place between Sept. 15 and Election Day.

To make this work, we'll need the participation and commitment of every V4CF member. Expect the finest in 'pleasant persistence' from your fellow V4CFers in gaining that commitment. And stay tuned... we hope to see you Tuesday!

And now, some words of encouragement: A reaffirmation from President Obama

From our friends at the Huffington Post: 

President Barack Obama is urging liberal activists and bloggers to "keep up the fight" to bring change to Washington.

In a video played Saturday at the annual Netroots Nation convention, the president acknowledged that some in the party's left wing have been unhappy with the pace of change. Liberals have been disenchanted on issues from the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the failure to create a government-run insurance option in the health care overhaul.

The president says in the brief video that the combat mission in Iraq will end in August.

It's a tough election year for Democrats, but Obama warned about returning to Republican policies "that got us into the mess."

He says "change is hard," and he urged hundreds of activists and bloggers in the audience to "keep making your voices heard."

Obama urged the crowd to "consider what we've accomplished," then rolled a clip of Rachel Maddow laying out some of the administration's legislative victories.

Here, see for yourself. (If the viewscreen is not visible below, watch President Obama's statement on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo.):



From our member Ruth Afifi comes a great recap of these accomplishments, as seen on the Daily Kos website. A good list to be sure, but no reason to stop working for the Change we've demanded.

Sierra Club: 'Pick up the phones July 28 for clean-energy legislation'

In the wake of Chip Ashley's 'Path to Clean Energy' presentation, Senator Harry Reid has announced -- unfortunately -- that none of the clean energy bills under Senate consideration will be brought to a vote this year. Not the CLEAR Act, not Kerry-Leiberman, not any of the bills Chip discussed at our last General Meeting.

After Sen. Reid's announcement, our friends at the Sierra Club made a call for those concerned to participate in a 'Day of Action' Wednesday, July 28, during which time people will be asked to call their Senators,  'express dismay at this decision and push for a vote.'

Want to participate? Pick up the phone sometime Wednesday, July 28, and let Senators Feinstein and Boxer know your thoughts. The numbers to call?

Senator Barbara Boxer: (202) 224-3553
Senator Dianne Feinstein: (202) 224-2501

Need talking points? Here you go:

• Taking on the climate change challenge NOW will create more economic opportunities than risks for the U.S. economy--will require innovation and products that drive energy efficiency and create new markets. Right now, Germany is producing 86% of the gear boxes used in wind turbines. China has surpassed the US in the manufacture of solar panels.

• Each year we delay action to control emissions increases the risk of unavoidable consequences that could necessitate even steeper reductions in the future, at potentially greater economic cost and social disruption

Shift the heat to the opposition: Help with voter registration July 17

Want to help with voter registration? From our member Linda Traynor comes the following invitation:

The weekend of July 17, Organizing For America and local volunteers are teaming together to connect with voters in Fresno as part of our Vote 2010 Day of Action.

From city streets and rural farms, to suburban parks and local strip malls, we’re doing everything possible to get folks to commit to vote in November’s elections. This commitment is as important as it is simple and could tip the balance in races across the country that could be close.

In 2008, millions of new voters registered and turned out to cast their ballots in the November election, and that was a key part of President Obama’s victory. Our Vote 2010 program is similarly designed to register new voters and get those who cast votes for the first time in 2008 back to the polls this fall.

This is a big challenge, but we have too much on the line to come up short. It’s our job to stand up for President Obama and his allies, to make sure his opponents don’t succeed.

To join us in Fresno’s ‘Vote 2010 Day of Action,’ send your name, e-mail address and telephone number to event organizer Linda Traynor at traynor27@gmail.com. Then sign up at the Vote 2010 Registration Page on the Organizing For America website.

A 'Path to Clean Energy' follow-up from Chip Ashley

After giving a great presentation on the 'Path to Clean Energy' at our July 6 General Meeting, Chip Ashley (Energy, Global Warming, Air Quality and Population Committee Chair of the Tehipite Chapter of the Sierra Club) sent us a follow-up note, addressing a few of questions our group asked as our lively conversation burned up the 'meeting clock.' Here is Chip's note:

I want to thank everyone for participating, especially for asking such great questions. It was an inspiration to me--really made me think! So I'd like to share a few thoughts since I've had a chance to "sleep on it."

