Policy & Government

In a recent Sunday talk show, House Speaker John Boehner described the Keystone XL oil pipeline as “the epitome of a shovel ready job project.” Though it’s tempting to dismiss that characterization out of hand in light of a Cornell University study demonstrating that the pipeline could eliminate more jobs than it creates, the concept [...]

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With the help of a group of very wealthy and well known individuals, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Chairman of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, a group of leading climate scientists are advocating for the use of controversial geoengineering as a way to prevent catastrophic climate change.

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Back in 2010, when Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes accused Denver’s bicycle sharing program of being part of an insidious United Nations conspiracy to take over America’s communities, a nation chuckled at the absurdity. “Cities Engage in Vast Biking Conspiracy (Shh!)” read a New York Times headline. More than a year later, the same bizarre conspiracy theory is no laughing matter for anyone who cares about their community’s future.

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One year after the February 14 uprising, Bahrain’s government is still harassing its citizens and denying them basic human rights. Can businesses operating here do anything to exert pressure on the Al Khalifa family, who rules Bahrain with an iron fist?

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A group of 83 farmers, representing, non-GMO seed producers are suing the biotech giant Monsanto in an effort to get them to stop suing farmers. The plaintiffs in the suit are led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) and their complaint is aimed at Monsanto’s so-called “seed police,” whose strong-arm tactics include suing farmers for patent infringement any time pollen or seeds from a farm growing GMO plants nearby drifted onto their land.

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IPS reports that in January, Sierra Leone became one of the first West-African countries to launch an online mining database. The database is said to increase transparency of the country’s mining operations. The system will contain all data on mineral rights, statuses and payments recorded by the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources that pertain to [...]

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Hoping to avert an all-out solar energy trade war, 45 US solar energy CEOs have sent a letter urging Pres. Obama to focus on mutual benefits with Chinese VP Xi Jinping, who is expected to succeed Hu Jintao as China’s president in 2013.

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The House transportation bill throws a big wet kiss to Big Oil.

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Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director, announced earlier this month that Sierra Club has decided to turn down $30 million in donations from people connected with Chesapeake Energy, the country’s second-largest natural gas producer. This decision came after it was revealed that Sierra Club secretly received $26 million in donations from these donors between 2007 and 2010.

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Over several months, many governments and airlines around the world have opposed the European Emissions Trading scheme forcing airlines to buy carbon allowances, but China’s reaction this week is the strongest yet, in imposing a national law placing an outright ban on participation.

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The EPA’s latest ranking of the top renewable energy buyers has Walmart moving to number three on the list from number 15 three months ago.

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This might sound shocking because, not only do I contribute to a publication focused on green and sustainable business news, but I graduated from a school that focuses on sustainable management.  With a cogent résumé towards a green economy, why might the green economy not include me?

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Monsanto likes to think of itself as a sustainable agriculture company. They proudly trumpet their commitment to improving crop yields in the face of an ever-increasing human population, which they put forth as the very essence of sustainability. In truth, they are pursuing a sustainable objective in an unsustainable fashion. UCS senior scientist Doug Gurian-Sherman claims that Monsanto, “is producing more engineered seeds and herbicide and improving its bottom line, but at the expense of conservation and long-term sustainability.”

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has come out with a new study that shows the payback period for a new delivery-type electric truck is much shorter than previously thought.

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According to the UN, by 2050, we will be using fewer resources whether we like it or not.

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>NASA has challenged the aviation industry to come up with a new concept for a next generation airplane, and preliminary results indicate the the next generation of air travelers will get to ride in something that looks far more sleek and modern than the current crop of planes.

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Well, the vultures might be circling, but they might have to wait a while to pick the bones of the CleanTech industry, which by many accounts, is still far from dead. Juliet Ellperin wrote in this month’s Wired, that the CleanTech boom has gone bust, comparing it to both the Internet bubble and the housing bubble. But a number of experts are forecasting significant growth for the renewable sector despite several mitigating factors.

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This story, our story, is like a dream where we dream we are falling– falling into a climate that is spinning out of control, falling into an economic crisis that has left millions impoverished, falling into dependence on a dwindling energy supply that is largely in the hands of those we don’t trust. The only thing that can save us from this “bad dream,” is for us to awaken in time. But we must all awaken together for it to work. And the thing that we must do when we all awaken together, to save ourselves, is to embrace the Green Economy.

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Leon Kaye explains that Masdar City does not have it all right, nor should it: at a fundamental level, it is an experiment. And that is why this UAE hub is a leader.

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As many critics have long maintained, the proliferation of genetically modified crops would eventually lead to the proliferation of herbicide-resistant superweeds. Hence, we now have a dangerous escalation of chemical warfare in the fields from which our food is being harvested. The “new” herbicide 2,4-D that Monsanto’s latest corn will be resistant to, is actually one of the two active ingredients in Agent Orange of Vietnam War infamy.

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Business advocacy Coalition, BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy) has endorsed the California Air Resources Board’s, Advanced Clean Cars Program, which passed last week – citing benefits which they say will spark economic growth.

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Update: Susan G. Komen responds to outcry from supporters and reinstates funding to Planned Parenthood. On January 31, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation (SGK) pulled its grant funding from Planned Parenthood ending a partnership spanning several years and sparking a firestorm of controversy and backlash. With one murky policy decision as its defense, SGK did [...]

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The Alliance for Biking and Walking just released its 2012 Benchmarking Report which details that between 2000 to 2009, the number of commuters who bike to work increased by 57 percent in the USA, and that 12 percent of all trips are now taken by bike or on foot in this country. The report also highlights bicycle [...]

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The UN High-Level Panel Global Sustainability released its report in Addis Ababa yesterday entitled “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing.” The panel’s 99-page report, which will serve as an input to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June, (otherwise known as the Rio+20 Summit) is a call to action, “to address the sustainable development challenge in a fresh and operational way.”

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The global power industry leader ABB of Switzerland recently pumped $20 million into California’s GreenVolts solar technology company, and the investment could pay big dividends for U.S. farmers. With fuel prices rising, a switch to solar power could ease the bottom line for the domestic agriculture sector, and GreenVolts has just announced a partnership with [...]

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Our economy – and thus, our lifestyle – is firmly entrenched in the infrastructure that surrounds us and how we use it. This makes it extremely challenging to change how we live. At the VerdeXchange Conference in my home city of Los Angeles last week, I was pleased to encounter a group of individuals from government organizations and the private sector coming together to figure out how to transition Los Angeles to a greener economy. Even as a resident working in the sustainability field, I was surprised to learn about some of the work being done to green the city’s most carbon intensive and highly polluting facilities, operations, and infrastructure.

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A UN-backed survey conducted by Globescan and SustainAbility, of 642 senior executives, campaigners and academics found that the vast majority feel that pressure to deliver short-term financial results is impeding their sustainability efforts. Of course the sluggish economy has been a challenge, but do companies today really have to choose between profitability and sustainability or is this a false choice?

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Here are some tips for restructuring challenge campaigns to make them more successful.

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Is corporate activism an accurate – or needed – part of the CSR ratings picture? When companies are active in political issues, such as pursuing a negative stance on climate change, how much is this part of their overall picture of corporate sustainability?

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Most efforts to slow the impact of global warming have focused on reducing carbon emissions, because it is the largest component and, according to the EPA, the most dominant and the fastest growing greenhouse gas. But CO2 is only one of several greenhouse gases. A team of scientists suggest that an easier and possibly more effective approach, at least in the short term, would be to focus on methane and soot.

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