Military Leads on Efficiency, Alternative Energy
Michael Signer

To some critics, the cause of alternative and sustainable energy will always be associated with the image of dewy-eyed do-gooders earnestly plying a hopeless cause. However, it might surprise opponents -- and even supporters -- that the most innovative and effective actors in the carbon-reduction arena is the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard who are aggressively pursuing plans for sustainable energy, reducing carbon, and achieving energy independence.

A Few Simple Changes Will Green Your Thanksgiving Feast
Cara Smusiak

Between travel, disposable plates, paper napkins, pre-packaged and heavily processed foods, leftovers wrapped in tinfoil and plastic wrap, and food that ends up in the trash because we just cooked too much, there's a hefty environmental footprint associated with Thanksgiving.

Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Changed Everything
Norman Borlaug (March 25, 1914 - September 12, 2009)

Norman Borlaug, a plainspoken Iowa farm boy who worked his way through the University of Minnesota during the Depression. His death at 95 came at the end of a life as rich as the bountiful fields he left across the world. To quote the citation that came with his Nobel Prize in 1970, "More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world."

Interview with India's Environment Minister
Jayshree Bajoria

India and China have long maintained their economic growth will suffer if they accept binding emission targets under an international agreement on climate change. Instead, they have called for mitigation commitments by the developed world and financial support from rich countries to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Religious Groups Push for Climate Change Legislation
Dan Gilgoff

American religious traditions have emerged as a large part of the environmental movement. The stepped-up environmental efforts of religious groups in Washington have paralleled a grass-roots effort among religious Americans to green their congregations.

A Fishy Tale - California Uproar over Water
Victor Davis Hanson

Nearly a quarter-million acres worth of federal irrigation deliveries have been cut from big farms of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The water in large part is being diverted to the salty San Francisco Bay and the delta to improve marine ecology. The result is that many crops have gone unplanted. Farm income is down. Thousands of farm laborers are unemployed. Growers and workers are now livid at environmentalists, federal bureaucrats and judges for worrying more about fish than about people and food growing

Even Skeptics Should Heed These Climate-Change Warnings
Robyn Blumner

To Global Warming Holdouts and Oil Drilling Enthusiasts: OK, maybe you don't care or believe that within a couple of generations global warming's effects on sea levels will swamp the world's coastlines, displacing hundreds of millions of people. However, you might want to get behind the push for alternative energy and a reduced carbon 'bootprint,' because our military says it's essential for American security

Global Warming and the Sun
Jonah Goldberg

On the last day of August, scientists spotted a teeny-weeny sunspot, breaking a 51-day streak of blemish-free days for the sun. If it had gone just a bit longer, it would have broken a 96-year record of 53 days without any of the magnetic disruptions that cause solar flares. That record was nearly broken last year as well. Wait, it gets even more exciting.

Overfishing, Pollution Could Change Our Seafood Diets
John Podesta

Marine biologists are alarmed by the imbalances that are appearing in marine ecosystems. The ocean is changing fast -- too fast, it seems, for us to reliably predict the combined effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change. What is clear is that the changes, by and large, are not good news for our bellies.

Cap-and-Trade Will Reduce Global Warming and Create Jobs
John Podesta

New investments in the clean energy technologies of the future would slash global warming pollution and reduce the use of foreign oil while also creating jobs and increasing our economic competitiveness vis-à-vis China and other nations.

Cap-and-Trade Would Make the American Dream a Nightmare
William O'Keefe

In 1984, the late historian Barbara Tuchman wrote The March of Folly, in which she chronicled the phenomenon of governments pursuing policies directly at odds with their self-interest. Tuchman used the term "wooden-headedness" to describe the tendency of leaders to assess situations using preconceived notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. History may be repeating itself in Washington as they fight to pass a climate bill that most lawmakers have not read and even fewer understand. In spite of growing evidence ...

Planet Bull's-Eye
Jonah Goldberg

It makes you wonder. For all the rush and panic, the truth is, climate change -- if real -- is a very slow-moving catastrophe. Moreover, it happens to align with an ideological and political agenda the left has been pushing for generations. What a convenient truth for environmentalists

When It Pays to Go Green
Kimberly Palmer

Going green sometimes comes with a price: Organic vegetables can cost twice as much as their mainstream counterparts. So when is going green really worth it? We asked some top environmental experts to weigh in -- and their answers might surprise you. They say that while spending extra is often justified, you can almost always find a cheaper alternative.

