Spring Time | Time To Be Efficient

Spring Efficiency | It’s the equivalent of clearing out the winter cobwebs once and for all.

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Giving Children Computers | Does It Help Them In School:

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What we depend on to sustain our quality of life ..

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2012) — Keeping the Earth, our life support system, in terms of supporting humanity: Continue Reading:
Loss of biodiversity increasingly threatens human well-being [Research] Continues:
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy: Read More:

How Tribalism Makes a Risky Word Even More Dangerous |
Our instinctive need for social cohesion easily overwhelms morality and reason.
This fact is often cited as evidence that tribal peoples saw only the members of
their own tribe as "people," and denigrated all others as something less. In fact,
this is a tenuous conclusion to draw from the evidence. Many languages refined 
their identification as "the true people," or "the real people," dehumanizing the other
people or simply considering them inferior. The more driven we are to circle the wagons in 
pursuit of the safety of social cohesion, the more we abandon reason, intellect 
and evidence-based analysis, the more closed our minds become.
Continue Reading:

The Polarizing Impact of Science Literacy and Numeracy on Perceived Climate Change Risks|
Kahan’s paper reinforces several current bodies of research that try to understand human cognition more holistically. First, it supports Kahan’s own work on Cultural Cognition theory, which finds that though we employ facts as weapons in our battles over issues and ideas, the real war is about tribal identity and cohesion | Continue Reading:

Jeff Schweitzer ~Scientist and former White House Senior Policy Analyst; Ph.D. in marine biology/neurophysiology

Why Facts Matter: Science Is Not an Opinion | Faith and Reason: We have come to this tragic conclusion about our future because fact and opinion today are considered of equal validity. But how did we arrive here? Why did this happen? How did two plus two equals four become liberal conjecture? Why do we dispute the obvious? Because our society has been infected with the deadly disease of faith-based reasoning.

Clean energy is a selling point

"This is the beginning of a new chapter in the industrial life of Iceland," Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said. "The greatest advantage in the future will be green, renewable energy with no carbon."

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Energy Future lacks staying power:

If we do not aggressively change direction by 2020, it will be too late and we will be taken, by default, down the fossil fuel path. Sure, we have lots and lots of fossil fuel, enough to cover our needs for the next 500 years. Or do we? We geologists know that the concept of peak oil and peak gas referred only to conventional fossil fuel with standard methods of extraction. Peak is now irrelevant in the face of huge reservoirs of the so-called “unconventionals”, i.e., tar sands, gas shales and heavy oils, with the concomitant new methods of extraction to recover them including dangerous solvent injection and hydrofracking. We cannot ignore the horrendous environmental and health costs of a fossil fuel-dominated future because these costs are real and someone has to pay them. These very dirty “unconventionals” will not peak until far into the future, well past the next major global demographic and environmental tipping points that will alter our future beyond recognition.

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Green growth is not just for rich nations: World Bank

The World Bank urged global governments Thursday to heed the environment when pursuing prosperity, rejecting what it called a myth that green growth is a luxury most countries cannot afford.

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A handful of large-diameter trees per acre, such as these incense cedars are forest champs:

A few towering incense cedars, white fir & sugar pine are disproportionately responsible for photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide into plant tissue and sequestering that carbon in the forest, sometimes for centuries, according to James Lutz, a University of Washington research scientist in environmental and forest sciences.
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Focus on self-improvement, rather than winning, benefits young athletes:

The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before.

-Steve Young

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Solar water heaters use 1/3 energy, Progress Energy study finds:

Progress Energy customers saved an average of $235 a year by switching to solar thermal water heater, representing an average annual savings of 63 percent on the water heater portion of their power bill.

L.A. Moves Closer to Banning Single-Use Plastic and Paper Bags

The Board of Public Works votes unanimously to urge the mayor and city council to adopt a citywide ordinance banning single-use carryout bags. Story continues:

Plants, algae and cyanobacteria alter our planet in a way that only life can. They use photosynthesis to completely change the composition of the Earth's atmosphere.

Photosynthesis Re-Genesis I Aromatix 2007

Photosynthesis Re-Genesis II Aromatix 2007
Photosynthesis maintains Earth's habitability for life as we know it, and shapes the way we search for habitable worlds around distant stars. Scientists have discovered a microbe that can use low-energy light to perform photosynthesis. This discovery could alter theories about the types of stars that could support Earth-like worlds. Everyone knows that we as humans literally owe the air we breathe to the greenery around us. As school children we learned that plants (as well as algae and cyanobacteria) perform the all-important biological 'magic trick' known as photosynthesis, which helps generate the atmospheric oxygen we take in with every breath.

