Green Options

According to an analysis conducted by the National Research Council and partly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the roll-out of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) to the U.S. market will be too slow to have any real effect on our greenhouse gas emissions or oil addiction until at least the 2030s.

We spent a few hours today at Arc Ecology, slowly trying to comprehend 4000 pages of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that was recently released for our Bayview neighborhood’s “redevelopment”. If you are inspired to read it yourself, you can download the entire EIR document here on the SF Planning Department’s website. The plan is entitled: Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Project (formerly known as the “Bayview Waterfront Project”) Draft EIR.

Peter searching through the Draft EIR at Arc Ecology’s library in Bayview.

If you start reading today, you will only have to read about 170 pages each day if you want to finish it by the time the public comment period is over. The allotted time in which we are allowed to give our input ends on the third day of Kwanzaa, in just twenty-six days. Many neighborhood residents and activists are demanding a 90 day extension on the public comment period, which hopefully will be granted. Two hearings are scheduled on December 15 and 17 at SF City Hall for public comment.

Overall, global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels increased 29% between 2000 and 2008 and 41% from 1990-2008, and the current concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now at its highest in at least 2 million years, according to a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The new report published this week by an international team of researchers who are part of the “Global Carbon Project” shows emissions trends through 2008 (including changes in emissions causes and in the amount of emissions remaining in the atmosphere) and brings up some major questions for the future as well.

A remarkable new study predicts that at least 14 million electric cars will be zooming around the US by 2020, and reckons that EVs could account for a startling 75 percent of all light-duty miles driven by 2040.

The ambitious claims form part of an in-depth study, called the Electrification Roadmap, backed by a coalition of business leaders including Nissan, FedEx, Coda Automotive and Coulomb Technologies.

Nike has stopped all imports of leather from the Amazon region of Brazil, after a Greenpeace report claimed that its shoes and trainers could be speeding up the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest and contributing to global warming.

The report, published last month, revealed how cattle hides from deforested areas were entering the supply chains of global brands including Nike, Clarks, Adidas and Reebok.

According to the NGO, deforestation for cattle ranching in Brazil alone is now the biggest driver of deforestation anywhere in the world.

A far reaching report has called on the aviation industry to drastically increase the use of biofuels, to make a 60% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The study, called ‘Green Skies Thinking‘, was published today by right wing think-tank Policy Exchange, and advocates the phase-in of an EU Sustainable Bio-Jet Fuel Blending Mandate by 2020, which would force aviation companies to commit to a rising proportion of jet fuel from sustainable bio-jet fuels.

Crucially, the report also reckons that growing the feedstock needed for advanced biofuels would require significantly less land and be more sustainable than first generation biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, generally used by road transport.

It’s in the papers and on TV. It spreads across the Internet (including this very post), and it is finding its way into the classroom. Global climate change is nothing new. And it certainly isn’t going away. Not yet, anyway.

Once again it’s time for the National Audubon Society’s Annual Great Backyard Bird Count.

This event is in its 12th year, and for 2009 will be held February 13-16.

Over the four day period, birdwatchers count birds to create a real-time snapshot of where birds are across the continent.

People of all ages and birdwatching levels are invited to participate in this popular event, and what a great way to get children outside and take notice of the wonders of the natural world around them.

Money flowing into Canada’s government to protect the environment may actually never be going there… and nobody would know any better.

A startling new WWF study has revealed that people living in Hong Kong currently use twice as many resources as residents in China, more than double the sustainable level.

To feed the vibrant city’s massive demand for natural resources, and absorb the CO2 emitted, residents need an area of land and sea larger than 250 Hong Kong’s, an incredible seven-fold increase since 1965.

According to Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network, “Although small geographically, Hong Kong not only has significant resource demands, but it also has an over-proportional influence on the world.

A new report says that global warming could cost the Californian economy billions of dollars each year, through a combination of rising sea levels, and the increased frequency of wild fires and extreme weather events.