Top Environmental News Stories of the Next 5 Months (7 Green Bloggers)

Taylen Peterson

“I think the biggest story of the next five months is going to be seeing how we, the American people, react to the environmental disasters at the polls in November. Will people continue to vote incumbents, party lines, and who their “buddies” told them to vote for or will we as a country come together and elect leaders who will create green jobs, a smarter grid and actually pass a major bill for both energy and climate change? To narrow it down to just one example, though, is Prop 23 in California, which is backed by the big oil companies. If it passes, AB 32 will be overturned. California government will no longer have the ability to cap greenhouse gases, create renewable energy standards, and will yield power to the dirty energy leaders. In a state that prides itself on being a green leader, this would be a blow not just to California, but to places around the world.”

Living and writing the green cause, Taylen runs CalFinder’s home solar website. There he is trying to make solar information as transparent and accessible as possible to anyone interested in learning more. Exploring San Francisco, fighting for a clean energy future, keeping up on daily sports and making music are just a few of his favorite pastimes, but he is always looking for new ones. Taylen received his degree in Marketing from the University of Minnesota before moving West and joining the CalFinder team.

Beth Buczynski

“One of the biggest environmental stories of the next few months will be whether or not the U.S. Government passes toxics reform. H.R. 5820, a.k.a. the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Chairmen Waxman (CA-30) and Rush (IL-01), and is now moving through both houses of Congress. If this measure is passed, it will force companies to prove that chemicals used in everything from cosmetics to toys are safe before they hit store shelves- not 10 years later.”

Beth is a freelance writer passionate about inspiring people to live and laugh more sustainably. Beth is the founder of The EcoSpheric Blog, the editor of CrispGreen, and a contributing writer for Care2 and TENTHMIL.com.

Scott James

“I think the biggest story of the year around the environment will be that public opinion turns on the U.S. government for our complete inability to do anything in Washington around climate change. After holding things up in Copenhagen, we are on track to not pass a bill with teeth and maybe not pass one at all, very publicly showing that we had a year to make it happen to do our part for the International community and the next summit in Mexico, and we couldn’t do it. I don’t think the world will take it lightly, and for some reason, this time, I don’t think the U.S. public will either, which would be a big story. Especially if we vote a lot of Republicans into office this Fall…”

Scott James is a freelance writer and social media strategist in San Francisco. You can find his other green thoughts on Blue Living Ideas, Green Living Ideas, and Earth Talk. When not writing, you can usually find him hunting down a good cup of coffee or playing Words With Friends.

David Anderson

“One of the trends that I think will make big news this winter (in the developed north) will be the continuing extremification of weather, and the effects it will have on news-bearing population centers. Although most famine-related news in the last few years has been artificially created by financial industry commodity price-gouging schemes, i think there’s a fair chance that extreme winter weather could start to have a more noticible effect on basic human needs this christmas. But overall, I think the current oil disaster will remain the single biggest story. Unless a bp pipeline in alaska breaks in the meantime. ”

If you’re not familiar with David Anderson, he’s the tireless Founder and Publisher of our media network, Important Media. He is also co-editor of our newest site, Fail Drill. David started his first blog on the nexus of energy and environmental issues in 2006, and has focused exclusively on renewable energy, sustainability, green business and environmental politics ever since. David graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego with degrees in Political Science/International Relations and Sociology, and minors in Biology and Law. David lives in San Francisco, and tries to stop thinking about work long enough each week to eat, sleep, and play some ultimate frisbee.

A great set of ideas from some leading green thinkers on the web. I have to admit that this series is turning into a bit of a personal indulgence for me. Great to learn more about these folks and see what they think about important environmental issues of the day.

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