Abel Collins – RI Future

September 8, 2014

Be the ‘Disruption’

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It was a beautiful day yesterday (unless you’re a die-hard Pats fan), not the kind of day you want to spend inside. Nevertheless, I found myself in a darkened classroom at Brown University in order to watch “Disruption,” a documentary that dropped online yesterday and which is designed to drive people into the streets to demand action on the climate. The film gave me goosebumps several times, both anticipating the impending People’s Climate March in NYC on September 21st and reminiscing about the giant Forward on Climate Rally in DC last February. It runs a little over 50 minutes, and it makes a compelling case for people to show up in New York. [stream it here]

Did I mention you can get a Climate March bus ticket roundtrip for as little as $15 and the deadline is Wednesday? CLICK HERE FOR THE TICKET PAGE (If it says the tickets are sold out, please join the waiting list. More buses are being arranged)

The People’s Climate March is expected to draw more than 200,000 people, all to make the statement that global action must be undertaken to drastically reduce carbon emissions. The film builds excitement for the march by interlacing behind the scenes clips of the amazing organizing work being done to make it all run smoothly with interviews of renowned climate activists. The organizers’ perspective on the march is reinforced by periodically counting down the days until September 21st, beginning 100 days out and ending with 14 to go.

One of the renowned activists who makes an appearance in “Disruption” is our own Senator Whitehouse. The Senator held his annual Energy and Environmental Leaders day, and we were able to pull him aside for a moment to get an exclusive video interview. Among other things we asked him why it’s important to go down to New York City. This is what he had to say:

Even if you know you can’t make it to the People’s Climate March and disregard the Senator’s invitation, I recommend watching the movie to get a sense of the scale of the movement we need to create in the coming decades in order to save civilization as we have known it. It requires unprecedented action, and it’s made more difficult by human psychology, which isn’t biologically designed to grapple with problems that emerge and must be resolved over generations. This challenge is acknowledged in “Disruption.” The theory in the film and behind the march itself is to get enough people onto the streets to reach a cultural tipping point, to find a place in our collective consciousness where we can plan for the long term and act accordingly.

We are closer to this tipping point than we realize, and each new pair of boots on the ground brings us a step closer. In New York and beyond, if we want to disrupt business as usual, we must be the disruption.

Buy Your Ticket Now!

March 31, 2014April 1, 2014

Mass, Conn have already acted; is RI finally ready to tackle climate change?

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The newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was released today, and it isn’t pretty.

The Guardian summarized it well, saying

“The report from the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change concluded that climate change was already having effects in real time – melting sea ice and thawing permafrost in the Arctic, killing off coral reefs in the oceans, and leading to heat waves, heavy rains and mega-disasters.

And the worst was yet to come. Climate change posed a threat to global food stocks, and to human security, the blockbuster report said.

‘Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change,’ said Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC.

Monday’s report was the most sobering so far from the UN climate panel and, scientists said, the most definitive. The report – a three year joint effort by more than 300 scientists – grew to 2,600 pages and 32 volumes.”

The bottom line is that nowhere near enough action has been taken to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, and the urgency to do something increases with each passing day. Rhode Island can be considered among those that have failed to act, but that could change this year.

While Massachusetts and Connecticut passed comprehensive climate change legislation over 5 years ago, Representative Art Handy’s Climate Solutions Acts have consistently fallen flat at the State House. This year Handy, who chairs the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, has taken a new approach.

His Resilient Rhode Island Act of 2014 keeps the same ambitious goals for mitigating RI carbon emissions and adds new provisions for climate adaptation, helping the State’s cities and towns coordinate in preparing for rising sea levels, increasing flooding, and more extreme weather events. By adding the adaptation piece, Handy hopes to build a stronger coalition of support behind the effort, as storms like Sandy and the floods of 2010 have convinced businesses, officials and residents alike that we need to be more prepared.

Considerable momentum has already been generated for getting this bill passed. The Coastal Resources Management Council has been conducting outreach around its Beach Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), Governor Chafee recently created the Executive Climate Change Council, the fantastic Waves of Change website was released, and Senator Whitehouse’s continued campaigning at the federal level is being heard here. The Resilient RI Act even has its own information filled website. Additionally, Brown University is devoting resources to the effort, and it is Sierra Club RI’s number one priority.

In fact, I started a petition in support of the bill yesterday that already has close to 150 signatures on it, and I invite you to be a part of creating even more momentum on Smith Hill. CLICK AND SIGN

Time is of the essence. The Resilient Rhode Island Act is going to be heard this Thursday in Handy’s committee. If you can, I urge you to come out and voice your support. The IPCC report and our own senses demand this urgency.

If we had had the wisdom to pass such legislation twenty years ago when the science supporting it was already demanding such action, we would not have suffered so badly from Sandy’s glancing blow, and we would have created the framework for building a clean energy economy that would have meant thousands of good paying jobs. Better late than never, right? Just ask Sheldon:

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014

How to bolster RI’s solar industry

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Just about everyone I talk to about renewable energy says that they want solar panels on their roof. Not only do you get the warm and fuzzy feeling of helping save the planet, but in the long run it’s a great investment.

Even without any support through state incentives, solar systems will pay for themselves in a little over a decade, after which they generate energy cost savings for decades. For most people though, that 10 year pay back period is just a little too long, and the upfront capital just a little too large to justify the investment. As a result, Rhode Island’s residential renewable energy industry has been anemic in the years since 2010 when the State’s renewable energy tax credit program was phased out.

Rhode Island solar installers have been forced to look for work in Connecticut and Massachusetts where strong renewable incentive programs have stayed in place. For the sake of the environment and our struggling economy, it’s time to rectify this situation. The good news is that there are already a couple of new programs in place that should help, and there a couple of renewable energy legislative initiatives that could become law this session.

