Clean Energy Springfield

That's right. Earth Day is no more. We have Earth Week now! In fact, there's so much going on that its more like Earth Month for all of April. I'm listing all the events I know about so far. Tell me if you know of any events I missed.

Showing of the movie Power Shift and panel discussion.
Wednesday, April 11, 7:00pm
Lincoln Library, Carnegie Room
This is one of the Step It Up events going on around the country. From the film website: "Circling the globe, POWER SHIFT explores the remarkable ways that energy touches our daily lives. Hosted and narrated by Cameron Diaz, this award-winning program reveals the abundant possibilities of clean, renewable energy."

After the movie there will be a panel discussion related to issues in the film.
Panelists include:
Dr. Tih-Fen Ting, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at UIS
Jim Johnston of Sustainable Springfield Inc.
Greg Claxton from Clean Energy Springfield
Moderated by Catherine O'Connor from the Sierra Club

Edens Lost & Found, Chicago: City of the Big Shoulders
Thursday, April 12, Reception at 6:00pm, Screening at 7:00pm
"This multi-part PBS series highlights practical solutions to improve the environment and quality of life in cities, for ourselves and future generations. The centerpiece of a multimedia program and outreach initiative, this special broadcast will showcase extraordinary community activists as well as forward-thinking professionals who are offering best practice solutions to transform their urban environments." This complimentary screening will feature and Q & A session with series producer Harry Wiland.

Step It Up Rally
Saturday, April 14, Noon-1:00pm
Federal Building, 6th & Monroe, Springfield.
Step It Up is organizing over a thousand rallies across the United States.

"Every group will be saying the same thing: Step it up, Congress! Enact immediate cuts in carbon emissions, and pledge an 80% reduction by 2050. No half measures, no easy compromises-the time has come to take the real actions that can stabilize our climate."

Winona LaDuke
Tuesday, April 17, 7:30-9:00pm
Studio Theater, Public Affairs Center, UIS campus
Winona LaDuke was already well known for her work on environmental and Native-American issues when Ralph Nader asked her to be his Presidential running-mate in 1996 and 2000. The topic of her talk is "Politics, Women, and Environmental Justice."

Election Day
Tuesday, April 17
Remember to Vote!

"The Future of Renewable Energy in Illinois" panel discussion
Thursday, April 19, 7:00-9:00pm
Brookens Auditorium, UIS campus
One nice thing about UIS expanding is the opportunities provided to hear great speakers and new ideas in the community. This should be an exciting panel that will include perspectives from both sides of the ethanol debate. The panel includes:
Rebecca Stanfield, State Director, Environment Illinois
John Caupert, Director, National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, Edwardsville, Illinois
David Pimentel, Professor of Ecology and Agricultural Sciences, Cornell University
Tih-Fen Ting, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, UIS, moderator
Before the panel, SAGE is sponsoring a picnic and concert with the band Patchouli, 5-6:30pm.

CWLP Smart Energy Forum
Thursday, April 19, 6 p.m.
Illinois National Bank Conference Center, 431 S. 4th St., Springfield
This public meeting is your chance to let Springfield's utility know what direction you want them to take with their energy conservation programs and related issues.

Earth To America
Sunday, April 22, 7:00pm
Lincoln Residence Hall, UIS Campus
UIS SAGE is sponsoring a showing of the film Earth To America.

Becki Clayborn presentation at the Sangamon Valley Group Sierra Club Meeting
Tuesday, April 24, 7:00pm
Becki Clayborn, Regional Representative with the Sierra Club’s Midwest Clean Energy Campaign, will be giving an overview of Smart Energy Solutions for Global Warming and how Illinois can help move the US toward a cleaner energy future. The presentation will describe the major sources of global warming emissions in Illinois and how the Sierra Club is working to reduce those emissions. Becki will talk specifically about the five C’s of Illinois Sierra Club’s Clean Energy Campaign: Cars, Cool Cities, Coal Power, Carbon regulation and Clean Energy.

