This Friday I passed by the growing Occupy D.C. demonstration encampment at McPherson Square in downtown Washington and was amazed to see that since last weekend the park has been transformed from a few sleeping bags into a tent city. It is amazing how similar it looks to the tent cities I saw across Israel this past summer.
The Israeli Summer has turned into the American Autumn and while some of the issues being addressed by the demonstrators might be different (unemployment in the United States versus the high cost of living in Israel), there is a strong thread running through these movements, and it has to do with government being accountable to the people and not corporations and the richest 1%. The demonstrators on the East Coast and Middle East want to ensure that, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently stated in his Gettysburg Address, "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Click here for a link to photos I took last weekend of the Occupy D.C. demonstration (before the tents were pitched).
And here are photos I snapped this past summer of the demonstrations around Israel.
For such a big city, it is surprising that Tel Aviv does not have a subway system. Even Jerusalem just opened a popular light rail tram line. But that will be changing in the years to come as the city builds a light rail system. The 14-mile (22 km) Red Line is under construction and will run from Bat Yam through Jaffa and central Tel Aviv and on to Petach Tikva and the Central Bus Station. The first line is expected to be fully operational by 2017.
But for now eco-conscious Tel Avivians walk, bike and bus around the city. Tel Aviv has hopped on the bike sharing bandwagon with Tel-O-Fun. The bike sharing system launched in May and features 150 stations and 1,500 bikes. The program is still in the pilot phase so it is only available to annual subscribers. The bright green bikes can be seen all over the city and are quickly becoming the preferred mode of transportation for residents. Expect the bike sharing program to really take off once it opens up to short-term visitors from around the world.
Tel Aviv has 43 miles (70 km) of marked bike paths to take advantage of, including bike lanes along Rothschild Boulevard and along the beach promenade stretching from Jaffa north past the Tel Aviv Port.
The Port is where I rented a run-down mountain bike with the screechiest brakes in the Middle East. It was pure pleasure biking along the flat bike lanes with spectacular views of the late afternoon sun shining over the shimmering blue waters of the mighty Mediterranean Sea. I biked north past The Port and Sde Dov Airport to a scenic suburban beach that was less crowded than the packed tourist beaches in central Tel Aviv.
Besides promoting biking, Tel Aviv also encourages recycling with these large containers all over the city. The bins are aesthetically appealing with creative designs on the sides. It makes it easy to do the right thing with that empty Fanta plastic bottle you overpaid for and drank way too fast in the unbearable heat and humidity of a Tel Aviv summer.
Click here to read more observations of Tel Aviv on Josh's Travel Blog.
Here is video of me biking on the beach trail next to Sde Dov Airport north of the Tel Aviv Port.
Here are more photos from Tel Aviv-Yafo. Click here to see the set on Flickr.
Occupy D.C. is an offshoot of the larger Occupy Wall Street protest movement taking place in New York City. People are organizing in other cities across the country under the unofficial banner Occupy Together. The demonstrators are encamped at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington. Their literature says the participants are "citizens, professionals, students, activists, parents, unemployed workers, voters and the underrepresented who represent the 99%." They are interested in "separating money from politics and improving the country's infrastructure to fix healthcare, education, environment and the economy."
Is this a fad or the foundation of the left's own Tea Party movement? That question has yet to be answered. But right now there is something stirring in cities across the United States of America. And it can't be ignored. Here are photos of some of the signs and the atmosphere at McPherson Square in D.C. this past weekend.
Political partisanship and polarization are preventing progress on Capitol Hill. The latest victim might be the American Jobs Act and its National Infrastructure Bank. The real victims are the American people. That's why it is so important that organizations like the Alliance to Save Energy continue to keep the bipartisan spirit alive, because the American people deserve more responsible leadership in Washington.
Alliance to Save Energy co-founders, Illinois Republican Senator Charles H. Percy, who died last month at the age of 91, and the late Minnesota Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey, had a bipartisan vision of an energy efficient America and world.
