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10 Reasons Utilities Want to Build Their Own Smart Grid Networks

Posted by ep-admin on Monday, 02 August 2010 in Green Design

The debate over whether utilities want to use public networks, like cell phone company infrastructure, or build out their own private networks for their smart grid deployments, rages on. On one hand smaller utilities don’t generally want to have the responsibilities — and expenses — of an IT...

Scientists condemn current development plan in Kalimantan

Posted by ep-admin on Monday, 02 August 2010 in Wildlife Conservation

Scientists with the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) have released a resolution opposing the current development plan for a road and bridge crossing Balikpapan Bay in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan. The resolution states that the plan threatens not only the fragile ecosys...

Good News for Gulf Fishermen

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 31 July 2010 in Fishing

In response to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government closed off vast areas of the ocean to fishing operations. Much of the area was closed off as a precaution, even if it was minimally touched by the spreading oil, to avoid a public health disaster from contaminate...

Lawsuit Filed to Protect Gulf’s Whales and Turtles

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 in Oil Spill

Interior Department Failed to Analyze Oil-Spill Risk The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a lawsuit against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for failing to assess possible impacts on the Gulf of Mexico's endangered whales and sea turtles of a large oil spill resulting from drilling...

Battle to save Gulf sea turtles from oily death

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 in Oil Spill

While BP struggles to finally seal the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, an equally desperate battle has been enjoined on the surface to save endangered sea turtles from meeting an oily grave. Jane Lubchenco, head of the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said Tu...

Banning Shark Fins from Shark Fin Soup

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 in Earth Violators

A law prohibiting the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins goes into effect in the state of Hawaii. Hailed as a victory, albeit a small one, by conservationists, this law nevertheless is a major step in recognizing the need for government action to help save the shark. Sought afte...

ANOTHER Oil Spill: 800,000 gallons in Kalamazoo River

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 27 July 2010 in Earth Violators

More than 800,000 gallons of oil have been released into a creek in Marshall that feeds the Kalamazoo River.Houston-based Enbridge Energy Partners said Monday that oil flowed into the Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River after a leak developed in its pipeline.Enbridge said the 30-inch pipeline tra...

The Baltic Sea: Spring Algae Blooms

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 24 July 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

Record summer temperatures, farm fertilizers and a lack of wind have created a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn. The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of Germany,...

Climate change threatens poverty fight

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 24 July 2010 in Human Health

Climate change threatens to undo years of work to tackle poverty in developing countries, a report warned today. The study by Forum for the Future and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) said strong, urgent action was needed in poor countries to address the impacts of c...

Great Power Race

Posted by ep-admin on Friday, 23 July 2010 in Sustainable Development

Today, the Senate failed yet again to bring forward a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill. Could what’s missing be a healthy sense of competition?350.org just released a new video to jump-start the Great Power Race, a clean energy competition between students in China, India and the US. The ...

Why can't the automobile industry get a handle on low-carbon cars?

Posted by ep-admin on Thursday, 22 July 2010 in Transportation

The answer's in the profit margins - which is why the credit crunch offers hope for the future, says Harriet Williams Last summer, Friends of the Earth Europe parked an old-style 1948 VW Beetle next to the brand-new model in front of the European Parliament in Brussels. The human genome has been s...

Obama sets plan for oceans, Great Lakes

Posted by ep-admin on Thursday, 22 July 2010 in Water Conservation

As his administration contends with the BP Plc oil spill, Obama was to sign an executive order creating a single National Ocean Council to make sense of the huge number of rules from different agencies on the use of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The plan, the final recommendation...

New 'walking' fishes discovered in Gulf oil-spill zone

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 in Oil Spill

Two new fish species — with pancake-flat bodies, wiggling lures on their faces, and elbowed fins for “walking” on the seafloor — have been discovered in the path of spewing Gulf of Mexico oil. Picture Courtesy of AMNH One of these pancake batfishes lives in the northern Gulf wh...

Destroying the Environment considered a Sin

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 in Sustainable Development

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican keen to show its green side has added pollution to the realm of "new sins" that today's Catholics must confront and avoid.In this age of expanding globalization, the Vatican is telling followers that sin is not just an individual act but can also be a transgression against t...

Greenpeace's Kumi Naidoo: From Liberating South Africa to Saving Planet Earth

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 20 July 2010 in Environmental Heroes

By Nell Greenberg, Earth Island Journal Kumi Naidoo is the real thing. Naidoo, who became the Executive Director of Greenpeace International in November 2009, is not your typical career environmentalist. He became an activist at just 15 years old in apartheid South Africa. As a result of hi...

Climate change to blame for hottest summer ever?

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 20 July 2010 in Climate Change

The first six months of 2010 brought a string of warmest-ever global temperatures, but connecting these dots to long-term climate change patterns remains frustratingly difficult, experts say. Not only was last month the hottest June ever recorded, it was the fourth consecutive month in which t...

EPA Requires 800 million Gallons of Biodiesel in the U.S. Domestic Market in 2011

Posted by ep-admin on Monday, 19 July 2010 in Biofuels

WASHINGTON, DC – - Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would require the domestic use of 800 million gallons of biodiesel in 2011. This is consistent with the renewable goals established in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which expanded the Renewabl...

Why Social Media Will Never Let BP Sleep

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 17 July 2010 in Earth Violators

by Richard Telofski The current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is, of course, a first degree public relations nightmare for beleaguered British multinational BP. Many pundits and financial analysts have debated whether or not the company will be able to survive this environmental disaster. Certain...

Airlines & Airports Partner on Biofuels

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 17 July 2010 in Transportation

Pacific Northwest aviation businesses and airports are flying together to promote aviation biofuel development in the region. The “strategic initiative” includes Alaska Airlines, The Boeing Company, Portland International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Spokane International ...

How to Clean up an Oil Spill

Posted by ep-admin on Friday, 16 July 2010 in Oil Spill

Oil Spill Cleanup Methods The devastating oil spill in the Gulf started way back on April 20th of 2010, after the DeepWater Horizon Oil rig exploded killing 11 workers. Since then, crude oil has been pouring in to the Gulf of Mexico with estimates somewhere between 1 to 2 million gallons...