Category Archives: Energy

Green Drinks 1st & 2nd Mons 7-9pm + 3rd Tues Lunch

Green Drinks 3 logoEspañol hablantes siempre muy bién venidos. Visite greendrinks3.org por mayor información.

THIS MONTH AT GD Hackensack: How do the Senatorial candidates hoping to win Lautenberg’s seat look on environmental issues?
THIS MONTH AT GD Newark: Superstorm Sandy had a serious impact on Newark’s sewerage pant. Currently, its air permit is up for comment. There were also a lot of votes on environmental bills in the New Jersey Legislature recently; please bring your knowledge, and let’s compare notes from our collective research.

Green Drinks Monthly Meeting Schedule
(Address info at greendrinks3.org)
Newark 1st Mondays (01 JULY) 7-9 PM
Hackensack 2nd Mondays  (08 JULY) 7-9 PM
Paterson-Clifton Area Lunch 3rd Tuesdays (16 JULY) 12-1:30 PM

Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays
08 July 2013 7-9pm
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack NJ

ORGANIZERS
Kimi Wei, Ivan Gomez Wei, Luis Ariel Lopez Wei and Sally Gellert

Visit greendrinks3.org for more info

Hackensack Green Drinks Mon 6/10 & June GD schedule

Green Drinks Hackensack 120611 GREEN DRINKS 3 JUNE SCHEDULE
¡Español hablantes muy bienvenidos!
#1 Newark (03 June)
1st Mondays 7-9pm
#2 Hackensack (10 June)
2nd Mondays 7-9pm
#3 Paterson-Clifton (18 June)
3rd Tuesdays 12-1:30pm
Venue addresses at http://greendrinks3.org

At Green Drinks we don’t make or serve green colored drinks – the green in our name means the environment. We meet monthly in 3 north Jersey cities with experts attending every get-together for the pleasure of sharing information.

#2 Green Drinks Hackensack
Monday 10 June 7-9pm
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack NJ

We discuss the environment, green jobs, bees, gmos, the topic of sustainability and sustainability topics such as:

environmental justice, community empowerment, healthy food and food systems, communities safe for biking and walking (aka complete streets; energy innovations; vibrant local economies and strong public schools; transportation and the preservation of culture. We discuss other topics too, like: gardening, clean water, the science of happiness … and protecting the free and open internet (for more on this see savetheinternet.com).

Who’s welcome?
You are! We’re very casual and very welcoming. We always have interesting and lively discussions … we always meet at restaurants that serve good, inexpensive food … are easy to access by public transit … and there’s always safe parking for drivers. Feel free to drop by any time.

Your hosts
Kimi Wei, Ivan Gomez Wei & Sally Gellert
email us

New report shows people of color want more cycling equity

New Majority: cycling equityThe New Majority: Pedaling Towards Equity, a joint report released on May 29, 2013 by the League of American Bicyclists and the Sierra Club, shows that

85% of people of color (African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and mixed race) have a positive view of bicyclists and 71% say their community would be a better place to live if bicycling were safer and more comfortable.

It is safer to bike in white neighborhoods than communities of color, where there is less access to bicycles and more bicycle and pedestrian crashes. The report,

… underlines stories of powerful local efforts of communities organizing to address these issues, opening up new lanes to cycling in communities often overlooked by traditional transportation planners and cycling advocates … and … uncovers stories and data that point to consistent disparities and inequities in the manner in which people of color, women and youth — including groups that are bicycling at higher rates and have more to gain in terms of bike benefits — are engaged in bicycling-related matters. For example, data gathered by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition revealed that neighborhoods with the highest percentage of people of color had a lower distribution of cycling facilities — and areas with the lowest median household income ($22,656 annually) were also the areas with the highest number of bicycle and pedestrian crashes.