Today at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, the Alliance held their annual energy efficiency policy summit, titled "Driving Energy Efficiency as the Next Big Thing." Topics included how governments are investing in energy efficiency, innovations in implementation and finance, and saving water along with energy. The speakers included Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Representative Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Daniel Yergin, who was recently a guest on the Colbert Report promoting his new book, "The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World." Dr. Yergin is also set to receive the Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service at tonight's 19th annual awards dinner.
Here are a few highlights from the many panelists and keynote speakers.
Gil Quiniones, President and CEO of the New York Power Authority, touted two progressive legislative actions that were signed into law by Governor Cuomo this year -- ReCharge New York allocates low-cost power to businesses that commit to creating and retaining jobs. Power New York encourages investments in new clean power plants and creates the nation's first "On Bill" recovery program for homeowners to invest in energy efficiency by taking out low-interest loans for energy efficiency measures that will be paid back on their utility bills.
Quiniones said that the NYPA is 70% hydropower and 20%-30% clean natural gas. He said that Governor Cuomo has committed to $1.4 billion for energy efficiency in New York between now and 2015. And the goal is to reduce overall electricity usage by 15% by 2015.
"We need innovations in public policy and innovations in regulations," said Quinones.
Best Buy Senior VP Neil McPhail announced a new initiative that is tentatively being called the Home Energy Department. It will be launched in three markets -- Chicago, Houston and San Francisco. McPhail said that with new technology creating more control for consumers, that it is a great time to educate and work with consumers on how to become more energy efficient at home by for example installing electric vehicle charging stations and Energy Star appliances that can be remotely controlled. Best Buy will also work with utility companies to help create energy efficient homes.
Dr. Yergin sounded a hopeful note when he pointed out that an issue like energy efficiency has gone from contention to consensus. He said that energy efficiency is the biggest thing that we can do to combat climate change, but the problem with energy efficiency is that there is no red ribbon to cut like at a new wind turbine farm.
"We need to make energy efficiency number one," said Yergin. "Doubling energy efficiency is a sound way to go."
At the Saving Water panel, the Alliance's WATERGY: Water and Energy Efficiency was discussed. The program addresses water leakage around the world. When water is lost to leaks, both energy and costs are lost as well. Access to clean, abundant water and the interdependence of water and energy were topics of discussion by the panelists.
Bilbray wrapped up the summit with some remarks about the need for government agencies and government regulations to be more innovative and flexible. He used the example of the unified building code as not recognizing straw-bale homes in Nebraska and adobe homes in Southern California, both of which are energy efficient, high performance, sturdy types of home construction. He also pointed out simple policies that could increase fuel efficiency in vehicles such as yield signs instead of stop signs and more roundabouts. He also talked about an electric vehicle called Aptera that gets the equivalent of 200 miles to a gallon, but doesn't qualify for government incentives because it is three wheels.
ISRAEL-CATALONIA CONNECTION: Spanish Catalan surrealist painter Salvador Dali created the Candelabra of Peace, pictured above, which is displayed at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport.
July 27, 2011 -- After traveling around Europe on high-speed trains for two weeks, my next destination was Israel. I flew from Barcelona El Prat Airport to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport on Spanair. The flight across the Mediterranean Sea takes around four hours.
The two airports have a lot in common. They have both undergone renovations and expansions -- Barcelona added Terminal 1 in 2009 and Tel Aviv added Terminal 3 in 2004. Both airports are also accessible via commuter rail, although the train at El Prat only stops at Terminal 2 so you need to take a connecting bus to get to T1. It is about a ten minute ride from the T2 train station to T1 on the connecting bus.
Renowned postmodernist architect Ricardo Bofill designed the new terminal at El Prat and it is impressive. The layout brings in the natural light from a region blessed with lots of sunshine. And everything feels very open and expansive so passengers never feel claustrophobic or constricted, even while waiting at the check-in stand or security line.
Here are passengers at Sants railway station waiting to board the Rodalies commuter train bound for Barcelona El Prat Airport. Rodalies is the commuter rail service that serves Barcelona, and its metropolitan area as well as other parts of the province.
