Financed emissions: A big problem for banks, and a bigger problem for the climate

What is the total greenhouse gas footprint of Citigroup, Bank of America, or UBS? Right now, we don’t know, and that’s a major problem for both banks and the climate. Banks emit greenhouse gases to power their offices and branches, but they also finance the emissions of other companies through their loans, investments, and other [...]

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Beautiful Resistance at Rio+20

Nearly 1500 people used Rio’s Flamengo Beach as a canvas today, their bodies forming the lines of an enormous image promoting the importance of free-running rivers, clean energy sources like solar power and including indigenous knowledge as part of the solution to climate issues. Giant text below the image read, “Rios para a vida” (“Rivers [...]

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Top 5 Reasons The Obama-GOP Debt Ceiling Agreement Is A Bad Deal For The Environment

President Obama just signed the debt deal into law. Just in time too — there were about 10 hours to spare before the midnight deadline, after which our government would most likely go into default. As bad as default would have been, the deal doesn’t appear to be a whole lot better. As Andy Kroll [...]

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A New Kind Of Co-Op: Ending Dependence On Nuclear Power (VIDEO)

Communities around the globe are taking control of their power and switching off dirty energy to clean renewable sources instead. Here’s the first in a series of posts to share these inspiring stories. One mother’s dedication can make a difference. Ursula Sladek was spurred into action after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. A mother of [...]

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What Does Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown Mean for our Energy Future?

Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant disaster have dominated headlines around the world since news broke last Friday. Thousands of people have died in Japan over the past few days, and many more are at risk of radiation sickness from the ongoing nuclear power plant meltdown. My heart aches for all of the families in [...]

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Obama: make green jobs the No. 1 priority in Appalachia

Listening to the Obama’s State of the Union address last night, I was encouraged to hear that job creation is the President’s number one priority for 2010. Well, here is some required reading for achieving that aim: last week’s report from Downstream Strategies in Morgantown, WV: “The Decline of Central Appalachian Coal and the Need [...]

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Shell dumps wind and solar for agrofuels

Money speaks louder than… Oh, yeah–just about everything, including a renewable energy future or attempts to reverse climate change. In a not so surprising, yet utterly short-sighted and outdated move (circa 20th century, not new Millenium), Shell Oil has decided to abandon all their investments in renewables such as solar and wind energy, and transfer [...]

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Public Interest Groups Oppose Carbon Capture Scam

In conjunction with the international release of a report by Greenpeace today – that identifies the ridiculous risk, uncertainty and cost associated with industry-driven plans for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), Public interest groups (from across the country) sent the following letter to Congress, demanding that taxpayer subsidies be disallowed CCS, and that safe, affordable and [...]

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