VT Transportation system efficiency report submitted

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been helping write a report for the VT legislature on how to improve the efficiency of the transportation system. It's been submitted and posted to our website. You can download the pdf here.

Working with EarthRights

So, I'm pasting what I wrote on Facebook, below. (You are right, Elaine, there is a lot of overlap between blogs, facebook and diary - invariably something loses out). One thing I've been thinking about since I wrote this, though, is the need for basic climate education in developing countries. These are the people who will be (are) affected the most by climate change. Giving them a basic understanding of the science behind climate change - the carbon cycle, the greenhouse effect, the difference between climate change and the ozone hole - is empowering. It gives them knowledge they will need if they choose to fight back....

Here's my post:

So some of you (Elaine, Erin and Ryan, ahem!) know I'm really sick of thinking about biofuels. You'd think that traveling in Asia, I'd get to forget about it for a little while. No such luck. I taught at EarthRight's Mekong school (which has 2 students each from each country in the Mekong region - Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Burma and Laos) on biofuels this morning. It was fascinating to hear their experiences with it. There is some really horrifying stuff going on with jatropha in Burma (see http://www.terraper.org/key_issues_view.php?id=17), which I heard about first-hand from the Burmese student.

The students were very engaged and kept asking really complicated questions requiring drawings and long explanations of the carbon cycle, eutrophication, carbon trading, U.S. politics, international climate agreements, etc. Since I'm so sick of thinking about biofuels, I was happy to go off on tangents. One of the Chinese students felt that all countries should sign on to the next climate agreement, but that the U.S. should reduce more, say, "by half." She asked how willing Americans are to change their lifestyle. They all seemed a little shocked when I told them how attached Americans are to their consumptive lifestyles. But I mentioned Obama's acceptance speach - how for the first time in a long time, sacrifice was tied to patriotism. They seemed excited about Obama, but a little cynical. One of the students asked how he would be able to accomplish his goals if the big corporations went against him. She also asked if I thought he'd be assassinated. Ouch. I told her I was more optimistic than scared, and she agreed with me.

Anyway, it was a great experience. The students are so well-spoken and inspiring. I know they'll all go on to do great things. I think the EarthRights model, giving people the tools to fight for their rights (human and environmental) in their home countries, makes so much sense. It's cool to see it in action.

Insider info please!

Ryan - tell us about the environment team appointees! What's the scoop?

doh...

We didn't make the finalists' circle on that proposal we submitted to Home Depot. They will be doing their sustainability in cities work without us...too bad for them! I feel bad for my boss, he's taking it kinda rough as his first proposal submitted at his new, although no more than might be expected.

little fish in a big pond

ISC is an international org, although the vast majority of our work is at the community level. (We are doing some provincial-level partnerships in China.) It attracts some pretty high powered talent in my opinion. Both facts are contributing to me feeling like a little fish in a big pond. I've worked for the last few years on climate change issues at the municipal and occasionally state level in Vermont, which is quite a small pond. This weekend I had a good heart-to-heart with my former boss/mentor/friend at 10% Challenge, Deb Sachs, after a conference she and partners put on (the first annual statewide VECAN meet up, Ryan! It was fab), and she reminded me not to abandon my experience as irrelevant or too small for this new context, but to bring it as my strength. Small communities need help too with climate change mitigation, and that's where my relative strengths are compared to my new boss. Vermont's experience in some ways is ahead; in other ways our mistakes can be lessons for others. So I brought that up with my boss in reporting about the event, and he agreed it was important.

So I guess the lesson was, don't be shy about bringing whatever it is to the problem/solution table. Whether it's hula-hooping skills, or canning, or invention on the fly...it's bound to be relevant to somebody.

Climate delinquency (sp?)

I'm currently in the Singapore airport (which already tells you a little about my climate crimes), and they don't have automatic spellcheck - making me realize how much I depend on it. So, watch out.

I, unlike my colleagues, am seriously slacking off. After getting married, and post-grad school, in between jobs, my husband and I decided to take off for awhile and live abroad, something I've wanted to do since graduating college but hadn't found the time. In a way, it's a really, really, really elaborate trip chain. I had to go to Thailand for an EarthRights International board meeting, so we bought round the world tickets and are stopping at several places on the way there and back. We stopped in Spain first, and climbed for a few weeks. We are headed to Thailand now. The board meeting is tomorrow night. I will be teaching at the EarthRights School (a session on biofuels), and then we'll be playing it by ear. We were going to help build homes for refugees along the Thai-Burma border, but that fell through. Who knows, we might continue to slack and climb hard for a while (see if I can maybe get it out of my system, so it's not such a life-ruling distraction?).

Our next major stop is NZ, where we hope to work on an organic farm. We haven't really planned that out, either. One step at a time.

So, I'm feeling pretty guilty about my carbon footprint right now and my lack of positive engagement, but (see previous post on guilt), it's not actually changing my behavior. I'm wrestling with that a bit, trying to figure out how the guilt could be constructive, or maybe how I can constructively learn to deal with it. I'm hoping to take a meditation course in Thailand, which I think would help with many aspects of my life - hopefully help me use emotion when helpful and let it go when it's not...

I've procrastinated posting for a little while, not wanting to admit my sins. Mea Culpa!

Happy Thanksgiving, Carbonators and friends!

A quick update on what I've been up to: I was hired as a temp by the UVM Transportation Research Center to work on a report assessing how Vermont might achieve a more efficient transportation system, energy-wise, because it was related to my thesis work. The study was legislated in a bill earlier this year and we're to report out to the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the Vermont Legislature. (The bill itself was passed because a handful of people (including Rebecca and me) made a big stink about it to the right people, so keep that in mind next time you want something done by legislation and think you don't have the power to make it happen! Highlights of the report are that lots of fixed route bus service in Vermont will NOT save energy, whereas focus on expanding ridesharing, vanpooling for employees, and public outreach on energy efficient driving WILL save energy. When a public version becomes available I'll post it.

At my other job, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (where I'm the 'Climate Programs Fellow') we applied for what to me is a humongoid grant to assist two pilot U.S. cities work towards sustainability over three years. There's enough money and vision behind it that I think we might actually accomplish something. In the meantime I've been privileged to provide some support to their existing climate-related programming in Guangdong Province, China (which has more manufacturing jobs than the entirety of the U.S.) and the Gulf Coast, U.S. (related to post-Katrina efforts). More detail in the future.

Incidentally, where is Sally? Hope she gets on soon! and Erin, post some news! Thanks for getting us rolling, Ryan and Rebecca!