Impacts of Climate Change Seen Around the World in Summer 2010

Heat waves and wildfires in Russia. Record-breaking heat in the eastern and southern United States. Massive flooding in Pakistan. Melting glaciers in Greenland. These are just some of the impacts of climate change that are being seen around the world during summer 2010.

In early August, scientists observing the Petermann Glacier in Greenland reported that an area of ice three times the size of Manhattan had broken off the glacier. “It is not a freak event and is certainly a manifestation of warming,” said Dr. Richard Bates of the University of St. Andrews. “This year marks yet another record breaking melt year in Greenland; temperatures and melt across the entire ice sheet have exceeded those in 2007 and of historical records.”

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted in an announcement this week that in addition to the calving of the iceberg from the Greeland ice sheet, a number of other extreme weather events are occurring around the world this summer, giving rise to an unprecedented loss of human life and property. These include the record heat wave and wildfires in the Russian Federation, monsoonal flooding in Pakistan and rain-induced landslides in China. “Climate extremes have always existed,” wrote the WMO in its August 11 statement, “but all the events cited above compare with, or exceed in intensity, duration or geographical extent, the previous largest historical events.” The sequence of current events matches projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of more frequent and more intense extreme weather events due to global warming. Click here to read the WMO statement.

Meanwhile, temperatures are breaking records throughout the eastern and southern United States. According to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation, in 2010, New Jersey, Delaware and North Carolina had their hottest June on record, while Maryland, Virgina, South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana had their second hottest June.  And the hot conditions continued with July 2010 being among the top five hottest on record for many states. “2010 is a sample of what’s to come because global warming is bringing more frequent and severe heat waves which will seriously impact vulnerable populations,” said Dr. Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist at the National Wildlife Federation. Click here to read the report, Extreme Heat in Summer 2010: A Window on the Future.

Perhaps this extreme weather will give pause to our Senators as they sweat through their summer vacations knowing they failed to take any meaningful action so far this year on climate and clean energy issues.

Photo of scientists observing the Petermann Glacier courtesy of University of St. Andrews.

United Steelworkers Making Clean Energy Jobs a Reality for American Workers

Besides the climate crisis, the crisis of summer 2010 is undoubtedly the ongoing economic crisis. As we head into mid-August, experts are expressing increasing concern about the high rate of unemployment and the possibility that the recovery is not advancing as quickly as had been hoped. But thanks to the U.S. labor movement, progress is being made in creating clean energy jobs for American workers.

This week, the United Steelworkers (USW) announced that it had signed agreements with A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd, (NASDAQ: APWR) and Shenyang Power Group (“SPG”), two of China’s leading power generation companies. The two Chinese clean energy companies have agreed that for a 615-megawatt wind farm they are building in West Texas, they will manufacture as much of the wind turbines as possible in the United States, using American-made steel and creating as many as 1,000 American jobs.

The West Texas wind farm is notorious among clean energy advocates because news surfaced in October that only 15 percent of the 2,800 jobs to be created by the wind farm would be located in the U.S., despite the fact that the project was to be funded, in part, by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The rest of the jobs would be in China, where the wind turbines were to be manufactured.

In addition to protesting against this loss of American jobs, the USW also decided to pursue a collaboration with A-Power and Shenyang that would return these jobs to the U.S.

“The deal is a result of white collar Chinese executives negotiating with blue collar union officers to create green collar jobs in the U.S.,” wrote Steelworkers International President (and Apollo Alliance board member) Leo Gerard in the Huffington Post. “The agreement defies stereotypes about unions as constantly combative, excessively expensive and environmentally challenged. The USW has a track record of engaging with enlightened CEOs for mutual benefit. It has a long green history. And it has worked to return off-shored jobs to the U.S.”

Kudos to the steelworkers for securing this landmark agreement that is a model for how we can win clean energy manufacturing jobs for American workers!

In other news …

*AFL-CIO pushes for mass transit jobs in Los Angeles. Today, the AFL-CIO organized a rally of thousands of people in Los Angeles to urge policymakers and political candidates to commit to solving our nation’s job crisis. Among the job-creation policies being backed by the AFL is a clean transportation project in Los Angeles County called the 30/10 Initiative. The idea of the Initiative is to accomplish 30 years worth of mass transit projects in just 10 years, which will not only create 160,000 clean energy jobs but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled in Los Angeles. The mass transit projects to be funded under the 30/10 Initiative include the Metro Orange Line extension, Westside subway extension, Green Line LAX extension, and others. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke at the Los Angeles rally as did LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LA County Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo.  Click here for more information about the 30/10 Initiative and here to learn more about what the AFL-CIO is doing to push policymakers to focus on jobs, jobs, jobs.

