Fukushima - take action!

The concern about Japan's nuclear disaster seems much larger among Germany's public, press and politicians than in the US. And it also seems to be much more geared towards learning and action.

That is even true for Greenpeace. Their German website gives a couple a concrete suggestions of how everybody can contribute to ban nuclear energy - once and for all:

Make your protest visible: nuclear energy, no thanks!

- Add a "nuclear power - no thanks" sticker on your facebook picture.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=127528613970751

- Get tshirts, stickers, posters, flags with similar slogans. I did not find a US site yet, and so had to design my own tshirt.

Talk to your politicians!

- Write emails to your politicians

- Sign petitions like https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=801&s_src=sidenav

- Sign up at www.votesolar.org

Make your own solar energy!

- In some areas, like Mill Valley, you can actually buy green electricity from you utility

- Get your own solar system on the roof or have companies like http://www.sunrunhome.com build and own them

Take action in your community!

Join demonstrations - more than 110.000 people went on the streets all over Germany just at the beginning of this week. Where are events happening close to where you live in the US?

I invite everybody to add links, events and organizations!

The Vision of 100% Renewable Energy (1)

This short series of blogs will be interesting to all participants of Gaba's event "The Vision of 100% Renewable Energy - commemorating Hermann Scheer" - and to those who are sad to have missed it.

I just finished reading Hermann's last book, "Der Energethische Imparativ". It is a fabulous analysis of how to transform the energy system - not in scientific theory, but in political practice. In the following blogs I will give a short summary of his ideas along with a changing focus on different chapters and a few own thoughts - as an appetizer for the book, not as replacement.

His main theses are:

1. Switching to Renewable Energy is as unavoidable as natural law

2. "Old Energy" changed strategy: from impeding to slowing down, from confrontation to becoming meek and mild.

3. One way of trying to slow change down forever are gigantic projects - good for PR, never going to happen, putting old energy back into the driver seat.

4. There is no win-win in moving to Renewable Energy. It can only be achieved if we face the conflict.

5. Accelerating the change to Renewable Energy requires a good understanding of the underlying system. The best measures increase the number of players and address a multitude of motives instead of just one. All other measures distract us and should not be pursued.

6. Germany can get 70% Renewable electricity until 2020, 100% until 2030. The measures are all known and proven. But the government is owned by big old energy.

7. And, those measures will be applicable in other countries to a large degree.

In the following blocks I will go into further detail for all of those theses - and share Hermann's sharp analysis and some astonishing facts.