Fairbanks Recycling Task Force report

The Recycling Task Force's Report to the Mayor has been completed, and was submitted to the borough mayor, Jim Whitaker, on December 30. The report is only eight pages long, but has a solid list of recommendations in five categories, along with thirteen principles. The principles include identifying stakeholders (all of us) and creating a Recycling Commission, enlisting political support and getting a budget, commencing a marketing campaign, developing a business plan, using source separation, promoting partnerships, and so forth.

Categories:

1. Stakeholders
2. Recyclable materials
3. Education
4. Logistics
5. Business/Financial plan

Here's the link (PDF) to the report, at Recycle Fairbanks.

Solar North Cooperative

As recently reported in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, a group of neighbors on Spinach Creek Road have started up a power cooperative that will generate electricity from the sun.

In an update e-mail sent out on Monday, Solar North described the results of their July 18 meeting. The group hopes to get more pledges for shares in the cooperative ($500 a share):

We are close to the final decision of building the largest solar panel (photovoltaic) system in Alaska.... A land lease is prepared, an ideal site is selected, permits are in hand, borough support is strong, an operating agreement has been prepared with the help of a lawyer, a management team is in place, 5 bids are in, the most appropriate materials are selected, etc. Under current assumptions (which are full of variables difficult to predict), the revenue for the share holders will not be very high (partly due to the increased number of producers in the SNAP program) and there may be years with a bit of a minus initially. However, this - we feel - is a very timely project and a great example of alternative energy in the land of oil.

For more information, contact the organizers at solarnorth@yahoo.com or call Franziska Kohl at 452 2916.

One of the problems the organizers are having is that if they build this year, then a 30% solar tax credit is available--until the end of 2008. This means that they have to raise the money AND build in a very short time frame. The tax credit was not renewed for 2009. This has Greens, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and sensible people everywhere hopping mad. The Solar Energy Industries Association breaking news page has information on an extension bill and other legislation that will help keep tax incentives to invest in solar power.

(cross-posted at The Ester Republic blog)

International Day of Action to Shut Down GITMO

This press release just in from the Fairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice:

Friday January 11, 2008
Farthest North Candle Light Vigil
Cushman Street Bridge
4:30 – 5:30 pm
contact: anna.godduhn@gmail.com

People around the world will act together to demand an end to torture and the indefinite, illegal, and immoral detention of men and boys at U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Actions will be taken in more than 40 cities around the world, with Fairbanks being the Farthest North. The Fairbanks event is sponsored by the UAFairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Alaska Peace Center, No Nukes North, and the UAF Chapter of Amnesty International.

Six years after the first hooded, shackled men were brought to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo, not a single prisoner has been convicted of a charge of terrorism. Many have been released because no evidence was found against them. Yet nearly 300 men remain in indefinite detention without hope of release. Today, thousands will stand up on behalf of the victims of the war on terrorism and for law and justice.

In Washington, DC, Witness Against Torture joins Amnesty USA, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and other advocates at a rally on The National Mall. They will then march to the Supreme Court wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods, symbolically bringing Guantanamo's detainees to the high court.

At the Supreme Court, advocates will formally appeal to the nine Justices to affirm in Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush what all the rest of the world knows: that torture and the suspension of Habeas Corpus are not only immoral and unconstitutional, but are war crimes for which U.S. officials must be held accountable. Creatively, we will also make the torture and immorality of Guantánamo visible while asserting the humanity of the men imprisoned there. Outside the Court, human rights advocates will read testimonies and names of prisoners, perform street theater, and hand out information.

With these actions throughout the world, people of conscience and justice call on the U.S. government to:
• Repeal the Military Commissions Act and restore Habeas Corpus
• Charge and try or release all detainees,
• Clearly and unequivocally forbid torture and all other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, by the military, the CIA, prison guards, civilian contractors, or anyone else,
• Pay reparations to current and former detainees and their families for violations of their human rights, and
• Shut down Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and all other U.S. prisons overseas, including secret CIA detention facilities.

The International Day of Action launches a concerted campaign to Shut Down Guantánamo. For more information on the International Day of Action, please visit www.witnesstorture.org.

Green Party presidential hopefuls

From a recent news release at www.gp.org:

Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host (WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC), hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of communications studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland
JaredBall.com

Elaine Brown, 2005 Green candidate for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia; former leader of the Black Panther Party; organizer of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice and National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform
ElaineBrown.org

Jesse Johnson, 2006 US Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain Party in West Virginia (now affiliate state party of the Green Party of the United States); filmmaker
YouTube declaration

Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005 to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, 1988-1992
Run, Cynthia, Run

Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green presidential nomination; former president of Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer, alternative energy activist; California Green organizer
Mesplay.org

Ralph Nader, 1996 and 2000 Green candidate for President; 2004 independent candidate for President; consumer advocate (Howie Hawkins of the Green Party of New York State has consented to serve as a 'placeholder' candidate until Mr. Nader announces his intentions for the 2008 election)
Draft Nader.org

Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now
Kat for Prez