Download report

Sierra Club did take $25 Million from frackers

Fracking pipes run diagonally under earthIt’s hard to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys these days, so I do a lot of fact checking. After I heard from a couple friends that the Sierra Club’s silence on fracking had been bought by donations from natural gas companies, I put this item on my research list. Today I had a few free minutes and did some checking

Friends who told me this are radical lefties (which is becoming just another way to say “folk who blame everything on Obama”). In their opinion, Obama is nowhere near progressive enough. Climate change, coal pollution, fracking madness … they blame Obama for all of these environmental ills. I ask, “How can you blame Obama for things that have a history so much longer than his presidency?” They respond that first of all, Obama was a Federal Senator before he was president and had ample opportunity to screw the country back then – and did; and say that as president now, Obama could put a stop to most awful things by invoking Executive Order privilege. Not doing so to help the environment is proof he’s a terrible president and a horrible man.

People in modern days have bought into myths created and disseminated by big monied interests who place profit before any human or environmental interests. I think truths are just beginning to emerge about the state of our world, how much of nature has been destroyed and what we need to do to protect what remains and rebuild our planet’s ecosystem. At this, I think that not many are clear on what are the right ways to go about doing this.

The most correct answer I’ve heard comes from the Indigenous priest group, the Mamas of Medellin, Colombia, who at the Newark Peace Conference in 2011 said we should start treating Mother Earth like she’s really our mother, which she is. One of them asked, what people would go to their mother and tear out great chunks of her flesh? The same way we wouldn’t do that to any flesh and blood mother, we should realize that we cannot do it to our Earth Mother either, as it is she who sustains our individual lives and all life on our world.

But people with less clarity look at things from different perspectives. That’s how the stupid Sierra Club ended up taking money from frackers to fund its campaign to eradicate the coal industry. The Times discovered that

… between 2007 and 2010 the Sierra Club accepted over $25 million in donations from the gas industry, mostly from Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy — one of the biggest gas drilling companies in the U.S. and a firm heavily involved in fracking — to help fund the Club’s Beyond Coal campaign … Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director since 2010, (said) “The first rule of advocacy is that you shouldn’t take money from industries and companies you’re trying to change.”

(Even) Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in 2009 that “the giant advantage of a quick conversion from coal to gas is the quickest route for jump-starting our economy and saving our planet,” and that while gas had environmental caveats, “those impacts are dwarfed by the disastrous holocaust of coal and can be mitigated by careful regulation.”

Now the Sierra Club emphatically does not support fracking and published this statement on their blog

It’s time to stop thinking of natural gas as a “kinder, gentler” energy source. What’s more, we do not have an effective regulatory system in this country to address the risks that gas drilling poses on our health and communities. The scope of the problems from under-regulated drilling, as well as a clearer understanding of the total carbon pollution that results from both drilling and burning gas, have made it plain that, as we phase out coal, we need to leapfrog over gas whenever possible in favor of truly clean energy. Instead of rushing to see how quickly we can extract natural gas, we should be focusing on how to be sure we are using less — and safeguarding our health and environment in the meantime.

The Sierra Club also decided not to take any more money from Clorox, as bleach is not an environmentally safe product either. In 2008 the Sierra Club took $1.3 million from Clorox in exchange for endorsing “the company’s Green Works brand of environmentally-friendly cleaning products.”

Half the Sky New York screening this Fri 01 Feb

Half the Sky MovementPlease join us for a screening of Half the Sky and to raise awareness and funds for New Light, an organization in Kolkata, India helping to empower women through education and life-skill training.

A discussion and reception will immediately follow the screening.

Friday 01 Feb 2013 7:30-10:30pm
At Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003

About Half the Sky:

The central moral challenge of our time is reaching a tipping point. Just as slavery was the defining struggle of the 19th century and totalitarianism of the 20th, the fight to end the oppression of women and girls worldwide defines our current century.

