The problem, until now, has been that recycling CFLs was inconvenient for post people. That’s about to change, thanks to Home Depot. The New York Times reported this week that Home Depot will offer CFL recycling at all of its nearly 2000 U.S. stores. That puts 75 percent of Americans within 10 miles of a CFL recycling location.

If you’re not part of that 75 percent, you still have options. Ikea stores provide CFL recycling bins, as well. Or visit Earth 911 or Lamp Recycle to look for a recycling location near you.

Need help choosing the right CFL? Visit our online guide, “How to Pick a Better Bulb“.

But if you travel by car, you can still cut your fuel usage, save money and reduce your carbon footprint by driving smart.

1. Look into going by train or bus instead of by car or plane.

Taking a train or a bus, instead of driving or flying, results in less global warming pollution per person for the miles traveled (and may cost less, too).

On average, taking a trip by bus produces the least amount of greenhouse gas per passenger mile, followed by train travel, then air. Cars, light trucks and motorcycles contribute the most to global warming pollution.

Put another way:

• Air travel results in nearly two times as much global warming pollution as intercity bus travel.
• Rail produces slightly more greenhouse gas emissions than buses.
• Cars, trucks and motorcycles produce three times the pollution of buses.

These comparisons assume the vehicles are not filled to capacity on average. Trains come out even better in comparison to planes when both are full. (Note that Amtrak offers discounts on some routes for people over age 62.)

2. If you decide on a road trip, get your car in good shape.

Getting better gas mileage is no longer just about cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also about saving some serious money.

By following these rules of thumb, you will save gas and money — and your car will last longer.

• Keep your engine tuned properly. Checking spark plugs, oxygen sensors, air filters, hoses and belts are a few examples of maintenance that can save a vehicle owner up to 165 gallons of gas per year — for a potential savings of $625 a year (based on 12,000 miles of driving per year and $3.79 a gallon, nationwide average as of 5/19/2008).
• Check the tires. Have your wheels aligned and keep your tires properly inflated. Low tire pressure wastes over two million gallons of gasoline in the U.S. every day. Keeping your tires properly inflated raises your car’s gas mileage by about 3.3 percent.

3. If you’re renting, choose a fuel efficient car.

The rental car business is slowly turning over a green leaf. Many of the major national rental companies (such as Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Hertz) are offering a small number of fuel-sipping hybrids like the Toyota Prius in selected cities.

If a hybrid is not available, a subcompact, compact or economy car usually goes easier on the gas and is less costly to rent than a larger vehicle.

Get more details at Yahoo’s Green Center and find the top cars by green rating to help you select a rental car that meets your family’s needs.

4. Plan your trip well.

Part of the fun of a road trip is the adventure of exploring unknown territory. But getting lost and going miles out of your way is no fun — and wastes precious gas. So map out your route and keep maps handy to recheck.

A car navigation system is one high-tech way to keep on track in unfamiliar areas and get to your destination without wasting time and fuel.

5. Pile your friends and family in the same car.

Is one big, packed car better than two small, half-empty cars? The answer depends on the average gas mileage of the vehicles being compared.

But in general, if the larger car has a fuel economy at least half that of the two small cars, then it is more efficient to take the one large car. Here’s the math.

Take this hypothetical example: an SUV that gets 15 mpg on average versus two cars that get 30 mpg. For two people on a 30-mile trip, you’d burn roughly two gallons of gas in the SUV , and you’d also burn two gallons in the two cars (one gallon per car times two cars).

So in this case, the two options consume the same amount of gas. If the SUV had higher gas mileage, it would be the better option, and if it had lower gas mileage, it would be the worse option.

The average car in the U.S. carries 1.6 passengers, so if you carry more than that, you’re helping to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. Plus, you can pool expenses and save on gasoline.

6. When you’re finally on the road, drive gently.

You can increase your gas mileage by as much as 50 percent for highway driving (and by five percent for stop-and-go city driving) simply by accelerating and decelerating smoothly and slowly. Aggressive driving, such as mashing down the accelerator or the brake, uses an extra 125 gallons a year on average — so by driving gently you can save $473 a year in today’s prices.

7. Follow the speed limit.

You’d be surprised at how much fuel is squandered by driving over 60 miles per hour. Generally, each 5 mph over 60 mph you go is like paying an extra 20 cents per gallon of gas.