First, what we have:

Commerce RI (formerly the EDC) has grants available through its Renewable Energy Development Fund (REF). Installers apply for these grants, and they are handed out in three rounds. The first deadline is on April 7th, so if you’re interested in a solar array, find an installer today and let them know. (These are also available for commercial scale projects, so don’t be afraid to think big. Last year, the REF was underutilized)
PACE: Last year the General Assembly enacted the Property Assessed Clean Energy financing program which makes it easier for individuals to finance renewable projects by amortizing and attaching them to a property’s tax assessment for up to 20 years. More info here. Basically, you get to pay for your system in installments rather than all at once. The only problem is that each municipality has to adopt the PACE program individually through resolution. It’s not too early to start asking your council members whether your town is on board.

Second, the potential:

Rep. Deb Ruggiero and Sen. Josh Miller have both once again submitted bills to restore the Renewable Energy Tax Credit. This legislation would pay for 25% (up to $3500) of a given residential renewable system in tax credits. Past experience shows that the economic activity generated by this incentive generates more revenue for the State than it gives up through the credits, so everybody wins; solar installers, homeowners, the public at large, and the environment. Help get this legislation passed by sending a letter to your legislators today.
Representative Ruggiero will also be introducing legislation that would expand and make permanent the State’s immensely successful Distributed Generation pilot program. This program has been used mainly for commercial scale projects like the one in East Providence, but if it’s expanded the opportunity to use it for residential scale projects will arise. You can help support this legislation, too.

All together these programs would make Rhode Island a national leader in supporting renewable energy. They would be a boon to our still struggling building trades, a major benefit to the homeowners smart enough to invest in solar, and a way to reduce our carbon emissions and reliance on dirty foreign fossil fuels. What are we waiting for?!

February 10, 2014February 11, 2014

Chomsky: U.S. is ‘leading the world backwards’ on climate

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The ongoing rash of fossil fuel industry related disasters would be comical if it weren’t deadly serious. Trains loaded with gas and oil derailing and exploding, chemicals for treating coal spilling into West Virginia’s water supply, coal ash from Duke Energy leaking into a North Carolina river, fracking earth quakes and water pollution; the list is getting depressingly long. Given the ugly backdrop, you’d think fossil fuel companies would be having a tough time getting any new projects approved.

But we don’t live in a rational world, we live in a business-dominated world where the people (and by people I mean corporations) with the most money get what they want. So it was disappointing but unsurprising when the State Department released an industry influenced Environmental Impact Assessment of the northern half of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline that said the project wouldn’t make things worse for the climate. The argument goes that the tar sands will be extracted and burned anyway. Similarly, it’s unsurprising that an expansion of the Algonquin Pipeline that brings natural gas from the fracking wells of Pennsylvania up to the Northeast (and through RI) is expected to be approved without a second thought. This is what Obama’s “all of the above” energy strategy looks like in practice, expediting the construction of fossil fuel industry infrastructure whenever possible. Locally, rather than debate the wisdom of the Algonquin pipeline, we drag our feet waiting for someone else to take the lead on offshore wind.

Chomsky is right that if the United States doesn’t take the lead on efforts to address climate change, then it’s a lost cause. With Washington, D.C. as dysfunctional as it is, the question is whether we can do something about it closer to home. The answer is yes.

For starters, we can turn the narrative on the two issues I’ve mentioned so far. Let’s make a stink about natural gas expansion in New England. Here’s a petition to oppose the Algonquin expansion. We can do better. The wind that blows off our coast is some of the strongest and most consistent in the world, and it’s right next to the massive East Coast energy market. We should be embracing offshore wind and making the case that Rhode Island is the logical hub for this incipient industry. The Block Island Wind Farm is just the beginning of what’s possible.

Additionally, the State can show leadership on climate by joining the City of Providence in committing to divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. Here’s the petition for State divestment. There are going to be other important initiatives before the General Assembly this session. Representative Art Handy (Chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee) is going to be introducing a climate bill that would allow us to catch up to Connecticut and Massachusetts in terms of our carbon emissions goals, and it will go a step farther by creating policies to help our communities with climate adaptation. It’s also shaping up to be the year that RIPTA gets financial help, and this will help us address our transportation sector emissions. There will again be a bill to reinstate the renewable energy tax credit for residential renewable projects, which you can support here. Most significantly in the near term though is a bill that would make permanent and expand the State’s Distributed Generation pilot program, which has been very successful in promoting some of the larger scale commercial renewable projects that have been installed locally. These are all steps in the right direction, and I’m optimistic in each case.

Let’s hope the rest of the United States will be like us, and we can step back from the cliff.

August 20, 2013August 21, 2013

Environmentalists must wait for another chance at Biden

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Note: the rally on Thursday is called off. President Biden is tending to his son Beau, and will not make it to RI. Send your thoughts his way.

In the middle of August it can be hard to recall February, but it wasn’t all that long ago that busloads of Rhode Islanders headed down to be part of the historic “Forward On Climate” rally that drew between 35-50,000 people to Washington, DC to demand President Obama stop Transcanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline. Since that joyous frigid day, environmental activists have relentlessly dogged the steps of the President and Vice President wherever they have traveled, conducting rallies to drive home the point, Say No To The Pipeline!

For its part, the Administration continues to play the decision on the project close to its vest. President Obama said in his June Climate speech that he would only approve Keystone “if this project doesn’t significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” Obama clearly wants to leave a strong environmental legacy and his credibility hinges on this decision. Meanwhile, Biden told a Sierra Club volunteer that he agreed with those who oppose the pipeline. These are encouraging signs, especially because a very strong case will be made that the Keystone XL would lead to massive increases in carbon pollution.

On the other hand, Obama already approved the southern leg of the pipeline. More importantly, there is a lot of money on the other side of the issue, including that of the profiteering Koch brothers whose Texas refineries would be processing the toxic tar sands oil coming out of Canada to sell on the global oil market.