Green Building Seminars with speaker Ron Jones
Thursday, April 26th
I'm especially excited to see the Springfield Area Home Builders Association sponsor an event like this. You'll need to register in advance with the SAHBA. From their website: "Ron Jones of HGTV and Green Building Magazine. Ron was named 2006 Green Advocate of the year (builder) by the NAHB and the National Green Builders Conference. Jones is a co-founder of Green Builder Media, LLC, a leading development, education, consulting and media organization and frequently participates in green-building workshops."

Earth Awareness Fair
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Expo Building
This is the official Earth Day celebration for Springfield. Besides information from just about every environmental group in town, they'll have programs from the Illinois Raptor Center, free trees, live music, a freecycle garage sale, recycling for various items like printer cartridges and used cell phones, and all kinds of fun stuff.

This was cross-posted from CES Blog.

Two movies you ought to come see. Tonight is Power Shift, which I've talked about before, followed by a panel discussion with myself, Tih-Fen Teng, associate professor of environmental studies at UIS, and architect Jim Johnston of Sustainable Springfield. It'll be at the Lincoln Library at 7:00, and is the first of two Step It Up events.

Whereas Power Shift is mostly looking at our energy use, tomorrow night's feature, Edens Lost and Found, looks more at improving nature within our cities, and doing so as a tool for improving daily life. Edens is a PBS series, and the showing tomorrow night (at Brookens Auditorium at UIS) is of the Chicago episode. It starts at 6pm with a reception; the movie is at 7pm; and then there's going to be a Q&A with the show's producer afterwards.

Not being able to predict the future, I can't say for sure how these events are going to turn out. But the reason I'm involved or the reason I'm going is that I hope that these two movies provide good opportunities for talking out not what the problems are globally, but what the solutions are locally.

For everybody who doesn't know, Winona LaDuke is having a talk at UIS tonight, from 7:30 to 9:00: "Politics, Women, and Environmental Justice" in the Public Affairs Center.

And then on Thursday, we have an embarassment of riches. First, CWLP is holding its second Community Energy Meeting at 6:00pm, in the INB conference center (in their new building) at 431 S 4th St. Second, UIS is hosting a panel on the future of renewable energy in Illinois, from 7:00pm to 9:00 in Brookens Auditorium. My spidey sense is telling me that if you're interested biofuels, including ethanol, you won't want to miss this one.

Two big events this week: Tuesday night, Sustainable Springfield and CES are hosting a meeting with the Mayor Chris Koos of Normal. Mayor Koos shepherded in Normal's green building ordinance, which requires LEED certification for buildings over a certain size. The meeting and talk are at 7pm, Tuesday, May 29, at the Dove Conference Center at the Prairie Heart Institute. (For a PDF flyer, click here.)

Wednesday night, CWLP is holding a public hearing for five different standards that it's required to adopt or reject by the Feds. These standards, and the plans that will be set by them, can be an important tool in starting down a different energy path, one that prioritizes distributed, renewable generation of electricity. We'll be there, and I'll have a report later this week, along with CES's take on the standards (suffice to say, we think CWLP can do more), but if you're at all interested in where we go in the future, now is your chance to come and be heard.

Ninety solar-powered homes and buildings across the state will be open for public tours on Saturday, October 6th, from 10 AM to 3 PM. The Illinois Solar Energy Association is sponsoring the event. The group has prepared a 28-page tour guidebook that you can purchase online or pick up for free at tour sponsor locations. The Central Illinois area has seven tour sites, including homes in Williamsville and Jacksonville. This will be a great opportunity to see solar energy at work in Illinois.

I've had several people ask me to write more about what happened at Sunday's Step It Up Cool Town Meeting on global climate change. It was probably the largest and most important environmental meeting I've attended in Springfield.

After opening statements by Roy Wherle and Diane Hughes, UIS professor Jim Bonacum made a presentation. Dr. Bonacum specializes in genetics and molecular biology and he participated in a training session by Al Gore and the Climate Project based on An Inconvenient Truth. He would like to speak to groups of any size, including skeptics, about the science of global climate change and what we can do about the problem.

(Diane Lopez Hughes opening the meeting. Click to enlarge all photos.)

Next, SJ-R photographer Chris Young showed two beautiful slide presentations, including many pictures of natural Illinois prairies. He brought a blade of the prairie grass that once covered this region and helped create the excellent soil we now use for farmland. He reminded everyone of how much our natural environment has given us.

