September 13th, 2011

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

The news this week is really quite bad. I want to look away. But let’s just sample a few items first.

Top of the list — and the planet — the Arctic ice has thinned to a volume more than 60 percent less than what it was in the late 1970s, according to new research from the University of Bremen. Scientists now think that we could be without a Northern ice cap within 30 years, far sooner than predicted by the Interplanetary Climage Change Panel (IPCC).
No ice cap means the Earth will have less reflectivity, meaning it will absorb more heat into the oceans, meaning it will be hotter.

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April 9th, 2010

Heaven's Peak at Montana's Glacier National Park (Photo: National Park Service

The last decade in Glacier National Park saw exactly double the temperature increase for the planet as a whole. The effects of this warming threaten Glacier National Park’s resources, from glaciers and snow-capped mountains to wildlife and forests, as well as the Montana jobs and tourism revenue the park generates, according to a new report from the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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January 21st, 2009

By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now

It’s about jobs.

America’s newly inaugurated President, Barack Obama, has a Herculean task ahead of him, no question. Virtually everyone from the far right to the hard left agrees that if the new leader wants to rescue America’s economy, it’s all about jobs.

And as Mr. Obama promised, the buzz is about green jobs – a green economy, greening our buildings, revamping parks, wildlife refuges and public spaces. These involve “shovel-ready” jobs, some of which can be started within 90 days of Obama’s inauguration, say eco-leaders, who’ve been lobbying Washington to fund what could amount to an environmental restoration of the United States.

Last week, when the U.S. Congress presented its $825 billion recovery package, legislators gave the first hint that they are listening. The package proposes $90 billion for infrastructure and $54 billion to support renewable-energy production and research — all aimed at modernizing the economy and stopping the river of pink slips that claimed two million jobs in just the last four months of 2008. As Appropriations Committee chairman, Rep. David Obey, (D-Wisc.), pointed out – without the recovery plan, the country could face 12 percent unemployment in 2009.

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