With the strain on household income continually increasing and energy cost on the rise it is easy to feel helpless.  Obviously that gets us nowhere so what can we actually do? Until a few days ago I had no clue until a segment came on NPR that enlightened me. There is a group of elected officials we all need to know about! The Corporation Commission. It is a panel of 5 individuals who do everything from set the price rates for your electricity, natural gas, phone, private water companies as well as inspect railroad tracks and license security brokers.  There is an upcoming election so if you care about the cost of energy and our sources of energy you should pay attention to who is running for the three open seats on the Corporation Commission.

What’s at stake? The Renewable Energy Act: the current regulations in place that require 15% of our electricity come from renewable resources by 2025.  There are a lot of people vying for your vote on both sides of this issue so here is a bit of information to help you make your decision and get the ball rolling for your own research into the candidates. The primary election is Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.

Fowlkes (Republican): Against Renewable Energy Act: would replace it with incentives for utilities to use renewable energy and focus on competition between providers

Hobbs (Republican): Against Renewable Energy Act: supports allowing utilities to spread their investment over a longer period of time

Swapp (Republican): Against Renewable Energy Act: favors a free-market approach and focus on competition over regulation

Wong (Republican): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: “the long term impact of solar and renewable will be constant while fuels like natural gas and others will continue to spike up”

Allen (Republican): Against Renewable Energy Act: says the technology to make this change does not exist and worries these regulations will have too great a cost on low income people and seniors

McClure (Republican): Undecided on the Renewable Energy Act: would not try to repeal or expand it “never second guess the future”

Robson (Republican): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: considers it to be a goal and if it can be met it should stay in place. It should be reviewed on an annual basis and what challenges it brings about.

Stump (Republican): Against Renewable Energy Act: should be a goal not a regulation so market conditions and technology dictate the success of the goal

George (Democrat): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: advocates solar for long term but in the mean time suggests stressing efficiency for individuals - installing smart meters, etc

Kennedy (Democrat): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: focuses on the importance of solar power but wants to make sure seniors and low income people will benefit rather than have added costs

Newman (Democrat): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: wants to “bring clean energy to the table” and implement the renewable energy act to represent consumers and be fair to the utility companies

Kelty (Democrat): Uphold Renewable Energy Act: sees the primary role of the Corp. Comm. as protecting the consumers, “we cannot afford the cost of inaction”

Click on the candidate names above to be taken to their websites.

Click here to listen to the NPR breakdown of the Democratic Candidates

Click here to listen to the NPR breakdown of the Republican Candidates

Click here to view the Arizona Republic Candidate Q & A (not all candidates included)

Click here to read “Candidates’ Expenses Questioned” from the AZ Republic

We’re excited to go to the Green Summit next weekend and check out all the educational sessions and green innovations expo. This is looking to be a huge event and it sounds like we’ll be flooded with sustainability information. We’ll try to soak it up and blog about all we can though! Everyone should attend and see for yourself first hand, general admission is $20 and $15 for students. Hope to see you there.

Here is their official press release:

GREENSUMMIT COMES TO PHOENIX
SEPTEMBER 5-6, 2008

One of the Year’s Top Green Events & Most Affordable Green Conferences
Comes to the Phoenix Convention Center

GreenSummit (www.greensummit.net) is the place to find innovative solutions for a more sustainable world. Leaders in business, government, academia, and the general public will come together to catalyze change for the Southwest and beyond.

PHOENIX, AZ, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 – The 2008 GreenSummit will take place at the Phoenix Convention Center on September 5-6, 2008. Arizona State University and its Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona Public Service (APS), over 100 exhibitors and 100 educational sessions, 10,000+ business and consumer attendees, and international delegates from Europe led by the US Department of Commerce will make GreenSummit one of the premier sustainability events in the country.

The 100+ sessions in the Advancing Sustainability Conference will include a multitude of experts covering topics which will empower attendees to understand how sustainability impacts their careers, their personal lives, and the world around them.

The Green Innovations Expo will feature companies across a broad spectrum of business and consumer industries including – Green Building, Renewable Energy, Business Products and Services, Home and Lifestyle, Transportation, and more!

Attendees will include designers, architects, developers, engineers, government officials, clean tech entrepreneurs, business owners, marketing and brand managers, and the general public, all of which will be attending to become more educated about this timely and vitally important topic.

In addition, “eco-tours” of LEED certified and other green Valley facilities will be given, and on September 3 at a special “Signature Event,” all 18 Valley cities and communities will be coming together for the first time to discuss how sustainability is inherently linked to the future success of the region. This inaugural gathering brings together key decision-makers who will be attending a unique sustainability-focused event hosted by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Arizona Association of Economic Development, and the United States Green Building Council. Government and business leaders from across the region will be learning about how sustainability is inherently linked to the future success and livability of our communities. An invitation by one of the hosts is needed to attend this event.

