We Are ALL Tongan

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The idyllic island kingdom of Tonga

My friend Elizabeth is from the South Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga, an exotic locale long fixed in my memory with images of Polynesian paradise.

Tonga has sadly been in the news lately after an inter-island ferry sank on August 5 drowning over 70 people. It’s a huge tragedy in such a small place and it has saddened all Tongans around the world.

Tonga on the map

When I first met Elizabeth I had no idea that there were so many Tongan Americans living in large communities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Dallas and other cities across the USA.  Elizabeth is producing a documentary film on the history of Tongans immigrating to America and she knows a lot about the subject.

But surprisingly, a subject Elizabeth didn’t know a lot about is Tonga’s frontline role as a victim of the climate change crisis.

California Goes To Hell In A Handbasket But Greenius Says AB 811 is Our Route To Green Heaven

P1040763As my beloved state of California’s driftless and leaderless economy was being driven deeper and deeper into the toilet by the least impressive occupants of Sacramento in modern history, I hopped in my del Sol Greeniusmobile and motored to downtown Los Angeles last month headed for the palatial headquarters of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the MTA.

I had ventured forth from the calm, cooling breezes of my mellow beach community because the treasure map I had recently discovered showed that over $600 million was available inside that building.

The treasure chest was cleverly disguised in the form of Federal stimulus money from the ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Imagine that.

While it’s sad but true that the entire gang in Sacramento can no longer figure out how to make California work,  President Obama and his “Yes I Can” team do know what they’re doing.  That’s why they have authorized over $7 billion bucks in energy efficiency and clean energy programs for the USA.  And damned if California isn’t going to score like a horny Republican Governor on Viagra in Argentina.

So You Think YOU Can Dance? Take To The Streets & Do The PowerShift Dance!

These great kids down under are taking part in a ‘flash mob’ on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, dancing as a creative protest at the Power Shift 2009 youth climate summit.

They have only three very reasonable demands:

  • Green Jobs for our generation,

  • A Power Shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy,

  • 50% by 2020 carbon pollution reduction targets for Australia.

Feel free to dance along as we demand no less for the USA!

The Most Powerful Greenius In America

FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE

GreenJoe

As our planet’s atmosphere overheats because the greenhouse gas firewall we’ve built by burning fossil fuels works so damn well, there is one secret weapon we can all still whip out if we want to fight back and try to save ourselves from frying.

It’s not sexy and it doesn’t make a bunch of old school, balding, white, male, carbon collaborators stinking filthy rich, so it’s no wonder they’ve done every evil and despicable thing in their power to keep this weapon from being aimed at them.

But nothing can stop the Creative Greenius, the most Powerful Man in America, and now I am going to put this same secret weapon in your hands and together we are going to use it to destroy the carbon-based economy and create a new, stronger, more American green economy in its place.  Won’t that be fun?!

And the people who are going to try to stop us will be decimated  along with their evil, hell-based philosophy, the one they’ve been spewing without fear of justice – until now.  But now justice is going to come down upon them like the mighty Thor’s hammer, except we’re going to add a little squeak toy noise at the end just before we clobber them – you know, for the kids…

So come on along with me now to my clandestine and ultra sophisticated weapons laboratory and discover how to arm yourselves…

That Super Sexy Clean Tech Roundtable, Part II of a Greenius Exclusive

If you’re like me you would have found yesterday’s gathering in Santa Monica a very sexy day at the beach.  And by sexy I mean hot and arousing, the way I get when serious people talk serious talk about renewable energy, about the revolution that’s needed to respond to climate change and about the reality of current world situation.  You know, the kind of stuff never discussed on television or in the newspapers anymore.  The kind of stuff that transcends the bread and circuses offered to the masses today.

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The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Parking Lot post Roundtable

But let’s face it, I’ve got a pretty unconventional sense of sexy and as one of the ace marketers of my generation I know what brand of sex sells best to the people.  That’s why I’d always like the features and benefits of any product I introduce to the mass market to be pointed out by someone like the young woman in the sunglasses above.  Having the world’s greatest car is nice.  But knowing how to sell it best is the kind of genius I can appreciate. 

