NewsTrust - Environment - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

Population & Environment: a Progressive, Feminist Approach

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

TruthOut - By Laurie Mazur - Nov. 23 (Opinion) - If we take seriously the need to protect the planet and distribute its resources more equitably, it becomes clear that it would be easier to provide a good life—at less environmental cost—for 8 billion rather than 11 billion people. This is especially true for climate change: an analysis by Brian O'Neill at the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that stabilizing world population at 8 billion, rather than 9 billion or more, would eliminate one billion tons of CO2 per year by 2050-- as much as completely ending deforestation.

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20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth | Environment

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By WebEcoist. - Nov. 21 (Editorial) - Global warming. Food shortages and water scarcity Dennis Baker penticton bc canada V2A6Z3 dennisbaker2003@hotmail.com RE : The solution to climate change. ( human excrement + nuclear waste = hydrogen ) The USA discharges Trillions of tons of sewage annually, sufficient quantity to sustain electrical generation requirements of the USA. Redirecting existing sewage systems to containment facilities would be a considerable infrastructure modification project. It is the intense radiation that causes the conversion of organic material into hydrogen, therefore what some would consider the most dangerous waste because of its radiation would be the best for this utilization. I believe the combination of clean water and clean air, will increase the life expectance of humans. yours sincerely Dennis Baker

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The New Arms Race

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Nov. 20 (Opinion) - America will not win the arms race of the 21st century with rockets, but with robust investment in and support of U.S.-based green technology. While Congress dawdles, China is clobbering us.

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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Climate

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

WhoRunsGov.com - Nov. 19 (Interview) - The Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the country's most influential environmental groups, has sent at least a half-dozen former employees into prime government positions tasked with writing U.S. climate and energy policies.

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A case for branding the environment

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Ghanaian Chronicle - By William Abaidoo - Nov. 19 (Opinion) - Choosing a brand name for a product is important from a promotional perspective because brand names communicate product concepts and help position the product in the mind of customers. Names like Key (soap) Blue band (margarine), Omo (washing powder) Ideal (milk) ,Arid (antiperspirant deodorant) and spic and span (floor cleaner) all clearly communicate the benefits of using these products

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Opinion: Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Der Spiegel - By Christian Schwägerl - Nov. 17 (Opinion) - US President Barack Obama came to office promising hope and change. But on climate change, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor George W. Bush. Now, should the climate summit in Copenhagen fail, the blame will lie squarely with Obama.

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Copenhagen summit: Change we can't yet believe in

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - Nov. 16 (Editorial) - Confirming yesterday what had already been apparent for some months, Barack Obama and other leaders yesterday said that time had run out to secure a legally binding climate deal at Copenhagen. They said the 22 remaining days were just too few in number to secure binding emissions targets and overcome the divisions between the developed and developing world. This could be viewed as a realistic assessment. Mr Obama said that we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The British government's view is also optimistic. As long as political targets and outline commitments are agreed at Copenhagen, why should it matter that a few more months are taken to thrash out the details, if the end result is a package that is workable and enforceable? Rather a good package later than a weak package now. After all, the same thing happened to the Montreal protocol on CFCs, which took a year to harden up but remains the best of its kind.

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Get a sneak preview of the new documentary "Coal Country" tonight

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

pitch.com - By Carolyn Szczepanski - Nov. 13 (Advertisement) - Sierra Club has gone cinematic with their environmental protection in Coal Country, a feature-length documentary that shows in graphic detail that our coal-fired power plants aren't just killing us with the global warming pollution that spews from the smokestacks.

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Climate Rage

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Rolling Stone - By Naomi Klein - Nov. 11 (Opinion) - With Copenhagen now likely to begin before Congress has passed even a weak-ass climate bill co-authored by the coal lobby, U.S. politicians have dropped the superhero metaphors and are scrambling to lower expectations for achieving a serious deal at the climate summit. It's just one meeting, says U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, not "the be-all and end-all." As faith in government action dwindles, however, climate activists are treating Copenhagen as an opportunity of a different kind. On track to be the largest environmental gathering in history, the summit represents a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures, such as carbon offsets and emissions trading, and introduce some effective, common-sense proposals — ideas that have less to do with creating complex new markets for pollution and more to do with keeping coal and oil in the ground.

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The psychology of climate change

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Australian Broadcasting - By argot O'Neill - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - Organisers of a youth rally told me earlier this year that climate change was the activist issue for their generation and that young people would turn out to protest in record numbers. When hundreds of young people showed up on the anointed day I thought - where are the rest? If this is the issue, where is the mass demonstration of dissent?

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Copenhagen already a success

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Globe and Mail - By Bruce Anderson - Nov. 10 (Opinion) - There is a huge dysfunction between the way the average voter comes at these issues and the way policy spokespeople in the corporate, environmental NGO and government worlds often do. And at no time is this more visible than when mega climate/carbon events like Copenhagen come around. Most people are worried that the planet is under a lot of pressure, and many believe the climate is changing as a result. Considerably fewer have examined the science behind climate change, and fewer still the complex formulae that are at the heart of greenhouse-gas reduction targets.

