Category: Climate Action

2020, Climate Action, Climate Change, National Security January 3, 2020January 7, 2020

Renewable Portfolio Standard | Solar Energy

Washington (GGM) Analysis | January 3, 2020
by Noreen Wise

State Renewable Portfolio Standards are often the driver behind how quickly residents switch to solar energy. We all must know where our state stands on critical
renewable energy policies that will be the catalyst for how quickly the United States can lower our nation’s carbon footprint. States like Massachusettes, New York, California and Maryland are way out in front, while states like Texas, Florida and G eorgia are at the very bottom, and are several of the country’s largest carbon emitters.

Foreign countries are angry about the largest carbon emitter’s lack of movement in reducing carbon levels and have become staunch advocates against climate injustice. On December 20, 2019, a Dutch court issued a strong warning to world leaders demanding they take climate action to reduce their nation’s carbon footprint or one day be held accountable by victims.

What are Renewable Portfolio Standards?

According to Solar Power Rocks, an exceptional hub of vital information for anyone seeking details about installing solar panels on home or business roofs or property, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are state laws requiring that utility companies generate a certain percentage of renewable energy by specific dates. For example, Maryland passed a law in 2019 that requires 50% of it’s energy to be renewable by 2030. this is considered aggressive and quite significant. There are now 170 solar companies that have sprung up in Maryland since the law was passed.

Very exciting to be living in the states that’s a frontrunner. Terrifying to be a resident in a state burying its head in cement, rigidly fixated on the past. This is a matter of life and death.~

2020, Climate Action, Trump December 30, 2019January 7, 2020

State Blue Wave Arriving | 2020 Climate Action

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 30, 2019
by Noreen Wise

There are two new Democratic governors arriving into office next week, one of which flipped the governor’s seat from red to blue. Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, stunned the GOP with an unexpected upset that outed Trump and McConnell ally, Matt Bevin. Louisiana’s John Bel Edward, held off a fierce rival backed by Trump, and will return to Baton Rouge to finish the progress he started four years ago. There’s so much positive energy for long awaited changes (sidelined by Mitch McConnell the past three years at the federal level, particularly in 2019 with the Democratic House passing nearly 400 bills that are currently stacked under McConnell’s desk), that constituents feel optimistic much needed legislation will soon follow.

In November 2016, the year Trump came into power through the electoral college rather than popular vote, the net outcome on the gubernatorial side of things was 33 red governors and 16 blue. But, after three years of Trump’s continued defiance of the rule of the law and our Constitution, Americans appear to be venting their frustration through their choice of governors. The tides have shifted significantly with Democrats picking up 8 governorships. After the 2019 election, there are 26 red governors and 24 blue. Just one away from being an even split.

Voters are hoping to see legislative movement with these gubernatorial pivots, particularly gun safety legislation and clean energy & sustainability. States with Democratic governors for more than a decade, are much further ahead with clean energy infrastructure and regulation, and their low carbon levels reinforce the positive impact legislation has on outcome. The states that have flipped from red to blue recently, now have to catch up. The ones that remain red will be left in the dust.

But all eyes should be on Virginia in 2020. The governorship, and both levels of the state legislature, are now blue. The Virginia legislative calendar begins next Wednesday January 8, 2020. Mom’s Demand Action and the NRA will both be descending on the state capitol in Richmond the first day to lobby the new arrivals about gun safety. Virginia is a state with two extremes. Charlottesville highlighted the tension. Trump has fueled the stormy division in the two years that have followed since that tragic day in Charlottesville, August 12, 2017.

One step at a time. Our Founding Fathers taught us that the way a democracy works is through the art of compromise. Let’s get this right! ~

Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, National Security December 24, 2019April 17, 2022

FINALLY! Ketchup Packaged In Glass | New Brands

Washington (GGM) Analysis | April 17, 2022 by Noreen Wise | Reprint from December 24, 2019

Exciting update on the “Ketchup in a glass bottle sold locally” saga, a tale that has reached a positive outcome in just five weeks. Five weeks is a very short period of time to go from 0 to 60. This proves that social media is a very powerful solutions driver.

Continue reading →

Climate Action, Climate Change, Health, National Security, Nature December 21, 2019April 26, 2020

So Many Beautiful & Exciting Possibilities | Cutting Carbon

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 21, 2019
by Noreen Wise

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul.” ~Luther Burbank

And flowers cut carbon too! Flower boxes in the windows of our homes and businesses, and hanging baskets from street lights, will add yet another layer of nature to absorb carbon. We need as much help as we can get. It’s another exceptional tool in our climate action tool shed that will reap a wave of benefits, improving both our atmospheric carbon levels, and our quality of life.