To keep your speed down while taking in more local color, consider taking less-traveled back roads, rather than the Interstates. It’s easier to keep the speedometer below 60 mph when other cars aren’t whizzing by you at 85 miles an hour!

8. Avoid unnecessary idling.

When you are unloading or packing your car, turn off the engine. An idling car gets zero miles to the gallon and contributes to global warming pollution. Contrary to popular belief, restarting your car does not burn more fuel than leaving it idling.

Learn more about cars and global warming at Environmental Defense Fund.

Sources

• CBS News: “Rental Cars Slowly Going Green“
• fueleconomy.gov, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• “The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from The Union of Concerned Scientists” by Michael Brower and Warren Leon.
• Transportation Energy Data Book, U.S. Department of Energy

Ideas for businesses, and hope for everyone concerned about global warming - that’s what you get with our just-published, first annual Innovations Review. This new report highlights innovative processes, products, and technologies in a range of different industries.

Green business practices can drive cost savings and create new markets, giving companies a competitive advantage. But what’s next after the basics, like switching to energy-saving light bulbs and printing double-sided?

Here’s one example that caught my eye - a southern California Web hosting company powered entirely by the Sun.

All server farms must be kept cool. In fact, the average data center is 40 times more energy intensive than an office building. For Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO) , which is in the desert, cooling is a particular challenge. But AISO is able to meet 100 percent of its power needs - for both its office and server farm - from 120 solar panels.

How is this possible? The answer lies in a combination of efficient design and innovative technology. For example, the AISO facility features:

• A unique air cooling system blows in cool air from outside when the temperature drops below 50°F (as often happens at night).
• Twelve-inch walls with high-grade insulation.
• Servers running at 75 percent capacity - compared to the usual 10 percent - thanks to virtualization software that lets one server host multiple applications.

The data center cost 60 percent more to build than a standard site. But AISO saves $3,000 a month in utility bills, and its environmentally responsible business practices have attracted a fast-growing client base.

In short, the company’s investment is rapidly paying off.

Check out the full report for examples of other innovative business practices in real estate, manufacturing, fleet management, finance, and more.

May 6 was World Asthma Day. Since car exhaust can lead to asthma as well as global warming, we thought it would be a good day to highlight the importance of not idling your car or truck engine.

What makes idling especially bad for health is that drivers tend to idle in gathering places - by sidewalks, schools, playgrounds, homes, and offices. Breathing in pollution close to the source is more dangerous than farther away.

Take a look at the evidence.

Tailpipe Exhaust May Cause Asthma

Tailpipe exhaust from both gasoline- and diesel-burning vehicles contains the pollutants that produce ozone when combined with sunlight and heat. Ozone occurs mostly during the summer months. A warming planet means more hot days, and thus more ozone.

Breathing in ozone irritates and inflames your lungs, and repeated exposure can reduce lung function. There’s a lot of evidence that ozone makes asthma worse. But the Children’s Health Study in California found evidence that ozone causes asthma. The study also found that children can suffer irreversible lung damage as adults from breathing smog.

On top of that, diesel exhaust contains particulate matter (soot). This has long been known to cause a variety of health problems, including aggravated asthma (see CARB report on health effects [PDF]). But as with ozone, there is evidence that diesel exhaust particles may cause asthma, and not just worsen it.

California kids aren’t the only ones to suffer from tailpipe-induced asthma. A 2005 NYU Medical Center study showed that asthma symptoms among children in the South Bronx doubled on high traffic days.

Conversely, reducing ozone can improve asthma rates. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the city closed downtown to private cars for 17 days. During this time, daily peak ozone levels dropped more than a quarter and hospitalizations for asthma fell by almost one-fifth.

Fight Global Warming, Save Money

There’s no reason to idle your vehicle engine. As I explained my previous post:

• Today’s engines don’t need a warm-up period.
• If you’re stopped for more than 10 seconds, it uses more gasoline to idle than to restart.

Many cities, including New York, have laws against idling, but they’re rarely enforced. We need better enforcement, but we can make a difference with our own actions and behavior.

So in honor of World Asthma Day, switch off that idling engine. You’ll curb global warming pollution, save money on gasoline, and help everyone to breathe better.

In last week’s Sunday New York Times Magazine (4.20.08), Pollan wrote a provocative essay, “Why Bother? Looking for a few good reasons to go green.” In it, he wrestles with those lurking questions about our everyday choices to stave off global warming. Some excerpts:

Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down…, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?

