The United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) is still 200 days away but organizations are not waiting until the event gets closer to encourage countries to step up their climate change actions and policies. One such organization is the Catholic Church, representing 1.1 billion globally practicing the faith. Recently Pope Francis endorsed a Catholic petition calling for bold climate …
FIFA World Cup to Feature Biofuels & Solar
The FIFA World Cup 2014 is underway in Brazil and this year’s event features several renewable energy and sustainable measures never before seen during the event. Sugar Cane Industry Association (UNICA) is supplying the governing body of the football fleet (known as soccer to those living in the U.S.) with ethanol. Flex-fuel cars from Hyundai, Model HB20 Edition FIFA World …
Argonne Scientists Blast EWG Corn Ethanol GHG Report
A recent Environmental Work Group corn ethanol greenhouse gas report has caused lifecycle analysis experts and economist from Argonne National Laboratory and three universities to lash out and what they call “erroneous conclusions”. The experts issued a scathing 13-page response to EWG’s May report titled “Ethanol’s Broken Promise.” EWG “confused parameters” and “misunderstood” previous modeling results, according to experts from …
Concern Over Environment Drops in US
According to the most recent article in Gallup’s Climate Crisis series, over the past year concern over the environment among Americans has dropped. Today, one in four respondents of a recent poll say they are “solidly skeptical” of global warming. The poll found Americans are clustered into three global warming groups. “Concerned Believers” comprise 39 percent and attribute global warming …
USDA Releases Climate Change & Ag Study
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a comprehensive report that synthesize the scientific literature on climate change effects and adaptation strategies for U.S. agriculture. The report, “Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation,” was created a an input to the National Climate Assessment with scientists from the federal service, universities, non-governmental organizations, industry, tribal …
Chasing Methane Advocates at Iowa Capitol
There is no age requirement to be an advocate for the environment. During the recent Iowa Wind Energy Day, five young advocates from Chasing Methane, ranging in age from 11 to 13, came to the Iowa Capitol to encourage people to support food waste composting. Why? As Joey Titus, a 7th grader at Southeast Junior High in Iowa City, Iowa …
Third National Climate Assessment Released
A draft of the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) has been released by the Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC). The committee says this is the most peer-reviewed analysis of climate change impacts on the United States. The assessment was written by 240 scientists and other experts from academia; local, state, and federal government; business; and the non‐profit sector. The …
Consumers Take Action on Global Warming
A new national survey conducted by Yale finds that in the last 12 months, three of of 10 Americans (32 percent) have given business to a company as a reward for their steps to reduce global warming. Twenty-four percent also say that in the past 12 months, they have punished companies for opposing steps to reduce global warming by not …
Movie Review – Chasing Ice
I spent the weekend in the Twin Cities attending several environmental events. The first event was a screening of the documentary Chasing Ice, produced by environmental photographer James Balog who founded Extreme Ice Survey. It is hard for me to put my emotions into words after watching this moving. It was simultaneously incredibly beautiful and yet horrific. Beautiful in that …
World Energy Trilemma Report Released at Doha
According to the World Energy Council (WEC), the world is far away from achieving environmentally sustainable energy systems. According to the organization’s global ranking of country energy sustainability performance, over 90 countries assessed are still far from achieving fully sustainable energy systems. The 2012 Energy Sustainability Index, published within the WEC’s 2012 World Energy Trilemma report, “Time to get real …