It is unclear which side is winning. Millions of people have spoken out against the pipeline, but they might all be drowned out by the billions of the fossil fuel industry. President Obama has postponed the decision on the pipeline multiple times, and it looks like it may well get pushed into 2014. Our best hope is in keeping the pressure on. While unfortunately we will not be able to give Vice President Biden the #noKXL message in person as we had planned for, you can still take action here: http://www.sierraclub.org/dirtyfuels/tar-sands/virtual-chain/.

June 25, 2013June 25, 2013

Budget hole big enough to drive a bus through

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In Brazil a twenty cent increase in the bus fare is sufficient to start a revolution. Rhode Island lawmakers are lucky that the public here is more sedate, because their inability to find a sustainable financing solution for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s structural deficit in this year’s budget will lead to either a drastic reduction in RIPTA service or a major increase in fare prices, maybe both.

The FY13 deficit for the transit agency stands at $2.2 million, and the FY14 deficit, which the budget proposal has done next to nothing to address, is projected to be over $10 million.

$10 million is about 20% of RIPTA’s operating budget, and that is where RIPTA will have to look to balance its books sometime before its cash flow runs out near the end of the year. It would be a miracle if the necessary cuts comprise less than 10% of current service [For instance, a four million dollar deficit a few years ago translated into 10% proposed service reductions.] It’s more likely that RIPTA will soon be holding public hearings with discussions of 20% cuts.

Never mind for the moment the impact to our environment or to the people who rely on transit as a lifeline, imagine the impact to the economy if 1 in 5 buses disappears from Rhode Island’s roads. How many people who can’t drive or can’t afford a car won’t be able to get to work? How many won’t be able to make it out to the store to engage in commerce? Thousands.

I can already picture the hearings, filled to over capacity with angry and terrified riders testifying about the hardship that the cuts will mean. There will no doubt be protests in the street over it (though not quite like Brazil), and legislators will predictably make statements to the press about how important transit service is and how the cuts could not have been foreseen.

Despite such feigned ignorance, RIPTA’s plight is well known in the Statehouse. Speaker Fox has maintained that finding sustainable funding for the buses is one of his top three priorities this session. Dozens of members of the House have even signed a letter calling on the Speaker to live up to this stated priority. There has been sustained advocacy on the issue for as far back as legislators memories can stretch, advocacy from the environmental, social service, public health, senior, disabled, youth, labor, and business communities. What will it take?

I suspect in the end that it may require the people in the street in the lead up to next year’s elections to finally see a solution. In the meantime, the public will suffer and whatever economic development policies that lawmakers manage to get through will be entirely undermined.

June 19, 2013June 20, 2013

Providence City Council considers fossil fuel divestment

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The fossil fuel industry is sitting on enough proven reserves to pump five times as much carbon pollution into atmosphere as it can withstand to still support a climate conducive to human civilization. The stock valuations of Big Oil and Big Coal are dependent on business plans that demands these reserves be burned. Indeed these companies are spending billions of dollars exploring for more. A way must be found to keep the dirty fuels in the ground. Unfortunately, the political power of the fossil fuel industry has thwarted every federal legislative effort to regulate carbon. It’s up to us now.

At Thursday’s Providence City Council meeting, a fossil fuel divestment resolution introduced by Majority Leader Seth Yurdin and backed by Council President Michael Solomon with enough other members to ensure passage will be taken up for consideration.

If the resolution passes (as seems likely), Providence will be the 16th municipality in the country to commit to divesting. Providence has a special place among the 16, because it will become the only Capital City and the biggest city on the East Coast to make this bold statement against what has truly become a rogue industry.

The fossil fuel divestment initiative, branded simply Fossil Free, is the brainchild of 350.org founder Bill McKibben who came to Brown University in November as part of his nationwide barnstorming “Do The Math” tour. The tour sparked a movement on college campuses across the country now at 300 schools and counting, including strong campaigns at Brown, RISD, and the RI State Schools. The movement has clearly now spread beyond campuses to other large institutions. The growth of the Fossil Free movement has been astoundingly quick, faster than the Anti-South African Apartheid disinvestment movement of the late 1970s and 1980s upon which it is patterned.

I like to imagine the CEOs of the fossil fuel industry are beginning to squirm a little in their seats. While their share prices have not yet taken a hit, the combined investment funds of schools, churches, and municipalities makes up a very big number, more than a trillion dollars. If it’s all disinvested from fossil fuel stocks, the impact will be material financially. The bigger impact however is the public relations dilemma that the industry faces, which is potentially a much bigger financial liability.

Environmentalists are overcoming the billion dollar advertising budget of the fossil fuel giants. Using grassroots power, Fossil Free has finally been able to paint the most profitable industry in the history of the planet as the dangerous villain it has become. That’s why the symbolism of the Providence vote on Thursday will be more important than the tens of thousands of dollars that the City will eventually divest from fossil fuel companies.

Cities around the country will follow the leadership of Providence, the schools of the City too. In the process, more people will be educated about the danger posed by the fossil fuel industry, and perhaps even the political will to deal with the problem in Washington will at last be found. The City Council should be applauded for being on the right side of history. Consider coming down to City Hall on Thursday to do it in person.

May 9, 2013May 9, 2013

End the era of Citizens United in Rhode Island

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Tonight, I will deliver this testimony to the House Judiciary Committee:

. . . corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their ‘personhood’ often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.

~Supreme Court Justice Stevens, January 2010

Everyone makes mistakes, even Supreme Court Justices. Sometimes five of them make the same mistake at once and produce a horrible decision that threatens to unravel the democratic fabric of our civil society. Such was the Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. FEC. Our President, Senator Whitehouse, the City of Providence among other RI municipalities, and this very legislative body have all recognized this and pushed for the reversal of the decision. H6051 and the “We The People” constitutional referendum it enables gives the Rhode Island people that same opportunity with a direct vote.

There are two ways a Supreme Court decision can be reversed. The simplest and most common is for the Court itself to review and overturn its decision when it takes up a related case. The other is to amend the US Constitution, either through Congressional action or an Article V convention called for by at least ⅔ of the States. In the history of our great country, there has never been an Article V convention. For all intents and purposes, we must hope that the corporate sponsored hyper-partisan politicians in Washington take action to amend the Constitution and put an end to the money in politics that put them there, or that the Court will take up a case and do what’s right.

