North Carolina is a leader in U.S. solar energy development (flickr / Mike Baker)

North Carolina’s story is not entirely unique.  A similar display of support for clean energy came from Kansas days earlier, as state lawmakers rejected a bill like Hager’s.  Looking outward, there is ample opportunity for others to follow suit, as attacks on state renewable energy policies have advanced in more than 20 states.

Ultimately, jobs won the votes in North Carolina & Kansas

Yes, this was an important win for renewable energy.  But according to those who cast their votes against Hager’s bill in North Carolina, this was all about jobs.

“It was based off local issues back home.  I would have had a difficult time talking to a CEO who just brought 300 jobs to Cleveland County [and telling him] that I’m going to vote to eliminate this program that justified their investment.” – Rep. Tim Moore

Likewise in Kansas, jobs helped tip the scale in favor of a clean energy future:

“It’s not about a deal that a bunch of suits made one evening.  It’s about jobs.  It’s about economic vitality.  It’s about the future health of Kansas citizens.  It’s about the future environmental health of our state.” – Rep. Julie Menghini

Rep. Moore refers to the reality that the policy in question allowed North Carolina to become the fifth-largest solar energy developer in America, and helped the state at a desperate economic moment.  In Kansas, Rep. Menghini and her colleagues voted with foresight, amplifying that the outcomes of energy debates will have multi-generational impacts.  These first strong victories in defending clean energy polices show what polls continue to underscore – Americans want more clean energy, not less.

Building a bigger story

Offshore wind production will bring long-term jobs to America’s shores (flickr/DeepCwind)

Now is not the time to move backwards in our pursuit of clean energy for America, and thank you to the North Carolina House of Representatives for demonstrating that we do not need to.  The growing abundance of clean energy solutions at our fingertips render attempts like Hager’s inexcusable.

America is ready to get to work building infrastructure to support power sources that do not pollute our air and water.  We are ready to share in the successes we continue to see abroad, and build responsibly sited wind turbines off our shores.  We are ready to leave behind dangerous pipelines and coal mines that destroy wildlife habitats and contribute to climate change.  And finally, we are ready for our elected leaders at both the state and federal levels to hear us, and to help in bringing to fruition the energy future that is well within reach—or at the very least, to please, stay out of the way.

A loggerhead hatchling crawls through the surf, its first struggle to reach the water nearly over and a new journey ahead in the ocean. Photo by Jacqueline Orsulak.

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Sprouting up among the wheat fields of northeastern North Carolina is a new cash crop: Wind-harvesting turbines. As The Virginian-Pilot reports, it’s a field of dreams for farmers that co-exists with their current crops:

Atlantic Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, will pay [Horace] Pritchard and other landowners in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties $6,000 per turbine per year. He and the other farmers still can work their land around the turbines’ concrete base. This is like having a new crop with a steady income no matter the weather, he said.

“I’ve told people I don’t know anything I could raise legal that could match that,” he said.

The wind farm will deliver a short-term job explosion, with a long-term sustainable base:

Atlantic Wind, in its application to the state Utilities Commission, says it will invest $600 million into the Pasquotank and Perquimans site, hire 600 people during construction and maintain 15 to 20 permanent employees. The company received permits from both counties last month and expects to begin construction before the year ends.

For local governments, it’s a huge source of new revenue in the midst of tough economic times. Atlantic Wind is expected to be Pasquotank County’s largest taxpayer by three-fold.

Properly sited, wind power can deliver sustainable energy at an affordable cost while creating a surge of new jobs. And not just on land – a National Wildlife Federation report last year documented the huge potential for wind power off America’s Atlantic coast.

Eat this dandelion. (flickr | Michael Kappel)

If you’re like me—and the rules of blogging dictate that I must assume you are—you hear ‘Davidson’ and think of former Davidson College great Stephen Curry, a 2008-09 consensus first-team All-American and current Golden State Warrior (If you’re really, really like me, you’ll also think of the time Davidson lost to Maryland in the first round of the tournament and Maryland subsequently lost to Butler by three points due to a bogus foul. But I digress!).

Now the North Carolina-based college is doing something pretty interesting for environmental education. The decade-old Davidson College Ecological Preserve has recently served as host to family outdoor learning excursions as part of World of Wonder (WOW!), an environmental education partnership of the Davidson Lands Conservancy (DLC) and Woodlands Discovery.

Scientific American guest blogger and DLC volunteer Lilly Vicens on a recent outing:

The goats were no doubt the initial attraction for families that signed up for the free program, but children were greeted by WOW! Volunteers with recipes for Kudzu salsa, candy, and jellies, along with bags to collect their fill of Kudzu leaves along the way. Immediately darting from vine to vine, choosing only the smallest, most flavorful leaves, one six-year-old girl exclaimed, “this is like free salsa!”

