In total, the report showed that China, Japan, and South Korea will invest about $509 billion in clean tech over the next 5 years, whereas the US (with our greenest President in decades, maybe ever) is only expected to invest $172 billion (about 3 times less) — this is assuming the climate and energy legislation in Congress passes.

If the US were to invest the same percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as South Korea, it would invest almost $140 billion per year ($700 billion over this five year period)! Compared to China, the anticipated per-GDP investment ratio is 1:4 (US to China).

In 2008, Japan almost matched US R&D spending on energy and achieved almost the same number of international clean energy patents despite having dramatically lower GDP.

The financial investment is not the only thing giving these countries a major advantage in this field, though.

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Have you seen the comic art for the 2010 Union of Concerned Scientists Scientific Integrity Cartoons? Shown above is a cartoon about science and the Endangered Species Act.

The entire calendar shows how “the absurdity of political interference in science is ripe for lampooning-and serves as a constant reminder of how vigilant we must be in defending science from politics.” The comics also highlight the need for the new administration and Congress to create a thriving federal scientific enterprise.

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This is an excerpt of a guest column Nick Chambers, editor of Gas 2.0, wrote for Popular Mechanics. You can read the whole column on the Popular Mechanics website.

The road trip—driving cross-country for days on end, crammed into a vehicle with your family—is virtually a required rite of passage for most Americans. The lure of the open road is as ingrained in our psyche and culture as the hamburger, football or fishing. So it’s no surprise that proposals for new types of taxes on these seemingly free highways—traditionally paid for by gas taxes and tolls—are causing an uproar.

Back in July of this year, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) proposed a bill that allocates funds to research the effectiveness of taxing highway usage by the mile. On the surface, the bill seems to be laying the groundwork for big government to track our driving habits while simultaneously discouraging the driving of more fuel-efficient vehicles. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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In 2007 federal protections were dropped for the protection of Yellowstone grizzlies. Ever since then, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition have been fighting to give protection back to the bears. They argued that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to address the loss of essential food sources for the bears, whitebark pine seeds and cutthroat trout.

On Monday, September 21 they finally achieved what they were fighting for when Judge Donald Molloy ruled that inadequate regulatory mechanisms were put in place to manage the bears. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and six other groups, represented by Earthjustice, have a similar case pending in Idaho.

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After months of staunch resistance to mandatory emission reduction targets the Indian government has hinted that it is willing to consider a national legislation on voluntary emission reduction targets.

India’s environment minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh acknowledged for the first time that his country needs to take up bold responsibilities in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. The proposed legislation could include emission reduction targets for the year 2030 for the most polluting and carbon intensive industrial sectors.

India has been against mandatory emission reduction targets putting forward two main arguments - one, its per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world and two, taking bold measures to reduce its carbon emissions would adversely impact its endeavor to eradicate poverty. The proposed bill would address both these issues and could serve as a path breaking legislation striking a balance between the economic and social costs and the mitigation measures.

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We can’t expect much from the oil industry, but Greenpeace’s newest finding is as ugly as it gets.

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With commercial trade prohibited for Asian bears, poachers are now turning to the North American black bear for the harvesting of their gallbladders.

In an effort to protect North American black bears, a proposed bill hopes to prevent a dramatic decline in black bear populations by banning any import, export, or interstate commerce in U.S. bear organs and fluids. The Bear Protection Act has been reintroduced by U.S. Representatives Raul M. Grijalva, Democrat from Arizona, and John Campbell, Republican from California. An earlier law in 2000 and 2001 - similar to the new act - passed the U.S. Senate, but did not pass the House.

This legislation is meant to counteract the inconsistent laws that currently make illegal trade in bear parts relatively easy by creating loopholes for would-be entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the lucrative Chinese market for bear gallbladders and other parts.

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As the Internet becomes the resource more Americans turn to for phone numbers, lawmakers are beginning to examine the proliferation of unwanted phone books — and their environmental impact. A Minnesota legislator, Rep. Paul Gardner, has introduced state legislation to allow consumers to opt-out of receiving the paper directories, but is taking a wait-and-see approach on a voluntary initiative by phone services to allow convenient opt-out. Several other states have considered such a law, but none has passed.

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London’s mayor announced a new 2 million tree plan to help fight climate change and keep Londoners cool.

The plan is designed to counteract the “urban heat island effect” in which urban areas absorb and release more heat than surrounding areas, due to having more pavement, traffic and power demand.

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Restoration of shallow lake habitat in southern and western Minnesota is one of the habitat programs funded by a new 25-year conservation tax in the state. Photo courtesy of Ducks Unlimited.

