Tag Archives: Environment

Maryland League of Conservation Voters Endorsements Map

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The Maryland League of Conservation Voters map of endorsed candidates is here. Easy to click on your own legislative district for endorsements.

Most of the Maryland General Assembly candidate endorsements are clustered in the Baltimore-Washington urban-suburban area.

The ONLY Eastern Shore GA candidate endorsed is Judy Davis, a Democrat running for the new open seat in District 38C (Ocean City, Ocean Pines, N. Worcester County and NE Wicomico County.)

I’m shore that Judy Davis would welcome campaign contributions from loyal Democrats and green voters. Her motto, “Teacher, Mother, Volunteer.”  (This message has not been authorized or approved by any candidate. Just sayn’)

Del. Norm Conway in District 38B has won environmental group endorsements in the past, but was not selected by the League of Conservation Voters this year.

And in other environmental news, the Green Party of Montgomery County has released a scorecard on how members of the Montgomery County Council voted, 2011-2014. You can see the scorecard here.

Marc Ehrlich is the only MoCo council member to earn a 100 percent rating from the Green Party. He’s followed by Nancy Navarro with 88 percent, and Phil Andrews and Roger Berliner both at 75 percent. And so on. Nancy Floreen earned the lowest rating from the Green Party, with 25 percent.

— John Hayden

Colorful Source of Information On Environmental Issues

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Earthjustice photo

Earthjustice photo

Earthjustice email newsletters are a pleasant way to keep up with environmental issues, which are often inherently unpleasant.

The Earthjustice online newsletter for May highlights five environmental issues with artistic photos and colorful videos. First of the five is the mysterious (or maybe not so mysterious) deaths of honeybees, and the last is fracking from a small town perspective. In between are two items on water pollution and one on air pollution.

Here’s a link to the Earthjustice online newsletter: http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/2011/pages/ebrief-2014-05.html . Be advised that each issue report comes with an appeal for financial contributions to Earthjustice. This post is for information purposes only and is not an endorsement of Earthjustice or any of its policy positions.

— John Hayden

Montgomery County Green Democrats’ Endorsements

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Endorsement Badge 2014

Montgomery County Green Democrats informed candidates of their endorsements on Saturday.

Following are the endorsements released by Green Democrats leader Joan Jacobs. All endorsements are for the Democratic Primary Election to be held June 24.

Govenor:

Heather Mizeur,

Attorney General:

Brian Frosh,

Maryland General Assembly:

Dist 14:

For Senate, Karen Montgomery

For Delegate, Eric Luedtke

Dist 15:

For Delegate, Aruna Miller and Bennett Rushkoff

Dist 16:

For Senate, Hugh Hill

For Delegate, Hrant Jamgochian and Marc Korman

Dist. 17:

For Senate, Cheryl Kagan

For Delegate, Kumar Barve

Dist. 18:

For Delegate, Jeff Waldstreicher

Dist. 19:

For Delegate, Paul Bardack and Charlotte Crutchfield

Dist. 20:

For Delegate, Will Smith

Note: As you can see, the Green Democrats did not endorse for every office up for election in the General Assembly, and did not favor incumbents, as many endorsing organizations do. The Green Democrats did not make any General Assembly endorsement for District 39, where all four incumbents are running unopposed in the primary.

________________________________

Montgomery County Executive:

Phil Andrews

_____________________________

Montgomery County Council:

Dist. 1, Roger Berliner
Dist. 3, Ryan Spiegel
Dist. 5, Tom Hucker

At Large, Marc Elrich
At Large, Beth Daly

Note: Whether it should be considered a rebuke to the present county government, or not, I cannot say.  The Green Democrats did not endorse the incumbent county executive, and endorsed only 2 incumbent council members. The Green Democrats passed up the opportunity to endorse in District 2 and District 4, and endorsed only two at-large candidates for four at-large seats. The two incumbent council members endorsed are Marc Elrich and Roger Berliner.

In my opinion, when an organization endorses selectively, and does not automatically endorse incumbents, it may give the endorsements more weight.

— John Hayden

Retail Politics In Montgomery County Before 2014 Democratic Primary

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DOUG DUNCAN MEETING WITH GREEN DEMOCRATS. (Photo Tweeted by Duncan after the meeting.)

DOUG DUNCAN MEETING WITH GREEN DEMOCRATS, photo tweeted by Duncan after the meeting.

