On climate change: A handful of resources and reflections

I've been relatively quiet about climate change activism for the past two years because there are so many moving parts involved with the issue, and it took time for me to get my head around what was going on.  Most everyone involved has good intentions, there are many perspectives, and understanding many of the solutions--not to mention knowing which ones are being considered or included can be a daunting task.  Furthermore, there are many groups working toward a similar goal, but I couldn't understand why they didn't work together.  I've finally seen, heard, and learned enough to offer some organizations seeking to coordinate efforts that you can take action with, and handful of quality resources for you to investigate as a supplement to the previous letter.

There are four sections below:

1. Courses+some comments on political efficacy
2. Cap and Trade in climate legislation and how it could improve
3. My take on Repower America
4. Climate change as an issue of sustainability

These draw from my experiences as a student, an attendee at many a conference, and various other ventures in the arena of climate change.  Clearly, it's my perspective, but I hope it serves to be a useful starting guide to you if you're about to dive in.

Climate Change: Our democracy, everyone's planet, a call to action

Green wolverines, wolves, and friends of the SEA:

Harry Reid recently announced that the climate bill will not be addressed this year.  The ethical implications and research beckons us to promptly take prudent action on climate change.

Embracing the issue as civil individuals and acting as a society is among humanity's greatest of challenges.  Respected peers at the Sierra Club and Repower America are looking for volunteers, and you can help unite the voices of Michigan's communities to bring and keep a good bill back onto the national agenda until it has become law.

As informed citizens, we can charge our representatives to hold the national legislation accountable to its people and the well being of our global community--biotic and abiotic.

Furthermore, we can also demand that the legislation includes appropriate solutions to meet the challenges of climate change.  We are the people, this is our democracy.  We are all members of the UM community, we are the leaders and the best.

Sincerely,
Ian D. Tran
-
President, The Student Environmental Association at The University of Michigan-Dearborn
p.s.
I'd feel irresponsible if I urged you to action without providing some credible resources and thoughtful analysis, here's a link to a sustainability project called "The Story of Stuff" by a thoughtful and articulate activist named Annie Leonard.  She nicely communicates the cap and trade system and things we can do to strengthen the bill in a video, and the transcript has citations for her sources: http://storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/

You can view some of my thoughts and supplements here on the blog concerning some of the organizations listed above, metrics for political efficacy, and recommendations for useful classes offered at UM-Dearborn.

The Volunteer Schedule

Campus Sustainability Integrated Assessment Public Forum

(Sigh)

Some day notice of other U of M sustainability events will trickle over to UM-Dearborn and UM Flint more than a week before the event happens, and people from all campuses will rejoice...

I just found out UM Ann Arbor's holding a Campus Sustainability Integrated Assessment Public Forum at the Ross School of Business Monday, July 26th 3:30-5:00 pm in the Ross Building.


http://www.graham.umich.edu/outreach/event.php?nid=418

You may want to see if this counts for ESCI/ENST 395 credit.  The deadline to register is the 23rd (this Friday), and if you're unable to attend, you can submit ideas and suggestions online.  It should be a substantial event for that campus, it'd be interesting to see what you can take back to apply in Dearborn.  Also, if anyone attending can help build relations between campuses I'm certain it would be a benefit to all.



Time to subscribe to their mailing list...

Public meeting for offshore wind energy development--in Dearborn!

I just found out that the Michigan Great Lakes Offshore Wind Council has a public meeting for offshore wind energy development at UM-Dearborn next week!


July 21: Fairlane Development Center, UM Dearborn Campus, Dearborn.  (www.umd.umich.edu/maps_directions/)

There's also one at GVSU the day before:
July 20: Eberhard Center, GVSU, Grand Rapids  (www.gvsu.edu/meetatgvsu/)


(Source: http://www.michiganglowcouncil.org/coastal_community_meetings_spring2010.html Kudos to whoever updates the UM-Dearborn facebook page for posting this announcement yesterday--but why so late?)


I recommend doing some research on offshore wind and zoning before attending if you have the time. I'm also wondering if the Nearshore Framework has anything to implications on offshore wind development.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a ready document from the International Joint Commission that speaks directly to offshore wind.  If you're wondering what the nearshore framework is about you read about it here:

http://www.ijc.org/en/priorities/2009/reports/2009-nearshore-framework.pdf
The document is about 1/2 as long as it looks--they alternate pages with note space.

Does anyone know of research on offshore zoning?  I thought the International Joint Commission did a piece on it but it seems like I was mistaken.

Good to know environmental hotlines

Found/knew some useful numbers and am starting to compile them here. Many of these are 24 hour (I won't say all as I haven't used all of them).  Sometimes you see something and wonder who to call (aside from the Ghostbusters), perhaps these might help.

Hopefully you won't have to use all of them, but I found the 211 fantastically useful and you might too.

Emergency (America)
911
Fire, police, ambulance, etc.


Basic needs:
211
"2-1-1 is the health and human service equivalent of 9-1-1 to give or get help spearheaded by United Way."

They can refer you to a huge network of community groups and non-profits.  From food banks, shelters, living assistance, the list goes on...

