Watch out for curry-laden ricochets! Image credit:Kalebeul.
This is one of those classic good news / bad news stories which makes you wonder if the scientists working on it have all their marbles. The 'good news' discovery is this: coriander and tumeric (the yellowing agent in curry) has been show to cut cow- and sheep-fart methane content by up to 40%. From coverage in Read the full story on TreeHugger
Bridge closed. Image credit:Ivan Cockrum
Scholars & Rogues blog has a nice overview of the crumbling US bridges issue. In a phrase, upgrades and repairs are not keeping up with wear and tear. Fixing the bad bridges is anticipated to cost "$650 billion over 50 years." Not good news for the 'less government, reduced taxes' crowd. But let's focus on the environmental dimensions. There is good news and bad....Read the full story on TreeHugger
Dusty road. Image credit:ModelAColumbus.com
Until the 1950's, gravel roads were the norm outside the core developed zones of American towns and cities. Guess what? Gravel roads are back in vogue. Tax revenues are so far down and asphalt prices rising so far that State and local governments can no longer afford to repair and repave. So they are un-paving, which means changes to the modern lifestyle. Forget texting and coffee drinking on a gravel road. Gravel roads are forbidding to sleek low riders, road bikes, and convertibles.
Wall Street Journal has covered the new trend in the story:Read the full story on TreeHugger
What's missing from this picture? Oil. Photo: BP
This Doesn't Mean We're Out of the Woods (Yet)
As announced earlier today, BP has started the pressure test on the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. While the test is running, the flow of oil is stopped, something that hasn't happened since April. Engineers are now monitoring the pressure coming out of the well; If it stays high, this means that the well is probably intact and has maintained its physical integrity despite all the SNAFUs. If it ...Read the full story on TreeHugger
by Jonathan Hiskes.
California Attorney General (and candidate for governor) Jerry Brown sued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today for blocking Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. There’s a good chance that Fannie and Freddie’s legal costs from defending this suit will add up to more than they ever stood to lose from the clean-energy programs, but here we are. The town of Babylon, N.Y., has also been threatening to sue over the same issue, but Brown was quicker.
Todd Woody reports at the New York Times’ Green blog:
The suit alleges that the [actions of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie,] violated California law, which authorizes PACE programs, and are “severely hampering California’s efforts to assist thousands of California homeowners to reduce their energy and water use, help drive the state’s green economy, and create significant numbers of skilled, stable and well-paying jobs.”
“The actions of these government-sponsored, shareholder-owned private corporations have placed California’s PACE programs—and the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money supporting them—at immediate risk while benefiting their own pecuniary interests,” the suit states.
The housing agency said it would mount an aggressive defense. “In keeping with our safety and soundness obligations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will defend vigorously its actions that aim to protect taxpayers, lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Edward DeMarco, the agency’s acting director, said in a statement.
“Homeowners should not be placed at risk by programs that alter lien priorities and fail to operate with sound underwriting guidelines and consumer protections,” he said. “Mortgage holders should not be forced to absorb new credit risks after they have already purchased or guaranteed a mortgage.”
Interesting:
The suit’s most novel allegation is that the agency violated federal environmental law by not conducting a review of the potential environmental impact of restricting PACE programs.
“F.H.F.A. has effectively precluded PACE programs in California and deprived California and its citizens of the associated residential energy and water efficiency and renewable energy benefits, thereby significantly impacting the human environment, without completing the required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act,” the suit states.
After Fannie and Freddie warned lenders away from PACE, many municipalities froze their PACE programs. But on Tuesday, Sonoma County, Calif., voted to reopen its Energy Independence PACE program, and Missouri’s governor signed PACE-enabling legislation (joining at least 22 other states). Clearly many people have confidence that this model will survive once the Fannie/Freddie dispute gets resolved.
