Uncategorized
Friday Finds: Predator vs. People
Environment loses in predator versus people standoff A new study has found that the decline of the world’s largest predators is wreaking havoc on the rest of the ecosystem, reports the Washington Post. Nature abhors a vacuum, and by killing off large sums of the world’s wolves, lions, buffalo and wildebeest, humans have inadvertently opened…
Read MorePlaying Hide-And-Seek With Energy Efficiency Information
Today, we begin with a quiz: Which of the following should online consumers have to do to be able to evaluate the operating costs of an appliance? Scroll to the very bottom of a long page of text, then visit other websites and do the same until they have enough data points to make their…
Read MoreCongress Puts Polluters in the Rider's Seat
If you’ve ever suspected that Congress thinks of corporate polluters first and the polluted public last, the debacle unfolding in Washington, D.C. this week should leave you with little doubt—and a bitter taste. Many of our elected leaders have hijacked the process by which we fund government agencies to sack the environment like Odysseus did…
Read MoreNext Time You Sneeze, Turn Off The Car
It happens to me every spring. The flowers start to bloom, and the days become warm and full of sunshine. All I want to do is be outside, sit in the grass with my dog and play my guitar, and then… Bam. My eyes start to stream, and my voice sounds like someone duct taped…
Read MoreAn Ill Wind Blows in Moapa
It starts with a warning. Then it's just a matter of which way the wind blows.
Read MoreEPA Dings Forest Service on Roadless Plan for Colorado
The Environmental Protection Agency found much room for improvement when it weighed in on the Forest’s Service environmental impact statement that analyzes a proposed rule to weaken protection for roadless lands in Colorado. Among the EPA’s concerns: the Forest Service proposed to grant the highest level of protection to about one-seventh of Colorado’s 4 million acres…
Read MoreObama's Monumental No-Show
Late in his administration, Bill Clinton attempted to build a conservation legacy worthy of Teddy Roosevelt by designating more than a dozen national monuments across the West. George W. Bush tried to undo that legacy. And President Barack Obama, to his dis-credit, has allowed the Bush-adopted, monument-undercutting status quo to remain, despite being the "hope-y, change-y"…
Read MoreUnplugged: DOE Approves Codes for Residential Buildings
(Updated 7/20) This week, the Department of Energy announced new energy efficiency standards for all low-rise residential buildings (like houses, row-houses and small apartments) and commercial buildings. This means all states will need to review and make a determination about their residential building codes by July 2013. DOE also committed to update the baseline standards…
Read MoreHistoric Numbers of Americans Call for Clean Air
How many Americans does it take to clean up dirty coal-fired power plants? 639,000. A coalition of public health, environmental and social justice groups delivered that number of public comments to the Environmental Protection Agency today at an event in Boston. This is a historic amount of support for air pollution standards that are projected…
Read MoreOMG, GMOs: Organic Seed Farmer Frank Morton
This is the third in a series of Q & A's on genetically engineered food, which harm the environment by increasing pesticide use, creating pesticide resistant superweeds and contaminating conventional and organic crops.
Read More