Below is an example letter to CA Assembly Speaker Perez, in support of AB 1014 (2013) which will make Solar Renewable Energy available to people who do not own a home, but pay property taxes and utility bills in California. Please read, copy, and send this letter to your representatives. Here is a link to make it easy: Vote Solar
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Dear Assembly Speaker Perez,
As a renter, who owns no real-property, in the state of CA, but still pays property taxes indirectly via my lease, and uses energy, and pays utility bills, I want a choice.
I write to express my strong support for passing AB 1014, the Shared Renewable Energy Self-Generation Program. AB 1014 expands consumer access to renewable energy, providing all customers of SCE, SDG&E and PG&E with the opportunity to invest in an offsite renewable energy system and receive a utlity bill credit in return.
It extends the economic benefits of renewable energy to the large percentage of Californians who currently have no access: renters, people whose homes or businesses are shaded or poorly oriented, space limited public entities, and consumers who lack sufficient credit. It also ensures new clean energy over and above what is required by the state's other clean energy programs.
I support shared renewables as a way to expand the availability of renewable energy to thousands more Californians.
Please support AB 1014.
Creating community progress through cooperative solutions. This is about the future of San Diego, we focus upon renewable energy technologies, and our shared environment: food, water, and land use issues.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Vandana Shiva on the Problem with Genetically Modified Seeds
There is a revolution brewing in the hearts and minds of the world's women. Seed Future is an example of success agains the corporations which seek to take over our global resources.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
A New Challenge from Al Gore, in honor of Earth Day 2013
(This video is Time Traveled from 2008! A message from Al Gore to our future, on Earth Day)
To solve the Climate Crisis, we must first accept the challenge of solving the Political Crisis that is attacking our Democracy. This is a challenge, a call for heroes in a global conflict to save the future. Gore founded the Alliance for Climate Protection, and speaks of the Energy Supergrid, an idea of Buckminster Fuller that inspired our local San Diego institute, the Global Energy Network Initiative.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Why Top Predators Matter
From the Environmental Defense Fund comes a warning of imbalance in our global oceans:
The dire straits facing sharks around the world is a major theme in many gloom and doom predictions about the fate of the oceans. And there is plenty of reason for worry. Many shark populations are estimated to be at less than 10% of original levels, with some species possibly in danger of extinction. This is bad news not only for sharks, but for the many cultures that rely on them for protein in their diets.
The dire straits facing sharks around the world is a major theme in many gloom and doom predictions about the fate of the oceans. And there is plenty of reason for worry. Many shark populations are estimated to be at less than 10% of original levels, with some species possibly in danger of extinction. This is bad news not only for sharks, but for the many cultures that rely on them for protein in their diets.
Ecologists, too, warn of the effects of the decline in shark species and other top predators on ocean ecosystems. Eliminating sharks may induce what scientists call “ecological cascades,” where one effect induces another, and so on through the living world.
One example of that process is the rise in populations of certain rays – key shark prey – in regions where shark populations have declined. If there are too many bottom feeding rays, that may threaten seagrass beds and the shellfish that inhabit them. Those seagrass beds also serve as nurseries for many other species. So losing sharks may seriously degrade marine ecosystems, which could threaten the human fisheries tied to them. In addition, sharks can help control populations of invasive and exotic species – a growing problem as ocean ecosystems change.
Friday, April 5, 2013
The Story of STUFF
If we look closely at the systems from which we profit, we realize that everyone over 30 is part of the problem. The Story of Stuff defines the system and shows us where the solutions may lead to a sustainable future.
Bottled Water - EPA drinking water contaminants
This is how to manufacture demand, create fear.
"Our enormously productive economy ... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption ... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate." - Victor Le Beau, Retailing Analyst
Planned Obsolesce - how long a product can last and still inspire consumer trust
Perceived Obsolesce - fashion, improvement
Tip: Wealth = Leisure Time
Bottled Water - EPA drinking water contaminants
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