All the hype about New Zealand being clean and green: is it exaggerated? New Zealand is touted internationally as one of the most breathtaking places to visit and a conservation leader. But the truth, say the country’s environmental leaders,
Although traditional corn-based ethanol has a loyal constituency in farm states, support for bio-ethanol, also known as cellulosic ethanol, is growing.
Replacing dire warnings about fire and brimstone after death with a call for immediate action on global warming right here and now, 85 evangelical leaders proclaimed, "This is God’s world, and any damage that we do to God’s world is an offense against God himself." It was a jolt from President Bush’s own "base."
The marshlands on the Connecticut coast are alive with
parakeets? Yes, green monk parakeets from South America have found there way to more than a dozen states, and in some places they’ve run afoul of utility power lines.
Earth Day is upon us, and that means it’s time for celebration and reflection, as well as a lot of hard work. Activists in the vast, diverse confederacy that is the modern environmental movement are mobilizing campaigns, hosting vegetarian potlucks, planning neighborhood cleanups and meeting the public.
In a move that has irked many of his fellow Republicans, not to mention business leaders, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last week that he is supporting a plan for his state to put market-based incentives in place to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for exacerbating global warming.
As part of a strategic effort to provide vehicles suitable for use in far-flung locales, the United States Army has begun to test hybrid automobiles fueled by hydrogen instead of gasoline. With fuel cells still cost prohibitive, Army researchers are jazzed by the possibility of combining existing electric drive assist technology with hydrogen fuel. They have started experimenting as such with converted Ford Escape Hybrid SUVs.
When I first met Frank Maisano he was the spokesperson for the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), which with big automakers as sponsors argued that the science wasn’t settled and that regulation was premature. SourceWatch says that GCC "was one of the most outspoken and confrontational industry groups in the United States battling reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to its disbanding in early 2002, it collaborated extensively with a network that included industry trade associations, ‘property rights’ groups affiliated with the anti-environmental Wise Use movement.’"
The controversial Cape Wind Project, which aims to install offshore power-generating windmills across 24 miles of the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket Sound off the coast of Massachusetts, may face its stiffest challenge yet in the form of recently proposed federal legislation that would allow state governments to nix any projects that could potentially interfere with navigation in shipping lanes.
Residents of the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard should batten down the hatches this coming summer, as researchers are forecasting another whopper of a hurricane season. William Gray and Phillip Klotzbach, atmospheric scientists at Colorado State University, are predicting that 17 named storms, including as many as five major hurricanes, may well land on Florida and the Gulf Coast between late June and November.
