In May, the Obama Administration outlined its National Security Plan, and much to the joy of environmentalists and development experts alike, it included accelerating “Sustainable Development” as a central tenet. The reason: inequality, in its many forms, is growing within countries and between countries, raising the potential for turmoil and conflict.

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Stepping out of the MetroRail station, DC residents are typically greeted by row after row of monolithic office and apartment structures. This isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing sight to see after a hard day of work at the office. At the Anacostia metro stop, however, residents and students will soon be welcomed home by a lush garden planted in the schoolyard of Savoy Elementary School.

This plot of land in between Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School and Savoy Elementary will soon be transformed into a school garden.
Earth Day Network has teamed up with Mayor Fenty’s Green Summer Job Corps to construct a food garden in Anacostia – a neighborhood recently experiencing revitalization through development. Over 20 types of fruits and vegetables will grow in the garden, along with fruit trees, native grasses, and a butterfly garden. The purpose of this garden is to provide healthy, nutritious food to students, offer a hands-on opportunity for environmental and nutrition education, encourage students to spend time outdoors, and inspire a passion for the natural world. Much research has been done about the positive effects of school gardens, including this article from the University of Florida.
The benefits of this garden will reach beyond the student body. By demonstrating that natural oases can thrive in urban settings, Earth Day Network hopes that this garden will encourage Anacostia residents to take on sustainable projects at home and in the community.
So far, grass has been cleared on the plot of land and a shed for gardening tools is in the construction process. Stay tuned for updates on the progression of this garden set to open in early September.

Being in Louisville, attending NCSL is truly an exciting experience especially while representing Earth Day Network. This is the first time our organization has sent a staff member to this national state legislator conference and legislators are extremely receptive to learning about our Green School Initiative. The NCSL annual meeting has over 5,000 attendees, mostly state legislators that convene for about a week to discuss important issues impacting the states. I attended a green jobs forum hosted by labor groups over the weekend and learned a great deal about how greening our economy is much more than environmental impacts, we have to make sure that while we green our buildings that we provide descent wages, fair benefits and we make sure that we produce the materials needed here in the U.S. and not oversees.

On Sunday I attended the Energy Summit hosted by NCSL. The conversation there was very different than what was presented by the unions the previous day; energy companies and special interests dominated the talk. Discussion topics included “The Future of Nuclear Energy” and “Coal and Natural Gas.” Only 30 minutes were devoted to green jobs and this was strategically placed right before lunch. It made me wonder, when will environmental groups have their fair chance to present their ideas? Maybe when we donate $50-100,000 dollars we will get a place at the table? The President blames environmental organizations for the failure of the climate bill. I blame all the special interests that dominate Capitol Hill and state legislatures.

Progressive legislators, both federal and state, have to continue to stand strong against special interests and rely on their allies in the environmental community. I learned that here in Louisville, Kentucky that there is about five ways to say “Louisville”…..the only wrong way to say it is with more than two syllables and if you pronounce the “s”. Just like there are only two syllables in “Louisville” there are two ways to change the course of environmental policy. You have to work on the state and federal level and I am proud to be part of Earth Day Network’s state policy program and work with our federal Members of Congress.

Amidst news that BP has finally managed to staunch the leaking oil well in the Gulf Coast, President Obama issued an executive order aimed at protecting the nation’s bodies of water. A main component of Obama’s National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts and Great Lakes is the creation of a new government entity, the National Ocean Council.

The National Ocean Council will pull together representatives from all of the marine and oceanic agencies in order to coordinate the sustainability of the Great Lakes and oceans. The new agency, however, does not come with new rules or regulations and does not restrict the use of these bodies of water. Instead, the National Ocean Council will create “coastal and marine spatial plans,” which are comprehensive plans for the usage of the bodies of water that take into account the protection of their respective ecosystems.

Environmentalists are rightly lauding this as a victory in the fight to protect our oceans and lakes. And although the executive order does not include a provision to prevent offshore oil drilling or exploration, it is a huge leap in the right direction. The National Ocean Council is the first centralized, comprehensive federal organization in charge of marine policy and as water becomes an increasingly coveted resource, the need for this single overseeing body has never been greater.

While helping Earth Day Network to prepare its programming ahead of the 2012 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I took a look back at the most famous “Earth Summit”-The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. However, when I typed “Earth Summit” into the search box at YouTube, I got some startling results.

