Last weekend, an organization called "Green for All", founded by Van Jones, asked people to rally around the country for green jobs.  Folks in 600 communities responded.  Like many people, Jones contends that putting people to work on green projects around the country solves several of our problems at once. 

Most of us only pay attention to the national electrical grid when there is a huge blackout that covers several states, such as the one we had back in 2003 which shut down power to 8 states and 1 province. 

Al Gore and others who are thinking ahead about what we need to do tell us that there are two overarching things we need to do as quickly as possible to have any chance of combating horrendous climate change.  One is to implement a cap-and-trade program, which is what Washington State and other western states and provinces are doing with the Western Climate Initiative, due to begin being implemented in 2012.  The other is the upgrading of the national grid.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a northeastern state version of the upcoming Western Climate Initiative due in 2012, has begun quite successfully.  Six of the ten states involved held the first of their quarterly carbon allowance auctions last Thursday and sold all 12.5 million carbon allowances on auction. 

In the sealed online auction Thursday, the buyers, primarily utilities, paid $3.07 per ton of excess emissions, and all 12.5 million carbon allowances were sold, the initiative reported.

In an article in the Washington Post today, reporter Robin Shulman stated that the earnings from the auction will be split among the six participating states, based on the number of allowances they had. 

"Snohomish County officials Tuesday dedicated a new facility to store, dry and crush seed oil that will be refined locally into biodiesel and used to power county vehicles. Although it's a small project, officials say it creates a new cash crop for struggling farmers and a clean, renewable fuel source for the county." (rest of article)

After years of work, farm-based biodiesel finally arrives in Western Washington. It is amazing how much persistence and patience are required to accomplish even small projects with obvious benefits in an industry so prized by the state. Snohomish County leaders and local farm and business advocates are to be commended for keeping the vision alive.

Villagers in India are being asked to grow a couple of new crops, jatropha and pongamia pinnata, to provide fuel rather than food.  Neither crop competes with food crops for either land or water.  Both are hardy plants that can be grown on dry, stony soil.  India just announced a new national biofuel policy.   According to a recent article in the Economist, "By 2017 it aims to meet 20% of India's diesel demand with fuel derived from plants rather than fossils."

As the cost of commercial fertilizer goes up, farmers are looking more closely at using manure as a nutrient-rich substitute.  Tommy Bass, Montana State University Extension livestock environment associate specialist, says that the calls about using manure and manure compost have increased in recent months.   

"As manure gains value, it is likely to be used more efficiently and effectively. There's a potential for increased revenue for animal feeding operations."  Bass added, "It's often written it off as a difficult-to-manage byproduct with cumbersome regulations.  Now, with fertilizer prices hovering at $1,000 per ton, the nitrogen and other nutrients in manure look more gold than brown."

Manure can also be used to create methane gas through digesters that are capable of generating electricity or heat.  As the value of manure goes up, the opportunities for both usages increase.