I picked up this article from The Daily Green that outlines the situation regarding tax credits for renewable energy.  Now, I should say, I agree with much of what is said in the article, including the four main reasons to pass the credits: High oil prices, high U.S. unemployment, the melting Arctic, and Russia’s overwhelming of Georgia.  I have a bone to pick with The Daily Green regarding this article.

I disagree with that last point on a technicality because it zeros in on a territorial dispute in the headline and ties it into the crisis too much (IMHO — yes, I know, it’s humble for a reason), when the larger point, the one that is somewhat made in the paragraph in the article, is that petrodictatorships flourish in the current environment.  That should have been the main point with perhaps Russia’s influence and ability to ignore the international community as one example of many such countries awash in oil money.  They basically did that, but their bolding of that statement (and ignoring the other facts surrounding that debacle) is reason enough for me to point this out.

But that is not my main beef with this article; rather, the way in which this information is framed is problematic.  On this first point, I’m rather quibbling over what is a main point and what is a detail, mentioning it only because it is significant to me.  Let me explain my main problem with this article.

The main paragraph that troubles me reads thus:

Congress reconvenes today to discuss, among other things, energy policy. All they’ll really be doing is posturing for their respective candidates, however, and that means that the renewable energy tax credits — which both parties and their candidates support (emphasis mine) — may well be held hostage to this battle: Republicans entrenched in support of offshore drilling, and Democrats entrenched in support of taxing oil company profits to fund more renewable energy projects.

Sounds fair, but if you know what I know, meaning, if you have followed this issue, you know that John McCain, the Republican candidate for President, and his Republican colleagues, have passed by the opportunity to extend these valuable tax credits that help to make the renewable energy industry compete on a more equal playing field.  After all, we allow huge tax breaks on the oil industry (not to mention dirty nuclear energy — yes, dirty!).

From a Thomas Friedman column,

Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote.

Yet, in this article, the author says that both parties and their candidates suppor the tax incentives for renewable energy.  Friedman notes that Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama, also missed some votes on this issue, but they were times when he was out campaigning, and he knows that they don’t have the votes on this issue — because of Republicans and John McCain stonewalling.  

We cannot act as if both parties are in favor of this when their actions have not shown that to be the case.  If McCain were truly in favor, he would have left his Senate office to go vote.  And if he were out campaigning, he would fly his wife’s private jet, of which he has rather unfettered use, back to Washington to cast an important vote in favor of these tax credits.  I am angered that such gross misrepresentations persist.  The Republicans are behind the oil industry all the way and that includes John McCain — Mr. Drill Here, Drill Now.

Maybe McCain should follow his own advice, “Tell them to come back and get to work!”  Senator, your “Drill here!  Drill now!” mantra is old hat.  Get back to work and go vote on this measure.  It’s time to get past all of that partisanship you say you are past and work toward a green energy future.  And Mr. Obama should get back to Washington every time and cast a symbolic vote every time, even if they know they don’t have enough votes to pass the measure.  No excuses — our country needs real leadership.

Offshore drilling cannot and will not address America’s energy or climate crises now, in three years, five years, or ten.  We have about 3% of the world’s reserves of oil and use about 25%.  Go ahead and argue with that reality.  Feel the wind and sun on your face and realize the solution is smacking you in the face every time you go outside.  Wind and solar are the energy of now.  Today.  Blow here!  Shine now!  

The Daily Green, thanks for highlighting this important issue.  But we have to call out those who are dragging their feet forward — or, in the Republicans’ case on this issue, pulling the country down into an almost dry oil well — and tell it like it is.  Don’t be afraid to call Regressives by name.  John McCain is a Regressive.  The Republicans are not even close to being on equal footing with Democrats on what is best for the country regarding this issue.  We gain nothing by throwing them a bone — and that’s the bone I’ve picked with you!

This week, I see two stories you should be apprised of if you are following the environment.  These are important for the longterm implications they may have on our environment.