Hidden in the overlapping problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality is the single most vital opportunity of our time and women are seizing it. From Somaliland to Cambodia to Afghanistan, women’s oppression is being confronted head on and real, meaningful solutions are being fashioned. Change is happening, and its happening now.

Journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn took on this urgent moral challenge in 2009 with their acclaimed best-selling book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (already in its 25th printing in hardback). They encouraged readers all over the world to do the same.

Now, a landmark movement inspired by Kristof and WuDunns work and also entitled Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is working to amplify the books impact. Ignited by a high-profile national television event and fueled by innovative multi-platform initiatives, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide is galvanizing even more people to join the burgeoning movement for change.

Learn more about Half the Sky Movement at halftheskymovement.org
Learn more about New Light at newlightindia.org/#

West VA gas explosion begs the question: are pipelines safe?


Bloomberg reports that the fire that burned up a four lane interstate highway and melted houses near Sissonville, West Virginia yesterday on December 11, was caused by, “Natural gas escaping from a pipeline owned by NiSource Inc. (NI) … near the Lanham Compressor Station on the Columbia Gas Transmission system, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Charleston.” The company owns and manages fracking operations in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

CBS News reports, “Flames shot some 100 feet in the air and hopped the main north-south arterial Interstate 77, as emergency responders scrambled to cap the ruptured gas line … and bring the blaze under control.” See reports and updates on WSAZ.

The Charleston Gazette offers insights into the questions about gas pipeline safety. Two obvious issues are lack of government oversight for certain types of pipes, and a decline in safety as pipes age, with one source reporting that over half of the pipes in the US are over 50 years old:

…many gaps remain in the oversight of the nearly 2.5 million miles of pipelines that crisscross the United States … concerns about pipeline safety have grown, amid a boom in natural gas drilling in several states and in the wake of a string of serious accidents … the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that many so-called “gathering” pipelines, which transport gas to processing facilities, escape federal scrutiny altogether.

Questions about pipeline safety recently received national media scrutiny from the public interest journalism organization ProPublica, from The New York Times and from the Philadelphia Inquirer … GAO report … said the federal pipeline safety office does not regulate most gathering pipelines in the United States, based on their location in remote areas … “out of the more than 200,000 estimated miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, PHMSA regulates roughly 20,000 miles,” the GAO said. “Similarly, of the 30,000 to 40,000 estimated miles of hazardous liquid gathering pipelines, PHMSA regulates about 4,000 miles.”

Two big extraction initiatives currently being pushed by the US fuel industry are fracking, which removes natural gas trapped inside of shale rock formations using a cocktail of highly toxic liquid which becomes waste which is later injected into the ground and has contaminated water supplies and caused earthquakes in several communities; and the “Tar Sands”/XL Pipeline project which calls for extracting oil by burning arid land and selling the oil to foreign countries after piping it from Canada to California. Both call for piping explosive and environmentally threatening fuels across the country. Advocates for public health, community safety, and environment sustainability ask why the U.S. government does not require that clean energy sources take the place of these dangerous and dirty fuel operations that destroy land and health.

Emerging evidence links injection of fracking waste to a dramatic increase in earthquake frequency. A new U.S. Geological Survey reports that in the 10 year period between 2001-2011, 95 quakes occurred in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado although in the prior 36 year period only 3 quakes took place. The study cites increases in oil and gas industry activity and the Denver Post quotes Justin Rubenstein, co-author of the report:

“This is a societal risk you need to be considering … At the moment, we’re the only people who have done this work, and our evidence is pretty conclusive.

The Times-Call reports that at a Boulder County hearing on fracking, school children members of Earth Guardians said,

“We are standing up for our future … Protect us from the dangers of fracking.”

“We deserve a fighting chance,” said Zapporah Abraham Paiss, a 13-year-old Centennial Middle School student. “With vibrant water, soil and plants,” said Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 12-year-old Centennial School student.

Is Climate Change real?

