May 22nd, 2013

Portland voters soundly rejected fluoridation of the city’s water, reversing a 2012 mandate by the city council. Anti-fluoride forces are calling the vote a victory for modern science, which has identified excessive fluoride exposures as contributing to thyroid disease, bone damage and lower IQs among children.

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September 19th, 2012

Electric car supporters and companies have responded to a slap down by the Washington Post editorial board last week, which accused the Obama Administration of wasting money to help launch electric vehicles, such as GM’s Volt and Nissan’s Leaf.

The opinion piece “GM’s Vaunted Volt is on the Road to Nowhere Fast ” accused the administration both of having “paltry” goals for electric vehicles — 1 million by 2015 — and of spending too much money on subsidies for the new technology.

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September 6th, 2012

Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign has been turning up the heat on coal users, including campuses.

According to Sierra, 60 U.S. universities operate their own coal plants. The environmental group wants them to convert to another source of energy that produces fewer greenhouse gases, which are contributing to rapid climate change. Coal plant emissions also create ground-level pollution and contain mercury and arsenic, which ends up on land and in oceans and lakes.

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June 26th, 2012

As our population grows and energy needs rise (presumably) energy companies are increasingly beating on the door of the government for new places to operate.

South Cumberland State Park, Tennessee (Photo by Lynne T)

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April 5th, 2012

Natural gas is portrayed as the “bridge fuel” that will save the US from uneven electricity supply and prices as we transition off coal and oil on our way toward using renewable biofuels, solar and wind power.

A drilling rig in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo: Green Right Now)

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November 4th, 2011

Keystone XL pipeline protesters plan to encircle the White House at 2 p.m. on Sunday, in a second show of solidarity against the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline.
The line will include representatives from at least a dozen environmental groups. Celebrities supporting the protest include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Robert Redford, Darryl Hannah and others.

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August 26th, 2010

A report released today shows that 39 coal ash dump sites in 21 states have spewed arsenic, lead and other heavy metals into ground and surface water.
The coal ash dump sites are either polluting groundwater or draining into rivers, according to the study by the Environmental Integrity Project with support from Sierra Club and Earthjustice.

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August 17th, 2010

Many American universities are leading the way toward a more sustainable future. They’re buying renewable power, connecting with local food sources, adding classes on sustainability and new urbanism, inventorying their carbon footprint, preserving open land and retrofitting energy-inefficient buildings — showing the rest of us how it’s done.

Sierra Club looks at all these factors and more when identifies the vanguard in this movement, lauding the colleges and universities making the most progress. This year’s 4th annual ‘Cool Schools‘ list, published this week in Sierra magazine, ranks 162 schools on their climate cooling efforts, and calls out those in the top 10.

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August 9th, 2010

The Rocky Mountain gray wolves are back on the Endangered Species List after a federal judge ruled last week that the government did not follow the law in removing the wolves from federal protections last year. The new ruling means that the wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho that claimed 260 wolves during the 2009-2010 hunting season will not resume this fall.

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July 16th, 2010

Now that BP has successfully capped the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, almost everyone has a tempering comment on this fragile victory. Soon after the oil flow into the ocean was stopped Thursday afternoon using the latest “sealing cap” device placed over the well, BP officials began cautioning about too much celebration.

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June 28th, 2010

Clean energy advocates and labor leaders are calling on the U.S. to step up its commitment to wind energy and wind-related manufacturing — or risk losing thousands of jobs to China, Europe and India.

American wind urgently needs strong supports, such as long-term investment tax credits and a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), to show investors and domestic and global companies that it believes in the sector, the leaders said at a Monday news conference. A RES would signal that the U.S. wants to incubate developing firms and build everything it needs — from wind towers and blades to the highly evolved nacelles that keep the turbines turning.

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June 4th, 2010

The heartbreaking photos and video, many released yesterday when it was discovered that a famous rookery on Grand Isle had been inundated with oil, leave no doubt that this latest human accident will suffocate life wherever it lands and beyond. It will asphyxiate birds with a coating of oil, and orphan offspring left behind in the nests.

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