Yes, the goats. As in a herd of them, rented by Davidson to sustainably control marauding kudzu vines (kids got to learn a little about invasive plants too).

Vicens writes that participants “were encouraged to not only see and listen, but to touch, smell, and eventually taste nature in all its wonder.”

Carolyn Walker, Director of Woodland Discovery, organizes the WOW! educational booth at the Davidson Farmer’s Market, which stays busy with families participating in the latest environmental craft, activity, or concept – from solar ovens to flower printing. Last Saturday there was a line of children waiting to see a cloud of tadpoles and take some home, but only if they promised to release the frogs back into their original habitat.

Sometimes this is the best way to combat the indoor childhood phenomenon and its resident life hazards ( sloth, obesity, environmental illiteracy, et al).

For me, experiencing nature was capturing and observing centipedes and woodlice, tasting wild onions and dandelions, smelling everything on the ground until I found something rank (I was a boy). It was those experiences that led me to the library again and again for books on wildlife and instilled a lasting appreciation for the natural world.

A release of the letter in Massachusetts was held at iconic Walden Pond which was made famous by Henry David Thoreau’s writing. Walden Pond is one of 125 waterways in MA that has a mercury fish advisory. Jim Wallace of the Gun Owner’s Action League joked that Thoreau would have been horrified to know that the fish he used to catch Walden pond could now kill him, due to mercury contamination from air pollution.

Over 30 groups signed the letter in Massachusetts, including the Gun Owner’s Action League, the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council, and the Massachusetts Council of Trout Unlimited.

A similar event was held in Michigan along the Au Sable river. Almost 50 groups in Michigan signed the letter, including the Michigan B.A.S.S Federation Nation, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, and the Gates Au Sable Lodge.

Lance Weyeneth, a member of Anglers of the Au Sable and owner of The River Specialist spoke at the press event in Michigan:

Many of our lakes exceed safe mercury levels and nearly all fish contain traces of mercury, causing fish advisories in every state. As a lifelong angler, I don’t want to feed my family mercury-laden fish. I expect Congress to protect our air and water, not gut the protections we worked so hard to put in place.

A fly fisherman in the Au Sable River during the Michigan press event.

More than 30 groups signed on in Pennsylvania as well, including the PA division of the Izak Walton League of America, Fly Fisher’s Paradise, and Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.

A press event covered by WTAJ in Pennsylvania featured fishermen, hunters, moms, and dads concerned about air quality and mercury contamination.

North Carolina sportsmen organizations also signed onto the letter, including the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, Fowl Play Game Calls, and the NC Camouflage Coalition.

Tim Gestwicki, Executive Director of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation called on North Carolina’s congressional delegation to “protect the provisions of the Clean Air Act and to stop those who would impede EPA from doing its job to protect our natural resources and human health“.

Additional releases of the letter occured in Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, Maine, Montana, and New Hampshire.

The release of the letter falls in the comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule to limit mercury and other air toxics from power plants.

Click here to tell the EPA they should limit toxic pollution that settles on lakes and rivers, exposing fish and other wildlife.

Representatives of Sportsmen groups gather at Walden Pond in Massachusetts

Representatives of sportsmen organizations gather in Minnesota for the release.

If you’re looking for a one-line takeaway of the event thus far, you could do a lot worse than to listen to Dr. Rusty Stephens of Wilson Community College, a co-founding signatory of the CODE GREEN Initiative, “to develop and promote Sustainable programs” across the North Carolina community college system. He may have said it best when discussing the ways the state system needs to reinvent itself: “Our campuses are our laboratories.”

Super CIP (Curriculum Improvement Project) Project Manager Butch Grove of Wake Technical Community College later emphasized the need to design flexible curricula so that community college greenforce training programs can seamlessly “incorporate new technologies as they emerge” rather than reinventing (re-re-inventing?) themselves every few years. This would make campuses more dynamic and suited for teaching-by-example right away.

Robin Kohanowich, from the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Central Carolina Community College, said students from CCCC’s uniquely entrepreneurial program—hands-on training opportunities include work on an on-campus farm—often start their own farms right out of the gate. Sounds pretty laboratory-ish to me (why didn’t my college English classes have me writing great American novels from my dorm room?).

Southern Energy Management’s David Boynton, a former high school science teacher, pointed out that, no matter how you teach (or, presumably, what you teach), some students are ‘gifted’ and will figure out how to put the information to work. However, some students require a different approach–you need to put them into real world situations to let them flourish.