He looks at the reasons we find for not doing anything: “There are so many stories we can tell ourselves to justify doing nothing,” he writes.

And yet, he resoundingly concludes that those little things are worth the bother.

Why? …. The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us…

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change…. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience.

Yes, you can make a difference. Pollan asks us to start with planting a garden. There are many more ways you can reduce your carbon footprint, of course. One is to choose food thoughtfully. Here are tips that will not only help the health of the planet but make you healthier, too.

Guidelines for choosing foods thoughtfully

We’ve never had such a variety or abundance of food to choose from. And now we hear about our “food print.” Do we buy cherry tomatoes from Mexico or tomatoes grown locally in a hothouse? Do we get the Granny Smiths from the farmers’ market or the supermarket? Is organic produce healthier for us and the planet?

These are very complex issues that require analysis of many criteria, including the energy used in producing and transporting the food, as well as the type of soil and methods of raising the food. Despite the complexities, there are some general guidelines you can follow that are good for you and the planet.

Eat less meat (eat low on the food chain). Your doctor may have advised you to limit your consumption of red meat because of its unhealthy saturated fat content, particularly corn-fed animals. (Milk, meat and eggs from grass-fed animals are both lower in saturated fats and contain higher levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.)

There are environmental reasons, too. Raising food animals contributes substantially to climate change because a meat-based diet requires more land, energy and water than a plant-based one.

Pollan sums up this principle in his book In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Read an interview with the author in a New York Times blog.)

Eating less meat and more grains and vegetables helps reduce:

• the need to convert forests or grasslands to pasturelands,
• the amount of corn grown for feed (which lessens the amount of fossil fuels used to grow the corn), and
• greenhouse gas emissions from manure (see Farm Animals and Methane).

Buying local may be, but is not always, climate-friendly. We often hear about the benefits of eating locally grown fruits and vegetables, and there are many. They include:

• Less transit, less oil (maybe). The average American meal travels 1,500 miles meal travels from field to mouth — so locally grown foods often (but not always) use much less oil in transport than the foods that make up a conventional American meal. For example, if the state of Iowa shifted just 10 percent of fruits and vegetables from conventional to regional or local food systems, it would reduce CO₂ emissions by about 7 million pounds, according to the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
• Better tasting than produce shipped from afar. Locally grown fruits and vegetables can be picked at peak ripeness and may be higher in nutrients. Spinach, for example, loses nutrients at certain temperatures and after several days in storage.

So buyer beware: Use common sense and ask lots of questions when purchasing items.

Things to watch for:

• Energy-intensive local production (such as tomatoes grown in a hothouse that requires energy for heating) may produce more global warming pollution than efficiently producing and shipping foods from farther away.
• Differences in transportation methods—by ship or plane, for example—can also cause greenhouse gas emissions to differ widely even when a food is transported the same distance (see Food Miles: Is Local Always Better?).

Choose less-processed foods. Heavily processed foods tend to be low in fiber and high in fat and sugar. They often contain lots of dyes, colorings, and preservatives that aren’t great for your health. And all that processing uses a lot of energy.

Getting your food from field to table requires multiple steps, including processing the whole food into a refined product, which then may be used as an ingredient in another food product. Still more energy is needed to package and ship the final product to retailers.

More steps in processing generally means more intensive energy use. Take a bottle of ketchup. Tracking a common brand of ketchup sold in Sweden through the 50-plus steps to produce it revealed steep energy and environmental costs, particularly from the processing and packaging steps.

Avoid heavily packaged foods and buy in bulk. Processing and packaging together take nearly a quarter of the energy used in food production. Choose minimally packaged foods or those in the biggest containers available. Fresh fruits and vegetables, of course, are usually not packaged at all (shun those Styrofoam containers!), and they are healthy choices.

Buying organic has benefits, too. Whether growing organic food versus conventionally grown food produces less global warming pollution overall is hotly debated, and the jury is still out. How much the soil is tilled, how much greenhouse gas the soil retains or releases, what type of food is raised (fruits and vegetables, grains, milk or chickens) — these are some factors that must be considered. Still, there are clear pluses for your health and for the environment.

The health benefits of going organic include:

• Organic foods are grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers so you reduce your exposure to hazardous chemicals.
• Organic produce is often richer in nutrients and antioxidants, evidence suggests.