Given the dangerous implications of unlimited corporate spending in elections, any action that can be taken to facilitate the reversal of Citizens United should be taken immediately. The “We The People” amendment to the Rhode Island Constitution, if approved, would do this in a few ways. If the amendment gets challenged and heard by the Supreme Court, it would give the Court the chance to overturn Citizens United. However, if the Court affirms its previous decisions and overrules a popular democratic vote, then a fire will be ignited under the Congressional amendment process and probably the Article V process as well, making those avenues more likely to move forward. Finally, the RI “We The People” amendment might not be challenged, and Rhode Island could serve as a model whereby other states could reclaim their right to regulate special interest spending in elections.

In addition to these critically important policy implications, H6051 will give Rhode Island voters a cathartic opportunity. For long years, we have watched our democracy slip away from us, powerless to do anything about the growing influence on money in politics. Faith in government is plumbing the depths. The people know what is right on this issue. They know that a corporation is not a person and that its spending in elections is not free speech. We, The People, deserve to be heard. This is our democracy.

For these good reasons, I urge you to pass H6051 and put the question to the people. Give us the chance to send a message to the Supreme Court and all our leaders in Washington, D.C. These are extraordinary times when corporate power threatens to overwhelm the power of the public, and these times demand extraordinary action. This bill is that action.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Abel Collins

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013

Amend RI Constitution: Corporations aren’t people

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In 2012, the General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling on leaders in Washington to reverse the effects of the Citizens United vs. FEC Supreme Court decision, which enshrined corporations as people and their spending of money in elections as protected free speech. Rhode Island is one of twelve states to take such action alongside at least another dozen who are contemplating similar non-binding legislative action. Meanwhile, hundreds of municipalities around the country have passed resolutions likewise calling for the reversal of Citizens United, including Providence and other RI municipalities. Rhode Island also enjoys leadership on this important issue at the federal level from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who has spearheaded the initiative to amend the U.S. Constitution. We should be proud of the leadership that has been shown by our political leaders on this issue.

However if you’re like me, you don’t want to hold your breath waiting for things to happen in Washington, D.C. That’s why I got together with some friends and started a Rhode Island affiliate of the Move To Amend coalition. That’s also why we drafted legislation that would allow Rhode Island to be the first state to amend its constitution to abolish corporate personhood. If passed, the bill would put the question on next year’s ballot for the voters to decide. We can be proud that we are the first state in the nation to be considering this move.

The good news is that we have started a petition to support amending the RI Constitution, and in the less than three days it has been up, it already has more than 300 signatures. You can sign it here: http://movetoamend.nationbuilder.com/amend_ri

The less good but still exciting news is that the bill is being heard this Thursday, May 9th in the House Judiciary committee, so there is only a short time to get people on this petition and to the Statehouse for the hearing. I’d be grateful if you can share the petition through social media and email with all your friends. Please also consider coming to the hearing. I’ve made a Facebook event page that allows you to RSVP and spread the word to your friends.

This hearing on Thursday and the subsequent fate of this legislation could prove to be historic steps in the fight to reclaim our democracy from the grip of corporate power. If the bill passes and Rhode Islanders determine that a corporation is not a person as polling suggests they would, there are a lot of potential outcomes and all good for the broader goal of amending the U.S. Constitution.

April 4, 2013April 5, 2013

Address Beach Erosion, Climate Change Tonight

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ocean mist deck — The deck of the Ocean Mist, one of the most vulnerable local businesses to coastal erosion.

The Coastal Resource Management Council is officially kicking off its eagerly anticipated Beach Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) at 6pm tonight in the Corliss Auditorium at URI’s Bay Campus

Here’s a little teaser video from a press conference hosted by CRMC at the Ocean Technology Center yesterday featuring Executive Director Grover Fugate.

The event this evening is open to the public. I hope to see you there!

March 21, 2013

My Marriage Equality Testimony For Tonight

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Dear Chairman McCaffrey and Members of the Committee,

I am proud today to offer testimony in support of Senate Bill 38, the marriage equality bill. I urge you to back this historic legislation and affirm Rhode Island’s commitment to equal rights.

I am here with my mom, who is one of the thousands of Rhode Islanders who is discriminated against by our current marriage law. I ask you how you would feel if someone told you that your mother couldn’t marry the person she loved? Would you be indignant?

So yes, I am here in great part for selfish motivations. I love my mom, and I want to protect her from harm. I am also here to stand in solidarity with my many gay and lesbian friends, most of whom couldn’t be here to speak for themselves. I would be a lesser person if it weren’t for their friendship.

If Rhode Island law is determined by my personal whims, the invocations of my mom and friends as reasons to support this bill will sway you in that direction. Alas, I realize I am only one citizen, even if the polls show me in the majority.

Let me add then that my gay and lesbian friends generally have healthier relationships than my heterosexual friends. I am also confident that their love is equal in strength and commitment to the love of my straight friends. Indeed, some of them have already gotten married in other states. I see the joy of those few, and I cannot for the life of me see any rationale for continuing to deny the right to marry to so many Rhode Islanders.

If Rhode Island law is determined by rationality, the fact that same sex relationships are exactly the same as heterosexual relationships in the spirit of love will convince you to support this bill. Sadly, rationality is not the determining factor in the issue of equal marriage.

Marriage is an enshrinement of love which is elementally spiritual, and thus from the very beginning it has been entangled with religion. For better or for worse, rationality has been overshadowed by faith in this policy debate. Consequently, Rhode Island’s marriage law institutionalizes the prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination of antiquated religious beliefs.