(Chris Young speaking)

The next part of the town meeting was an open forum for audience members to talk about how to take action both personally and with environmental organizations. For me the most exciting part of this event was the large crowd with about 140 people, (about the same size as Chicago's Step It Up meeting) including many of Springfield's environmental leaders. It drew people who have been active in the local movement for many years, like Alex Casella.

Casella made two points I found myself nodding my head to. One is that elected officials notice that environmental groups are not as active in elections as most other groups who ask for their vote on issues. I've often found myself frustrated by how many environmental activists don't want to get involved in campaigns. As a movement, most environmental organizations are 501-C3 non-profits in order to attain tax-exempt funding, but that also precludes them from engaging in many election activities. That's one reason the environmental agenda often loses legislative battles despite having overwhelming public support.

Another good point he made later during the meeting is that Springfield is showing real leadership in the clean energy agreement between the city and the Sierra Club. This is one area where we aren't ten years behind Chicago. Springfield now has a stronger commitment to using wind power and energy efficiency programs than Chicago and most other cities in America.

During that portion of the meeting someone mentioned Kevin Green's guest editorial in the SJ-R about promoting more bicycle use. I won't try to name all the leaders present or summarize all the comments made because I know I'll miss too much. But, we did have two elected officials present that I know of, Sam Cahman and Mike Ziri. Also speaking from the audience were a State Senate candidate, plus the wife of US Congressional candidate Joe McMenamin.

(A big crowd)

The next portion of the meeting was for local organizations to talk about the work they do related to climate change and how people can get involved. They included Pax Christi Springfield, UIS SAGE, Sustainable Springfield Inc, and others.

I spoke for the Cool Cities initiative and the Sangamon Valley Group of the Sierra Club. Cool Cities is a national drive to encourage cities to sign the US Council of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to reduce their CO2 emissions. Springfield has already gone a long way toward reaching the goals of Cool Cities because of the clean energy agreement with the Sierra Club, but there is much more to do in areas not related to power generation, such as promoting bicycling, good public transportation, incorporating hybrid vehicles into the citiy's non-emergency fleet and greener building codes.

Leadership is the national theme of this year's Step It Up events so when I put my Sangamon Valley Group hat on I spoke about the national attention Springfield is receiving for the Sierra Club clean energy agreement. I emphasized two ways people can get involved in the follow-up to the agreement to make it reach its full potential.

One, is to participate in the energy efficiency & conservation programs and the planning process to create new programs. CWLP's energy services office is rolling out new rebates and programs people can participate in to reduce their energy usage and carbon emissions. This is a good way for people to help stop global warming while also reducing their monthly utility bill.

CWLP is going to dramatically expand its energy efficiency programs and part of the Sierra Club agreement provides for the public to be involved in shaping those programs. That's why CWLP is holding a series of public energy forums. The forums are an excellent opportunity to tell our utility how you want them to promote more efficient energy use and related environmental programs. Additionally, the Sierra Club would like a citizens advisory board to work with CWLP on developing those programs.

The second way for the public to get involved in the agreement is through a green energy buy-in program. This allows people to pay a little extra on their bill with the money going toward additional clean, renewable power generation. If this is something you're interested in you can let CWLP know that you want them to make the program available soon, and remember to participate when its offered.

Finally, I spoke about the formation of the Sierra Club, Sangamon Valley Group, Energy & Climate Change Committee (ECCC). The ECCC will focus on follow-up to the clean energy agreement and provide a way for people to get involved in other initiatives related to energy and climate change, including Cool Cities, the Clean Car Campaign, and work being done by other area environmental groups. The next meeting is Tuesday, November 27th at 6pm in the Lincoln Library, 3rd Floor, Bicentennial Room. Everyone is welcome to attend, even if you aren't a Sierra Club member.

I realize I wrote about my own portion of the meeting at much greater length than everything else. Well, its my blog, and those are the parts of the meeting I remember most clearly anyway.

After all groups made their presentations there was a shorter period of group discussion and announcements. People also enjoyed tasty home-made snacks made with locally grown ingredients and fair trade coffee. The whole thing lasted about two hours and convinced me that people in Springfield are ready to show more leadership on climate change.

(Cross-posted from thereisaway blog)