It is, according to more politicians, academicians, public figures and the United States Government: the EPA predicts coastal sees to rise and extreme weather events like Hurricanes to become more frequent.
US EPA carbon emisisons data
Bloomberg.com reports

Here’s what we know: an overwhelming majority of scientists tell us that the Earth’s climate is heating largely due to rising greenhouse gas emissions, which, in turn, is driving more extreme weather and climate events. The underlying changes–warmer oceans, more intense precipitation events, and rising sea levels–are significant contributors to storms like Sandy…

U.S. politicians’ silence on climate change is not only out of step with the rest of the world, but also with the American people, the vast majority of whom are concerned about climate change.

The human and economic costs of Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events are abundantly clear. In 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 14 extreme weather and climate events of more than $1 billion in the United States, totaling approximately $55 billion. Looking at the bigger picture, a recent report found that the failure to act on climate change is likely to cost the world economy 1.7 percent of GDP, approximately $1.2 trillion per year in the near term, with the figure expected to double by 2030.

Shifting to clean energy opens new economic opportunities, including taking advantage of the $2.3 trillion global clean energy market expected to emerge in the next decade (pdf).

CNN seems to have become a believer since Sandy, too, and they’ve brought in heavy hitting guest writers to tell the public about it. MacArthur Fellow, Stony Brook University professor and president of Blue Ocean Institute, Carl Safina, writes as a CNN special guest

Reporters share their photos with CNN Obstacles and challenges after Sandy Mom can’t get help; two sons die NY mayor: Marathon won’t hurt recovery Search for gas gets more desperate
Sea levels are rising. They’ve been rising since the last ice age and that rise has been accelerating since the Industrial Revolution. We’ve had fair and continual and increasing warning. And yet, small coastal communities and cities as large as New York have done essentially nothing to prepare.
Over decades, we filled many wetlands that are the natural buffers to floods. Shrinking the area of our wetlands has left adjacent areas more prone to flooding.
As the world continues warming, the warming tends to intensify storms. New York has been hit with two hurricanes in two years. That’s unusual. And since at least Katrina, scientists have warned that hurricanes take their strength from the heat of the ocean’s surface.

And Chris Field, Global Ecology Department Chair of the Carnegie Institution for Science and co-chair of a working group tasked with assessing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), writes as another CNN special guest,

Climate change is occurring now. We see its consequences in hotter temperatures, higher sea levels and shifted storm tracks. In many parts of the world, we are also seeing an increase in the fraction of rainfall that comes in the heaviest events. When it rains, increasingly it pours.
Climate change over the next couple of decades is already largely baked into the system, but changes beyond that are mostly in our hands. As we learn more about the links between climate change and extreme events, it will benefit all of us to think hard about the opportunities and challenges of getting a handle on climate change, so we control it and not vice versa.

Van Jones (as yet another special CNN contributor) proposes a solution that won’t only address climate change, but will improve the United States financial outlook too:

We have just the answer. It’s not a new idea, but as the two parties face off over the federal budget, it could be the path forward. There’s a tool we can use to answer the public’s call for more jobs – without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security: a carbon tax.

One analysis by the Congressional Budget Office says a moderate, $20-per-ton tax on carbon emissions could raise $1.25 trillion over 10 years. And the savings don’t stop there. For decades, the oil and coal industries have passed along their costs to the rest of us, in the form of asthma treatment, emergency room visits, doctor bills and missed days of school and work. Combined with droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and severe weather events like Superstorm Sandy, rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere cost our nation an estimated $70 billion each year.

Everybody has to make up her own mind about what to believe, but I have no problem all believing that climate change is real, and making changes in my living habits to reverse global warming, and I want my government and business to do the same.

