Monday, February 16, 2009

Bibliografía sobre Gobernanza Energética - FLACSO Ecuador

La FLACSO-Ecuador ofrece una Maestría en Gobernanza Energética, en el marco de su Programa de Estudios Socio-Ambientales.

Sigan este vínculo para revisar la bibliografía sobre Gobernanza Energética que han recopilado.


FLACSO-Ecuador offers a Master's in Energy Governance (in Spanish), as part of its Socio-Environmental Studies Program.

Follow this link to review the bibliography they have compiled on Energy Governance.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Maybe Willy'ing it can't make it so... but

I really want it to succeed, I really want it to be meaningful!

I like the idea of a Good Ole Texas boy looking at the war in Iraq, and the Bush cronyism policies, and saying, "to hell with it, let's grow our own fuel at home." Or some such sentiment.

I would really like it if the Willie Nelson idea of having a trucker's biofuel revolution was one that could really hold water, and make a strong contribution to reducing environmental bootprints accross the heartland of the gas guzzling U.S. of A.

I am really hesitant, though. Because as much as I like the mystique of the home grown fuel solution, resolving the energy intensity and greenhouse gas emission problems is going to take a lot more than switching fuels. And soybean fuels have been documented to have a fairly problematic environmental footprint of their own. Also, we need to change our models of consumption, our transportation habits, and our love affair with roaming with a big engine down a vast open highway.

Still... we need to work it out so that we have an integrative scenario and so that truckers, farmers, and outlaw country singers can make their contribution... and besides...

I have been waiting eight years to have a Texan I can empathize win... and you can't help but like Big Willie...

Read about BioWillie on this NY Times article (I think it is fairly balanced, since it has the dissenting opinion of the Sierra Club as well in there).

Friday, February 13, 2009

Enter the concept of "Social License" (to Operate)

My own research about the institutional discourse concerning energy development in Costa Rica (and the barriers to the energy development model) seems to indicate no formal acknowledgment by institutions that they are facing a LEGITIMATION CRISIS in the view of the organized citizenry, and public opinion in general.

In essence, the causes of the deadlock in the implementation of the dominant energy model are framed as "real or perceived" technical problems, policy issues (there isn't a policy that sets clear guidelines, or there are conflicting policies), and finally, ideological interference by some groups whose intentions are nearly charicaturized ("radical ecologists" and "union troublemakers").

Nowhere in the official government's "explanation" of why the implementation of the dominant model of energy infrastructure has come to a stand still can one find mention of governance problems, or of the notion that organized communities may have legitimate concerns about the sector.


Contrasting this, enter a group of mining companies, consultants, researchers, and at least one group dealing in energy market assessment (Business News Americas)... with a strong interest in spreading a new concept: Social License (to Operate).

Here is the reference made about the concept in the website of the University of British Columbia's N.B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering:

"Social License to Operate is rapidly becoming the new ‘vision’ for companies to recognize and embrace in order to ensure economic certainty with respect to new projects.
However, it is presently intangible and there does not appear to be a systematic method of evaluating and monitoring a project. Sustainable economic development drives the need for mining engineers to have parameters and modeling techniques that integrate social dimensions into project design."

http://www.mining.ubc.ca/SocialLicense.html#research

Business News Americas featured the concept in its Latin American Energy Intelligence Report for February 2008. (I have not downloaded the report, since it's a pretty expensive download). In the report's abstract, they make the argument that this concept is timely and necessary given the demands of Latin American social movements for for greater access to decision making and for greater accountability of electric projects.

"Social license - gaining the approval of local communities and reducing environmental impact to a minimum - is thus of ever greater importance throughout Latin Americas energy sector. This report looks at how the concept of social license has evolved in the region, how companies have learned from their mistakes, how social license affects project financing and examines some cases where greater social liaison is producing positive effects."

http://www.bnamericas.com/store/products.jsp?sku=71I10472687&sector=10&idioma=I&periodo=2008

Finally, a B.C. based consortium is promoting the greater application of the concept by industries in their relationships with stakeholders. They provide an interesting two-page outline of the concept int their website. http://socialicense.com/


So, briefly, I think the concept is promising because it promotes an awareness that when absent, as the Costa Rican case suggests, restricts the space for deliberation. Conversely, the recognition that earning legitimacy and credibility is necessary, is more consistent with an open mindset to more inclusive processes and broader social agreements.

On the other hand, it may be cause for concern if this new outlook becomes a strategy undertaken unilaterally by the business sector, particularly by the companies and their consultants in certain natural resource intensive industries. If done this way, it may become mediatized, and not attain the construction of active trust, legitimacy, AND democratic relationships that it claims to pursue.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Salmon, Orkas and Dams: Pondering Rivers and Hope in the Pacific Northwest

I have only begun to read about the tradition of energy activism in the U.S. and Canada Pacific Northwest. It is an inspiring legacy of more than 25 years. The initiative that has evolved into the Northwest Energy Coalition tells its story in a special issue of its Newsletter: The Energy Activist.

I believe you will find it a really interesting read.

http://www.nwenergy.org/publications/energy-activist/previous-issues/2007/ActivistWinter07.pdf


On a more current perspective, activist Pat Ford recounts the need for integrative understanding in the issue of dams as an energy solution, versus the viability of the Snake River salmon and the orcas that depend on them. With compelling words, he calls for an integrative second-tier view, that recognizes multiple perspectives, and mourns the poverty in both our institutions and social movements that cannot recognize the need for inter-woven vision.


"I have an instinct that to achieve either we must achieve both – that stopping warming, and shepherding ourselves and earth through it, must be inextricable in our actions and policies because they are so in our lives. I don’t think this is a truism. Neither among global warming warriors nor citizens generally nor lawmakers do I detect a rooted awareness of this inter-weaving, so as to generate well-woven action."


Here is the full article for your enjoyment

http://www.lightintheriver.org/perspectives.html

Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Risk Society and the Nuclear Jet

Professor Ulrich Beck, for "The Risk Society", has written an article about the implications of the recent thrust for nuclear power as a solution to climate change.

He uses a clever analogy of "the jet whose landing strip has not yet been built", to underscore the recklessness of the nuclear power bandwagon.

I thank the Whitman Institute's blog: http://think4change.org for first bringing this article to my attention.

To read Dr. Beck's article on The Guardian, follow this link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/17/nuclearpower.climatechange , or by clicking on the title of this blog article.

New Facebook group on Energy Democracy

When I decided to pursue my M.A. at the University for Peace, it was for a number of reasons. One of the central ones was to find a new focus for my personal work. I felt that I needed to tie together my work in conflict resolution, environmental policy, environmental justice, renewable energy, life coaching and psychology.

A great deal of this has been about looking inwards: who am I? what are my talents? what do I enjoy? what can I be good at and how can I make a difference doing it?

At the same time, it has also involved looking outwards, how does what I have to offer fit in the world? these things I have been asking myself all these questions about, what brings them all together?

I believe that, for the present, the best name I can give to what brings all this together is ENERGY DEMOCRACY. It seems to be a label under which everything I am professionally mobilizing to work on can come together.

So I've created a new Facebook Group with this name. I would greatly enjoy it if everyone who has been interested in reading my posts on here (and on my other blob) came by and checked it out. Hopefully it will be a lively meeting place for those interested in exploring these issues.

The link is http://www.tinyurl.com/FB-NRGdemocracy

See you there!

A New Energy Parnership: A place for energy democracy?

Over the past couple of weeks I have come across a large number of references to the New Energy Partnership of the Americas, an initiative originally raised by U.S. President (then candidate) Barack Obama in a campaign speech in Florida. Lately it has been referenced speeches by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Some analysts are predicting that this will be the Obama administration's new focus of social policy towards Latin America (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/andres-oppenheimer/story/859217.html)

Many in the cluster of industries loosely identified as "clean tech", particulary nonconventional energy (a category seems to be expanding to include coal and nuclear power) welcome this as new engine for dragging the economy out of the present crisis. For many, here is an ideal opportunity for building an hemispheric strategy aimed at consolidating energy security and re-energizing (literally) national economies. Some also welcome as an opportunity to reduce the quota of political power that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has acquired by "flexing his oilfields to entice other governmenst in the region".

But what of the new fresh air of democratic governance that U.S. social movements have been so excited about in President Obama's political discourse, will this be part of the New Energy Parthership? Will citizen engagement, environmental justice and societal consensus-building find their way to the guiding principles of the New Energy Partnership?

Foreseeably, many powerfull stakeholders in the energy sectors of the countries of the Americas will not be interested in becoming entangled in a discourse of participation and citizen engagement that, at best, they have been willing to pay ocassional lip service to, and at worst, they vigorously oppose. As a recent example, the United States and Canada vigorously opposed the inclusion of any language recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in the text of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism at the last Poznan Conference of the Parties of the UN Climate Change Convention, last December. ( http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=314&Itemid=27 )

So how will this new Energy Partnership fare in light of the emerging global call for more democratic and inclusive institutions? Much of it will depend on how closely the new social movements and stakeholders monitor this newly evolving instrument and push for it to develop along a path that is accountable and transparent.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

An excerpt of my thesis

I am awaiting the final feedback from my external thesis reader anyday now. Once his assessmet has been received, my thesis will be finalized. It's been a long 19 month journey.




For now, I would like to share this excerpt containing the first two chapters. It's available online for reading at issu.com, you can find it at the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/garudasofia-te

I welcome your feeback. Your insights are very valuable to me.

Cheers,

Sergio.