If only there was some prohibition against mixing church and state, there would be a way around this intractable mess. With that in mind, I’ll invoke an ancestor a bit farther removed than my mother, namely Roger Williams. Williams was a devout man, a Baptist minister in fact. Yet, it was he who brought the notion of separation of church and state that the freedom of religion demands to America. It was he who charged us in the Rhode Island Constitution:

“to hold forth a lively experiment that a flourishing civil state may stand and be best maintained with full liberty inreligious concernments; we, therefore, declare that no person shall be compelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of such person’s voluntary contract; nor enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in body or goods; nor disqualified from holding any office; nor otherwise suffer on account of such person’s religious belief; and that every person shall be free to worship God according to the dictates of such person’s conscience, and to profess and by argument to maintain such person’s opinion in matters of religion; and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect the civil capacity of any person.”

I can say with confidence that if he was alive today, Roger Williams would be ashamed of how current law compels Rhode Islanders to support the ministries of some faiths in such a way that it affects the civil capacities of thousands of other citizens.

As an active member of two faith communities that have endorsed same sex marriage, the Quakers and the Unitarian-Universalists, I know first hand that current law violates the practice of my beliefs while it validates the religious practice of others. Therefore, it is unconstitutional, and it should be amended appropriately.

Senate Bill 38 does this. It brings our law back into agreement with our Constitution. Moreover, it recognizes the common sense reality that all love is equal and should be allowed equal expression. Most importantly of course, my mom and my friends will finally have the respect they deserve. The more we abolish the institutions that create lesser classes of people, the greater we will all become.

Please pass this bill, and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Abel Collins

March 17, 2013March 17, 2013

Rhode Island Can Be Heroic On Climate Change

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“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”~ Ben Franklin

Fourth Economy Consulting, a firm out of Pennsylvania hired as part of the federally funded “Sustainable RI” grant, recently submitted its preliminary report of the strengths and weaknesses of Rhode Island’s economy. The first recommendation in the report’s initial guidance section is to “Create One Voice–Set a Clear Course.” This idea is not new. In fact it’s been a common refrain in the state since before I started paying close attention to economic development policy. We need an identity that we can market to the world in order to draw and retain talented people to our workforce.

New York has finance, art, media, and fashion. Boston has education, bio-medical research, and healthcare. Thus these metropolises dominate the playing field of the “knowledge” economy that we are seeking to compete on, and our city-state isn’t even in the same league. How do we separate ourselves?

As much as I hear people talk about it, I don’t hear a lot of ideas about what our special brand is going to be. As an outsider, Fourth Economy wasn’t so bold as to suggest what our singular voice should be, but as one of those home grown young professionals the state is looking to keep, I will.

Here’s my thinking: for as far into the future as we can see, there are two storylines that dominate economic policy. On the one hand is the depletion of the natural resources we use to achieve our luxuriant civilization, and on the other, the related story of global warming. There will doubtless be other stories, but these two are as inevitable as death and taxes.

As a small state with nearly 500 miles of precious coastline and no fossil fuel deposits to speak of, we have a lot at stake in these stories. Sea level rise will affect us disproportionately harshly, and the laws of supply and demand will make any dependence on oil and other dirty fuels foolishly costly.

Fortunately, we can play the hero in both tales by transitioning from our current carbon intensive economy to a carbon neutral one. Our identity, our one-voice clear-course brand, can be the ecology economy. This pragmatic transition will build a strong economy now and leave us with a resilient Rhode Island for the future of certain upheaval.

Let us emulate Sweden which aims to wean itself entirely from fossil fuels by 2020 or Norway which plans to be carbon neutral by 2030. Massachusetts and Connecticut have passed Climate Solutions Acts that have the goal of 80% reductions in emissions by 2050. We can up the ante. I bet we can reach 100% by 2050. Let’s leave our neighbors in the dust for once.

A list of specific prescriptions to kickstart our economic makeover might begin with:

Make the Rhode Climate Change Commission’s report “Adapting to Climate Change in the Ocean State: A Starting Point” required reading for policy makers from Town Hall to the State House. It will serve as a good planning document going forward.
Make major new investments in our public transit system (House bill 5073 is a start). Given our size and the distribution of our population, we could have the best bus system in the country. Adding a second hub in South County to create a circulator which doesn’t have to go to Providence would be pleasant and efficient. Also, let’s work with Massachusetts and the federal transportation authorities to let RIPTA run service into southeastern Mass. Tell your Rep to invest in transit here.
Create incentives and opportunities for clean energy. Restoring the Renewable Energy Tax Credit (House Bill 5116, Senate Bill 127-Action Alert here) is a good way to revive the residential solar industry in RI. Currently installment of photovoltaics and solar hot water systems is limited to electricians and plumbers who are in short supply. Creating a new licensed profession of solar installers would speed renewable development and create jobs. This industry presents opportunities for an apprenticeship program and the growth of local micro-financing.
Demand that the Economic Development Corporation embrace the opportunity of small scale agricultural business. We love visiting our local farms and eating our local food. Our tourists like it too. The EDC would do well to promote the “eco” in ecotourism.
Make Senator Reed’s Blackstone Valley National Park initiative happen!
Expedite the high speed rail, commuter rail, and large scale renewable projects in the works and bring the industry to supply their construction to Quonset.

Even these first steps toward an ecology economy will offer us handsome economic returns and leave us more competitive. Making them happen is more a matter of determination and commitment than large amounts of public money. As we shine more and more brightly in the new economy we will become a better place to live and work; as our name spreads far and wide as a beacon of hope we will attract more of what we want and need.

Luckily, everywhere you turn in Rhode Island you find politicians who are avowed environmentalists. The Governor and those in the Congressional delegation can sell our new brand nationally and internationally. We also have a public that grasps the challenges we face and that is eager to cheer these politicians on. With “one voice,” let’s declare that our economic failures are at an end. We will be prepared.

“This Op-ed first appeared in the Providence Journal on March 16, 2013. Many thanks to Bob Plain for reposting it here on RIfuture.”

