Movement in Montana?

Pictured: St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park

I remember being excited by the symbolism of 2004's election of Democrat Brian Schweitzer as Montana's first Democratic Governor since 1988, but haven't thought about him since. Recently I have been listening to Time.com's podcast series where they interview a big name from the Environment scene each week.

The podcast for January 17th was an interview with Mr. Schweitzer, who actually sounds like he has a good understanding of the issues facing us and the potential for growth over the next 20 years, although I read some less exciting things on Wikipedia about mining more coal (which he seems to refute in the Podcast).

"I believe this is the greatest imperative of our generation and maybe larger than that."

“The entire world has recognized this imperative and if American industry and the public sector recognize this and we create a tax code that incentivizes innovation in energy production and consumption we will create the greatest economic engine in the history of this country, selling these technologies all over the world.”

Anyway, the Times.com's article on Montana's growing green movement is worth a read, and there are some interesting news items and videos on the Governor's website as well.

Is Congress Finally Ready to Go Green?

As concern over global warming became more and more prominent in the U.S. over the past several years — in the media, in opinion polls, in business and in state governments — the one place where the issue seemed all but invisible was the one place that could really do something about it: Congress.

But that began to change in 2007, and nowhere more so than in the Senate's key committee on the environment and public works, which drafts much of the country's environmental legislation. Up until last January, the committee was chaired by Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican who memorably called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." When the Democrats took over Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, however, the chairperson's gavel was handed over to Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, and the floodgates opened.

Boxer began a series of open hearings on the science of global warming, giving airtime to the sort of experts — including former Vice President Al Gore — who had been suppressed under Inhofe. "As soon as the change took place, I realized that this was going to be one of my number one goals," says Boxer. "Elections have consequences, and this was one of the consequences."

Click here to read the rest of this Time.com article

Presentation 5

Even if you don't believe half the science in Presentation 5, the half you do believe should be enough to make you use energy-efficient lightbulbs, turn off your heat during the day, and use public transport (or ride a bike) whenever possible. For more friendly tips on cutting your environmental impact, visit California Senator Barbara Boxer's homepage.

LINKS
Presentation 5 (.pdf)
The fifth in a series of climate change presentations given to the Working Group on Climate Change in the UK Parliament 6 months ago and was later presented at the UN Summit in Bali.

Blog summarizing Presentation 5 and John Grant's endeavor to have the issues it raises made more publicly available.

The blog of a concerned advertising executive with ideas about how to spread the word about Presentation 5.

UPDATE: I just noticed that the links for the two blogs above didn't get inserted. I've fixed that now for those of you interested in learning about the campaign to publicize Presentation 5.