politics

Politicians are failing to comprehend the breadth of the US infrastructure crisis. Only disasters move our representatives to act — and in an election year, even those actions seem spotty at best and disingenuous at worst. The United States has much more than failing bridges to find, fund and fix. A comprehensive report by Dr. Denny Wilkins.

GreenCrawler.com's blog features a great article from Gist.com that gives a quick-and-dirty rundown of the candidates’ green positions, with current platforms, voting records, video, audio, and more.

Municipalities and their projects can generate credits in numerous ways, but they need to understand that having a project that reduces GHG emissions is only the first step. To generate credits, a municipality needs also to (1) have clear ownership of the reductions, and (2) be able to account for the emissions in a very detailed and accurate way.

Seems like the politicians in Canada are no longer getting behind a bill to support ethanol. The story, posted on http://www.cutyourfootprint.com, says they are having reservations due to rising world food prices and new science about ethanol made from corn.

Tom Friedman of the New York Times reports: Few Americans know it, but for almost a year now, Congress has been bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy and the production tax credit to encourage investment in wind energy. The bickering has been so poisonous that when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December, it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production.

How to Boil a Frog presents a satirical mini-documentary surveying how people REALLY feel about taking action on global warming.

The Argentine Minister of the Environment (and activist) Romina Piccolotti talks about "environmental discrimination" -- the connections between global warming and social and economic justice.

Despite the massive amounts of scientific evidence showing humans are to blame for climate change, a new poll finds that only about half of Americans (47%) say the earth is warming because of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels.

Part 2 of Justin van Kleek's musing on activism, anger and better ways to communicate an environmental agenda.

In Seoul, South Korea, this past Friday 10,000 people took to the streets in a candle light vigil to oppose US beef imports that many fear may be tainted with mad cow disease. Overnight, the number of peaceful protesters doubled and by Saturday night, 20,000 - 25,000 South Koreans held candles and raised their voices against American beef imports.

Senator Nelson argues that drilling in environmentally sensitive areas is not a remedy for rising fuel prices.

Shah borrowed $2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest, a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family’s little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah’s entire two and a half acres of poppies… “I never imagined I’d have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,” says Shah…”It’s my fate,” the child says.

The Union of Concerned Scientistssurveyed 1583 EPA scientists and found that over half feel unable to speak openly for fear of retaliation from senior officials appointed by the Bush administration. A quarter said they would not be allowed to publish results that contradicted the agency's official line. Researchers were often pressured not to publicly discuss issues linked to climate change.

When the British Government announced their most recent budget earlier this year, there was much applause from green groups after chancellor Alistair Darling announced almost draconian increases in taxation on gas guzzling cars.

But how effective are these taxes?