*Intern at the Apollo Alliance! The Apollo Alliance is seeking a smart, organized, energetic person with strong research and writing skills to assist with our program and policy department. This internship offers an excellent opportunity for a talented student or professional committed to clean energy and social equity issues to gain experience working in a high caliber, fast paced, results-oriented non-profit policy organization. The application deadline is Sept. 3. Click here to view the internship announcement.

Stephanie Skubiak Sees Insulation Work Heating Up As California Goes Green

Stephanie Skubiak used to be a bookkeeper. But she hated sitting at a desk all day long and didn’t like the size of her paycheck either. So Skubiak enrolled in an apprenticeship program to learn how to become an insulator. Thousands of hours of classroom time and paid on-the-job training later, she is now a worker in the green economy. Read more

Obama’s FYI 2011 Budget Proposal Keeps Country on Clean Energy Trajectory

This week, the Obama administration released its proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget. It included several investments in the clean energy economy that Energy Secretary Steven Chu said would put Americans back to work, help build a clean energy economy, spur energy innovation, and reduce our dependence on oil.

Chu’s comments were made during his testimony this week before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Among the highlights he listed from the Department of Energy’s proposed FY 2011 budget were $325 million to promote energy efficiency in vehicles technologies; $302 million for solar power; $123 million for wind power; $300 million for the weatherization assistance program; and $331 billion for advanced building and industrial energy efficiency technologies. Chu also noted the administration’s proposal to expand the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit by $5 billion – a move praised by the Apollo Alliance – to help support domestic clean energy manufacturers, among other programs.

The new budget reflects the Obama administration’s goal of limiting harmful greenhouse gas emissions. It provides funding to the Environmental Protection Agency to implement a reporting rule for measuring GHG emissions, as well as funding for regulations to curb GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. The budget also includes a placeholder for funds that would be generated by a cap-and-trade program.
While the administration increased the federal government’s support for clean energy in the proposed budget, it also curbed support for the fossil fuels industry by proposing the elimination of taxpayer subsidies that could be worth as much as $40 billion over 10 years.

Click here to read Energy Secretary Chu’s Senate testimony about the FY11 budget proposal as it relates to energy issues. For a deeper analysis of the budget’s clean energy provisions and a critique of the provision that would add $36 billion in loan guarantee authority for the nuclear power sector, visit the Climate Progress blog.

New Study Finds Transportation Investment Proposal Would Create Nearly Half a Million Jobs

As the country continues to wait for the Senate to unveil a series of job creation proposals, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has just released a study analyzing how many jobs would be created if the Senate passes transportation infrastructure investments that have been recommended by Transportation for America (T4America). The Apollo Alliance serves on the Executive Committee of T4America, a coalition that was formed by Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America and the Surface Transportation Policy Project. It now counts some 400 organizations as supporters of its agenda to create “a new national transportation program that will take America into the 21st Century by building a modernized infrastructure and healthy communities where people can live, work and play.”

The T4America jobs package would allocate $34.3 billion in additional funding for infrastructure investments that prioritize the repair and maintenance of highways, bridges, and public transit; the preservation of existing transit jobs and services; and the expansion of access to jobs resulting from enhanced public transportation. According to the EPI report, An Analysis of Transportation for America’s Jobs Proposals, the T4America jobs package would create approximately 480,000 direct and indirect jobs, 49,660 of which would be in the manufacturing sector. The EPI report also found that the T4America jobs proposal would disproportionately create jobs for low-wage workers, workers without a college degree, and African-Americans and Latino workers—all of whom were hit hard by the recession.

Read the new EPI analysis at the Economic Policy Institute website, and click here to learn more about T4America.

In other news …

*This week is Clean Energy Week! The Apollo Alliance is proud to be among the many organizations that are participating in Clean Energy Week, a week of actions and events focused on the need to enact comprehensive federal clean energy and climate policies as a means of creating vast numbers of new jobs, ensuring U.S. global leadership in the emerging clean energy era, enhancing our security, and preserving our planet for the generations to follow. Click here to check out the array of clean energy events that took place this week under the banner of Clean Energy Week.