The 2008 GreenSummit is the most affordable large-scale sustainability conference and expo on the West Coast, with General Admission starting at only $15.00 and the full Conference Package with access to over 100 sessions for only $100.00 when registered before August 15th.

This is the second GreenSummit event organized by Chris Samila, a Global Studies Major at ASU. In organizing the 2007 GreenSummit on ASU’s campus, his goal was simply to bring awareness of sustainability and green products and services to both his campus and the community. What started out as a “grassroots” event ended up playing host to approximately 4,000 attendees and 55 exhibitors.

“Around the globe massive changes are occurring. The need to become more in balance with our natural environment has catalyzed the growth of an exciting array of new innovations and opportunities,” said Samila. “The term ‘green’ has come to represent a common blueprint for citizens, businesses, and governments for how we can move towards a more sustainable future. The GreenSummit is designed to greatly accelerate this movement and provide a unique platform for leading organizations to showcase the best products, services, and ideas that will make our society more efficient, lighter on the environment, and ultimately healthier for both ourselves and future generations to come.”

For more information or to register for the GreenSummit, visit www.greensummit.net.

Our own Tracy Perkins was on a segment of Good Morning Arizona this past Friday! She was doing a soap making demo and promoting her eco-friendly, vegan bath and body products company Strawberry Hedgehog.

Friday morning we packed up all her soap making gear and headed down to 3TV’s studio. Once we arrived we had to wait a few mintues for a commercial break so that they could sneak us in the studio to setup. It was weird setting up all her stuff while the anchors were chatting and reporting the news just a few feet away. I was afraid we’d drop something big and interrupt them while they were on the air. We also couldn’t figure out how to get the stove on and none of the anchor’s or producers knew either! Luckily we finally found someone that knew how it worked and we got the stove on and the soap started. Everyone there was extremely friendly and made our trip down there fun. Dan Davis was great and made Tracy feel very comfortable on the air. Believe it or not they just wing the segment, no scripts or really any planning on how it will go. Sounds stressful to me but they seem to like it.

Tracy did great on her first TV appearance! Follow this link to her get her version of the story on her blog over at blog.strawberryhedgehog.com. Check out the video and below to see her in action, and be sure to visit StrawberryHedgehog.com for all your eco-friendly, cruelty free bath and body needs.

A million thanks to Jessie from Jessiebell Designs for making the awesome hand dyed and screened, 100% organic cotton apron that Tracy wore on air. It turned out amazing!

AzSustainability’s very own James Towner is featured in an article on the front page of the AZ Republic today in a brief interview about Carbonrally.com.

You can read the article online here.  He was interviewed earlier in the week with a few questions about why he is a part of Carbonrally, where he heads up the Arizona team, and what sort of challenges he has taken on.  The Republic photographer came by yesterday to take photos of James and I with our laundry hanging out to dry.  He was very nice and super fast.  Luckily they went with the picture of him alone as the ones of us together felt like the strangest engagement photos ever (us looking at each other lovingly over hanging laundry! Appropriate for the eco-geeks that we are, I suppose.)

Carbonrally has been a great incentive to us both.  We were already making more environmentally friendly choices - recycling, eating less meat (or in my case none at all), using reusable cups in place of disposable, shorter showers, upping the a/c temp, etc.  The appeal of Carbonrally is that it gives you some structure and actual feedback on what those decisions do.  It is a reminder and helps you stay accountable and on track. How much CO2 can you save by making these changes?  They are small on their own but when you put them together you can make a big difference. If you want to join us on the AZ Team on Carbonrally click here. It is fast and easy to join, totally free of charge and it is a great way to encourage you to keep up your daily environmental efforts.

I don’t know, but thanks to a project in the works by the non-profit Arizona group Everlasting Marks we may be able to find out. They are raising money to build a earthship at Superstition Farm in Mesa. The construction is a training build that will train their future camp counselors the building process that they intend to use at the thier camps. Everlasting Marks eventual goal is to create international youth camps that promote cultural understanding and environmental awareness. When they complete the construction of the earthship it will be donated to the East Maricopa Natural Resource Conservation and be open to visits from the general public. This could be a great place for everyone to visit to see what life might be like living in a eco-friendly earthship without air conditioning. I know I’ll check it out because I really want to see one up close and see if it stays comfortable in the summer.

Everlasting Marks can’t complete this without help from the community, so if you want to help head over to their website and volunteer or donate some much needed funds.

If you don’t know what a earthship is check out our post about them here.