Without photosynthesis or oxygen, basically all recognizable life that we see in our landscape would be gone|

New way to store light could prove useful for optical communication:

Due to its high data carrying capacity and low loss, light can serve as an ideal information carrier. However, due to the high speed at which it travels, light is difficult to store. Because the ability to store light is important for optical networks as well as long-distance quantum communication networks, researchers have been investigating various light storage techniques. While previous studies have demonstrated that light can be stored as acoustic excitations, spin excitations, and atomic excitations, scientists have now added storing light as mechanical excitations to this list.

The team of physicists, who are from the University of Oregon and the University of California-Merced, have published their study on storing optical information as mechanical excitations in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. Read More:

World's forests' role in carbon storage immense, profound:

Until now, scientists were uncertain about how much and where in the world terrestrial carbon is being stored. In the July 14 issue of Science Express, scientists report that, between 1990 and 2007, the world's forests stored about 2.4 gigatons of carbon per year. Story continues

Climate deniers & illusion of debate

The so-called “debate” on climate change has been over for decades in the peer-reviewed literature. It is time to accept the scientific consensus and move on, and to stop giving air-time to the cranks.

It is time for accountability.

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Reclaimed labrador gives back:

Owner Teaches Dog to Recycle Human Trash

So if you see me, have some courtesy, sympathy and taste:

A Father’s Day essay on the world we’re leaving our children.
The truth is that the people we like to share the least with are our own children. “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children,” the saying goes. Right now, though, we’ve borrowed the entire Earth, trashed much of it, and don’t plan to give back. Daddy, could we have our planet back now:

Sympathy For The Antecedent:
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and fate

I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moments of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Let me please introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(woo woo, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
(who who)
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
(who who, who who)
Tell me, baby.. tell me, sweetie, what’s my name?

Troubadours & Occasional
Pirates: Jagger,Richards

At the edge of a cliff with nuclear power:

Unlike the 1970s, when nuclear power’s role was to reduce oil consumption, now there is uncertainty. What new reactors would mostly replace is coal and some natural gas. These have both been cheap lately, while nuclear power has a cost both certain to be high and hard to predict precisely.

“The nuclear industry is just so far removed from people’s lives, they don’t have much feeling for it,” said Baruch Fischhoff, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “They don’t really trust it. Although it hasn’t done anything recently to lose the general public’s trust, it hasn’t done anything to gain people’s trust.” Read more:

In a War of Words, Makers of Plastic Bags Go to Court:

“Temperament lies behind mood; behind will, lies the fate of character. Then behind both, the influence of family the tyranny of culture; and finally the omnipotence of climate and environment; and we are free, only to the extent we rise above these.”
~John Burroughs, American Naturalist

The plastic bag industry filed a lawsuit against ChicoBag, a company that produces reusable bags, for exaggerating claims about the pollution caused by single-use plastic.

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Switzerland Nuclear Power Phaseout Approved By Lawmakers

BERN, Switzerland -- Swiss lawmakers approved a proposal Wednesday to phase out the use of nuclear power, a move spurred by election-year politics and growing skepticism over the use of atomic energy.
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Germany to phase out nuclear power..

In their White House press conference Tuesday, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood together on topics ranging from the global economy to Libya.

Yet last week, Chancellor Merkel parted ways with the US on what had been a shared vision of how to maintain thriving economies while reducing greenhouse gases. For both nations, part of that plan had been nuclear power. For Germany, it is no longer.
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Perhaps today’s youth will be the generation interested enough to take the actions needed to combat climate change:

Floods and droughts may be the "new normal" and sea levels may be rising faster than previously thought, but the younger generation isn’t willing to accept these climate change consequences for their future. As the grownups duke it out in Washington, kids take action with visible results, proving they may be more capable than adults in fighting man-made climate change.

Alternative Promotional Corporate Gifts – Sustainable promotional gifts & products:

Cedar Hanger Inserts |

Sustainable promotional products are different from traditional promotional products. They make a statement, provide useful advertising space and are not harmful to the environment. As more companies opt to take steps to ensure the health of our world, it is likely that environmentally friendly promotional products will continue to grow in popularity.   Click here for a question, quote or idea:


American made promotional gifts and products:

BBC Report: Rice, straw, coconut & agricultural waste fibers are the new alternatives.

Why nuclear power may never supply the world’s energy needs:

The 440 commercial nuclear reactors in use worldwide are currently helping to minimize our consumption of fossil fuels, but how much bigger can nuclear power get? In an analysis to be published in a future issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, Derek Abbott, Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Adelaide in Australia, has concluded that nuclear power cannot be globally scaled to supply the world’s energy needs for numerous reasons. The results suggest that we’re likely better off investing in other energy solutions that are truly scalable.
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The World's Water Crisis

Of all the various crises besetting the developing world, the water crisis may be the hardest for those of us living comfortable lives to comprehend. We are never far from a tap that provides free water or a store where we can buy bottled water.

