The President would like to see the U.S. producing and using 35 billion gallons of so-called alternative fuels by 2017. But environmentalists are very unhappy with the Bush plan which would require putting an additional 129,000 square miles of farmland —an area the size of Kansas and Iowa—into corn production.
The chief executives of 10 major U.S. corporations have joined together to call for immediate federal action to combat human-induced global warming, saying that voluntary efforts are inadequate to do the job.
In a new study issued last week, automotive consumer information service Intellichoice.com reported that gasoline-electric hybrid cars and trucks—favored by environmentalists for sipping instead of guzzling gas—have significantly lower total cost of ownership than equivalent traditional gas-only models.
With Democrats settling into their leadership roles after taking control of both houses of Congress earlier this month, global warming seems to be the issue du jour on Capitol Hill. Last week, new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) kicked things off by proposing the creation of a special House committee to deal with human-induced climate […]
Our shrunken, financially imperiled Amtrak system is a ghost of the network we tore up in search of modernity and the personal freedom afforded by automobiles. Our rail infrastructure now has half as many miles as existed in 1910. But cities are beginning to rebuild what was lost, turning to light-rail systems, fast ferryboats and dedicated bus corridors.
According to one study, the average overhead saving for American manufacturers practicing "remanufacturing"-General Electric and Xerox among them-is about 70 percent, a remarkable figure and one that could significantly any company’s competitiveness even with increasing energy costs.
A new report issued by the Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) last week found that the 355 U.S. cities across 49 states that have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to the stringent terms of the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement intended to stem the tide of global warming, face an uphill battle.
After receiving some bad press last week for owning shares in "many companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker rights or unethical practices," the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would be conducting a systematic review of its investments.
Esteemed environmental policy analyst Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute told reporters last week that Americans and the rest of the world are likely to see sharp increases in the price of corn, let alone the popular biofuel ethanol, due to errors in projections made by federal agriculture planners.
Last week the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) issued a report detailing how the world’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, has donated $16 million since 1998 to 43 ideological groups working to discredit the science of human-induced climate change. The group joins a growing chorus of voices asking the oil giant and world’s most profitable company to turn the corner on global warming and start embracing a transition from fossil fuels.