55 MPH Speed Limit Makes Economic, Political, and Environmental Sense
Tim Castleman

To a large degree, our cars are us, and restricting how we drive is tantamount to threatening our independence. In the bigger picture, however, this is just a reactionary response. The critical thinkers among us know that freedom demands responsibility, knowledge, and considerate action. We have good reason to reduce the speed at which we drive, for personal gain as well as the good of the nation.

55 MPH Speed Limit Is Unenforceable and Counterproductive
James Baxter

Motorist compliance with the 55 mph limit has always been problematic. Ticketing binges, threatened financial sanctions, relentless PR, and increased fines and penalties failed to stem noncompliance. Despite increasing noncompliance and increased highway speeds, fatality rates continue to decline, contradicting the folklore that higher speed limits and higher speeds result in more serious accidents.

Climate Change Bill Faces Hurdles in the Senate
Kent Garber

To pass climate change legislation in the House last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi needed 218 votes. She got 219: 211 Democrats plus 8 Republicans. By almost the narrowest of margins, the House voted to put a cap on the country's greenhouse gas emissions. Now the debate goes to the Senate, where passage will probably be just as tough. California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee, is leading the effort

America's First Global Warming Cap and Trade Program
Martin O'Malley, Governor of the state of Maryland

As the debate over energy independence, climate change, and "green jobs" heats up this summer, Congress and the American public should take note one of the most significant accomplishments related to climate change to date and some of the lessons we've learned. In September 2008, 10 northeastern states, including Maryland, launched the United States's first greenhouse gas "cap and trade system" -- and it is working.

Yucca Mountain: Harry Reid Declares Nevada Nuclear Containment Facility Dead
Robert Bryce

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared that Yucca Mountain, the site in Nevada where the federal government has been planning to store high-level radioactive waste, is "never going to open." Reid may be right. President Obama's 2010 budget nearly zeroes out federal funding for the waste site.

By Michael Osbun

Plan to Combat Global Warming: Pie in the Sky
Jonah Goldberg

Whenever you hear a politician start a sentence with, "If we can put a man on the moon ... ," grab your wallet.

The latest example of anthropogenic-lunar empowerment is global warming. Al Gore and Barack Obama routinely cite the Apollo program as proof that we can make good on the president's messianic campaign pledge to stem the rising ocean tides and hasten the healing of the planet.

How the Global Warming Bill Will Affect Your Wallet
Matthew Bandyk

How much will the Waxman-Markey bill cost the average American? In the coming weeks, Congress will likely consider a massive global-warming bill to create a new cap-and-trade program to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama praised the bill, dubbed Waxman-Markey for its co-sponsors, as a vital step to create millions of new jobs all across America

Norman Borlaug: Population Growth Requires Second Green Revolution
Norman Borlaug Nobel Laureate Interview

Norman Borlaug is known as the father of the Green Revolution. His work with high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties is credited with saving as many as a billion people from starvation worldwide. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. At age 95, a recent interview ...

Composting: From Garden to Kitchen to Garden

The key to a good garden is good compost, and every gardener worth his salt should be making his own. Compost is a wonderful thing, plants are happy when grown in this sweet black soil amendment. Making your own is easy. Anything that once was living will eventually become compost. The trick is how fast you can harvest it.

Greening My House
Arianna Huffington

Ever since I saw the Green light, thanks to my friend Laurie David, and traded in my gas-guzzling SUV, I've tried my best to up my eco-awareness.

Live Green in a Fast Food World
Easy Eco To Go.com is a blog dedicated to helping you make greener choices. Julia Johnsen, passionate Placerville "greenie", wife, and mother, shares real-life advice and passionate stories for going green—juxtaposed with her own family's eco-conscious lifestyle....

Anything and Everything Green in Philly
In her blog GreenSpace, Philadelphia Enquirer environmental columnist Sandy Bauers shares ideas for how to reduce your carbon footprint. In addition to green blogs, Philly.com also features environmental news, living tips, earth friendly products/services, and more green topics....

The Global Sustainability Hub
Joost Hoogstrate, an international entrepreneur from the Netherlands with marketing and finance experience, started Climatarians with a vision to inspire consumers and organizations to demand sustainable goods and services....

Where Green Minded People Meet
GreenNexxus, a green social networking website to share, publish and contribute green knowledge, is a owned and operated by E9 Group. The E9 Group is a Canadian based organization which designs, builds, and markets Internet based solutions and programs aimed...