Super CIP Transportation Sector Co-Director Rich Cregar echoed his colleagues, explaining that community colleges need to move away from teaching by rote and concentrate more on hands-on training (Say, these ‘find a unifying theme’ posts write themselves!).

Of course, the initiative that brought these leaders together lends itself to practical talk: the Greenforce Initiative is dedicated to preparing America’s workforce for the green economy through improvement of community college training pathways. NWF partnered with Jobs for the Future (JFF) to launch the Greenforce Initiative in September of 2010, thanks in part to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant and a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  So far, it has partnered with community colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Texas, Seattle, and Michigan. You can learn more about the program here and follow the initiative on Twitter @Greenforce.

A big focus of the North Carolina Greenforce Summits so far has been the CODE GREEN Initiative and its SUPER Curriculum Improvement Project.

Haywood Community College (HCC) and Wilson Community College (WCC) are the two founding signatories of the CODE GREEN Initiative, a North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) project intended “to develop and promote Sustainable programs across all 58 NCCCs through curriculum and campus development.” If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a lot of community colleges and a pretty ambitious program.

Among the CODE GREEN sub-projects is the SUPER CIP (Curriculum Improvement Project),  which consists of an audit of current sustainable courses, an initiative to develop new courses, and resources for all participant community colleges. From NC Community Colleges:

Like other states, North Carolina’s economy has shifted to include more sustainable products, practices, and technologies than ever before. Job and career opportunities abound in areas such as mass transit, wind and solar power exploration, as well as construction and retrofitting for greater energy efficiency, but training must also be top quality and up to date. The Code Green Super CIP will explore the best ways to provide that training as well as the highly specialized credentials a greener workplace will demand.

The NCCCS Super CIP consists of five sectors: energy, transportation, engineering technology, environment and building:

1) Energy Sector: Central Carolina Community College
Director: Andrew McMahan, Biofuels Program

From CCCC:

Among its achievements, Central Carolina was the first North Carolina community college to develop associate in applied science degree programs in sustainable agriculture and biofuels. In the fall, it will offer another new program: an AAS in sustainability technologies. The college is also focusing on green construction, with the energy-efficient LEED-certified Sustainable Technologies Center, joint Chatham County-CCCC library, and new Siler City Center scheduled to open in the fall in Chatham County.

2) Transportation Sector: Blue Ridge Community College
Director: Chris English, Applied Technology Department

From Blue Ridge Community College Times-News Column (PDF):

[The transportation sector] will involve the review and reorganization of transportation curricula to determine the best methods to infuse green technologies and sustainability concepts and at the same time streamline the curriculum taxonomy and remove duplication. Project Director Chris English, long-time instructor at Blue Ridge, will assemble a team of experts … [to] review the transportation programs and curriculum standards and study successful curriculum improvement projects nationwide. Changes to curricula may include streamlining taxonomy, elimination of programs, identification of core concepts, and, if needed, adding new “green” courses.

3) Engineering Sector: Central Piedmont Community College
Director: Rose Mary Seymour, Geomatics & Sustainability Division

Short and to-the-point, from CPCC:

Improving engineering technologies and industrial/manufacturing programs and infusing sustainability issues throughout these programs to prepare community college students of North Carolina for the green workforce.

4) Environment Sector: Davidson County Community College
Director: Holly Weir Davidson, Environmental Sector

From the Thomasville Times :

It creates awareness and brings environmental stewardship to our students,” (Weir) said. “This can dramatically impact our community as well. Integrating these environmental concepts into the curriculum will automatically affect their home life, their personal life. You can realize the impact we can have on the workforce and the economy.

5) Building Sector: Wilson Community College
Director: Rob Holsten Wilson CC

From The Wilson Daily Times:

This will completely change the dynamics of the curriculum in our building sector,” [Denise Sessoms, vice president of instruction/student services] said. “The beauty of the proposal is that we can make these improvements, all the while continuing to provide our students with a well-rounded education.” [...] According to Sessoms, Wilson Community College will eventually hold a series of focus groups involving local industry professionals to assess how to better prepare students for success in the 21st century workforce.

Project Manager: Butch Grove, Wake Technical Community College

Central Carolina and Davidson Community Colleges are among today’s summit participants, and Blue Ridge and Central Piedmont attended the Western North Carolina summit in Asheville. Wilson Community College is scheduled to attend next Friday’s Eastern North Carolina summit.

Solar panel installation (flickr | OregonDOT)

You know the drill: NWF partnered with Jobs for the Future (JFF) to launch the program in September of 2010, thanks in part to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant and a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  Greenforce was founded in an effort to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to develop, enhance or refine green career pathway programs. So far, the initiative has partnered with community colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Texas, Seattle, and Michigan. You can learn more about the program here and follow the initiative on Twitter @Greenforce.

