Technology is Helping Americans Use Less Water
Americans are using less water than they did 30 years ago, despite a 30 percent population increase during the same period, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report that details estimated U.S. water use for 2005.
Republicans to Boycott Senate Climate Bill Mark Up; Boxer to Proceed Regardless
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has promised to mark up climate legislation in her committee on Tuesday, as planned, despite an expected boycott of the work session by the committee's Republican members.
While two members from the minority party (currently, the Republicans) are usually required for a quorum when the committee is marking up a bill, Boxer plans to use a provision in the rules that will allow the Democrats to proceed as long as a majority of committee members are present and votes in favor of the bill. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the committee 12 to 7, so Boxer is confident of her majority.
Led by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the committee's top-ranked Republican member, all of the Republican members plan to skip the scheduled mark up tomorrow, claiming the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to do a full economic impact analysis of the climate bill. Boxer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.)--the two primary sponsors of the bill--rejected this claim and cited the many different ways the legislation has been examined and analyzed. They urged the Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to reconsider and rejoin their Democratic colleagues to finish their work on the bill this week. Regardless of what the Republicans decide, however, Boxer says she will proceed with the mark up.
But this battle of wills goes much deeper than the details of the EPA's economic analysis or, for that matter, of the bill itself.
Go Wild at the World Wilderness Congress—Without Leaving Home
If you aren't attending WILD9--the weeklong World Wilderness Congress (November 6-13) that will bring together many of the world's leading conservationists and wilderness experts to debate and take action on critical environmental issues--you can still pull up a chair and join in through a variety of social networking tools that The WILD Foundation is using to broaden global participation in the event.
Never Say Never(land): UN Names Tinker Bell Ambassador of Green
The United Nations has named Tinker Bell--a leading citizen of both Disneyland and Neverland--as its "Honorary Ambassador of Green" to help promote environmental awareness among children.
Kermit the Frog once observed in song that "it's not easy being green," but he was talking about skin color, not lifestyle. For Tinker Bell, being green isn't just easy, it's as natural as flying.
EPA Places Annual Cost of Climate Bill at $100 Per U.S. Household
The Senate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming would increase energy costs by about $100 annually (actually $80-$111) for a typical U.S. household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency.
That's roughly the same figure the EPA calculated for similar legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in June, although the Congressional Budget Office estimates the annual household cost of the House bill at approximately $175 in 2020.
No matter which estimate you use, it works out to somewhere between 20 cents and 50 cents per day for a typical U.S. household, and proponents of the measures argue that's a small price to pay reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cut air pollution, create millions of new jobs, and put America on the path to a sustainable, clean-energy economy.
Critics of the Senate bill and the cap-and-trade system it would create call it a massive new energy tax, and some industry studies claim the measure could cost consumers as much as an extra $3,000 every year. (That kind of wild hyperbole doesn't do much to further the debate.)
Read more...U.S. Proposes Plan to Protect Critical Polar Bear Habitat in Alaska
The Obama administration today announced a new plan to designate more than 200,000 square miles of Alaskan territory as "critical habitat" for polar bears, a threatened species that has become to global warming what canaries once were to coal mines: the visible early warning of pending disaster.
Melting sea ice due to global warming is the biggest threat to polar bears' survival as a species--the bears breed, rest, hunt and spend much of their lives on the shifting ice floes of the Far North--and was the primary reason that the Bush administration decided in 2008 to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
While protecting polar bear habitat would do nothing to reduce global warming or stop sea ice from melting--that's a problem that members of Congress and other world leaders will have to tackle--both government officials and environmentalists are calling the proposal a good first step toward saving the bears from extinction.
EPA Stops Largest Mountaintop Mining Operation in Appalachia
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday halted the largest mountaintop coal mining operation in Appalachia ever to receive a federal permit--the first time in the EPA's 37-year history that the agency has used its regulatory power to stop an already approved project.
Mountaintop mining is when coal companies blast the tops off mountains to get at the coal underneath, dumping millions of tons of rubble into adjacent valleys, burying streams, contaminating drinking water, and damaging local communities.
Read more...Black Bears Looking for Fast Food Choose Minivans
The next time you're shopping for a new car, you may want to check out not only the vehicle's fuel economy and safety rating but also its bear appeal, especially if you plan to spend much time visiting national parks.
Here's a tip: forget the minivan and go for the sports car.
Year after year, minivans have been among the top choices of black bears in Yosemite National Park, according to a study reported in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of Mammalogy. And like many humans, the bears seem to be choosing vehicles on the basis of fuel efficiency, which in the bears' case means deciding which types of cars and trucks offer the best chance of grabbing a quick meal. Overall, black bears have shown a strong preference for breaking into minivans over other types of vehicles, ranging from SUVs and station wagons to coupes and sedans.
Pittsburgh Chosen to Host World Environment Day in 2010
Pittsburgh will be the North American host city for World Environment Day in 2010, according to an announcement made today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The United Nations founded World Environment Day in 1972 to stimulate environmental awareness and action. The theme for World Environment Day 2010 is "Biodiversity: Connecting with Nature."
If Pittsburgh strikes you as an odd choice to host a high-profile environmental event, perhaps you still associate Pittsburgh with steel factories belching smoke or, later, as the de facto capital of the Rust Belt when those factories started to close. If so, you've missed Pittsburgh's transformation from an industrial city to a leader in green technology and sustainability.
Interior Secretary Salazar Halts Oil and Gas Development at 60 Public Sites in Utah
Late last week, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar countered the "drill, baby, drill" mantra of many energy executives and congressional Republicans with the equivalent of "chill, baby, chill" when he announced that he was blocking development on 60 of 77 controversial oil and gas leases that cover about 130,000 acres of public land in Utah.
The 77 contested leases--valued at $6 million--were rushed through the approval process in the waning days of the Bush presidency; challenged immediately by conservation groups that were concerned they would destroy critical wildlife habitat, compromise air quality and spoil one of the nation's premier scenic areas; and put on hold in January when a federal judge ruled that the Bush Interior Department had failed to follow its own procedures for reviewing and approving oil and gas drilling on public lands.