Add a Little Green to Your Everyday Life
Organic Authority's organic living tips make it easy to add a little green to your everyday life covering everything from organic food, sustainable living, gardening, health, and beauty. Learn a little something about your everyday toxic brews, you know the...

Over 100 Sites Focused on Living Green
This is the second annual post from Mashable focused on green living websites. Last year they posted 80 different resources. This year's post shares green resources centered around: carbon offsets and calculators, connecting via communities and dating, business and jobs,...

Are Your Products Certified Organic?
Ely Organics is your source for Miessence certified organic products—baby care, skin & body care, cosmetics, non-toxic household products, and nutritional products. Erin Ely, a ONE Group independent representative for this certified organic product line, also advocates organic and local...

Do You Fashion an Eco-friendly World?
Eco Fashion World publishes ethical fashion news from around the globe. They offer a conscientious fashion guide with organic ideas and a directory comprised of sustainable clothing brands. For special offers and updates, visit their Eco style news portal and...

We Cast Our Dollars Like a Vote, Each Time We Shop
Did you know that in the U.S., we could fuel 1.5 million cars for a year with the oil used in making plastic for bottled water? Facts like this, and many others are what make the new Smart Cart Quiz...

Track Environmental Protection Bills
GovTrack.us, an independent research tool, helps the public track U.S. Congress legislation voting records. Their mission is to promote government transparency and civic education through the use of technology. The site allows you to select political topics of interest (e.g....

High Comfort Low Impact Living
EcoLuxury offers green vacation rentals in Florida and Arizona and the products that furnish them—clever, green, luxury furnishings and gifts including: locally produced music and fine art. To them, EcoLuxury means high-comfort, low-impact living and following fully disclosed guidelines (outlined...

Link Juice and Green Views
Viewpoints are a win for everyone who contributes—especially since we enable trusted members and respectful anonymous visitors to post HTML and links with a "follow" relationship. Yes, this means you can pass green link juice from this site to yours...

A greEnlightened Society
Waylon Lewis is the inspiration behind this fresh, national quarterly, Boulder-based magazine. elephant is synonymous with what the team calls the mindful life—consisting of authentic spirituality, yoga, organics, sustainability, eco-conscious consumerism, fashion simplicity, and "elevated" arts. They offer a generous...

Travel Green or List Your Accommodation
Green Vacation Hub lists green hotels, bed and breakfasts, motels, and international eco-friendly vacation rentals. Find accomodations that meet your travel requirements—smoke-free hotels to local bed and breakfasts that serve organic, or list your property on the site. The Lodging...

Moms Go Healthy and Green
Healthy Green Moms is a green blog that focuses on leading a healthy lifestyle where you will find easy practical advice that inspires. Monica, blog author and proud green mom, is passionate about green living and wants to leverage the...

Natural Pest Control Products
EcoSMART Technologies offers botanical pesticide solutions. By applying modern science to essential plant oils, they create safer, natural products for people, pets, and the environment. They offer animal health, household, agricultural, commercial, and professional products for pest control....

Biomass Events, Magazine and Radio
BBI International Media provides services, in support of the biofuels industry, including project development, conference and meeting planning, publications and recruiting. They are dedicated to supporting progress in the alternative energy industry and offer Biomass Magazine, a global network, events...

A Directory for Locals Living Sustainably
GenGreen's ambtion is to become an invaluable resource for green people looking to live a locally-focused, sustainable lifestyle. They plan to accomplish this through growing a network and providing a directory listing over 25,000 resources to help you green your...

An Initiative to Reduce IT Energy Consumption
The aim of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative is to increase the energy efficiency of computers and to promote the development, introduction and adoption of clean technologies for reducing IT energy consumption. The Initiative is a non-profit organization established by...

Seeking All Things Green
EcoSeek is a search engine for all shades of green, from appliances and clothing to office supplies and personal care. Besides providing and directory and search, their site features consumer information, definitions, green tips, a blog, green products and merchants,...

A Green Social News Site
EcoURLs ranks the most prominent green stories from a number of environmental categories and enables you to submit your green content. The site was developed by two respected figures in the online green community—Muhammad Saleem and Hank Green (EcoGeek.org)....

Entrepreneurialism and Sustainability
Ecopreneurist commends innovators for their entrepreneurial spirit—publishing news and helpful tips for social and sustainable entrepreneurialism. Discover new green products and services for the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) demographic, and get branding and marketing advice for starting a...

A Green World Tumblelog
Ecoscraps, part of Green Options Media's network of sites, offers a collection of green clippings—a virtual scrapbook with a hodge podge of light-hearted musings that inspire readers to reflect on greener living. The editorial team invites its community of readers...

