About Environmental Issues

San Francisco Launches Program to Help Property Owners Pay for Green Living

2010-02-08T22:36:25Z

San Francisco has been out front on a lot of green issues--from banning plastic bags to transforming pet feces into energy--and now the City by the Bay is leading the way in helping property owners go green, by allowing them to add the cost of various eco-upgrades to their property taxes and pay them off over a couple of decades.

Today, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to establish GreenFinanceSF, a new program designed to help tens of thousands of San Francisco homes and businesses become more water- and energy-efficient, use more renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while creating local green jobs.

San Francisco Launches Program to Help Property Owners Pay for Green Living originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 22:36:25.

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New Public-Policy Show Opens Two-Way Street Between Viewers and Pundits

2010-02-05T14:54:47Z

Do you ever watch television pundits discussing important public policy issues and wish you could cut through the sound bites and talk back, or maybe just hear from real people instead of a bunch of talking heads? Now you can.

Two-Way Street--a new commercial-free program distributed by American Public Television and shown on various PBS stations across the United States--invites viewers to debate critical issues with a panel of top-notch experts that may range from Nobel Prize-winning economists to best-selling authors.

Each episode of Two-Way Street will focus a full hour of audience/expert debate on a single topic such as drug use and its decriminalization, the effect of corporate farming on public health, the costs of U.S. military presence abroad or the future of journalism in the Internet age. Two-Way Street is taped before a live studio audience whose members engage the expert panelists in an interactive debate about the issue chosen for each episode. Other viewers can join in by using webcams to submit questions and comments over the Internet.

"We wanted to create a show where the audience is part of the debate, posing questions and comments on an equal footing with the pundits," said Bob Bowdon, host and executive producer of Two-Way Street. "We're giving a voice to the viewers that is usually unheard."

Bowdon is a good choice to host the new program. He is a veteran television producer, reporter and commentator and also runs Bowdon Media, an Internet marketing firm in New Jersey. Bowdon's former on-camera work includes six years as a news anchor and reporter for Bloomberg Television's World Financial Report and a recurring role as reporter Brian Scott in satirical news videos for The Onion. He also hosted Caf� Digital, a half-hour nationally syndicated program on technology and culture.

Two-Way Street debuts tomorrow [Saturday, February 6, 2010] with two four-hour marathons on station WETA in Washington, DC. Over the next week, PBS stations in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kentucky will start airing the program. Check your local listings or contact your local PBS station for possible show times in your area.

New Public-Policy Show Opens Two-Way Street Between Viewers and Pundits originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 14:54:47.

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Osama bin Laden Blames United States for Global Warming

2010-01-30T02:29:04Z

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden recently took a break from planning terrorist attacks and encouraging suicide bombers to blast the United States and other developed nations for "the global warming crisis" and to call for a worldwide boycott of American products and the U.S. dollar.

""Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury--the phenomenon is an actual fact," said bin Laden, according to a report on the English-language Web site run by Al Jazeera, which released the full audiotape on Friday [January 29, 2010]. "All of the industrialized countries . . . bear responsibility for the global warming crisis."

Obama singled out the United States for failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, a climate treaty that was established in 1997 and later ratified by 187 other nations.

After calling on the global economy to boycott American goods and abandon American currency, bin Laden summed up by saying: "I am certain that such actions will have grave repercussions and huge impact."

Earlier in the week, bin Laden had another message for the world. In that previous audiotape, bin Laden praised the attempt to crash an airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day, and he promised more terrorist attacks against the United States unless U.S. President Barack Obama takes steps to resolve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Neither Al Jazeera nor U.S. intelligence services could confirm whether the voice on the tape was really Osama bin Laden, so there's some chance that the message may be a hoax. If not, then the terrorist leader complaining about U.S. handling of environmental issues is a little like Prohibition kingpin Al Capone chastising the FBI for leaving the lights on.

It doesn't really matter whether the message is justified in some sense, in this case "shooting the messenger" seems like the right idea. Sorry, Osama. If you plan, finance and carry out the murders of hundreds of innocent Americans--and repeatedly announce your intention to murder more--then you lose the right to offer us constructive criticism. That's just the way it goes.

Osama bin Laden Blames United States for Global Warming originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 02:29:04.

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Obama Tells Government Agencies to Cut Greenhouse Emissions 28 Percent by 2020

2010-01-29T02:30:27Z

U.S. President Barack Obama today ordered the federal government to conserve energy and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent by 2020, a "lead by example" move that could save $8 billion to $11 billion over the next 10 years and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 88 million metric tons--equivalent to taking 17 million cars off the road for one year.

The executive order, which covers 35 government agencies, came just two days after Obama urged Congress to pass clean energy and climate legislation during his first State of the Union address, and less than two months after he brokered an agreement in Copenhagen that could lay the groundwork for an international treaty to address climate change.

The affected federal agencies have until June to submit their plans to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), showing how they will meet Obama's new emissions target. OMB will score each agency on its annual performance and progress toward meeting the goal, and will release that information to the public so we can all play along.

