August 2008
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Obama’s Green Dream: Would His Renewable-Energy... →
I’m making it my mission to understand the two candidates’ energy plans — and, by extension, their environmental philosophies — inside and out. This was a good “starter” on Obama’s plan:
On paper, Sen. Obama’s plan looks like a way to easily finance continued, long-term support for renewable energy—support that has been tripped up in Congress by...
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On Aug. 29, 2005, TIME asked: "Is Global Warming... →
When reporter Jeffrey Kluger wrote this, the hurricane was just about to make ground fall in Louisiana. The levees had not yet broken. His conclusion is chilling:
[Today’s] storms do appear to be more intense. One especially sobering study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that hurricane wind speeds have increased about 50% in the past 50 years. And since warm oceans...
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“A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of...”
– Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska in an interview published today.
That’s right, friends, Senator McCain’s running mate — the woman who could very well be President if he fails to beat the odds — does not believe that humans have caused global warming.
I didn’t think it...
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“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life...”
– Albert Einstein
Michael Pollan said that he admires vegetarians because they have taken the time to consider their diet — but that the conscientious omnivore is okay, too. My admiration of him and my love of meat is such that this pronouncement spelled delicious relief for me.
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"The dirty secret of clean energy is that while... →
Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.
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“The primary began with an all-star line-up and came down to two remarkable...”
– Bill Clinton on the Barack vs. Hillary primary race. (BBC)
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The Green Behind the Green Convention
“The 2008 Democratic National Convention, like our great party, is about the future – the future of our country and the future of our planet. That is why we are ensuring that this Convention will be the greenest, most sustainable, most successful political Convention in history.”
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Below are some of the corporations that have helped the...
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“A scolding person with no fashion sense — that’s not who we are.”
– Becka Warren, one of the writers behind the green advice column called Ask Umbra, on 21st century environmentalists. (NYT)
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Greenland Ice Core Reveals History Of Pollution In... →
Researcher Joe McConnell said:
Conventional wisdom held that toxic heavy metals were higher in the 1960s and ‘70s, the peak of industrial activity in Europe and North America and certainly before implementation of Clean Air Act controls in the early 1970s.
But it turns out pollution in southern Greenland was higher 100 years ago when North American and European economies ran on coal, before...
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"We have 100 months to save the planet." →
Not going to lie, this website is kind of freaking me out.
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“Between the greenhouse gases and earth spinnin off its axis
Got mother nature...”
– Black Thought / The Roots, “Rising Down”
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Eco-Capitalists Save Mother Nature by Charging for... →
This past spring, David Brand went on a property-scouting trip to Malaysian Borneo. Deep in the rain forest, Brand — founder and director of a forestry investment business — met locals who just couldn’t grasp what this Westerner was doing there. They were mystified he did not want to build an illegal logging mill. One of them put his arm around Brand’s shoulder. “No one can see...
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The Endangered Endangered Species Act
dihard writes of Bush’s 11th hour attempts to undermine federal protection of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act:
Under the ESA, any project that may disrupt the ecosystem and impact an endangered species must be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. For example, if the Department of Transportation wanted to build a bridge...
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Sailing ship takes ‘slow cargo’ from France to... →
grapefruite:
Beautiful concept! Shipping via sailboat makes sense and is a great idea for many items, in this case - wine from France to Ireland. The shipping company CTMV (Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voile) estimates the carbon dioxide emissions to be seven times less than a container ship plying the same route. Look for the ‘Carried by sailing ship’ label on bottles… I wonder if you...
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“Getting to 350 means changing everything about our global economy. It means...”
– Van Jones, civil rights and environmental activist, and founder of Green For All, a national organization “dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.”
We’re working on these issues on a much smaller scale at the Building...
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GREEN EDGE FILMS: Solar Powered Film Festival... →
Free!
I’ll definitely recruit my roommate Jane, architect (for now) and lover of all things Boston, to see “The Greening of Southie” with me on Saturday. The energy documentary on coal (Sept. 4) also looks good. But I’ll have to miss it, as well as “The Future of Food” (Sept. 6). You know I’d be on that like white on sustainably grown rice.
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“I have the same feelings about wind as I had about the best oil field I ever...”
– Texas oilman Boone Pickens on why he is planning to build a $10 billion wind farm, the largest in the world (New York Times). The Lone Star state is the biggest producer of wind power in the country, and about 3% of the state’s electricity comes from the wind. Investors are building more...
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UK Schools Set to Join Carbon Trading Scheme →
With a long-term goal to ensure that every new school and home from 2016 to be built with a carbon footprint of zero, the British state schools are about to be included under the government’s new domestic carbon emissions trading scheme from April 2010.
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Water – 80% to 90% of Global Freshwater Used for...
Excerpted from one of my favorite tumblrs, alextiller:
As farmers around the world are forced to pay more for water, governments and land-use planners are likely to have to shift their priorities for land use, including greater use of naturally-watered land for agriculture. It is unlikely that we are going to see many governments tearing down housing developments in order to return the land to...
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WatchFrogs outlived the dinosaurs, but they may not outlive humans, as I learned in this CNN report on dwindling amphibian populations — and the extinction of entire species.
The thread that connects the mass deaths is a fungus that destroys their skin. Global warming makes them more susceptible to the fatal fungus. Another culprit is suburban sprawl.
“Insect populations would balloon...
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“This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years. Solar power has...”
– Daniel Nocera, an MIT scientist who was part of a team that developed a way to capture solar energy in fuel cells for carbon-free electricity (I’m simplifying, a lot). The breakthrough is that solar energy will be a cost-effective option day and night.
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The Farm-City Partnership
Amy Hepworth, the “cult hero” farmer that supplies the Park Slope Food Coop with a startling array of mostly organic vegetables and minimally-treated fruits, including some of the most delicious apples I’ve ever tasted, has said “we would not have a farm if it wasn’t for Park Slope.”
Her current crusade to save energy on her 400-acre farm about 90 miles up the Hudson...
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My Fashion Footprint: Is your wardrobe bad for the... →
Matilda Lee, a fashion writer for The Independent, writes:
Behind its glossy veneer, the truth is that the business of fashion and clothing, from production, to consumption, care and disposal, is among the world’s most environmentally damaging. Ninety per cent of our clothes are imported, and it’s not just the children labouring in sweatshop conditions we may not see –...
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"We need to resolarize the American food chain."
— Michael Pollan. I’ll write a wrap-up of his fascinating lecture tomorrow.
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BP: British ... Sugar cane? →
Ecogeek reports that BP is investing $90 million in Verenium, a company that specializes in “field-to-pump capabilities,” to speed up commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, a type of biofuel made from, among other plants, switchgrass and woodchips.
The BP-Verenium partnership would create low-cost production facilities across the US, and scale up production of cellulosic ethanol...
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My Green Heaven: Sustainable Food
In the past year, I’ve worn two hats: program developer for a nonprofit that’s greening NYC’s buildings and food blogger/assistant to a food writer.
My boss at the nonprofit has often encouraged me to explore where these interests overlap. This blog will be, I hope, just that. I’ll challenge myself more than ever before to eat local and eat smart (goodbye, beloved bananas!). I’ll investigate...
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we...”
– Thomas Edison in 1931.