February 26, 2013

Externalities Kill

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I can almost stretch my memory back to the day of Dec. 14, back through the fog of politicized media spin, the miasma of special interests spreading to capitalize on crisis and grief in one way or another. I can almost remember the overwhelming flood of empathy, the consolation, the unconditional love, and the deep soul searching. It played through every news and Twitter feed.

Before debate was pigeonholed into gun control and divided into topics like assault weapon bans, magazine clips, background checks, and good guys with guns on every corner, there were calls for deeper reflection. There was a question that was on everybody’s lips: “What is wrong with us, how do we stop our violent madness?” Where did that conversation go?

Because let’s be really honest with ourselves: Gun control is not going to stop the mass killings, nor the individual ones that tick across the news wire in the background of the television screen. They’ll not be stopped by a lot more good guys with guns either. It’s not about mental illness, bloody video games, violent movies, or poverty, although how we handle all of these may fuel killing.

Can we get back to that original conversation and talk about the black heart of our violence? Can we explore it with that original feeling of empathy guiding us?

We can begin by accepting that we live in a culture of violence. There is a pervasive acceptance that violence can solve a problem, not merely that it can but that it is in fact often preferable to trying to work things out peacefully. From here, we might reasonably conclude that a better way to stop the killing would be to effectively educate people that violence exacerbates more problems than it will ever solve. Let us question the glory of war and encourage the practice of placing ourselves in the shoes of our opposites. We could teach conflict resolution and give people the skills to de-escalate situations that have turned violent or are in danger of doing so. We can build and nurture healthy communities to raise healthy, happy, loving children in. On a large enough scale, I believe we would prevent more killing by these methods. (This is the essence of the proposed Department of Peace.)

I want to have an even deeper discussion than that though. I want to get to a point where the impulse to violence against one another is thwarted altogether. We can begin by accepting that such violence is unnatural. The most terrifying thing to experience whether as aggressor or defender is human violence. As proof, I offer the amount of training it takes to convince a person to go to war and the number of people it mentally breaks in the process. Like nearly every animal on the planet, we humans avoid killing our own kind by nature.

From here, we might reasonably conclude that there is something unnatural about our culture that nullifies our peaceful nature, and that it is more prevalent in the United States. Military theory and history teach us that in order to inspire men (and women) to kill other men and women who are no different in reality from their own brothers, sisters, parents, and children is to dehumanize them until they are truly inhuman, nullifying the natural revulsion to killing people. So, what makes it so easy for us to dehumanize each other in the U.S.?

Oversimplified as it may be, my theory is that it’s basically our overdeveloped sense of separateness. The environment we callously and infamously regard as an external repository of resources for our insatiable consumption. The universe is other, and we have the scientific and religious research to prove it. This belief in the superiority of humanity above nature is not uniquely American, but we do seem to have taken it to a new level, a level where the individual is superior to society.

Our individuality is legendary and prideful. We operate as though we are in competition from birth until death to see who can end up at the right hand of Jesus, Yahweh, or Allah, and the only way we can measure our place in the competition is through the acquisition of wealth. We suffer from a bad case of materialism, deeming one another to be human resources, objects to be manipulated for our personal benefit.

My theory says however there is no competition. It’s all illusion. We are not separate; not from each other, not even from the environment. We have better measures than accumulated wealth or earning power to value ourselves, if that’s truly our concern. One of those measures could be awareness of how interconnected this universe and our shared experience of it really is.

I am not alone. You are not alone. We are not alone. We are human, and we are all one. Let’s stop the killing.

What’s your theory?

(this post appeared first on Huffington Post)

February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

Feb 17: Protest the Pipeline

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The environmental movement – and the planet it wants to protect – will come to a fork in the road on Feb. 17. Tens of thousands of people will descend on DC to demand that President Obama kill the Keystone Pipeline once and for all. And he might do it. On the other hand, he might not.

In the first instance, activists from around the country will rejoice and be energized to build the environmental movement necessary to win the fight of all our lives. In the latter, the environmental movement will have failed to stop a single project that in and of itself will ensure the release of enough carbon emissions that you can kiss goodbye any hope of preventing the worst climate scenarios [you know, the ones with at least 7 feet of sea level rise and billions dead from drought induced famine, heat waves, disease, and war caused by water scarcity] . If that were to happen, it would leave the environmental movement in disarray.

February 17th will mark a pivotal moment in the history of the human race, and it is not at all clear which path Obama will point us down. One thing is sure though, the more people who turn out to be heard, the more likely it is that he will do the right thing.

Now, I know it’s not easy to go down to Washington. I mean it’s hard to cross the Pell Bridge, right?! Well, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and I hope that you will join me and hundreds of other Rhode Islanders on February 17th in the Capitol.

If it makes the decision easier, you can get a round trip bus ticket for just $20.

February 3, 2013February 3, 2013

Poem: ‘Meditation On The Economy’

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John Kenneth Galbraith, were he here and breathing, would probably be biting his nails with worry. This week we learned that the economy contracted for the first time since 2009. In words reminiscent of what was said in the midst of the Great Depression, economic commentators have said it’s just a one off event in our ongoing recovery. Meanwhile, they crow about another 157,000 jobs added, ignoring that only 58% of the people in this country are employed. A year ago that rate was 57.9%. Clearly, it’s time for austerity.

Anyhow, here’s my poem this week, which as it happens I wrote back in 2009. It’s prose.

Meditation on the Economy

A crystalline calm is upon the ocean. The washed azure sky, without even the blemish of a cloud, speaks in the most fragile whispers about the proximity of beauty and death. The emerald water swallows with greedy equanimity both the heavy and light. The sun stretches down amber rays diffusing through the teeming life, down to fathomless twilight. Somewhere, black and unknowable is the bottom. Deeper and more quiet than the blackest dream, the ship is sinking. Strange sounds resonate from the hull, air trying to push its way out, the wood groaning in protest. Large pockets rise to the surface and burp erratically as the wreck shifts in the rolling currents of its descent.

