Okay, energy/environment diaries are not my primary forte. I’m sure someone could do a way, way better job with this than I could.
But being in media, I get all kinds of funky emails. I got one from CEI a couple of hours back that we’ll have fun tearing up below the fold.

I seem to have found myself in an email exchange with this media relations person at the moment. She asked me what I don’t like about the “CO2 is Life” ads. Have at, GMDers, and here’s what I found in my mailbox about an hour ago:

Contact: Christine Hall   

               

Does Al Gore Need To Go On An `Energy Diet’?

New Video Exposes Behind-the-Scenes Story of Gore’s Own Energy Use

Washington, DC, May 24, 2006–As former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming fears debuts today, a new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracks Gore’s own “carbon footprint.”  CEI’s 70-second video points out that Gore himself is a big user of the hydrocarbon fuels that produce carbon dioxide when combusted.

Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” asks, “Are you willing to change the way you live?”  The Gore documentary and new book of the same name go on to suggest ways that people can reduce their carbon footprint, yet Mr. Gore has clearly not taken his own message to heart.  He even says in the documentary that he has given his global warming Power Point slide show more than 1,000 times all around the world.

The CEI video, which may be viewed at: http://streams.cei.org/… includes footage of Gore and his constant air travel with two CO2 meters running at the bottom of the page that compare Gore’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those of an average person.

“All the evidence suggests that Mr. Gore is an elitist who passionately believes that the people of the world must drastically reduce their energy use but that it doesn’t apply to him,” said Myron Ebell, CEI’s director of energy and global warming policy and the creator of the video.

“While the CEI video pokes fun at Mr. Gore’s profligate consumption of the world’s petroleum resources, we don’t begrudge his lifestyle that requires using as much energy as a small village in America or a medium-sized town in Africa,” Ebell explained.  “The mobility that jet fuel and gasoline provide is a good thing and the benefits of abundant energy should be available to all people, not just the elite.  CEI calls on Mr. Gore to stop preaching against the petroleum products he uses so lavishly and instead join us in promoting access to energy,” Ebell concluded.

Some examples of Gore’s recent travels: In promoting his movie in mid-May, he and his entourage appeared at a gala preview screening in Atlanta on Monday the 15th , at an even more glamorous preview in Hollywood the next night, and at another lavish preview in Washington the night after that.  That’s two cross-country trips in three days.  By the end of last week, Mr. Gore was at the Cannes film festival in France, where it was reported that he and his entourage used five large SUVs to travel 500 yards.

The CEI website also contains two brief CEI public service advertisements that point out the enormous benefits we derive from hydrocarbon energy, which provides approximately 85% of global energy needs, and the biased media coverage of the scientific debate over global warming.

CEI is a Washington, DC-based non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.

Okay. Doesn’t this attack on Al Gore show a certain…..desperation?
I’m actively corresponding with Christine Hall-Reis at the moment, to the extent I can while working. She asked me, “What is it about the ads you don’t like?”
My response, done on the fly, with very little time to do real research:

Lies. Carbon dioxide is poison to animal life., we all know this. I was an emergency medical technician. They teach us these things, you know? Symbiotic gas exchange works just fine, thank you, without smokestacks belching more into the air. I found the statement about “produced by the fuels we use that saved us from centuries of backbreaking labor” particularly disingenuous.
Global warming, Michael Crichton notwithstanding, is accepted science. Burning petrochemicals and production of hydrocarbons contributes significantly to that. I also find disiongenuos CEI’s claim to be a nonpartisan organization when it has been clearly demonstrated that these efforts, and these attacks on Al Gore for speaking a truth inconvenient to Exxon, are funded by Exxon.

You may find this interesting:

http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/…

Also interesting, but brief: (skim through the comments)

http://www.dailykos.com/…

This isn’t brief. It’s very, very detailed, but it lays it out very well:

http://www.dailykos.com/…

Take a lunch with this diary.

In short, to quote Dear Leader Bush:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

Cheers! and CLEAN AIR.

-eddie

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Some extrordinary things are happening in the blogosphere. Far from simply being a place for the disaffected or dissatisfied to rant (or even just to organize), activists with experience, expertise and genuine passion are increasingly using the blogosphere to network, collaborate, and present substantive proposals on the issues of the day. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be trying to bring the most discussion worthy to light.

The cream of the crop is definitely the Energy Proposal put forth by several bloggers, with Jerome a Paris on point, by way of Daily Kos. I will reprint the executive summary here, and then provide a link to the complete, voluminous plan, for those interested enough to peruse it and comment on it here. It’s truly extraordinary.

Energize America – Achieving U.S. Energy Security by 2020 – Executive Summary

Objectives

To provide the U.S. with Energy Security by 2020 and Energy Independence by 2040 by: 1) reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75%, 2) reducing oil imports by 50%, 3) generating 25% of electricity from renewable sources, and 4) creating or preserving over three million new jobs by 2020.

Description

America remains dangerously and increasingly addicted to fossil fuels, which directly threatens national security, economic stability and the overall quality of American life.  In addition to remaining critically dependent upon imported oil to meet transportation needs, America remains highly dependent upon domestic coal to meet its needs for electricity.  The rapidly growing use of both of these fossil fuels generates enormous amounts of GHGs, which become trapped in the earth’s atmosphere and contribute to global warming and its associated extreme weather events and sea level changes.

Interruptions to oil, gas or coal supplies by natural or man-made events can cause significant and prolonged economic pain and social turmoil with little or no warning.

America once led the world in both automotive and renewable energy engineering, but has seen this lead vanish to foreign competitors along with well over a million manufacturing jobs.

Energize America is a grassroots effort created and refined by informed citizen activists, and not by lobbyists or politicians.  As such, it takes an unvarnished and objective look at U.S. energy policy with the single goal of achieving U.S. energy security by 2020, defined as the ability to withstand a prolonged supply interruption, and U.S. energy independence by 2040, defined as energy self-sufficiency.

Energize America provides an ambitious but achievable 20-point plan to wean America from its fossil fuel addiction, to dramatically and responsibly reduce GHG emissions, to rebuild America’s manufacturing base, and to insulate the American economy from the effects of political turmoil, natural catastrophes and shrinking oil supplies worldwide. 

Energize America strongly favors a free market-based approach to solving our energy dilemma, though the plan is clearly guided by a strategic vision of a sustainable energy future and a public-private partnership model based on the highly-successful Apollo lunar program.

Energize America will leverage the incredible power and innovation of American industry to research, develop and commercialize energy efficiency technologies that will provide significant and continuous improvements to American consumers, and will help focus and unleash this creativity through clear and consistent policies and substantial long-term tax and regulatory incentives.

Energize America aims to create a level playing field for all energy providers, consumers and technologies.  For renewable energy sources, this will mean subsidizing the development and deployment of wind, solar, biomass and other solutions.  These investments will help these clean and local sources of energy compete more effectively with fossil fuels, which have benefited from decades of direct subsidies and other benefits.  Figure 2 below highlights one example of the historical disparity in federal financial support for nuclear and wind power – with nuclear power enjoying nearly 40 times the financial assistance of wind over an initial 15 year development period while delivering only slightly more gross electricity production.

Benefits

Energize America will transform American society – from the way we generate and use energy, to the way we design and drive vehicles, to the way we think about energy efficiency and conservation, to the way we deal with foreign governments.  In short, Energize America will create an energy-aware culture that treats energy as a strategic and vital economic resource, and which leads the world in the design and manufacture of renewable energy systems and energy efficient products.

Energize America will:

enable Americans to soon drive vehicles that are far safer, cleaner, and dramatically more fuel-efficient than today’s vehicles,

maximize energy efficiency in homes and businesses,

strengthen the U.S. industrial base,

ensure that the United States leads the world in the benefits of clean coal, in the design, manufacture and export of renewable energy systems, and in the reduction of GHGs, 

save taxpayers money by lowering the cost of operating federal, state and local governments,

save the US economy billions of dollars per year through reduced medical and other costs associated with global warming and pollution.

Most importantly, Energize America will ensure that all Americans can enjoy continued access to safe, reliable and affordable energy. 

In sum, Energize America will save Americans trillions of dollars in energy costs and reduce GHG emissions 75% by 2020, and make energy independence by 2040 attainable.

Benefit Examples

Homeowners – will save money from:
1)  highly energy efficient dwellings,
2)  an ability to directly control energy costs,
3)  greater energy provider choice, and
4)  the ability to generate some or all of their own electricity needs.

