NYC Gov going "Locavore" Big Time!

by Eddie C

Today on The Leonard Lopate Show the lead story was called Feeding The Soul and for anyone seeking to restore their faith in good government, it did just that. Two guest in an interview to discuss Food Works in New York City that would have seemed an unlikely pair as recently as yesterday.

One was Chef Dan Barber who has been a great advocate in the New York area for the local food movement. The other was City Council speaker Christine Quinn. Today they were on the same page. It was amazing to hear Christine Quinn's introduction sounding more like Marion Nestle in talks about what the government needs to do, hearing a powerful politician discussing things being done now and progressive plans for a sustainable future. I've never heard such a merger of bottom up activism and top down good government action before.

The city has already moved $4.5 million in public school food spending over to local farms and is trying to change the $300,000 spent on school lettuce to money being pumped into the Rockland County farm economy and processing facilities in the economically depressed Bronx. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

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Blackened Pork: Liquid Coal Subsidies Sneak into Senate Tax Bill

by Target Global Warming

Is regular coal not dirty enough for you? Meet liquid coal fuel! Destructive to mine, water-intensive to manufacture, devastating to our climate at every step of the way – liquid coal is one of the world’s dirtiest fuels. Liquid coal production emits twice as much global warming pollution as gasoline & requires at least four gallons of water per gallon of fuel produced.  

Today the National Wildlife Federation has learned the Senate version of tax legislation includes subsidies for liquid coal fuels.

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Village Green: Retrofitting a DC neighborhood for deep sustainability

by Kaid at NRDC

Having already begun a comprehensive energy and environmental retrofit of a key part of Denver’s Lower Downtown, the nonprofit organization Living City Block is now looking to do the same in a neighborhood in the heart of Washington, DC.  It is a fantastic project that stands to become a model for the greening of mixed-use urban neighborhoods across the country.

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Big Oil Praises Latest Obama Cave on EPA Regs.

by TomP

The caves keep coming.  The Obama adminstration is delaying new rules governing smog and toxic emissions from industrial boilers, and keeping the Bush standards for now.  Big Oil loves it, but wants even more.  

The Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed environmental regulations — new rules governing smog and toxic emissions from industrial boilers — as it adjusts to a changed political dynamic in Washington with a more muscular Republican opposition.

The move to delay the rules, announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush. President Obama ran for office promising tougher standards, and the new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks.

snip

But in a striking turnabout, the National Association of Manufacturers and the  American Petroleum Institute — which have been anything but friendly to Mr. Obama — are praising his administration.

NY Times: E.P.A. Delays Tougher Rules on Emissions

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eKos: Acidifying Oceans Endanger Web of Life

by FishOutofWater

Oceans acidifying at the highest rate since the last great mass extinction 65 million years ago, threaten marine life, coral reefs and nutrition for over a billion people according to a report (PDF)just released by the UN. Fossil fuel burning, cement production, deforestation and land use changes have increased atmospheric CO2 from 280 to 390 PPMs. Increasing atmospheric CO2 has dissolved in the oceans, increasing the acidity (decreasing the pH) by 30%. Increasing acidity is destabilizing shells and corals, threatening the web of life in the ocean.

Recent studies of a Mediterranean vent in shallow waters revealed key ecosystem changes in high CO2 areas compared to normal CO2 areas. Certain algae and seagrasses were found to grow more efficiently closer to the vents where there was also a large reduction in biodiversity, notably a loss of calcifying organisms adjacent to the vents where the pH was lowest.

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Suntech CEO at MIT

by gmoke

On 12/7/10 Zhengrong Shi, the founder and CEO of Suntech, one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world spoke at MIT, which has about 45 faculty now involved in solar research.  The event was a joint presentation of the MIT China Energy and Environment Research Group, MIT Energy Initiative, and MIT Energy Club.

My telegraphic notes follow.

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COP16, hairy flies, and giant storks: a mishmash Earthship Wednesday

by eKos

Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.

Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.

