March 2009
30 posts
1 tag
Al Gore on "Climate Risk" →
Two weeks ago the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ruled insurance companies must now submit annual “climate-risk” reports.
“The officials acted after concluding that climate change threatens insurers in two ways. It increases the risk of extreme weather events such as floods and wildfires, which would boost claims. And it is prompting governments to cap...
1 tag
Funding for energy efficiency by city and state →
Information about the flow of stimulus money (aka “Energy efficiency and conservation block grant program”) from the Dept. of Energy, via Green, Inc.
1 tag
1 tag
Hungry shrimp eat climate change experiment →
And the most improbable headline of the year award goes to….
It is another nail in the coffin of using ocean fertilisation to cool the planet. Early results from the latest field experiment suggest the technique will fail.
“I think we are seeing the last gasps of ocean iron fertilisation as a carbon storage strategy,” says Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution at Stanford...
1 tag
Believe it or not, in the workforce development...
Every $1 million spent on energy efficieny leads to the creation of 35 jobs.
1 tag
City dwellers have smaller carbon footprints,... →
No surprise. For more on the subject, check out this list of top 50 greenest cities in the US.
The report by London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) looked at 11 major cities on four continents, including London, Tokyo, New York and Rio de Janeiro.
It found per capita greenhouse gas emissions for a Londoner in 2004 were the equivalent of 6.2 tonnes of CO2,...
2 tags
U.S. shoppers hit meat counters as recession bites →
sharingtime:
When the going gets tough, the tough eat things that destroy their bodies and the environment.
1 tag
1 tag
Chernobyl Radiation Still Harming Animals →
1 tag
1 tag
Climate change and the oceans: bleak prospects for... →
(via azspot)
1 tag
“The great American drilling boom is over.”
– Clifford Krauss, NYT. Think of as one of the recession’s silver linings:
The number of oil and gas rigs deployed to tap new energy supplies across the country has plunged to less than 1,200 from 2,400 last summer, and energy executives say the drop is accelerating further.
1 tag
Ronald Reagan actually WAS bad for the environment →
Brian Beutler writes:
I see that John McCain is holding up David Hayes’ nomination to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior Department because he once wrote “the conservative political agenda in the West is grounded in hoary stereotypes about the region and its people” and that “out of this conservative world view emerges the stereotypical Western man (and it is unquestionably a ‘he’)—a rugged,...
1 tag
Electric cars charge ahead →
At least nine car companies worldwide say that by 2013 they will offer plug-in vehicles that use electric motors as their primary means of propulsion, according to Plug-in America, an activist group. Some will be all-electric drive vehicles (EV). Most will be plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that use small gasoline engines as a backup.
GM and Chrysler both say they will sell a plug-in...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Want to Save the World? Make Clean Energy Cheap. →
Over 12,000 young adults attended the recent Power Shift 2009 summit in Washington, DC. Their goal? Building the largest youth movement in decades to save the world from global warming.
Largely missing from Power Shift, however, was a critical group: young scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Maybe it was mid-terms. Perhaps the event seemed too political. Or maybe the summit recruited too...
2 tags
Déjà vu all over again: Another coal ash spill →
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
(Now) It’s Official: Van Jones Tapped as Green... →
There were rumors Jones was going to be the Administration’s “green jobs czar,” which would have been frankly awesome. But “special adviser” is pretty cool, too. Just the fact that this means he will have a national platform is great; there is no more inspiring evangelist for environmental justice. Get this man on CNN and millions will be singin’ the praises...
1 tag
Where the Obesity Grows →
Interesting article about the political connection between the obesity epidemic and our industrial agricultural system, starring Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who calls his “the most important department in government,” and Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food.”
“All flesh is grass” says...
1 tag
“Three billion more people are going to be on this planet [by 2050],” says Stuart...”
– Yet Another ‘Footprint’ to Worry About: Water - WSJ.com (via grapefruite)
1 tag
1 tag
2 tags
1 tag
1 tag
Obama says yes to Smart Grid →
I don’t like the pay-for-play undertones, but this is good news, on balance:
Move over, Big Oil. There’s a new VIP guest in the White House: Silicon Valley. Employees from some of the nation’s biggest high-tech companies bet heavily last year that famously tech-savvy Barack Obama would be good news for their bottom lines. And it seems their wager paid off. Obama’s $787 billion economic...
1 tag
From Showpiece to Sustainable Crops, a Farm Shifts... →
The Queens County Farm Museum was once just that — a nonworking farm where the poor, deprived children of New York City could experience agriculture without getting their hands dirty — but over the past year it’s evolved into a real farm that produces pork, poultry, and veggies for sale at the Union Square Greenmarket.
“Crops have been grown on the farm since the 17th...