First, Paul's question about which of the climate bills to urge our Congressional reps to support: At this time, I think Waxman-Markey is best. Actually, in consideration of the astronomical problem of climate change, all of the bills are far too weak. However, I agree with what several people said: We have to get something passed as a starting point. So, that being the case, I think W-M is best, and these are my reasons:

Unlike Kerry-Lieberman, W-M contains no incentives for off-shore drilling and indeed is fairly hard on the oil industry in terms of regulation. Also, W-M is less encouraging to nuclear technology than K-L, and the nuclear technology it does promote--Thorium-fueled--is much safer than the conventional U-235, U-238 technology currently used in all U.S. nuclear facilities. (By the way, I should say here that neither I nor the Sierra Club believes nuclear generation is necessary. The electric utilities have been fear-mongering that we absolutely must have nuclear to replace coal and gas base-load generation; but the electrical engineers and physicists I have discussed the issue with believe we will soon be able to meet all our needs with renewables only, with no nuclear--particularly with the implementation of all the available energy efficiency we are not currently taking advantage of.)

W-M could be improved by bringing in some of the provisions in Cantwell-Collins regarding carbon shares trading. C-C restricts trading to the 7,000-8,000 actual companies regulated under the cap and trade part of the bill. I may be wrong, but I believe neither W-M nor K-L have such restrictions. Also, C-C may be better in terms of how the auction works. C-C is 100% of shares auctioned, with 75% of proceeds going back to consumers to offset higher energy costs. W-M would allocate about 50% of the shares free to industry at the start of the program, but the number of free shares would be reduced later. As Robert Stavins of Harvard's Belfer Institute has argued at the following link, it may be debatable whether free allocation or 100% auction is preferable:

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/analysis/stavins/?tag=waxman-markey-legislation

On first look, 100% would seem preferable. However, when companies must compete for a limited number of carbon shares, the shares would soon achieve a value in the marketplace. Remember that each share permits the production of one ton of greenhouse gas (GHG--CO2 equivalent).

In answer to Bob Merrill's question about auctioning, in all three bills a committee would assess the value of carbon and establish a minimum bid in much the same way as an auctioneer starts bidding with a minimum bid. W-M and K-L both contain assessments of the relative value of shares to the coal, oil, and natural gas industries, in which coal receives an assessment in terms of amount of GHG produced per kilowatt hour of about $0.0004 per kilowatt hour (kWh), oil about $0.0003/kWh, and natural gas about $0.0002/kWh. Thus, to produce the same amount of power, it would be twice as expensive for coal to buy shares as for natural gas. Renewables, which produce no GHG (except in terms of back-up natural gas and maintenance vehicles, etc.) but cost more to build and maintain, would not have to buy shares and thus would be able to compete in the marketplace with cheaper coal, oil, and natural gas and would, if all goes according to plan, eventually replace the non-renewable GHG producers.

All three bills are much more than cap and trade bills, they contain many provisions to encourage energy efficiency, including inexpensive loans and other incentives. There are may provisions to fund research on vehicles, engines, and fuels. There are many provisions to encourage green jobs and to prepare the work force to fill those green jobs.

A couple of final points:

When discussing climate change at the office water cooler with a climate change denier, remember to remind him/her of the facts: Atmospheric GHG has increased 25% since 1958 when Keeling first started measuring it. GHG retains solar and other heat in the atmosphere. Increase atmospheric CO2 has also increased the acidity of the oceans by about 30%, which of course changes the marine ecosystem dramatically.

Also remember what Paul said about what George Lakoff says about framing your message. As I understand it Lakoff says you have to understand the frame through which your audience sees the world in order to frame your message in a way that will be most effective. The problem is that climate change deniers may not see the world in terms of facts--which sadly blows my fact-based argument out of the water. These folks often see the world in terms of authority and in terms of faith in either religion or personality. So I don't have a plan that will be effective on these irrational authority-based folks. I'll give it some thought. In the meantime, please do all you can to persuade the fact-based reality people to get to the polls and vote for reason-based candidates.