Tonight's editor: patrickz

With contributions from: citisven and WarrenS

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Fossil Energy Knows It’s a Full Contact Game – Does Cleantech?

by Scaling Green

Cross posted from Scaling Green

Cancun - When I started working on solar energy issues several years ago, I heard it repeatedly: “Everyone loves solar.” Back then, many people in solar and other cleantech sectors saw long-term meritocracy in the energy business. Public demand, technological advances and an inevitable price on carbon were going to drive cleantech to dominance over time. “Renewable energy,” it was often said, “will soon become just plain ‘energy’.”

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Eco Activists "Greatest Threat" to Society and Church

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

A right-wing religious organization says that environmentalists are "one of the greatest threats to society and the church today." Not surprisingly, this right-wing group, the Cornwall Alliance, is a disinformation front group funded by Big Oil.  Cornwall Alliance calls environmentalists the "Green Dragon" on claims that activists are "using the message of climate change to take over the world" to place it "under its destructive control."

The scary part is not just that a GOP lawmaker who might become chair of an environmental committee may be an adherent of this group's extreme views, but the GOP selected the founder of Cornwall Alliance as a witness for Congressional hearing on climate policies.  

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Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Arsenic Life edition)

by Neon Vincent

Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.

This week's featured story comes from NPR.

Scientists Find Bacterium That Survives On Arsenic
by Jon Hamilton

Researchers say they have found a bacterium that defies scientific dogma: It's able to use the deadly poison arsenic in place of an element previously considered essential for life. The finding appears to expand the range of places where life could exist — both on Earth and elsewhere in the universe.

The discovery comes from a young NASA astrobiologist who likes to find exceptions to rules. Felisa Wolfe-Simon says she was fascinated by crustaceans because they don't use iron to carry oxygen around their bodies the way most species do. Instead, they use copper.

Wolfe-Simon thought this sort of chemical substitution might go even further.

More science, space, and environment stories after the jump.

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US Plays the Big Tease at Global Climate Talks

by Bill McKibben

We're staying at the youth hostel in downtown Cancun, away from the strip of beach hotels that draw $3 billion in tourist trade each year. But I went down there this morning for a meeting, and found myself in a little outpost of the United States: Starbucks, KFC. Chili's (Are you kidding me? Chili's in Mexico?)

And here's the thing--as usual, the conference center is an outpost of the U.S. too. From the very beginning of this process, 16 long Conferences of the Parties ago, it's U.S. politics that have set the tone and pace. And every time with the same message: be less ambitious, so Congress won't nix the deal. That's why we ended up with a Kyoto pact that was a babystep at best. That's why the treaty that was supposed to result from Copenhagen ended up an empty Obama-written 'pledge.' We're very, very mindful of the importance of our domestic legislation," his chief negotiator Todd Stern said at the time. "That's a core principle for me and everyone else working on this. You can't jeopardize that."

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Top Down solutions, and other such myths

by jamess

Imagine you just moved into a New Place to live -- and after a week or so you realize that the place is very drafty and cold.  Brrrr!

What do you do?

If you're of the school of thought that "Top Down" Investments are the Laissez faire way to fix things

-- you do nothing except crank up the Thermostat and starting paying the higher Utility Bills  (ie. just keep throwing more money at it.)

If you're of the school of thought that "Bottom Up" Investments are the best way to "permanently" solve most any problem

-- you weather strip your windows, you insulate your attic etc.  (ie. you invest in things that actually address the problem and help it to be minimized, AND its continual costs.)

larger

PS. "Bottom Up" Investments actually Help to put other People to work too ... instead of just throwing that Cash --  "Out the the Window" !

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eKos: Labrador Sea 9F Above Normal, Changing Global Weather

by FishOutofWater

Loss of Arctic sea ice is changing northern hemisphere ocean currents and atmospheric circulation patterns. A massive influx of warm water as much as 9° F above normal has flowed up the west coasts of both Greenland and Norway towards the Arctic ocean causing a new northern hemisphere weather pattern called the warm Arctic cold continents pattern to develop.

Temperature anomaly in ° C at 100 meters depth in far northern waters.

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We Protect Endangered Wildlife, Why Not Endangered People?

