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I recently met Beth Terry, the author of a great blog on plastic pollution called Fake Plastic Fish (the definitive resource on our culture’s obsession with plastics) at a very sobering event – the return from an expedition to Midway Island with photographer Chris Jordan, who traveled there with a film crew to document the “plastic graveyard.” Midway is literally “midway” from......read more
Despite the likelihood that the 193 countries at the climate summit will leave Copenhagen with an agreement to finish their work either at a June meeting or at the next annual U.N. conference slated for next November in Mexico City, time is of the essence for President Obama and his congressional leaders to pass a domestic global warming bill. The New York Times reports....read more
With public interest in climate change reaching new highs during the summit in Copenhagen, today's NASA Image of the Day, showing the distribution of black carbon over the earth's northern hemisphere, assumes added relevance. Black carbon, better known as soot, is thought to be the second largest contributor to global warming after CO2. Found globally but concentrated over Asia, black......read more
According to the United Nations 18% of greenhouse gas emissions are from food production. That's more than transportation, and second only to electricity production. Studies show local food creates 4 to 10 times less greenhouse gases during production than typical supermarket fare. You can scream EAT LOCAL! until you're hoarse, but sometimes you need to give people visual cues to......read more
Last year, global carbon dioxide emissions fell slightly, as economic production in industrial countries sputtered under the weight of a recession. The Earth Policy Institute research shows that emissions in the United States fell nearly ten percent from 2007-2009 due to a sharp decline in oil and coal demand. However, emissions continued to rise in populous developing countries. In China -- the......read more
Well, it's all but official. According to every major news outlet, the attempt to pass federal climate and energy legislation has failed. Democrats announced Friday they were abandoning the bill, effectively snuffing out any possibility of it passing. But why? After so much hope early in Obama's term, how did the effort to address global warming and reduce our oil addiction die before......read more
With freshwater reserves becoming more and more scarce, strategies that save and recycle water are becoming more and more important. Greywater systems, which reuse wastewater generated by sinks, baths, showers and clothes washers, are one such strategy. According to a new report published by the Pacific Institute, an Oakland, CA-based eco think tank, 50% of the water used inside U.S. homes can......read more
COP16 kicks off in Cancun, Mexico today, and expectations are low. It seems like not that long ago that the Copenhagen talks failed in such spectacular fashion. We can still taste the defeat. Tastes bad. Despite the dreary outlook, there is potential that something good can come from the meetings. But any chance at success will require that leaders shift their approach. In a recent NYT op-ed......read more
At the opening of second week of this year's plodding UN climate talks, a draft text released over the weekend is being met with cautious approval. The draft agreement, which covers long-term action against global warming, reconfirms a key aspect of the Copenhagen accord -- that "deep cuts" in industrial emissions are needed to keep warming in check at two degrees Celsius above......read more
In the absence of government action, citizens are turning to the courts to put controls on the emissions that cause climate change. The U.S. Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear a lawsuit that aims to hold coal-fired power plants accountable for contributing to climate change, a decision that has major implications for the public's right to fight corporate pollution. In the......read more
