Obama has announced that he will attend the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen next weekend. This will be the first international climate change negotiations that a US President has ever attended.
Obama and Hu Jintao (China) have talked about climate change, now Obama and Dr. Manmohan Singh (India) talk about climate change and the possibilities for mitigation.
International climate change negotiations between the industrialized and unindustrialized world always come to money, how are poor countries to advance technology when they don't have the money to do so? Gordon Brown has announced that Great Britain will put over $1 billion into a fund that functions to fast track money to poorer countries so they can fund efforts to mitigate and deal with climate change. The fund will grow quickly in the next decade.
Reuters reports on "Det Norske Veritas, a leading international certifier, has drafted standards which businesses ranging from coffee making to diamond sourcing can use to flag sustainability of supply chains, DNV senior executives said."
This is very important for environmental-economics as the consumer needs as much information about their products as they can get. With the expansion of sustainability certifications consumers will see more transparency in the market and can signal the market more intentionally.
The California Energy Commission bans t.v.s that eat too much energy. It will save California a lot of money. This environmentally friendly move would have never been possible without a financial crisis in California.
Innovation in the wind turbine industry makes wind turbines more efficient in their use of land.
A new study says that Americans waste a large amount of their food. From manufacturing, to transporting and selling to the dinner table Americans throw away their food in large amounts. There is much more room for becoming more conscious about our consumption habits.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Time to Act is Now. But, First Do Your Research
The International Energy Agency released a report covering the cost of inaction for abating Climate Change via not reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen this December. A key to the Copenhagen meeting is the USA passing national Climate Change legislation, without the USA little will happen as we are a world leader and the largest polluter in the world. The oil, gas and coal industries are increasing their efforts to kill the US Climate Change bill and supporters of the bill, mainly non-profits, are being outspent in advertising. 14 Democratic Senators have decided to back the coal industry and GRIST highlights this in a report, the Senators back the coal industry by supporting a way to give pollution permits under the national cap and trade bill that would, in effect, give lots of money to large polluters just because they pollute a lot. Giving away so many permits gives polluters money instead of gets money for out government which is currently in a financial crisis.
Standard Oil was John D Rockefeller's Company and its goal was to control the oil market, they were mostly successful until 1911 when they were broken up by the US Congress. Since Standard Oil was broken up into 32 companies they have reformed into several companies that, individually, make more profit than any companies in history (BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and smaller ones like Valero). Since Standard the price of oil has not reflected market fundamentals (supply and demand), speculation on oil pushes the price up, Reuters covers the current state of oil prices and predicts another bubble like last year when oil shot up to $148 a barrel and oil companies broke all records for profits during a global recession.
The International Energy Agency claims that oil reserves have been inflated to not alarm people that we are running out of oil. This map from the Guardian shows Global Oil Reserves, check it out.
The Environmental Defense Fund claims that polls show that the majority of Americans want renewable energy now, and a climate change bill from Congress. The PR against getting out of the coal, oil and natural gas business comes from the coal, oil and natural gas companies claiming that doing anything now would raise energy prices too much. The overall cost of not switching to renewables now is the larger cost that we should be trying to avoid.
A group of Engineering experts claim that it is impossible for Britain to meet its renewable energy targets. A fleet of electric scooters was just put on the market in Britain; progress in environmentalism is still being made.
The Boston Globe published a list of the top ten green technology jobs. They are almost all green collar (environmental blue collar) jobs.
The Journal of Science highlights new study that claims that bad decisions are contagious when a decision maker is influenced by someone they identify with or feel close to. Good thing to be aware of.
Standard Oil was John D Rockefeller's Company and its goal was to control the oil market, they were mostly successful until 1911 when they were broken up by the US Congress. Since Standard Oil was broken up into 32 companies they have reformed into several companies that, individually, make more profit than any companies in history (BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and smaller ones like Valero). Since Standard the price of oil has not reflected market fundamentals (supply and demand), speculation on oil pushes the price up, Reuters covers the current state of oil prices and predicts another bubble like last year when oil shot up to $148 a barrel and oil companies broke all records for profits during a global recession.
The International Energy Agency claims that oil reserves have been inflated to not alarm people that we are running out of oil. This map from the Guardian shows Global Oil Reserves, check it out.
The Environmental Defense Fund claims that polls show that the majority of Americans want renewable energy now, and a climate change bill from Congress. The PR against getting out of the coal, oil and natural gas business comes from the coal, oil and natural gas companies claiming that doing anything now would raise energy prices too much. The overall cost of not switching to renewables now is the larger cost that we should be trying to avoid.
