One bright spot on the dark economic horizon is the number of companies across the U.S. poised for growth under a cap on carbon. EDF president Fred Krupp joined Vice President Joe Biden Friday in Philadelphia for the first meeting of Biden’s task force on middle class jobs.
At the meeting we unveiled our new interactive map highlighting more than 1,200 companies in coal country, the rust belt and other manufacturing regions. These companies all stand to benefit from the demand for clean energy technologies created by a cap on global warming pollution.
Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming.
The numbers speak for themselves — we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.
35%
Increase in the global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1992.
388.57 ppm
Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May 2008, a record high.
541 – 970 ppm
The projected concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 2100 under a business as usual scenario where we don’t dramatically reduce global warming emissions.
260 – 280 ppm
Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before industrial emissions.
Global warming solutions are complicated. So, we challenged filmmakers and concerned citizens from around the country to explain in just 30 seconds how capping global warming pollution could help solve our oil addiction.
We are thrilled with the creativity and insight of our five finalist videos. And now you have the chance to help pick the winner.
The video with the most votes will receive the Climate Activist’s Choice Award, with a prize of $1000. And, we will run the winning video as a TV ad to pressure Congress to pass a national cap on global warming pollution.
Plus, we will offset one pound of global warming pollution for every vote cast.
Making green the new business as usual is catching on fast. Smart business leaders are looking for ways to cut costs and reduce their environmental impact — but they may not know exactly how to do it.
Environmental Defense Fund has just launched the Innovation Exchange, a first-of-its-kind online resource that allows businesses to quickly identify steps they can take, from greening their fleets to reducing paper use.
The new EDF site provides companies with recommendations, case studies, publications and tools to make changes that are good for the environment and the bottom line, for example:
This post is by Jackie Roberts, EDF’s director for sustainable technologies.
The thought of revitalizing the economy with green jobs is inspiring, but how will it actually work? What will those jobs look like? Duke University just released a study that starts to answer that question. It looks at five industries, including LED lighting and concentrating solar power. For each, researchers asked what the value chain is and how jobs could be created.
Most of America’s seafood counters display glistening mounds of all manner of fresh fish. But this bounty belies the fact that the oceans are in serious trouble. In the U.S., thousands of fishermen have lost their jobs, and signs of ecosystem collapse are on the rise, as nets get clogged with jellyfish rather than sought-after kinds of fish.
The graph below paints a sobering picture of how much fish populations have dwindled – and where they might be headed if we don’t act soon: In 1950, just 15 percent of stocks were overfished; in 2003, 70 percent were overfished or had totally collapsed
Americans are driving less, spurred by steep gas prices for much of this year. We are also turning to transit like never before — especially for essential trips like going to work. Demand for public transit is at an all-time high, soaring to rates not seen since 1957. Across the country, places as diverse as New York City, Southern California, North Carolina and Wyoming are witnessing sharp rises.
Scroll over the map and see eye-popping jumps in people using public transit — not just in big cities but places like Terre Haute, Indiana, and Sherman, Texas, which saw huge leaps in ridership.
Now sushi lovers can make informed seafood choices that please the palate and safeguard the oceans. Environmental Defense Fund’s new Sushi Selector lists choices by Japanese and English names, and ranks them according to whether fish are caught or farmed in an environmentally responsible way and if their contaminant levels pose a health risk.
For sushi aficionados, that means both pleasant surprises — and some disappointments. Popular items like toro (bluefin tuna) and unagi (freshwater eel) are on the Eco-Worst list, as is most sake (made with farmed or Atlantic salmon). These species are either overfished, caught in ways that destroy ocean habitats or kill large amounts of other sea life, or they are farmed with methods that pollute the ocean or threaten nearby wild fish populations.
But such choices as sake made from wild-caught Alaska salmon, hotate (farmed scallops ) and hirame (Pacific halibut ) are Eco-Best choices, in part because they come from abundant, well-managed fisheries or — in the case of scallops — are raised using eco-friendly aquaculture methods.
Every day, half a million school buses safely carry 24 million American children to school, field trips and athletic events.
Unfortunately, most buses are powered by diesel engines that actually pollute the air inside the bus. Studies show the pollution gets trapped inside the bus, where kids breathe it in.
Dr. John Balbus, EDF’s chief health scientist, answers common questions about school bus pollution and your child’s health.
Q: I don’t see billowing clouds of black smoke behind the school bus. Does that mean the bus exhaust is clean?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Even clean-looking exhaust from tailpipes, and from the engine itself, can contain small particles and other toxic pollutants that can get inside the school bus, and in children’s lungs.
Q: How does diesel pollution get inside a school bus?
Diesel pollution can enter a school bus from both the tailpipe and the engine. In school buses, the engine is in the front, right near the door, so every time the door opens, engine and tailpipe exhaust get sucked inside.