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EPA orders employees to remove YouTube Climate Video

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

peer.org - By Kirsten Stade - Nov. 09 (Press Release) - The video, entitled “The Huge Mistake”, is by Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, two EPA enforcement attorneys speaking as private citizens. The video explains why the cap & trade plan endorsed by President Obama will not accomplish its goals,

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The missing link in the climate change debate

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Adam Corner - Nov. 09 (Opinion) - From 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle – psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate.

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Rethinking Green

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Long Now Foundation - By Stewart Brand - Nov. 09 (Speech) - Insightful talk about new approaches to protecting the environment, by Stewart Brand, of former Whole Earth Catalog fame, speaking at a Long Now Foundation seminar. Stewart recommends a new "Whole Earth Discipline" focusing on smart urban development, nuclear power and genetic engineering to address some of our most pressing environmental issues.

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How to boost fuel efficiency? Raise taxes, executives say

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Reuters - By Scott Malone - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - While politically unpalatable, gasoline that costs at least $4 a gallon would have a far greater effect on American fuel usage than Washington's $25 billion loan program meant to spark investment in new technologies

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Obama's Big Power Play

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Kate Sheppard - Nov. 06 (Interview) - President Barack Obama likes to point out that when President Dwight Eisenhower built the federal highway system in the 1950s, he created a network that fueled postwar America?s economic rise. Now Obama?s administration wants to do the same for the green economy with the smart grid?a system of interlocking technologies that could transform the way we use electricity. By receiving real-time data on their energy use, consumers could save big on their power bills by running appliances when electricity is cheapest, rather than during peak demand periods when it?s most expensive. Power distributors could use the system to transport excess energy from one region to another, instead of simply allowing it to go to waste as they do ...

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A Level Field

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - Oct. 23 (Opinion) - The antitrust division will not say if it is investigating Monsanto. But in recent months, it has asked Monsanto and its competitors for information to determine whether Monsanto is breaching antitrust laws.

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They're showing what in schools?!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Glenn Beck - By Glenn Beck - Oct. 21 (Opinion) - The job of the government is to take care of you -- no it's not. They get this idea from the "promote the general welfare" part of the constitution. I can't believe they get it from there because I don't think they ever read it.

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The world's future is being decided this weekend

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Nicholas Stern - Oct. 18 (Opinion) - We must agree to halt deforestation and curtail air travel now if the Copenhagen summit is to succeed Energy and environment ministers from the world?s major economies are meeting in London today to try to accelerate crucial negotiations over an international treaty on climate change. Strong progress has been made in the past few weeks, with Japan, for example, announcing that it will cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 25% by 2020 relative to levels in 1990. But there are still major obstacles and some doubt whether a strong global deal can be hammered out in time for the United Nations?s conference on climate change in Copenhagen, now just seven weeks away. Agreement can be reached if governments now ...

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Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

American Spectator - By Peter Ferrara - Oct. 07 - Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

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Green Inc.: Apple Resigns From Chamber Over Climate

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Kate Galbraith - Oct. 06 (Opinion) - Apple became the latest company to resign from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing climate issues.

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Errors of omission

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - Bumblebees cannot fly—or so physical models are said to have shown. That the insects routinely become airborne demonstrates the shortcomings of some theoretical accounts of the world. But one of the strengths of the scientific method is that, when presented with evidence that discredits their theories, scientists are forced to concede that their models are wrong and endeavour to learn from the failure. In science, observation always trumps theory, no matter how elegant the theory might be. The same is true of theoretical models of climate change. Over the past decade there have been large variations in the projected increase in global temperatures and sea levels over the coming years. ...

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Are Electric Co-ops All So Different?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Writing Corner - By Beth Wellington - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative argues it is different than commercial utilities because it adheres to the "Seven Cooperative Principles," the last of which is Concern for Community—While focusing on members needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policy. But sustainable development evidently includes forging ahead in its efforts to build yet another coal fired plant in Virginia at a time when utilities in other states are abandoning such efforts. The proposed Cyprus Creek Power Station, currently slated to cost $6 billion, will add additional mercury, nitrogen and other emissions harmful to the Tidewater region's waterways and air.

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Obama on Climate: Is He Even Trying?

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Bill McKibben - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - For those of us who care desperately about the climate, President Obama’s speech on Tuesday—the first to the world body by this most admired of world leaders—was a dud, a towering disappointment. Coming at the beginning of what the UN has dubbed “climate week,” the speech marked the beginning of a three-month push towards the global climate conference at Copenhagen. Obama used it mostly to downplay expectations. And it’s those downplayed expectations that may prove to be tragically self-fulfilling.

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Copenhagen Climate Talks: Why They May Fail

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Sharon Begley - Sep. 24 (Opinion) - This is Climate Week here in New York City, so if you have been swept up in the excitement over Hugh Jackman's lending his celebrity to the cause of averting a catastrophic greenhouse effect ("people in developing countries have contributed the least to climate change and are suffering the most from it," he said at Monday's opening ceremony at the New York Public Library), or President Obama's speech at the United Nations Tuesday warning of “irreversible catastrophe" if the nations of the world do not cut carbon emissions, you might feel optimistic that the nations of the world will get their acts together enough to produce a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Forgive me for being the skunk at this greenhouse-gas-enhanced garden party.

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