The federal government is the nation's largest single energy consumer--the government operates about 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles nationwide and spent more than $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel in 2008. That may seem like a big dollar figure, and it is, but it represents only 1.5 percent of total annual energy spending in the United States.

Obama stopped short of requiring federal contractors and suppliers to trim their emissions as a condition of doing business with the government, and he didn't apply any emissions reduction goals or energy conservation conditions on how federal employees commute.

A few oil industry representatives and conservative pundits took potshots at Obama for promoting clean energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions while continuing to ride in cars and planes that run on fossil fuels, but suggesting that doing nothing is somehow preferable to honest efforts that fall short of perfection is tiresome as well as ridiculous.

Also Read:

Obama Tells Government Agencies to Cut Greenhouse Emissions 28 Percent by 2020 originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 02:30:27.

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State of the Union: Obama Urges Clean Energy Economy, Plus Nuclear Plants and Offshore Drilling

2010-01-27T11:53:58Z

During his first State of the Union address tonight, President Obama focused his remarks on rebuilding the U.S. economy and improving the lives of middle class families. As part of that effort, Obama renewed his call for congressional action on comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, which he said would make clean energy a cornerstone of America's economic growth and U.S. leadership in the global economy.

State of the Union: Obama Urges Clean Energy Economy, Plus Nuclear Plants and Offshore Drilling originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 11:53:58.

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UN Climate Panel Admits Mistake in Predicting Himalayan Glaciers Could Disappear by 2035

2010-01-20T20:07:08Z

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conceded last night that it made a mistake two years ago in predicting that glaciers in the Himalayas were melting faster than in any other part of the world and would likely disappear by 2035.

At the time the IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007--a document that was partly responsible for the organization receiving a Nobel Peace Prize--officials there claimed that information about the Himalayan glaciers was based on carefully researched scientific data. Apparently not.

In a statement released today, the IPCC now says that the report "refers to poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers. In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly."

The statement goes on to say that IPCC officials "regret the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance. This episode demonstrates that the quality of the assessment depends on absolute adherence to the IPCC standards, including thorough review of 'the quality and validity of each source before incorporating results from the source into an IPCC Report.'"

UN Climate Panel Admits Mistake in Predicting Himalayan Glaciers Could Disappear by 2035 originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 20:07:08.

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FDA Reverses Position on BPA, Expresses Public Health Concerns

2010-01-18T20:51:33Z

After long delays and three missed deadlines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finally expressed "some concern" about the potential effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on fetuses and young children, thereby reversing the agency's controversial 2008 ruling that BPA is "safe for all uses" and giving hope to parents and other concerned consumers that the widely used industrial chemical may eventually be regulated.

Before anyone throws a party, however, let's take a closer look at the FDA's new position and what it means.

FDA Reverses Position on BPA, Expresses Public Health Concerns originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 20:51:33.

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Major Earthquake Hits Haiti, Leaves Heavy Casualties

2010-01-12T09:37:22Z

Haiti was devastated Tuesday [January 12, 2010] by a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake--the strongest quake to hit the island nation in more than 200 years--which toppled buildings throughout the city and left thousands of people buried in the rubble or injured by falling debris.

The earthquake, which struck at 4:53 p.m. local time, disrupted communications and knocked out power in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, plunging the city into darkness and making it difficult to get a clear picture of the damage and human casualties. Officials said they would have to wait until dawn to determine the extent of the damage and whether the roads and airports are usable. Fires broke out in many parts of the city as collapsing buildings raised huge clouds of dust and sent people screaming into the streets.

Major Earthquake Hits Haiti, Leaves Heavy Casualties originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 09:37:22.

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Are You Happy with How Your Senators and Representative Vote on the Environment?

2010-01-11T03:19:11Z

Want to know whether the two U.S. senators from your state and the U.S. representative from your congressional district are doing enough to protect the environment? One place to start looking for an answer to that question is in the 2009 Congressional Scorecard compiled by Environment America, a federation of 28 state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations.

Every year, Environment America tracks the votes of every U.S. senator and representative on key environmental legislation. The 2009 Congressional Scorecard included votes on $80 billion in clean energy and green transportation funding in the economic recovery act; passage of a comprehensive clean energy and climate change bill in the House; protection of more than 2 million acres of public lands; cleaning toxic pollution from the Great Lakes; making schools more energy-efficient; and several others.

Are You Happy with How Your Senators and Representative Vote on the Environment? originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 03:19:11.

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Scientists Urge U.S. Government to Ban Mountaintop Mining

2010-01-08T13:44:13Z

Many environmentalists and coal-country residents have been saying for years that mountaintop mining must be stopped, and now scientists have reached the same conclusion. According to a new study, mountaintop mining (also called mountaintop removal mining) should be banned immediately for causing severe and lasting damage to the environment and exposing people to serious health risks, ranging from lung cancer to birth defects.

Scientists Urge U.S. Government to Ban Mountaintop Mining originally appeared on About.com Environmental Issues on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 13:44:13.

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