Gr33n Community and Stories
Glaci3r, part of the Loud3r Network of topic-oriented sites, aggregates environment news from various sources. The site also offers a community and ranked news content. Besides sharing stories, you can use the site to share questions, get answers and meet...

Source for Environmental Media Online
Times Online's Environment news section covers the environment and environmental issues, climate change, global warming and other green topics. In addition to green media (videos, photos, podcasts, etc.) they also feature a blog entitled Green Central. More than 200 years...

Among the Longest-running Green Blogs
Since July 2003, sustainablog has been informing readers about environmental and economic sustainability, green politics, and sustainable and eco-friendly business. The blog features environmental leaders, alternative energy and green technology experts, and real individuals attempting to reduce their environmental impact....

Prizes for Reducing Oil Dependency
The Freedom Prizes are cash awards totaling more than $4 million for innovative, near-term applications of existing oil displacement technologies and strategies in America. The Freedom Prize Foundation was co-founded by Jack Hidary and Josh Becker. The Freedom Prize is...

Explore a Green Social Network
Gaia, powered by Zaadz, is an online community and social network for eco-conscious and spiritually attuned individuals. Search for friends who share the same interests and collaborate on projects that make a positive impact. Explore Gaia's Green section for the...

Clean Affordable Solar Energy
Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Calif., SolarCity matches solar power technology with installation services. The company's offerings help remove the technical, regulatory and financing barriers to solar power, so customers can make smart renewable energy choices that can...

SF Bay Area Living Sustainably
SFGreen from SFGate.com covers living green in the San Francisco Bay Area. Topics for the site include outdoors, food, home and garden, events and news, community, travel, and resources. Create a forum or a blog, view events, find recycling locations...

Earth & Economy

 

Invasive Asian Carp May Be Near Lake Michigan
Two carp species from Asia that have the potential to devastate the Great Lakes ecosystem may be just a few miles from Lake Michigan. If they enter the Great Lakes, they could overwhelm the native fish. David Lodge, director of the Center for Aquatic Conservation at the University of Notre Dame, discusses the tests that show Asian carp may have breached an underwater electric fence on a canal 20 miles south of Lake Michigan.

Obscured By War, Water Crisis Looms In Yemen
News from Yemen has been dominated recently by an escalating rebellion along the border with Saudi Arabia. But the country has been making news for decades because of its severe overuse of a rapidly disappearing water supply, the result of natural and political reasons.

Financial Crisis Is 'Green' For The Environment
New studies are projecting that carbon dioxide emissions — greenhouse gas emissions — will decrease for the year 2009. That is thanks to the global recession. But the reprieve is small and expected to be short lived.

Fungus Provides Clues To North American Extinctions
One of the great mysteries about North America is what killed off woolly mammoths and other exotic animals that roamed the land after the last ice age. Ideas have ranged from a comet impact and climate change to human hunters. A study published Friday in Science Magazine provides new clues about this — cleverly deduced from samples of a fungus that grew on the animal's dung.

Reef Conservation Strategy Backfires
Conservationists worried about overfishing on the Pacific island of Kiribati persuaded fishermen to pick coconuts instead. The strategy backfired: Coconut oil production increased, but so did fishing. It turns out, fishermen who earned more money in coconut agriculture had more leisure time — which they spent fishing.

Higher Temperatures May Be Behind Pine Growth
Ancient bristlecone pine trees found in certain parts of California and Nevada have been growing at an unprecedented rate in the last 50 years. According to a recent study, this growth has most likely been caused by warmer temperatures. Malcolm Hughes, one of the study's lead researchers and a professor of dendrochronology at the University of Arizona's Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research, offers his insight.

California Requires TVs To Be More Energy Efficient
Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators adopted a first-in-the nation mandate to lower electricity demand. On a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission on Wednesday required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient beginning in 2011.

Environment Or Economy? Obama's Balancing Act
To sell Congress and others on the idea of taking bold steps to curb global warming, President Obama casts his arguments in terms of job creation. Many environmental activists say they wish he'd do more to push the "green" agenda.

Top Executives Launch Electric Car Coalition
A group of executives from more than a dozen auto, transportation and energy companies launched a new coalition Monday to urge the federal government to make a major investment in electric transportation. Their goal is to bring 100 million electric cars to the road by 2030.

