Green Options

We know a bit about the current situation on climate change. We know which countries are emitting the most global warming emissions. We know that the EU is actively implementing policies to get their emissions down and are serious about keeping climate change at the top of the priority list, even in one of the biggest economic struggles in history. We know that little nations like Tuvalu are working to address climate change. We know that ambitious and engaged countries are running into unseen problems and are unsure where to go in the future. We know that the US is looking to pass a climate bill for the first time and could change history in the process, and the USDA supports it but climate change groups, consumer advocate groups, and social equity groups are quite concerned about some of the changes made by the House of Representatives at the last minute. We know that China, India, and Brazil’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed (several times faster than developed countries’ still growing emissions) in the past two decades.

Yesterday was a big day for the biofuels industry. President Obama issued a presidential directive to the USDA to expand access for biofuels that includes $800 million to fuel biofuels research. The purpose of the directive, in part, is to aggressively accelerate the investment and production of biofuels. What the directive does not do, is set dollars aside to help improve the infrastructure for higher ethanol blends including E85 although it encourages production of more flex-fuel vehicles.

This announcement appears to be serious, at least as serious as a government proclamation can really be– they created another committee to oversee that the presidential directive. The USDA, EPA and DOE will form a Biofuels Interagency Working Group with a mission to increase energy independence in part through the development of the nation’s first comprehensive biofuels market development program.

In a press conference today, Obama will announce the appointment of Lisa Jackson as Head of the EPA and Stephen Chu as Energy Secretary.

After 8 years of cronyism–that lead to the neglect and dismantling of a myriad of environmental protections–it’s going to seem weird to Mother Earth to actually feel protected.