QUOTE
“If we don’t bring everyone around, we’re going go to have a decision to make.
I can’t guarantee you what the tipping point is,
but I don’t want you to walk away from here thinking that
one or two people could screw it up.
You all need to get together as a neighborhood and say we’re ready to go.”
Governor Christie of New Jersey

- The Jersey shore is a beloved treasure to many people. A home right on the coast can mean a special lifestyle, which makes bulldozing low shoreline homes tough in all respects. Some, however, are anxious to get funding to leave, and thus the standing ovations! Watch the short video.  There are those still in denial, which creates a horrendous problem for the Gov. because the die-hards left on the block will be forced to move- very bad PR!! The TV film crews are salivating! Tough decisions are going to have to be made soon. - Editor

Speaking to a packed town hall in Sayreville on Thursday, Gov. Chris Christie announced the state will start purchasing homes in flood-prone areas starting in July with $300 million in federal aid.  Have a party. Pour some wine. Treat ‘em real nice. That’s Gov. Chris Christie’s advice for residents trying to convince their neighbors to participate in a federal buyout of homes in areas swamped by Sandy and past storms.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/christie_sayreville_town_hall.html

- EGAD! Farming and ranching continue the struggle for survival with changing climate whipping up disasters, and here the victims don’t want safe solutions?? Farmers fighting climate change solutions is as bad as hunkering down in a shore house that gets blasted repeatedly by storms, and is soon doomed. - Editor

Farmers and ranchers in Colorado are pressuring Governor John Hickenlooper to veto a renewable energy bill that doubles portfolio standards for rural electric co-operatives. Senate Bill 13-252 would mandate the co-ops get at least 20 percent of the electricity from solar, wind and other renewable power sources by the year 2020.
http://www.koaa.com/news/farmers-urge-veto-on-renewable-hike/

- Are these anti-clean energy farmers and ranchers for fracking? I just read a report on a large Texas ranch that was having success at restoring land by implementing ecological principles despite the drought, but then got seduced into the money of oil and gas leases for their ecological land!! Not a solution! Poisons are not ecological!  Money doesn’t keep you healthy! Entice solar and wind projects instead! - Editor

Farming communities are being turned into huge, open-air laboratories by energy companies—with ordinary people serving as guinea pigs. A new generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the next wonder technology—in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Whether they live in Texas, Colorado or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain, intestinal illnesses, memory loss and more. “In my opinion,” says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, “what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning.” When it comes to the US fracking industry, the canaries aren’t restricted to the coalmines. People seem to be the harbingers of what happens when a toxic environment is no longer buried miles beneath the earth.
No one I interviewed in communities impacted by fracking in southwestern Pennsylvania drinks their water anymore.
http://www.thenation.com/article/174155/fracking-ourselves-death-pennsylvania

- Oil and gas are getting harder and harder to extract as the easy sources have been diminished. Fracking now is a dangerous and mysterious chemical soup, contaminating irreplaceable water supplies and creating sickly air and land pollution. Can this be converted to a cleaner process? Poisons are poisons, but at least we need to use the laws that already exist as a starting point. Switching to renewable forms of energy is the ultimate solution, of course, and we CAN do that! - Editor

Americans should be able to drink what comes out of their taps without worrying that it will make them sick. So why would anyone insert a loophole into the Safe Drinking Water Act that subverts that basic right? In 2005, Congress passed an Energy Act that included (thanks to meddling by former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney) an exemption for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the protections of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. It’s called the “Halliburton loophole” and it’s a whopper.
Fracking involves injecting a pressurized mix of water, sand, and highly toxic chemicals directly into gas-rich shale formations.
Back in 2005, the industry argued that fracking was so safe and so harmless, that regulation simply wasn’t necessary. It’s hard to imagine they really believed it. Chemicals used in fracking fluid are known to cause everything from cancer to depression of the central nervous system. Moreover, the chemicals underneath the earth’s surface that may be released due to gas drilling are also known to be harmful to human health and the environment.
http://myscsierra.org/chapter/component/content/article/61-water-quality-news/304-drinking-water-fracking-and-you.html
To help http://content.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/
Get a copy and watch Split Estate - http://www.splitestate.com/  and/or this film- Gasland- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1558250/

AN OPEN LETTER TO ENERGY SECRETARY MONIZ ON NATURAL GAS EXPORTS
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2013/05/an-open-letter-to-energy-secretary-moniz-on-natural-gas-exports.html

LOOK BEFORE THE LNG LEAP:
Why Policymakers and the Public Need Fair Disclosure Before Exports of Fracked Gas Start
http://www.sierraclub.org/naturalgas/downloads/LOOK-BEFORE-YOU-LEAP.pdf

- Plan now to join or create actions this summer, as well as work on divesting- your city, school, church, and personal resources. - Editor