It's pretty great, I used it recently to ask about food banks for donating food and they said they'd be willing to link campus food services with various food banks and other services in the areas to take care of excess food (which would otherwise be thrown away).  Something about Geographic Information Systems services is also listed too, I'd be interested to find out what they have to offer for that.



Poison hotline ( American Association of Poison Control Centers http://www.aapcc.org/DNN/ ):
1-800-222-1222

Air Pollution
You have the right to breathe clean air.  Report all strong odors, dark smoke, excessive dust, and other suspected air pollution to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)
(313) 456-4700

Lead Poisoning Prevention
Preventing lead poisoning via information from CLEARCorps Detroit:
(313) 924-4000

[below pulled from Friends of the Rouge's web page]

###

Illicit and Illegal discharges

Oakland County (248) 858-0931

Wayne County (888) 223-2363

Washtenaw County (734) 222-3880 

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (800) 292-4706

An illicit discharge is the introduction of polluting materials into a pipe that drains to surface water or the dumping of polluting material that can impact surface water. Examples found in the Rouge River watershed include toilets connected to storm sewers, laundry waste discharging to a drain, swimming pool backwash water discharging to a storm sewer or situations where polluting material can move over land to a storm sewer.

Illegal discharges may also take place, such as the one responsible for the large oil spill on the Rouge and Detroit Rivers in 2002. Careless and intentional acts of illicit and illegal dumping are not only expensive to remedy, but they can also have long term affects on the health of the river.

If you see an illicit or illegal discharge, please report it immediately.

###

Let me know if there's anything else that should be here.

FAA Notice of Public Meeting: Proposed modification of Detroit, MI, Class B Airspace Area

FYI
To whom it may concern,

It looks like the FAA's looking for info about an area around Detroit Metro Airport to revise the airspace.  I got this letter in the mail, presumably because I live in Wayne County beneath the flight path of a major airport.  You might too, and they'd like to know your perspectives about what it's like, and any other facts which may be relevant to their revision of the airspace (re-zoning for the sky?).


The letter's contents were pasted from govpulse, which has an online transcription of the FAA Air Trafic Organization (ATO) notice of public meetings:   http://govpulse.us/entries/2010/05/13/2010-11496/proposed-modification-of-the-detroit-mi-class-b-airspace-area-public-meetings

[This site looks like it's a heaven send for US citizens, I'll investigate it more later, but so far I found that they use open source software, they gather together public statements and other things happening at the local level, and they also have decent web design]

Summary:

This notice announces three fact-finding informal airspace meetings to solicit information from airspace users and others concerning a proposal to revise the Class B airspace area at Detroit, MI. The purpose of these meetings is to provide interested parties an opportunity to present views, recommendations, and comments on the proposal. All comments received during these meetings will be considered prior to any revision or issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking.

Dates:

The informal airspace meetings will be held on Tuesday, July 20, 2010, at 1:30 p.m.; Wednesday, July 21, 2010, at 5 p.m.; and Thursday, July 22, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. Comments must be received on or before September 6, 2010.

Addresses:

(1) The meeting on Tuesday, July 20, 2010, will be held at Troy Holiday Inn, 2537 Rochester Court, Troy, MI 48083. (2) The meeting on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, will be held at Eastern Michigan University, Student Event Center, Ballroom B, 2nd Floor, 900 Oakwood Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. (3) The meeting on Thursday, July 22, 2010, will be held at Monroe Holiday Inn Express, 1225 North Dixie Highway, Monroe, MI 48162.

Comments: Send comments on the proposal, in triplicate, to: Anthony D. Roetzel, Manager, Operations Support Group, Central Service Center, Air Traffic Organization, Federal Aviation Administration, 2601 Meacham Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 76137, or by fax to (817) 321-7649.

For further information contact:

Tim Funari, FAA Detroit Metro (DTW) ATCT, Building 801, Detroit Metro Airport, Detroit, MI 48242; (734) 955-5000.

Supplementary information:

Meeting Procedures

(a) Doors open 30 minutes prior to the beginning of each meeting. The meetings will be informal in nature and will be conducted by one or more representatives of the FAA Central Service Center. A representative from the FAA will present a briefing on the planned modification to the Class B airspace at Detroit, MI. Each participant will be given an opportunity to deliver comments or make a presentation, although a time limit may be imposed. Only comments concerning the plan to modify the Class B airspace area at Detroit, MI, will be accepted.

(b) The meetings will be open to all persons on a space-available basis. There will be no admission fee or other charge to attend and participate.

(c) Any person wishing to make a presentation to the FAA panel will be asked to sign in and estimate the amount of time needed for such presentation. This will permit the panel to allocate an appropriate amount of time for each presenter. These meetings will not be adjourned until everyone on the list has had an opportunity to address the panel.

(d) Position papers or other handout material relating to the substance of these meetings will be accepted. Participants wishing to submit handout material should present an original and two copies (3 copies total) to the presiding officer. There should be additional copies of each handout available for other attendees.

(e) These meetings will not be formally recorded. However, a summary of comments made at the meeting will be filed in the docket.

Agenda for the Meetings

—Sign-in.

—Presentation of meeting procedures.

—FAA explanation of the planned Class B airspace area modifications.

—Solicitation of public comments.

—Closing comments.

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 6, 2010. Edith V. Parish,

Manager, Airspace and Rules Group.