[Cecilia Han Springer, ERG MS-PhD Student]

Throughout Naomi Klein’s talk on climate change, waves of applause broke forth as if it were a State of the Union speech. The audience – mostly older, white, vocal, local – was adulatory. The couple seated next to me turned to me and remarked, “You’re so young! It’s amazing you’ve heard of Naomi Klein,” and “It’s great to see university students getting involved with these issues.” I was surprised; it always seemed to me that younger folks should and do care more about climate change than the boomer generation. And with the rise of ideologues like Klein, we are becoming better equipped to take on the issue of climate change.

Naomi Klein at the Berkeley First Congregational Church (Han Springer)

Last week, author Naomi Klein spoke on capitalism versus the climate to packed pews at the Berkeley First Congregational Church. She described her new book, This Changes Everything, as a sequel to her previous manifestos against capitalism and corporate power. But in the time since she released her earlier bestsellers, Klein started caring a lot about climate change. Through her new book, she has become an ideological figurehead in the climate movement alongside Bill McKibben, James Hansen, and other activist-scholars.

Klein’s talk was a bracing infusion of straight ideology. No free market solutions or policy compromises here – Klein pointed the finger directly at trade laws, privatization, and other fundamental gears of the modern capitalist machine. The only real climate solution, according to Klein, is to dismantle these systems. Trade laws, she said, are “a bill of rights for corporations, written in a language of discrimination,” encouraging reckless and unsustainable development. “We are allowing sea levels to rise to preserve an economic system that is already failing the vast majority of people,” she said to thunderous applause.

Klein’s ideas are big, and in many ways they go beyond what’s taught in classrooms in terms of boldness. But how can students translate ideas into action? One of the most exciting aspects of studying energy now is that there are ample opportunities to engage in related advocacy outside the classroom, perhaps more than ever before. When ideology feels inert, we can take to the streets with no-KXL protests, fossil fuel divestment organizing, local environmental justice activism, and more.

Klein expressed support for the growing populism of the climate movement. Her anti-capitalist manifestos are ideological fuel for much of this organizing. Klein herself even attended the People’s Climate March in late September, calling it one of the most exciting political experiences of her life. “We need to supercharge progressive policies with existential angst,” she said, highlighting how she sees her own role in the climate movement. She had the audience at the First Congregational Church hanging on to her every word, rapt as a devout congregation. Fortunately, her talk was followed by a panel with Movement Generation and local environmental justice organizers who highlighted ways to get involved.

As a student and a sometime-activist, I don’t think that the climate problem can be solved by bold ideology alone, nor will it be solved just by grassroots action. But together, the feedback between ideas and action accelerates the pace of progress. And the content of the ideological fuel matters, which is why Klein’s ideas have caught on so quickly with climate activists. Well-informed advocates are better advocates. As Klein noted wryly, “The revolution should be footnoted.”



Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[Anne-Perrine Avrin, ERG MS-PhD Student]

People's Climate March: A march to show the nations of the world, and particularly their leaders, that people care about climate change.

PCM in New York City (peoplesclimate.org)

Despite the fact that I come from a country where demonstrations happen every week (for good and for bad) – or maybe because of that – my first thought was: “What in the world is going to change for politicians when a bunch of people take to the streets on a Sunday morning for an hour and a half?” And yet, I found this initiative pretty exciting. I had already planned to go to New York City (NYC) as SWITCH--our energy-mix modeling tool under development in the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley--had been selected by the United Nations Big Data Climate Challenge as a “Project to Watch.” So, I decided to arrive ahead of time in order to take part in the march. The day before, I contacted my friend, Olivia, who lives in Manhattan, to see if she would be interested in going, too. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she would join with colleagues from her consulting firm; none of them working even remotely on a topic related to climate change.

PCM in New York City (peoplesclimate.org)

We did not have a single idea of how big – or small – this event would be when, on Sunday morning, we left home to meet up at the corner of 72nd and Central Park West to join Group #2: “We can build the future,” the march's section that would gather, among others, students and youth. You gain a sense of the magnitude of a public event just by using public transportation a few minutes before it starts. In the subway station, the trains were so packed that I had to let two pass before finally being able to get in, my nose pressed against a wall, ultimately looking at a poster advertising the best dermatology center in town with “APPROVED” clipart red stamps everywhere on it, including one on the face of the dermatologist himself. But what I could hear was amazing: Everywhere in the subway people were discussing climate change, its causes and consequences, and what could be done to mitigate it. When we finally reached the meeting point, thoughtful signs, green costumes and smiling people got out of the train and the subway stayed empty behind us. The group I was joining was positioned second in the march, and yet there were so many people ahead of me that I could not see the rally’s front edge.




Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (peoplesclimate.org)

The People’s Climate March (PCM) was divided into six groups. The first one was devoted to people in frontline of the crisis, those most impacted by climate change. Labor, families, businesses, social justice and environmental organizations, climate-related activists and scientists were following. Officials and movie stars such as Mayor de Blasio, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Leonardo Dicaprio, Al Gore, Mark Ruffalo, and Evangeline Lilly were there, too. Finally, the last group at the end of the march was named: “To change everything, we need everyone,” to remind people that one does not have to fit in any category to care about the climate, because climate change does not care about how we define ourselves, and only a common endeavor can overcome it. Indeed, everyone took part in this initiative. I saw children, the elderly, students, businessmen. I heard many different languages. I read so many different messages – concerns or solutions – on signs, and yet everybody had the same motivation: Make their voice heard by the 125 heads of state that would attend the climate summit the days following at the United Nations headquarters, a few miles from where we were standing.

