Federal strategies for tackling climate change are doomed to fail without concerted efforts to keep Americans out of their cars — efforts that will necessarily include a greater emphasis on public transit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Senate lawmakers Tuesday.
The statement arrives just a few weeks after House lawmakers passed sweeping reforms aimed at reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, but included in the proposal only meager funding for public transportation projects.
While the Obama administration this year adopted tough new emissions standards that will force automakers to make cleaner cars and trucks, LaHood warned that those efforts alone won’t address the climate change problem if Americans continue to drive as much as they do today. Indeed, even if vehicle fuel efficiencies doubled over the next two decades to 55 miles per gallon, he told members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the resulting decrease in greenhouse emissions would be merely “modest” without a simultaneous reduction in vehicle-miles traveled, or VMT.
“Addressing VMT growth plays a key role in decreasing transportation related greenhouse-gas emissions and should be included in overall efforts to prevent climate change,” LaHood said. “Failing to recognize the connection between transportation and climate change will likely jeopardize our ability to achieve our [emission] reduction goals.”
LaHood’s comments came as Senate Democrats are still in the process of drafting controversial climate change legislation designed to cut the nation’s emissions more than 80 percent by 2050. Like the House bill, the Senate proposal is expected to feature a cap-and-trade structure that would effectively commodify pollutants, holding the nation’s largest emitters financially accountable for the greenhouse gases they spew. The revenue generated, the theory goes, could then be used to fund renewable-energy technologies and other green initiatives, including public transit projects. Some lawmakers have been pushing for 10 percent of cap-and-trade revenue to go toward public transportation, bike lanes and other “smart-street” initiatives.
After a great deal of political sparring and industry lobbying, however, a very different model emerged from the House. Indeed, under the House proposal, 15 percent of the value of the polluting permits distributed under the cap-and-trade system would go initially to benefit big polluters like the paper, steel and cement industries; 5 percent would target coal-burning power plants; 2 percent would help oil refineries; and another 2 percent would go to electric utilities. But just one percent — or roughly $537 million — would go to fund public transit projects, a real-dollar figure that would rise to roughly $1 billion by 2020.
And Senate passage of a climate bill this year is hardly a certainty. Even with all of the concessions to the polluting industries and their congressional defenders, the House proposal passed the lower chamber last month by the slim count of 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats voting against it. Already, Democratic infighting over the Senate bill has forced party leaders to push the release of the proposal from July to September, when Congress returns from its month-long summer recess.
Environmentalists, state officials and many congressional lawmakers are hoping the delay will allow Senate leaders the time to carve out more room for public transit than House Democrats did. And they cite some strong reasons for their push.
The United States emits about 21 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, of which nearly 30 percent come from transportation. And, if current trends hold, those numbers are expected to rise precipitously. Indeed, between 1977 and 2007, the number of vehicle-miles traveled by Americans jumped 110 percent even as the population rose just 37 percent, according to Steven Winkelman, director of transportation programs at the Center for Clean Air Policy. Looking ahead, per capita VMT is projected to rise 15 percent by 2030, the Energy Information Administration estimates.
“Although this is a slower growth rate than the recent past, it will effectively offset the emissions savings expected from the improved fuel efficiency and low carbon fuels requirements [of Congress and the Obama administration],” Winkelman told lawmakers Tuesday. Ignoring transportation in climate change legislation, he added, “will neglect opportunities to meet overall emission reduction goals while increasing the burden on other sectors of the economy.”
But it must be done carefully, proponents warned. David Bragdon, president of the Portland Metro Council, cautioned that building new transit infrastructure would be futile without land-use management plans to accompany it. Efforts to prevent sprawl, for example, and to concentrate populations around both public transportation and commercial facilities go a long way to keep people out of cars, he said.
“We can’t simply reform the supply of transportation, we have to reduce demand,” Bragdon testified, “and the way our communities are laid out is a major determinant of demand.”