The first story I would like to outline for you in this week’s news section is an effort to change rules in the Endangered Species Act that would effectively strip it of most of its effectiveness by allowing more projects to go forth that do not completely annihalate a species.  Currently, projects deemed to put into danger habitat or any species on the endangered species list is not allowed to move forth.  That’s the move in a nutshell, but for a spectacular article with description of the change and plenty of insight, check out George Lakoff’s article on this matter.

That’s a major language change!  And it’s the same kind of sneaky changes we’ve seen over the last eight years, with signing statements at the time of signing laws, essentially explaining the intention to go ahead and not enforce a law.  

The other change is by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding its rules governing the engines of lawnmowing and trimming machines and engines for personal boats.  In order to have these engines fall within range of the new regulations, set to be enforced begining in 2011 and 2010 respectively, manufacturers will likely begin adding catalytic converters, which would reduce the amount of particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide are released (they’re standard on car engines).  Read the whole article here.

So you have taken the plunge and taken the advice of many extolling the environmental virtues of composting, such as replenishing needed nutrients to the soil in your own community (rather than filling up landfills with otherwise useful organic matter.

That’s great!  But how often do you have a very small item for the compost and feel it is too much to stop making your meal to take that one peel out to the compost heap?  My guess is that it is too much to take every scrap piecemeal (no pun intended) to your compost pile, but maybe you have adapted to that situation by collecting compostables in a container until day’s end.  But who wants to have to remember to take it outside everyday or face the smell sitting right there on your counter?

So maybe those coffee grounds end up in the garbage from time to time?  Not a big deal, right?  Not a big deal?  Well, sure, there will be times when composting doesn’t happen for whatever reason.  But composting is a big deal considering that synthetic fertlizers are used to replinish our lands of necessary nutrients when it becomes depleted (among other reasons) and I have a simple method so that you don’t have to take every bit of compostable matter outside separately.  

All that organic matter paid to have that organic matter shipped our way and now we’re going to have a gas guzzling (er, diessel drinking) garbage truck haul it away and mix it with inorganic, toxic materials?  Make sense to you?  It’s needed in your own backyard!

So, for that Quick Tip: Simply, put an old butter container (preferably a larger one) or a coffee can into the refrigerator or freezer and put your banana peel, coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells, and other matter into the container as it is produced.  When it is full, take it out and leave it on the counter for thirty minutes as it thaws loose from the sides of the container.  Then, take it outside and bury the block of ice under some leaves, sticks, and green matter to avoid pests from picking at any food remnants.

If you need the room in your freezer, then keep it in the refrigerator until more room is available.  It’s that easy!  And it helps you to save energy by keeping your refrigerator or freezer stocked.

Occassionally, I get to combine two things I enjoy and care strongly for.   Today is one of those days!  I came across a very interesting website while browsing the web called Portable Farms.  Basically, it’s a commercial site selling these mini-greenhouses made for growing plants, flowers, vegetables, and even fish!  I was especially interested in this idea as I am an avid aquarium hobbyist and have done my own breeding of tropical fish.

So the whole idea here is obviously reduce our dependence on food sources that are heavily processed, travel far and wide, and use significant amounts of energy to end up in your stomach (or garbage can – didn’t your mother ever tell you that there are starving children in Africa?).  Now, I’m not a vegetarian and regular gardening can only get me so far; I need a little meat in my diet!

Add Tilapia to the mix now!  It’s not my favorite fish in the sea but it is versatile, you can do a lot of different things with this light, white fish.

They call it “Aquaponics” and focus on creating a closed system that fosters both the growth of plants and fish (much like a planted aquarium).  Fish waste is siphoned from the tanks into the plants and used as a fertilizer.  The excess water is then drained back into the tanks after having been cleaned and reoxygenated.  As they describe it:

Aquaponics is the growing of fish, or other water-based animals, along with land plants in a controlled environment, to maximize the use of the energy and nutrients in the system in order to harvest the greatest amount of vegetables and fish protein from the system.

At the very least, I think the Portable Farms site is worth checking out, if not just to get you thinking about how you can grow more of the things you use and eat every day.