Portable Generator Safety

To avoid carbon monoxide hazard/poisoning when using a portable generator:

portable generator
• Always use generators outdoors, away from doors, windows and vents.
• NEVER use generators in homes, garages, basements, crawl spaces, or other enclosed or partially enclosed areas, even with ventilation.
• Follow manufacturer’s instructions.
• Install battery-operated or plug-in (with battery backup) carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in your home, following manufacturer’s instructions.
• Test CO alarms often and replace batteries when needed.
To Avoid Electrical Hazards:
• Keep the generator dry. Operate on a dry surface under an open, canopy- like structure.
• Dry your hands before touching the generator.
• Plug appliances directly into generator or use a heavy-duty outdoor- rated extension cord. Make sure the entire extension cord is free of cuts or tears and the plug has all 3 prongs, especially a grounding pin.
• NEVER plug the generator into a wall outlet. This practice, known as backfeeding, can cause an electrocution risk to utility workers and others served by the same utility transformer.
• If necessary to connect generator to house wiring to power appliances, have a qualified electrician install appropriate equipment. Or, your utility company may be able to install an appropriate transfer switch.
To Avoid Fire Hazards:
• Before refueling the generator, turn it off and let it cool. Fuel spilled on hot engine parts could ignite.
• Always store fuel outside of living areas in properly labeled, non-glass containers.
• Store fuel away from any fuel-burning appliance.

Green Drinks Gatherings October 2012

    In October, Green Drinks receives a mini-grant from Global Exchange

    Global Exchange says,

    Global Exchange’s Elect Democracy campaign knows that local grassroots power is what will eventually halt Wall Street’s destructive greed. We also know that every penny counts in our communities, so we want to help support *your* local organizing efforts by offering you a $60 mini-grant (to bring) people together to eat, talk, and build relationships of support and understanding … We hope this grant will be a small boost for groups (whose members are) impacted by foreclosure, student debt, and limited social services (and that the connections we help to) create are important and lasting.

    In October, Green Drinks discusses

    • How to Save the Internet and advocate to keep the internet open
    • Resources for Newark’s new Community Garden Coalition
    • How to build healthy, bikeable/walkable communities
    • The connection between stormwater management and flood reduction
    • What do gardeners do in the winter?
    • Creating a seed exchange
    • Healthy food

    SAVING THE INTERNET & NET NEUTRALITY

    Green Drinks Newark - Irvington schools discussionOpen internet access is one of the great freedom fights of our time. We have to use it so we don’t lose it. This is now a standard topic of discussion at every Green Drinks 3 event. See more at http://thewei.com/kimi/verizon-wants-to-control-your-internet-keep-them-out/

    Newark Green drinks

    Wednesday, 03 October 2012 6:30-8:30pm
    Rio Rodizio Restaurant – in the lounge to the left as you walk in
    1034 McCarter Highway (Route 21), Newark NJ
    Meets 1st Mondays at Rio Rodizio Newark except on major holidays. (This month we’ve switched to first Wednesday due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and we’re wrapping up a bit earlier than usual so people can watch the presidential debate at 9pm.)

    Hackensack Green Drinks

    Wednesday, 10 October 7-9pm
    Meets 2nd Mondays except on major holidays. (This month we’ve switched to first Wednesday due to the Jewish holidy of Shmini Atzeret.)
    At Victor’s Maywood Inn, 122 W. Pleasant Avenue, Maywood NJ

    Paterson-Clifton Green Drinks

    Tuesday, 16 October 2012 7-9 pm (and 3rd Tuesdays)
    Sultan Restaurant, 429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (we’ll be outside if the weather’s nice)

    Engage with us

    Green Drinks 3 http://greendrinks3.org/
    Like us on Facebook https://www.fb.com/thegreenwei/
    Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/greenwei
    862-203-8814

    99% SPRING GROUP MEMBERS are welcome at all of our Green Drinks meetings.