*Tune in to Link TV next Friday, Feb. 12, for a special program called ColorLines: Race and Economic Recovery. The show will include a segment on SCOPE of Los Angeles, the organization that convenes the LA Apollo Alliance, and its efforts to create green jobs for communities of color. Link TV can be found on DIRECTV Channel 375 or DISH Network Channel 9410. The program will air at 8:30 PM EST. For a sneak peak, go to http://colorlines.com/recovery.

Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country

Green Affordable Housing in Indian Country is a “hands-on” green-construction training program involving Native American tribes in the upper Midwest, architects and landscape architects, builders and contractors, and students and faculty from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project is oriented toward community development on Indian reservations through technology transfer and job skills training in sustainable housing construction techniques based on natural systems, organic materials, local labor, and energy efficiency. Read more

DOL Announces Green Jobs Training Grants to Create Pathways Out of Poverty

Following on the heels of its announcement last week of $100 million in Energy Training Partnership green jobs training grants, the Department of Labor announced another set of green jobs training grants this week: the Pathways Out of Poverty Grants. These grants are especially meaningful to the Apollo Alliance, as they represent the fruition of years of work by Apollo on the Green Jobs Act, which was passed as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and authorized $125 million per year in funding to train workers for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy. It also represents our more recent work on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which finally provided the funding for the green jobs training programs authorized by the Green Jobs Act.

The Pathways Out of Poverty Grants were awarded primarily to organizations serving communities with poverty rates of 15 percent or higher. The $150 million in grant funding will go toward programs that not only train workers in the skills they need for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy, but also provide trainees with basic literacy and job readiness skills. Many of the programs will also provide support services like assistance with childcare and transportation.

Trainees served by the programs come from populations that face a variety of barriers to employment—high-school drop outs, ex-offenders, veterans, people with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities, among others. If the programs succeed, they will ensure that our growing green economy “lifts all boats” and “connects the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done,” as Van Jones, former Apollo board member and founder of Green For All, who was instrumental in the passage of the Green Jobs Act, testified before Congress last year.

Among the 38 programs that will receive Pathways Out of Poverty grants are many the Apollo Alliance is familiar with. Goodwill Industries International will employ a four-phased model in its training program, designed to move job seekers from an intensive individual assessment through a job placement in energy efficient building construction or renewable energy in six cities: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Grand Rapids, Phoenix and Washington, DC. Jobs for the Future Inc. will partner with the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute to ramp up pathways for unemployed and disadvantaged individuals in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Philadelphia to move into green industries like energy-efficient building, construction and retrofitting. The National Council of La Raza will provide linguistically and culturally competent training in energy efficiency and clean energy for individuals with limited English proficiency in San Jose, San Diego and Chicago.

Many other deserving programs will receive Pathways Out of Poverty grants. For a full list, visit the Department of Labor website.

White House Also Announces Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit Awards

Meanwhile, at the end of last week, the Obama administration announced the beneficiaries of an ARRA reward that could create some of the jobs that Pathways Out of Poverty trainees might eventually attain. The clean energy manufacturing tax credit will benefit 183 manufacturing facilities in 43 states, by providing them with a 30 percent tax credit for investments in facilities that produce renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, advanced batteries and other clean energy products. The administration estimates that the $2.3 billion in tax credits will provide much-needed support to the domestic clean energy manufacturing sector and generate more than 17,000 jobs.

In December, the Obama administration proposed expanding the clean energy manufacturing tax credit by $5 billion because the program was oversubscribed by a ratio of 3-1, which meant many qualified manufacturing facilities that applied for the tax credits were not approved.

 “The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, which supports the building and equipping of factories to make the products of the green economy, has been wildly successful since its inception,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance.

You can read the press release about the companies that will be awarded the tax credit on the White House website. Visit ApolloAlliance.org to read our statement on the proposal to expand the tax credit.

In other news …

*Center for American Progress says there’s good news about U.S. clean energy policy. This week, the Center for American Progress released an evaluation of the Obama administration’s progress on clean energy issues over the last year. The report, A Breath of Fresh Air: Obama Seizes the Energy Opportunity, says that despite setbacks like the failure of the Senate to vote on a clean energy and climate bill in 2009, the President and Congress made significant progress last year in the transition to a clean energy economy. They list the limits on greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles; the announcement that the EPA will regulate greenhouse gases; the inclusion of $100 billion in the Recovery Act for clean energy programs; and several other achievements that will have real-world impact. To read the report, go to the Center for American Progress website.

