Get on the WALL!

Arkansas environmentalists have been pouring photos and videos into the Repower America Wall. Why? Because they support a clean energy economy.

Join GreenAR by the Day and thousands of fellow supporters at the Repower America Wall now.

A growing demand for clean energy from all of us together sends a powerful message to our leaders: American support for clean energy is broad and deep.

We’re beginning to break through. But to get our leaders to listen and make clean energy a reality, we must rise up in numbers to make our voices heard — to overwhelm the voices clamoring for the status quo.

We’re competing with powerful interests who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their profits and block clean energy reforms at the expense of our families, our jobs, and our planet.

Your participation on The Wall announces that we’re more than ready — we’re tired of waiting, and we want action now.

With every new message you add to The Wall, you demonstrate that the most powerful interest in this fight isn’t the oil or the coal lobby — it’s the American people joining together, speaking as one, for a clean energy future.

Add your voice to the Repower America Wall now.

Together we can turn the climate challenge into a great opportunity for our nation and the world.

Thursday To-Do: FFEAC Green Economy Group Meeting

In Spring 2009, the City of Fayetteville hosted the Fayetteville Forward Summit, an open, inclusive, participatory event that brought forth the best ideas to create a compelling vision for the future of Fayetteville. The result of this summit has established a foundation for economic development – moving the City of Fayetteville Forward for a sustainable future.

The Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council (FFEAC) was established to develop and carry out action plans from the conference. Its Green Economy Group will hold a meeting tomorrow, between 8-9:30 a.m. in Room 111 at the Faytteville City Hall (113 W. Mountain Street).

If you are passionate about helping Fayetteville grow its green economy, create jobs, increase tax base, save money on energy bills, minimize resource consumption and lower carbon footprint, come to the meeting!

For more information, contact Keaton Smith at (479)879-7922 or keaton.smith@iberiabank.com.

Thursday To-Do: Encore Showing of The Age of Stupid

The Age of Stupid is a film by Franny Armstrong, director of McLibel & founder of 10:10, and John Battsek, producer of One Day in September. The film is a drama-documentary-animation hybrid which stars Pete Postlethwaite as the last person alive in the devastated world of 2055, watching archive footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

Catch an encore presentation of The Age of Stupid tonight at 6 p.m. at the OMNI Community Center (3274 N. Lee Avenue) in Fayetteville. Refreshments provided. Donations welcome!

For more information about the event, visit http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=158272572543&index=1. For more information about the film, visit the film’s website at www.ageofstupid.net.

Saturday To-Do: Little Rock 350 Climate Action Rally & Concert

1Sky, Audubon Arkansas, Sierra Club, and Village Commons will host Little Rock 350 Climate Action Rally & Concert, Saturday, October 24, 2009, from 2-5 pm at MacArthur Park in Little Rock. Rally will feature local musicians, speakers and educational booths.

State Representative Kathy Webb will be the keynote speaker. She will give us an update on the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming. Glen Hooks, Regional Director, Sierra Club, will talk about coal and climate change. Thompson Murray, Senior Pastor, Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, will talk about creation care.

The following organizations will have a booth at the event: Audubon Arkansas, Green Faith Alliance, Greenway, Keep Little Rock Beautiful, The Root Cafe, Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas, and Village Commons.

Juggernaut Glitch will play, and there will be drumming by Thompson Murray.

Join millions of people across the world in celebrating International Day of Climate Action! Come to Little Rock 350 Climate Action Rally & Concert!

For more information about 350 or the International Day of Climate Action, visit www.350.org. For more information about the event or to RSVP, visit http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=316846080007&index=1.

5 Easy Ways to Support Federal Climate Change Bill

Today, October 15, is the Blog Action Day, an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. By doing so, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue.

Blog Action Day was founded by Collis & Cyan Ta’eed in the summer of 2007. With the support of their team at Envato in Australia as well as numerous volunteers, they recruited over 20,000 bloggers to write about the issue of Environment on October 15, 2007 – making the first Blog Action Day an immediate and quite unexpected success.

This year’s theme is climate change. Climate change threatens all of us. Small increases in average global temperatures can have devastating consequences such as rising sea levels, loss of Arctic habitat, extinctions, increasingly intense hurricanes, and drought and famine.

Fortunately, we can make a difference.

On September 30, 2009, Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which requires that the United States reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. Our senators, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, are sitting on the fence about the bill. Several Arkansas conservation groups have been working hard to change that.