Conservatives, meanwhile, used Tuesday’s hearing to blast the Democrats for their plans to take up a cap-and-trade bill at all. That strategy, they argue, would force businesses to hike costs on consumers at a time when the country continues to suffer from the financial downturn.
Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), senior Republican on the Senate Environment panel, pointed to recent layoffs in the trucking industry as just one reason why Democrats should abandon their plans to put a price tag on greenhouse emissions. “If we enact cap-and-trade legislation, fuel prices will rise, and more jobs in the trucking sector will be destroyed,” Inhofe said.
For his part, Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) was more concerned with the cost associated with new high-speed rail and other public transit projects, arguing that the deficit spending is already through the roof in the wake of the long series of financial bailouts.
“How are we gonna pay for it?” Voinovich asked LaHood. “Borrow more money?”
At least one funding option, it appears, is off the table. The 18.4 cent-per-gallon gas tax — though it hasn’t been raised since 1993, nor is it indexed for inflation — is not being eyed for a hike, LaHood assured lawmakers. “We are not for raising the gas tax,” he said.
That’s sure to be music to the ears of many conservatives, who argue that such a tax would cripple businesses and consumers reliant on energy-intensive goods and services. Yet, the idea of a gas-tax hike found an unlikely cheerleader this week, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out in support of a “modest” increase as “the simplest, most straightforward way” to keep up with the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has never been accused of being a strong proponent of any kind of tax increases,” Janet Kavinoky, the Chamber’s director of transportation infrastructure wrote for Roll Call Monday. “But taxes paid on gasoline and diesel are different — they are user fees.”
That’s different than saying the money should go to fund public transit. But when the nation’s largest business federation advocates a tax hike, it sure dulls the Republican claim that any such increase would strike a death knell for the country’s small businesses.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Britain pins climate goals on clean energy
Britain will double the share of its energy from low carbon sources by 2020 as part of plans to counter global warming, the government said on Wednesday.Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said 40 percent of Britain's electricity will come from nuclear, wind, solar, marine and cleaner coal, compared with a fifth of today's supplies.Nuclear now supplies around 20 percent of Britain's electricity, and is not expected to grow over the period, while the other sources such as wind currently play a minor role but will deliver the low carbon growth."Our plan will strengthen our energy security...it seizes industrial opportunity and it rises to the moral challenge of climate change," Miliband said in a statement.Miliband said the pledge showed Britain's commitment to United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen in December that aim to secure a global deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol on reducing emissions.Attempts to reach a new agreement have foundered on fears that environmental targets could hamper any economic recovery and arguments between rich and developing nations on the level of emissions cuts.U.S. President Barack Obama, who chaired the Major Economies Forum this month, failed to convince China, India and other developing nations to sign up to a G8-supported goal of halving world emissions by 2050.With Britain in its worst recession in 50 years and the ruling Labour Party trailing in the polls with an election less than a year away, the government has been keen to talk up the benefits of the growing environmental sector.Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said the proposals would be important for the economic recovery, adding: "The government is determined to ensure it maximises the economic and employment opportunities this transition offers."GLOBAL MARKETIn a series of policy documents, Britain said the global market for low carbon goods and services could expand to 4.3 trillion pounds ($7,047 billion) by 2015 from 3 trillion pounds in 2007/08 and grow even faster if a deal is struck in Denmark.Miliband said Britain's low carbon sector will be one of the few areas of the economy that will grow during the recession and beyond, expanding at over 4 percent each year up to 2014/15.The number of people employed in the sector in Britain could rise by up to 400,000 to more than 1.28 million by 2015, compared to 880,000 today.The jobs will be created in areas like the design and production of low carbon vehicles and the development of renewable energy such as wind, marine and nuclear power.Action to tackle climate change will add about 8 percent to household energy bills by 2020, Miliband said. This estimate relies on consumers using less energy.The government hopes the measures will improve Britain's energy security by preventing any increase in gas imports between 2010 and 2020. [ID:nLF021640]About a fifth of the emissions cuts by 2020 will come from cleaner transport, including government subsidies of between 2,000 and 5,000 pounds for each electric car.A further 15 percent of the emissions cuts must come from making homes more energy efficient, while 10 percent of the savings will be made in the workplace.People and businesses who generate small amounts of energy through solar panels or other renewable sources, will be paid extra for feeding the energy into the national power networks.Rates and terms will be announced after a public consultation due to begin by next April.Britain was the first country to set legally-binding emissions targets. It wants to cut its output of planet-warming gases by 34 percent by 2020, from 1990 levels.
U.S., China try to reach accord on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are in Beijing this week to talk about climate change with Chinese leaders. The hope is to open the nation's market to American clean technology products while nudging China toward committing to hard targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
They have their work cut out for them.
Although China is rapidly expanding its use of alternative energy to curb dependence on fossil fuels, it's favoring its own wind and solar manufacturers over foreign suppliers. And despite recently surpassing the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China has stated repeatedly that the U.S. and other industrial powers must take the lead on cutting emissions.The issue is pitting industrial countries against the developing world over what role each should play in slowing potentially devastating global warming. At the Group of 8 summit meeting in Italy last week, China and other emerging powers declined to commit to specific goals for slashing heat-trapping gases by 2050. They said their rise from poverty shouldn't be derailed by the rich nations responsible for most of the damage.The participation of the U.S. and China is essential to building a global consensus heading into next year's United Nations conference on climate change. Any accord that doesn't include these two polluting superpowers would largely be considered a failure. But carbon caps are proving a point of friction between the trading partners.
"The United States and China have developed a very strong, advantageous relationship because of the economy, and by and large, it's been mutually beneficial," said Dan Dudek, chief economist for the Environmental Defense Fund. "But when it comes to climate change and energy, that simple equation starts to break down. What they're looking for now is a path to similar interests."Obama administration officials, and the president himself, are peddling cautious optimism in Washington about Chinese efforts on global warming. In an interview with energy reporters late last month, Obama sounded a cooperative tone about working with China and India to reduce emissions."We're going to be able to take a look at what they're doing," he said, "and to the extent that they are taking steps within their own economies to make progress, I think we're going to be able to help leverage even greater gains internationally."The mood is decidedly more combative on Capitol Hill, particularly among Republicans, many of whom insist that China must act aggressively on emissions before the U.S. will.China's response to climate change has been "complex and contradictory," Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), one of the few GOP senators that Democrats believe could eventually support a climate bill, said at a committee hearing last month.He added: "The American domestic debate on the issue will be profoundly influenced by perceptions of China's willingness to set aside doctrinaire positions and agree to verifiable steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions."China is in the throes of massive urbanization that will add 350 million residents to its cities in the next 20 years -- a migration of rural dwellers that will require dramatic increases in energy capacity. Those new urbanites will want access to air conditioning, cars and electronics that developed nations have long enjoyed. "Why can't these people have the same rights as Americans?" said Hu Tao, program coordinator of the United Nations China Climate Change Partnership Framework. "With a cap [on emissions], that means in the future we won't have the right to use these things. That's not realistic."Recognizing the growing environmental crisis, Beijing has launched its own set of domestic policies to reduce pollution while resisting international accords on emissions that they believe will interfere with determining their own destiny.Beijing has committed $462 billion to scaling up renewable energy by 2020. China has increased wind power by 100% each of the last three years. And although still modest in scope, China plans to boost solar power capacity tenfold in the next decade. Meanwhile, smaller and more inefficient coal plants are being phased out.China's wind farms can be seen in the far-flung West on the outskirts of desert cities such as Urumqi. Towering turbines are also being installed offshore near Shanghai. And China boasts millions of inexpensive, solar-powered household water heaters. The nation is the world's top producer of solar photovoltaic panels, although 95% of them are exported.But China remains highly dependent on dirty coal, building coal-fired power plants at a breakneck pace. Some of China's chief polluters ignore laws to use clean technology because it's cheaper to pay a fine. Still, China considers its efforts to battle climate change superior to those of the U.S., which did not sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and awaits a vote by the U.S. Senate on the Waxman-Markey climate bill."In the past eight years the U.S. has done nothing to contribute to [combating] climate change," said Jin Jiaman, executive director of the Global Environmental Institute, a Beijing-based nonprofit. "They should try to compensate now."Secretaries Chu and Locke plan to lay the framework for greater cooperation leading up to President Obama's visit to China later this year. The two men of ethnic Chinese backgrounds are well regarded here; Chu for his Nobel Prize in physics and Locke for his family, which is celebrated in its ancestral home of Taishan in Southern China as an immigrant success story.
