{"id":27309,"date":"2011-12-28T19:41:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T00:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=27309"},"modified":"2011-12-28T19:41:12","modified_gmt":"2011-12-29T00:41:12","slug":"green-not-so-green-news-of-the-year-2011-top-10-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/green-not-so-green-news-of-the-year-2011-top-10-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Green (& Not So Green) News of the Year (2011 Top 10 List)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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2011 was a big year for the environment, in some good ways and some bad ways. Here’s a quick run-down of the top 10 stories of the year, in my opinion:<\/p>\n

\"global<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Tremendously high levels of\u00a0carbon emissions continue to warm Earth.<\/strong> Despite efforts to switch to clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and use more sustainable transportation, rapid economic growth in China and other countries coupled with weak efforts to cut staggering per capita emissions in world-leading countries like the U.S. leave us in a worse off situation year after year. The costs of taking climate action necessary to avert tremendous societal catastrophe rise as we delay strong climate action.<\/p>\n

\"power<\/a><\/p>\n

\"occupy<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Activists come alive — shut down Keystone XL pipeline; join in Occupy movement.<\/strong> With the increasing urgency of the matter, and governmental and citizen inaction, those most informed on the matter are turning to their last resort, strong direct action<\/a>. The biggest green activism story of the year was clearly the blocking of a shoe-in climate disaster, the Keystone XL oil pipeline from the tar sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico coast. Over 1,000 activists were arrested in front of the White House over the course of weeks in the summer for protesting the pipeline, and over 10,000 circled the White House<\/a> in November to oppose \u201cthe fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.\u201d This green activist spirit also made up a significant part of the Occupy<\/a> protests happening around the U.S. and around the world. Continuing on with this direct action movement, and making it stronger and stronger, seems to be our last resort for address climate change now, before we are out of time.<\/p>\n

\"south<\/a><\/p>\n

\"extreme<\/a>
Percentage of the contiguous U.S. either in severe or greater drought (top 10% dryness) or extremely wet (top 10% wetness) during the period January \u2013 November, as computed using NOAA\u2019s Climate Extremes Index. Remarkably, more than half of the country (56%) experienced either a top-ten driest or top-ten wettest year, a new record. Image credit: NOAA\/NCDC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Extreme weather slams the world<\/strong>. 2011 included record wet and dry extremes in the U.S.<\/a>, with the cost of U.S. floods hitting $10 billion<\/a> and Texas getting hit<\/a> the hardest, overall, with a completely debilitating drought and the hottest U.S. summer on record<\/a>. Thankfully, more and more Americans see the connection between extreme weather and global warming<\/a>, the majority of Americans do. However, too many of our (Republican) Congresspeople still ignore the issue, and even look to take money from clean energy programs<\/a> that prevent future disasters to fund unprecedented disaster-relief budgets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Food prices, with and without climate change. CLICK TO ENLARGE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Food prices rising.<\/strong> As a natural consequence of global warming and resulting extreme weather, the price of food has been rising. This year saw a pretty tremendous increase in prices of some hard-hit foods, and several stories of crops threatened by global warming. Joe Romm had a great post detailing this matter and asserting that food insecurity was perhaps the #1 climate story of 2011<\/a>. A piggy-backed on that with a short post here on Planetsave that included Joe’s introduction, followed by a repost on sister site Eat Drink Better where I added in the top 11 food price and food security (or insecurity) stories of 2011<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Click to Enlarge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Clean energy — wind and solar — booming as costs drop (+ clean energy jobs galore!)<\/strong>. Wind and solar energy continue to grow in leaps and bounds in the U.S. and around the world, and costs have been dropping at tremendous rates. The U.S. solar energy industry now employs over 100,000 people. Wind energy is the cheapest energy option in many places. For more on big news from these industries and others, check out:\u00a0Top 10 Clean Tech Stories of 2011<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

6. Lack of U.S. energy policy and greatest assault on environmental protections in history of U.S. Congress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The current U.S. Congress, filled with science-denying and fossil-fuel-funded Republicans, is apparently the most anti-environment Congress in U.S. history. As reported a couple weeks ago, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the environment approximately 200 times<\/a> in 2011. Clean energy and pollution-reducing measures are attacked non-stop by the Republican party despite the fact that these things create jobs, improve our health, fight climate change, and are hugely supported by the U.S. public. Is there any wonder the Congressional approval rating has hit record lows this year?<\/p>\n

\"oxfam<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Durban — success!.. sort of.<\/strong> The 17th international climate conference hosted by the United Nations took place in Durban, South Africa this month. It included some tremendous wins, but the limitations of what was achieved are tremendous and concerning as well. Here are two good summaries of what happened in Durban this year:<\/p>\n