The ecological upsides of growing food organically include:

• Less pollution. Fertilizer and pesticide runoff pollutes rivers and streams and washes into bays and ocean, causing oxygen-starved dead zones where fish can’t live.
• Less energy consumed to produce chemicals. A hefty chunk of energy goes into producing agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, by some estimates as much as 40 percent of the energy used in the food system.
• More biodiversity. Using natural methods to enrich the soil and control pests promotes more variety of organisms.

You also help spur demand for organic foods by buying them. This in turn prods farmers to grow food without harsh chemicals. All your food choices together can have a profound effect on your carbon footprint, as much as the type of car you drive.

More things you can do

• Get more tips for a healthy, low-carbon life.
• Learn more about how your diet can affect global warming.

PHOTO CAPTION: An evacuated family driven from their San Diego home by the 2007 wildfires. Photo: Michael Raphael/FEMA

Do you have children?

Because they are still developing physically, breathe faster than adults and rely on adults for care, children are more vulnerable. Watch out for:

• Heat waves. Infants and children up to four years old are particularly sensitive to heat and also rely on a care-giver to keep them adequately hydrated.
• Smog and soot pollution. Because their lungs are still developing, children can suffer irreversible lung damage as adults from breathing unhealthy air when young.
• Food- and waterborne diseases. Small children and children living in poverty are at higher risk for falling ill from diseases that climate change will likely exacerbate.
• Stress, anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder after disastrous extreme weather events.

Are you over 65 years old?

The U.S. population is aging; by 2030 one fifth is projected to be older than 65. Older adults often have frail health and limited mobility, making them more vulnerable to:

• Heat waves. Older adults with limited incomes may not have air conditioning and may have difficulty getting to air conditioned centers, if available. That can be deadly. The elderly are less resilient to temperature extremes in general.
• Floods and other natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina showed all too clearly how a disproportionate number of senior citizens often suffer or die during a disaster.

Do you have a chronic medical condition?

People with heart problems, respiratory illnesses, diabetes or compromised immune systems are more prone to exacerbated health problems from:

• Extreme weather-related disasters. Disruption of ongoing medical care and medicines is dangerous for the chronically ill.
• Heat waves. People with diabetes are at greater risk of death from heat waves.
• Bad air quality. Stagnant hot air masses and higher ozone and soot concentrations worsen heart and lung conditions. People with diabetes are also more susceptible to harm from air pollution.
• Transmitted disease and illness. People with weakened immune systems, such as those with AIDS or those taking certain drugs to treat cancer, have less ability to fight off diarrhea from waterborne microbes or fevers from spreading viruses or mosquito-borne illnesses.

Are you pregnant?

Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly susceptible to:

• Food-borne illnesses and other climate-sensitive diseases. Certain medications to treat infections may not be recommended for pregnant women.
• Ill effects from extreme weather disasters. Disruption of health care access, exposure to toxins, unsafe conditions, and psychological stress following disasters can endanger pregnant women and the health of the fetus.

Is your family income on the low end?

An income of $21,200 for four people living in the contiguous 48 states (or $26,500 if you live in Alaska and $24,380 in Hawaii) is considered below the poverty level. Lower-income populations are disproportionately affected by:

• Heat waves. Concentrations of lower-income populations in inner-city neighborhoods often mean a disproportionate number suffer from the heat island effect: tall building and concrete intensify scorching days and stifling nights. People living in dwellings lacking air conditioning or windows that open face a higher risk of death.
• Extreme weather disasters. People with lower incomes may not have the means to evacuate quickly out of harm’s way. Access to medical care is more easily disrupted for lower income individuals. Katrina showed us the devastation that a natural disaster can bring to people living in poverty.

Do you live in an area with unhealthy air quality?

More hot days likely mean more smoggy unhealthy-air days. That’s because sunlight and heat spark a chemical reaction between ground-level ozone and other pollutants to form smog. If you live in an area already plagued by smog and soot, be prepared. Exposure to unhealthy air is not good for anybody but is particularly bad if you:

• Exercise outdoors regularly. On red-alert days, even the healthiest people should not exercise outdoors. Breathing in ozone singes your lungs much like a sunburn and repeated exposure can reduce lung function.
• Work outside. More exposure to polluted air puts you at greater risk of health problems. Working outside in a rural or suburban area is an added risk factor for getting infectious diseases carried by insects and ticks, like Lyme disease, that may proliferate in a warmer climate.

Do you live in a region that is especially prone to harmful climate change?