A new three-eighths cent Minnesota sales tax that took effect July 1 is beginning to result in conservation improvements. Approved as a constitutional amendment by Minnesota voters in November 2008, the tax is in place for 25 years and is expected to raise about $250 million per year for habitat protection, clean water and parks and trails projects.

The first headliner among projects funded by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment is the largest forest preservation deal ever in the state. About $36 million in taxpayer money, combined with private funds, will purchase conservation easements on 300 square miles of northern Minnesota forestland, staving off potential division of the habitat into a checkerboard of smaller private parcels. Landowner UPM Blandin will continue to own the land and manage it for forest products, but development is prohibited and public access to the land is preserved.

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Unfortunately, delay due to lawmakers’ inability to come to a consensus and the Obama administration’s reluctancy to increase gas prices at this time (which are much lower, in real terms, than they were 54 years ago) may postpone the bill for another 18 months. However, there is opportunity to take action!

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In 2003 “Nature” published a study showing that 90% of the large fish living in our oceans were fished out of existence. A group of scientists recently predicted, major seafood stocks will collapse by 2048. This is a staggering number, considering the technology and amount of people needed to cause overfishing is a relatively new phenomenon, starting really only in the late 19th century.

Most governments have shrugged these claims off, and continued their fishing practices. Alaska has shown to be the only sovereign state willing to self-police their fishing practices. Sarah Palin jokes aside… Threatened with the loss of one of its top industries, Alaska began limiting the number of fishing vessels, restricting the size of their catches; and perhaps most importantly, giving incentives to fishermen. Alaska currently gives fishermen a stake in the long-term viability of salmon and other fish.

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Much has been said in opposition to the cap and trade climate legislation that is currently on the Senate’s plate. Opponents have argued repeatedly that the legislation will do nothing but increase the cost of energy, which will force companies send jobs over seas, where labor is cheaper, in order to keep up with production demands. Senator Kit Bond (R-Missouri) even went as far as to call the Waxman-Markey Bill “a pig in a poke.”

A few days ago another Senator challenged the bill, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Senator Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska) said, ”USDA knows what cap and trade will do to energy prices…Let me repeat that: USDA says energy prices will increase, but they think the opportunities from climate legislation will likely outweigh the costs.”

So we’ve heard from opponents. But what about proponents? What does the USDA have to say for itself?

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The recovery of peregrine falcons is one of the great success stories of conservation. Now their population in Florida has rebounded enough to remove them from the state’s endangered species list.

Upon approving their removal from the list, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called the combined efforts of wildlife managers and individuals to save the species “one of the best examples of wise conservation practices.”

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In addition to the fact that African Americans are increasingly in support of climate protection and action for its broader importance, the organization said that climate change would have a more severe effect on African Americans and is, therefore, an especially important matter for their members. It is an important matter globally and a possibly even more important matter for African Americans.

Important issues the NAACP also address in the resolution are that the climate legislation needs to do its best to make sure that low- and moderate-income families bear as little as necessary and gain as much as possible from such legislation. This is an important aspect of sustainable legislation and is something other groups, such as Public Citizen, are justly pushing for.

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With some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes, Utah is a haven for the seeker of peace and a respite from the industrialization of the modern world. But those lands have long been in the cross hairs of development’s long sight. With the possibility of an oil well beneath the Fisher Towers, a mine in Moab’s Goldbar Canyon or an off-road vehicle trail paralleling the Colorado River in Westwater Canyon, lovers of the land have fought for decades to preserve the solitude of the desert.

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According to Missouri Senator Kit Bond (R) the cap and trade Waxman-Markey Bill “is really a pig in a poke.” That’s what he told the committee on Tuesday, anyway. Given the opportunity to speak in front of a committee on the financial impacts that the climate bill would have on farmers, Senator Bond wasted no time calling the bill a hoax.

Senator Bond told committee members on Tuesday that the proposed bill would end up costing farmers up to $30,000 per year with the increase in energy costs. These costs work into every detail of a farmers life, from diesel fuel to power their tractors and combines to natural gas in order to make fertilizer. Farm equipment uses energy for irrigation pumps and drying grain before storage.

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Image ©Beth Bader

Nine shark attack survivors will lobby the Senate to put new restrictions on fishing for sharks. The current legislation, Shark Fisheries Management Plan, implemented in the late 1990s, and the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 has failed to prevent thirty-two percent of the sharks and rays that live in the open ocean from being classified as “threatened” this year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

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