How do you persuade a person who believes the economy is more important than climate change--in other words, a Meg Whitman voter and Proposition 23 voter? I like to take them for a ride in my little spaceship. First, we go out to the Moon and look back at blue Earth and note that it might soon be turning brown due to our addiction to our reckless addiction to fossil fuels. Then we get back in the spaceship and go on out to Pluto and look back at Earth again and discuss what a tiny flyspeck it is in the immense cosmos and how unimportant the world economy is in the face of the inexorable physical and chemical laws that govern this vast infinitude. Finally, we discuss how we do not get to vote for these inexorable laws. Even our high and mighty political representatives do not get a vote. We don't get a vote, but nevertheless these laws determine our lives here on our still beautiful little planet, which Voltaire called a "tas de boue," or "little mud pile" in Micromegas. Climate change is one example of how these inexorable physical laws that we don't get to vote on govern our lives. We cannot tell the universe what to do, so we had better learn to live according to its laws. If we don't, we will become part of the sixth extinction on this planet, which got along fine without us Homo sapiens (Home stultans?) for about 4 billion years. It may be better off without us unless we learn to live less arrogantly and within our means.

If anyone wants to read the bills, they are available on the Thomas database at the Library of Congress at the following web site. You can search using the bill numbers: H.R. 2454 (W-M), S. 1733 (K-L), and S. 2877 (C-C). Be sure to click "bill number" in the window just below "Enter Search":

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/LegislativeData.php?&n=BSS&c=111

If you have any questions, please send them.

-- Chip Ashley
    wattsvalleypreservation@gmail.com

From OFA: An update about healthcare reform

From our member Linda Traynor comes this, an update from Organizing for America (OFA) on the status of the recently passed Affordable Care Act, that healthcare-reform bill for which we all burned up shoe leather and phone lines to ensure passage. According to OFA, implementation of the first phase represents a new opportunity to convince the skeptics. From OFA:

A new bill of rights for patients is starting to take effect, and the worst abuses of the insurance industry are coming to an end. As the President recently announced, the Patient's Bill of Rights will ban rescission of coverage, stop discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions, and place restrictions on annual limits.

This is an incredibly important first step for reform, and we need your help. We've put together an information sheet that breaks down exactly what the Patient's Bill of Rights does. To start spreading the word in your own community, print it out and pass it along to your friends, post in your local coffee shop and grocery store, or bring it along with you when going door-to-door.

For more information, visit the Organizing for America healthcare issue website at http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/benefitsofreform?source=issues.  

Water Issues film series begins tonight, July 7

At last night's Volunteers For Change-Fresno general meeting, V4CF Water Team leader Dr. Bob Merrill invited all members to learn more about the history of water issues by attending a six-part Water Film series, sponsored by the Valley Water Consortium and the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno.

The series begins with 'The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?,' a documentary about the Southwest's history of conflict over water, and how that situation will only get worse unless the conflicts between population, agriculture, and environmental needs are balanced. 'American Southwest' is scheduled 7 p.m. today, July 7, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno, 2672 E. Alluvial Ave. in Fresno.Admission to all films in the series is free.

The series continues until Aug. 11, with the following films:

• July 14- Chinatown – The movie (Rated R)
• July 21- Cadillac Desert – How LA stole the Owens River
• July 28- A Land Between Rivers – (Fresno County)
• Aug. 4- Tales of the San Joaquin and Cadillac Desert – Part 3 (The San Joaquin Valley)
• Aug. 11- FLOW (Global Privatization of Water)

The film series "is meant to improve our understanding of water and its related issues and to provoke thoughtful conversation and discussion based on facts,' according to the event's sponsors. "To succeed at this goal, discussion leaders will try to focus the discussions and attempt to make certain that varying perspectives are heard."

For more information, call (559) 434-8046 or (559) 313-7674.