Some regions of the U.S. may be more affected by particular dangers than others. What can you expect if you live in the following regions?

• Southeast Atlantic and Gulf Coast. Residents of low-lying coastal areas will likely experience the one-two-three punch of more violent storms, strong storm surges and flooding, and coastal erosion. That will mean more damage to buildings and roads and possible contamination of drinking water.
• Southwest: Higher temperatures and less rainfall in an already hot, arid climate will likely strain already taxed water resources. The chances for wildfires and dangerously bad air quality will go up.
• Northwest: Heavy rainfall may lead to flooding and sewage overflow, causing illness and spread of disease.
• The Great Plains: Milder winters and scorching summers could take a toll on the country’s” bread basket” and hinder food production. Residents of cities would particularly suffer from intense heat waves.
• Northeast: Rising temperatures could mean more allergies and spread of diseases carried by insects or animals, such as West Nile virus or Lyme disease.
• Alaska: Melting permafrost and retreating sea ice are already disrupting residents’ lives and subsistence hunting and fishing. Milder temperatures are allowing more pests such as spruce bark beetles to proliferate.

How you can help

• Share Tips for a Healthy, Low-Carbon Life with friends and family.
• Tell Congress to cap America’s global warming pollution.
• Find other ways to help slow global warming.

This post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.

It’s ironic. In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too - over $15 billion a year.

Worst of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming.

Take a look at this video from Doug James, and then check out these surprising facts.

More than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water, including Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani. Despite this, bottled water consumption is growing at 10 percent a year, faster than any other beverage. We drink 15 times more bottled water today than we did in 1976.

This doesn’t mean we’re healthier, despite the ads. Federal regulations for municipal water are far more stringent. Bottled water rules allow higher levels of many contaminants, with more lenient requirements for filtration, testing and reporting. See NRDC’s bottled water report for details of contaminants by brand.

The Earth isn’t healthier for it, either. According to the Pacific Institute’s fact sheet [PDF], manufacturing the 30+ billion plastic water bottles we bought in 2006:

• Required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil — enough to fuel more than one million vehicles for a year. (Note: This was erroneously reported by The New York Times as 1.5 million, and the error is repeated in many places.)
• Produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• Used three times the amount of water in the bottle.

And these numbers don’t include transporting the bottles. Nearly 25 percent of bottled water crosses national borders before reaching consumers. Adding in transportation, the energy used comes to over 50 million barrels of oil equivalent - enough to run 3 million cars for a year.

Case Study: Fiji Water

Fiji Water produces more than a million bottles of water a day, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have reliable drinking water (see Fast Company article). Adding to the irony, Fiji itself uses almost no bottled water, according to a Pacific Institute report [PDF]. They export it.

Shipping Fiji Water around the world increases its environmental footprint. Manufacturing and shipping a one liter bottle produces over half a pound of greenhouse gas emissions, and uses nearly 7 times the amount of water in the bottle, according to calculations by Pablo Päster on TriplePundit.

The heavy use of water is as serious as the greenhouse gas emissions. Water is fast becoming a scarce resource.

We Could Recycle, But…

Recycling would help, but we don’t usually do it. Less than 20 percent of the 28 billion single-serving water bottles that Americans buy each year are recycled. Some estimates are as low as 12 percent.

According to a Container Recycling Institute report [PDF], the national recycling rate for all beverage containers is 33 percent. In states with deposit systems, the rate jumps to 65-95 percent. But of the eleven states with deposit laws, only three include containers for non-carbonated beverages (like water), though non-carbonated beverages now comprise 27 percent of the market.

Last November, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a national bottle bill to address global warming that includes water bottles and other non-carbonated beverage containers.

The beverage industry, which long resisted deposit laws, has started to cooperate — mainly because it sees bottled water as the answer to the soda sales slump. Following months of bad publicity, manufacturers like Coke, Pepsi, and Nestlé have begun making lighter-weight plastic bottles, and are encouraging consumers to recycle.

Better Yet, Carry Tap Water

If you buy bottled water, recycle the bottle. But the better solution — for you and the environment — is to drink tap water, both at home and at restaurants:

• Tap water is cleaner than most bottled water.
• Tap water is delivered to homes and offices for $0.002 a gallon. Bottled water, which can cost as much per gallon as gasoline, is a thousand times more expensive.

The quality of municipal water in the U.S. is generally excellent. Don’t let the recent reports about pharmaceuticals in tap water deter you — see this TreeHugger post for why.