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Photo via TomekY
If you thought unscrupulous logging practices were the only threat to the world's largest rainforest, then think again. According to a new study, one extremely powerful storm in 2005 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 441 million to 663 million trees along the Amazon basin in just a matter of days, releasing an untold amount of carbon into the atmosphere. What's worse is that as global temperatures rise from CO2 emissions worldwide, <...Read the full story on TreeHugger
As the BP oil spill moves from being a short and bloody battle to a long and drawn out war, frustrating news surfaced this week: 1) In an Alabama wildlife refuge affected by the spill, even possessing a camera is prohibited (video, after the jump); 2) BP apparently won't use peat moss to help clean up the oil because it won't be able to sell the oil afterwards. In other green news, China now emits on a per person basis more than France, which means that China can no longer claim to be a developing nation; a board game from the 1970s, called "BP Offshore Oil Strike", strangely predicts today's current affairs; Walmart, KFC...Read the full story on TreeHugger
"This is what can happen when you order 8 plates, 4 large, 4 small." Photos by Rev Dan Cat
Recycling that does double duty. Ship a package and the recipient could plant 100 native trees from seeds embedded in The Life Box for a little woods of Hemlock, Sycamores and Birch trees. Created by mycologist Paul Stamets (one of Treehugger's Top 5 TEDsters), the boxes are infused with seeds and spores. Instead of breaking...Read the full story on TreeHugger
by Ashley Braun.
While oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico and the future of federal climate and energy legislation looks dim, there remains one relatively easy solution: riding your bike. And it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones who think so.
Here are a few of our favorite elected officials who are walking—nay, cycling!—the talk when it comes to getting off oil, by taking their bikes right to the streets. Did we miss any notable politicians who commute by bike? We’d especially like tips on any who are female, racially diverse, and/or not a Democrat. Tell us in the comments!
Mayor Mike McGinn, Seattle, Washington
Seattle’s upstart new mayor managed to oust its previous green rockstar politician, Greg Nickels with his daily bicycle-commuting, livable streets-promoting, populist charms. He recently unveiled a decidedly un-car-centric transportation initiative called “Walk. Bike. Ride.” It offers detailed improvements (within the current budget) for those getting around Seattle by bike. Take a ride with McGinn as he cycles to city hall.
Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver, Canada
Like McGinn, Robertson regularly bikes to work at city hall as well as to press conferences, and just opened another successful dedicated bike lane in Vancouver. Back in 2008 when he was still stumping for the mayorship, Robertson gave this rousing speech to a group of two-wheelers during Critical Mass, in which he calls himself “a hard-core cyclist.”
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
Representing cyclist-friendly Portland, Oregon, Rep. Blumenauer is chairman of the Congressional Bike Caucus, an enthusiastic promoter of bike-curiousity, and a bike commuter of 14 years, which includes his tenure on Capitol Hill. “I have never had to look for a parking space in Washington, D.C. I’ve never been stuck in traffic, ever,” he told NPR in 2008. “These are the approaches that are going to help us reduce the carbon footprint, enrich people’s lives, strengthen the economy, and I think we’ll just be better off.”
And a couple honorable mentions go to the following bike-friendly officials who may or may not bike themselves, but who are out to break the cycle of auto-dependency in their cities.
Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver, Colorado
He helped usher in the first city-wide bike-sharing program in the United States.
“Bike sharing is a viable transportation option to help improve the overall health of Americans and reduce our carbon footprint,” said Hickenlooper at the launch of Denver’s program. “Let’s start a two-wheel revolution. Let’s make every day Bike-to-Somewhere Day.”
Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City, Utah
This Utah mayor is way more excited about bike lanes than Salt Lake City’s plans for a shiny new light rail project, and is proving it with 38 miles of new bike lanes added in 2009 and more to come.
“The valley itself is relatively flat. We’ve got wide streets. We have a relatively good climate ... and an enormous opportunity to achieve being one of the most bikeable cities in the country,” he declared in April.
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New turbines on Maine's Kibby Mountain. Image credit:Wikipedia.
Kennebec Maine Journal covered a recent anti-wind power protest, which involved several arrests and someone chaining herself by the neck "to a truck carrying a turbine blade.". A sort of a Green Tea Party, it sounds like.
Go EF! Between this and Joe Barton apologizing to BP for the Obama Administration making BP pu...Read the full story on TreeHugger
