Home
Tagged : greenhouse-gases
We’re not in Kansas anymore, climate-wise
From Green Right Now Reports
New research by U.S. environmental and geo-science academicians shows a distinct warming trend in the nation’s breadbasket over the last two centuries.
The scientists drew that conclusion after examining 65,987 weather records, recording the daily mean temperatures since 1828. Those weather observations, made by doctors in pioneer forts and later Weather Bureau officials, helped Dorian J. Burnette and David Stahle of the University of Arkansas, with the help of geographer Cary Mock of the University of South Carolina, reconstruct the climate of Manhattan, Kansas, in the center of nation. The scientists’ findings are published in the March 15 issue of Journal of Climate.
What they found was that 19th century temperatures were notably cooler than those in the 20th Century and the first decade of the 21st Century.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Climate Change, climate science, global warming, Greenhouse Gases, industrial pollution, Kansas, warming winters
Walmart plans to lower carbon emissions across its vendor network
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Walmart announced a plan to reduce carbon emissions across its global supply chain today, saying it intends to shave 20 million metric tons off its greenhouse gas emissions through 2015.
[caption id="attachment_9424" align="alignright" width="176" caption="Walmart CEO Mike Duke annoucing carbon reduction goals"]  [/caption]
[Read more →]
Tags: · business transparency, Carbon Emissions, Carbon footprint, carbon reductions, Greenhouse Gases, pollution, retailers. product life cycle, sustainability, Walmart
Promises made in Copenhagen shouldn’t stay in Copenhagen
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
When the Copenhagen Climate Conference ended in mid-December, it was widely decried by climate activists as embarrassingly inconclusive, at best, and a failure at worst (you can’t get much worse than that).
And yet, there were plenty of voices, including that of President Obama, urging everyone to hold tight and pointing out that alliances had been formed and the world’s major polluters had stepped up, however tentatively. They had issued hard numbers, a percentages by which they would try to rollback greenhouse gas emissions.
[Read more →]
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, carbon pollution, Climate Accord, Climate Change, Copenhagen Climate Conference, emissions targets, Greenhouse Gases, Jake Schmidt, Natural Resources Defense Council, NRDC, top polluters
Public Citizen and Sierra Club issue Texas Governor Perry a ‘citizen citation’
From Green Right Now Reports
Call it the Texas two-step.
Just after Texas Governor Rick Perry filed a lawsuit against the EPA on Tuesday, questioning the federal agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, Texas environmental groups parried back.
Texas’ Public Citizen and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club announced they were issuing Perry a citizen citation to “cease and desist endangering the health of breathers, the economy and the climate in Texas by continuing to permit coal plants and other large sources of CO2.”
The groups explained in a joint news release from Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office, and Ken Kramer, director of the Lone Star Sierra Chapter:
[Read more →]
Tags: · Air Pollution, EPA, Governor Rick Perry, greenhouse gas regulation, Greenhouse Gases, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Texas
Texas challenges EPA’s designation of greenhouse gases as harmful
Green Right Now Reports
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and the state’s Attorney General and Agriculture commissioner, announced Tuesday that the state will challenge the EPA’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are endangering human health.
Texas has filed a Petition for Review of the EPA’s finding with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit , questioning the science behind the EPA’s finding and whether the agency should be allowed to regulate industries’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The move follows a similar one by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, when the Chamber filed a petition against the EPA to stop the agency from regulating greenhouse gases. The Chamber says it favors greenhouse gas reductions, but that giving the EPA the authority to assess fines against polluters is the “wrong way” to do it.
[Read more →]
Tags: · carbon pollution, Clean Air Act, EPA, Governor Rick Perry, Greenhouse Gases, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Texas, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Supreme Court
EPA designates greenhouse gases a public health threat
By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now
In what might seem a no-brainer, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday pronounced greenhouse gases to be a verifiable public health threat to all Americans.
The announcement came on the first day of the Copenhagen Climate Conference and after what the EPA describes as a “thorough examination of the scientific evidence” required by government rules as the agency prepares to set standards for “light-duty vehicles.”
[Read more →]
Tags: · Carbon Dioxide, carbon pollution, climate talks, Copenhagen, EPA, GHGs, Greenhouse Gases
Carbon expert reminds us that global change is happening now
September 23rd, 2009 · No Comments
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
This number shows Earth’s collective 3 trillion-plus metric tons of combined greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
You’ll notice that it is a BIG number. And it’s already outdated. This picture was captured yesterday. Look at the counter today on the web, and the number will be bigger.
The volume of greenhouse gases is constantly ticking upward. Much faster than a watch. Steady as an oil derrick. As ominously as a time bomb.
[Read more →]
Tags: · carbon counting, carbon dioxide pollution, Deutsche Bank, Greenhouse Gases, Intergrovernmental Panel on Climate Change, methane gas, metric tons of carbon in the atmosphere, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, New York Climate Summit, total carbon
Amazon deforestation and your shoes
By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now
When we put our shoes on, we don’t really think about where they’ve been before they got to us.
Most likely, they were manufactured somewhere overseas, China or Vietnam perhaps, then shipped to the United States. But where did the material used to manufacture them come from? Are your shoes made of leather? If so, there’s a chance they’re contributing to climate change — and the illegal destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
 Greenpeace International says rainforests are being needlessly lost not just to the meat trade but to the leather industry, as cattle ranches expand illegally in Brazilian Amazon region.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Adidas/Reebok, Amazon rainforest, Brazil, cattle trade, Clarks, deforestation, Geox, Greenhouse Gases, leather, Nike, Prada, shoes, Timberland
Greenpeace warns that cattle trade has dangerous ecological impacts
From Green Right Now Reports
Greenpeace’s report “Slaughtering the Amazon” notes that Brazil’s thriving and expanding cattle trade, which has made it the world’s largest exporter of beef and the top producer (along with China) of leather, has out-sized environmental consequences.
 “The cattle sector in the Brazilian Amazon is responsible for 14% of the world’s annual deforestation. This makes it the world’s largest driver of deforestation, responsible for more forest loss than the total deforestation in any country outside Brazil except Indonesia,” according to the report, the result of a three-year investigation by Greenpeace International.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Amazon, beef, Brazil, cattle trade, deforestation, Greenhouse Gases, illegal deforestation, leather, rainforests, ranches, supply chains
Try Sierra Club’s virtual frying pan to count your carbon footprint
By Melissa Segrest
Green Right Now
Shall we have an omelet with vegetables and cheese for breakfast?
Let’s order a Caesar salad for lunch, with some chicken noodle soup.
And dinner – Who’s up for meatloaf, with macaroni and cheese on the side and some chocolate chip cookies to top it off?
Oh, while you’re at it, stop for a second and ask yourself: What impact does this food have on the environment?
Here’s some food for thought: An entertaining interactive tool lets you add up your “carbon points” and see just how badly those three cups of coffee are hurting the world.
[Read more →]
Tags: · "fresh" seafood, Carbon Dioxide, Co2e, food system and greenhouse gases, food waste, Greenhouse Gases, low carbon diet calculator, processed food, regional food, seasonal food, Sierra Club, Sierra Club GreenHome
FedEx puts more hybrids on the road; says feds should express incentives
Green Right Now Reports:
FedEx has added 92 hybrid-electric trucks to its fleet, all of which are converted standard delivery trucks.
 The increase represents a jump of 50 percent in the company’s hybrid fleet, bringing it to a total of 264 hybrid-electric vehicles. FedEx estimates that its hybrid fleet has saved an estimated 1,521 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions since 2004. That’s equivalent to taking 279 cars off the road annually.
[Read more →]
Tags: · Air Pollution, California, Charlotte, FedEx, Greener Businesses, Greenhouse Gases, hybrid conversions, hybrid incentives, hybrid-electric vehicles, North Carolina
Cash for Clunkers greenlighted; rev up the car buying frenzy
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Congress has approved what will be a big bonanza for car buyers — not to mention car dealers — with the “Cash for Clunkers” bill that cleared the Senate on Thursday.
Once signed by President Obama, who pushed for the law, car buyers will be able to get up to $4,500 toward more efficient new vehicles when they trade in their aging gas guzzlers (or even just their aging cars that get so-so mileage). Cars must pre-date 2002 but not be older than 1984 models.
Ironically, this generous program would not be available had it not been for the short-sighted American car manufacturers who made so many gas gulpers, their heedless American customers and also the torpid economy. None of those players gets chastened or overhauled or even pinched in this deal.
[Read more →]
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, car dealers, Cash for Clunkers, Gas-Guzzlers, gasoline, Greenhouse Gases, high mileage cars, low mileage cars, lower emissions
|