PCM in NYC (peoplesclimate.org)

Despite some hitches – the march's pace was so slow that after the first hour we only travelled one block, and the back end of the march was asked by text messaging to disperse before the official end point. This successful event gathered 400,000 people, becoming the largest climate rally in history. Aside from this, about 2,700 simultaneous climate events took place in 160 countries, involving half a million people. As far as the Bay Area is concerned, several thousand people marched around Lake Merritt in Oakland on Sunday to share about the climate crisis.



PCM in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (peoplesclimate.org)

After the march, General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon said what we were all thinking:

“I am overwhelmed by such a strong power, energy and voice of people – I hope this voice will be truly reflected to the leaders when they meet on September 23rd. Climate change is [a] defining issue of our time and there is no time to lose.”

Indeed, our voice was heard as shown by the number of times the climate rally was referenced during the UN summit on Tuesday. More than 70 countries and 1,000 companies endorsed the development of mechanisms that would reflect the true costs of emissions. Financial institutions, commercial and national banks, insurance companies and pension funds announced their intent to mobilize more than $200 billion for climate action by the end of 2015.

However, the main challenge still remains: No large agreement on tangible emission reduction targets has been signed since the Kyoto protocol, and presidents from several countries did not attend the summit.

Now that people from many places in the world have officially demanded action about the climate crisis, it is time for the United Nations to encourage the development of a neutrally-governed framework for international cooperation beyond any geopolitical split, and for politicians from all countries to wholeheartedly engage in the fight against climate change – no matter how important the needed financial concessions are, because they will never be as high as the cost of a no-action scenario. The ultimate goal is the setting up of an international treaty to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions that must be successfully ratified during COP21 in Paris in 2015... our last chance.

Anne-Perrine at the PCM in New York City (Anne-Perrine Avrin)

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, ERG PhD Candidate]  

GREETINGS, PHENOMINISTAS!

We couldn't be in the streets for the People's Climate March, so July Cole and I sent a provocation as part of the Rare Earth Catalog project. Our contribution is a Phenomenisto--an anti-manifesto as call for trans-species solidarity-- a method for attending to phenomena that emerge in particular instances of climate chaos and human mitigation strategies--a mobile you can cut out and hang above your bed.

The "anti-manifesto"/mobile cut out (click to enlarge)

[Below: Text from the "anti-manifesto."]

GREETINGS, PHENOMINISTAS!

Anxious about the future?

Grieving the sixth extinction?

Wondering what’s left to talk about?

Try your hand at the mixed-up optimistic writing that is equally joyful anywhere: beside the river, on the sidewalk, in the gutter, along the road, or under any kind of sky! It is also equally desolate anywhere.

We call it a PHENOMENISTO—
→ from PHENOMENON: something that happens, as we know it through our senses;

→ in turn, from ΦΑΙΝΩ: to appear, to bring to light, to show forth, to shine!

PHENOMENISTAS are humans / cyborgs / poets / aliens who participate in PHENOMENA.

A PHENOMENISTO is a song—a science project—or something else that:

• occurs anytime! anywhere! (see above)
• gives a good-faith account of a PHENOMENON . . .
• . . . as involving entities, animacies, responsiveness

Discards modes of generalization, solution, isolation. Not an allegory: doesn’t buy into any higher world, better story, or truer truths. Not a manifesto: discards centrism and locatablevanguard. Hands wide open. Won’t instrumentalize any entity. Including: won’t use entities as symbols of anything other than themselves.

How do you know if you made one? Our Phenomenological Flow Charts —on the reverse of this sheet—run you through a series of questions to help you identify both a PHENOMENON and a PHENOMENISTO.

You will also find on the reverse a frame of adjectives. These indicate qualities a PHENOMENON and a PHENOMENISTO might share.

"Frame of adjectives" (click to enlarge)

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[Gene Rochlin, Professor Emeritus, ERG]



Photo // Paulo Fehlauer

There's something a little off about iPhone mania. According to Dr. Gene Rochlin:

It seems as if the news media have become a wholly owned subsidiary of the internet technology complex (ITC) these days. No matter which seemingly outrageous new product or system is being put forth, it will become ‘news’ in print and online, unpaid advertising that assumes that all of us have little else to do but sit here and salivate over the next great new development, however futuristic and socially disruptive it is.

In a recent blog post, Dr. Rochlin unveils the somewhat backward message of these "geeks" selling their devices:

It is interesting to note that this is often expressed as the triumph of individuals over institutions, wrapped in a mantle of progress and development. Some of it, admittedly, does promote efficiency and social progress. But not all, and not everywhere. The creation of new social and political risks without forethought is already stirring demands for institutional control, a genuinely unfunded mandate. There is also a redistribution of wealth and privilege, instantiated by rapid obsolescence.

Read the complete post on the Berkeley Blog here.




Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Daniel L. Sanchez, ERG Ph.D. Candidate] 

We’re all familiar with the drawbacks of food-based (“1st generation”) biofuels—food vs. fuel, fertilizer and water usage, low energy payback, and nutrient pollution. But this summer, a group of experts from across the U.S. gathered in Iowa to discuss the formation of a new, and advanced, biofuel industry. These biofuels—termed cellulosic or “2nd generation”—have the potential to reduce pollution and oil usage in transportation, with far lower impacts on agricultural markets and the environment.



The STRIPS (Science-based Trials of Row-crops Integrated with Prairie Strips) project will reduce the environmental impact of corn and soybean production. The group visited a trial site for this project.

Iowa is the center of food-based biofuels—particularly ethanol derived from corn and soy biodiesel—but is poised to become a leader in advanced biofuels. This new industry converts more of the plant, termed “lignocellulosic biomass,” to fuel. The advanced biofuels industry is poised to make hundreds of millions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol this year, satisfying and ever-growing demand for clean and domestically-sourced fuel.




Dupont’s Nevada facility will produce 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol each year from corn stover (stalks, leaves, and cobs), a byproduct of corn production.

The group, convened by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Great Plains Institute, toured two commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, and heard from several experts from Iowa State University about advanced in biofuel production, conversion, and environmental sustainability. The facilities, POET-DSM’s Project Liberty in Emmetsburg, IA, and Dupont’s Nevada Site in Nevada, IA, are part of a fleet of homegrown fuel producers across the U.S. Engineers and managers from both facilities spoke to the group about advances in biofuel logistics that can form the foundation for more commercial production. Notably, both facilities we toured were “bolt-on” facilities that were co-located with existing corn ethanol plants.



Producing biofuels requires complex logistics and planning. Here, bales of corn stover await transport to the Dupont Nevada facility.

At Iowa State University, we heard from several leading academics about next-generation biofuel production and conversion technologies. Dr. Robert Brown is exploring flexible biofuel and electricity production processes, such as gasification and pyrolysis. Dr. Emily Heaton is leading field trials of fast-growing, low-input grasses such as miscanthus for efficient biomass growth, including growth on marginal or degraded lands. Dr. Matthew Helmers is exploring the integration of perennial crops into traditional agricultural systems to reduce erosion and nutrient pollution. These developments and others will form the foundation of a sustainable biofuels industry.

The group left Iowa convinced that advanced biofuels can play a large part in reducing oil consumption and global warming pollution in the United States, and around the world.



Iowa State University is pioneering advanced conversion technologies, such as gasification and pyrolysis.

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Nkiruka Avila, EDFCC Fellow at PerkinElmer & ERG Graduate Student]  

Energy efficiency is an essential part of climate change mitigation, which is my primary motivation for becoming an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps fellow. My goal is to find energy and water savings at my host organization PerkinElmer in Santa Clara, California. PerkinElmer designs and manufactures medical imaging technology that tackles the world’s most critical health related challenges.

The facility I am working in this summer has a class 100 clean room (we call it “the Fab”) where 50x50 cm digital flat panel x-ray detectors are fabricated. Any impurity in the Fab could cause defects in the panels. PerkinElmer’s fabrication process is unique because each of the panels produced is kept as a whole unit and is not cut into smaller pieces. This makes it critical to produce flawless panels every time as a defect could ruin the whole panel.

Recently, I took a tour of the Fab with my supervisor Joe Batdorf and my EDF engagement manager Serena Mau. The tour of the Fab was fascinating and revealed just how energy intensive the fabrication process is. I was impressed to see that several energy efficiency projects, headed by my supervisor, had already been implemented at the facility. Energy efficiency is not a foreign idea to PerkinElmer and they have invested in several energy saving measures over the years.  For example, PerkinElmer completed a reheat coil optimization project and replaced two inefficient boilers with efficient condensing boilers saving almost 70,000 therms of natural gas annually and eliminating over 300 tons of carbon emissions.

Despite the implementation of several energy efficiency measures, there is still room for more. I am working on proposing further energy efficient lighting, computer power management software and other energy saving measures for the air compressors and fume scrubbers in the facility. Silicon Valley Power offers great resources like lighting audits to help identify potential rebates. I am also investigating water conservation measures for a reverse osmosis system and two fume scrubbers that have the potential to save three million gallons of water annually. With California’s drought, these water conservation measures are direly needed.

Being an EDF Climate Corps fellow has given me the opportunity to learn about energy efficiency solutions and their financial and political obstacles. I am learning about the many incentives offered by the state and local governments in California to promote energy sustainability. EDF Climate Corps has also opened up to me a vast network of professionals and students working towards a more sustainable future. The experience is invaluable and substantiates my intuition that my work is headed in the right direction.

Crosspost from EDF Climate Corps.

 


Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

A unique aspect of ERG is how involved students are in the administration of the program and facilities through committees. Student-led committees and groups at ERG are ever-evolving. Current committees operate rather ad-hoc and depend on schedules and level of involvement.