Lower Tuna Limit Still Too High, Researchers Say
The international commission that regulates fishing of tuna and other large migratory fish in the Atlantic voted to sharply reduce the fishing quota for bluefin tuna at their latest meeting. But some scientists say the new quota is too high to sustain the species.

The Dirt On Dust
Where does all that dust under your couch come from? It turns out that most household dust comes from outside — and may contain some pretty harmful stuff. How the toxins in dust get into your body depends on the size of the dust particle.

Brown Pelican Flies Off The Endangered List
After nearly 40 years on the brink of extinction, the brown pelican has made a substantial enough comeback that it was removed Wednesday from the endangered species list. The bird was nearly killed off by the pesticide DDT.

EPA Drafts Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Strategy
The Environmental Protection Agency has outlined a new effort to help protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary. And it targets the root causes of the trouble: runoff.

Researchers Get Dirty To Clean Up Chesapeake
A team of scientists is studying mud, ooze and other material from the bay's bottom to help the EPA crack down on pollutants. The tubes of glop they've collected from throughout the Chesapeake Bay are like biopsies — they indicate where the bay is healthy and where it's dying.

Climate Rift Grows Between U.S., Poor Nations
As the world prepares for crucial climate-change talks in Copenhagen next month, there is a growing rift between the United States and some of the world's poorest nations. The gap grew wider this past week, at the final official pre-Copenhagen talks in Barcelona.

NPR Topics: Environment
Breaking news on the environment, climate change, pollution, and endangered species. Also featuring Climate Connections, a special series on climate change co-produced by NPR and National Geographic.

 

Chrysler Abandons Electric Vehicle Program After Pocketing Taxpayer Bailout

During the federal government's bailout of the auto industry earlier this year, Chrysler Corporation received $15.3 billion in taxpayer money to keep its factories humming--partly in exchange for the company's aggressive plan to produce a fleet of electric vehicles. Now that the money is safely in the Chrysler coffers, however, the automaker has announced a new plan to disband its electric vehicle team and to produce only a token number of electric cars.

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Chrysler Abandons Electric Vehicle Program After Pocketing Taxpayer Bailout originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 01:14:36.

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Crikey! Scientists Name Rare Snail After Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin

The late Steve Irwin, who became an international television star as the host of The Crocodile Hunter, has been immortalized by scientists who discovered a rare Australian land snail and named it in honor of the enthusiastic conservationist and wildlife advocate.

Queensland Museum Honorary Research Fellow Dr. John Stanisic and his colleagues named the snail Crikey steveirwini, which combines Irwin's first and last names with his signature cry of "Crikey!" The snail was discovered in the mountainous regions of north Queensland's Wet Tropics near Cairns.

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Crikey! Scientists Name Rare Snail After Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 23:07:24.

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BPA Exposure Causes Sexual Problems in Men, Study Shows

The growing controversy over the health effects of bisphenol A, more commonly called BPA, is bound to heat up even more with the publication this week of a new study that links BPA exposure to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in men.

Over the course of five years, the federally funded study followed 634 male workers at four factories in China who were exposed to high levels of BPA, comparing their sexual health with that of male workers in other Chinese factories where BPA exposure was not part of the work environment.

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BPA Exposure Causes Sexual Problems in Men, Study Shows originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 11:17:47.

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Technology is Helping Americans Use Less Water

Americans are using less water than they did 30 years ago, despite a 30 percent population increase during the same period, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report that details estimated U.S. water use for 2005.

Most of the decrease is due to more efficient technologies at power plants and improved irrigation systems. That's not too surprising since 80 percent of the 410 billion gallons of water Americans use every day goes to generate electrical power (49 percent) and irrigate crops (31 percent).

Although water withdrawals for public supply have increased steadily since the USGS began its series of five-year trend reports in 1950, to keep pace with the growth in population, public supply accounts for only 11 percent of overall water use. The remaining 9 percent of U.S. water is used for livestock, aquaculture, mining, certain industrial purposes and rural domestic uses.

The report also breaks down water usage by state and reveals some surprising results. Four of the 50 states--California, Texas, Idaho, and Florida--accounted for more than 25 percent of all fresh and salt water withdrawn in the United States in 2005.

With water rationing already occurring in some states, and our population continuing to grow, Americans need to find new and more efficient ways to conserve and reuse water.

Also Read:

• Water Conservation: Global Water Supply Drying Up as Population Grows
• How Safe is Tap Water
• How Much Energy Does It Take to Make Bottled Water?

Technology is Helping Americans Use Less Water originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 06:02:24.

