GREEN DMV, a non-profit organization that promotes the use of clean energy and the development of green jobs as a way out of poverty, will work with selected churches in the bishops’ districts to assess their energy use and to implement low- and no-cost strategies for reducing energy use. The results will be shared with other AME congregations when thousands convene in Nashville, June 27-July 4, for the 49th Quadrennial Session of the AME Church General Conference.

According to Bishops McKenzie and Richardson, this green initiative is built on the premise that environmental responsibility can be a part of a church’s stewardship, yielding both financial and community-oriented benefits.

“We want to help our congregations and communities save energy and generate dollar savings that can be used to extend their work,” said Bishop McKenzie, whose 13th Episcopal District includes Tennessee and Kentucky. “Some of our churches are very large and consume a great deal of energy, so there is the potential for significant savings,” she said.

“AME churches come in all sizes and states of repair, with some dating back more than 100 years, so there is great potential for savings from becoming more energy efficient,” said Bishop Richardson, whose Second Episcopal District includes Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and North Carolina. “We will explore how to go about recovering costs. We want to be on the cutting edge and still contribute savings to the environment.”

The Environmental Protection Agency, which maintains an Energy Star Congregations Network to provide information and technical support for churches that want to go green, will provide guidance during the launch of the project. The EPA estimates that if the nation’s 370,000 congregations reduce energy use by 10 percent, they would save nearly $315 million and provide 1.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity without additional cost or pollution.

“African American churches have been integral players in every movement for positive social change throughout the history of this nation, so the leadership of the AME bishops is part of a long and honored tradition. We view this collaboration as a unique opportunity to achieve farreaching results in a sector that will determine the kind of planet we leave for our children and grandchildren,” said Ralph B. Everett, President and CEO of the Joint Center.

“We are excited to be part of this groundbreaking partnership with such visionary leaders, and look forward to sharing environmental best practices that will benefit churches around the nation.” said Danielle Deane, Director of the Joint Center’s Energy and Environment Program.

The initiative is supported by a grant from the Walmart Foundation.

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The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s leading research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. To learn more, please visit www.jointcenter.org.

Deane, who recently completed the full eight-year term as an Environment Program Officer at the Hewlett Foundation in California, will guide the program’s strategic direction and operations and manage the activities of the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change. The Commission, a national panel of leading experts from government, industry, academia, labor, consumer protection and environmental interests, was established by the Joint Center four years ago with support from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Its goal is to help enhance African Americans’ awareness and understanding of climate change and to advance their perspectives in critical policy forums. Ms. Deane will begin her new duties at the Joint Center on March 8, 2012.

While at the Hewlett Foundation, Deane was responsible for investing over $20 million during her tenure to broaden and strengthen the environmental movement in California. She designed and implemented the “New Constituencies for the Environment” initiative that expanded the engagement and impact on environmental issues of a range of multicultural, medical, faith-based, labor, and industry partners. The initiative was a key driver of large-scale clean air and climate policy advancements in California that are expected to save billions of dollars in health care costs. Deane also served on the board of the Environmental Grantmakers Association and was a 2007-2008 Connecting Leaders Fellow of the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE).

Earlier in her career, Deane served as a financial analyst and broker at Guy Carpenter and Company, the international reinsurance brokerage arm of Marsh and McLennan Companies. She was a Fellow of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and conducted research at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

“Danielle Deane brings to our Energy and Environment Program a wealth of policy, business and research experience, as well as a record of success in expanding engagement among a wide variety of critical partners on the important environmental issues of the day,” said Ralph B. Everett, the Joint Center’s President and CEO. “Her success working with colleagues to build support for innovative and effective policies will be of enormous value to our organization as we continue to raise our profile on climate change and other vital issues related to energy and the environment.”

“I am honored to have the opportunity to build on the Joint Center’s groundbreaking work on environmental policy, as well as to help further the leadership of the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change,” said Deane. “I look forward to helping the Joint Center advance its position as a leader in the movement for sustainable growth that expands economic opportunity while enhancing prospects for a more healthful environment in our most vulnerable communities.”

Deane is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. She holds a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in Environment and Development, and a B.A. from Williams College in Political Economy with an Environmental Studies Concentration.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s leading research and public policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. To learn more, please visit www.jointcenter.org.