    Volunteers needed for voter registration & Get Out The Vote activities
    High-demand locations
    Bergen Community College, Paramus NJ 10am-5pm every day through Oct 16.
    Hackensack Street Fair: Saturday, October 6 10am-4pm

    If you can volunteer or know of a location where people are needed, please reach out

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    Help Protect National Forests
    America’s national forests provide essential habitat for lynx, grizzlies and other wildlife — and clean water for millions of Americans. Yet new rules could threaten the sanctity of these special places, paving the way for more logging and more destructive development on our national forests. Help protect these special places. Sign the petition online at: http://dfnd.us/vYt93D

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    Prevent racism from blocking the Latino & Black vote
    Watch the 4 minute video by Van Jones’ Rebuild the American Dream team
    http://thewei.com/kimi/racist-romney-gop-move-to-block-the-latino-black-vote/ )

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    SHOE DONATIONS FOR HAITI
    Collected at Stride Rite Wyckoff location ONLY
    Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
    319 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff NJ

    Stride Rite of Wyckoff is accepting worn/used shoes, children’s and adults for donation. All donations are sent to Haiti. We have received hundreds of pairs of shoes to date, but the need is much greater.

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    After Rio+20: Moving Beyond 2015: 1 week of workshops
    15-19 OCT 2012 (9am – 5pm only)
    COST: FREE
    RSVP at http://j.mp/rio20plus
    Ramapo College, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ
    Campus Student Center, Room SC 137

    The speakers for this event series are all key players from Civil Society Organizations and from the United Nations, collectively engaged in planning for a post-Rio+20 future. The purpose of the workshop series is to lay out the framework for a road map to plan for a Global Citizens Movement to help us move beyond the major United Nations Rio+20 conference held earlier this year in June.

    In this intensive workshop, the many dimensions of the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro will be explored, and a coherent path forward will be charted.

    As you may be aware, by most conventional accounts, Rio+20 was at least a disappointment, if not a failure. We argue that real, path-breaking, and innovative solutions began to emerge from the grassroots level out, and we will present many dimensions of these solutions, as well as strategize a way forward into a more sustainable future.

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    Support the Ramapough Indians: tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood.

    Journalist Jan Barry started the research on the tragic and intentional pollution of a housing development which was home to members of a tribe of Ramapough Indians in Ringwood, NJ, and collaborated with HBO to create Mann v. Ford, a moving documentary about the crushing impact this has had on the health of tribe members as well as the water source for the entire region.

    The site was prematurely de-listed by the EPA from its Superfund cleanup status, and several years later became the first site to be listed for a second time. Ford has resisted taking responsibility for the poisonous effects on tribe members of the toxic paint sludge it trucked in under cover of nightfall every day for many years, and has also resisted funding the cost of cleanup.

    Make sure the EPA knows you support the clean-up of the Ramapough Indians by (Action 1) signing the Change.org petition and (Action 2) sending a letter to the EPA. Petition and sample letter available at

    Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood

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    JUST CLICK to give Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce the chance to win $30,000

    You get 10 votes just for having an email address! and clicking doesn’t cost you anything but a little time. Click on http://j.mp/mchaccvoh

    MCHACC was selected as a Voices of Health finalist for its commitment to the health of ethnic minority individuals in the northern New Jersey area. Learn more about the chamber at http://mchacc.org.

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    OUR SPONSOR
    MENTION GREEN DRINKS FOR 20% OFF DISCOUNT

    Eco Galleria

    Eco Galleria at the Historic Oradell Train Station
    400 Maple Avenue, Oradell, NJ
    201-447-GIFT (4438)
    http://www.ecogalleria.com

    Eco Galleria carries fun or fine items handcrafted by artists from throughout the Americas in many price ranges. Including eco-friendly jewelry, pottery, glass, wood, fiber, watches, bags and more. Call ahead to have your gift boxed, wrapped and ready for pick-up or shop online at http://ecogalleria.com

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    Interested in sponsoring Green Drinks? If you have a good cause or service, we have a contact base of about 6000 people we can share your information with. Contact Kimi for information at mailto:kimi@thewei.com or 862-203-8814