Bloomberg and Clinton Merge Climate Groups:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton, two of the world’s most influential spokesmen for environmental sustainability, will merge their global climate groups under a plan to be announced on Wednesday morning, according to people told of the plans: Read More

Safe Energy & Issues Of Waste

Decreasing consumption, increasing efficiency, and increasing the role of renewable energy sources:

Confronting health issues of climate change:

The shift in the planet's climate is affecting the health of patients -- and physicians are starting to see the results. Read More:

GE to build nation's largest solar power plant:

NEW YORK - GE is taking aim at the world's biggest solar company in a bid to expand into a fast-growing renewable energy market.Story Continues:

Ozone layer faces record 40 pct loss over Arctic:

In this July 19, 2007 file photo an iceberg is seen off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. The Arctic is a thermostat against overheating and a barometer of change, but now its own protective ozone layer that keeps out damaging ultraviolet radiation has thinned to record levels, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday April 5, 2011. Read more:

Energy Ideas Democrats and Republicans Agree On

Public health is another part of the energy picture where there is common ground. We have about 100,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year from petroleum-related air pollution and 6.5 million annual hospital visits by people with respiratory illnesses caused by the same thing.

These deaths are far greater in number than the combined deaths from car accidents, drunk drivers, gang wars, suicides or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Energy Ideas Democrats and Republicans Agree On!Read More:

Break The Bottled Water Habit

The $14.4 billion bottled-water market has come under fire for being environmentally incorrect as those discarded plastic containers keep piling up in landfills.

Bottled water? That's so '80s! Break The Habit.

On Sale Now!

Illness prevention is often times easier to manage than making a correction after the fact.

The Value of Vaccines:
Vaccines against five diseases:





Our survival is the continuity of our youth

All Lives Have equal Value:

Sharing Our Progress in Agricultural Development

2011 Annual Letter

2011 Annual letter on foreign aid, vaccines, polio and the importance of leadership:

Vaccines Save Lives

It has helped the world get to the threshold of something amazing:

Mobile Phones + Savings: A Powerful Pair

To call attention to the incredible impact that global health programs funded by the U.S. government are having on people’s lives
Story continues:

'Greener' climate prediction shows plants slow warming:

A new NASA computer modeling effort has found that additional growth of plants and trees in a world with doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide levels would create a new negative feedback – a cooling effect – in the Earth's climate system that could work to reduce future global warming.
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MIT’s 3M Professor of Environmental Economics On Government Spending

Government deficit spending has been a contentious issue during this year’s U.S. mid-term election campaigns. Yet some economists believe that additional government spending in certain areas is needed to help spur growth. MIT News asked Michael Greenstone, MIT’s 3M Professor of Environmental Economics, and director of The Hamilton Group, a Washington-based public-policy organization, about America’s spending priorities. Read more:

Set aside the lack of gravity ...

Posted 2010 |
Are we going to Mars and not coming back: The human space program is aimed at settling other worlds ...

| Read more:

From Wikipedia | Human mission to Mars

Army Announces New Policies on Energy Efficiencies

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2010 – Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and the Environment Katherine Hammack issued today a new policy memorandum to improve high-performance green buildings standards for the Army. Story continues:

Twitter app increases student engagement and is used more often by higher-performing students:

The app, called "Hotseat," is most often used by high-performing students, according to newly released results of the pilot test study. (Purdue University image)

Get More Out Of Social Networking

Sponsor Doubles Breast Cancer Donations In October:

Click on the early detection Breast Cancer Tab.. all clicks are doubled in October!

Shift from fossil fuels to renewables... Important books about energy by Vaclav Smil

In a new book, Vaclav Smil explains the energy transitions that have driven social, economic and technological change worldwide over time. He also discusses the evolving shift from fossil fuels to renewables. Story continues:

Is social media killing blogging?

Time and time again, the answer is a resounding "no".
Signs That Blogging is Not Only Alive, But More Critical Than Ever:
Story continues:

The continuity of our planet is the sustainability of its youth:

A Powerful Film About Education in America:
The new film, “Waiting for Superman,” is an important contribution to the national conversation about America’s education system. Like “An Inconvenient Truth,” another film by director Davis Guggenheim, deals with a complex and politically-charged topic in a clear and compelling way.

Make your blog carbon neutral ...

It couldn’t be easier. All you need to do is copy the code from the button below so you can show off that your blog is carbon neutral: Read more

Make your blog carbon neutral and sponsor plants a tree!