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As a UNCF friend and member of the NAACP, please help support minority higher education by marking your ballot and choosing UNCF An Evening of Stars® Tribute to Chaka Khan as the Best Variety Special for 2011. An Image Award win and the related publicity and exposure can only help to advance UNCF’s mission and keep us top-of-mind for people across the United States.

To vote for the UNCF Tribute to Chaka Khan:
Only NAACP members are eligible to vote. Paper ballots are located in the Winter issue of The Crisis magazine distributed now to all 300,000 NAACP members. Each ballot will have a six-digit access code. Members can vote online at http://www.naacpimageawards.net using the six-digit access code found on the ballot. The voting deadline is midnight PST on Sunday, February 12, 2012.

If you have not yet received your magazine, please contact the NAACP Membership Department during business hours to obtain your ID: 1 (866) 636-2227

The 43rd Annual Image Awards will be presented live Friday, Feb. 17, on NBC.

We appreciate your support now and in the coming year. Your vote for UNCF An Evening of Stars® tribute will help us showcase the work of UNCF and our 38 member schools!

GPP will co-host this webinar with EPA’s State and Local Climate and Energy Program to highlight how municipalities from around the country are leveraging EPA programs to reduce the impacts of their communities’ energy use. EPA program managers will discuss the Green Power Community and Climate Showcase Communities programs as well as the tools and resources these programs offer participating communities. Representatives from two EPA Green Power Communities – Washington, DC and Corvallis, Oregon – will present during the webinar to provide information on their Green Power Community experience; Corvallis will also discuss its Climate Showcase activities.

Speakers include:

· Mollie Lemon, Communications Director, EPA’s Green Power Partnership

· Emma Zinsmeister, Lead Local Climate-Strategy Analyst, EPA’s State and Local Climate Energy Program

· Emil King, Policy Analyst, District Department of the Environment

· Michael Yambrach, Energy Manager, District Department of General Services

· Linda Lovett, Sustainability Supervisor, Corvallis, Oregon

Register for this webinar at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/576616378.

• Title VI Compliance
• Environmental justice impacts of transportation on public health
• Diversity in STEM education, training and employment
• Equitable considerations in developing and implementing a clean energy policy
• Community-scale green energy solutions
• Diversity in Federal energy, environmental and economic initiatives
• Historically Black Colleges and Other Minority Serving Institutions Participation in
• Environmental Justice activities
• Tribal participation in energy production and environmental protection
• Impact of going green on EJ populations including Black farmers
• Diversity in alternative and renewable energy production
• Environmental justice activities in Federal, state and local governments
• Measuring community attributes
• Impact of going green on EJ populations
• Diversity in environmentalism
• Implications of funding different transportation modes for use by EJ communities
• Confronting Health Disparities
• EJ gap analysis benefits vs. burdens
• Participation of EJ communities in the decision-making process
• Diversity in Federal pipeline preparation
• Smart growth, equity and inclusion
• Climate change and sustainability
• Other

Please submit your abstract of 500 words or less to C4Papers @ejconference.net no later than February 15, 2012. Notice of acceptance will be sent on or before February 23, 2012. Commitment to present must be received on or before March 1, 2012. Complete papers are due on or before March 20, 2012.

Presenters will be required to cover all of their expenses to participate in the conference. A limited amount of financial assistance may be available to assist with conference expenses. Requests for financial assistance should be directed to F-A@ejconference.net no later than February 15, 2012.

Questions and requests for additional information should be directed to: JR@ejconference.net or call John Rosenthall, Conference Coordinator, on 202-508-3894 or 703-624-2257.

The problem is easily fixed. The United States Department of Agriculture provides retailers with free EBT machines, the machines that allow people to pay from a SNAP account – but only if they have a phone line. Most markets don’t. So they can’t accept SNAP, and low-income families lose access to fresh produce.

If the USDA provided EBT machines to all markets – which is possible, and at a low cost to the agency – every family could have access to healthier foods.

Join us in calling on USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to make this easy administrative change. Learn more here, or take action immediately.

The report, “Health and Economic Benefits of Clean Air Regulations,” authored by Patrick L. Kinney, ScD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health’s Program on Climate and Health, and MPH candidate Amruta Nori-Sarma, also examines the role that environmental justice issues play in the development of EPA regulations, and analyzes these findings in relation to a new poll conducted by Dr. David A. Bositis, Joint Center’s Senior Research Associate in conjunction with the report, “Three-City Survey of African Americans on EPA Regulations, Climate Change and Health.”