Do you support the federal climate change bill? If so, here is a list of 5 easy things you can do to support Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act:

1. Join Arkansans for Clean Energy Jobs Facebook page! Visit: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Arkansans-For-Clean-Energy-Jobs/129866993202?ref=ts
2. Sign a postcard urging Senators Lincoln and Pryor to support the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Postcards are available at the offices of Audubon Arkansas (4500 Springer Blvd., Little Rock 72206), Sierra Club – Arkansas (1308 W. 2nd, Little Rock 72205), and Repower America (1401 W 6th. St. Little Rock, 72201 )
3. Write to your local newspaper saying that you support Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
4. Call or email Senators Lincoln and Pryor. You can reach Senator Lincoln by calling 1-800-352-9364 or clicking http://lincoln.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm. You can reach Senator Pryor by calling 1-877-259-9602 or clicking http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/.
5. Attend a 350 event on Saturday, October 24, 2009. October 24 is the International Day of Climate Action. Millions of people across the world will host 350 events in support of climate action. In Arkansas, Little Rock, Fayetteville, and Conway will host a 350 event. For more information about the Arkansas events, click on the city. For more information about 350, visit www.350.org.

Our opponents, funded by Murphy & Lion oils, are submitting letters to the editor everyday. They have a Facebook page called Arkansans Against Cap & Trade with over 3,000 members!

Let’s tell our senators that Arkansans care about the environment. Support Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act today!

Monday To-Do: OMNI-NWACC Book Forum on Climate Break Down

The OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology, its Carbon Caps Task Force, and OMNI-NWACC will present a Book Forum on Climate Break Down today at 6:30 p.m. in B102 of the Shewmaker Center on the Northwest Arkansas Community College campus in Bentonville. Panelists will discuss the latest science-based scholarship explaining how the climate is collapsing with accelerating speed because of the rapid increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. Panelists include Art Hobson, Ryan Bancroft, Jonathan Gibbs, and Joanna Pollock. Books to be discussed are: James Lovelock, The Vanishing Face of Gaia A Final Warning; Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future; David Archer, The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate; Mark Lynas, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet; James Speth, Bridge to the End of the World. Special references: Joseph Romm, Hell and High Water: The Global Warming Solution; Larry Schweiger, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth.

For additional information, contact Edrene McKay at edrenemckay@cox.net.

Monday To-Do: Operation Free Veterans for American Power & Clean Energy Bus Tour

This month beginning October 12, Operation Free and its partners will be launching a Bus Tour to educate the public on the national security implications of climate change and the urgent need for legislative action. Traveling on the bus will be retired military members including Top Brass and other ranking officers recently returned from current theaters of conflict including two Arkansas natives. There will be several stops on this tour and Arkansas is the launch state for the Southern portion of the tour.

Join Operation Free for a meeting to discuss the national security implications of climate change.

WHAT: Operation Free Veterans for American Power & Clean Energy Bus Tour

WHEN: Monday, October 12 – 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

WHERE: MacArthur Military Museum (503 East 9th, Little Rock 72202)

Lunch provided. RSVP to Jamie Scott at (501)352-0652. For more information about Operation Free, visit www.operationfree.net.

Monday To-Do: Green Faith Alliance of Central AR Meeting

Green Faith Alliance of Central Arkansas will host its monthly meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock. For more information, visit Green Faith Alliance of Central Arkansas’ website at www.greenfaithalliance.webs.com.

American Lung Association Announces Opposition to Turk Coal-Fired Power Plant

Under the Arkansas law, Southwestern Electric Power Company has the right to recover capital costs from the ratepayers if the investment was made in a “prudent,” or non-risky, manner. The Arkansas Court of Appeals’ unanimous rejection of its construction permit, several lawsuits filed by the National Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, combined with this new opposition, make SWEPCO’s decision to continue to construct very risky to me.

See below for the press release from the American Lung Association.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Lung Association Concerned about Pollutants from New Coal Plant
The American Lung Association Announces Opposition to Turk Power Plant

(Little Rock) September 23, 2009— A new coal fired power plant proposed in Arkansas’Hempstead County has American Lung Association health experts worried. The plant would add pollutants to our air that would have a significantly negative impact on lung health for everyone in Arkansas and neighboring states.

“The American Lung Association’s mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease,” said Sara Dreiling, Chief Executive Officer of the American Lung Association of the Central States. “The proposed power plant is a danger to the lung health of the citizens of Arkansas.”

The American Lung Association has been fighting for clean air issues for more than 40 years. The health impacts of particulate matter, one of the main pollutants from coal fired power plants, are widespread and include death from respiratory and cardiovascular causes, inflammation of lung tissue in young, healthy adults, increased emergency room visits for patients suffering from acute respiratory ailments, increased severity of asthma attacks in children and increased hospitalization for asthma among children, plus various serious cardiovascular impacts.

“It is imperative that the health of our citizens is put first and foremost in the decision making process about a new power plant for Arkansas,” continued Dreiling. “We are committed to being

an integral part of the regional process to decide about new sources of power for the region.”