Will flower boxes in the windows of the majority of homes and businesses increase property values? I guess we’ll find out as soon as we begin a window flower box campaign.

BrightSide-350SquarePocastLogo-NEWEST — PODCAST- daily conversation that focuses on how to turn negative circumstances into positives and land on the bright side.

According to BestLife, flowers:

Reduce stress
Elevate mood
Strengthen relationships
Increase memory
Certain flowers can help us fall asleep
Help us heal

Not only do flowers absorb CO2, they’re also air purifiers, absorbing pollutants such as benzene, acetone, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene.

We can do this! Warm weather climates can begin today. The rest of us can begin planning today so we’re ready to spring into action as soon as the weather breaks. 🌺

Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, National Security December 20, 2019January 7, 2020

EV Charging Stations | Retail & Restaurant Parking Lots ROCK!

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 20, 2019
by Noreen Wise

The new year is here. Thinking of all that can be accomplished on the Climate Action front makes my head spin. Way at the top of the list is EV cars, which means EV charging
stations are going to be on everyone’s minds.

Savvy business owners and managers who have parking lots can take advantage of this consumer need by installing a handful of charging stations in their parking lots. It seems that this is what everyone has been talking about at holiday parties this year. Where do you charge your car?

One woman I spoke with lives in a complex that doesn’t yet have charging stations, so she has to be sure to charge in town. She now LOVES Walgreens because they have charging stations. She makes plans to charge while she shops. It was likely that she rarely shopped at Walgreens before buying an EV, but now, it’s her favorite store in the world. And she always spends money, every single week.

Wide open green fields for marketing, literally. And the best part about this unique opportunity, is that EV owners who charge when visiting a store, feels immense gratitude. The most passionate, heartfelt kind of deep appreciation, almost an indebtedness, the way we feel towards heroes. They’ll likely feel inspired to say “yes” to a promotion opportunity rather than “no.”

When restaurants and retailers everywhere begin adding charging stations to parking lots, we’ll see EV sales go through the roof, and the atmospheric carbon levels drop. Win/win! In certain regions, businesses can find sizable grants to help cover the cost. Good Luck!~

Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, National Security, Nature, Oceans December 16, 2019January 7, 2020

Consumers Profit from Circular Economy

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 16, 2019
by Noreen Wise

Finally, the era of consumer profit has arrived. We’ve certainly earned this
unexpected windfall after nearly two centuries of corporate greed destroying our hopes & dreams by restraining our financial ability to achieve them.

Now that our golden opportunity is upon us, let’s try and maximize the amazing possibilities so we can quickly increase our disposable income and apply this boost to health, education and long term goals.

A circular economy is created through the principals of Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. This requires a bit of imagination and resourcefulness, key characteristics of the creative, the artists and those with right brain strengths.

According to the Centre of Expertise on Resources, the tools for succeeding at a “no waste” circular economy are straight forward:

Refuse: try to eliminate using our natural resources when there are other alternatives
Reduce: lower the need for using natural resources, by reusing products already manufactured
Reuse: rayon paper towels can be washed and reused over and over
Repair: if the screen breaks on our phones, we simply repair rather than buy a new one
Refurbish: improving a product when it ages, ie repainting, polishing, etc
Remanufacture: improving an old product and using in a new way (broken outdoor shutters create beautiful indoor wall hangings… ART!)
Repurpose: reuse a product for a new purpose without having to change anything about it (glass jars are best example, buy pickles in a glass jar, when done we now have a storage container)
Recycle: reusing a products raw materials
Recover: use waste to make energy

HillReport12-16-19a — photography by AdobeStock

The most useful & effective reusable product that I’ve stumbled upon are rayon paper towels that can be washed, dried & reused indefinitely. They hold up well. I was spending $6 per week on paper towels, and now $0. That’s an easy $312 in my pocket.

We’ve got THIS!

Climate Action, Climate Change, National Security, Nature, Public Safety November 30, 2019December 19, 2019

More States Banning Single-Use Plastic Bags | Reusables for Every Store

Washington (GGM) Analysis | November 30, 2019
by Noreen Wise

The holiday shopping season has begun. Packed malls and stores from coast to coast. American consumers are expected to spend nearly a half trillion dollars from Thanksgiving through December 25, 2019. But how many US shoppers will rely on their reusable bags at every store they visit?