“This report demonstrates that not only do the EPA rules, such as the air toxics rule, make good economic sense, but they will noticeably impact the health and environment of African American populations and relieve burdens that have been disparately borne by this community”, said Ralph B. Everett, Joint Center’s President and CEO. “Given that low-income communities of color are disproportionately sited in close proximity to
industrial facilities, power plants, and heavily traveled roads, it’s clear that these rules will be of enormous benefit to residents in vulnerable communities.”

Building on available data from EPA, the report finds that six new air quality regulations that have been proposed or implemented by EPA demonstrate substantial excesses of benefits over costs. The rules analyzed include the Heavy-duty Vehicles Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Standards, the 2017-2025 Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Emissions and Café Standards, the Utility Air Toxics Rule, the Cross-State Air
Pollution Rule (CSAPR), the Boiler MACT, and the standards of Performance for Petroleum Refineries.

The report also highlights the importance of the two motor vehicle rules, as urban air pollution tends to be dominated by motor vehicle emissions. The most beneficial of these rules is the light-duty vehicle rule, with $561 billion in benefits and $140 billion in costs, yielding net societal benefits of $421 billion.

Additionally, the report discusses EPA’s analysis of CSAPR, which takes environmental justice issues into consideration and finds that the rule will provide significant health and environmental benefits to low income, minority, and tribal individuals in both rural areas and inner cities in the regions affected by the rule.

The accompanying poll, which surveyed 1500 African American adults in Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia, asked respondents about issues related to air quality, climate change and the need for regulations to control these problems.

Among the poll’s key findings:
A solid majority (59 percent) of African Americans polled in the three cities believe that global warming is causing serious problems
84 percent of respondents want the federal government to take strong action to deal with global warming
80 percent of respondents support EPA’s Toxics Rule
40 percent of respondents described the air quality where they lived as excellent or good, while 59 percent said the air quality where they lived was fair or poor
83 percent of those surveyed believe that environmental factors such as air pollution play a major role in causing asthma in children

The close correspondence between public opinion and analytical findings pointing to the health and economic benefits of further air quality improvements should provide a strong mandate for action by the federal government.

Copies of the White Paper, “Health and Economic Benefits of Clean Air Regulations” and Research Brief, “Three-City Survey of African Americans on EPA Regulations, Climate Change and Health” highlighting the poll results can be downloaded from the Joint Center’s website at www.jointcenter.org.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is one of the nation’s leading research and public policy institutions and theonly one whose work focuses primarily on issues of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. To learn more, please visit www.jointcenter.org.

The package of agreements making up the “Durban Platform” also include a new commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, the launch of the Green Climate Fund, and the implementation of the agreements made in Cancun, Mexico in 2010.

Marathon negotiating session

The successful conclusion of the awkwardly named 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came after a marathon, often fractious, three-night negotiating session in Durban’s International Convention Centre.

It was well after sunrise in the South African coastal city on Sunday that the conference president, Maite Koana-Mashabane, brought the gavel down on the last of the decisions comprising the Durban Platform – to the relief of the remaining bleary-eyed participants.

“We have taken crucial steps forward for the common good and the global citizenry today. I believe that what we have achieved in Durban will play a central role in saving tomorrow, today,” said Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation.

Praise for South Africa’s leadership

“I salute the countries who made this agreement,” said UNFCCC executive secretary Christiana Figueres. “They have all laid aside some cherished objectives of their own to meet a common purpose – a long-term solution to climate change.

“I sincerely thank the South African presidency, who steered through a long and intense conference to a historic agreement that has met all major issues.”

Read more: http://www.southafrica.info/cop17/deal-111211a.htm#ixzz1gKtX97O4

Generally, Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) are physically located in predominately black, low-wealth communities stretching from Pennsylvania to Texas. The vast majority of the 105 HBCUs are found in the southern states–a vulnerable region of the country where intense hurricanes, drought, flooding, and other climate-sensitive hazards are commonplace. Weather-related disasters are growing in frequency and intensity. Each year communities along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast states are hit with tropical storms and hurricanes forcing millions to flee to higher ground.