A group of Engineering experts claim that it is impossible for Britain to meet its renewable energy targets. A fleet of electric scooters was just put on the market in Britain; progress in environmentalism is still being made.
The Boston Globe published a list of the top ten green technology jobs. They are almost all green collar (environmental blue collar) jobs.
The Journal of Science highlights new study that claims that bad decisions are contagious when a decision maker is influenced by someone they identify with or feel close to. Good thing to be aware of.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Shaky Ground Ahead, but There is No Where Else to GO
Nanotechnology is the next frontier for technology and could potentially solve a lot of environmental problems. An article in Science highlights a study that analyzes the safety of one application of nanotechnology. This is very important because while nanotechnology could be the greatest wonder of the future we need to ensure it is safe for us as well. The conclusion is that nanotechnology is safe when carefully used.
The Guardian gives an overview of Green Investment in celebration of England's National Ethical Investment Week. The trick is to get a positive return on your investment. Reuters published an article about big wind companies in Europe, Germany especially, are in line to receive government funds to support their business. Wind power is growing and is a potential investment opportunity. A similar article from Reuters compares investment in Wind and Solar companies.
The US government is dithering, as conservative pundits would say, over Copenhagen. The US is refusing to give a definite number that it will reduce carbon emissions to. A failure in Copenhagen would draw the agreement out placing the needs of our environment behind the needs of industry. The argument from industry is that any environmental regulation will kill jobs, as if they care about jobs! Coal and oil are some of the most profitable industries in the world and can afford to bring us energy while not poising us and our environment.
Democrats in the US Senate show that they can play hardball too and pass a Climate Change plan in a key Senate Committee while Republicans were boycotting the effort and not showing up to meetings. At least someone in our government cares about environmentalism and the UN Copenhagen negotiations, hopefully this will spur more positive attention on reaching an agreement in Copenhagen.
A study about discussing climate change is published and covers why, psychologically, people have a hard time understanding and believing in the existence of climate change.
Finally! A universal cell phone charger will come onto the market. Mother Jones reports.
Another oil spill, this time in the Red Sea. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a precedent setting case that paved the way for oil companies to continue spilling oil without much repercussion. The original settlement of the case required Exxon to pay $5 billion , one year's revenue at the time, but their lawyers got that number down to $.5 billion and oil spills are still cheaper to let happen than prevent. The Christian Science Monitor reports, and is a great source for news from a different perspective than large news sources with vested interests.
US and the EU continue to allow chemicals to be manufactured that are not safe for humans or our environment. The EU has decided to act, and this article highlighting the affect of some chemicals on the development of gender in children discusses the issue.
The Guardian gives an overview of Green Investment in celebration of England's National Ethical Investment Week. The trick is to get a positive return on your investment. Reuters published an article about big wind companies in Europe, Germany especially, are in line to receive government funds to support their business. Wind power is growing and is a potential investment opportunity. A similar article from Reuters compares investment in Wind and Solar companies.
The US government is dithering, as conservative pundits would say, over Copenhagen. The US is refusing to give a definite number that it will reduce carbon emissions to. A failure in Copenhagen would draw the agreement out placing the needs of our environment behind the needs of industry. The argument from industry is that any environmental regulation will kill jobs, as if they care about jobs! Coal and oil are some of the most profitable industries in the world and can afford to bring us energy while not poising us and our environment.
Democrats in the US Senate show that they can play hardball too and pass a Climate Change plan in a key Senate Committee while Republicans were boycotting the effort and not showing up to meetings. At least someone in our government cares about environmentalism and the UN Copenhagen negotiations, hopefully this will spur more positive attention on reaching an agreement in Copenhagen.
A study about discussing climate change is published and covers why, psychologically, people have a hard time understanding and believing in the existence of climate change.
Finally! A universal cell phone charger will come onto the market. Mother Jones reports.
Another oil spill, this time in the Red Sea. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a precedent setting case that paved the way for oil companies to continue spilling oil without much repercussion. The original settlement of the case required Exxon to pay $5 billion , one year's revenue at the time, but their lawyers got that number down to $.5 billion and oil spills are still cheaper to let happen than prevent. The Christian Science Monitor reports, and is a great source for news from a different perspective than large news sources with vested interests.
US and the EU continue to allow chemicals to be manufactured that are not safe for humans or our environment. The EU has decided to act, and this article highlighting the affect of some chemicals on the development of gender in children discusses the issue.
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