Green Options

Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled the already heavily discussed Waxman-Markey bill on Friday, formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act. It is 932 pages long. And no, I haven’t read all of it. So don’t feel too bad.

The previous administration was hostile to science. Political appointees, who believed that the notion of global warming was a “liberal thing,” often trumped Scientist writing about global warming and the “greenhouse effect.” Attempts were made to insert Creationism into the curriculum. Funding was banned for embryonic stem cell research. The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) neglected lead laden toys while wagging war on science education.

The only unmarried president in U.S. history, President James Buchanan may not have been the very reason the country plunged into civil war, but he didn’t do much to prevent it either.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sends Bush offshore drilling plan back to the drawing board.

The World Trade Organization will meet in Brussels Monday (Feb. 9, 2009) to head-off the rising wave of protectionism.

“Well, it’s a sad night because we’ve reached the end of George W. Bush’s presidency and that means we have to unload what was a tremendous, rich, heavy-laden vein of comedy for us - like mining a dense vein of coal by god…” - David Letterman, January 16, 2009

The late night TV hosts have made their living over the last eight years thanks to the guffaws of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush. But now that [...]

With a campaign tag line, CHANGE WE NEED, President-Elect Barack Obama and a large portion of the American population should have some rather meaningful New Year resolutions for 2009.

For many of us, as we review the financial carnage of 2008 and the dismal outcomes of poorly conceived foreign policy decisions on the part of the George W. Bush Administration over the course of his term (practically rubber stamped by the majority of Congress), we are looking forward to the New Year, a new start, and a renewed sense of hope.

Among the first steps, before we usher in the New Year, is a New Year’s Resolution. But unlike years past, will we embrace the responsibility, sacrifice and curtailment so necessary in these times of climate change, ecological collapse, peak oil and the economic hardship experienced by so many, caused in a large part by our debt-based, growth-on-an-infinite-planet obsessed approach to capitalism? Or do we just try to refinance our house one more time, to take advantage of the latest Red Tag Sale?

Here’s some restorative resolutions for 2009:

1. Stop being a consumer: Let’s get back to an era, as imperfect as it was, where we were citizens or people, instead of being nothing more than consumers.
2. Break our fossil fuel addition: Our fossil-fuel-based luxuries and lifestyle are coming at a dire cost to the planet (if not, also, leading to unprecedented exploitation of people to provide those goods or services at cheap prices). Plus, there’s a good chance that fossil-fuel-based energy is going to get a lot more expensive in the coming years. Let’s cut fossil fuel use out of our lives like we might cut a cancer out of our bodies. Renewable energy is in abundance around us, so why not embrace the sun, one of my “Strategies of Abundance for ecopreneurs“.

On Thursday, Assistant Interior Secretary Lyle Laverty ordered the National Park Service to ease its existing mountain biking rules that some environmental groups claim could open up nearly 8 million acres of recommended or proposed wilderness lands in approximately 30 parks to mountain biking.

The White House and Congressional leaders announced that a bailout of the carmakers was imminent. The House signed on, but the Senate opposed the deal. The Big Three and the U.A.W stood united. The final breakdown in negotiation with the Senate occurred when Senator Corker of Tennessee and the U.A.W. came to an impasse. But the bailout will happen. Apparently, Bush will do it with some of the money from the financial bailout.

According to the latest proposal, a “Car Czar” would be appointed to oversee the rescue. It’s unclear how this “Czar” could be more effective than a U.S. trustee appointed by a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy judge. A trustee might be more likely to be free of special interest and partisan bickering. There are strong special interests in the Congress over the automotive industry.

Agree with his politics or not, you’ve got to hand it to President Bush for his snappy reflexes.

The latest in a flurry of environmentally-devastating, last-minute rule changes from the Bush administration will give the go ahead for coal mining companies to fill valleys with the mining debris left over from lobbing-off mountaintops