politics

By Ben Block

Biofuels offer the promise of a low-carbon fuel that could power vehicles and stimulate the world's rural economies.

Yet biofuels are also among the most vilified of environmental technologies. Ethanol refineries are not always clean. The labor on biofuel farms is not always fair. The diversion of feedstocks from food to fuel may be driving up global commodity prices. And the forests, fields, and peat bogs cleared to make room for biofuel crops may release more carbon into the atmosphere than they would save from vehicles not burning fossil fuels.

To address these issues, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) has gathered environmentalists, industry leaders, and university researchers to develop the first international standard for biofuel production.

What happens with a new president?

by Eric de Place

This is the eigth in a short series of posts that explain some important but often overlooked policy issues in the Western Climate Initiative -- the West's regional cap-and-trade system. (Much to readers' delight, this is the last installment I'm planning to write.)

You can't talk about regional cap and trade very long before someone brings up the subject of pre-emption. What happens if the federal government creates a national cap and trade program? Would the regional programs disappear? And if so, why bother working on them?

Does raising the threshold lower the bar?

by Eric de Place

This is the third in a short series of posts that explain some important but often overlooked policy issues in the Western Climate Initiative--the West's regional cap-and-trade system.

How to hand out allowance money.

By Eric de Place for the Sightline Institute's Daily Score blog.

This is the second in a short series of posts that explain some important but often overlooked policy issues in the Western Climate Initiative. We've written extensively on "allocations" -- the method of distributing the carbon permits to the public through auctions or free distribution -- but there's a related issue often confused with allocations. Called "apportionment," it has important ramifications.

What's in, what's out, and what's wrong.

By Eric de Place for Sightline's Daily Score.

Last week when the Western Climate Initiative's latest draft appeared it mystified most folks who aren't insiders to the process. That's a shame because WCI is hugely important. So over the next few days I'm going to embark on a series of posts that I hope will clear up some of the misunderstandings. Along the way, I'm also going to explain what Sightline wants to see improved.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports a huge range of journalistic programs, ranging from experimental efforts in community journalism to massive players in the media ecosystem like National Public Radio. 180 of their grantees are in Chicago today at a meeting hosted by Knight designed to build connections between grantees and encourage cross-fertilization of projects. (The Rising Voices project of Global Voices is supported by the Knight Foundation, which is why I’m here.)

Jimmy Carter in his Famous Cardigan Sweater

At least that is what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says, and they might have a bias. However they do point out that:

He was right in seeking to raise the fleet auto mileage standard to 48 miles per gallon by 1995. (Even U.S. automakers admitted at the time that they could easily achieve 30 mpg by 1985.) Carter was right in exhorting Americans to turn down their thermostats, even if he did look nerdy in a cardigan while urging us to do so. He was right to encourage fuel conservation by proposing a 50-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and a fee on imported oil —- in effect, a floor for fuel prices....

It gets harder every day to figure out who to vote for in Ontario if you are a TreeHugger type. It used to be New Democratic Party turf; then the Green Party came along, but one can't overlook the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, which has pushed every TreeHugger button including:

Health: Banned trans fats in schools, smoking in cars with children, lawn pesticides and pit bulls. Planning: Cleaned up the planning act and brought in the Green Belt. Electricity: Banned incandescent bulbs, removed rules against clotheslines, closing coal fired power plants (or trying, anyways) Cycling: Eliminated...

While certain American politicians complain about a million bucks being included in the country's energy plan to promote bikes, in the UK they are investing £140 million (about US$ 280 million) to create dedicated bike lanes, provide bike parking, safety training, on-street bike rental networks and a campaign to promote bicycling in 12 Cycling Demonstration Towns.

The Transport Minister, Ruth Kelly says "A quarter of journeys made every day by car are less than two miles, Cycling is an alternative that could bring real health benefits to millions of adults and children, as well a...

Founder Graham Hill has always insisted that TreeHugger be nonpartisan and positive, that there are environmentalists on both sides of the political fence and we don't want to be on one side of the chasm that seems to now divide every newspaper, tv station or blog in America into red or blue. Sometimes it is tough to restrain ourselves, with Republicans like Patrick McHenry or Michele Bachm...

In response to our post Why do Republicans hate bicycles? Commenter Michael wrote: "Not to mention that Mayor Bill White (Republican mayor of Houston) is pushing the EPA to make refineries and chemical plants verify their emissions. Of course, considering this piece of news shows a Republican actually being green goes against Treehugger, nothing about it will get posted."

We take umbrage at that; we are not anti-Republican, we are pro-bike and pro-environment and perfectly happy to do EPA-bashing whichever the source. Here goes:

Bill White, the Mayor of Houston, th...

Whenever we write about the need for more money for transit, trains and bike routes, we get lots of comments about how drivers pay through the nose in gas taxes to pay for the roads they drive on, while transit and train are highly subsidized and cyclists? "when you start paying taxes on the roads like we do then you can take up space on them."

In fact, a new Texas study looked at the cost of building and maintaining roads, and determined that for roads without tolls, the gas tax would have to be $ 2.22 per gallon, almost ten times what it is now in the States.
...