ERG SOCIAL MEDIA GROUP
The ERG Social Media Group maintains the ERG Facebook, Twitter handle (@ERGBerkeley) and “Life at ERG” Blog. The group and all of its social media initiatives were started by the 2012 class and we are really eager to keep our online presence a tradition managed by the Master’s students! Additionally, the Social Media Group initiated work on a new website for ERG, which launched in April 2014. The goal is to increase our online presence and keep both students, alumni, prospective students, and others aware of the incredible happenings at ERG, what matters to us, and what we do about it! As a guideline, we like to have all the newbies write a post in the ERG blog during their first year. Students involved: Chris Hyun, Pierce Gorden, Dimitry Gershenson, Cecilia Han Springer, Laura Moreno, Nikky Avila.

ERG SPACE COMMITTEE
The Space Committee is concerned with maintaining and improving ERG’s common and student space. With Professor of Architecture and Urban Design Harrison Fraker as the current Dean of ERG, students appealed to the design-minded dean to launch a short-term and long-term space change plan for the ERG facilities. Short term changes include new desks and ergonomically friendly chairs, new furniture, a massive cleaning overhaul, and new flooring and paint in various rooms. Long-term changes include structural, lighting, and other design changes. Students involved: Peter Alstone and Monica Testa.

ERG SOCIAL COMMITTEE
Despite our hard work, we try to maintain a work-life balance at ERG. That also requires coordination! So, ERG’s social committee works to plan monthly happy hours, biannual picnics, and more for ERGies. Students involved: Dimitry Gershenson (chair), Laura Moreno (table) and Ian Bollinger (footstool).

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (EXCOMM)
The main responsibility of students in ExComm is to liaise between the student body and the faculty by attending monthly meetings, bringing student issues to the meeting, and returning with updates for the students. ExComm students are also typically in charge of working with ERG administrative staff in scheduling Town Hall meetings. ExComm is a great opportunity to influence important ERG decisions (especially in critical times), channel student opinion, get to know the faculty members better, and understand better the strange world of academic politics. Each semester there is one student representative from the Masters-level and one student representative from the PhD-level. Students involved: Ranjit Deshmukh and Monkgogi MK Otlhogile.

ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE
ERG students participate on the admissions committee each year. All positions on this committee are confidential. This committee can be a lot of work, especially during the early part of the spring semester, but is also quite rewarding.

WELCOME COMMITTEE
The welcome committee is in charge of welcoming new students to ERG, that is: finding hosts when prospective students visit, matching them with current students with similar interests, ensuring their questions are answered, and assigning them a mentor once they are admitted. While all welcome events are an ERG joint effort, the welcome committee just takes a management role. Students involved: Kripa Jagannathan, Andrea Mercado.

LANGUAGE GROUPS
Sometimes ERGies like to get together for meals or other events and speak in another language. In the past there have been groups in Spanish and Chinese. Students involved: Cecilia Han Springer (Chinese).

BASIS VOLUNTEERING
Bay Area Scientists in Schools (BASIS) is a program designed to get area graduate students and scientists to visit local elementary and middle schools. Rebekah Shirley developed a renewable energy curriculum several years ago. Several ERG students have participated in BASIS volunteering as an outreach activity where we build wind turbines out of water bottles with 4th graders and also teach a small module on solar panels using solar-powered race cars.  It is a very fun and rewarding way to interact with future renewable energy leaders! Students involved: Noah Kittner.

QUERGIES
Established in Summer 2014 as a safe space for LGBTQ students to hang out and just be. They have various events and get-togethers all year ‘round. Joining is completely confidential at your request. Students involved: Andrea Mercado and Chris Hyun.

STUDENT DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
The student diversity committee focuses on student recruitment, faculty and staff hires and the social environment at ERG. Students involved: Sasha Harris-Lovett, Pierce Gordon, Nikky Avila, Chris Hyun,, Cecilia Han Springer, Grace Wu, Erica Newman, Lara Cushing, Monkgogi MK Otlhogile, Yang Ruan, Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, Noah Kittner.

ERG WOMEN
Provides space and platforms for women to come together, dialogue and be.




Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Sharada Prasad CS, ERG PhD Candidate] 

 

Please watch the below video and make a note of your reaction.



Either you were amused by it or you felt a pain deep inside your heart.

Who are the people who pee in public? It’s mostly the people who work in the informal sector i.e. people who don’t work in offices or inside any building for eight hours. 94% of India’s workforce is linked to informal sector which includes construction workers, rickshaws pullers, coolies, courier boys, drivers, roadside vendors ( the list is endless) . The people who laugh (mock?) in the above video might not have engaged themselves in any activity that keeps them outdoor 8-10 hours in a day. They all appear to be either middle or upper class Indians who have the luxury of toilet access both at their residence and workplace. If empathetic enough, one can see harassment, borderline violence rather, in the above video instead of the intended amusement.

In a country with 400 million people working in un-organized sector, public toilets must be found within minutes of walking distance. The problem with urban India is that sanitation is never a priority. The municipality or corporation has no pressure from the public, especially middle class and upper class, to maintain the existing toilets, and has no money to buy/rent space in a newly developed financial neighbourhood to install toilets.

Even the toilets in railway stations and bus stations are not well maintained as there is no accountable structure in the organization to provide basic sanitation services. You will not see the phone number of any officer who is responsible to keep the toilets clean. The officials hide behind the thick veil of bureaucracy.

Yes, providing good sanitation facility comes at a cost. But lack of provision costs much more to the society. The social and health cost of lack of sanitation is not borne by all sections of society equally. The poor mostly bear the burden while the middle class or upper class insulate themselves from such woes. India cannot come out of the mess of lack of sanitation in public areas unless there is focus on accountability and enough political pressure from upper and middle class.

Dear “Pissing tanker” – Your understanding of public urination is distorted and your actions perverted. Please stop making fun of people who don’t have access to toilets. Your insensitivity towards the helplessness of people is appalling. Most people who are peeing in public are already vulnerable. You don’t have any right to humiliate those people further. If you can, please give them directions to the nearest decent public toilet, if you can find one. If you are so inclined to pee, try peeing inside a public office instead of aiming water cannons at people. You might get the attention of right people!

Cross-post from Sharada's personal blog.

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Yang Ruan, ERG MA/MPP Student]  

 

The Atlantic has published another great article by Ta-Nehisi Coates called "The Case for Reparations."

The wealth gap and continued segregation of African Americans is the legacy of centuries of exploitation by white Americans.

"When we think of white supremacy, we picture Colored Only signs, but we should picture pirate flags."

The exploitation starts with slavery but continues via housing practices and other predatory activities. In the meantime it seems like the continued de facto segregation is causing all non-African Americans to be completely ignorant of and detached from African American communities. They point to the handful of successful black Americans as proof that racism is no longer an issue rather than correctly recognizing them as the exceptional.

"...They ignore the long tradition of this country actively punishing black success"

"Some black people always will be twice as good. But they generally find white predation to be thrice as fast."

"...for all our exceptional ones, for every Barack and Michelle Obama, for every Ethel Weatherspoon or Clyde Ross, for every black survivor, there are so many thousands gone."

Coates' article calls for passing HR 40, the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, a bill by Congressman John Conyers Jr., who represents the Detroit area. The commission would study slavery and its lingering effects as well as recommendations for “appropriate remedies.”

I really hope people read this, including immigrants who need a deeper understanding of the historical context for the social issues in the US.

Even though I am fairly aware of many problems black Americans face, I was jarred by the specifics detailed in the article. It highlights the importance of having patience for people you don't understand and communities you aren't immersed in. Also, the article illustrates that many problems are systemic just as fairness is systemic. One person's success or failure cannot prove that America is finally fair or not. America will be fair only when a person gets as much encouragement, opportunities regardless of their race, class, or gender, but also no more likely than the next to get swindled or judged.

Cross-post from Yang's personal blog.


Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Rebekah Shirley, ERG PhD Candidate]

Can an innovation in charging vehicles turn into the vehicle for more innovation? What works, what sticks? May be risky business to find out, but it’s well worth the ride…

Electric Jeepney (eJeepney) plying on the streets of metro Manila

It is a bright, sunny morning in the steamy Metro Manila. Men in wilting business suits and women waving folding hand fans scuttle into the shady respite offered by blue construction tarpaulin billowing overhead. Yet another new office high rise being built, squeezed into the bursting Manila skyline. Carefully skipping over mud puddles of cement mix, I follow the pedestrians hustling down Tuazon Avenue sharing the roadway with brawny buses, swerving motorcycles, honking taxis and the iconic, kaleidoscopic jeepneys. I am in the Philippines visiting the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC) - a local Filipino NGO focused on community empowerment and clean energy solutions. They birthed the famous ejeepney, an electric battery powered version of the local minibus - a successful first fruit of clean, electric public transportation for the developing world. With a surging population of almost twelve million metropolitan Manila is one of the emerging cities of Southeast Asia and cleaner, cheaper ways of transporting throngs of people to and fro are now imperative.

As the city blossoms it also becomes more vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters - something the island archipelago is already familiar with. Memories of Typhoon Yolanda hang in the air of our discussion at the iCSC head office, a groovy alcove of repurposed furniture and hand painted windows overlooking an old trade fair. “Filipinos have been adapting since before it was en vogue,” Red chuckles. Renato ‘Red’ Constantino is the Executive Director of iCSC and all around visionary. “Mitigation, adaptation, can we truly separate these ideas?” he asks, with palms outstretched, as though holding the very words in his hands. A tattoo snake slithers up his left arm and his wrists are banded with a charming collection of bracelets and amulets. With spikey black and gray peppered hair and red worn boots, he is the stuff of adventure tales. “It is not about warding off danger or merely coping with the times. It is about building better, healthier, stronger, resilient cities, no matter what the future holds.” His philosophy is compelling and indeed, iCSC has had recent success lobbying the government for a legislative fund to support community capacity building - aptly named the People’s Survival Fund.

Rebekah and Reina in Tacloban. In the background is a container ship that is marooned on land by the typhoon.

