Michigan State U Must Be Greener Than Spartan Deep

My favorite aunt became a dean at Michigan State back in the early 1980’s. She was a role model for us all, assuming a level of power and influence that most women—especially African American women—had not been able access at that time. She, like many other students and faculty at the time, enjoyed the campus…

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FTC Resisting Common-Sense Changes To Refrigerator Labels

Would you give ENERGY STAR to a sport-utility vehicle? What about a sport-utility refrigerator? As with fuel economy for cars, the most important factors affecting a refrigerator’s energy usage include size, design and features. Specifically, the location of the freezer section, the addition of an automatic icemaker, and the addition of a through-the-door ice dispenser…

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Without Coal Ash Rule, Litigation Helps Communities

Pennsylvania residents Sabrina Mislevy and Barbara Reed stand near the Little Blue Run coal ash dump site.

It’s been over four years since a billion gallons of toxic coal ash flooded a small town in Tennessee. We’ve been fighting ever since for the EPA to set federally enforceable safeguards to protect the thousands of communities across the country threatened by coal ash, but the agency has yet to act. But just because…

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A Wise Pause On Arctic Drilling

Shell announced that the company is hitting the pause button on oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic. Mother Nature graphically demonstrated this summer what conservation groups have been saying for more than a decade—the extreme weather and conditions of the Arctic, with its stormy, frozen seas make the Arctic environmentally treacherous for oil drilling.…

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Methane: It's Not Just From Cows

With the fracking boom building, natural gas is touted as a clean energy source. But the hard truth is that the gas drilling sector has worsened air quality in many areas.

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NAACP Joins Charge to Protect Clean Air Standards

Even in today’s divided political climate, taking a stance against mercury and arsenic in our air does not seem like it should be controversial. The gasses, along with other known toxics like chromium, cadmium and selenium are among 84 known air pollutants emitted every year by coal and oil fired power plants. They have cost…

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China to Introduce Carbon Fees

The jury is still out on whether the U.S. will join other major emitters by putting fees on carbon pollution. But claims that U.S. action would be dangerously bold are no longer valid.

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Looking Back at the Coal Tragedy At Buffalo Creek

Forty-one years ago, today, a dam holding 132 million gallons of toxic liquid coal waste ruptured high up in the mountains of West Virginia, loosing a tsunami-like death wave of coal waste and chemical sludge that destroyed 4,000 homes in 16 towns, injured more than 1,000 people, and killed 125. Seven bodies were never found. A remarkable Charleston Gazette series shares the stories of the people who were affected by this horrific tragedy.

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Storage Needed When There Is No Sun, Wind

Most people know that solar and wind energy is only generated when the sun shines or the wind blows. This leaves potential power gaps at times of no sun or wind. One of the Holy Grails of renewable energy has been storage systems (think battery here) that can store surplus energy when it’s produced for…

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Obama Has Spoken, Now He Must Lead

Last week, President Obama demanded that Congress take action on climate change, or else he would. But, after years of political gridlock on the climate issue, coupled with rising seas and worsening droughts, one thing is clear: the nation simply cannot afford to wait any longer to take action. Though Congress may eventually pull together…

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