Green Jobs , A report out yesterday from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and commissioned by the Center for American Progress, says that a $100 billion, two-year national investment in renewable energy, mass transportation, and a "smart grid" for electricity, would yield two million new jobs, with a […]
I wrote recently here about the (really) enormous carbon sequestration potential of the terra preta approach to soil enrichment for agriculture. Well, you wouldn't be surprised to know that the earth already has sequestered many billions of tons of carbon dioxide and methane over time. The bad news is that as the world warms, the […]
Google and EGS , This press release from Google, Google.org invests more than $10 million in breakthrough geothermal energy technology, describes their participation in fostering a new approach: Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Working with two companies and SMU's Geothermal Lab, they hope to bring EGS into full flower soon. As I have pointed out before, […]
I wrote recently about some truly exciting developments in soil reclamation with enormous potential for agriculture. (See The Earth.) There is great news in much of this if we pay attention and give these low-tech, largely low-energy-intensive approaches the focus they deserve. The (really) bad news is that although fertilizers have increased agricultural output over […]
California – I wrote last year about Urban Planning as a (Powerful) Tool Against Climate Change and I had the opportunity after that to do an article, also in the context of planning, about the great things that are happening with Sustainability at the Airports. (I’m doing research now for another article on the planning ins […]
"The latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations took place in Accra, Ghana, from 21-27 August. The Accra Climate Change Talks took forward work on a strengthened and effective international climate change deal under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as work on emission reduction rules and tools under the Kyoto […]
Chokepoints – I’ve written a good number of times about various big renewable energy projects coming on line and in the pipeline, how $7 trillion is one number that a leading expert predicts is going to be the sum total of renewable business globally just a couple of decades down the road, and how distributed […]
The IPCC says “Post-consumer waste is a small contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (<5%) with total emissions of approximately 1,300 Mt carbon dioxide-eq in 2005. The largest source is landfill methane ” Still, that’s a lot of GHG. (See the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group III Report “Mitigation of Climate Change” – Chapter […]
We were talking about the ocean. Now let’s talk about the earth. More specifically, let’s focus on the soil , that which gives us the food that all of us need. There is a truly terrific piece in the latest “National Geographic,” Our Good Earth. It looks at all manner of good news and bad […]
These photos are too good not to put up here. They come courtesy of Bill Romatzick. We met Bill and his wife, Sue, both experienced divers, on our vacation. The first is the flying gurnard which I spotted in the sand on a snorkel trip. The second is a sea turtle. The third is a […]
While on vacation, we spent, not surprisingly, a ton of time in the water. There were some perfectly lovely rock reefs right off the beach from where we were staying and that was a great way to get my daughter (7½) going on snorkeling. Here's the thing: When John Muir started the Sierra Club in […]
We were in St. Martin for vacation. The southern part is Dutch and the northern part is French. The whole island uses desalinated water, so I've been thinking about that some more. Here's a succinct piece from "Scientific American" on desalination: Why don't we get our drinking water from the ocean by taking the salt […]
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