Electricity collected from the air could become the newest alternative energy source:

Imagine devices that capture electricity from the air ― much like solar cells capture sunlight ― and using them to light a house or recharge an electric car. Imagine using similar panels on the rooftops of buildings to prevent lightning before it forms. Strange as it may sound, scientists already are in the early stages of developing such devices. Read more:

Why is biodiversity so important: Video created by Vancouver Film School students

Everything that lives in an ecosystem is part of the web of life, including human beings:

The green-energy landscape keeps changing:

Today there's a whole menu of options for going beyond the petroleum era, from biofuels and next-generation nuclear power to solar-powered syngas production. But which option will be the "magic bullet" for America's next energy era? Story continues:

Oceans in Peril:

"If current trends continue, the extinctions of the coming decades will be clearly visible to future geologists comparable in scale to the great extinction events in Earth's history," he wrote. "I think it will be an enigmatic extinction...Story continues:

10 key planet-wide indicators of a warming climate identified:

Global warming "undeniable"

Senate Panel Backs More Electric Cars, Solar:

Millions of electric-powered vehicles that would slash America's dependence on foreign oil and cut its carbon emissions would be put on the road under legislation approved by a Senate committee on Wednesday.

The legislation, passed 19-4 in favor, was one of several bills cleared by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that might be folded into a broader energy and climate bill Democrats are struggling to bring to the Senate floor. Story continues:

In truth, the significant nature of value lies in the fact that we live in a [bio-diversified] world in which it is significantly undervalued:

While some of nature's services could be similarly traded as commodities, such as proposed "rainforest bonds" which would pay for forests' wildlife, fresh water and carbon storage, most biodiversity cannot be valued or traded directly.

"We should probably be thinking about biodiversity less like the carbon market and more like a real estate market, these are very distinctive, unique assets, they can be graded and valued but they're not interchangeable," said Joshua Bishop, chief economist at the IUCN. Story continues:

"It's like magic. Porosity is a way to do a lot with very little,"

Scientists Create Improved CO2-Absorbing Crystals: "If we take a gram of MOF-200 and unravel it, it will cover many football fields, and that is the space you have for gases to assemble," says Omar Yaghi, team leader at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute, improves upon an earlier crystal named MOF-177 to produce two new versions -- MOF-200 and MOF-210 -- that stores twice the volume of gases. Read more:

The long-term and the short-term of Earth's Thermometer:

Putting a limit on heat-trapping emissions and encouraging the use of healthier, cleaner energy technologies, such as solar and wind power, would help us to avoid the worst potential consequences of global warming: Story continues

New York Power Authority wants to build nation's first offshore wind power projects in the Atlantic Ocean:

In addition to the state-owned NYPA and LIPA, the wind group includes New York City's power company Consolidated Edison Inc, the City of New York, and other state and city government agencies.

NYPA said it will apply with the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOE), formerly known as the Minerals Management Service (MMS), for a 25-year lease on 64,500 acres of land beneath the Atlantic Ocean about 13 to 15 miles off the Long Island coast.
Read more:

Green Power An Easy Win For Australia:

Australia's new leader should ramp up renewable energy use and enshrine tougher energy efficiency standards to fight global warming, leading climate scientists said on Tuesday, describing them as easy policy wins. Shelving the scheme in April led in part to a plunge in the popularity of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ahead of an election later this year. His deputy Julia Gillard took over as prime minister last week, pledging greater consensus on setting a price on carbon. Read more:

Arise Technologies Forms Joint Venture With Sky Solar (Canada)

Sky Solar (Canada) will provide operating funding to the joint venture, said Arise, which provides turnkey PV solutions for solar farms and rooftop installations.
Read more

Mandating Solar Power In New York Will Generate Jobs ;

A bill before the legislature that would require energy providers to invest in solar power would create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity over a 14-year period, advocates said on Wednesday.

The bill would require the New York Power Authority, the Long Island Power Authority and New York retail electric suppliers to procure solar electricity each year, equal to a percentage of their sales through 2025.
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Exxon Explores Algae Biofuels As Alternative Energy:

Exxon Mobil Corp is testing the commercial viability of algae biofuel as an alternative energy source to supplement oil and natural gas, a senior executive said on Monday. “We are testing the hypothesis that algae biofuels could become commercially viable and achieve sufficient scale to make meaningful contribution to the future energy mix,” he told the Asia Oil and Gas Conference in the Malaysian capital. Sunlight and carbon dioxide used to grow the algae could also mitigate the effect of greenhouse gases, while algae has the potential to produce large volumes of oils that can be processed in existing refineries to make fuels compatible with existing transportation technology and infrastructure. Story continues:

Ecosystems vulnerable to vegetation shifts:

"Approximately one billion people now live in areas that are highly vulnerable to future vegetation shifts," says specialist. "Ecosystems provide important services to people, so we must reduce the emissions that cause climate change, then adapt to major changes that might occur." Story continues:

Green Energy Investment Surviving Crisis, Says IEA:

Director Nobuo Tanaka said the agency had observed a historical transition in the green technology sector. "We are seeing real changes and a historical transition in low carbon technology," he said, citing rapid evolution in electric vehicles as well as solar and wind power.
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Energy efficiency is payback - Philadelphia Greenworks, a six-year, city-run program:

A six-year, city-run program that is celebrating its first anniversary, also plans to cut city government energy consumption by 30 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and to double the number of green jobs.