*Coming Soon: Clean Energy Week. Led by ACORE (the American Council on Renewable Energy), some 40 national organizations (including the Apollo Alliance) are organizing a week of action from Feb. 1–5, 2010, to encourage enactment of federal clean energy and climate measures. Clean Energy Week will consist of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, receptions, workshops, press conferences, rallies and outreach activities on Capitol Hill and across Washington, DC, sponsored individually by the participating organizations. To find out how you can participate, visit CleanEnergyWeek.org.

How You Can Find a Green-Collar Job

Though much of Apollo’s work is focused on systemic changes in clean energy and green-collar job policy and practices, our work also is particularly useful to people who don’t have a job or are looking for a new one. The following green-collar job information resources should help.

Read more

San Diego Creates Green Pathways Out of Poverty

During a campaign speech last year, President Obama made a promise that the United States would weatherize at least 1 million low-income homes each year for the next decade. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act took the first steps toward making that promise a reality by including $5 billion to expand the Weatherization Assistance Program, a move that has the potential to create over 78,000 jobs in the construction industry each year, according to the Department of Energy, and generate huge demand for workers with specific technical knowledge of energy efficiency. Read more

Apollo Alliance Unveils Five-Point Plan to Boost Clean Energy Job Growth by More Than 1.2 Million

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2009
CONTACTS: Sam Haswell: (415) 371-1700 x201

Proposal Emphasizes Short-term Job Creation, Reducing Dependence on Foreign Oil

SAN FRANCISCO - The Apollo Alliance released a clean energy investment plan today that will create up to 1.2 million domestic jobs while increasing U.S. energy security and climate stability. The release of Apollo’s 5-point plan coincides with today’s urgent White House jobs summit and amid intensified talk by Congressional leaders of an emergency jobs bill.

“America is facing twin crises of economic instability and a global clean energy race that is quickly leaving us behind,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance. “By making targeted investments in our transportation infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewables, and domestic clean energy manufacturing, we will create jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help restore America’s leadership in the global clean energy marketplace.”

Apollo’s job creation recommendations - for inclusion in a larger Congressional and administration plan to spur economic recovery and create jobs - include:

1. Creating 255,000 jobs by driving short-term investment in efficiency and renewables in ways that will leverage private capital in the long term.
2. Creating 278,000 jobs by laying the groundwork for a 21^st century transportation system.
3. Creating 700,000 manufacturing jobs (and an additional 1.9 million indirect jobs in related industries) by supporting American manufacturers in retooling and expanding their operations, and positioning domestic clean energy manufacturers to compete in the global marketplace.
4. Creating a large-scale financing mechanism that drives investment and creates jobs researching, developing, and manufacturing the technologies and products of the clean energy economy.
5. Creating 31,000 jobs by putting Americans back to work serving their communities and preparing a workforce to build the clean energy economy.

The plan calls for investments of approximately $60 billion in the program outlined above.

“While we must take immediate action to create jobs, these actions must be combined with comprehensive energy and climate policies that encourage public and private investment in the clean tech sector,” said Angelides.

In October 2008, Apollo released the New Apollo Program, a comprehensive strategy for generating broad economic prosperity, energy security and climate stability. Earlier this year, Congress invested more than $100 billion in renewable energy development, transportation projects, energy efficiency and weatherization, technological research, and workforce training as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This down payment on the transition to a clean energy economy has already resulted in the retention or creation of more than 640,000 jobs, according to the federal government’s Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of unlikely and diverse interests - including labor, business, environmental, and community leaders - advancing a bold vision for the next American economy centered on clean energy and good jobs.

Apollo Unveils Clean Energy Job Growth Plan to Coincide with White House Jobs Summit

This Thursday, the White House sponsored a Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth to generate ideas from CEOs, small business owners, labor leaders, nonprofit directors and others about how to grow the economy and put Americans back to work. The Forum included break-out groups on rebuilding America’s infrastructure, small business growth policies, and green jobs, among others.

