Latest Articles
-
Olympics worsening Beijing water crisis, says report
The Beijing Olympics are putting a strain on already-tight water supplies, says a new report from NGO Probe International. Preparations for the Games have sucked up 52 billion gallons of water above normal consumption this year, in a city that already consumes more water than is naturally supplied. Beijing’s two main reservoirs are at less […]
-
Farm animals consume 17 percent of wild-caught fish
Here's a guest post from Jennifer Jacquet of the Sea Around Us Project and the UBC Fisheries Centre in Vancouver, B.C.
-----
It is one thing to grind up wild fish to feed to farmed fish, but it is quite another to grind up these perfectly edible fish to feed factory-farmed pigs and poultry. After all, when is the last time you saw a chicken catch a fish?
In the not-so-distant past, pigs and chickens ate grass, some grains, and food scraps. Today, in the throes of a perverse industrial food system that favors cheap protein and quick growth (with often astonishing results such as Mad Cow disease), we now feed farm animals lots of small, tasty fish.
Lots.
-
-
Senate Republican tries to tack renewable tax extensions onto housing bil
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is attempting to add the tax break extensions for renewables that keep failing in the Senate to a giant housing package. His attempts have stalled the housing bill, which would overhaul mortgage finance and create programs to help borrowers refinance. The Senate is supposed to go into recess today for the […]
-
Compressed air cans are contributing to ozone destruction
Photo: Jeff Mo There was an interesting post a while ago about the havoc created by compressed air cans — you know, the ones you use to dust off your keyboard. Who knew that they were full of intensely powerful greenhouse gases? I sure didn’t, but thanks to Eric de Place, now I do — […]
-
Whaling commission avoids controversial decisions
Wrapping up its annual meeting this week, the International Whaling Commission decided to defer decision-making on various controversial issues. The IWC took only one vote at the meeting, deciding to disallow Greenland’s request to take a higher quota of humpback whales. It also agreed to research the impact of climate change on cetaceans. But with […]
-
Bush places moratorium on new solar projects on public land
In a parting shot at the competition for its fossil fuels supporters, the uber-lame (duck) Bush administration "has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years."
- Drilling for oil and gas, even in pristine areas -- hey, we’re former oil company executives.
- Leveling mountains in beautiful West Virginia -- we’re all for it.
- Toxic metals from mining -- bring ‘em on!
- Logging old-growth forests -- what so you think forests are for?
But solar power on publicly owned desert land? We need to study that for two years. Wouldn’t want to risk a rush to clean energy. As Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, this is "the wrong signal to send to solar power developers, and to Nevadans and Westerners who need and want clean, affordable sun-powered electricity soon."
The only upside of this lame last-minute attack on renewables is that it can be overturned on January 21, 2009.
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
-
New bill to support renewables offered in House
Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), and Mike Honda (D-Calif.) introduced legislation [PDF] yesterday to provide security for investments in the renewable-energy sector by guaranteeing rates for renewable-energy generation. The Renewable Energy Jobs and Security Act would provide guaranteed renewable-energy payments to small and mid-sized clean-energy suppliers (up to 20 megawatts). […]
-
Day five of the UN Dispatch-Grist collaboration
The UN Dispatch - Grist collaboration concludes today with discussion of an idea submitted by On Day One user James Hansen -- yes that Dr. James Hansen!
Tony Kreindler of the Environmental Defense Fund, Nigel Purvis, Kate Sheppard, Timothy B. Hurst, and David Roberts respond below the fold.
-
McKinsey report shatters myths on cost of curbing climate change
The McKinsey Global Institute has published another terrific piece of analysis, "The carbon productivity challenge: curbing climate change and sustaining economic growth."
MGI is best known for its comprehensive cost curve for global greenhouse gas reduction measures (reprinted below), which came to the stunning conclusion that the measures needed to stabilize emissions at 450 pppm have a net cost near zero. The new report has its own stunning conclusion:
In fact, depending on how new low-carbon infrastructure is financed, the transition to a low-carbon economy may increase annual GDP growth in many countries.
The new analysis explains that "at a global, macroeconomic level, the costs of transitioning to a low-carbon economy are not, in an economic 'welfare' sense, all that daunting -- even with currently known technologies." Indeed, 70 percent of the total 2030 emissions reduction potential (below $60 a ton of CO2 equivalent) is "not dependent on new technology."
