About Environmental Issues

How to Have a Green Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T03:53:53Z

As part of your Thanksgiving celebration this year, why not offer thanks to the planet by having an eco-friendly Thanksgiving holiday that will be as good for the environment as it is for your friends and family?

There are a lot of things you can do--from choosing locally grown food for your table to reducing your energy consumption--that can make your Thanksgiving a little greener this year.

I've put together 10 tips to help you have an eco-friendly Thanksgiving that will impact the environment much less than it does your waistline.

How to Have a Green Thanksgiving originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 03:53:53.

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Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster and Raising Sea Levels Worldwide

2009-11-18T16:20:24Z

The Greenland ice sheet is melting and losing mass at an accelerating rate, and has been doing so since the late 1990s, according to a new study reported in the journal Science and funded by the National Environment Research Council. Scientists who conducted used two different methods--satellite observations and a state-of-the-art regional atmospheric model--to independently confirm the results.

The Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to cause sea levels around the world to rise 7 meters (approximately 23 feet) if all the ice melts. Since 2000, the Greenland ice sheet has lost enough mass to cause an average global sea level increase of about half a millimeter per year--about 5 millimeters total over the past decade.

Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster and Raising Sea Levels Worldwide originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 16:20:24.

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Court Blames Army Corps of Engineers for Hurricane Katrina Catastrophe

2009-11-18T03:25:31Z

Ever since Hurricane Katrina swamped the city of New Orleans in 2005, a lot of people have pointed the long finger of blame at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--and this week a federal court agreed.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. issued a 156-page opinion that the Los Angeles Times describes as a "stinging rebuke to the corps" for its failure to prevent the devastating floods by properly managing the levees and other infrastructure that should have protected the city.

"The Corps' lassitude and failure to fulfill its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions," Duval wrote in his ruling.

Court Blames Army Corps of Engineers for Hurricane Katrina Catastrophe originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 03:25:31.

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Chrysler Abandons Electric Vehicle Program After Pocketing Taxpayer Bailout

2009-11-13T01:14:36Z

During the federal government's bailout of the auto industry earlier this year, Chrysler Corporation received $15.3 billion in taxpayer money to keep its factories humming--partly in exchange for the company's aggressive plan to produce a fleet of electric vehicles. Now that the money is safely in the Chrysler coffers, however, the automaker has announced a new plan to disband its electric vehicle team and to produce only a token number of electric cars.

Chrysler Abandons Electric Vehicle Program After Pocketing Taxpayer Bailout originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 01:14:36.

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Crikey! Scientists Name Rare Snail After Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin

2009-11-12T23:07:24Z

The late Steve Irwin, who became an international television star as the host of The Crocodile Hunter, has been immortalized by scientists who discovered a rare Australian land snail and named it in honor of the enthusiastic conservationist and wildlife advocate.

Queensland Museum Honorary Research Fellow Dr. John Stanisic and his colleagues named the snail Crikey steveirwini, which combines Irwin's first and last names with his signature cry of "Crikey!" The snail was discovered in the mountainous regions of north Queensland's Wet Tropics near Cairns.

Crikey! Scientists Name Rare Snail After Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 23:07:24.

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BPA Exposure Causes Sexual Problems in Men, Study Shows

2009-11-11T11:17:47Z

The growing controversy over the health effects of bisphenol A, more commonly called BPA, is bound to heat up even more with the publication this week of a new study that links BPA exposure to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in men.

Over the course of five years, the federally funded study followed 634 male workers at four factories in China who were exposed to high levels of BPA, comparing their sexual health with that of male workers in other Chinese factories where BPA exposure was not part of the work environment.

BPA Exposure Causes Sexual Problems in Men, Study Shows originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 11:17:47.

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Technology is Helping Americans Use Less Water

2009-11-06T06:02:24Z

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.

Most of the decrease is due to more efficient technologies at power plants and improved irrigation systems. That's not too surprising since 80 percent of the 410 billion gallons of water Americans use every day goes to generate electrical power (49 percent) and irrigate crops (31 percent).

Although water withdrawals for public supply have increased steadily since the USGS began its series of five-year trend reports in 1950, to keep pace with the growth in population, public supply accounts for only 11 percent of overall water use. The remaining 9 percent of U.S. water is used for livestock, aquaculture, mining, certain industrial purposes and rural domestic uses.

The report also breaks down water usage by state and reveals some surprising results. Four of the 50 states--California, Texas, Idaho, and Florida--accounted for more than 25 percent of all fresh and salt water withdrawn in the United States in 2005.

With water rationing already occurring in some states, and our population continuing to grow, Americans need to find new and more efficient ways to conserve and reuse water.

Also Read:

Technology is Helping Americans Use Less Water originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 06:02:24.

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Republicans to Boycott Senate Climate Bill Mark Up; Boxer to Proceed Regardless

2009-11-02T19:51:33Z

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.

Republicans to Boycott Senate Climate Bill Mark Up; Boxer to Proceed Regardless originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 19:51:33.

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Go Wild at the World Wilderness Congress�Without Leaving Home

2009-10-30T16:19:14Z

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.

Go Wild at the World Wilderness Congress�Without Leaving Home originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 16:19:14.

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Never Say Never(land): UN Names Tinker Bell Ambassador of Green

2009-10-26T14:15:04Z

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.

Never Say Never(land): UN Names Tinker Bell Ambassador of Green originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 14:15:04.

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