All posts by Shane Pekny

Rally: Save the Clarinda-Page Apartments

Action Alerts,

From Restoration Exchange Omaha:

The 2004 Destination Midtown study showed the No. 1 thing people love about Midtown is its historic buildings. This is an opportunity to get involved to save the Clarinda-Page.

The City Council is supposed to vote on whether to remove landmark status at the July 1 meeting. Your attendance is needed! The whole point of declaring a building a landmark is so that it cannot be torn down. Please help save Omaha’s heritage!

Join us as we rally to gather support to save the Clarinda-Page apartments.

Rally: Save the Clarinda-Page Apartments
Thursday, June 26
4:30 to 6 p.m.
Farnam Street and Turner Boulevard

Learn more: Top Ten Reasons to Save the Clarinda and Page Apartments

Sen. Haar: Nebraska utilities should embrace EPA plan

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

On June 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, proposed a plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants.

This ambitious plan presents a great opportunity for the state of Nebraska. Under the plan, all states have to reach a goal of reducing carbon pollution, however they are given the flexibility to find the best ways to reach their goal. Nebraska has a unique opportunity because our state is the only state with public power and we have one of the nation’s best-rated wind resources.

Read more.

Community Discussion on Energy in Stanton June 17

Events,

From Ben Gotschall, Energy Director at BOLD Nebraska:

Nebraska has the potential to be a national leader in renewable energy.

With the recent EPA announcement that Nebraska must reduce its carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2030, clean energy is becoming more important to our state’s economy. People all across Nebraska are eager to learn more and share their own ideas about how to build new energy sources that will keep our land, air, and water clean while strengthening our state’s economy.

Come join Bold Nebraska and the Center for Rural Affairs for a community energy discussion:

Tuesday, June 17, 2014, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The Uptown Brewery
801 10th Street, Stanton, Nebraska

Heavy appetizers provided!

Please RSVP and let us know if you plan to come, so we’ll know how much food to order. RSVP to Virginia Meyer at the Center for Rural Affairs, virginiam@cfra.org or 402-687-2103 ext. 1014.

Topics will include energy generation in Nebraska, renewable energy, local and community-owned energy projects, and much more. Bring a friend and your ideas about how to move Nebraska forward on energy.

See you in Stanton,

Ben Gotschall
Energy Director, Bold Nebraska

Cutting carbon: less expensive than we are led to believe

News,

From Paul Krugman at the New York Times:

Next week the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce new rules designed to limit global warming. Although we don’t know the details yet, anti-environmental groups are already predicting vast costs and economic doom. Don’t believe them. Everything we know suggests that we can achieve large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at little cost to the economy.

Just ask the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Read the full story.

NY Times: Jane Kleeb vs. the Keystone Pipeline

News,

From the New York Times:

Terry Van Housen had a question. What he wanted to know from the 30 or so other Nebraska farmers and ranchers gathered in February at the York Community Center was this: What do you do with 10,000 dead cows?

That was the number of cattle Van Housen figured could be at risk if the Obama administration permitted the proposed 1,700-mile XL leg of the Keystone pipeline to cut across their state. Bulldozers would dig a trench not far from Van Housen’s feedlot, completing the final phase of the Keystone project and streamlining the current flow of oil from the bitumen mines of Northern Alberta toward refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. If the pipe were to leak, Van Housen said, his cattle could die.

Read the full story.

Green Drinks in Omaha May 28

Events,

Please join our growing numbers next Wednesday for Green Drinks, back at our old haunt. And as always, please pass the word to others who might be interested in attending!

Omaha Green Drinks: 5:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2014

(Typically the fourth Wednesday of every odd month: January, March, May, July, September, November.)

Whole Foods Market Omaha, 10020 Regency Circle, Omaha (education room near the restaurant seating, across from coffee bar).

Anyone working on environmental issues (green business, architecture, design, clean energy, natural resources, and more) or studying them is welcome to attend. Enjoy conversation,  make contacts, have a few drinks (alcohol or non-alcohol), and take in some green inspiration. First time? Just go up to someone and say, “Are you green?” And you’ll be made welcome.

