The New Age Young Poet Amanda Gorman on Climate Change, Corporate Knights Big Announcement, Wind Power Blooms in Texas, Pine Tree State Acts to Reach Climate Goal

AMANDA GORMAN ROCKS THE PLANET

Positive action news about people groups combating climate change is not limited to geo-political, geographical, economical or scientific. It also includes people combating climate change through culture. That’s because CC affects us more than physically. It also affects us emotionally, spiritually and culturally. That’s why I am excited to report about Amanda Gorman, the United States Youth Poet Laureate who blew people’s hair back at the recent Biden presidential inauguration. This is not about her breakout hit poem, “The Hill We Climb.” It’s about another one she penned back in 2018 about the climate crisis, and the action she implores us to take to end it. Here is a snippet from “Earthrise,” by Amanda Gorman:

Where despite disparities / We all care to protect this world,

This riddled blue marble, this little true marvel /To muster the verve and the nerve

To see how we can serve…Our planet. You don’t need to be a politician

To make it your mission to conserve, to protect, /To preserve that one and only home

That is ours, /To use your unique power To give next generations the planet they deserve.

We are demonstrating, creating, advocating /We heed this inconvenient truth, because we need to be anything but lenient / With the future of our youth.

And while this is a training, in sustaining the future of our planet,

There is no rehearsal. The time is Now/NowNow,

Because the reversal of harm, /And protection of a future so universal

Should be anything but controversial. /So, earth, pale blue dot

We will fail you not.

Amanda does her entire poem greater justice than my poor man’s recitation, so please search 24 Hours of Reality: “Earthrise” by Amanda Gorman on YouTube. The video itself is sublime.

DEEPER DIVE: YouTube, NAAEE.org

CORPORATE KNIGHTS ANNOUNCES MOST SUSTAINABLE CORPORATIONS, 2020

French technology firm Schneider Electric ranked No.1 on Corporate Knights’ annual 2021 Global 100 index. With a mission to help corporations reduce their emissions, Schneider works as a global specialist to manage and improve energy efficiency for businesses and industries. Just one year prior, Schneider Electric ranked No. 29. Quite a leap to No.1.  The annual rankings presented by the sustainable-business research company Corporate Knights are based on an assessment of over 8,000 companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. In the analysis, researchers concluded the more sustainable companies typically outperformed and outlasted competition.  

CEO of Corporate Knights said in a press release, “this year’s analysis and results strongly suggest that the world’s leading companies learned a lesson from the aftermath of the 2008/09 financial crisis. Rather than de-prioritising sustainability when confronted with a major shock, they’ve recognised that it will drive the success of recovery strategies.” For those curious, two companies based in the United States ranked in the top ten. McCormick and Company Incorporated ranked No. six and American Water Works Company ranked No. nine.

DEEPER DIVE: Bloomberg, Corporate Knights, Schneider Electric

WIND POWER PROSPERS IN TEXAS OIL COUNTRY

In 2005, Rafael Anchía, an ambitious Dallas Democrat, entered the Texas House of Representatives with an interest in expanding Texas’ fledgling renewable energy capacity and lessening its dependence on fossil fuels. “When I got there, wind was in its infancy,” Anchía recalls. “It was kind of a curiosity. Nobody paid it much mind.” But in his first session, he was part of a coalition that passed the landmark Senate Bill 20, which financed the construction of 3,600 miles of transmission lines—known as the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone—bringing power generated in the wind hot spots of West Texas and the Panhandle to the state’s major population centers. This provided critical infrastructure necessary for a surge in new investment and a dramatic expansion of Texas’ wind capacity. “That was an important step forward,” Anchía says, and would cement Texas’ status as the nation’s leading producer of wind power.

In spring 2020, wind supplied more than three times as much electricity to Texas’ grid than coal, far exceeding goals set at the turn of the century. In just two decades, the state’s wind capacity has grown from virtually nothing to more than 25 percent of the country’s entire wind power generation. Wind energy is responsible for about 25,000 jobs, far more than any other state, and with more and more projects in the pipeline, wind turbine service technicians are one of the most in-demand jobs in the state’s labor market. The number of those technician jobs could double by 2026. The markets, the climate, the state budget—they all seem to be sending the same signal, state Representative Anchía warns: If Texas wants to remain an economic powerhouse, it would do well to begin winding down its volatile relationship with fossil fuels and prepare for the future.

DEEPER DIVE: Texas Observer

MAINE TAKES STEPS TO REACH BOLD CLIMATE GOALS

Let’s go to some local news in the Pine Tree state. Environmental legislators in Maine are promoting over a dozen of new ideas to represent the state government’s ambitious effort to address climate change. Reported by Central Maine, legislation includes efforts to expand solar energy use, develop battery technology, and speed up weatherization efforts in Maine homes. While Maine is on the path to becoming carbon-neutral by 2045 thanks to landmark energy bills in 2019 and subsequent climate goals proposed by Gov. Janet Mills, this new legislation could push the state even close to its goals.

Right now, lawmakers are drafting laws that help reduce carbon emissions and expand renewable energy and transpiration sectors. The transition to renewable electricity could also help create jobs for Maine residents. In fact, one of the governor’s goals is to double Maine’s clean-energy jobs by 2030. Though Maine will face challenges transforming their energy sectors, the end-goal will surely benefit the environment and residents. The Climate Daily will be sure to check back in on their progress over the coming months.  

DEEPER DIVE: Central Maine