Climate-related disasters in the South have outnumbered those in other regions of the U.S. annually in both scale and magnitude by a ratio of almost 4:1 during the past 10 years. Keeping with our mission, it is not only important but necessary that HBCUs work collaboratively to find solutions to current and future environmental problems facing the most vulnerable in our society. Now, more than six years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast and drowned New Orleans in 2005, the scars of social inequality remain–and some have actually widened. African Americans and low-wealth households–the same groups that were most vulnerable before the storm–were hit hardest by flooding and have had the greatest difficulty returning and recovering from the disaster.

Climate change will exacerbate environmental health disparities and increase inequality between “haves” and “have-nots.” Students at HBCUs should understand how weather-related disasters (heat waves, hurricanes, flooding, sea-level rise, droughts, ground-level ozone, airborne allergens, and other pollutants) impact public health (heat stress, injuries, drowning, vector, food, and water-borne diseases, water and soil salinization, ecosystem disruption, food and water shortages, respiratory disease exacerbation, asthma, bronchitis, mental health) — increase social inequality (mass population movement, climate refugees, international conflict) as seen in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa as well as the fault lines of vulnerability seen in recent droughts and heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods caused by Hurricane Irene along the eastern seaboard.

Climate change has created millions of refugees. More than 38.3 million women, men and children were forced to move, mainly by floods and storms. According to the 2011 Climate Change Vulnerability Index, the top 10 climate endangered countries are Haiti, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Cambodia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and the Philippines. Africa is the most vulnerable region–occupying seven of the ten vulnerable countries vulnerable to climate change.

Climate change threatens global security and heightens conflicts between nations. Today, there are an estimated two million malnourished children in the Horn of Africa which is experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. In Somalia alone 600,000 children are at risk of starvation and by August about 30,000 children were believed to have died this year from preventable diseases. The Dadaab Camp in Kenya now has a population of nearly 500,000 Somali refugees–a population larger than the City of New Orleans.

The price tag for disasters is climbing. Global insured economic losses from climate-related disasters increased from $5 billion in 1970 to over $27 billion in 2010. A 2011 report from the Natural Resources Council puts the health cost of six U.S. climate events at $14 billion. Climate change was a big share of the $109 billion in economic damage in 2010. This is three times the costs in 2009. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reports that over 90 percent of all disaster displacement around the world in 2010 was caused by climate-related disasters.

Getting CO2 and other co-pollutants under control and integrating air-quality (i.e., reduction in criteria pollutants such as ozone, particulate matter; carbon monoxide; nitrogen oxides; sulfur dioxide, and lead) into climate change policy-making would result in disproportionate positive co-benefits to over-polluted communities. Climate change is a major global health threat. A 2011 report Climate Change and Your Health: Rising Temperatures, Worsening Ozone Pollution from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that unchecked global warming could increase ground-level ozone, threatening U.S. public health and the economy could cost approximately $5.4 billion in 2020. Climate change-induced ozone increases could result in 2.8 million additional serious respiratory illnesses, 5,100 additional infants and seniors hospitalized with serious breathing problems, and 944,000 additional missed school days in the United States in 2020.

Unfortunately, those who can least afford are already suffering the consequences. Although the developing countries make up 80 percent of world population, they are responsible for only one-fifth of historic global emissions. During COP 16, developed countries committed to contribute at least $100 billion per year to a Green Climate Fund for low-carbon and climate-resilient growth in developing countries. This voluntary fund is still being debated.

Finally, our goal is to position a HBCU climate consortium to take the lead in developing partnerships and collaboratives with other colleges and universities, nongovernmental organizations, government and the business community to train the next generation of leaders to develop solutions to climate-related and other environmental challenges–with an emphasis on social justice, health and sustainability. It is unlikely that the U.S. can achieve sustainability without addressing lingering social inequality–including environmental and health inequalities. We see just sustainability as a preferred strategy for bridging this wide gap–including the climate gap that hits the poor and people of color hardest. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of society that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. Social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that address climate change and promote sustainable development.

With initial support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, we have committed to build and grow a strong HBCU Climate Partnership.

Robert D. Bullard (www.drrobertbullard.com
) is Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston. His most recent book is entitled “Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States” (APHA Press 2011).