It had gone quickly at the beginning. The weakness so long in atrophy relented to its fated failure in a crack of thunder. Instantaneously, the sea rushed gurgling and hungry into the lower compartments, sucking the ship down. At first, the air had freed itself in a multitude of voices, whistles, sighs, and whooshes. It was a song of physics and chaos.

Now, an eternity of moments and ten minutes later, only the stern remains above water, pointing accusingly skyward. The ship is sinking, slowly and remorselessly, a death that shudders nearer with each successive belch. The sinking is slower now but no less certain. In a panic that is so blind it is also silent, the crew and passengers are mostly frozen in denial. They cling to the idea it has stopped, that they can bob above the waves until the rescuers arrive. In reality, no aid is coming.

There aren’t lifeboats enough, and the self-important are claiming first right. These are the men in fine clothing and uniform; the captains of industry, the shipwrights, and the crewmen. Behold their fear, the dawning realization in their eyes that they aren’t in control. Their reasoning is that they will be better able to get and send help to those left behind. Sure, they were the ones that had brought them to this pass, so, too, they must be the ones who can find the way back. They offer this reasoning to the others in blue gel- cap cyanide placebos. They are saying ‘god bless you,’ and there are even tears in some of their eyes as they push off. They reason and excuse themselves from guilt. Cowardice, for naught.

The clarity of the ocean air, the sharpness of the light arcing through it, and the magical colors that they elicit; these perfections are not to be denied their finality. The falling inertia of the ship will draw the lifeboats down just as surely as the planet’s gravity draws the ship to its doom. It shall be a shared oblivion. The perfection; the fragile secret spoken by the breeze of beauty and death; no one is to speak of them.

January 26, 2013January 28, 2013

Peace Through Progressive Poetry on Chomsky

That which is to come; that which with any luck we will have a say in making better. Sometimes it is hard to say what the right path forward is, and maybe that’s because our language is limiting us. If that’s the case, I’d like to believe poetry will have a place in moving us along, and maybe that’s why Bob Plain invited me to share some of my poems with you.

Anyhow, I’ve been writing poetry for a while now. My style is pretty free, and I tend to write about politics, nature, spirituality, and psychology. I’ve called it folk poetry in the past, hoping that the questions or points I raise in verse may inspire some type of answer in kind. I suppose it’s about time to start putting it out there. If poetry is not your thing, don’t fret. I’ll do the prose thing and continue to post my ramblings on politics and environmentalism.

With excuses out of the way, let me begin with a picture.

“Chomsky 12-4-12”

drumroll please
someone drags a folding table
across the floor in the mezzanine
thank you

Noam Chomsky

here is greatness
born of the simple ability to discern truth
with courage to speak unvarnished
simple yet rarely ever easy
egoless measured surety
and look at me agonize over the polish of these words
under the diction beyond all rhythm
honesty is transcendent

I was fortunate to see Noam Chomsky speak in early December of last year, more fortunate still that as I began to write about it in the third row, Chomsky sat down a few seats in front of me so that it wasn’t hard for me to approach him for his autograph.

It was a riveting talk about the ascendancy of the 1% in the US and how this class uses a strategy of failure by design to promote its agenda (i.e.-starve social institutions of the resources they need to succeed and it becomes easy to argue that social institutions are fundamentally flawed). He spoke in particular of the ongoing assault on public education, but he touched on many aspects of our society as he spoke for over an hour.

It was the most diverse and reverent audience I have ever been a part of. The person dragging the folding table across the floor upstairs (which did make a staccato noise like a drumroll) was the most heard from the crowd until the applause at the end.

Here’s a clip of the man himself:<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/2_QV1kWbNrk” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

January 24, 2013January 24, 2013

Environmental Disobedience

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For those of you trapped in caves, the weather has been getting unruly of late. 2012 was the latest in a long string of very hot years, the hottest on record in fact. It brought with it extreme drought, raging wildfires and Superstorm Sandy. The accumulated damage is still being tabulated but it will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lost lives. Climate scientists, conservative by nature and cowed by bombastic and well funded deniers, have finally grown so alarmed with the rapid progression of global warming that they are sticking their necks out and attributing the extreme weather to climate change.

Hallelujah! Now armed with overwhelming science and growing public support, it’s time for environmentalists (by which I mean everyone who would like to have a habitable planet) to get unruly, too. That appears to be the rationale behind my employer the Sierra Club’s recent decision to endorse civil disobedience for the first time in its 120 year history. As our national executive director Michael Brune says in his recent “From Walden to the White House” letter:

“For civil disobedience to be justified, something must be so wrong that it compels the strongest defensible protest. Such a protest, if rendered thoughtfully and peacefully, is in fact a profound act of patriotism. For Thoreau, the wrongs were slavery and the invasion of Mexico. For Martin Luther King, Jr., it was the brutal, institutionalized racism of the Jim Crow South. For us, it is the possibility that the United States might surrender any hope of stabilizing our planet’s climate…

We are watching a global crisis unfold before our eyes, and to stand aside and let it happen — even though we know how to stop it — would be unconscionable. As the president said on Monday, “to do so would betray our children and future generations.” It couldn’t be simpler: Either we leave at least two-thirds of the known fossil fuel reserves in the ground, or we destroy our planet as we know it. That’s our choice, if you can call it that.”

Fight, or resign ourselves to a climate that threatens civilization as we know it: it really isn’t much of a choice is it? Sierra Club and numerous other organizations have been using traditional grassroots and institutional advocacy for decades to fight climate change, and it hasn’t been enough. Others like Bill McKibben’s 35o.org and many individuals have already crossed the line of civil disobedience in the effort to save the planet. It’s about time we all stand as one and make it clear that our halfhearted and incremental progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is unacceptable.

With that in mind, let’s do it. On February 17th, there is a massive climate action rally planned and you’re invited. This will be the biggest such rally ever held and should draw more than 25,000 people to the White House to tell President Obama among other things that the Keystone XL Pipeline must not be allowed to proceed.

