On Wednesday, June 25, President Obama gave a one-year progress report for his climate plan. He presented the original speech on the climate change plan at a dinner with the League of Conservation Voters. On MSNBC, politics commenter Rachel Maddow showed a series of clips of the President’s LCV talk, saying she wasn’t sure if
Sustainable redevelopment strikes again! The Atlanta BeltLine, one of nation’s largest, widest-ranging urban redevelopment programs, will develop the Westside Trail. Plans call for a three-mile-long, 14-foot-wide concrete multi-use path in the BeltLine’s southwest corridor. As well as a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the US Department of Transportation, which is covering 42%
The Value of Water Coalition hosted an in-depth conversation at the Newseum in Washington DC on the current condition of water infrastructure in the United States, the consequences of letting leaky and failing systems worsen, and solutions to water challenges of today and tomorrow. Our water infrastructure systems, a matter of pride for over a
US “clean gas” wells in operation (Irekia-Eusko Jaurlaritza in blogs.lse.ac.uk) Turns out that just about everyone (including President Obama) has been hugely underestimating the methane pollution levels of so-called “clean gas.” The booming American economy now seems to come at a greater cost than we originally thought when we found out that natural gas produces
There are the good wildfires, and there are the bad. Unfortunately, the latter often overwhelm the beneficial ones. We’ll go on with stories from San Diego in a minute—it’s a long story of an actually short time—but here’s a word about the bright side first. Whoopi Goldberg had a thought that’s worth repeating: When you
It doesn’t take rocket science to draw a line between pollutants in small streams and wetlands and water quality downstream. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers have united to propose a rule that will strengthen the Clean Water Act, applied to safeguard American water quality since 1972. The rule will
In a little-noticed Aug 2012 report, Bloomberg News reported that gas and oil energy companies failed to comply with their own voluntary plan to disclose chemicals in their operations — and, further, failed to report on the very existence of half of their wells. The report analyzed the efficacy of “FracFocus.org” — a voluntary
Great episode of the Daily Show this week. Jon Stewart does a good job helping Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa P. Jackson make some important points that need to be heard while having a bit of fun as well.
As budget cuts continue to be imposed by the House GOP on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we are faced with an ever growing reality of lacking environmental regulations and restrictions, and an expanding health risk for our country. With the recent federal budget agreement, the GOP has been aiming to cut down on the EPA’s budget, as well as their influence, and has done so with a moderate amount of success.
The Topic: Radiation Exposure.
The Question: How do scientists know what kind of (and how much) radiation exposure we do or do not face?
Some top global warming and environmental news from the last day or so: Global Warming & Environmental Politics Time to Put People Ahead of Polluters Over on ecopolitology, Sierra Club’s Michael Brune had a good piece on why it’s time to put people ahead of polluters. Senate 2012 Race & Tea Partiers The conservative right
In what appears to be a major, positive stride for environmental quality preservation, congressional investigators submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency charging that hydraulic fracturing — known as ‘fracking’ — violates the Safe Drinking Water Act. Amassing data from a dozen states for the period 2005 – 2009, investigators assert that tens of
The Clean Air Act is getting attacked by leading polluters and some members of Congress. Over a couple dozen scientific, environmental, and progressive organizations told Obama in a letter sent to him on Friday that he needs to make sure to stand up for this critical piece of U.S. legislation. Here’s the letter: Dear Mr.
Here’s a special call to action from 1Sky Campaign Director Liz Butler (pictures added). Coal power plants are by far the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in this country. Their pollution is making our planet a more dangerous place to live. But these coal plants also create a by-product waste called “coal ash.” Coal
Louisiana state and top scientists are actively brainstorming how they will stop the oil from destroying Barataria Bay, a huge estuary and major fishery in the southeastern part of Louisiana. Now officials are aggressively trying to carry out a plan they created two months ago to save the fragile ecosystems along the Louisiana coastline. The
The last major section from the EPA’s new Climate Change Indicators in the US report is society and ecosystems. Below are key summary points. Clear changes in growing seasons, bird migration leaf growth and blooming dates have occurred and the trends suggest that they will continue. Heat-related deaths show much more variability, despite clear heating trends,
The US EPA just released an excellent report on climate change indicators in the US. In this first of a series of Planetsave posts summarizing the report, we look at greenhouse gases. [social_buttons] The US Environmental Protection Agency just released Climate Change Indicators in the U.S., a report showing “compelling evidence that the composition of
[social_buttons] Most of us think that we can do pretty much whatever we want with our property. If we own land, we can build a house, right? Well, that’s what Jack Barron of Bonner County, Idaho thought, too. However, the EPA says otherwise.
Lead is a metal found in the earth’s crust. However, due to human activity such as mining, burning fossil fuels and manufacturing, it has become more widespread. Lead is also toxic. Lead poisoning occurs when lead builds up in the body over time. At very high levels lead can be fatal; but even in small amounts it can cause serious health problems, particularly in children under the age of 6 who can develop mental and physical impairments.
With overwhelming support from the general American people and a President who says that we really need to do something about climate change, the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill on climate change on June 20th. A victory! Or maybe not. The bill is a major step forward in gesture in many ways. However,
[social_buttons] The US Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of its most wanted environmental criminals, many of whom may be ‘armed and dangerous,’ and wants your assistance in helping to hunt them down. The list is published on a new EPA website, which also contains photos of the accused, summaries of their alleged environmental
Gag Order Imposed Your tax dollars at work. The Environmental Protection Agency is protecting itself from everyone, including it’s own Inspector General’s Office. (IG) In a report released by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility website workers in the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance were forbidden to speak with anyone in an effort
Well, this may not be a hidden issue, but I think it is a highly under represented issue. Transportation is the leading contiributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the country, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and is also the fastest growing contributor, at a time when we are supposed