Red’s team is a select handful of policy experts and technology managers, all home grown and passionate about environmental activism in the Philippines. The beautiful Reina Garcia has managed the ejeepney program since its inception in 2005. She takes me out to see the fleet in action. iCSC has found local battery manufacturers and a local electric vehicle manufacturer able to assemble the jeepneys at low cost. Made of light weight metal and without the need for a rumbling diesel engine, the ejeepney offers a quieter, cooler ride to passengers, all while reaping the savings from no fuel cost. A subsidiary company now operates twenty ejeepneys, routed throughout the metropolitan region. iCSC hopes that the model will be adopted by other jeepney operators in the near future. “They’ve integrated quite seamlessly,” Reina tells me. “Anyone would jump into an ejeepney, most without even knowing they are in an electric vehicle.” We hop into one for a ride to the charging stations and chat with some of the drivers – all women. In fact half the fleet is operated by female drivers, an iCSC strategy to promote employment equality. It is refreshing to see a simple, functional operation working so steadily for years in the tropics. It parallels the team’s action-oriented tone of simplicity and efficiency. Bottom-up technologies that work: no catch, no twist, no hidden charges.

Tacloban City on the island of Leyte, leveled by Typhoon Yolanda

These are exactly the types of solutions that the Philippines needs right now, especially in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda and with the promise of stronger, larger storms to come. Yolanda struck the Philippines last November and went down in history as the largest typhoon ever to make landfall. I got the chance to visit Leyte, the island most devastated by Yolanda, and Tacloban, its capital – which was completely leveled. It was a tremendously moving experience. From the moment of getting off the plane at the ghostly remains of the airport, it felt like being on the set of an eerie end times post-apocalyptic movie. Rows and streets of houses, churches, malls, completely reduced to rubble. Ships stranded hundreds of meters inland. Blue and white relief aid tents stretched for miles on end. iCSC is now expanding the ejeepney operation here, to be part of the respond and rebuild effort as transportation is still a scarcity. Every so often a jeepney passes by with people piled onto the roof, risking limb for a precious ride in to or out of the city. Teddy Arellano is the special project’s manager and he lets me tag along as he travels through Tacloban surveying new the operation sites, signing leases, meeting contractors. The ejeepney holding bay and charging station will be solar powered, Teddy tells me, and they want to try a new idea: mobile charging stations – driving the ejeepneys to communities still left without electricity and charging phones, radios, anything, through the vehicle batteries.

Standard diesel-powered Jeepney on the streets of Tacloban

“It will be our little experiment” laughs the affable Teddy with a playful smile. Someone has to be willing to take the risk to see what works, what sticks. As we travel through the torn city I marvel at his calm and ease. Teddy greets everyone we meet with a comforting familiarity, jokes ready in hand. He chats to families with deep condolence but also with a pleasantness that makes the air less solemn. He points out to me all the progress, the new stores, the neighbor helping neighbor rebuild what was lost. Positive, purposed and practical, the iCSC team speaks volumes to me about the true meaning of bottom-up engagement. They are not in the business here of bemoaning tragedy or laying blame to a slow emergency response. Rather, the team is taking up the challenge and opportunity to study a new technology’s usefulness and economy in the space of most urgent need. Unlike the stormy waters, sorrow and pain have not yet subsided in the Philippines, but human nature is resilient. If I’ve learned anything from my time with iCSC, it is that hope can bring the change that people need. Hope can make ideas reality. Hope can stand as the foundation for resilient cities of the future. I’ll be sure to stay posted on the ejeepney’s journey to Tacloban.

Read more on the ejeepney's journey to Tacloban here:  http://pacifictimes.org/blog/2014/05/20/630/

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Sustainable John, ERG Graduate Student]  

Food trucks are a billion dollar business in the U.S. already, and most of the growth has been seen in just the last five years. Along with this growth has come an increased carbon footprint, as the food trucks run their refrigeration and hot water tanks on gasoline generators.



The Food Bikery seeks to prove that food bikes are a safe, legal, low-capital, and low-footprint alternative to food trucks. In transitioning mobile food off of trucks and onto bicycles, the Food Bikery will stimulate economic opportunities for low-income citizens of the East Bay who would like to start mobile food businesses. We envision that the cost of a food bike can be $5,000 or lower, which is an order of magnitude less capital investment than an average food truck ($50,000) and two orders of magnitude less capital investment than an average restaurant ($500,000). Given that a person can potentially run a food bike business as a sole entrepreneur, we estimate the profit would be enough to make an hourly wage in the range of $20-25.

Average capital investment required for food businesses

In addition to the economic benefits, food bikes can offer these benefits to local communities:

1. Decrease fossil fuel consumption and climate change emissions 
2. Improve use of community space 
3. Increase physical well-being and health and foster awareness about the power of bicycles 
4. Increase awareness about where food comes from and how it is prepared 

The Food Bikery has been launched as an entrepreneurial idea by myself and Jason Trager (Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate and local bicycle king). We recently applied to the UC Berkeley Big Ideas competition, and we received a third place prize for $2000 in the clean energy category. I put in a couple months of research and interviews into the grant application. In doing so, I met a handful of food bike enthusiasts who are featured in the short film above, including Curbside Creamery, El Taco Bike, and Apothocurious/Hot Bike.

Additionally, I have done more in-depth research on the code for mobile food facilities. Essentially, if you’re cooking food on a bike trailer, you are subject to line item requirements of refrigeration, three sinks, and 20 gallons of water in order to meet code. That’s why you don’t see food bikes doing any cooking at public events and markets. The ones that exist serve hot or cold pre-packaged foods at public events or simply cater to private events. We want to see a food bike that can cook at public markets, while still being safe, legal, and healthy. The inspiration for food bikes originally came to me when I was living in Beijing, and I ate a lot of street food off of food bikes, including my personal favorite: jian bing, the Chinese crepe. Two years ago, I started a food bike called Jian Bing Johnny’s that I could bring to events to serve this food to the masses, and since then I have been searching for avenues to get food bikes permitted.

Our next steps are to do some policy and legal work in the cities of Berkeley and Oakland to modify some ordinances to allow food bikes to operate and then to build our first official prototype. The $2,000 prize from Big Ideas has gotten us off to a great start, but we need to raise some additional money in order to get our project fully up and running.

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

Hosted by the 2013 cohort, this year's ERG "Too Much" Talent Show features the Back of the Envelope skit, creative video making, dancing and sax playing, ERGie paper dolls, a ton of selfies and ends with a big, fat Bollywood finale.

Below the whole show is broken up into three videos in a YouTube playlist.

Content of the videos:
1. Part 1
- Welcome and Introductions

2. Part 2
- Back of the Envelope Skit
- Trailer for "The Gold Fish Casino"
- Capoeta

3. Part 3
- The Newbie Video
- Salsa Dancing
- Sax
- Tahitian Dancing
- Bollywood Finale

Enjoy,
ERG Newbies Cohort 2013

Newbies 2013 (aka Saved By the Bell crew)

Consider a geometric piglet... Author: V. Junquera (publication pending)

[by Tanya Dimitrova, crosspost from Mongabay.com] 

Benigno Hernandez and Odair Canales from Hondupalma cooperative look out for a troop of monkeys in a former palm oil plantation, now set aside to regrow as a secondary forest. “This forest keeps our stream running, ” says Canales when asked why they stopped growing palms there. (Photo by Tanya Dimitrova.)   

David Reyes plunges his hand into a black smelly liquid at the bottom of a cut-off plastic jug tied around a palm tree and pulls out a dead horned beetle. “We used to put insecticide on the bottom of these traps,” says Reyes, the agricultural manager of Hondupalma – a cooperative of small landowners in Honduras that produces palm oil. “Now we simply use alcohol with sugar cane molasses to kill off the bugs.” According to Reyes, these new measures saved the co-op $175,000 in pesticide costs over the past two years.

Hondupalma recently achieved a Rainforest Alliance certification for sustainable growth of African palms – the first cooperative in the world to feature the famous green frog seal on the cooking oil they sell. Palm oil (generically labeled as vegetable oil) is used in almost all consumer products on the market: from ice cream and ramen noodle soup to toothpaste and candles. Expanding oil palm plantations are among the top reasons for deforestation globally, along with cattle ranching, timber, and soy.

The improvements achieved by the cooperative extend beyond reduced chemical use.

Continue reading on Mongabay.com

Note: The views expressed here belong solely to the author of each entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.

[by Zubair Dar] 

If there is one challenge that California would have wanted to avoid facing this decade, it is the drought.
Having taken upon itself the leadership role in carbon emission reduction through clean energy development, the state would rather invest its energy in fulfilling the 2020 and 2030 targets than worrying about its water security. It is not to say that the state was unaware if its water availability, and management practices are not being intensified, but little can be guaranteed about their effectiveness after the worst drought in the recorded history has hit California. The bad news is that the drought is here to stay.

Despite recent rains, precipitation in 2013 and 2014 (so far) is nowhere close to the annual average. Lack of sufficient water is putting the $45 billion agriculture sector that produces a third of all vegetables and two thirds of all nuts in the United States at risk. Experts predict inflation, loss of income and related distress as a few of the impacts on the residents of California. Coupled with the fact that no guarantees can be made about future water availability either, California has to instigate a water management revolution along with the energy revolution it has set off.

What would a water management revolution mean in practice?
As Prof. Lynn Ingram at University of California Berkeley will tell you, that the precipitation of the past 150 years in California has been a ‘wet anomaly’ in California’s deeper history of aridity. And it is in the last 100 years that California framed its water policy, developed its water infrastructure and through legislative instruments distributed water rights. Allocations to agriculture and other industries shaped according to these known patterns of precipitation. In this new phase of aridity, which climate-scientists predict can be worsened by the climate change-induced variability, California needs to rework the whole system. While the impact of the drought might not be homogenous, there is little chance that any sector of the economy can ignore any measure of efficiency.

With few precedents, however, the challenge becomes even tougher. But that is where the opportunity lies. The crossroad where California today stands with respect to its climate history has taken away any uncertainty about the impact climate disruption could have on consumptive and non-consumptive uses of water. And as many thought leaders have suggested, California can take a queue from its energy policy to implement same practices of efficiency and renewability for the most efficient use of its water resources. No doubt the task shall mean a major shift in infrastructure development, irrigation practices, domestic use and industrial water allocations. The state shall need to employ best available technology in combination with most innovative ideas laid out by thought leaders in water management. Yet, the opportunity cost will not outweigh the gains of the new age integrated water management practice.

Past droughts are generally seen to have set off policy rethink as well as technological innovations. The current drought will also trigger innovations and, at the same time, speed up the adaption of the technologies built over the past few years. Already, a range of public dialogues and policy revaluations are underway in the state to find the beat way forward and create a synergy between research, policy and practice of water management.