Businesses – will benefit from:
1)  energy-optimized buildings and factories,
2)  increased control over energy costs,
3)  greater ability to generate some or all of their energy needs, and
4)  access to new markets for energy-efficient products and services

US Automakers – will profit from:
1)  access to a ready market for ultra fuel efficient vehicles
2)  the creation and retention of over 1 million auto manufacturing jobs
3)  a rare opportunity to regain a competitive edge globally

Communities – will gain from:
1)  energy availability in the event of an unplanned, large-scale power failure
2)  energy solutions matched to local needs and resources
3)  new jobs from renewable energies, particularly for rural and remote communities
4)  enhanced ability to attract and retain new residents and businesses

Environment – will benefit from:
1)  stabilized GHG levels
2)  the protection of natural resources and designated ecosystems

Energize America will undoubtedly be attacked by special interests — namely the fossil fuel lobbies that will resist its aggressive migration to renewable energy sources.  In addition, those who do not agree that global warming poses a growing threat may challenge its GHG emissions goals.  Energize America will not please everyone, but it is designed with all Americans, and all future generations, in mind.  Following is a summary of Energize America’s position relative to existing energy sources.

Oil
Energize America is driven by the reality of ‘Peak Oil’, the fact our planet is reaching or has reached an irreversible period of shrinking oil production- which is compounded by rapidly growing demand worldwide.  Tar sands and other oil sources can provide some stop-gap relief from Peak Oil but cannot fully replace increasingly expensive and rare oil. Energize America aims to make the U.S. functionally free from imported oil by 2040 for national security, economic, and environmental reasons. 

Coal
America enjoys the largest coal reserves in the world, which is both a blessing and a curse.  Coal can meet our long-term needs for electricity and can also be liquefied into oil for transportation.  However, the mining of coal can be devastating to the environment if not done carefully, and the burning of coal can release significant amounts of GHGs into the atmosphere if not done responsibly. Energize America aims to minimize the environmental and GHG impact of coal use.

Nuclear
Nuclear power is experiencing a political resurgence of sorts, and several new plants are in various stages of planning.  However, the nuclear industry enjoys huge subsidies that shield the industry from nuclear disaster liability.  The nuclear industry and our government have also failed for decades to solve the nuclear waste problem.  These issues must be addressed before nuclear power is more widely used.

Investment

Energize America will require an investment of approximately $250 billion through 2020, or roughly $20 billion per year – a strategic investment that will provide substantial returns immediately and for generations to come.  Included in Act XX is a balanced funding strategy to achieve U.S. energy security. 

Energize America Acts

The following Acts are detailed in the full version of the plan (to be posted tomorrow):

I…….The Passenger Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Act (“500mpg cars”)
II……The Transportation Industry Efficiency Act (“Long Haul”)
III…..The Fleets Conversion Act (“Mass Transit”)
IV…..The Community-Based Energy Investment Act (“Neighborood Power”)
V……The Passenger Rail Restoration Act (“Bullet Trains”)
VI…..The Clean Coal Generation Act (“Clean Coal”)
VII….The Wind Energy Production Tax Credit Act (“Reap the Wind”)
VIII…The 20 Million Solar Roof Act (“Harness the Sun”)
IX…..The Renewable Portfolio Standards Act (“Fair Everywhere”)
X……The Federal Net Metering Act (“Get on the Grid”)
XI…..The State-Based Renewable Energy Investment Act (“Green States”)
XII….The New Energy Technology Demonstration Act (“Liquid Coal and Golden Glow”)
XIII…The Sustainable Energy Economic Prosperity Act (“Focused for Lasting Success”)
XIV…The Carbon Reduction Act (“Atmosphere Stability”)
XV….The Federal Energy Policy Enforcement Act (“People’s Energy Watchdog”)
XVI…The National Energy Efficiency & Conservation Act (“EnergySMART”)
XVII..The Home Efficiency Act (“C the Light”)
XVIII.The Demand Side Management Act (“Real Time Energy Pricing”)
XIX…The Telecommuter Assistance Act (“Work Smart”)
XX….The Energy Security Funding Act (“Paying the Piper”)

Interesting, yes?

For the complete plan, click here.