But if you don’t trust tap water, or you have old plumbing, or you think tap water tastes funny, then try a water filter like those from PUR or Brita. To learn more about water filters, check out the rated list of water filter review sites at Consumer Search.

To carry water with you, use a reusable container filled with tap water. But don’t reuse single-use water bottles. This can expose you to bacterial build-up and carcinogens leached from the plastic.

Quite a few companies make reusable water bottles. There’s an ongoing debate about the safety of the polycarbonate plastic some use, but there are many safe reusable bottles made from other materials.

Use it or Lose it

National Geographic’s Green Guide notes, “…the federal share of funding for water systems has declined from 78 percent in 1973 to 3 percent today.” This places the financial burden almost entirely on local governments.

Food and Water Watch also talks about how important it is to stop this trend and maintain the quality of municipal water. Their Take Back the Tap [PDF] report gives a detailed overview of the issues surrounding tap water versus bottled water.

What do you think? Can you give up bottled water?

Earth: The Sequel tells the story of an exciting race that is just beginning — the race to develop low-carbon energy in time to turn our greatest environmental crisis into our greatest economic opportunity.

Many people have expressed surprise that I’d write a book like this about a problem so serious. And global warming is serious. With each passing year, scientists get more and more alarmed at the increase and extent of disturbing impacts. But this book is not about the doom and gloom of global warming. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Earth: The Sequel is about hope, invention, ingenuity, entrepreneurialism, capital markets, commerce, and profit. These are words that most people don’t think of when they hear the term “global warming,” and they especially don’t expect to hear them coming from me. After all, I’m an environmental lawyer running one of the country’s most respected and influential environmental groups, advocating for good environmental policy.

I wrote this book because, after 20 years of studying global warming and trying to craft solutions to stop it, I know that government policy alone is not the answer. Enacting a hard cap on carbon will play a key supporting role, but the starring role belongs to American commerce.

The stars are the ingenious inventors and risk-taking entrepreneurs who are creating flying windmills, artificial carbon-eating trees, and breakthroughs in solar and biomass technologies. The book explores how we will reinvent everything from cars to concrete, and replace the old, dumb, centralized electrical grid with a smart, multidirectional energy network.

The vibrancy of our future lives largely depends on our winning this race — a race both to stop global warming, and to win the upside of new opportunities if we do. We can win and win big, or we could lose and lose big. It’s both the scariest and most exciting race of my lifetime.

I wrote Earth: The Sequel to describe the race and change the conversation about global warming. I want others to know about the real people doing the real work that will change our lives, and I want to inspire people to embrace a new and different future, rather than be afraid of it.

Earth: The Sequel is available in stores now, so I hope you’ll take a look. Please let me know what you think.

More about Earth: The Sequel.

Last month’s New York Times report on high mercury levels in tuna sushi was certainly cause for concern for serious sushi lovers. (See my previous post Plenty of Safe, Eco-Friendly Fish in the Sea.)

The report might have also made many parents uneasy about the ubiquitous tuna sandwich in their kids’ lunch boxes. Many of us rely on canned tuna for a wholesome, high-protein meal. Once considered a “nuisance food” or “pauper’s food,” today almost half of all American households serve canned tuna monthly. Only shrimp surpasses canned tuna as Americans’ favorite seafood. But does this beloved fish in a can deliver a helping of toxic mercury, too?

Given the popularity of canned tuna fish and its moderate levels of mercury, parents should monitor how much their kids eat.

Here’s why: Children (and infants and fetuses) are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of mercury, since their brains and nervous systems are still developing. They may suffer learning disabilities and developmental delays from prolonged or repeated exposure to even small amounts of mercury.

Children who were exposed to mercury before birth may experience problems with mental development and coordination, including how they think, learn and problem-solve later in life.

Parents can still feed kids tuna, if they are mindful of which types they feed their children and how often. There are two main kinds of canned tuna: Canned light (chunk light) and canned albacore tuna (solid/chunk white)

Canned white, or albacore, contains higher mercury levels, so meals should be limited. Children up to age six should eat no more than one meal a month, and children ages 6-12 should eat no more than two meals a month (see Environmental Defense’s Health Alert list for all fish).

Adults, too, should limit how much albacore they eat, especially if they are pregnant or of child-bearing age (more details on seafood and contaminants).