This year, the Resources Roundtable by Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC) brings together thought leaders, climate scientists, water managers, rights activists and businesses to engage in focused discussions on the topic “California in Drought: Challenges and Opportunities”. As the subtitle puts it, we aim to understand how responding to water crisis today will help develop resilience for tomorrow. It is a unique opportunity for students to understand where the frontiers of water research in California lie.

The Energy and Resources Group is proud to announce the launch of the new ERG website. The new website is a product of many months of work by a team of dedicated individuals at ERG, CNR and beyond.

You can visit the site here: http://erg.berkeley.edu/

Feel free to share encouraging comments on the ERG Facebook Page or by tweeting to @ERGBerkeley. Please do "like" the Facebook page for regular updates.

For any other queries or suggestions about the website, please contact: ergdeskb@berkeley.edu

Thank you to all who have contributed to this endeavor. Special thanks to Kay Burns, Sandra Dovali, Isha Ray, Diego Ponce de Leon Barido, Jess Goddard, Ian Umeda (designer), Gary Casterline & Joe Bunik (CNR), Harrison Fraker & the ERG Faculty, Jess Reilly, and Marco Paliza-carre.

And as ERG student, Diego, has added: Thanks also to those ERGies who in the past attempted to make this happen, but the circumstances didn't allow them to see it through. It is because of your previous efforts that we have succeeded today!

Best,

The ERG Website Committee

P.S. Further development of ERG Alumni section is in the works. Please look for updates in the near future.

[By Pierce Gordon]  

A packed house for Inequality for All screening, with Reich, Kornbluth, and Brady on the stage, fielding questions.

In a way, Robert Reich has been trying to do so for his entire career, as a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, and previous secretary of labor in the Clinton Administration. His recent movie, Inequality for All, which was shown on February 5th, 2014, to a sold out crowd of 700 people in the Wheeler Hall Auditorium. The director Jacob Kornbluth, and the Dean of the Public Policy School, Henry Brady, moderated the after-movie discussion.

After the movie, the crowd asked Reich about many questions about the many different social intersections of economic inequality: racial inequality, the true potential impact of labor unions, the presence of inflation, and many other concepts. One thing was apparent during the question-and-answer portion of the night; even off the big screen, Reich can command a room, even one as large as Wheeler Auditorium.

Over his experienced profession, Reich has used many tools at his disposal to get out his message about fixing the American economy. If you visit his website, you’re instantly bombarded with his blog posts, his television appearances with the Colbert Report and the Daily Show, and his own personal explanatory videos about low wage workers, inequality, immigration reform, and many other topics.

The movie, which won both the Special Jury prize at the Sundance film festival and the Audience Award for the Best Documentary at the Traverse City film festival, deftly mixes Reich’s expert economic opinion about the current and historical state of the political economy, with the teaching of the Berkeley class, Inequality and Poverty, alongside aspects of his own personal memoir.

What’s the most artistic part of the movie? In fact, it’s the way these three seemingly unrelated topics come together to tell a whale of an economic tale. To the average movie goer, Inequality for All might contain more graphs, develop more relationships, and explain more about money, than any event they've seen. And yet, somehow the movie fits it all together using Reich’s natural stage presence and their constantly evolving storyline. These separate parts of the narrative become deeply ingrained cogs of an economic engine: economic inequality, labor unions, tax policy, globalization, technological development, and many other parts. Interestingly, the confluence of Reich’s experience, his life story, and his Berkeley course functions just as effortlessly.

Such quality, however, is not due to Reich’s life work and nimble delivery; for this, the genius of the director cannot be overstated. Though it seems to be a party where Reich is the master of ceremonies, if one looks deeper, one can find out how much influence the director had on the movie’s progression. Kornbluth explains his main motives on the Inequality for All website: “I decided my goal with this film, first and foremost, was to take a conceptual and abstract topic and find a way to tell an approachable and human story about it.” In his words, during the question portion, he stated "You have to believe in the messenger to believe in the message." That belief is necessary, then, to incite a movement to jump-start our economy.

Reich stated that he understands that economic change of which he advocates for requires conversation with, and motivation from, diverse communities. In the same breath, he goes from lecturing to his UC Berkeley course, to conversing with Republican laborers about the importance of worker lobbying, to chopping it up with venture capitalists. In a way, it’s a visual example of one particular thing; for our economy to work, we need buy-in from each of these disparate groups, to move forward towards common goals.

Even if one doesn’t agree with Reich’s suggestions, you must agree that inequality has become a massive issue in our society. Reich includes conversation about the passionate Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protests, and adds such protests are symptoms of our communities being upset with inequality on large scales. Even President Obama recently stated in his recent State of the Union address, that 'Inequality is the defining issue and challenge of our time.' Needless to say, this isn’t an issue to take lightly.

The solutions to these issues, however, won't come as easy. He states: "The issue is at a point where there is a possibility...It can be tackled. It's not an easy answer; there has to be a movement..."

Well, one thing can be made for sure: whether Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, the points made in the new movie are hard to put down. Watching the movie, might be your first step.

Interested in learning more about Inequality for All? Check out the website here.

The views expressed here belong solely to the author of this entry and are not representative of the position of the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley.