The U.S. House of Representatives passed the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act, the most important environmental and energy legislation in our nation's history.
The bill that emerged from the House has the fundamental structure we need to significantly reduce carbon pollution while growing the economy. It puts strong cap on emissions and reorients our energy market to make low-carbon power the goal. It ensures that utility rates will stay affordable and a competitive playing field for U.S. companies.
The sharply debated bill's fate is unclear in the Senate, and Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to ratchet up pressure on the 100-seat chamber.
"My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this," he said. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth."
Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement in response to a significant new direction in ocean management announced by President Barack Obama today.
"Today the President took a major step forward to protect the nation's ocean resources and environment. It is now widely recognized that the health of the oceans is in decline from a variety of uses and abuses. We have long had the need for a more comprehensive way to manage our ocean resources that takes into account the marine system as a whole, rather than focusing simply on its individual parts. With today's announcement, we finally have the political leadership to make this long-sought goal a reality.
"Six years ago, the Pew Oceans Commission recommended a national ocean policy as critical to maintaining and sustaining America's marine environment. Today, the President has seized the opportunity not just to change the way we manage marine resources, but to transform our society's perspective about the sea from one of simple exploitation to that of careful, science-based stewardship of this critically important economic and environmental resource."
Among its cardinal recommendations, the Pew Oceans Commission called for establishing an enforceable national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health of marine ecosystems. This will not only support economically and culturally valuable fisheries, but also provide countless recreational opportunities for the public and protect critically important ecological services, such as air and water purification.
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-governmental organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improving public policy, informing the public and stimulating civic life.
Virgin. Turn On. Fuel. Unplug. These are some of the bold environmental statements headlining the T-shirts from A Lot To Say, a new lifestyle brand that celebrates and encourages a strong, collective voice not only to be heard in the written word, but across your chest. "Virgin" here might sound like a statement for sexual purity but instead it's followed up with the fact: Virgin plastic is what most shampoo and conditioner bottles are made from and they add to over 35% of waste in landfills. Not sexy.
With bi-coastal sisters, Alison Stanich Power in New York and Jennifer Stanich-Banmiller in San Francisco as co-CEOs of A Lot To Say, inspiration is never at a loss. "We wanted to do something that would not only inspire us, but would engage others to get involved and stay involved," commented Jennifer from her headquarters in Danville, CA. "We also felt strongly about trying something new, as I'm in communications and marketing and Alison has been the Executive Creative Director for major global advertising agencies for years. We decided to share what we know, hopefully inspiring people to make a difference." The result is A Lot To Say, makers of organic messaging T-shirts, the new media on seriously light-hearted global and environmental communication as well as messaging that speaks to inspiration, politics and civil liberties.
In addition to the statement making attention grabbing headlines by A Lot To Say, the company has sought out manufacturing techniques that are true to their message. The t-shirts fabrics, while soft to the touch, are created from recycled bottles and made in the USA. Power and Banmiller sought out a non-water and non-toxic printing process that is hypoallergenic while being good to the universe. Coloring and printing garments can usually consume up to 250 times its own weight in water. The pollution it causes is re-distributed to the environment and is hazardous and unnecessary. A Lot To Say is utilizing AirDye(R) that uses no water at the point of coloration, requires up to 70% less energy and produces no hazardous by-products. These shirts are the ultimate in sustainability.
A Lot To Say shirts for men and women start from $36 and come in styles such as crew tees, tanks and hoodies. A Lot To Say shirts will be available at select retailers soon, but are available online now at www.alottosay.com.
In a world first for artificial light festivals, the Smart Light Sydney Light Walk will turn off more power on the city grid than it uses, thanks to a switch-off campaign in conjunction with the Property Council of Australia.
Smart Light Sydney will celebrate sustainable innovations and the future of low-energy lighting design when it lights up Sydney, starting tomorrow night and running for three weeks.
A major component of Vivid Sydney, Smart Light Sydney will take place from 26 May to 14 June, headlined by a free public Light Walk including Observatory Hill, The Rocks, Circular Quay and Sydney Opera House.
Taking place nightly from 6pm to midnight, the Light Walk will encompass 25 light art installations, showcasing smart lighting techniques such as low energy, recycled materials, new technologies, innovative design and renewable power sources.
The switch-off lights campaign, incorporating some of the major properties located within the Light Walk precinct, will offset the low levels of energy being used by the Light Walk’s installations to ensure the event creates a minimal environmental impact.
In 2008, the Bush Administration imposed a plan that allows these lethal dams to continue killing up to 90% of some Snake River salmon runs. Earthjustice challenged the plan in court soon after it was issued, and now the Obama administration is conducting a 60-day review of that plan; providing some extra time to explore a way to resolve this long-running controversy.
Wild salmon and steelhead of the Columbia and Snake Rivers connect coastal and river communities from California to Alaska and inland as far as Idaho and Nevada. Earthjustice has been in court for over a decade fighting on behalf of fishermen and conservationists to protect and restore this endangered national treasure.
Working together, NOAA, CEQ, and the Corps can lead efforts to restore these vital wild salmon runs and make local communities whole again by bringing together key stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest to craft an effective, legal, and science-based blueprint to resolve this long-standing controversy in a way that produces healthy salmon populations, sustainable new jobs, healthy economies, an improved transportation system, and clean and affordable energy.
The recovery of the Snake River salmon runs is especially critical because these fish migrate the furthest, past the most dams, and yet have access to the largest area of unspoiled spawning habitat of any Columbia Basin salmon -- millions of acres of cool, high-elevation wilderness in central Idaho and northwest Oregon. This wild salmon refuge will be critical as the effects of global warming impact the west.
In announcing his preliminary conclusions about the Bush salmon plan, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden warned that "Federal Defendants have spent the better part of the last decade treading water, and avoiding their obligations under the Endangered Species Act. . . . We simply cannot afford to waste another decade."
Today is a day to celebrate. The European Union has slammed shut the door on trade in the products of the commercial seal slaughter.
The Canadian government used every trick in the book to try to derail the ban: massive lobbying, misinformation, and even threats of trade reprisals. But the EU stood its ground and honored its citizens’ opposition to this trade in cruelty. By doing so, the EU has saved millions of seals from a horrible fate.
Every year, the ProtectSeals team has endured hazardous conditions to document the seal hunt. We are committed to showing the world that the Canadian government is lying when it claims that the hunt is humane.
This is the beginning of the end for the Canadian seal hunt. The Canadian government estimates that losing this primary market will cost Canada’s sealing industry $6.6 million (CAD) each year. The hunt brought in less than $7 million last year. It's not hard to do the math.
Just the promise of an EU ban was enough to drive the prices for seal fur down to $15 (CAD) per skin -- a decline of 86 percent since 2006. As a result, many sealers stayed home. Out of this year's quota of 280,000 harp seals, fewer than 60,000 have been killed so far.
Now that the EU has banned its trade in seal products, countless more seals will live their lives in peace from this year forward.
It is with pride that I tell you about the University of Delaware teaming up with the Food Bank of Delaware to create a "Garden for the Community."
The University of Delaware will devote 16,000 square feet of its Newark farm to a community garden, with the produce donated to the food bank. On May 15 and 16, the college will hold "Plant a Garden for the Community Day," when volunteers can help get the garden into shape. (If I weren't due that weekend I would be there with bells on!)
"Our goal is simple - to help the Food Bank meet their mission - a community without hunger - by providing Delaware families with fresh, local food."
The success of the garden will depend on the generosity of local business donors, community volunteers, and CANR faculty, students and professionals. Please consider helping us establish this garden.
To join as a business partner or volunteer, please contact Alyssa Collins at (302) 831-2882.
