March 9, 2010

On rooftops worldwide, a solar water heating revolution

by Lester Brown
The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space. China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that...

March 9, 2010

Ask Umbra on Annie Leonard and The Story of Stuff

by Umbra Fisk
Do you ever think about all the resources, the man hours, the stuff that went into making your iPod? Your cell phone? Your computer? The clothes you’re wearing? Annie Leonard did. And then she started talking to other people about it. You may have seen her animated 20-minute viral video, released in 2007, The Story of Stuff—it’s been viewed more than 10 million times—about America’s take-make-waste cycle of excessive consumerism. Following the video’s success, Annie had more questions to answer, more information than could be packed into a short film. Enough, as it turned out, for a book “The Story of Stuff: How our obsession with stuff is...

March 9, 2010

India backs Copenhagen climate deal

by Agence France-Presse
NEW DELHI—India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday. Ramesh told parliament that India, the last major emitter yet to formally endorse the agreement, would join the more than 100 other countries that have already “associated” with it. “We participated in the negotiations on the Copenhagen Accord and we stand by the accord,” Ramesh said. The Copenhagen Accord sets a non-binding goal of limiting global warming to below 2.0 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial times and a goal of $100 billion...

March 9, 2010

Florida Everglades restoration now a bailout for U.S. Sugar

by Tom Laskawy
Cypress trees in the Everglades. Photo: National Park ServiceThe New York Times published a monster investigative piece Monday on the disaster that is the Everglades Restoration Project. In some ways, it distills much of what’s wrong with both corporate and government culture in this country. Fun fact: the key beneficiary of the restoration plan will not be the Everglades, any of your favorite charismatic mega-faunae that live therein, nor certainly Floridians. The big winner in the deal will be American oligopolist extraordinaire U.S. Sugar. The deal as originally proposed would have bought out U.S. Sugar’s land in the Everglades to...

March 9, 2010

South Korea unveils ‘recharging road’ for eco-friendly buses

by Agence France-Presse
Online electric vehicleCredit: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology SEOUL—South Korean researchers on Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a “recharging road”—with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips. The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, says OLEV needs a battery only one-fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles and eliminates the need for...

March 9, 2010

What’s driving our favorite fruit into decline?

by Gary Nabhan
The Calville Blanc d\‘Hiver, an heirloom variety dating from 15th-century France, will not be showing up in your supermarket, nor will the others in the slideshow below. Photo: Michaela/ ...

March 8, 2010

Dear Vinod Khosla & Tom Friedman: No amount of sequestration will make coal ‘clean’

by David Roberts
Tom Friedman had a column over the weekend lauding a couple of American clean-energy innovators and entrepreneurs. Like almost all his green-focused columns, it’s good stuff. However! In the course of accomplishing his worthwhile objective, Friedman and one of his subjects both say something I just can’t let pass without comment. I hate to make a big kvetch out of what is otherwise a good column, but this particular error really needs to be called out. Discussing Khosla’s big new investment, in a company that can trap carbon into concrete and other useful products, Friedman says: If this can scale, it...

March 8, 2010

American Petroleum tells lawmakers it supports carbon fee because it’s easier to demonize

by Brad Johnson
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft comprehensive clean energy legislation that caps global warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a carbon market and instead levy a carbon fee. “Once you have oil people saying, ‘We can live with this, this was our idea,’ then hopefully everybody else begins to look at this thing anew,”...

March 8, 2010

Is it a problem that more industry groups are meeting with key regulatory officials than enviros?

by Michael A. Livermore
Some small hope has been renewed for a climate change bill out of Congress this year. But if the legislative process fails to produce a law, Obama’s regulatory levers will become more and more important—and how they evaluate new rules will come under scrutiny. So is it a problem that industry groups are meeting with key regulatory officials in the White House in much bigger numbers than environmentalists? The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is the powerful behind-the-scenes agency that review cost-benefit analyses of major environmental regulations like CAFE standards or coal ash regulation. Before rules like these are put into action OIRA reviews agency analysis to see if...

March 8, 2010

Cocaine addicts are snorting their way to a warmer world

by Ashley Braun
Passetti via Flickr You may snort at the news, but it’s the real snuff: Cocaine is hard on your sinuses, but it’s not crazy fun for the planet either. Celebs’ favorite nose candy is knocking down rainforest in party favor of coca plants, thus speeding up climate change. In fact, “for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square meters of rainforest is destroyed.” That’s hard to take. Why don’t users drop the bad habit and drink cocaine or hit up some killer cheese instead? ...

March 8, 2010

Don’t buy Obama’s greenwashing of nuclear power

by Erich Pica
On Feb. 16, while President Obama was in Maryland announcing an $8.3 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Southern Company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, inspectors at the Vermont Yankee reactor were finding dangerously high levels of tritium, a radioactive cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater near the plant. The next week, the Vermont state Senate voted overwhelmingly to shut down Vermont Yankee when its current license expires in 2012. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) called the timing of the nuclear loan guarantee announcement and the Vermont Senate’s decision “ironic.”  More than just some coincidence, though, the Vermont...