“When I said that Philadelphia will be the number-one green city in America, I’m sure many felt the goal was too bold,” Mayor Michael Nutter said. “Now, looking back on the first year of Greenworks, I am more confident than ever that we will be successful.”

The city says there is evidence that the public is beginning to embrace environmental programs which are part of the program.
Read more:

Three new US reports strengthen case for climate action:

Washington - Three new US reports released Wednesday found that the threat from climate change was real, and urged policymakers to put a price on the carbon pollution that causes global warming.

The reports by the non-partisan National Academy of Scientists, requested by the US Congress, came as legislation that would curb US greenhouse-gas emissions faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

The findings also come as US-based sceptics of climate change have seized on errors in a much-cited United Nations climate report, as well as the "climategate" scandal at Britain's University of East Anglia, as evidence that the threat from global warming has been over-hyped.

The National Academy of Scientists found a "strong, credible body of evidence" backing assertions that global warming was in fact a threat, though the report acknowledges there is still much uncertainty over the degree and timing.
Story continues:

UN: Nature's diversity fast disappearing:

New York - The natural systems that support life on earth, from the Amazon forests to coral reefs, are close to the tipping point of collapse because of human activities, a new study on the global biodiversity said Monday.
Read more:

Scientists Decry "Assaults" On Climate Research:

“The imperative is to act aggressively to reduce carbon emissions and dependency on fossil fuels.” “The reality of anthropogenic climate change can no longer be debated on scientific grounds,” James Hurrell of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research told the committee.
Read more:

Solar Can Provide 22 Percent World's Power By 2050: IEA

Solar power can provide up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, but it needs government lifelines in the next decade until it can compete with conventional power.
Story continues:

Pentagon Focused On Developing Alternative Energy:

The Pentagon is working hard to promote development of biomass fuels that could power future fighter jets and other warplanes, but defense officials say it could take years to get a full-fledged industry on its feet.

Top U.S. defense officials and executives from the petroleum, alternative fuels and renewable energy sectors are meeting outside Washington this week to address new technology developments and initiatives such as the Pentagon’s work on developing biofuels to power military aircraft.
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For BP, a history of spills and safety lapses:

Despite repeated promises to reform, BP continues to lag behind other oil companies when it comes to safety, according to federal officials and industry analysts. Many problems still afflict its operations in Texas and Alaska, they say. Regulators are investigating a whistle-blower's allegations of safety violations at the Atlantis, one of BP's newest offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Story continues:

Sun Shines Through For Clean Tech Outsourcing :

While contract manufacturers are generally bullish about the green industry, analysts warn this part of their business is not without risk. As green technology relies on state subsidies to drive demand, the business is vulnerable to policy change and a fragile global economy.For now at least, contract manufacturers are encouraged to go green. "Longer-term, we believe this market could open up a new growth driver," said Ticonderoga's White.
Read more:

U.S. Oil Spill Hurting Energy Moves In Congress:

END OF CLIMATE CONTROL BILL?
A top Senate Republican aide did not think anything would save the climate bill after the oil spill.
"This puts the nail (in the coffin) in climate" control legislation, said the aide, who asked not to be identified.

That is because the "grand bargain" being crafted for the climate and energy initiatives would unravel without expanded oil drilling, many fear.
Full story: http://planetark.org/wen/57866

Scenarios - Impact Of Oil Spill On Climate Bill:

Just a few weeks ago, a horrible coal mine disaster in West Virginia made some wonder whether the climate bill should include billions of dollars to help fund coal industry efforts on "clean coal." Against that backdrop, the sunken, leaking oil rig is spewing 5,000 barrels of crude oil a day and the slick is moving toward the state's shores.

Here are some possible impacts of the environmental disaster on climate change legislation hung up in the Senate:
Read more

Cape Wind, First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm, Approved :

"This project fits with the tradition of sustainable development in the area," Salazar said in Boston.

Although small in terms of its production -- the facility would produce enough electricity to power 400,000 houses -- its approval was encouraging to other offshore wind projects already proposed for the East Coast and Great Lakes.
Read more:

Mentionable unmentionables:

Going green is a popular trend these days and with more and more companies focusing on creating products for sustainability, it's getting easier to join the movement.

