Ruth L

The next time you’re in the produce section in your favorite grocery store, take a look around.  Bell peppers from Scandinavia, strawberries from California, bananas from Central America, apples from the Northwest…… The list goes on and on.  As citizens of a highly developed nation, we have grown accustomed to having these novelty items at any given time of year.  It seems that our peculiar taste preferences have had more of an affect than we know.  It is estimated that the average food item in our grocery stores has traveled about 1,500 miles to get there, producing unnecessary carbon emissions for packaging, shipping, and refrigeration on the way to its destination. Read more…

Photo Credit: Mariusz Chilmon

Celebration broke out last week in Oregon when forest lovers were informed that future excess logging plans (passed while Bush was in office) had been canceled. The Obama administration responded to several lawsuits filed by thirteen conservation and fishery protection organizations that fought against the Bush logging arrangement. The arrangement would have nearly quadrupled current logging on public lands in Oregon, and apparently illegally ignored requirements to protect endangered species living within the forests. Among these species, are the spotted owls that are still in danger, but are no longer facing such a high risk of becoming endangered. Read more…

Photo Credit: Steve Ryan

A “green job” is a job that helps to reduce energy consumption and decrease our impact on the environment.  As part of President Obama’s plan to reduce America’s environmental impact, he created the White House Council on Environmental Quality and assigned Van Jones, a Yale Law School graduate, community activist, and environmental entrepreneur, to the position.  This position requires Jones to create as many green jobs as possible by coordinating government agencies already looking to the green sector. He will also be advising the President on jobs that cut energy use. Read more…

Photo Credit: D'arcy Norman

The California Air Resources Board has adopted a regulation that forces landfills to install equipment that captures methane gas or fixes leaking methane gas collection systems. This is in order to reduce the amount of green house gases being released into our atmosphere.  Currently California has 367 solid waste landfills, 218 of which will be affected by this new regulation. Read more…

Photo Credit: Leigh Blackall

Good news on the global warming front…another country has pledged to go carbon neutral! Tuvalu, a small nation state made up of atolls located in the South Pacific, has said that by 2020 they want all of their energy to come from wind and solar. Though Tuvalu is very small, with only 12,000 people, and their shift to renewable energy won’t cause a large enough decrease in greenhouse gas emissions to substantially affect the global warming trend, it will hopefully inspire other larger countries to join in on the fight against climate change. Read more…

In the small tourist town of Bundanoon, Australia, residents
unanimously voted to halt sales of bottled water. In doing so they
have set an international precedent. The actions of the Bundanoon
community have stimulated a heated debate about the the environmental
damage and ethical concerns that revolve around the bottled water
industry. There has been a push on both a local and national level in
the U.S. to reduce consumption of bottled water in light of apparent
energy consumption and waste that results from the manufacturing and
transportation needs of the bottled water industry. Now, the actions a
a small, quaint town southwest of Sydney are bolstering the efforts
made elsewhere. Read more…

It appears that San Francisco is beaming with success from its one-year-old solar energy incentive program that was set into place last July. Since its installation one year ago, there has been an increase of 450% in applications for solar installations in the city. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., and hopefully will set a precedent for all cities throughout the country. Read more…

The big corporations in our country seem to have a hand in everything and it’s definitely not a helping hand…unless, of course, it’s filled with money for lobbyists. This, unfortunately, is precisely what is happening with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Organic label. Because the organic food and beverage market is the fastest growing section of the food industry raking in $23 billion a year, much money can be made by simply boasting the USDA Organic label. So it’s no wonder that businesses are going to great lengths to secure this seal. Read more…

In one of New York’s public housing complexes, a recent grassroots recycling education effort has taken place. Gloria Allen, at the young age of 82, has started a community recycling education program for all of the 4500 residents. Historically, recycling in New York’s public housing projects has been horrendous with only 17 percent of household waste recycled. The City of New York has made it mandatory to recycle by passing a law that forces residents to recycle their waste, but unfortunately a law is sometimes not all that it takes. “It takes time, patience and energy” say Ms. Martin and much of that energy is coming from Martin and her associates. Read more…

The era of praying and wishing for US leaders to take big steps in fighting global warming may soon come to an end.  The US took arguably the biggest domestic step in combating climate change recently as the house of representatives narrowly passed the Climate Change Bill.  This 1500 page document requires large companies which include oil refineries, utilities, and manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 from 2005 emissions levels.  If the senate passes this bill and it becomes law, it will be the first time in the history of the country that there will be enforceable limits on CO2 emissions……This is BIG news.

If passed, this bill will fundamentally change the fossil fuel based society that has infiltrated the US.  It is a sign that America has decided to pursue the route of sustainability and provide a habitable country for generations to come.

Though the bill still must pass through the senate and it will be a couple years before the changes begin to occur, the ice has been broken in climate change policy.  Now, we can only expect and demand the enforcement and continued passage of effective climate change policy. Washington has delivered a clear message that climate change will no longer be an issue put on the bookshelves for a later date.

Check out the full article at Reuters