Green Options

Washington, DC’s Metro system recently enacted a random police search policy for its riders, citing increased security concerns for the decision. But in reality, the new policy does nothing to protect people from terrorist attacks and pushes people away from public transit and into cars.

Which is the bigger threat: a terrorist attack on a train or the greenhouse gases that spew from cars stuck in rush hour traffic?

Editor’s Note: I was in Houston, TX, last week, celebrating the International Year of the Planet at the first ever joint meeting between the American societies of Soil Science, Geology, Crop Science and Agronomy. With a significant focus on biofuels, this conference was rife with interesting materials.

In what could be my biggest personal revelation since diving into the world of alternative energy, it dawned on me last week that the “western” biofuel players are certainly the loudest kids on the block, but not really the most important.

I spent a large part of my time at the conference just trying to sort out which of the dozens of excellent forums on biofuels, energy, and environmental quality I should attend. The rest of my time was taken up with trying to keep my head together enough to make sense of it all so I could convey it in a way that’s meaningful to you, my readers.

But, while running around like a kid in a candy store, I became aware that my understanding of biofuels was decidedly myopic. Up until last week, I was squarely focused on U.S., E.U., and, to a smaller extent, Brazilian policies — quite naturally and unapologetically, I might add. After all, I am a U.S. citizen and I have a profound connection to my country and it’s cultural peers.

The Supreme Court today began hearing a case that questions who (or what creatures) get dibs on the ocean waters off the coast of California.

Whoever said that the environment doesn’t involve security? And here I’m talking about real politick, those issues that involve honest to gosh boots on the ground. Environmental scarcity or environmental disasters are quite capable of involving national security issues.

For more, see today’s post: 2018: The Year of Petroleum Independence?

Or get involved with wecansolveit.org.

An assessment by the National Intelligence Council with input from all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies identifies climate change as a significant security threat.

Identifying a direct link between climate change and national security, the report suggests that whilst the US is capable of handling the impacts of climate change within it’s own borders, the international issues caused by humanitarian disasters and political unrest will pose a significant threat to US national security.