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Melting of Greenland A Warning For The Planet
From the Kangerlussuaq airport, at 67 degrees North in Greenland… It’s four hours to New York and five to Moscow, but only three to the North Pole. People are speaking Danish and the language of the Inuit people. I’m writing at the airport on my way home from the Arctic Council ministerial meeting, held in the capital, Nuuk, about…
Read MoreTr-Ash Talk: EPA Delays Leave Americans at Risk
Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released final assessment reports that detail the structural integrity of 38 coal ash dams. The agency began inspecting coal ash dams in May 2009, and EPA contractors have, to date, completed assessments of 228 dams. Of these 228 coal ash dams, EPA inspectors gave a rating of “poor” to…
Read MoreLives Threatened by EPA's Indefinite Delay on Clean Air
Shame on the Environmental Protection Agency. Yesterday afternoon, the agency decided that it would postpone indefinitely a new health standard finalized a few months ago that would reduce toxic air pollution from industrial boilers. These small power plants are used at larger industrial facilities like oil refineries and chemical plants—more than 13,000 of them are…
Read MoreWhat Bill Gates Should Know About Solar Energy
Former Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave a talk last month at TED on Climate Change. His overall point was dead on—we need big solutions for a big problem. And he’s a man who is willing to back what he speaks about financially. But it was interesting to see him dismiss the small steps in a somewhat cynical fashion, characterizing home installations of solar panels as an ineffectual fad for the rich.
Read MoreUnplugged: Reading the Fine Print on New TV labels
A law that took effect last week requires new televisions for sale in retail showrooms to carry yellow Energy Guide labels, allowing consumers to evaluate and compare how much energy different models use and how much they cost to operate each year. My colleague Liz Judge blogged about the impact of these labels previously. The…
Read MoreFriday Finds: Schoolhouse Shock
Coal company tries to brainwash school kids Scholastic Inc., whose books and educational materials dominate the American classroom, is distributing fourth-grade curriculum materials paid for by the American Coal Foundation, reports the New York Times. Not surprisingly, the industry-funded class materials have drawn the ire of groups such as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood…
Read MoreRenewable Energy Could Be 80% of World’s Power by 2050
Is another future even possible, or are we stuck in a permanent crisis?
Read MoreFlorida Quiz: Is Green Poisonous or Pristine?
You decide. Check out this picture of Florida’s waterways—choked with algae—and choose which of the following quotes best describes the photo. Both speakers were referring to attempts in the state legislature to keep the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the amount of nutrients flowing from utilities, industry and large-scale farms into Florida’s waterways. The nutrients feed an…
Read MoreCelebrating National Bike to Work Day
Today is national Bike to Work Day. In honor of all of you who rode this year, here are a few of our favorite bike videos. Hopefully they will persuade you to keep on pedaling.
Read MoreWhat Does Fracking Industry Have To Hide?
In a hearing on Capitol Hill today, Republican members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee struggled to make the case against an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into the controversial gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) – a process in which oil and gas companies blast millions of…
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