Now there's a company in Berkeley, Calif. taking the green movement under ... literally, and proving you don't have to wear your environmental principles on your sleeve to make a statement about being Earth-friendly. Read more:

China Invests Heavily In Fertile Green Auto Ground:

“Green cars like hybrids are expensive. Without government subsidies, the market just won’t take off,” said the Honda official, asked not to be identified. A made-in-China Prius costs as much as $41,000, nearly matching the price tag of much bigger gasoline-powered Camry, making it a turn-off for Chinese buyers, who still have a penchant for big cars. Read more:

Is sustainability the physical activity factor of the community?

Is illness and obesity associated to that which is not sustainable? The heart is the engine of the body. It pumps oxygen-rich, nutrient-laden blood to the cells throughout the body while transporting carbon dioxide and waste products away from the cells for ultimate removal from the body. The blood vessels within the body are the channels of this essential, life sustaining process.

If the work force, as in a nation, is the heart of economic development, then the blood vessels are a fundamental part of the substructure.

Is the new "Green", inconsiderate to noise?

"What we found on the top level is that these contemporary workplaces are just very quiet," said Powell, who is scheduled to present his study at the meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Baltimore on April 19. "The mechanical systems are very, very quiet."

Add to that the fact that modern workplaces have no clacking typewriters, fewer hugging photocopiers and less noisy office equipment in general, and you end up with alot of silence. Story continues:

FuelCell Says Two Utilities Get Nod To Install Its Projects:

FuelCell Energy Inc said regulators have authorized two power producers to install the company's fuel cells at several University of California and California State University campuses. Story continues:

Forestry To Have Big Role In U.S. Carbon Plan:

Domestic deals to convert bare lands into forests and keep tree stands healthy could supply 60 percent of available offsets in any U.S. cap-and-trade plan on greenhouse gas emissions, a Barclays Capital analyst said.

The overall supply of domestic offsets could hit 250 million short tons annually by 2020, Trevor Sikorski, a London-based director of carbon markets at Barclays said in a research note.

U.S. forestry and agriculture projects could supply 150 million short tons of those offsets by 2020, the note said.

“Given the political importance of forestry and agriculture in the United States … (such) offsets will be included in any federal cap-and-trade system,” Sikorski said. Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

Story continues

Sustainability means more than green, it means business:

Building a more sustainable environment by preserving company benefits:
Regenerating and using reclaimed materials are key steps for preserving the benefits that companies receive from the natural world, such as clean water, healthy workers, and moderate weather.

Energy Autonomy is possible from a technical standpoint but remains still, an open political and economic question:

An unabashedly provocative look at renewable energy in countries from the United States, Germany, Denmark, China, Mali and Bangladesh, Fechner’s new film has attracted rave reviews and fierce criticism in Germany since it opened last week. Story Continues:

California Says Climate Change Law Won't Hurt Economy:

Annual state economy growth will be the same under the climate change law as it would be without it, officials said.
Read more:

Tribes key in renewable energy development

American Indian tribes have huge potential to develop renewable energy resources on their lands but first must overcome a number of challenges, namely financial, according to a report released Tuesday. Story continues:

"In shipping, there's been an information gap,"

About 85 percent of worldwide cargo travels by ship, and so it's no surprise that shipping is a major contributor to climate change. Read more:

EU Climate Chief Wants Europe To "Lead By Example":

"It is in Europe's own interest," EU Climate Chief said. "If we do it intelligently, it will enhance our competitiveness, strengthen our energy security, stimulate green economic growth and innovation, and by that we will create new jobs."

Solar technology innovators race to produce cheaper and easier to install solar cells.

New Energy Technologies, the same company that introduced harvesting energy from roadways, announced that they’ve reached the next development stage of a process for spraying transparent solar cells and their related components onto any glass surface.
Read more:

SunPower Sets 32 MW Supply Deal With Toshiba:

SunPower is one of the world's largest producers of the solar photovoltaic equipment that turns sunlight into electricity, and its modules are among the most efficient in the industry. Read more:

U.N. Meeting Moots WTO-Style Environment Agency:

"I think here in Bali, so little time after Copenhagen and that great frustration, the ministers responsible for the environment have found their collective voice again," he said. "That is something that the world should be very pleased with."
Read more:

Bloom vs. Solar: Which One Is Best?

