May 21st, 2013 
Justin Manger 
Yes, big improvements in air quality have been made over the last several decades. However, there is still some foul air out there, and most of it can be found in California. According to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report for 2013, of the top 10 areas in the U.S. with the [...]
Posted in Justin Manger, News 
Tags: California, Carbon Dioxide, Environment, Pollution 
No Comments » May 7th, 2013 Sean Connell Consider the implications of each of the world’s major economies consciously shifting their growth paradigms towards a model of sustainable development, one in which addressing climate change and environmental challenges while pursuing economic growth is not paradoxical or mutually exclusive. This is a daunting task, and while leaders in economies both developed and emerging talk [...]
Posted in Economics, Green Economy, News, Policy, Sustainable Development Tags: Green Growth, Sean Connell, South Korea No Comments » May 6th, 2013 Eric Wilson 
During Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror, his environmental transgressions were manifold. Among them were chemical warfare, continued oil extraction, and setting wells in Kuwait on fire, all of which were well publicized. Perhaps less well known was the draining of the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of agriculture. In Iraq, some of the most fertile land [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Eric Wilson, News, Stewards of the Earth Tags: Environment, Los Angeles, Video No Comments » April 17th, 2013 Eric Wilson 
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports today that despite the impressive increase in renewable energy – energy produced by wind is up 42% and solar 19% from 2011 to 2012 alone – carbon emissions have not abated worldwide. As relayed on Marketplace Morning Report today, rapidly industrializing economies, as well as Europe which has resorted [...]
Posted in Behavior, Economics, Eric Wilson, News, Policy, Renewable Energy, Sustainability Tags: Alternative Energy, Carbon Dioxide, Clean Energy, Coal, Environment, IEA, Natural Gas No Comments » April 15th, 2013 Justin Manger 
From the Ocean Conservation Society, using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), this infographic is full of staggering and somewhat depressing facts like fishing line lasts up to 600 years before it biodegrades. We’ve posted about this before but it is worth remembering. This is especially true as we run around with hectic schedules that leave [...]
Posted in Behavior, Conservation, Justin Manger, News, Oceans, Sustainability Tags: Environment, Water Conservation No Comments » April 11th, 2013 Eric Wilson 
The New York Times’ just ran a story about the Modern Museum of Art getting set to tear down the former American Folk Art Museum building that was completed in 2001, a seminal year in New York’s history for sure. As a bit of an art history buff (though admittedly not modern and contemporary art), [...]
April 8th, 2013 Sean Connell The Japanese government approved on April 3 the Policy on Electricity System Reform, the most sweeping changes to Japan’s electricity utility regulations in decades. As reported in an earlier post, the reforms, to be carried out by 2020, include the establishment by about 2015 of an independent body to oversee power supply and demand across [...]
Posted in Japan, News, Policy, Renewable Energy Tags: Energy Policy, Feed-in Tariff, Fukushima, Nuclear Energy, Sean Connell, Shale Gas No Comments » April 5th, 2013 Justin Manger 
The following facts come from a piece in the New York Times on the cost of the break-neck pace China’s economic growth is having on the environment. Political ramifications will be large if the country cannot reign in some of the side effects of runaway development. In 2010, the cost of environmental degradation in China [...]
Posted in China, Five Friday Facts, Justin Manger, News, Policy Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Coal, Environment No Comments » March 23rd, 2013 Eric Wilson 
In a sign that security may best be achieved not through militarization, but rather ensuring access to the basic needs for life (food, water, shelter), defense contractor Lockheed Martin recently received a patent for a revolutionary desalination process. The numbers are pretty familiar to all by now, but they bear repeating. Some 71% of the [...]
Posted in Business, Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, News, Oceans Tags: Desalination, Water, Water Resources No Comments » March 8th, 2013 Megan Stilley 
I find Ag-Gag laws absolutely ridiculous. There are many ag-gag laws in effect already but the most recent laws are making it illegal to videotape animal abuse in facilities that raise livestock for meat. Ag-Gag laws are just another way for big business to avoid the law, or change the law for their own benefit. [...]