Prior to 1977, stores offered paper bags to shoppers. But once the first plastic shopping bags appeared in 1977, the switch to plastic was swift and furious and by the end of the 1990’s, the vast majority of retail outlets across the globe relied on single-use plastic. According to The World Counts:

we consume 5 trillion single-use plastic bags per year
160,000 single-use plastic bags per second
but sadly, less than 1% of these are recycled
single-use plastic bags are made from oil, gas & coal which produce a significant amount of carbon
one ton of recycled single-use plastic bags equals 11 barrels of oil
the public’s seeming indifference to the extensive damage single-use plastic causes the environment, as well as it’s impact on climate change, has resulted in several states stepping in to regulate the use of single-use plastic bags

According to U.S. News & World Report:

Connecticut just passed a law that went into effect August 1 2019, banning single-use plastic bags in grocery stores and restaurants by July 2021. Some grocery store chains and restaurants have already begun transitioning patrons to the ban by ditching all plastic bags and charging shoppers .10 cents for paper bags, as well as passing along a discount to shoppers who bring their own reusables. Businesses that continue to provide singles-use plastic bags these next 19 months will charge shoppers a .10 cent tax for each plastic bag. This is an excellent model for other states to follow.

California was the very first state to ban single-use plastic bags back in 2014, and San Francisco was the first US city in 2007
New York jumped in and banned single-use plastic bags on Earth Day 2019; the ban will go into effective March of 2020
Hawaii hasn’t officially banned these deadly bags, but beginning in 2015 every county in the state has barred them, so Hawaii too is included in the count of state bans

The Center for Biological Diversity has provided a critical list of key facts about the harm of single-use plastic bags:

the average American household uses 1,500 sing-use plastic shopping bags per year
80% of the oceans’ massive toxic plastic island, the size of France, floating in the Pacific, comes from the plastic’s use on land
once it begins swirling around in the ocean, plastic is broken down into micro plastic fragments the size of rice and ingested by the majority of marine mammals
267 marine species are impacted by plastic
each year, 100,000 marine animals die from plastic consumption
once dumped in a landfill, it will take 500+ years for a plastic bag to degrade

It’s time to ACT. SAVE a LIFE this Holiday Season. There’s no need to wait for a ban in our states. Shop with REUSABLE bags at EVERY store beginning immediately.

Let’s GO. We can do this!

Climate Action, Climate Change, National Security November 17, 2019January 7, 2020

Ketchup & Climate Action

Washington (GGM) Analysis | November 17, 2019
by Noreen Wise

I was really proud of myself this weekend when I was grocery shopping. I promised myself on the way to the store that I would follow through with my commitment to cut plastic from my grocery list, and would no longer buy my beloved ketchup in a plastic container. I was even willing to pay more for the glass.

But when I arrived in front of the condiment section, wasn’t I shocked to discover that there wasn’t a single brand of ketchup in bottles. This was mind boggling, especially after making my way up and down the various aisles, and seeing so many products packaged in glass: BBQ sauces, pickles, jams and jellies, mustards, vinegar, salad dressing. I was cheering the success of the world’s sustained call to action to rid the planet of plastic. But, arriving at ketchup took the wind out of my sails.

In fact, I was in disbelief that ketchup leader Heinz had not responded to consumer demand and felt extremely frustrated. I’d even called Heinz a few weeks ago, and then tweeted about it. So this did not sit will with me. I had to make a change. There was no way I’d be able to drive home feeling ashamed that I wasn’t strong enough to follow through with my promise. I simply had to find an alternative. But, how is it possible to replace ketchup with something similar? What were my choices, salad dressing? BBQ sauce?

I backed up a few feet to reassess the BBQ sauce possibilities. Surely there was a flavor that would do the trick. I quickly scanned one row, then the next… then onto the third. Voila! Pioneer Woman BBQ Sauce – Apple Brown Sugar. Not only did this flavor look divine, but the shape of the bottle meant I’d be able to use a spoon. (Do you remember the Heniz commercials with Carol King’s Anticipation?) Twenty-four hours later, I can assure you this BBQ sauce is amazing. I’m so grateful to have discovered it. And now I feel wonderful knowing that by stepping out of my comfort zone in the grocery store aisle, I’ve had the pleasure of falling in love with a new product that I never would have ever had the good pleasure of being introduced to. But the ultimate satisfaction was realizing that this type of little everyday change can save someone’s life. It’s the easiest feel good ever.

