Hello, and welcome to the weekend. Before we get to the news, just sending our thoughts out to our friends in Texas. From our spokespeople, Larry Linenschmidt, Casey Hirschmann, and Sarah Styf; to my son, who luckily has power on campus but no water; super volunteer Larry Howe; and others in the EcoRight community, we hope you and yours are safe and warm.
In the weeks to come, we are looking to get guests on the podcast who can talk about what happened in Texas (spoiler: it wasn’t the fault of wind energy) and how climate change plays into the extreme weather we’re experiencing. If you have expertise on the matter or want to recommend a voice, please be in touch.
For now, we’ll leave you with a quote from FERC Commissioner and season one guest Neil Chatterjee: “We have this situation occur, much like rolling blackouts in California, and everyone retreats to their corners and views this through a fuel source partisan lens. Let’s have everyone calm down for a moment, and why don’t we take the politics out of this?”(h/t Washington Examiner)
The EcoRight Speaks, season 2, episode 6: our amazing spokeswomen, Nicole Kirchhoff and Casey Hirschmann
I had so much fun recording these two interviews with amazing women I’m proud to have on our spokesperson team. They both are crushing it professionally and they share a love of all things outdoors. Nicole Kirschhoff is the owner of Live Advantage Bait LLC, a marine fish hatchery producing marine baitfish and marine food fish in South Florida. She is also a mother, a scientist, and a board member of the American Water Security Project, whose leadership we featured on the show early on in season one. Nicole was recently published in the Orlando Sentinel with her op-ed, Conservative leaders must address Florida’s climate crisis. Casey Hirschmann is a chemical engineer who has spent her career working in the oil and gas industry. She loves backpacking, climbing, and traveling, and is passionate about protecting the planet she loves through fiscally conservative solutions that likewise protect American industry from over-regulation. Tune in to hear my conversation with this inspiring women.
Don’t forget to check out My Octopus Teacher and to tune in for next week’s guest. For episode seven, I’m brining you my conversation with the president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) Bob Perciasepe. C2ES is on the front lines working with corporate America on climate change. Bob shares his views on Paris (the climate accord, not the city), carbon pricing, and a host of other topics you won’t want to miss.
Spotlight on Spokespeople: Congratulations to Alison Steele for being published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with the op-ed, Closing loopholes in the methane rule can improve public health. Alison, who in her day job is the executive director of the SWPA Environmental Health Project, writes: “Enforcing strong methane rules is good news for people dealing with changing weather patterns and the resulting storms, floods, fires, heat waves, and other natural disasters linked to climate change. Such policy may also concurrently reduce levels of other dangerous pollutants that cause or exacerbate localized health issues – asthmas, birth defects, heart problems, insect-borne diseases, and cancer. Since air pollution can worsen the effects of respiratory infections like COVID-19, strong methane guidelines may reduce the severity of such diseases and save lives.”
Budget Reconciliation, explained: Did you miss our webinar? Or maybe you’re looking for more? We recommend this paper, A Carbon Tax in the Context Budget Reconciliation, co-authored by Niskanen Center’s Joseph Majkut, one of our esteemed webinar guests.
Happy 94th Birthday to my former boss, Senator John Warner!
Wherever you are, wishing you a safe weekend.