###

About the American Lung Association: Now in our second century, the American Lung Association is the leading organization working to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. Lung disease death rates are currently increasing while other leading causes of death are declining. With your generous support, the American Lung Association is “Fighting for Air” through research, education and advocacy. For more information about the American Lung Association, a Charity Navigator Four Star Charity and holder of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide Seal, or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit www.lungusa.org.

Weekend To-Do: Little Rock Sustainability Summit

The first annual Little Rock Sustainability Summit, a free and open to the public event on Friday, September 25th and Saturday, September 26th, 2009, will take place at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Friday’s sessions are scheduled from 1-5 p.m, with the Exhibitor Hall open from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday’s sessions starts at 9 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m., with the Little Rock Green Drinks Happy Hour capping off the Summit from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The purpose of the Summit is to encourage and educate city leaders and citizens from both big and small cities across Arkansas to take action to sustain our communities, our economy and our environment.

This Summit hopes to provide a variety of informative sessions about how to initiate and encourage sustainability actions. These include: recycling, land use/planning, green building, energy efficiency, water quality, green economy, transportation, faith, food, etc. These sessions will offer a variety of local and national speakers and provide concurrent sessions for any level of understanding, and some will be interactive, like a LEED certified building tour on Friday.

For more information, please contact John McClure at LRSustainabilitySummit@gmail.com or (501)993-7502.

Monday To-Do: The Age of Stupid Arkansas Premier

The Age of Stupid is a film by Franny Armstrong, director of McLibel & founder of 10:10, and John Battsek, producer of One Day in September. The film is a drama-documentary-animation hybrid which stars Pete Postlethwaite as the last person alive in the devastated world of 2055, watching archive footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

The film will be released internationally on September 21st and 22nd at the “Global Premiere”. A green carpet, solar-powered cinema tent in New York will be linked by satellite to 442 cinemas across the USA and to more than 200 cinemas in 45+ other countries. Special guests include Kofi Annan, Pete Postlethwaite and Gillian Anderson, and Thom Yorke from Radiohead will sing live.

Catch The Age of Stupid Arkansas Premier at the following two locations:

• UA Breckenridge (1200 Breckenridge Drive) in Little Rock
• Tinseltown 14 (17314 I-30) in Benton

The showtime is 6:30 p.m. for both locations. For more information, visit the film’s website at www.ageofstupid.net.

Guest Post: Eddy Moore – AR Rural Electric Cooperatives’ Coal-Fired Power Plant

While all sides wait for the Arkansas Supreme Court decision on whether the state wrongfully approved a permit to build the John W. Turk coal fired power plant in Hempstead County, press attention has focused almost completely on Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO). But there are other major business partners in the project. The Arkansas rural electric cooperatives own the second-largest share of the plant, but have managed to escape almost any questioning or scrutiny. Last week, the cooperatives asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to allow it to enter the case and argue as a “friend of the court.”

Usually, such “amicus curiae” arguments are brought by a person or group with broader public interests in the outcome, who bring a different perspective from the party already seeking review. Here, the co-ops are actually co-owners with identical interests. Indeed, if they had something to say, it is surprising they didn’t enter the case from the start.

Maybe the co-ops have avoided attention because they are, for the first time ever, seeking a rate increase under a new, emergency procedure. Their proposed changes in the law authorizing the new procedure shot through the Arkansas legislature earlier this year with hardly a comment. The one comment was from Nucor Steel, by far the co-ops’ largest ($100+ million per year) customer: roughly translated, it asked for a few days to find out what the heck was going on, since even it had been given very short notice.

Back to the new co-op argument to the Supreme Court. Here, the co-ops mention that they have spent $100 million so far on the coal plant! Maybe that is part of why they need a rate increase. The press, or even customers, may begin to ask if it was prudent for the cooperatives to buy into the plant based on projections of very high future growth in electricity sales.

Here is where the broad public interest actually comes in. About thirty years ago, the cooperatives bought into another huge coal-fired power plant based on aggressive future sales projections—that one with Entergy. Even today, Entergy has excess baseload (coal and nuclear) generation, and pollution upgrades to the plant will cost over $1 billion.

Some will argue that, in retrospect, these plants produce cheap power, but the question must be asked. Have Arkansans been talked too early into risky, multi-billion-dollar power generation investments? What is the time value of customer money spent on power plants to serve needs that do not arise, even in a thirty-year timeframe? Investing instead in conservation might streamline our economy for competition, avoiding early capital costs and yielding greater, more diverse economic benefits. Unfortunately, this public benefit argument is unlikely to be raised by the “friend” currently wooing the court.