Stay tuned for more on the North Carolina-based Greenforce Summits , including a full news article coming next week.

Friday’s Central North Carolina Greenforce Summit, like the last event in Asheville, is designed as an opportunity for community colleges, workforce boards, employers and other organizations to share region-specific solutions for ramping up green workforce development through community college programming. The summit is the product of a partnership between the Greenforce Initiative and the Code Green Initiative, part of the North Carolina Community College System.

The Greensboro summit is the second of three in the state this year, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise: according to a 2009 Pew report (PDF), clean energy job growth outpaced overall job growth in North Carolina by nearly 9% between 1998 and 2007.

Some schools in the area started to shape their training programs to fit the green economy a long time ago. Among more than 20 Central North Carolina community colleges with representatives in attendance on Friday will be two schools already recognized for their leadership in the field in a study (PDF) by the Academy for Educational Development: Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh received a 2008 Innovation of the Year Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College in recognition of its Northern Wake facility, the first all-LEED campus in the country, and Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro was recognized in the same report for offering students “a focus on sustainable fuel production” among other green jobs coursework. I’ll be eager to hear what each school has accomplished since, and curious to see how others have followed their lead. See a full list of participating schools here.

Greensboro, NC | flickr: wwritter

In addition to recognizing past successes, the Greensboro summit will provide community colleges, workforce boards, employers and other organizations in the Piedmont region of North Carolina with an opportunity to to explore strategies for training community college students for the emerging green economy, and to provide the right “greenforce” training for low-skilled adults.

NWF partnered with Jobs for the Future (JFF) to launch (PDF) the Greenforce Initiative in September of 2010, thanks in part to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant as well as a $250,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  Greenforce was founded in an effort to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to develop, enhance or refine green career pathway programs. So far, the initiative has partnered with community colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Texas, Seattle, and Michigan. You can learn more about the program here and follow the initiative on Twitter @Greenforce.

Stay tuned for more on this, the second of the three North Carolina-based Greenforce Summits, including a full news article coming soon.

Now, a disclosure: I couldn’t make it down to North Carolina myself today, but I have received a few dispatches from folks in attendance at what seems to be a jam-packed affair. I’m jealous, obviously, but I’ll soldier on.

Advancing Greener Careers and Campuses in Western North Carolina (Photo: Carly Queen)

Like the Virginia and Michigan summits in February, today’s event is designed as an opportunity for leaders to come together to identify and share region-specific solutions for ramping up green workforce development through community college programming, this time with a focus on ‘Advancing Greener Careers and Campuses in Western North Carolina.’ The summit is the product of a partnership between the Greenforce Initiative (itself a partnership between National Wildlife Federation and Jobs for the Future), the Code Green Initiative, the Code Green Super Curriculum Improvement Project (CIP), and the 30-year-old North Carolina Community College System.

Partnering with Code Green is a big deal all by itself—the coalition, which is working to establish a framework for educating the green workforce and develop education resource hubs across the state, has already engaged almost all of North Carolina’s community colleges.

So far, speakers at the summit have highlighted some teaching tactics that go beyond the typical college fare, demonstrating once again the unique vocational training role of community colleges. Penny Peeler, of Western Piedmont Community College, spoke about baking cookies in solar ovens, having students incorporate old plastic water bottles in their insulation design, and using solar panels to power a barn on the school’s 200-acre on-site farm. Haywood Community College Sustainability Technician Preston Jacobsen discussed engaging students through a crowd-pleasing Renewable Energy Demo Day and showcasing a Green Motor Fleet that includes solar charged golf carts.

Of course, green job training at community colleges isn’t all about cookies and giant Wood Gasification flames. Schools on hand today also discussed the nitty-gritty courses they now offer to help ready students for the growing green economy: green carpentry and residential electrical engineering (Central Piedmont Community College), entrepreneurship programs to help students start their own small businesses (Blue Ridge Community College), and required basic sustainability classes (Caldwell Community College) among many others.

NWF partnered with Jobs for the Future to launch (PDF) the Greenforce Initiative™  in September of 2010, thanks in part to the Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant as well as a $250,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  Greenforce was founded in an effort to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to develop, enhance or refine green career pathway programs. So far, the initiative has partnered with community colleges in North Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Texas, Seattle, and Michigan.

You can learn more about the program here and follow the initiative on Twitter @Greenforce.

Stay tuned for more on this, the first of three North Carolina-based Greenforce Summits, including a full news article next week.