To coincide with the White House Jobs Summit, the Apollo Alliance unveiled a new plan to boost clean energy job growth by more than 1.2 million jobs. Apollo believes as the country acts to address the high unemployment rate that is causing suffering for so many American families, we must simultaneously act to stabilize the climate and re-establish the U.S. as a leader in the global clean energy marketplace.

Apollo’s proposal would create 1.2 million domestic jobs in the short and long term while moving us toward a future that ensures climate stability, energy security, and broadly shared economic prosperity. “While we must take immediate action to create jobs, these actions must be combined with comprehensive energy and climate policies that encourage public and private investment in the clean technology sector,” said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance.

Apollo’s job creation recommendations – for inclusion in a larger Congressional and administration plan to spur economic recovery and create jobs – include:
 
1.     Creating 255,000 jobs by driving short-term investment in efficiency and renewables in ways that will leverage private capital in the long term. Apollo’s proposals include expanding and improving innovative retrofit and conservation programs at the state and local level by amending the Qualified Energy Conservation Bond (QECB) program; and leveraging private funding to expand large-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy system installation through the creation of a federal financing authority.

2.     Creating 278,000 jobs by laying the groundwork for a 21st century transportation system. Apollo proposes that we rebuild our nation’s infrastructure by prioritizing transportation investments that rehabilitate existing infrastructure and repair our roads and bridges, intercity rail, public transit, and bicycle and pedestrian pathways; support public transit operations to retain jobs and keep workers connected with their jobs; and expand the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) and Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) programs that were authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

3.     Creating 700,000 manufacturing jobs (and an additional 1.9 million indirect jobs in related industries) by supporting American manufacturers in retooling and expanding their operations, and positioning domestic clean energy manufacturers to compete in the global marketplace. Apollo proposes the expansion of technical assistance to our nation’s manufacturers by providing $50 million in short-term support for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program; and the creation of a two-year, $30 billion revolving loan fund to help small and medium-sized manufacturers retool to produce clean energy components and parts and become more energy efficient, as proposed in U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Investments in Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technologies (IMPACT) Act.

4.     Creating a large-scale financing mechanism that drives investment and creates jobs researching, developing, and manufacturing the technologies and products of the clean energy economy. Apollo recommends the establishment of the Clean Energy Deployment Authority (CEDA), which would fund a wide variety of clean energy technologies, leading to long-term job creation.

5.     Creating 31,000 jobs by putting Americans back to work serving their communities and preparing a workforce to build the clean energy economy. Apollo proposes the full funding of the America Serves Act, which will expand support for national service programs such as AmeriCorps, VISTA, YouthBuild, and the youth service and conservation corps.

Visit our website to read Apollo Alliance’s full 5-Point Plan for Boosting Clean Energy Job Growth. We also recommend that you look at the job creation proposals of several other organizations, including the Center for American Progress’ Meeting the Jobs Challenge: How to Avoid Another Jobless—or Job-Loss—Economic Recovery and the Economic Policy Institute’s American Jobs Plan.

Meanwhile, in California, the California Labor Federation sponsored a jobs summit in Sacramento the day before the White House Jobs Summit. Click here to read an article about the Sacramento event.

In Other News …

*Countdown to Copenhagen. The international climate talks in Copenhagen begin next week.  Several Apollo Alliance board members, including Apollo President Jerome Ringo, plan to be there, discussing our clean energy, good jobs vision with delegates and observers alike. Many websites will be covering the Copenhagen talks. Check out Grist’s Copenhagen Central and the Green section of the Huffington Post. We also hope to have updates from Copenhagen on the Apollo Alliance blog.

*Make an end-of-the-year donation to the Apollo Alliance! Help the Apollo Alliance seal the deal on America’s clean energy and climate policies in 2010. The House of Representatives has already passed the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, but now the Senate needs to step up and pass its version of a new, national energy policy. Donate to the Apollo Alliance today to help us make 2010 the year of clean energy and good jobs!

Veterans Have a New Mission: Making America More Secure Through Conservation Service and Energy Efficiency

Veterans who once crawled around attics and other claustrophobic spaces in homes in Iraq and Afghanistan, searching for hidden weapons and suspected terrorists, are now crawling through homes in the United States to track down air leaks and missing insulation. They are part of a new wave of veterans who are turning the skills and determination they developed in the military to a new mission: that of reducing Americans’ energy use and carbon emissions. Read more

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