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Republicans to Boycott Senate Climate Bill Mark Up; Boxer to Proceed Regardless

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has promised to mark up climate legislation in her committee on Tuesday, as planned, despite an expected boycott of the work session by the committee's Republican members.

While two members from the minority party (currently, the Republicans) are usually required for a quorum when the committee is marking up a bill, Boxer plans to use a provision in the rules that will allow the Democrats to proceed as long as a majority of committee members are present and votes in favor of the bill. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the committee 12 to 7, so Boxer is confident of her majority.

Led by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the committee's top-ranked Republican member, all of the Republican members plan to skip the scheduled mark up tomorrow, claiming the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to do a full economic impact analysis of the climate bill. Boxer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.)--the two primary sponsors of the bill--rejected this claim and cited the many different ways the legislation has been examined and analyzed. They urged the Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reconsider and rejoin their Democratic colleagues to finish their work on the bill this week. Regardless of what the Republicans decide, however, Boxer says she will proceed with the mark up.

But this battle of wills goes much deeper than the details of the EPA's economic analysis or, for that matter, of the bill itself.

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Republicans to Boycott Senate Climate Bill Mark Up; Boxer to Proceed Regardless originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 19:51:33.

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Go Wild at the World Wilderness Congress—Without Leaving Home

If you aren't attending WILD9--the weeklong World Wilderness Congress (November 6-13) that will bring together many of the world's leading conservationists and wilderness experts to debate and take action on critical environmental issues--you can still pull up a chair and join in through a variety of social networking tools that The WILD Foundation is using to broaden global participation in the event.

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Go Wild at the World Wilderness Congress—Without Leaving Home originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 16:19:14.

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Never Say Never(land): UN Names Tinker Bell Ambassador of Green

The United Nations has named Tinker Bell--a leading citizen of both Disneyland and Neverland--as its "Honorary Ambassador of Green" to help promote environmental awareness among children.

Kermit the Frog once observed in song that "it's not easy being green," but he was talking about skin color, not lifestyle. For Tinker Bell, being green isn't just easy, it's as natural as flying.

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Never Say Never(land): UN Names Tinker Bell Ambassador of Green originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 14:15:04.

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EPA Places Annual Cost of Climate Bill at $100 Per U.S. Household

The Senate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming would increase energy costs by about $100 annually (actually $80-$111) for a typical U.S. household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency.

That's roughly the same figure the EPA calculated for similar legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in June, although the Congressional Budget Office estimates the annual household cost of the House bill at approximately $175 in 2020.

No matter which estimate you use, it works out to somewhere between 20 cents and 50 cents per day for a typical U.S. household, and proponents of the measures argue that's a small price to pay reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut air pollution, create millions of new jobs, and put America on the path to a sustainable, clean-energy economy.

Critics of the Senate bill and the cap-and-trade system it would create call it a massive new energy tax, and some industry studies claim the measure could cost consumers as much as an extra $3,000 every year. (That kind of wild hyperbole doesn't do much to further the debate.)

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EPA Places Annual Cost of Climate Bill at $100 Per U.S. Household originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 02:29:37.

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U.S. Proposes Plan to Protect Critical Polar Bear Habitat in Alaska

The Obama administration today announced a new plan to designate more than 200,000 square miles of Alaskan territory as "critical habitat" for polar bears, a threatened species that has become to global warming what canaries once were to coal mines: the visible early warning of pending disaster.

Melting sea ice due to global warming is the biggest threat to polar bears' survival as a species--the bears breed, rest, hunt and spend much of their lives on the shifting ice floes of the Far North--and was the primary reason that the Bush administration decided in 2008 to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

While protecting polar bear habitat would do nothing to reduce global warming or stop sea ice from melting--that's a problem that members of Congress and other world leaders will have to tackle--both government officials and environmentalists are calling the proposal a good first step toward saving the bears from extinction.

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U.S. Proposes Plan to Protect Critical Polar Bear Habitat in Alaska originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 14:46:30.

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EPA Stops Largest Mountaintop Mining Operation in Appalachia

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday halted the largest mountaintop coal mining operation in Appalachia ever to receive a federal permit--the first time in the EPA's 37-year history that the agency has used its regulatory power to stop an already approved project.

Mountaintop mining is when coal companies blast the tops off mountains to get at the coal underneath, dumping millions of tons of rubble into adjacent valleys, burying streams, contaminating drinking water, and damaging local communities.

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EPA Stops Largest Mountaintop Mining Operation in Appalachia originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 03:17:35.

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