Bloom Energy Thursday formally unveiled its energy server, an industrial-strength, solid-oxide fuel cell that can convert natural gas or other hydrocarbons into electricity pretty much on demand. Read more:

Something Fishy? Eco-Guide Lists Seafood To Avoid:

SINGAPORE - Love your seafood as much as the environment? A new guide to sustainable fish stocks in the Asia Pacific aims to help diners in Singapore enjoy their meals without harming one of the world's major marine ecosystems. Story continues:

Waste could generate up to 7 percent of electricity in Spain:

Researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) have calculated the energy and economic potential of urban solid waste, sludge from water treatment plants and livestock slurry for generating electricity in Spain. These residues are alternative sources of renewable energy, which are more environmentally friendly and, in the case of solid urban waste, more cost effective. Read more:

Agricultural Policy stimulus funding available:

The Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy has announced the availability of applications for the 2010 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act On-farm Energy Efficiency & Production Incentives Program. Story continues:

Journal of Happiness Studies:

People who work hard at improving a skill or ability, such as mastering a math problem or learning to drive, may experience stress in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis and longer term, the study suggests.
Story continues:

The illusion of gravity -

A popular introduction to holography:

Raging Climate Debate:

Should We Geoengineer Earth’s Climate?

“Significant recent changes in Italy’s energy legislation provide the country with new opportunities to build on past successes”

said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) today in Rome at the launch of Energy Policies of IEA Countries – Italy 2009 Review. He highlighted that over the past five years, the Italian government had gone a long way towards addressing some of Italy’s considerable energy challenges thus strengthening the country’s energy security. “... Read more

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Fuss-free choices to make the change you wish to see in the world, while rejuvenating your body, home and environment!

Just because you're concerned about climate change doesn't mean you have to live in a yurt in outer Mongolia.

Renewables Standards

Analysis shows benefits of efficiency and renewables standards:

Vaccines matter

See why vaccines matter and how investments improve
medical care in poor communities.

Clearing the air: the use of bio-oxidation for industrial air emissions control

The wood products industry began rather ardous road to emissions control in the early 1990s with the first installation of a thermal oxidizer (an RTO) at a California MDF facility, for volatile organic compound (VOC) control.
During the ensuing years, virtually every panel board facility has had to control emissions of VOCs, and up until the last few years, always with some sort of thermal oxidizer-RTO, or a catalytic oxidizer.

The amount of natural gas that has been burned for...
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Timing of Seasons Is Changing:

The Earth's seasons have shifted back in the calendar year, with the hottest and coldest days of the years now occurring almost two days earlier, a new study finds. Read more:

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DNA map could yield fuel

Sunflower DNA map could yield fuel:

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Cassini image confirms liquid on Saturn moon:

A flash of sunlight reflecting off a hydrocarbon lake on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan has been spotted by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, confirming the presence of liquid on a part of the surface of the hazy satellite with many lake-shaped basins.

The image taken by Cassini is the first that shows such a glint of light off liquid from another world.
Story continues:

S.Korean Firms To Spend Over 4 Trillion Won In Clean Tech

The investments include spending on clean technology research and development and manufacturing facilities for solar cells, wind power and hydro-fuel cells, a government official said, adding that the data was gathered from a survey of Korean companies.
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Earth's upper atmosphere cooling dramatically

New research shows that the outermost layer of the atmosphere will lose 3 percent of its density over the coming decade, a sign of the far-reaching impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. As the density declines, orbiting satellites experience less drag.
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Data to expose 'ghost mountains' :

An international team spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs in Antarctica - a series of peaks totally buried under the ice cap. The group has told a major conference in the US that the hidden mountains are more jagged than previously thought. They are also more linear in shape than the sparse data collected in the past had suggested. This latter finding hints at a possible origin for the mountains whose existence has perplexed scientists for 50 years.

"If you have a linear structure it makes them more like the Alps or the Appalachians," explained Dr Michael Studinger from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, New York.
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Cosmic Log: Koreans plan space tours

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: XCOR Aerospace and Yecheon Astro Space Center announce a deal that would eventually provide rides to the edge of outer space from South Korea, in a rocket plane made in the U.S.A.
Story continues:

U.S., China make up, but still no climate deal

COPENHAGEN - China on Thursday welcomed a U.S. move aimed at reviving the flagging U.N. climate talks, but even as the two giants of greenhouse gases moved closer, other nations warned a global consensus still looked out of reach.
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Australian PM urges parliament to approve carbon cuts

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged parliament Tuesday to approve legislation aiming to slash carbon pollution by up to 25 percent by 2020 ahead of next month's global talks on climate change.
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India's Cabinet Approves Solar Power Programme

The cabinet gave its approval for launching of the Jawaharlal Nehru national solar mission, Solar India... and has given in principle approval," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters on Thursday.
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Russian Offer Deepens Rich Nations' CO2 Cuts

A Russian plan to toughen curbs on greenhouse gas emissions deepens combined cuts offered by industrialized nations to at most 17 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Reuters calculations show.
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Jakarta halts deforestation in Sumatra's Kampar Peninsula

