By SolveClimate •
May 11, 2009
Image credit: Jack Dempsey and NREL/DOE
Written by Renee Cho and published on May 10, 2009, at SolveClimate.
Green jobs go far beyond the hands-on renewable energy and energy efficiency work that the Obama administration emphasizes with each new project and grant announcement.
To deal with the effects of climate change, jobs will be springing up across the spectrum of research and development, fueled by billions of dollars in Department of Energy grants and scientific funding provided by the economic recovery program and proposed through the Markey-Waxman bill’s National Climate Change Adaptation Program and Fund.
As Energy Secretary Steven Chu likes to say, borrowing from hockey great Wayne Gretzky:
“The United States should skate to where the puck is going to be.”
By Gavin Hudson •
February 23, 2009
Why do athletes train in conditions that are harder than game conditions? Because it makes them better at what they do. Likewise, environmentalists could learn a thing or two from successful activists in countries where the going is harder. In this sense, China makes a great environmentalist training ground. Here, you’ll find both daunting challenges and inspirational environmental activists.
Protip #5: How to create win-win situations and gain popular support
Pan Wenshi was recently featured by the International Herald Tribune for his success working with locals in a small Chinese village to protect the white-headed langur. But it wasn’t until Pan lent a hand to help locals that he began to realize success. After Pan helped a villager to get clean drinking water, the villager freed a langur from a trap and brought the animal to Pan, who learned from the experience. Now, Pan advocates for new schools and health clinics in the area where the langurs live. In return, he gets local support. “When you help the villagers, they would like to help you back,” says Pan. “Now, when outsiders try to trap langurs the locals stop them from coming in.”
Pan’s success grew when he won an environmental award that allowed him to install biogas collectors. The villagers could now cook without the toil of chopping firewood and the langurs benefited by slowed deforestation. Serving the needs of others has allowed the langur population in Pan’s nature reserve to expand from 96 to over 500. “This [serving the human community] is the most important thing we can do,” says Pan. “If the villagers can’t feed themselves, the langurs don’t stand a chance.”
By Melissa Elliott •
November 11, 2008
Three tankers containing crude palm oil were halted by Greenpeace when they attempted to leave an Indonesian port for China and Europe. Activists wanted to highlight the rapidly expanding palm oil industry currently destroying rainforests, harming wildlife, and emitting greenhouse gases.
By Max Lindberg •
June 18, 2008
Step Right Up And Be Amazed
It struck me today that our fearless leaders, would-be’s, and corporate giants seem to think we’re all a bunch of rubes gathered outside a carnival sideshow, leaning on the barker’s every word.
Urging Congress to lift its ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, our fearless leader, you know, President Bush, told lawmakers, “There is no excuse for delay“.
It got worse, “Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response.” Gimme a break.
By Ross Kendall •
May 28, 2008
Environmentalists have claimed a victory in Australia where a major investment bank is said to be canceling its funding of a controversial pulp mill planned by the country’s biggest harvester of old-growth forest timber.
Both the financial sector and the environmental movement were abuzz around Australia last week with the same piece of information. It looked very much like the Australia New Zealand bank (ANZ), one of the country’s top four, had pulled out of its pledge to fund a controversial $2.2 billion pulp mill planned for the southern state of Tasmania.
But of course while the finance sector saw doom and gloom and proceeded to wipe 10 per cent of the share market value of the pulp mill’s developer Gunns Ltd, the environmentalist were giddy with delight. If the rumor is true, and they certainly think it is, it could well be the final shot in a battle that has raged for years between Gunns and environmentalists.
By Mark Seall •
February 23, 2008
At EcoWorldly this week, we’ve been focusing on environmental attitudes around the world. Attitudes to the environment can vary widely - I know this, due to the mixture of emails and comments that I often receive in response to blog posts. But beyond the Internet, how are environmental issues perceived out on the street?
In the interest of bringing EcoWorldy readers the most up to date and worldly information, I’ve undertaken a small, and totally un-scientific survey of the Swiss population by asking a small number of random people random questions about their attitudes towards the environment and environmentalism.
By Gavin Hudson •
February 18, 2008
Dear Readers,
In the first week of February, we explored and compared methods of public transportation around the world.
This week, from February 18-24, we’d like to introduce a topic that’s a little more personal. How do people in different nations view the environment and environmentalists?
To help answer this question, our correspondents around the world will shed light on four areas:
- traditional cultural views: how different cultures see nature and the environment
- attitudes on the street: what
[...]
The polar bears are drowning. Large numbers of fish are disappearing from the oceans. Bottled-water companies and farms are depleting the aquifers. Chemicals in cosmetics are linked to birth defects.
The litany of bad news about the environment seems endless. Are things really that bad? Or do environmentalists tend to view everything they see through soot-colored glasses?
In answer to the latter question, I don’t think so. No, the sky
[...]