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

On Monday, right-wing contrarian Bjorn Lomborg argued that we have "twenty to forty years" to spend on researching new technology for global warming.

He argues that "efforts to reduce global warming pollution can wait, because 'coping with climate change is something we know how to do.'"  Go tell this to Pakistan flood victims.

I guess "coping" now means death, illness, economic deficits, job losses, hunger, national security risks, environmental destruction, wildlife extinction and environmental racism.  

It also means allowing nations to face the threat of extinction. When wildlife is threatened by extinction, our endangered species law may provide protected status while recovery remedies are implemented to save the wildlife.  What about people threatened with rising sea levels that might swallow up entire nations?  Are people as important as our wildlife?

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No Meta, just good news

by Jerome a Paris

As you know, I'm firmly (and rightly or wrongly) in the camp of those who are seriously disappointed with our current crop of leftwing politicians and who are quite pessimistic about the short term economic outlook. One of my diaries from this summer (Judging Obama) still sums up my views on the divide within the community and the positions of both sides.

One of the results of this mood of disappointment has been an inability to get worked up lately about politics, and to write anything much.

Another reason for my silence has been that I've been inordinately (and thankfully) busy at work. As you may remember, I created my own company earlier this year, after 15 years in the banking world, to help developers find money to build their renewable energy projects, in particular in the offshore wind sector where I've been involved in the past 5 years.

Well, I'm pleased to announce that the first transaction to happen with my new company's help was signed last week last week.

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eKos Earthship Wednesday, Snow-pocalypse edition

by eKos

Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.

Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.

Tonight's editor: LokiMom

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COURT: Pull out the Monsanto Sugar Beets!

by greendem

Today Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White issued a preliminary injunction ordering the immediate destruction of hundreds of acres of genetically engineered (GE) sugar beet seedlings planted in September after finding the seedlings had been planted in violation of federal law. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice and The Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of farmers and conservation groups. The lawsuit was filed on September 9, shortly after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed it had allowed the seedlings to be planted.

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The Real Story Behind Fiji Water "Woes"

by Patric Juillet

Some of you may remember my piece on Fiji Water I did under my old handle: in Fiji, day in day out, over a million liters of fresh water are pumped from an aquifer beneath a rain forest on Vitu Levu, the largest island. It is odd when you think that a third of Fijians have no clean water and there are outbreaks of typhoid and dengue fever!

                           

Three years ago, the Fijian government announced a tax on bottled water designed to conserve the island’s depleting natural resources, but they caved in were forced to abort the project following pressure from the powerful water bottling lobby group. Fiji Water is currently owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick who purchased the company from another billionaire, David Gilmour.

Why is this relevant you may ask? Fiji Water on Monday closed its operations saying it was being singled out by the military-led government for a massive tax increase.

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Royal Society: 4C (Catastrophic) Global Warming by 2070

by FishOutofWater

Greenhouse gas emissions are on track to cause catastrophic global warming of 4 Celsius by 2070 devastating American agriculture and the earth's ecosystems according to a volume of reports published today by the Royal Society.

Temperature changes of between 4 and 8°C are projected in the summer across various temperate and tropical regions for a global 4°C temperature rise [42]. This suggests that these adaptive capacities might be exceeded, especially in the areas with the larger temperate rises such as the USA, the Mediterranean and many parts of Africa [42]. Many of these studies do not include damage caused by concomitant increases in tropospheric ozone and extreme weather events, and so the estimated adaptive capacities might be over-optimistic. For ecosystems, while adaptation to a 2°C world is considered feasible, the options for adapting, either naturally or with human assistance, to a 4°C world are extremely limited, since at these temperatures few ecosystems would be expected to be able to maintain their current functioning [43].

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Climate Change News Roundup: 28 November 2010

by billlaurelMD

Looks like a duality of riches: CCNR#1

What elements of climate result in drought? And how is drought impacted by global warming?  Here's a diary on surface water balance, and then some recent findings from climate change researchers on drought that the "primer" on water balance will help you better understand why reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a social, economic, and political imperative.

A graphic telling the tale is below. The original study by NCAR (Meehl et al, 2007) was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

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