Environmentalists claimed a small victory on Thursday after Indonesia ordered one of the country's biggest pulp and paper companies to halt forest clearing in the Kampar Peninsula.
Story continues:

A golden opportunity for solar

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland-based NLV Solar are developing solar cells based on one of the most widely available minerals on the planet, pyrite, that could one day be as efficient as today's popular silicon panels, but much thinner and much cheaper. Story continues:

Winemakers face climate change with dread

With the Copenhagen climate change summit looming, the world of wine convened on Spain's Rioja region for a conference in which global warming emerged as the industry's top concern.
Story continues:

US & Japan: Summit to focus on nuclear-free world & cooperation in fighting climate change

The two topics are expected to figure prominently while no major breakthrough is seen likely in a row over the relocation of a US military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
Story continues:

Solar power goes underground:

Scientists in Georgia and New Jersey are taking solar panels off the roofs of homes and cars, and moving them into basements and walls. The new panels could unobtrusively provide solar power while simultaneously protecting the delicate photovoltaics.
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Kenya's wind power project snagged

A Kenyan wind power project aiming to be the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa suffered a setback Tuesday after talks with one of the key investors foundered, an official said.
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India blocks break-up of 'toxic' US ship:

India has refused entry to a former US naval ship heading for a scrap yard on its west coast, citing environmental and pollution concerns, a local official said.
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Amazon deforestation slows - Brazil:

Brazil lost 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) of Amazon jungle in September, but deforestation slowed by a third compared with the same month last year, according to official data released Wednesday.
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Leading Scientist to Tell Senate Panel: Urgent Action Needed, Adaptation Funding Essential

Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the Senate climate and energy bill must include funding to help the United States and developing countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
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Over 17,000 species threatened by extinction

GENEVA - A rare Panamanian tree frog, a rodent from Madagascar and two lizards found only in the Philippines are among over 17,000 species threatened with extinction, a leading environmental group said Tuesday.
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China, India could shame rich nations - UN scientist :

BEIJING (AFP) - China and India could use their growing clout to shame developed countries into committing to a climate change deal in Copenhagen in December, the UN's top climate scientist said on Friday.
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EarthTalk Q&A: cleaner cars, dying plankton

Readers write in seeking advice. Submit your own questions

Poland To Sign CO2 Deal With Spain And Ireland

Poland will soon sign a deal to sell a total 40 million euros ($60 million) of surplus greenhouse gas emission rights to Spain and Ireland, the country's first such government-to-government deal under the Kyoto Protocol, its environment minister said. Read more:

Big Oil Goes Green for Real

Remember back in 2001 when BP went "Beyond Petroleum"? It was a brilliant marketing campaign, but it had less to do with changing the company's business model than positioning Lord John Browne as the Teflon oil executive.
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Super hub for renewable energy planned:

A proposed "Tres Amigas Super Station" in Clovis, N.M., would do just that, routing energy from isolated wind and solar installations to urban centers and other places that consume the most power.
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Israelis bring green power to West Bank:

SUSYA, West Bank - Residents of a West Bank village with no electricity have been helped out of the darkness by unlikely benefactors — a group of Israelis who installed solar panels and wind turbines to illuminate the Palestinians' makeshift homes.

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Is small business getting left out of the energy efficiency boom sweeping the United States?

Still, we hear small business often say it gets the shaft when it comes to public policy; it just doesn’t have the political clout of big business.

What’s this got to do with energy efficiency? I’ve been wondering – suspecting actually – that small business is getting left out of the energy efficiency boom sweeping the United States.
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The coming energy revolution:

The secret behind this money-saving plan lies in what's known as the smart grid—a wholesale revamp of the system that distributes energy to homes and businesses around the country.
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Africa wants polluters to pay for climate change:

With just two months to go before the UN summit in Copenhagen, officials met at a special forum in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou where they underscored the need for compensation for the natural disasters caused by climate change.
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IATA - New fuel efficiency goals:

The world's airlines have agreed to new fuel efficiency and carbon emission targets which go much further than the levels required through regulation, an industry group said on Saturday.

Mangroves are a natural buffer

Students plant mangroves at a conservation area in Jakarta, Indonesia. Native to many coastlines, mangroves are a natural buffer against storm surges and even rising seas.

For a cause - around the world in thirty days:

Children at MICS School in Zambia, Africa, help Greg Krause train for the New York City Marathon, September 2008.

Weed killer to be reviewed for health रिस्क

Weed killer has been found in drinking water supplies in the US: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33211240/ns/us_news-environment/

“The cost of addressing climate change is manageable. The cost of not doing so is unaffordable. Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC”