Green Options

NASA director (at the Goddard Space Flight Center) and top climate scientist James Hansen criticizes all ‘cap and trade’ strategies as doing “little to slow global warming or reduce our dependence on fossil fuels…[and which] allows polluters and Wall Street traders to fleece the public out of billions of dollars..” Hansen then offers an alternative, consumer-driven strategy (and a more radical one) that he calls ‘fee and dividend’.

“No-till” Soybeans Following Wheat

There is a sub-set of farmers who have been practicing a much more sustainable form of agriculture for decades and we are coming up on the 50th anniversary of it’s beginnings.  I want to start writing about this event early because many environmentally-conscious folk are not aware of this hugely significant “revolution” that has occurred in agriculture over the past half century.  No, I’m not talking about “Organic Farming.” That movement is about a decade older in the US and has had a much smaller impact.  I’m talking about “No-till” agriculture and variants that are focused on reducing the amount of “tillage” or “plowing” that are needed to farm.