The safer choice is canned light, but kids should still not eat it every day. Parents should limit their young children’s meals of canned light tuna to 3 meals per month. Older kids and adults can safely eat it once a week or more.

Why the difference in mercury for the two types of canned tuna? The reason, simply put, is that albacore (white) is a larger, more predatory species of tuna, so it accumulates more mercury in its tissues. Skipjack, which accounts for most canned light tuna, doesn’t grow nearly as large as albacore, so it has approximately one-third the mercury levels.

But read the canned light label carefully: Some canned light tuna reportedly contains yellowfin tuna, which has similar mercury levels to albacore. These products are sometimes (but not always) labeled “gourmet” or “tonno,” and their consumption should be limited by both adults and children.

Armed with information, parents can still safely include tuna salad sandwiches in their lunch boxes, in moderation. An even better choice is canned salmon. Canned salmon is mainly sockeye or pink from Alaska — a wise choice not only because the fish are low in contaminants and high in heart-healthy omega-3s, but also because they are sustainably caught.

Please share this post with the parents and kids you know — they’ll appreciate knowing how to keep their exposure down.

As these facts show, affordable options are available. And America cannot afford to fall behind any more in the race to invent clean, renewable energy sources.

45%

Increase in world’s solar generating capacity in 2005.

2

Rank of China as global producer of solar cells, behind Japan (U.S. ranks 4th).

$1.5 billion

Amount U.S. government spends a year on renewable energy research.

$1 billion

ExxonMobil’s daily revenue.

$2 billion

Amount GE Energy Financial Services invested in wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy in 2007.

$200 billion

Amount China has committed to invest in renewable energy sources over the next 15 years.

0.74%

Projected cost of smart cap-and-trade climate policy on U.S. economic output in 2030.

100%

Projected growth of the U.S. economy by 2030.

53

Number of senators supporting cap-and-trade legislation.

0

Number of bills passed by Congress to cap and reduce America’s global warming pollution.

Sources: World Watch Institute, Earth Policy Institute, Department of Energy, CNN, GE Energy Financial Services, Reuters, and upcoming Environmental Defense report: Climate Policy and the U.S. Economy, 2008

Learn more at Environmental Defense.

As a marine scientist who has been researching seafood sustainability and health issues for a long time, I’ve known for a while that bluefin tuna not only has high mercury levels but is severely depleted, too.

These magnificent fish are highly prized for their rich, buttery flesh. The global sushi market can’t get enough bluefin, and as a result, exorbitant prices and severe overfishing are driving bluefin tuna to the brink of extinction.

I love sushi as much as the next person, but given its dire population numbers and high mercury levels, maybe its time that we all lay off for a while.

Now making big headlines is a New York Times report that found that much of the bluefin sushi served in upscale New York City restaurants actually exceeds the Food and Drug Administration’s “action level” for mercury. (The threshold is 1 part per million.)

To reiterate: It’s no surprise that bluefin tuna has high levels of mercury – it’s one of the largest and most predatory fish species in the ocean. What is surprising is just how many New York City restaurants are serving the really high-mercury tuna.

And it’s not just Big Apple sushi that may pose a danger to your health. Mercury levels in bluefin are likely to be very high regardless of location, as I explained to Times reporter Marian Burros in the article.

The big picture? There’s good news and bad news. First, the FDA is failing the American people when it comes to seafood safety. The FDA inspects less than one percent of imported seafood annually, a fact made clear by recent news stories about illegal drug residues in seafood imported from China. Far less seafood is ever tested for environmental toxins such as mercury.

The concentrations of mercury found in New York City tuna sushi were above the “action level” – meaning FDA can actually take the fish off the market. But the FDA does so little mercury testing it can’t even come close to enforcing its own safety standards. For U.S. consumers, the situation is ‘buyer beware’.

The good news is that it’s easier to make eco-friendly and healthy seafood choices than you think. Environmental Defense’s Seafood Selector maintains a list of contaminated fish based on data from over 200 studies by academic and government scientists. We also recommend seafood choices that are healthy for you and the environment.

The bottom line is that you don’t have to sacrifice the health benefits of fish because a few species are high in mercury. Adventurous sushi-lovers might try Atlantic mackerel or farmed oysters instead – they’re not only low in contaminants and high in heart-healthy omega-3s, there are plenty of them (unlike bluefin).

Get ecological and health information on more than 200 kinds of fish at Environmental Defense’s Seafood Selector.