One big difference between El Prat and Ben Gurion is the level of security. It took less than five minutes to pass through the security checkpoint at El Prat with no tension or feeling of suspicion. Ben Gurion on the other hand is the most secure commercial airport in the world. With enemies of the Jewish State all around, the Jewish State's only international airport has no alternative but to be the safest place to fly to on the planet. That's why it can take a long time to get through Ben Gurion Border Control and it can take even longer to exit Israel. They don't take chances. It can be a maddening experience for a Jewish American like myself or any visitor to The Holy Land for that matter. Who wants to be looked at with suspicion? Who wants to be singled out? Who wants to feel uncomfortable or make other people feel uncomfortable because they were born with darker features? It is not fun at all. But it is a necessary evil that millions of innocent people have to go through humiliating security procedures because of the very real security threat of a handful of medieval-minded Muslim fanatics.
Before going through passport control, international travelers walk through the concourse at new Terminal 3. Visitors are greeted by Jerusalem stone on the walls and biblical mosaics. It is an impressive entrance to Israel.
And after sitting for twenty minutes and then being asked questions by the border control security (something I've gotten used to when traveling abroad alone) and getting my passport stamped, I was officially in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel!
Israel Railways operates the Ben Gurion Airport Railway Station, located in the lower level of Terminal 3. The commuter train station is easy to get to from the other terminals and zips you from Ben Gurion to central Tel Aviv, Haifa or Modi'in. Here is the train at Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station.
Since it was late at night and the buses stopped running (Tel Aviv does not have a subway system) I hopped in a Sherut (shared taxi in Hebrew) for the fifty shekel ride to the Florentine district where my hostel was located. The taxi ride was a real adventure, but that is a story for my next blog post on Tel Aviv.
Here are more photos of the trip from Barcelona to Tel Aviv. Click here to see the set on Flickr.
Solyndra, the California solar panel manufacturer that received a $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee and recently filed for bankruptcy, was discussed. The two experts defended the DOE Loan Guarantee Program as being vital to encouraging American innovation and competitiveness in the global clean energy market. They both agreed that if the government is going to be in the game then there will be other losers and that accepting risks is critical.
They also said there is too much weight on loan guarantees and that there has to be a comprehensive clean energy policy in this country with things such as a carbon price and clean energy investment bank, similar to the national infrastructure bank that is included in the American Jobs Act winding its way through Congress.
According to Muro, since 2003 the clean energy sector has created 2.7 million direct, full-time jobs. That is more than the fossil fuel industry's 2.4 million jobs. More than 1/4 of the clean economy jobs are in manufacturing and there are two times more export earnings per job than the rest of the economy. Also, more than 2/3 of clean economy jobs are middle wage and middle skill.
Muro laid out the basic framework for what he termed the "Next Economy." This new economy will be export and innovation driven with lower carbon. It will also be rich with opportunity.
Will we continue to prop up 20th century industries like oil and coal or will we start playing catch-up with China and other nations and support 21st century industries like solar and wind? The panelists made a compelling case for the United States to move towards a clean economy.
The University of Maryland WaterShed house, pictured above, was the overall winner of the fifth Solar Decathlon at West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C.
The United States Department of Energy continues to encourage clean energy innovation in America through its loan guarantee program and events like the Solar Decathlon -- an international collegiate competition to build the best solar-powered house.
The University of Maryland won this year's event, which took place from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2 at West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The home, called WaterShed, is "a model of how the built environment can help preserve watersheds everywhere by managing storm water onsite, filtering pollutants from greywater, and minimizing water use," according to the DOE Solar Decathlon website.
Besides UMD, the teams, representing 13 countries, five states and four continents, impressed the judges in 10 contests over nine days.
Last weekend I paid a visit to the Solar Decathlon and toured some of the eco-friendly homes. There were also demonstrations of electric vehicles, EV charging stations, wind turbines and solar panels.
Here are photos from the Solar Decathlon at West Potomac Park. To read image descriptions, click on Solar Decathlon set or an individual picture to be taken to the Flickr page.