Only 11 weeks until the June primary election, and here’s a leading candidate for county executive, in a county of one million people, meeting with fewer than two dozen voters.

Fifteen Montgomery County voters, to be exact, were on hand Thursday night to talk issues with Doug Duncan, former and possibly future county executive. It gives you some sense of the involvement of the voters — or the disengagement of  voters — in a local election in a nonpresidential election year. The venue, in this case. was a meeting of Montgomery County Green Democrats at a restaurant on Rockville Pike. Also on hand was one other candidate, Hrant Jamgochian, running for House of Delegates in District 16. All involved last night — both candidates and voters — are Democrats, far as I know.

We’re in the retail phase of this primary election season of 2014. Come one, come all, come anyone who’s interested. No need to worry about being trampled by the masses. You — yes, you — can take the measure of the candidates, if you wish, up close and personal. Got questions? Ask away. The politicians will answer, as best they can. Gatherings like this will be taking place all over Montgomery County, seven nights a week, right up until election day. Plus innumerable breakfast and lunch meetings as well. The point is, no voter can claim to lack for an  opportunity to see and talk with candidates before making a decision and casting a ballot.

DOUG DUNCAN

DOUG DUNCAN

It would be unfair, obviously, to evaluate any one candidate without also considering all the candidates running for the same office. Suffice it to say that Duncan seemed in fine fiddle Thursday night. The former Rockville mayor and former county executive obviously knows Montgomery County like the back of his hand. He handles all questions smoothly. The only question that ruffled his feathers even a little was a query about a proposal to allow suburban residents to keep chickens in their backyards. The issue has already been decided in the negative, and I doubt it will be revisited in the near future. For the record, Duncan indicated he has nothing against poultry, but he doesn’t think chickens — and especially not roosters — are a good idea in residential neighborhoods.

The other candidates running for county executive are Democrats Ike Leggett, the current executive, and Councilman Phil Andrews; and Republican Jim Shalleck.

Organizations of all kinds will sponsor forums to which they’ll invite all four executive candidates, so you can compare them side-by-side. Two forums I know of coming up before the end of the month are:

  • St. Jude Catholic Church, 12701 Veirs Mill Road, Rockville, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23.
  • Temple Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Rd, Rockville, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30.
HRANT JAMGOCHIAN

HRANT JAMGOCHIAN  —  Campaign slogan: “Hard to pronounce. Easy to support!”

The lone delegate candidate was invited to attend by Montgomery Green Democrats leader Joan Jacobs. He is Hrant Jamgochian, who also ran in the District 16 primary in 2010. In a Democratic field of 13 that year, Jamgochian finished fifth, with 2,964 votes. This year, only 11 Democrats are contending for the three delegate seats. One of the delegate seats is open, since Del. Susan Lee is running for the District 16 State Senate seat.

Again, it’s unfair to judge one candidate without considering all 11. But I think it’s fair to say that Jamgochian is a candidate with an unusual depth of experience and knowledge. He appears to have a very good shot at winning the open delegate seat in District 16 this year.

Doug Duncan’s website is DougDuncan.com

Hrant Jamgochian’s website is www.gojamgo.org

(Jacobs indicated that the Green Democrats hope to endorse candidates within a few weeks.)

— John Hayden

 

 

American Politics According To Alice Waters

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Alice Waters at JWU: Lecturn

ALICE WATERS  (Photo credit: Andy Ciordia)

Alice Waters, a leading light in the movement for nutritious, organic, and local food, was interviewed in the Washington Post this week. One quote would be a good meditation for all who are concerned about the human condition in America, as we approach the 2014 midterm elections.

“I’m in this very political place right now and feel like we have to collaborate in different ways to make a big impression, to change the way that we are living our lives, which is destroying our health and the planet. I certainly want to feel like I have tried to take care of this planet for the kids of this world. I really have to do something.”

Please focus your attention on the word “collaborate.”

Politicians have oversized egos. Continue reading →

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Sue Dreamwalker is on a roll. Every one of her recent posts has been an inspiration to look at our lives and change. Simplicity, food, environmental awareness. — John

Dreamwalker's Sanctuary

The Planet is in our Hands

So, where do we go from here?

Quiet simply the world is in our hands.. Its all about our choices, not our neighbours or our governments, Its about the choices We make which make a difference.

My own thoughts are that we have to start and embrace a simpler way of living, we have to stop ‘Wanting’ all the time.. We Want what is ‘best for our children’, We want the ‘best Money can Buy’ We Want the ‘Best Education’ We Want the ‘Best Health Care’.. We Want ‘Peace’ We Want ‘Better Lifestyles’  We Want ‘our Freedom’! We want! Want! and Want! .And yet none of these are relevant if we haven’t the Planet on which to live and enjoy these Wants..  

I don’t propose we go back to primitive lifestyles, But we need to look at all the waste  products we create, What we buy, how…

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Food For All and Work For All

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A most interesting take on sustainable food and local food. I’m particularly fascinated by the part about training young people for meaningful work. A great alternative to college for many, perhaps.

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Lessons From Hurricane Sandy — Part 1 of Many Parts

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It's global warming, stupid

(Photo credit: scriptingnews)

A respectable business magazine is out with the cover headline:

“It’s Global Warming, Stupid”

Fair enough. Quibble about the causes and terminology, if you must, but face reality.

I suggest two related subjects clamoring for serious consideration in the public square (or in smoke-filled back rooms) going forward:

“Geography Is Destiny”

And:

“It’s Infrastructure, Stupid”

What do you think? Suggestions for additional subjects to include in the syllabus? Extra credit for class participation.

— John Hayden

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“The Water Is Being Stolen”

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“We so often hear that the world is running out of water. People are dying from lack of water. Rivers are dewatered from lack of water. Because of this we need to take shorter showers. See the disconnect? Because I take showers, I’m responsible for drawing down aquifers? Well, no. More than 90 percent of the water used by humans is used by agriculture and industry. The remaining 10 percent is split between municipalities and actual living breathing individual humans. Collectively, municipal golf courses use as much water as municipal human beings. People (both human people and fish people) aren’t dying because the world is running out of water. They’re dying because the water is being stolen.”

— from “Forget Shorter Showers: Why personal change does not equal political change,” by Derrick Jensen in “Onion” Magazine. Profound and eye-opening! To read the full article, click here.

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Oil, Water, Sin

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What has gone wrong with the world? Good grief, where did we fail? How did we fall so far?

If I’m going to blog, I may as well try to tell the truth. There’s oil gushing from a hole in the bottom of the ocean floor. It’s a horror movie come true.

The mob screamed for government to get out of the way, free corporate capitalism to give us unimagined wealth. Now, the mob screams for government to do something. How ironic that the same people who fumed that Obama’s health care reform put us on the road to socialized medicine are now furious because Obama  won’t nationalize BP. Seems to me that Obama is doing a good job by keeping his head when all about him other people are losing their’s.

 

No oil in the water at my part of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet.

 

Oil keeps gushing, more and more every day. It’s washing up on the beaches. Government, save us. David Broder writes that the BP oil spill will be Barack Obama’s Iranian hostage crisis.  The President! Why doesn’t the president do something? Why won’t he send in the military? “Give us Barrabas!” This could come straight from the Bible, or from “Lord of the Flies.”  Get the president! He’s smart, he looks different, he doesn’t care.  He won’t stop the oil leak! “Crucify him!”

The nuns used to say that trouble in the world is the result of sinfulness, the cumulative worldwide weight of our small sins of omission and commission. Maybe the nuns were on to something. If so, I would trace our predicament to all our cumulative sins of greed. Or perhaps worship of false idols.

Now, it is common to talk of corruption, not sin. Corruption in government, corruption in business, corruption in bureaucracy. Government, business and bureaucracy, of course, are made up of individual human beings. Right now, the blame police are examining every omission and commission associated with the oil spill, in an effort to name the sins, or to expose a culture of corruption in BP and government agencies.

(While we ponder corruption and sin, I think we should also remember that possibly it is not sin or corruption, but human mistakes, unintended errors of omission and commission. I would even suggest one last, unlikely possibility, that the oil spill is an accident or an act of nature that was unpreventable.)

In the case of government dysfunction, my neighbor at Lost On The Shore suggests we are all responsible:

“You see, we either want things that are opposite of each other, or things that are impossible or we don’t know what we want . . .

Our politicians can’t solve our problems for us because we want it both ways and we don’t want to compromise.”

I agree with his analysis. We want too much, or we want what we cannot have.  I hope  we repent and change. We can reform our values. We can change the way we live. We can, if we have the will, refuse to tolerate corruption. We should do it for ourselves, and for our children and grandchildren.

— John Hayden