Electric Company Too Scared To Tell Truth About Climate Change

If SCE Won’t Tell The Truth About Climate Change Why Should We Trust Them About Anything?

SCE solar workshopI attended the Southern California Edison’s free Solar session for homeowners last night.  I was there as a volunteer for the South Bay Environmental Services Center.  After my volunteer stint was over I stayed for the presentation and workshop.

P1040773Overall it was a good workshop with lots of solid basic information for people who don’t know much about solar but are considering a solar electric system.  Javier Burgos, a Project Manager with the SCE’s California Solar Initiative program gave a nice, if overlong and overwordy PowerPoint presentation.

The workshop was very well attended with over 130 local people showing up.  Their interest level was very high and they were a very attentive audience.

But it’s too bad Javier was too afraid to tell the truth about climate change to the people who came to his presentation hoping to get the facts and the straight story.

Solar Powered Greenius Producing Massive South Bay Energy

Marilyn Lyon of the SBESC with your Creative Greenius at the PV Street Fair June 7
Marilyn Lyon of the SBESC with your Creative Greenius at the PV Street Fair June 7

As our climate change crisis worsens and spins out of control with each passing day there’s no time to spare for those of us whose job it is to educate and motivate our fellow citizens to actions that cut our greenhouse gas emissions.  I’m talking about committed environmental journalist/activists like myself who believe we have a responsibility to play more than a stenographers role in covering the single greatest threat to our civilization of our lifetimes.

That’s just one reason I spent 12 hours on behalf of the South Bay Environmental Services Center talking to people at the Palos Verdes Street Fair last weekend.  And when you hear the questions folks ask at events like these you instantly realize just  how little people know and understand about what’s happening to our climate and their world.  Most have no idea.  It’s not their fault either – their local governments and the mainstream media have failed them big time.  That’s certainly the case here in Torrance, California where I live and work.

The good news is that positive things ARE happening and our efforts are starting to make a difference.  It’s all happening excruciatingly too slowly of course, and at the pace we’re currently on we are quite simply as doomed as doomed can be – but in the meantime it IS starting to happen and the first signs of momentum are now starting to show.  As all Lakers and NBA fans know, if you’ve got Mr. Momentum wearing your jersey you’re going to go on a scoring run.  It’s a slam dunk.

Greenius Goes All AB 811 Over Green Task Force

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Creative Greenius talks AB 811 Financing to the Green Task Force / photo (c) Debra Bushweit Galliani

Last Thursday afternoon your Creative Greenius took yet another step on my journey to employ my professional skills, talents and resources for greater green good and not just to line my own pockets.

And so it was that I found myself in the Hermosa Beach City Council Chambers addressing the Green Task Force audience you cannot see in this photo as I presented my Finding The Green To Green The Grid House By House PowerPoint. (Click Here to Download a PDF copy of my presentation)

That audience is made up mostly of city staff members from the 17 different cities that make up the South Bay COG plus some interested citizens of those cities.  On this day it also included several board members of the Environmental Priorities Network, the Reverend Ron and even Mrs. Greenius.

Fortunately I suffered no stage fright or stress because I had spent many weeks researching, interviewing, analyzing and then crafting a presentation that simplifies the information and makes the subject clear and easy for everyone to understand.  For the past two decades I’ve been one of the top freelance pros in the United States doing this kind of work for my multinational corporate clients.  I bring the same level of focus, dedication and work ethic to the pro bono work I’m now doing.

But I also bring something more on top of all that.

See You On the EPN Solar Homes Tour

Dency at 08 Energy Fair with his ev

That’s my friend, Dency Nelson, with his EV RAV4 at last year’s EPN Energy Fair. Dency charges his plug-in electric car using the clean, renewable energy he produces from the solar panels on the roof of his Hermosa Beach house.

Dency’s house is just one of 7 houses you can tour on tomorrow’s EPN Solar Homes Tour which you can check out on the EPN’s fabulous new web site.

They’re each great examples of how well solar works here in the South Bay, but only Dency’s house will feature your Creative Greenius as a volunteer docent.  I’m just saying…