ReThink Energy Florida!

Whether you stayed in or celebrated with friends, Earth Hour was a beautiful moment across the planet. It was a moment to come together as families and communities and realize that perhaps the world will be more beautiful if we turn off the TVs, the gamecubes, and, yes, the lights, and enjoy each others’ company. So – if you joined in in your own way, in Florida or elsewhere, thanks!

Don’t let that moment be isolated! it is now time to carry on the momentum! We have encouraged people to eat locally for a week. With its transportation, processing and packaging, our current food system puts tremendous stress on the environment through its fossil fuel and energy use.  A typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach you. In the U.S., a wheat farmer can expect to receive about six cents of each dollar spent on a loaf of bread, whereas farmers’ markets enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer! (Facts from http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/)

So, we encourage you to cut out as much of that transportation, processing and packaging by buying local. Whatever you do, figure out a way to keep the beauty of Earth Hour going. You can read what others are doing to keep the momentum going here: http://rethinkenergyflorida.org/earth-hour-2012/leaders

Rethink Energy is challenging Floridians to power down and turn out their lights from 8:30-9:30 PM, Saturday March 31, 2012 in support of Earth Hour. Hundreds of millions of people across the world will turn off their lights for an hour to show their commitment to taking action to reduce our impact on the Earth.

More than 1000 of the world’s man-made marvels and natural wonders, including the Pyramids in Egypt, Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Niagara Falls, Beijing’s Forbidden City, Cape Town’s Table Mountain, Sydney Opera House, Buckingham Palace and Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, stood in darkness symbolizing a landmark moment in the planet’s environmental consciousness.

Take the pledge to turn out your lights 8:30-9:30 PM, Saturday March 31, 2012. We also challenge you to take it a step further! What can you do that is a next step in taking care of this planet? Make your pledge online here: http://rethinkenergyflorida.org/earth-hour-2012/pledge

Also, we can use assistance getting people to complete the pledge online or on paper cards. If you are able to take the pledge cards to events to get them completed, let Kim Ross know at kim@rethinkenergyflorida.org or 850-766-1300

Finally, make plans to come to Lake Ella in Tallahassee on the 31^st, from 8 PM to 9:30 to celebrate Earth Hour. We’ll have a candlelight celebration followed by a musical jam. All family friendly activities that don’t use electricity are encouraged and alternative methods of getting there are encouraged as well.

More information about Earth Hour can be found here: http://earthhour.org

A word on hope: Hope has gotten a lot of negative attention lately. Indeed, I meet a lot of people who are tired of the status quo, but don’t have any motivation to make anything different. They’ve given up.

Yes – we’re living in a difficult time, and yes, the magnitude of climate change and fossil fuel consumption is huge, while it seems, many people just don’t get it! But – don’t give up hope yet! A quick search of the online dictionaries tells us hope is a wish or desire accompanied by confidence and expectation of fulfillment. I dare say, none of us on this email list has given up wishing for a sustainable and clean energy environment. And It is in our action that we find confidence – because we can’t afford not to move forward and act!

One of my favorite quotes is from Vandana Shiva: “The uncertainty of our times is no reason to be certain about hopelessness.”

It is in that spirit that I invite you to be a part of Energize Florida Week next week – along with all of the other transformational activities we have planned.

“Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required.

Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible.

Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.”

-Paul Hawken

Rethink Energy stands with many other environmental groups in opposition to the KeyStone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline represents a single decision that would do great detriment to the fight against climate change. Only President Obama will make this decision. Therefore we are asking our supporters to write letters and make phone calls to ask President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. Click here for talking points and how to be a part of the organized movement.

Rethink Energy welcomes the FSU Chapter! They will be meeting on Tuesdays at 7 PM on or near campus. We look forward to hearing more from them soon as they help Florida State rethink energy!