This summer, we will take on the fossil fuel industry. From where fossil fuels leave the ground, to the halls of power, to the communities feeling the impacts of climate change, join in and stand up for our future. And as the planet lurches past 400 parts per million concentrations of CO2, the moment has come, the moment to ask you to do hard, important, powerful things. Our hope is that this summer will be a historic show of solidarity not just with the Americans who suffer most from the fossil fuel industry, but with the people across the planet whose lives are at risk as the world warms — and indeed with the planet itself, beleaguered but still so worth fighting for.
If you weren’t needed, we wouldn’t ask. But in a fight this big, we are all needed, now more than ever.
Actions include:
President Obama — Keep your Promises – DC
2013 Walk for our Grandchildren – Maryland
Shut Down Brayton Point – Massachusetts
Nebraska vs. Keystone XL – Nebraska
Ohio vs. Frackers – Ohio
Utah Tar Sands Action Camp – Utah
Texas Keystone XL Showdown – Texas
http://joinsummerheat.org/panel1/panel-1/
http://350.org/en/about/blogs/announcing-summer-heat-mass-action-across-us
For a KSFR Diego Mulligan Pod cast with Bill McKibben, who can explain our climate situation so clearly- http://journeyhome.libsyn.com/the-journey-home-with-diego-mulligan-may-21-2013-bill-mc-kibbon

The radio show This American Life did a special episode on climate change and dedicated a third of the program to covering Bill McKibben, our Do The Math tour, and the growing fossil fuel divestment movement. Once you’ve listened, be sure to share this page with your friends and family — oftentimes, a good story is the best way to get someone involved.
This American Life airs on more than 500 stations around the country and reaches 1.8 million listeners, so it was some great exposure for our growing campaign. In the past few weeks, we’ve also gotten big coverage on All Things Considered, Marketplace, Businessweek, and The Associated Press. It’s starting to get through to people: divestment is not only the moral thing to do, but also the smart thing (the AP went so far as to do its own analysis, concluding that “by one measure, endowments would have been better off had they divested 10 years ago”).
This campaign is beginning to really add up. Five colleges have now divested from fossil fuels. 13 cities across the country have committed to pursue the goal. And religious institutions are quickly taking up the call, from the United Church of Christ in Massachusetts, to the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, to Lutheran denominations in Oregon.
You can find or start a local campaign here: It’s Wrong to Profit from Wrecking the Climate- gofossilfree.org
Listen - http://act.350.org/signup/This_American_Life/?akid=3192.134998.XReZkk&rd=1&t=1
Hot in My Backyard- http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/495/hot-in-my-backyard

- The sooner we move towards new, renewable energy sources, the better off we will be. Especially for those not so convinced humans are causing climate change, here is a useful report worth sharing or quoting when you talk with people! Simple numbers make it very clear! - Editor

1. Competitiveness and Innovation
2. Growth
3. Security
4. Infrastructure
5. Cost of Inaction
http://www.theclimategroup.org/the-american-clean-revolution/
Find out exactly how America will win $3 trillion for its economy by downloading the report now. http://thecleanrevolution.org/_assets/files/American_Clean_Revolution.pdf

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted Wednesday that a carbon tax could generate “significant” revenues for the United States and avert “catastrophic” effects of climate change. Imposing a carbon tax would raise the cost of fossil fuels and goods made in energy-intensive industries — everything from plastics to aluminum. The key, therefore, is how to implement the tax and use the revenues and whether Treasury would redistribute revenues to lower-income residents who would be most affected.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/301377-cbo-carbon-tax-an-option-to-avoid-catastrophic-outcomes
For the report- http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44223_Carbon_0.pdf
And
Seven thrilling facts about carbon taxes from the CBO
A carbon tax that starts at $20 per ton would raise $1.2 trillion in the next decade.
The biggest question, by far, is what to do with the revenue. Rebate it? Cut other taxes?
A carbon tax starting at $20 per ton would cut U.S. emissions an extra 8 percent by 2021.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/23/seven-thrilling-facts-about-carbon-taxes-from-the-cbo/

- Solar as cheap as conventional grid power! A game-changer! - Editor

In the past few years, we have become more conscious about the mountains being blown up in Appalachia to extract coal or the massive onslaught of gas drilling and fracking on new shale formations. Danny Kennedy’s new book, Rooftop Revolution, turns our endless search to keep looking down for future energy sources and simply asks us to look up for it. The sun, he argues, is waiting to be tapped for clean, cheap energy if we can get our heads out of the sand.
The collective interests of coal, oil, nukes and gas is the giant King CONG. King CONG is the problem, they are contaminating our political sense (through huge spending to promote CONG) and the environment (by digging up the earth). We, as a part of our communities, pay taxes. We have government for a reason: to support things we like. Most people can agree that it’s good to promote clean energy. Yet here in the U.S., Exxon Mobil, the most profitable corporation in history, continues to receive subsidies.
How we get around this formidable force is by being better, smarter and cheaper. (The solar company) Sungevity provides solar electricity service in nine states now, and it’s cheaper than what customers get out of the grid. That is one way to get around this obstacle.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/rooftop-revolution-how-solar-energy-putting-power-back-hands-people
For the book- http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9781609946654&PG=1&Type=BL&PCS=BKP