Climate Change and Energy

EarthShare Washington member group, Northwest SEED, is launching a project in the city of Snoqualmie to help residents go solar. Beat the end of the federal tax credit and see if your home might be a good fit for solar at workshops coming up soon.Now, more than any other time, might be the best opportunity for Snoqualmie residents to install solar panels on their homes. The city of Snoqualmie is partnering with Northwest Wind and Solar and Northwest SEED (Sustainable Energy for Economic Development) to bring affordable installations of solar energy systems to the community.Read more...

Member Earth Ministry talks on KOUW about faith and the environment. Hear how the Pope's talks on climate change are making for change here in Puget Sound and hear about the solar powered Our Lady of Guadalupe school. Audio available on link.Earth Ministry news -Local NPR interview with Earth Ministry’s Jessie Dye speaking about the faith community’s role in protecting the “Thin Green Line” of the Northwest from fossil fuel projects, and the Pope’s encyclical and climate change. It also featured audio of Fr. Jack Walmseley giving a tour of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s solar panels as recorded by Earth Ministry. By Posey Gruener & Kim MalcolmJune 22, 2015 Follow this link to hear Jessie speak  KOUW: “Pope’s Alarm Bell On Climate Change Heard In Puget Sound” 

See WRI's interactive chart on where each state's emmisions are coming from and who's leading in greenhouse gas emmisions. The top 10 states account for more than half the GHG emmision in the country.World Resources Institute news -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will soon release the Clean Power Plan, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. power sector, the country’s single-largest source of emissions. State-level actions to boost efficiency and ramp up clean energy will play a central role at reining in power sector emissions and helping the United States meet its climate target to reduce emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Using data from WRI’s CAIT Climate Data Explorer, the...Interactive Visual: What Do Your State’s Emissions Look Like? 

Transportation Choices and the City of Seattle are hosting Ride Transit Month this June to get more people riding transit! Transportation is the largest polluter of our air and water in Washington State – by getting thousands of more people on the transit we can reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.You can sign up for the Ride Transit Challenge – as an organization or as an individual and form your own CO2-busting team. And if you become a Team Captain and form a team, you can choose from some cool swag.Register at Ride Transit Challenge and for more information visit http://www.ridetransitmonth.org.

Member charity Sightline Institute has put together a timeline of recent problems with oil trains.At 7:15 this morning, yet another crude oil train erupted into an inferno, this time near a small town in central North Dakota. As these wildly dangerous trains continue to explode—at least 10 in the last two years—it’s become challenging to keep track of them all. So, for the record, we’ve assembled here a pictorial timeline of North America’s bomb trains. Last week, the Obama administration adopted new regulations that will phase out many of the most hazardous tank cars over the next five to six years. The regulations also substantially reduce public oversight of train movements and industry behavior. We will update this post as new explosions occur. Heimdal, North Dakota: May 6, 2015 The latest on the train derailment. Click here for details http://t.co/CkwQuCMbGq pic.twitter.com/jnGh5kQluy— KX News - Bismarck (@KXMB) May 6, 2015 Gogama, Ontario: March 7, 2015 Close up overhead view of derailed ruptured tank cars on fire in Ontario, Canada (March 7, 2015) by Transportation Safety Board of Canada (license) (Used with permission.) Galena, Illinois: March 6, 2015   Mount Carbon, West Virginia: February 16, 2015 Kanawha River, West Virginia, Crude Oil Derailment...Oil Train Explosions: A Timeline in PicturesSightline Institute news 

Mayor of Seattle takes bold stand on the issue of climate change and stops Shell from using Port facilities. CLICK GREEN— The Mayor of Seattle has refused permission to allow oil giant Shell to base its Arctic drilling operation at the city’s port. City leader Ed Murray said the port authority was wrong to lease out dock space because existing permits do not allow for the moorage and maintenance of off-shore drilling rigs. The Mayor said he wanted to make a bold statement about how oil companies add to the problem of climate change and other environmental disasters. His decision follows a lengthy battle between local and national campaign groups and the Port of Seattle’s publicly elected authority body after it initially agreed to lease out the dock’s Terminal 5 facility to Shell as a base for its Arctic drilling fleet. Read the full article: Shell loses latest battle to base Arctic drilling operations in Seattle The post Shell loses latest battle to base Arctic drilling operations in Seattle appeared first on Puget Soundkeeper Alliance.www.pugetsoundkeeper.org/feed/Shell loses latest battle to base Arctic drilling operations in Seattle 

If you want to act to stop Shell from opening arctic drilling operations out of Seattle's Port, see what you can do.From Climate Solutions - UPDATE: The Port Commission will hear public testimony on the Shell lease issue at its meeting on May 12.Arctic drilling is one of the last things we should be supporting, if we are to have any hope of stemming catastrophic impacts from climate change.  As you may have heard, the Port of Seattle has entered into a lease that will allow Shell Oil to maintain their Arctic drilling rigs at our publicly-owned facilities.  This week, however, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray told an audience of climate advocates and clean energy economy leaders: “If it was up to me, there would be no place for Arctic offshore oil drilling equipment in Seattle.” In fact, he said that the City has found the lease to be in violation of the terms of a key shoreline permit. In short, Mayor Murray explained,  the Port of Seattle would need a new permit in order to follow through with its plan to host Shell’s drilling rigs. This is huge news, because now our Port Commissioners have a new opportunity to reevaluate the Port’s priorities. They have the chance to reject Shell’s use of Seattle as a home port for its harmful Arctic drilling operations.- See more at: http://climatesolutions.org/article/1430805564-again-seattle-says-shell-no#sthash.ePbIbftA.dpuf