"A major component of the Democrats' energy legislation is, and the Democrats' answer to the energy crisis is, hold on, wait one minute, I'm not making this up, it is"promoting the use of the bicycle!

Watch this extraordinary two minute video of Rep Patrick McHenry decrying "19th century technology for a 21st century problem."In Colorado, another republican says “I’d ...

In yet another sign of how gas prices are affecting the economy, several states, including Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma, have begun offering free gas for life instead of the usual cash prizes in lotteries. Of course, there's a catch: in Florida, for instance, free gas for life means that "each winner will be awarded 26 prepaid gas cards, each worth $100, every year until death." Interestingly, in Florida the free gas will go to the second-prize winner, while the first prize winner will win a cash prize. What's i...

"Americans have seen the current oil crisis coming for 30 years. But analysts say chances to head it off were ignored, missed or blocked." - that is the subhead that says it all. Nelson Schwartz writes a long and thorough article in the New York Times about how we got into this mess, and how this may be "a fundamental repricing of the commodity responsible for much of modern American life, the impact of that change will affect everyone from home builders and homeowners in exurbs to corporate leaders, landlords and commuters in cities."

Unfortunately, the vision and action to fix things still seems lacking; for example, Newt Gingrich, who fought efforts to tighten fuel...

Because of the price of gas, Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer miles in April then they did in the same period a year earlier. Nearly 20 billion fewer miles have been driven this year than last. That is a problem for Mary Peters, the Secretary of Transportation, who is getting less gas tax money and complains "We're burning less fuel as energy costs change driving patterns, steer people toward more fuel efficient vehicles, and encourage more to use transit. Which is exactly why we need a more effective funding source than the gas tax."

What, change the fixed gas tax of 24.4 cents a gallon? How about making it proportional so that it goes up with the price...

The Bush administration says it ain't so, blaming high food prices on higher demand from India and China. Brazil's Lula blames record oil prices and rich countries' farm subsidies. John Laumer blames genetically modified crops, among other things. Now a leaked report from the World Bank claims that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75%. The Guardian writes: "Senior development sources" say the report was spiked to avoid embarrassing President Bush. "It would put the World Bank in a political...

Image source

Jim Morrison said "When I was back there in seminary school, There was a person there Who put forth the proposition That you can petition the Lord with prayer. Petition the Lord with prayer. Petition the Lord with prayer.
You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!"

Tell that to Rocky Twyman, who has been holding prayer vigils around the country; he says that since politicians have been unable to do anything about gas prices, its time for divine intervention. This week he is praying at the Saudi Embassy, to pray that they turn the taps on a little more....

photo by KQED QUEST-some rights reserved.

The world of solar energy has been tumultuous of late in the United States: the BLM essentially bans solar power projects on public lands, then reverses its decision because of public outcry. Not to mention the inaction in the Senate on one set of renewable energy legislati...

photo: Getty Images

BLM Reverses Policy
In a reversal of previously stated policy regarding its moratorium on solar energy project applications, the Bureau of Land Management has announced that it will continue to accept applications for new solar projects on public lands, and process these along with the 125 already submitted, pending the completion of the programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
...

photo by Petor Smit

Even though it was announced over a month ago now, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s decision to put a moratorium on all new applications for solar energy development on the lands it controls in six western states only managed to make it onto the collective media radar last week. If the comments Treehugger has received about this development are representative of the green community as a whole, no one’s too pleased by this Federal decision. That includes the solar industry itself:

...

Did you know that the rate of CO2 emissions for average PC use is equal to the CO2 exhaled by 1.5 humans? If not, you probably missed the Virtual Energy Forum 10-11 June 2008. But all is not lost. The presentations are available to registered users at the Virtual Energy Forum website. The live conference took place in a virtual conference environment, saving over 12 million pounds of CO2 emissions, which would have been incurred by air travel, hotel stays and commuting to/from airports to attend a real conference.

We have been watching the movement towards virtual conferences since we reported on

by Yingling Liu

China's recent plastic bag ban has been immediately accepted by consumers. In a country where billions of plastic bags are used each day, the government's top-down policy move will likely benefit the country's environment and energy security well before market forces or consumer-led efforts are able to achieve similar impact.

The ban prohibits shops, supermarkets, and sales outlets from handing out free plastic bags and bans the production, sale, and use of ultra-thin plastic bags under 0.025 millimeters thick. It took effect nationwide on June 1.

photo by Edward Burtynsky via :: The Globe and Mail

It’s no secret that Treehugger’s not a big fan of extracting energy from the Alberta Tar Sands. Oil Shale in Colorado doesn’t really rate highly on our list of good things either. Well, it appears that the U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees with us.

Resolution Against Using High Carbon Fuels
Though it’s jus...

Google is planning to release tools that let internet users know if their service provider (ISP) is tampering with their internet connection - for example by throttling access to popular bandwidth-heavy sites.It is the latest round of the net neutrality debate. Net neutrals like Google say the the internet should be a straightforward commodity.