Older Stories
| Removing Klamath River Dams for Salmon
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| 1/16
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The Klamath River near the California-Oregon border has been a hotspot in the clash over endangered salmon runs and the irrigation needs of area farmers, but a formal deal reached yesterday suggests a way out of the long-standing disagreements. The plan -- agreed to by a diverse group of stakeholders in the region including Indian tribes, government agencies, farmers, fishers, and a number of conservation groups -- advocates for removal of four dams on the Klamath and outlines clear water-sharing guidelines. It would open up some 300 miles of river that's been inaccessible to imperiled salmon, and restore 60 miles of current reservoir to unblocked river.
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| Wind Power Growing
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| 1/10
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Wind energy is booming in Iowa, and backers say it's only the beginning. In the past year, a new wind turbine manufacturing industry has begun to blossom in the state, creating or promising hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in factories and equipment. The state's biggest utilities have announced plans to dramatically increase the amount of electricity generated by wind turbines. In general , investment in green technology is increasing for the last six years, up 38% in the last year alone, according to NPR
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| Let’s Toast to Ten Good Things About 2007
by Medea Benjamin
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| 12/31
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1. With the exception of the White House, this has been a banner year for environmental consciousness and action. Al Gore and the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize. Green building and renewable energy have exploded. Congress passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007, authorizing $125 million for green job training. Over 700 U.S. mayors, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population, have signed a pledge to reduce greenhouse gases by 2012. Illinois became the 26th state to require that some of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources and Kansas became the first state to refuse a permit for a new coal-fired power plant for health and environmental reasons. That’s progress!
2. On the global environmental scene, the Bush dinosaurs were tackled head on. When the US delegation at the UN climate change conference in Bali tried to sabotage the negotiations, the delegate from tiny Papua New Guinea threw diplomatic niceties to the wind and said that if the U.S. couldn’t lead, it should get out of the way. Embarrassed by international and domestic outrage, the U.S. delegation buckled, and the way was cleared for adopting the “Bali road map.” Although it is a weak mandate, it lays the groundwork for a stronger climate agreement post-2012 when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocols ends.
3. Imagine living in a waste-free urban society? Well, it’s no longer a utopian dream but a well-thought-out plan for India’s state of Kerala. The plan to be “waste-free” within five years includes waste prevention, intensive re-use and recycling, composting, replacing unsustainable materials with sustainable ones, training people to produce these materials, and providing funds for setting up sustainably run businesses. The ground-breaking plan, spearheaded by a local grassroots movement, demonstrates how citizen groups can advance pioneering policies to heal the planet.
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| Habitat Protection Works
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| 12/24
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A new study shows that long-term protection of the sea turtles' nesting beaches is successful in achieving increases in the green turtle populations.
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| Solar Up 50%
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| 12/31
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"Production of photovoltaics (PV) jumped to 3,800 megawatts worldwide in 2007, up an estimated 50 percent over 2006," says Jonathan G. Dorn... "Growing by an impressive average of 48 percent each year since 2002, PV production has been doubling every two years, making it the world's fastest-growing energy source."
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| Japan Limits Whale Hunt
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| 12/26
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Under pressure from, well, most of the world to stop targeting humpback whales, Japan has announced it will hold off on its hunt for the imperiled humpback -- at least for now. "Japan has decided not to catch humpback whales for one year or two, but there will be no change in our stance on research whaling," said spokesguy Nobutaka Machimura. The decision was in large part a compromise with the head of the International Whaling Commission who is attempting to calm debate at the IWC and focus on managing whaling instead of acting to largely discourage or ban it. Japan was also under heavy pressure from European countries, the United States, and Australia, among others, to curtail the planned humpback hunt. Australia had recently dispatched a ship to tail the whalers and has been conducting flyovers of the whaling fleet to collect evidence of wrongdoing to present to an international court. Japan still intends to hunt two other whale species this season, aiming to land over 900 of them in what could be the country's largest hunt.
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| PG&E to Buy Wave Power
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| 12/19
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The utility Pacific Gas & Electric this week became the first power company in the United States to sign a deal agreeing to purchase electricity generated by wave power. The wave-power farm that would generate said electricity is still years from completion -- not to mention government approval -- but securing a power buyer is seen as an important step. In the first phase of the project, slated for completion by 2012, eight specially equipped buoys located two and a half miles off the coast of Northern California will together generate up to two megawatts of power. If all goes as planned and the project is granted the necessary approvals, it could be expanded to produce up to 100 megawatts. In other renewables news, the largest photovoltaic solar array in the U.S. opened this week at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nev. The 140-acre farm is expected to generate up to 30,000 megawatt-hours of electricity a year, or about 25 percent of the base's power use.
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| Affordable hybrids
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| 12/15
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Honda Motor Co. has announced it plans to improve the fuel-efficiency of its U.S. fleet by using "affordable" hybrid-engine technology in at least one model of subcompact car by 2009, as well as offering diesel versions of its larger vehicles.... The other alternatives include natural-gas powered cars as well as flex-fuel vehicles that can run on a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, but pretty much always run on pure gasoline due to the scarcity of ethanol fueling stations in the U.S. Honda has said its tiny hybrid model will likely cost only about $2,000 more than a non-hybrid version of the same car, down from the approximately $4,000 premium on a current-model Civic hybrid.
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| Australia Ratifies the Kyoto Protocol
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| 12/3
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On his very first official day in office today, new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol, committing his country to deep emissions cuts and putting ever more peer pressure on the United States -- the only industrialized nation still holding out on Kyoto ratification.
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| New 35 MPG Standards for Cars
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| 12/2/
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Democratic leaders in the U.S. House reached a deal late Friday night to raise fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 -- a 40 percent increase from today's standard of 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.2 mpg for SUVs and pickups. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who's been pushing for an increase, came to agreement with House Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), a longtime defender of automakers in his state. Dingell called the new standards "both aggressive and attainable." link
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| African Solar Power Initiative
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| 12/5
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| California Sues Feds to Allow Cleaner Air
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| 11/8
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ENN
Update: CA beats Bush Administration on gas mileage standards, which means a dozen or so states will adopt our stricter standard, and it sets a precedent that we have the right to protect ourselves. However, Feds try to weaken CA's Right to Know laws on chemicals 11/29
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Plants Filter Toxic Waste
Coal Plants in US Stalled
| Progress on Fuel Cells for Cars
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| 11/8
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"The average price for all types of gasoline is holding steady around $2_95 per gallon nationwide, but the pain at the pump might be short-lived as research from the University of Houston may eliminate one of the biggest hurdles to the wide-scale production of fuel
cell-powered vehicles."ENN
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