I mentioned my exciting BBQ sauce find to a friend, and she surprised me by letting me know I could buy glass bottled Heinz ketchup on Amazon. Whoa, awesome! Yet, this new BBQ sauce is so tasty, I think I’ll do both.

Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, National Security November 15, 2019January 4, 2022

Fire Drill Friday | Jane Fonda Keeps Us Focused On #1 Priority

Washington (GGM) Analysis | November 15, 2019
by Noreen Wise

It was an emotional day on Capitol Hill with defamed ex-Ambassador for Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, testifying in the second impeachment hearing for Donald J. Trump. The details outlined by Ms. Yovanovitch were critical and seem to have sealed Trump’s fate. I speculate he’ll be impeached by New Years Eve 2019.

Meanwhile, a few hundred yards away, in the warming sunlight, Jane Fonda rallied Americans with her sixth Friday Fire Drill. Her mission is to draw awareness to the Green New Deal and the important role fossil fuels have played on our climate’s demise.

Fonda was not arrested today, but she prides herself on the positive impact her protesting and subsequent arrests have had on the climate emergency cause. Today’s climate focus was on our oceans and rising sea levels as well as the urgent need to break free from plastic.

Although Fonda wasn’t arrested, two of her tag-along friends were: Marg Helgenberger and Robert Kennedy Jr. It seems these wonderful climate activists consider their arrests their red badge of courage.

The holiday shopping season has arrived. It’s imperative that we keep our resolve to act now on lowering atmospheric carbon levels by the choices we make during the holiday season. Every tiny decision will save a life. For example, it’s advised that no red meat for any festivities. Avoid plastic packaging. Buy grocery products in glass bottles. Let’s promise to keep our eyes wide open as we claw through the packed aisles, and make the right selections when we reach toward a store shelf.

Another positive choice is to buy local. It’s mind boggling how dramatic this simple decision can make. Again, it’s all about being aware, and making a commitment in advance to save our oceans and brighten our children’s futures. We can do this!

Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment, Nature November 9, 2019January 7, 2020

A REAL Solution – Urban Tree Canopy | Act Now

Washington (GGM) Analysis | November 9, 2019
by Noreen Wise

The emerging concept of “green intelligence” is bringing much needed analytical assessments to the attention of mayors across the country. We understand the
importance of planting thousands of trees in our local communities. But apparently, where we plant trees really makes a difference.

How do we determine the best locations for each household to plant ten trees? Thankfully, the USDA’s Forest Service Northern Research Station has just released a valuable analysis termed UTC, Urban Tree Canopy. The UTC Assessment is made up of geospatial data that can be used to strategically outline where exactly new trees should be planted in a town or city, and approximately how many will net the maximum benefit. It can be used as a guide in every city in America to identify which areas in each city need more tree work and tree TLC. New York City’s Hudson Yards’ revitalization is an excellent example.

By the way, Urban Tree Canopy is the complete tree mass — made up of branches, leaves and stems — that covers the ground when looking down from above the treeline.

Here are the facts:

Trees make a vital, positive impact on all communities, particularly cities where there’s a dense population
Trees improve storm water run-off by capturing rain water in their canopy and discharging it into the atmosphere.
The EPA asserts that, “Tree roots and leaf litter create soil conditions that promote the infiltration of rainwater into the soil.”
So with more trees, there should be less street flooding.

Trees provide shelter from the heat, and lower urban temperatures.
Trees reduce air pollution by absorbing toxins into the roots, bark and leaves. Trees also absorb a significant amount of CO2, as well us provide us with the oxygen we need to live.
Once trees have been planted, wildlife habitat will soon follow. This rich habitat includes wonderful insects, birds, bats, butterflies and small mammals.

Trees beautify our communities which increases property values and improves our mental health.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson, and our founding fathers for that matter, strongly believed that trees and gardens were so critical in ensuring our emotional strength and stability, that they insisted trees be planted across Capitol Hill and that a Botanic Garden be established at its base.
Trees improve the economic viability of a city or town.
Trees nurture the community spirit and strengthen community ties. In this day and age with the opioid crisis still haunting our communities, it’s nice to know that we can grab onto something positive, inspirational and healthy that will improve our quality of life and draw us all together.

The facts are clear. Numerous life saving benefits, and a plan that the whole community can participate in. Team work. It’s time to attend town hall meetings to discuss our local community’s Urban Tree Canopy assessment. Did our mayors and town counsel members even read the UTC released by the USDA’s Forest Service? Let’s find out.