Rethink Energy is participating with the Tallahassee 350.org Team to put on the ‘Moving Our Planet’ Event in Railroad Square from 4 to 8 on Saturday September 24. You can click here for the Tallahassee event or go to http://www.moving-planet.org to find an event near you. In the end, the message is simple – get moving to a fossil fuel free future. The time is  now!

Anniversaries are supposed to be happy occasions, but we have an upcoming one that is somber. April 20 will mark a year since the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe began. Rethink  Energy Florida will mark this event with a ‘State of the Gulf‘ panel discussion on April 21 on FSU’s campus in Tallahassee. Please plan to join us to learn where our Gulf is in its ecosystem and economic recovery, and where our state and country is in moving toward a new energy paradigm. More information is on the events page.

Someone once asked me ‘why even try?’ It seems to me that the individual asking the question was devoid of hope. There are lots of things to be concerned about. Climate Change, the economy, peak oil. However, these concerns should only give us reasons to serve and be helpful. If we jump from being unconcerned to giving up, we’ve missed a wealth of opportunity in the middle. And in that middle, where we are being active toward resolving our concerns and implementing positive change – that is where we find hope.

So I invite you to look around the web-site, get involved in the events we’ve got coming up, and move our state and this world in the direction you want it to go – out of the paradigm of fossil fuels and into a new energy paradigm.

Happy New Year!

This past year has been full of ups and downs.

April 20^th remains a shocking moment in my mind, a moment that spurred you and I into action, not just because of the horrors of our Gulf’s suffering, but also because it is time – it is past time – to shift how we obtain and use energy in this country.

Rethink Energy Florida (as Crude Awakening) called for and was excited to see the Governor call a special session to put a permanent near-shore oil drilling ban on the 2010 ballot. But several of you were standing beside me as we watched our Florida Legislature ‘Gavel and Go.’ That was another sad day in Florida’s political history.

We knew even before the results of the special session that we’d embarked on a long path. We knew it would take years of effort to see through what we stated in the beginning: that we would be active until every drop of oil is cleaned up responsibly, there is a permanent moratorium on off-shore oil drilling, and there is a serious renewable energy policy in place that moves us swiftly away from dependence on oil.

So, Rethink Energy Florida formed. We began listening and educating through community forums, study groups, and educational events. We continued our letter writing. We are grateful to those of you who came out and supported our Kick-off Fundraiser. In the background, we’ve been setting up the structure to move this organization forward.

And so I am grateful to announce that the following people have joined me on the board: Dr. Rachel Sutz-Pienta, Ron Patrick, Jan Sundstrom, and Melissa Forehand. We are now setting up our advisory council as well, and envision announcing the council in the next two months.

I also thrilled to announce that we are officially in the ‘501c3’ process, having completed the arduous paperwork process, and so any of you who have contributed or would like to make a year-end contribution, please do so at: http://rethinkenergyflorida.org/donations

The New Year will bring more fun: We will be hosting a Citizen Action Day at the legislature, working with others on transitioning to more resilient communities that are less dependent on fossil fuels, and joining the 2012 ballot petition initiative to permanently ban drilling off Florida’s coasts. We’ll also be doing some Strategic Planning to ensure we achieve our mission of: educating, engaging, and empowering citizens to take action toward achieving energy independence and a sustainable environment. We are dedicated to generating the will of the people that we have energy independence and a sustainable environment. Finally we will be working to set up chapters around the state, in communities and on campuses, to fulfill this mission.

All of this takes effort, and we do need your help. The simplest thing you can do is to go to: http://rethinkenergyflorida.org/petition to print off the petition, following the directions to sign it and send it in. We also need people who want to join our efforts in laying out the groundwork through the advisory council and the strategic planning.  Finally, we need your voice and volunteering – we will need people to help with the lobby day, the transition efforts, and other educational events. As you plan out your year and set goals for yourself, please keep the efforts we and other organizations are making to swiftly shift our energy away from fossil fuels and toward renewables in the forefront of your mind. And email back to join in the fun!

Happy New Year!

Kim Ross, President, ReThink Energy Florida