The first hit, with nearly 400,000 views, is an inspiring speech given at the 1992 summit by a young girl named Severn Suzuki.

Severn Suzuki Speaking at 1992 Earth Summit

The video is posted in multiple languages and under multiple titles (”Girl Who Silenced the UN for 5 Minutes“) which, if aggregated, total several million views! Watching this young leader brimming with promise advocate for the unheard voices of her generation, you might conclude that the 1992 Summit was a moving week of high-minded oratory, where the world’s leaders instantaneously realized that our economic growth needed a greater degree of sustainability. And, in a sense, it was.

The next few videos, however, would likely confuse you. Many of them include interviews with a man named George Hunt-several even recorded prior to the Summit. Hunt claimed, back in the early 1990s, that the environmental movement had been hijacked by the “elites” of the world to usher in a New World Order. The fodder for his speculation included a few ghastly puns, delivered in a vaguely-ominous monotone.

“The acronym UNCED … is pronounced ‘unsaid,’ perhaps indicating the secret agenda of this meeting,” Hunt says.

As Hunt goes on to denounce Maurice Strong, the Canadian businessman appointed Secretary General for the 1992 Summit, you might think that Hunt’s ideas belonged to a sector of the right-wing fringe lost to history. In fact, Hunt’s ideas were revived by the always entertaining Glenn Beck in May of this year. [Strong has repeatedly rebutted these scurrilous accusations, perhaps unnecessarily]

Looking toward the future, Rio +20 could be remembered for any number of things. Perhaps the governments of the world will announce a series of individual efforts aimed at improving their record on sustainable development. Perhaps it will take the interest of youth worldwide in environmental issues and catalyze it into action. Perhaps it will simply fail.

Today, the onus is on the environmental movement to define the goals of the 2012 Summit long before opponents of “environmental progress” can get their hands on it. We must begin to state our hopes and objectives, to ensure that the true history of this summit is not overwhelmed by gross speculation and conspiracy theories. With a coordinated effort, we can make the global public aware of this fast-approaching opportunity for change. With luck, we can make it into an incontrovertible success story.

This morning at the America Clean Energy Now town hall event, Senator Kerry made a great statement: America can no longer afford to act like ostriches, head in the sand, ignoring the changes that are happening around us. Senator Kerry was joined by Senator Merkley, business, academic and non profit leaders along with 200 Americans gathered in a large room on Capitol Hill to basically talk about the reasons we need comprehensive clean energy legislation.

The issue of clean energy is in no way a small feat but Senator Kerry made a great point, this issue is NOT going away. The ties that our oil consumption has on the atmosphere, our quality of life and thus expenditures to maintain that lifestyle, and our national security are going to keep coming back to haunt us. Yet the will to change exists, whether it is from the war veteran recounting the burial of colleagues who were killed from weapons that our oil money paid for or the NFIB poll result that thousands of small business owners throughout the country that recognize clean energy is the wave of the future. What we need now is the infrastructure and leadership to promote the innovation that America is so well known for and to end our dependence on foreign oil.

Our country is an amazing powerhouse and we relish how intelligent and innovative we are. Senator Kerry made another interesting point today: a global leader is a leader whose economy is strong and unless we make some changes and look for new opportunities of change our economy isn’t going to recover to what it was. It’s time to get our heads out of the sand and figure out how we can take this issue head on, end our dependence on foreign oil and create an infrastructure for clean energy innovations here at home.

Frustrated by Congress’ petty political battles over the planet’s future? You’re not alone. A panel made up of non-profit, corporate and government energy experts bemoaned the partisan gridlock during an energetic discussion at the Clean Energy Ministerial Public Forum on July 20, 2010.

The panel opened with a debate on the commercial potential of green techniques like carbon sequestering. Lykke Friis, Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, noted that technology often isn’t the issue; the primary challenges facing clean energy innovations, she said, were economic conditions based on unsupportive policy.

This “triangle of technology, policy and finance” became the central focus of the hour-long discussion. Several panelists advocated subsidies to support expensive research and development cycles. These high-risk ventures often require five to seven years to turn a profit, a time commitment that scares off most private investors.

NextEra Energy CEO Lew Hay pointed to the proposed U.S. climate bill as the catalyst that could change the dynamics of clean energy. He believes Congress must decide new measures on carbon policy before investors will be willing to support alternative energy start-ups.

At the end of the discussion, each panelist was asked what they thought was the most important step to expediting a clean energy future. There was a clear consensus in favor of a carbon price floor.

Hay admitted that Congress may have missed its best opportunity to set a clear direction for carbon policy but NRDC representative David Hawkins offered the audience hope.

“If our Congress fails to recognize reality this year, don’t get disheartened,” he said. “We’re not going away and we will prevail.”

Contributed by Earth Day Network intern, Andrew Reilly

Yesterday, the Department of Energy hosted the Clean Energy Ministerial, a public forum for new clean energy and electricity technology. The forum served as an outlet to announce new initiatives headed by the Department of Energy and co-sponsored by governments all around the world. One of the new initiatives announced was the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment “C-3E” Women’s Initiative. Under the umbrella of Obama’s “STEM program,” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Career Opportunities for Women) C-3E hopes to inspire young girls to enter the energy workforce.

As Kristina Johnson of the Department of Energy pointed out when announcing the initiative, energy related institutions employ significantly less females than males. Only about 20 percent of workers in the energy field are female, while women make up more than half of the world’s population. How can we expect the clean energy movement to progress when we are alienating such a large portion of our workforce? Women’s participation in this initiative is essential, and C-3E serves as motivation for women everywhere to contribute. Ms. Johnson even took a minute to announce Earth Day Network’s intentions and plans for a Women and Climate Campaign.

Encouraging women to become involved in the movement towards clean and renewable energy is something that we here at Earth Day Network strongly support, and hopefully in the near future we will see more and more women entering this field. As Lykke Friis, the Minister of Climate and Energy of Denmark mentioned while helping to announce the initiative, “Women hold half the sky”. So lets get moving, ladies!

Contributed by Earth Day Network intern, Laura Grodin

Just another reminder from an earlier blog… One of our friends and featured educators, currently a math teacher at Northwest Halifax High School in Littleton, NC, needs your help. Mike Beebe worked with us this spring to install solar panels at his school sponsored by the University of Phoenix. Also, with Mike’s help, we were able to award full tuition scholarships to the University of Phoenix to three seniors at Northwest Halifax. Now Mike, also the track coach at his school, is trying to improve the life of his students yet again. He has entered Northwest Halifax into the running to win a $50,000 grant to pay for a new, eco-friendly rubberized track through Pepsi’s “Refresh Project” grant program.

But Mike and the kids at Northwest Halifax stand a chance only if they get more votes! It takes about 30 seconds to register and then you can vote once a day through the end of the month.
• Vote today at www.refresheverything.com/northwesthalifaxtrack
• Vote again tomorrow, and everyday this month. The contest runs for the entire month of July, and you can vote once a day.
• Get the vote out! Forward this info to friends, family and colleagues. Anyone and everyone can vote. Post it on twitter, facebook etc.

Let’s help Mike and Northwest Halifax get the track they need. Thanks everyone.

While it isn’t a surprise that outside interests and corporate money play a major role in our nation’s political world, it is baffling to think that in the midst of this tragedy, Florida’s state electeds are willing to keep our coast lines open. Even more upsetting, is the connection these leaders have to the national trend of state and federal congressional leaders failing to protect our shores and citizens.

We were hopeful when we arrived in Florida, that today’s vote would provide taxpayers the ability to support banning oil drilling permanently this coming November. It seems we were wrong, in less than one hour the House voted, 67 to 44, and the Senate,18-16, to adjourn.

This epidemic of outside influences ruling votes of our leaders is sweeping our local government and Capitol Hill offices. Just last month, federal leaders were locked in a partisan divide on whether or not a presidential commission would be granted subpoena power to proceed with investigations of Deep Water Horizon site. Even the cutting words of Senators Menendez and Shaheen seemed to fly past conservatives who ignored the near unanimous House vote (420 votes to 1 in favor) to look into BP’s negligence.

Where is the leadership on this? Who will begin focusing on the voices of our citizens, rather than the checkbooks of corporate interests? The Sunshine State’s failure to serve the best interests of it’s constituents cannot be shrugged of with political rhetoric, and reflect a problem facing our nation. Words are fleeting- even BP couldn’t keep the promise of their 2005 campaign to “think outside the barrel”. It seems this nation’s congressional leaders are following suit- they all are stuck thinking inside the barrel.