March 8, 2010

Blowin’ in the wind: The true meaning of ‘ag unity’

by Debra Eschmeyer
Of the 50 or so food and farm conferences I’ve attended in the last several years, the Drake Forum for America’s New Farmers: Policy Innovations & Opportunities held March 4-5 in Washington, D.C., rises to the top. Actual farmers—not just commodity crop growers but innovative “agripreneurs” like Xe Susane Moua from Minnesota and Rosanna Bauman from Kansas—got to tell the USDA what they needed to survive. But were policymakers listening? Many of the invited speakers with a political row to hoe seemed to be concerned about one segment of farmers in particular. Farm building in southwest Story County, Iowa.Photo: cwwycoff1 via FlickrSecretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack...

March 8, 2010

Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy

by David Roberts
Technology will not teach this puppy how to behave. Bad adorable puppy!Tim PopUp via FlickrOn Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons of coverage. The solution got none. This is entirely typical. As Fleck says, “The problem space gets more attention than the solution space.” So let’s do something...

March 8, 2010

Why are women being left out of climate decision-making?

by Elizabeth Becker
When will we finally break through this damn glass ceiling?U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an important new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included. This is unfortunate because women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate solutions.  The group is tasked with investigating potential sources of revenue to support developing countries in their efforts to cope with the impacts of climate change and the shift to low-carbon development pathways. The Copenhagen negotiations in December called for $30 billion in climate financing...

March 8, 2010

Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy’s limits

by Sue Sturgis
In making the case for a rapid conversion away from heavily polluting energy sources like coal and nuclear power to cleaner generation, renewable energy advocates often confront the argument that their scheme is impossible due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind. But a groundbreaking study out of North Carolina challenges that conventional wisdom: It suggests that backup generation requirements would be modest for a system based largely on solar and wind power, combined with efficiency, hydroelectric power, and other renewable sources like landfill gas. “Even though the wind does not blow nor the sun shine all the time, careful management, readily available storage and other renewable sources...

March 8, 2010

Ask Umbra on shoe polish, socially responsible investing, and Facebook

by Umbra Fisk
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I prefer to buy shoes that will last me a long time rather than buy lots of cheap ones that consume many resources. Is there an environmentally friendly shoe polish that I can use to keep my feet looking spiffy for the long haul? LaineWashington, D.C. A. Dearest Laine, You know one of the things that thrills me most about warmer weather? The footwear—or, I should say, the lack thereof. All winter long my poor little tootsies feel so stifled. Even now, they are wiggling giddily at the very thought of being free. But, alas, we’re not quite there yet. So back...

March 7, 2010

Community solar gardens

by Tom Konrad
A new bill being considered in the Colorado legislature would create “solar gardens.” Solar gardens allow people to participate financially in owning part of a solar array even if they do not have a suitable site on their own property. My reading of the proposed legislation is that subscriptions in a solar garden would be financial securities, and fall under securities laws. That’s probably a good thing. Solar for everyoneSolar panels are elitist: They cost a lot of money, and only homeowners with good solar access can usefully install them. This means that renters and people who can’t come up with...

March 5, 2010

Is ‘Birdemic’ the best/worst apocalyptic thriller of all time?

by Ashley Braun
If it weren’t for some seriously nom-nom-y green Oscar noms, I’d be either A.) extremely embarrassed or B.) extremely pumped about the future of enviro films after watching the trailer for “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” Or both. What do you have to dread look forward to if you catch this latest internet fever? “Woefully inept actors driv[ing] around in a blue Mustang for what seems like eternity while occasionally fumbling their way through a few lines about Global Warming while poorly animated .gif-birds float motionlessly and make terrible screeching noises.” —Alex Blagg, blogger/sucker who actually watched the whole thing. Well? Don’t...

March 5, 2010

Modern modular done right

by treehugger.com
Photo: Treehugger A lot of lessons have been learned over the last decade as architects and manufacturers try to make modern green prefab affordable and accessible to a wider audience. A new entry into the market is Challenger, a modern architect-designed line of houses from Manitoba, Canada’s Conquest Manufacturing. They recently displayed a new model, the Cube, at the National Home Show in Toronto.   Our friends at Treehugger have four reasons (and more photos) proving why the Challenger line does just about everything right. ...

March 5, 2010

Tech startup’s pollution detector aids enviro justice group

by Todd Woody
If you had been driving through North Texas this week you might have seen a white Dodge Sprinter van circling some of the natural gas wells and compression stations that have sprung up around the Barnett Shale belt like boom-time subdivisions. Drillers tap natural gas by splitting shale through a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that injects fluids laced with chemicals into the rock formations. The proliferation of shale gas drilling northeast of Dallas has ignited an uproar among residents, some of whom fear that fracking could be poisoning ground water and polluting the air with carcinogens. But the industry won’t disclose all the chemicals it uses and Texas...

March 5, 2010

Friday music blogging: Aloe Blacc

by David Roberts
The new HBO show How to Make It In America is pretty good, but by far the best thing about it is the opening credit sequence. When I first saw it I thought it was soundtracked with a particularly righteous soul song from the ‘70s, maybe a Bill Withers b-side dug out of the crates. It’s one of the very few credit sequences I’ve watched twice in a row on purpose. To my surprise and delight, it turns out I was wrong: Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar” is the first single off his upcoming album Good Things, due...