There is a a send-only email circulation list; to get on it, send an email to GDsubscribe@p2ric.org with subject heading “Green Drinks NE”

Green Drinks Facebook Group

Facebook Event Listing

Transgender UNO professor retiring after 38 years of inspiring students

News

From the Omaha World-Herald, a short profile of Professor Meredith Bacon, one of UNO’s most honorable professors and an inspiration to thousands of students:

The Faculty Senate president at the University of Nebraska at Omaha completed a third one-year term Wednesday, but not consecutively — and now under a different name from the first two terms.

“Two as Wally,” the out­going president said, “and one as Meredith.”

Meredith Bacon, formerly known as Walter M. Bacon Jr., is believed to be the first transgender person in America elected as a college or university faculty leader.

Read the full story.

#NOKXL Events in Nebraska May 17

Action Alerts,

From Bold Nebraska:

1. Hands Around the Spirit Camp: Join the Cowboy and Indian Alliance — including Aldo Seoane and Oyate Wahacanka Woecun (“Shielding the People”), and Bold Nebraska — at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp erected to protest Keystone XL. We’ll join hands and do a circle dance to show our unity and to protect sacred water and lands from KXL.

2. Hands Around the Barn: Join us at the “Build Our Energy” barn, a renewable energy-powered structure built by volunteers on land directly in the path of Keystone XL. We’ll join hands and encircle the barn to show we mean to protect our investment in clean, renewable energy against a foreign tarsands export pipeline.

3. Hands Across the Bridge: Join us at the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the Missouri River in downtown Omaha, NE. We’ll stand side-by-side and join hands for a photo, to show Pres. Obama and Congress that we stand strong together against the Keystone XL tarsands export pipeline, and together call for a transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

Jill Stein to speak at Midwest gathering June 13-15

Events,

The Greens of Kansas City and the Progressive Party of Missouri invite you to a five-state Green organizing meeting. Held June 13 to 15 just outside of Kansas City, Transforming Politics on the Prairie: Building the Green Party in the Midwest will feature Jill Stein as keynote speaker.

The venue is the Heartland Center, a beautiful rural conference center at 16965 NW 45 Highway, Parkville, Missouri. It is located very close to the K.C. International Airport. Attendees arriving at reasonable times will be provided a free shuttle service.

Never in the history of our country has there been a greater need for a new, vibrant party. With 60% of the people saying “We need a third party,” our holistic message and strong moral foundation put us in a unique position to accept the challenge. The Greens are leading the way in many parts of the country, and this meeting is intended to bring multi-state leadership together, to confer and develop plans for rejuvenating our Green Parties in the Prairie States.

Registration will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday night, June 13. Dinner is at 5:30 with a keynote address by Jill Stein, followed by conversations with Jill Stein, other workshop leaders, and meeting attendees. Saturday will be filled with workshops on topics important to Greens. On Saturday night we will explore how to build the Green Party in our states and how to incorporate the workshop issues, politics, and related movements into a strong force for change. On Sunday, we will meet in small groups to discuss multi-state, multi-issue collaborative efforts. Conference ends at 10:00 Sunday morning.

Workshops will include: Single-payer health care, Fighting the Grand Bargain, Transforming Food/Farm Issues, Running Green Campaigns, Climate Disruption.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Jill Stein, Green Presidential candidate, 2012
  • Ed Weisbart, MD, Missouri Chair PNHP, St. Louis, MO
  • David Kinsley, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Management at KU Medical Center
  • Mark Swaney, Green candidate for US Senate from Arkansas
  • John Fish Kurman, Coordinator of 350KC

Cost:

  • Full Conference (includes 5 meals and lodging for 2 nights, triple occupancy): $180.00
  • Early registration (before May 15): $160.00
  • Students: $125.00
  • Saturday only: $40.00  (Please add any of the following: Breakfast $8.00, Lunch $10.00, Dinner $13.00)

There are scholarships available. Let us know what you can afford.

For more information contact Ben Kjelshus, bkjelshus@gmail.com, (816)623-3006.