Chu addressed a packed audience this morning at his parents' alma mater, Tsinghua University. "What China and the U.S. do in the future in large part will determine the fate of the world," he said.
Chu said he respected the argument that developed nations were responsible for most emissions to date. But he said that if China continued on its path, in 30 years it would have equaled all the carbon pollution the U.S. has ever released."We're all in this together," he said.Among the topics Chu and Locke are expected to discuss with their Chinese counterparts is technology transfer. The U.S. relies on coal for 22% of its energy needs and has know-how in carbon capture that would benefit the Chinese.
"This is a rapid and dynamic area where there are huge opportunities for both sides," said Qi Ye, head of the Energy Foundation's Beijing office. "Putting roadblocks [in transfers] is not going to help."The Chinese bristled at a stipulation in a recent U.S. climate bill that calls for tariffs on green exports from nations that fail to sign emission caps. It's been interpreted in Beijing as a way to restrict Chinese imports and protect American manufacturers and jobs at a time when both have been gravely affected by the economic crisis.China wants industrialized nations to reduce their emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. By comparison, the bill still to be decided in Washington calls for a 4% reduction over the same period. Any agreement on short-term and mid-term targets between the two sides may have to meet closer to the middle, observers say.The Environmental Defense Fund's Dudek said that, despite the modest targets in the U.S. bill, the Chinese would welcome its passage and consider it a sign that the U.S. would lead the pair out of their impasse."It's hard to come to the table and talk tough with the Chinese when we don't have national controls or legislation on the books," Dudek said.
They have their work cut out for them.
Although China is rapidly expanding its use of alternative energy to curb dependence on fossil fuels, it's favoring its own wind and solar manufacturers over foreign suppliers. And despite recently surpassing the United States as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China has stated repeatedly that the U.S. and other industrial powers must take the lead on cutting emissions.The issue is pitting industrial countries against the developing world over what role each should play in slowing potentially devastating global warming. At the Group of 8 summit meeting in Italy last week, China and other emerging powers declined to commit to specific goals for slashing heat-trapping gases by 2050. They said their rise from poverty shouldn't be derailed by the rich nations responsible for most of the damage.The participation of the U.S. and China is essential to building a global consensus heading into next year's United Nations conference on climate change. Any accord that doesn't include these two polluting superpowers would largely be considered a failure. But carbon caps are proving a point of friction between the trading partners.
"The United States and China have developed a very strong, advantageous relationship because of the economy, and by and large, it's been mutually beneficial," said Dan Dudek, chief economist for the Environmental Defense Fund. "But when it comes to climate change and energy, that simple equation starts to break down. What they're looking for now is a path to similar interests."Obama administration officials, and the president himself, are peddling cautious optimism in Washington about Chinese efforts on global warming. In an interview with energy reporters late last month, Obama sounded a cooperative tone about working with China and India to reduce emissions."We're going to be able to take a look at what they're doing," he said, "and to the extent that they are taking steps within their own economies to make progress, I think we're going to be able to help leverage even greater gains internationally."The mood is decidedly more combative on Capitol Hill, particularly among Republicans, many of whom insist that China must act aggressively on emissions before the U.S. will.China's response to climate change has been "complex and contradictory," Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), one of the few GOP senators that Democrats believe could eventually support a climate bill, said at a committee hearing last month.He added: "The American domestic debate on the issue will be profoundly influenced by perceptions of China's willingness to set aside doctrinaire positions and agree to verifiable steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions."China is in the throes of massive urbanization that will add 350 million residents to its cities in the next 20 years -- a migration of rural dwellers that will require dramatic increases in energy capacity. Those new urbanites will want access to air conditioning, cars and electronics that developed nations have long enjoyed. "Why can't these people have the same rights as Americans?" said Hu Tao, program coordinator of the United Nations China Climate Change Partnership Framework. "With a cap [on emissions], that means in the future we won't have the right to use these things. That's not realistic."Recognizing the growing environmental crisis, Beijing has launched its own set of domestic policies to reduce pollution while resisting international accords on emissions that they believe will interfere with determining their own destiny.Beijing has committed $462 billion to scaling up renewable energy by 2020. China has increased wind power by 100% each of the last three years. And although still modest in scope, China plans to boost solar power capacity tenfold in the next decade. Meanwhile, smaller and more inefficient coal plants are being phased out.China's wind farms can be seen in the far-flung West on the outskirts of desert cities such as Urumqi. Towering turbines are also being installed offshore near Shanghai. And China boasts millions of inexpensive, solar-powered household water heaters. The nation is the world's top producer of solar photovoltaic panels, although 95% of them are exported.But China remains highly dependent on dirty coal, building coal-fired power plants at a breakneck pace. Some of China's chief polluters ignore laws to use clean technology because it's cheaper to pay a fine. Still, China considers its efforts to battle climate change superior to those of the U.S., which did not sign the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and awaits a vote by the U.S. Senate on the Waxman-Markey climate bill."In the past eight years the U.S. has done nothing to contribute to [combating] climate change," said Jin Jiaman, executive director of the Global Environmental Institute, a Beijing-based nonprofit. "They should try to compensate now."Secretaries Chu and Locke plan to lay the framework for greater cooperation leading up to President Obama's visit to China later this year. The two men of ethnic Chinese backgrounds are well regarded here; Chu for his Nobel Prize in physics and Locke for his family, which is celebrated in its ancestral home of Taishan in Southern China as an immigrant success story.
Chu addressed a packed audience this morning at his parents' alma mater, Tsinghua University. "What China and the U.S. do in the future in large part will determine the fate of the world," he said.
Chu said he respected the argument that developed nations were responsible for most emissions to date. But he said that if China continued on its path, in 30 years it would have equaled all the carbon pollution the U.S. has ever released."We're all in this together," he said.Among the topics Chu and Locke are expected to discuss with their Chinese counterparts is technology transfer. The U.S. relies on coal for 22% of its energy needs and has know-how in carbon capture that would benefit the Chinese.
"This is a rapid and dynamic area where there are huge opportunities for both sides," said Qi Ye, head of the Energy Foundation's Beijing office. "Putting roadblocks [in transfers] is not going to help."The Chinese bristled at a stipulation in a recent U.S. climate bill that calls for tariffs on green exports from nations that fail to sign emission caps. It's been interpreted in Beijing as a way to restrict Chinese imports and protect American manufacturers and jobs at a time when both have been gravely affected by the economic crisis.China wants industrialized nations to reduce their emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. By comparison, the bill still to be decided in Washington calls for a 4% reduction over the same period. Any agreement on short-term and mid-term targets between the two sides may have to meet closer to the middle, observers say.The Environmental Defense Fund's Dudek said that, despite the modest targets in the U.S. bill, the Chinese would welcome its passage and consider it a sign that the U.S. would lead the pair out of their impasse."It's hard to come to the table and talk tough with the Chinese when we don't have national controls or legislation on the books," Dudek said.
EU teams up with MTV on climate change
The European Union is teaming up with music channel MTV to raise awareness among teens about the dangers of climate change.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says today's youth "will bear the brunt" of climate change, including rising temperatures and sea-levels.
The EU plans ads to air in 11 EU countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark. Denmark is hosting the U.N. climate change conference aimed a getting a new global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The music channel will also hold special climate change concerts in Stockholm, Budapest and Copenhagen in the run-up to the U.N. conference, which starts Dec. 7.
