Photo Credit: Joel Deluxe
“The dream of many scientists in both developed and developing countries has been made a reality”. How? A green light was recently given to move forward on the formation of a global “science policy” panel on ecosystem and biodiversity services. The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), set to be endorsed in 2011, will attempt to close the gap between scientific research and political action in hopes of putting a halt to biodiversity loss. Read more…
Seventy percent of firms with revenue of $1 billion or higher are set to increase spending on climate change initiatives in the next two years. The global survey conducted by Verdantix included companies from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States across a wide variety of industries. Read more…
Photo Credit: Mike Scott
Once again, California is setting the trend. This time, the state is becoming the first to place a ban on the use of plastic shopping bags. In a 41-27 vote last Wednesday, the Assembly passed a bill that would prohibit grocery stores from offering plastic bags starting January 2012. Instead, shoppers will either have to bring in their reusable bags or be charged 5 cents (or more) for a recycled paper bag. The bill, AB 1998, still needs state Senate approval. Read more…
Photo Credit Vucci/AP
The puncture in the earth’s surface a mile deep into the ocean has been spouting essentially unchecked for six weeks now. BP’s initial strategy to plug the hole through a “top kill” (stuffing it with mud) has failed. Plan B involves sending down robots with diamond cutter saws to sever the pipe, and fit a containment cap over it. Why exactly robots with diamond plated saws was not BP’s first move begs another question entirely. Should this maneuver fail there is a risk of increasing the plume of oil billowing into the Gulf. In this event relief wells would have to be constructed placing the approximate date of containment somewhere in, AUGUST. Read more…
Photo Credit: John Mee
After the failed attempts to boost efforts for reducing climate change at the Copenhagen Conference, it is comforting to know that the world is still willing to fight against environmental degradation. Read more…
Image Credit: Alan Cleaver
The new bill seemed promising if for nothing else than the fact than it was written by the bi-partisan panel of Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman; Democrat, Republican, and Independent, respectively. Unfortunately it now appears that climate-change will be taking a backseat to immigration in the Senate. The oil spill in the Gulf has certainly done nothing to help matters: offshore drilling was intended to be one of the compromises made to satisfy the bill’s Republican opponents. Although the likelihood of another catastrophic spill is extremely low, the ecological devastation throughout the Louisiana coast has made it all too real. Read more…
Photo Credit: Gerald Herbert
The oil spill off the Gulf Coast has been an unpleasant wake-up call to the United States, and the world, about the dangers of drilling for and transporting oil. As spectators and state officials have been in a state of near-paralysis, thousands of gallons of oil have been pouring into the ocean since the disaster occurred on April 20th. BP, the company responsible for the catastrophe, has been slow to mobilize any effective clean-up operation as the crude continues to spread. The White House has been equally inactive, but reports suggest that the Obama Administration is starting to take steps toward addressing future spills. Read more…
Photo Credit: Lars Christopher Nøttaasen
As many Americans thought it would, the recent (and ongoing) environmental catastrophe in the Gulf has influenced newly proposed climate and energy policy. A 987 page bill was introduced to the senate on Wednesday by John Kerry and Joseph L. Lieberman, who believe the U.S. has been seriously damaged in many ways by a failing energy policy. (If you don’t agree, just youtube the Gulf Oil Spill). Read more…
Photo Credit: Brian Forbes
It takes about 10 calories of fossil fuels to get 1 calorie of food from the farm to our plates. That is much more energy than you can gain from eating the food off of the plate, but a study done on a research farm in Iowa tells us that energy can be saved while creating crops and turning a profit, if a more complex crop rotation is implemented at farms. Read more…
Photo via flickr
The 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 163 countries based on ten indicators of environmental protection. These ten indicators include levels of air pollution, water quality, and climate change. A team of environmental experts at Yale and Columbia Universities composes the EPI biannually. In 2010 the US received a score of 63.5 out of a possible 100 landing them in 61st place, a significant drop from 2009, which had them finish in 39th spot with an EPI score of 81.
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