March 5, 2010

U.S. stops short of protection for western sage grouse

by Agence France-Presse
A sage grouse.Photo: Gary Kramer of U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceWASHINGTON—U.S. officials on Friday stopped short of giving endangered species status to the sage grouse, an iconic bird that is at the center of a dispute over oil drilling and other energy development in the western United States. The Interior Department said the bird merits protection but will not receive it for now because of a backlog of other species which are a higher priority, a move that is expected to allow oil drilling to continue. The agency “will expand efforts with state, local, and tribal partners to map lands that are...

March 5, 2010

Why not structure climate bills to win popular support?

by Gar Lipow
Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritize pricing greenhouse gas emissions over alternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACES climate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, add massive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climate change. The “simple” Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses on an auctioned permit system that returns revenues to the public, with a practically undefined CERT fund the only supplement to this price mechanism. As most supporters will freely admit, neither mainstream bill aims at emission reductions anywhere near as large as science tells us we need. The theory is that if we can pass something politically practical, then we can fix...

March 5, 2010

Demolishing density in Detroit

by Fast Company
Photo: Fast Company So it’s come to this: Unable to provide basic services for all of his constituents, Detroit mayor Dave Bing is drafting plans starve his city down to a manageable size. Using proprietary data and a survey released by Data Driven Detroit, Bing and his staff will pick “winners and losers” amongst the city’s neighborhoods and seek to resettle residents from the losers, those deemed most unlivable. With Detroit’s tax base withering from the implosion of two-thirds of the Big Three, the housing crisis, and an ongoing exodus, Bing believes he has no other choice. “If we don’t do it, you know this whole...

March 5, 2010

Garden Girl TV: indoor gardening, part four

by Garden Girl
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March 5, 2010

Murkowski to Senate: Drill the Arctic or my state gets it!

by Daniel J. Weiss
Senator Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska) gave a long impassioned speech when she introduced her “Dirty Air Act” – a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn EPA’s scientific finding that carbon pollution threatens public health and the environment.  One of her complaints was that the threat of impending EPA Clean Air Act implementation would force the Senate into action without ample time for deliberation. Today, however, as we seek the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we’re being presented with a false choice between unacceptable legislation and unacceptable regulations. We’re being told, threatened really, to “pass a bill now...

March 5, 2010

Meryl Streep more of a food activist than Julia Child ever was

by Bonnie Azab Powell
Big bird: Meryl Streep as Julia Child in “Julie & Julia.”(Sony Pictures)On Sunday, veteran actress Meryl Streep has a chance to take home her third Oscar, for portraying Julia Child in Nora Ephron’s film “Julie & Julia.” (It’s Streep’s 16th nomination.) As charming as Streep is as the towering, funny-voiced woman who revolutionized American cooking, she deserves more accolades for another role she has played in the history of food in America: that of longtime activist. Over at the Natural Resource Defense Council’s site Simplesteps.org, Wendy Gordon interviews Streep about her involvement in the environmental and food movements. The...

March 5, 2010

Digital designer shows what future towns could look like

by Jonathan Hiskes
Honolulu, HawaiiIllustrations courtesy Urban Advantage Imagine some ugly, underused street in your town, marked by drab buildings, wide streets, and forbidding expanses of parking lot. If you have to go here at all, chances are you’d prefer to drive. Now imagine it remade into a place where you’d actually want to walk or bike. There would be broad sidewalks, trees, and streetfront buildings with ground-level windows. There would be other people walking around too. Picture this in your mind, if you can. If you can’t, digital artist Steve Price might be able to help. Price builds Flash animations that show what...

March 5, 2010

Are GMOs the ‘financial innovations’ of agriculture?

by Tom Laskawy
(Photoillustration by Grist)Financial blogger Felix Salmon has an essay in Foreign Policy called “How Locavores Can Save the World”—expanded, by the way, from a wonderful blog post he wrote after attending a panel discussion on world hunger at the Davos World Economic Forum in the company of Blue Hill Farm’s Dan Barber. Salmon usually focuses on issues involving economic crises, monetary policy, complex derivatives, macro-economics, and governmental oversight of the financial markets, but here he’s talking monocultures, sustainable agriculture, and transgenic seeds. Tom Philpott has in the past opined on the similarities between financial and food crises, so...

March 5, 2010

E.U.‘s ‘carbon fat cats’ get rich off trading scheme, study finds

by Agence France-Presse
PARIS—Europe’s system for industrial carbon quotas has enriched the continent’s biggest polluters, with 10 firms together reaping permits for 2008 alone worth $680 million, a new report revealed. Dominated by steel and cement makers, the same “carbon fat cats” stand to collect surplus CO2 permits that—at current market rates—could be worth $4.3 billion by 2012, it said. This is roughly equivalent to the entire E.U. investment in renewable energy and clean technology under its economic recovery plan, according to Sandbag, a nonprofit group in Britain that analyzes carbon market policy. “Emissions trading is meant to be the central policy for cutting CO2 levels,”...