The campaign's Web site, http://www.mtvplay4climate.eu was launched Wednesday
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says today's youth "will bear the brunt" of climate change, including rising temperatures and sea-levels.
The EU plans ads to air in 11 EU countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark. Denmark is hosting the U.N. climate change conference aimed a getting a new global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The music channel will also hold special climate change concerts in Stockholm, Budapest and Copenhagen in the run-up to the U.N. conference, which starts Dec. 7.
The campaign's Web site, http://www.mtvplay4climate.eu was launched Wednesday
Global warming may vanish key salt marsh constituent
A new research has shown that global warming may exact a toll on salt marshes in New England, with one key constituent of marshes being especially endangered. Pannes are waterlogged, low-oxygen zones of salt marshes. According to Keryn Gedan, a graduate student and salt marsh expert at Brown University, despite the stresses associated with global warming, pannes are “plant diversity hotspots,” “At least a dozen species of plants known as forbs inhabit these natural depressions,” Gedan said. The species include the purple flower-tipped plants Limonium nashii (sea lavender), the edible plant Salicornia europaea (pickleweed) and Triglochin maritima, a popular food for Brent and Canada geese as well as ducks and other migratory waterfowl. Gedan and her adviser, Mark Bertness, chair of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at Brown, decided to find out how global warming may affect pannes. In a series of experiments, the pair subjected plots of forb pannes to air as much as 3.3 degrees Celsius (about 6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the surrounding area. They found that the plants in the test plots responded initially by growing more but then began a rapid die-off. As they died, they were replaced by a salt marsh grass, Spartina patens. At two sites — Nag Creek (Prudence Island, Rhode Island), and Little River (Maine) — the forbs covered less than 10 percent of the plot, from 50 percent originally, in tests that spanned the summer from 2004 to 2006. At the third site, Drakes Island (Maine), the forb pannes cover decreased from 50 percent of the plot to 44 percent (a 12-percent decline) in just the summer of 2007. The researchers believe the forbs disappeared due to changes in the plant-water balance in the zone. What that means, Gedan explained, is the warmer air causes the forbs to take in more water, thus making the area less waterlogged and more hospitable to an invasion by Spartina patens, which prefers less water-soaked conditions. “The forbs basically engineer themselves out of their habitat by making it more favourable for their competitor,” said Gedan. The Brown experiments “demonstrate that New England salt marsh pannes are extremely sensitive to temperature increases and will be driven to local and regional extinction with the temperature increases expected to occur in New England over the next century,” Bertness said.
Crocodile lay eggs without mating
The country's only captive white crocodile, which had become famous for shunning mating habits, has laid eggs and that too without mating. Living in isolation and detached from males, the 33-year-old Gori laid about 30 eggs in the captivity of a pen in the crocodile research farm of Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary here. The eggs however lacked fertility contents and potency for procreation, officials said, adding that besides Gori another captive female crocodile also laid 'infertile' eggs last week. "Laying of eggs by isolated reptiles is a rare occurrence. The eggs have been preserved for research work," the officials said. Gori, acclaimed as the country's lone captive white crocodile, is famous for its typical behavioural instinct. In isolation since its birth in the sanctuary in 1975, the animal had avoided mating despite several attempts by forest officials. It had even attacked a male crocodile that had been released into the pen for mating. The enigmatic Gori has been keeping bad health since the past few years
US ecological award for Indian organisations
The Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organisation in the US, has announced the winners of its first ever “Green Energy
& Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” for India. Two organisations share the award – Ecosphere Spiti from the mountainous Himachal Pradesh valley named Spiti in the trans-Himalayas, and Barefoot College in Rajasthan, led by social entrepreneur Bunker Roy. The only fully solar-electrified institution, Barefoot College has trained rural men and women as Barefoot Solar Engineers (BSEs). They have built and installed solar units in 10,000 households, covering 574 villages across 16 Indian states. Each award carries a prize money of Rs 20 lakh and a trophy to be presented at the awards ceremony in Mumbai on July 30. The award represents Sierra Club’s growing interest in building international partnerships to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. The award recognizes community initiatives to promote green economic development, adaptation of renewable energy alternatives and organizational leadership in a grassroots environmental campaign. Ecosphere Spiti has won the award for successfully creating sustainable livelihoods linked to conservation and eco-tourism, while Barefoot College has applied practical, traditional knowledge and community-owned sustainable technology to reach the poorest residents of the impoverished desert state. Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said, “We set out on this path more than a century ago by promoting conservation awareness through mountain outings in the United States. We are delighted to recognise Ecosphere Spiti because it so clearly shares our own ideals for protecting a nation’s cultural and natural heritage for future generations.” Sierra Club International Programs director Stephen Mills had equally effusive praise for the Barefoot College: “As much as we are interested in sharing resources and supporting environmental leadership in India, we have also come to listen and learn,” Mills said. “We believe that much of the important energy and environmental work happening now in India has exciting applications in the US. Bunker Roy’s amazing record of teaching a community’s most disadvantaged members to become solar engineers is a prime example. We are not the first, and we will not be the last, to recognise this astonishingly scalable and replicable model for creating green livelihoods,” Mills added. Barefoot College is also the only fully solar-electrified college based in a village in India. Starting in 1989, barefoot solar engineers have installed a total of 40 kilowatts of solar panes and five battery banks, each containing 136 deep-cycle batteries. The solar components (inverters, charge controllers, battery boxes, stands) were all fabricated in the college itself. “We are delighted, honored and humbled by this award,” said Bunker Roy. “The recognition is to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘The Last Man’ who has shown the simple way of how to respect the Earth.”
& Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” for India. Two organisations share the award – Ecosphere Spiti from the mountainous Himachal Pradesh valley named Spiti in the trans-Himalayas, and Barefoot College in Rajasthan, led by social entrepreneur Bunker Roy. The only fully solar-electrified institution, Barefoot College has trained rural men and women as Barefoot Solar Engineers (BSEs). They have built and installed solar units in 10,000 households, covering 574 villages across 16 Indian states. Each award carries a prize money of Rs 20 lakh and a trophy to be presented at the awards ceremony in Mumbai on July 30. The award represents Sierra Club’s growing interest in building international partnerships to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. The award recognizes community initiatives to promote green economic development, adaptation of renewable energy alternatives and organizational leadership in a grassroots environmental campaign. Ecosphere Spiti has won the award for successfully creating sustainable livelihoods linked to conservation and eco-tourism, while Barefoot College has applied practical, traditional knowledge and community-owned sustainable technology to reach the poorest residents of the impoverished desert state. Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said, “We set out on this path more than a century ago by promoting conservation awareness through mountain outings in the United States. We are delighted to recognise Ecosphere Spiti because it so clearly shares our own ideals for protecting a nation’s cultural and natural heritage for future generations.” Sierra Club International Programs director Stephen Mills had equally effusive praise for the Barefoot College: “As much as we are interested in sharing resources and supporting environmental leadership in India, we have also come to listen and learn,” Mills said. “We believe that much of the important energy and environmental work happening now in India has exciting applications in the US. Bunker Roy’s amazing record of teaching a community’s most disadvantaged members to become solar engineers is a prime example. We are not the first, and we will not be the last, to recognise this astonishingly scalable and replicable model for creating green livelihoods,” Mills added. Barefoot College is also the only fully solar-electrified college based in a village in India. Starting in 1989, barefoot solar engineers have installed a total of 40 kilowatts of solar panes and five battery banks, each containing 136 deep-cycle batteries. The solar components (inverters, charge controllers, battery boxes, stands) were all fabricated in the college itself. “We are delighted, honored and humbled by this award,” said Bunker Roy. “The recognition is to Mahatma Gandhi, ‘The Last Man’ who has shown the simple way of how to respect the Earth.”
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