1. Replace my conventional light bulbs with energy-efficient ones. One of the simplest things you can do to save energy and pollution is to swap out your old incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Today’s high-tech bulbs dim, come in decorative shapes and radiate a warm, rosy glow. If you’re not ready for a full-house makeover, start by changing just one light. See our bulb guide for details.

2. Calculate my carbon footprint and see what I can do to reduce it. Do you live in a large apartment building or a small house? Do you drive a hybrid car or a pickup truck? How many times a year do you fly? Taking stock of your habits is the place to start in cutting “carbs”.

3. Make small changes at home. An easy place to start is unplugging your chargers and computers when you’re not using them. Another simple change that pays off: Turn down your thermostat in winter (55 degrees when away or at night) and up in summer (to 85 when away). Wash clothes in warm or cold water, not hot. See more adjustments you can make that add up to energy savings.

4. Drive like the Earth depends on it. The way you drive can affect gas mileage and cut global warming pollution from your car’s tailpipe. For one, traveling with a light load will increase fuel economy. And driving less aggressively without rapidly accelerating and braking also improves gas mileage. Get more tips.

5. Buy carbon offsets to help offset my emissions even further. If you’ve already slimmed down your carbon consumption as much as possible, there is more you can do. Buying carbon offsets neutralizes what you can’t cut, like flying for business or heating your house.

6. Choose seafood that’s good for me and the ocean. Did you know that wild salmon from Alaska comes from a well-managed fishery and is a much better choice than conventional farmed salmon? (And, fortunately, canned salmon is mainly wild pink or sockeye from Alaska.) Do you know which fish you should eat only in limited amounts to avoid mercury or PCBs? It’s all in our seafood guide.

7. Write my members of Congress demanding a strong global warming law. Time is running out to solve the global warming crisis. Waiting just two years to pass national climate legislation would mean we’d have to cut emissions twice as quickly.

8. Pass this list on to my friends and family. If everyone you knew made small everyday changes, think what a big difference it would make! Together we can make 2008 a banner year for the environment.

For more way help the planet, visit Environmental Defense.

All year long we’ve been monitoring developments in climate science, and posting about the important new developments. I thought now would be a good time to look back over 2007 and summarize what we’ve learned.

Here are ten noteworthy science stories we covered in 2007:

1. The Sun is (really, really) not responsible for global warming. This paper wasn’t breaking news, just an extremely thorough review of the science showing why the sun can’t be blamed for global warming. The folks over at RealClimate said it best: “That’s a coffin with so many nails in it already that the hard part is finding a place to hammer in a new one.”

2. American Southwest climate is becoming drier. Global warming has caused a long-term shift in rain patterns. An author of the study said, “You can’t call it a drought anymore, because it’s going over to a drier climate. No one says the Sahara is in drought.”

3. Sea level could rise 4.5 feet this century. This estimate, which is twice the highest business-as-usual value in the IPCC report, was based on the observation that sea level rise has changed roughly in proportion with global temperature.

4. CO2 is rising at an accelerating rate. The cause is mostly accelerating emissions from fossil fuel use, but there’s also evidence that oceans are taking up an increasingly smaller fraction of humans’ CO2 emissions.

5. Greenhouse effect now stronger than El Niño. Researchers studying America’s record-breaking temperatures and deadly heat waves of 2006 concluded that global warming, not El Niño, was the cause. The greenhouse effect, they say, is now stronger than natural temperature variations such as El Niño.

6. Smog could accelerate global warming. Ground-level ozone, or smog, impairs plants’ ability to take up CO2, the main greenhouse gas. If (as expected) smog levels are higher in the future, atmospheric CO2 will accumulate faster than it would otherwise.

7. Geo-engineering could be extremely dangerous. One idea for cooling the climate is to artificially reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. But this approach entails a huge risk. If the technology fails or is stopped, climate could experience a large rebound, with warming rates 20 times faster than today’s.

8. Arctic sea ice is melting faster than predicted. This year it hit a 29-year low, significantly below the previous record set in 2005. Melting ice can set off a cycle that causes additional warming, since dark water beneath the sea ice absorbs rather than reflects solar energy.

9. Two-thirds of polar bears could disappear by 2050. According to a federal report, “because the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative.”

10. Global warming is “unequivocal.” The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that human activities have caused most of the warming over the past 50 years.

Please share this list. It’s a great way to help people catch up if they haven’t been paying close attention.