A bus or buses will be going down to D.C., cars full of people too. Can you make it? You can pledge your attendance and find out more information on how to get down there by following this link.

January 11, 2013January 11, 2013

Lose the Lever

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Rhode Island is one of only 15 states left that still offers the option of party-line voting, and the only state in the Northeast. It appears as if 2013 will see a renewed and strengthened effort to remove this vestigial electoral organ. Ken Block is leading a petition drive to push the issue. [You can sign the petition here: http://www.masterlever.org/]

Block is not alone in this fight. Already 24 of the state’s 39 municipalities have passed resolutions calling on the State House to get rid of the master lever. Additionally, good government groups from across the political spectrum are in favor of requiring each voter to vote for every office on the ballot separately.

I can’t say with confidence that taking away the lazy option of voting for a straight party ticket with the single stroke of marker will lead to voters becoming more educated about each race, but I do know that it can’t hurt. Because our ballots are simple to understand and our vote tallying machines are quick and clean, I also can’t see any benefit to keeping the option.

Thus by abolishing the master lever anachronism, we risk nothing and stand to gain at least a somewhat better informed electoral process. What are we waiting for?

Sign today.

December 21, 2012December 24, 2012

Holiday Wish: Brown U. Should Divest from Coal

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I’ve been a good boy this year, so before I sign off of work until 2013, I’ll throw a couple of wishes out there, pebbles into the pool of human consciousness to see what the ripples bring back, if you will.

1. Let’s put the perennial transit crisis to bed. Every year we push a little bit harder and get a little bit closer to fixing RIPTA’s broken financing model and giving it enough new revenue to meet its strategic plan of improving and expanding service. We shouldn’t have to push this hard. A healthy public transit system can be the difference between a thriving economy and a declining one. It doesn’t hurt that it’s good for public health, the environment and social justice too. The time for procrastinating on giving the Rhode Island public the access to clean, reliable and affordable transportation that they deserve is over. I wish that our leaders in the Statehouse will pass the Public Transit Investment Act.

2. Brown U, my alma mater, I wish that 2013 will be the year that it divests from the Coal industry. Burning dinosaurs is going the way of the dinosaurs. Coal is not only dirty (the primary source of mercury and also the most carbon intensive fossil fuel), it’s a losing investment. However, I’m going to double down on this wish and ask Brown to divest from all fossil fuels. Somebody has to lead the battle against this destructive industry and it’s not going to be the bought and paid for pols in Washington, so why not Brown?

Agree? Help this wish come true and sign the petition: http://browndivestcoal.org/

p.s.-Brown will hopefully lead this effort, but it should expand to all the schools with endowments and all other large institutions with investment funds. Divestment was successful in the push to fight apartheid in South Africa. With a little luck and lot of hard work, it can start to turn the tide in the battle that is our climate crisis. We can even do it as individuals. For more on my take on the divestment movement, please see this on Huffington Post.

3. Another no brainer: please reinstate the renewable energy tax credit that ended in 2010. The tax revenue foregone by this 25% credit is more than made up for by the subsequent taxes on the economic activity that is generated through the installation of small scale renewable projects. Let’s give a spark to our hurting building trades industry, save homeowners money on their energy costs, and save the planet at the same time.

Ok, I’ll stop there, but I wouldn’t complain if somehow the folks in Washington started behaving more like publicly elected civil servants and less like teenagers (sorry teenagers).

Merry festivities, my friends!

September 12, 2012September 15, 2012

XL Pipeline- Insane Jobs Program

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Watching the primary debates one thing is pretty clear, in an election that is supposed to be about the economy, neither party is serious about holding Wall Street accountable for taking down the world economy, defending labor in America or changing our trade policies. So what is left to get the economy going? Both Democrat Langevin and Republican Riley agree, the solution is building the XL Keystone pipeline. As Einstein famously mused, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. In this case the result is deadly.

I strongly oppose the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump corrosive toxic sludge called tar oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, exacerbating the climate change caused by burning fossil fuels and accelerating sea level rise. In Matunuck where I live, we have already been forced to make the difficult decision of whether to build expensive protective walls that only delay the day of reckoning while diverting the erosion to other areas or whether to abandon the coastal road and the homes and businesses along it. Whether it’s erosion, or flooding, or both, every city and town in the state is paying the price of climate change, and the pipeline would only make the cost go up.

Republican Michael Riley enthusiastically endorses the building of the pipeline and Congressman Langevin, who acknowledges that Global Warming is real and manmade still somehow supports the pipeline as long as the US gets some of the oil and it goes through a “safe” route. Riley’s and Langevin’s positions demonstrate an understanding of neither the extraction, transport, and refinement of tar sands oil, nor the gravity of our climate problem.

Leading environmentalist Bill McKibben, whose group 350.org encircled the White House in an act of civil disobedience to stop the pipeline, was blunt in response.

“No one should be running for office on the promise of building the Keystone pipeline, not when our top federal climatologist says burning the carbon in those Canadian tar sands would mean “game over for the climate,” and not when the couple of thousand jobs it would create are vastly outnumbered by the good jobs that will be created when we make the real transition to renewable energy. I know the Koch Brothers want the pipeline, and I know they’re really rich, but that’s not a good enough reason.”

The environment is just one example of where I differ from my rivals, and the other points in the platform along with other issues of concern were discussed in a question and answer session following my press conference on Thursday, the 13th.

Let’s get America’s economy and democracy back on track in a sane way. You can check out the way I answered the questions posed to candidates on the WJAR primary debates by clicking on this link. Contrast Abel’s responses to the CD2 primary debate questions with other candidates here.

At the presser in my campaign headquarters, 166 Atwood Ave. in Cranston I talked about these issues, the economy and a real green jobs program; along with taking Washington DC “off the auction block” (as Dennis Kucinich puts it) and the ongoing attack on our civil liberties that congressman Langevin just voted for this week with the extension of the FISA court exception (video to follow).

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