Environment

Shade grown coffee is generally better tasting and a more ecologically sound method of growing coffee, even if it adds a bit to the cost. The fact that the coffee can be grown without massive deforestation alone makes it a better method of growing coffee since it helps to preserve trees which sequester carbon and secure the soil when it rains.

But a recent article in the journal Current Biology (subscription only) shows that shade grown coffee also helps preserve biodiversity. From the article summary:

Coffee is cultivated across 11 million hectares (ha) of land within the world's richest centers of terrestrial biodiversity [1]. In tropical America, coffee is traditionally grown under a diverse canopy of overstory shade trees, which enhances the quality of the coffee farm as a conservation matrix and supports a broad spectrum of pollinators that increase fruit set per bush [2], [3] and [4]. Unlike sun coffee monocultures, shade coffee also sustains a diverse array of vertebrates, including bats and migratory birds, which provide farmers with many ecological services, such as insect predation [5], and may also conserve seed dispersal processes necessary for native tree re-establishment [6]. However, little is known about the capacity of shade coffee farms to maintain gene flow and genetic diversity of remnant tree populations across this common tropical landscape. In this study, we conducted genetic analyses that reveal recent colonization and extensive gene flow of a native tree species in shade coffee farms in Chiapas, Mexico. The high genetic diversity and overlapping deme structure of the colonizing trees also show that traditional coffee farms maintain genetic connectivity with adjacent habitats and can serve as foci of forest regeneration.

This week Obama named one of his best cabinet picks yet: Dr. Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, former chair of Stanford University's physics department, and Nobel Prize-winning (for research in laser cooling and trapping of atoms) physicist, was named Obama's Energy Secretary. Chu also has been an early and strong supporter of alternative fuels and renewable energy research. THIS is the kind of leadership this country needs!

It should be noted that this is the FIRST Energy Secretary who is genuinely an expert on energy.

Dr. Chu's impressive biography can be found here.

Here's a video of Steve Chu at the Davos Annual Meeting, 2007, talking about Climate Change:

I have been doing carbon offsets of various sorts for 2 years now, trying to make sure my family is carbon neutral or better. I do it for my kids because unless things change radically in terms of carbon emissions, all our kids will have definitively lower standards of living than we had. I encourage you to do the same. I recommend either Carbonfund.org or Native Energy.

But it occurs to me that another way to be green is to patronize companies that do carbon offsets. So I want to direct your attention to the list of business and organizational partners that these two offset programs work with to offset the carbon use of those businesses.

Here are some of the companies that do offsets through Native Energy:

Ben and Jerry's ice cream (YUM!)
Cliff Bar
Dave Matthews Band
Aveda
Green Mountain Coffee
Annie's Homegrown Foods
Stoneyfield Farms
Seventh Generation (we buy lots of their paper and cleaning products)
An Inconvenient Truth

Yesterday was a day of action in Washington, DC and Iowa (and presumably other places) to pressure the new Congress to take action on climate change. This comes from the Iowa chapter of 1Sky.org:

Climate Voters Welcome 111th Congress in Visits Across the State

Constituents encourage Congress, President-Elect Obama to jumpstart a green economy

IOWA – In small groups across the state, citizens welcomed members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation with welcome cards calling for bold climate action and a new green economy. Constituents visited the offices of Representative Loebsack, Representative Latham, Representative Boswell, Senator Harkin and Senator Grassley. Iowans delivered a strong message for drastic cuts in global warming pollution, the creation of five million green jobs, and a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.

“It’s crucial that the new Congress and President-elect Obama know what we expect of them in January,” said Anjuli Kronheim, 1Sky organizer for Iowa. “The economic crisis and the climate crisis can be tackled at the same time with investments in renewable energy and efficiency that create jobs and put people back to work.”

On Tuesday Nov. 18 the 1 Sky campaign plans to greet lawmakers in DC with a rally, and their Iowa branch plans to visit Congressional offices at the same time. DC rally first, Iowa action follows:

It's not too late to be part of this amazing action happening this Tuesday, November 18th. Send a strong message to your representative by delivering a welcome card which calls for bold action. You can download the welcome card here. Over 4,000 people have already signed up! Do your part by signing up today, and downloading the card.

People are taking action everywhere -- you don't want to miss out!

If you work in the DC Metro area:

Join us on Tuesday, November 18th at 12 noon as hundreds come together on Capitol Hill to call for Climate Action Now! We’ll be hearing from climate movement leaders like Bill McKibben, Mike Tidwell and Gillian Caldwell as we welcome our newly elected leaders and call upon President-elect Obama to attend the crucial United Nations Climate Conference in Poznan, Poland, in December.

After the rally, delegations will deliver welcome-and-take-action cards to President-elect Obama's office and to Members of Congress. Join us!

This comes from the Campaign for America's Future:

If you will be in the DC area, please join us for an event on November 18th hosted by the Campaign for America's Future to explore real investment in America, during which U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - and Representatives Keith Ellison and Rosa DeLauro will be speaking.

The need for increased public investment in our country is apparent. America is literally falling apart and falling behind. Our bridges are collapsing and our schools are overcrowded. We no longer lead the world in broadband speed and coverage. America’s WW2-era infrastructure is breaking down.

In the short term, in the deepening recession, the first task is to put people back to work. Investment in rebuilding should be the first priority of any recovery agenda. In the long term, we need sustained expansion of our investment in our future. It is time for a new green deal.

We will meet to detail the scope of the challenge, and the elements of an adequate response. We’ll look at the investment needs, the economic benefits, and ways of financing increased investment over the longer term.

Click here to see the full agenda and RSVP.

Going to try and blog the occasional easy piece while on vacation. Have a couple of big stories I will handle when I get back, but until then, probably just a handful of entries.

Since I will forget by the time I get back, I want to post the list of endorsements from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. I should note that this is not a vetted list so I am not personally endorsing them (other than Jeff Merkley, who is excellent) but I consider the Oregon League of Conservation Voters pretty good so it is worth putting their endorsement list out there. Anyone who agrees or disagrees is free to post their comments here.

United States Senate

Jeff Merkley (I also have my own opinion of Merkley here)

United States House of Representatives

Kurt Schrader

Statewide

Attorney General - John Kroger

Secretary of State - Kate Brown

Treasurer – Ben Westlund

Oregon Senate

Senate District 14 – Mark Hass

Senate District 17 – Suzanne Bonamici

Senate District 18 – Ginny Burdick

Senate District 21 – Diane Rosenbaum

Senate District 23 – Jackie Dingfelder

I am sure many readers read with disgust the Supreme Court's decision to let Exxon/Mobil off the hook for the Valdez oil disaster, which devastated Alaska's coastline. This just reminds us YET AGAIN that America doesn't matter to the right wing Republicans. Only big oil companies, Halliburton and cronyism matters to these fools.

Here is a video of Alaska's Democratic Congressional Candidate, Diane Benson's, response to the recent Exxon/Valdez decision:

And here is a statement from Alaska's Democratic Senate Candidate, Mark Begich:

“The thousands of Alaskans whose lives were devastated by this disaster are hurt, once again, by this ruling," Begich said. "What we’re seeing today is another example of how Washington is out of touch with real people. The justices have sided with corporate America rather than with Alaska families who have suffered for nearly 20 years.”