Fracktivists celebrate decision upholding fracking ban in Dryden, NY.

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3p is proud to partner with the Presidio Graduate School’s Macroeconomics course on a blogging series about “the economics of sustainability.” This post is part of that series. To follow along, please click here. By Amanda Irene Rohlich In a rare showing of cooperation on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public [...]

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The Food & Drug Administration could let industry pressure overrule common sense any day now by allowing genetically modified (GE) salmon to be sold to consumers. Congress is ramping up opposition to the frankenfish in a move that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

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China’s installed wind capacity is the second largest in the World, and their growth rates continue to dwarf those of developed nations. Yet wind energy still makes up a very small portion of Chinese energy production because 1/3 of it isn’t connected to the grid, and the other 2/3rds are heavily restricted. The problems hint [...]

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Toyota is transforming their corporate philanthropy to be “by the people and for the people” with the advent of their 100 Cars for Good program. The company will donate 100 cars to charities across the United States. The winners will be determined by the voting public on a daily basis this summer, putting their philanthropy [...]

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The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s price index topped off at an all-time high this January, reflecting the skyrocketing global food prices and teetering stability of the market. These increases pose a severe risk to developing countries that depend upon agriculture for both subsistence farming and as the sole source of income for many [...]

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Unilever, the huge consumer products company, says that two billion times a day “somebody, somewhere” uses one of its brands, such as Lipton Tea or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. That impact on people’s lives is one reason the company’s new “sustainable living plan,” featuring a goal to halve its environmental impact by 2020 while [...]

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If it were ever possible or even realistic to put the words Appalachia and victory in the same sentence, this might be one of those rare times: the Environmental Protection Agency‘s Region 3 Administrator Shawn Garvin has recommended the withdrawal of the mining permit for the nation’s largest proposed mountaintop removal coal mine site, the [...]

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No one said they couldn’t or shouldn’t do it but they did it anyway, making some nice enviro points along the way. The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran made out of more than 12,000 recycled plastic water bottles and its 10-member crew arrived in Sydney, Australia Monday after sailing some 8,000 nautical miles in 130 days. [...]

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Two men from Florida, with a strong desire to protect the coastline they love, have come up with a common-sense solution to clean-up the Gulf oil spill. Their idea is all natural, puts displaced shrimp boats back to work, adds revenue to farmers, and the waste can be used to create energy. It’s an all around win-win solution that BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have yet to adopt.

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Distracted and dismayed by oil rig explosions, massive oil spills, and volcanic ash clouds? Speaking of ash, here’s one that perhaps escaped the attention it deserves: The Environmental Protection Agency wants to regulate coal ash with new rules that will ensure the “safe disposal and management” of ash produced from coal-fired power plants. Coal ash [...]

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The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are ratcheting up the pressure on Massey Energy with a lawsuit that charges five Massey coal subsidiaries with thousands of Clean Water Act permit violations. Sierra Club, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy went after Massey – America’s fourth [...]

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The partnership between Germany’s Daimler AG and the Renault-Nissan Alliance to share small car, electric vehicle and hybrid technology and development costs is a landmark deal on several levels, including the fact that they even agreed to do something like this. Imagine Ford, Chrysler and General Motors forging a similar agreement. You really can’t can [...]

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With the failure of carbon abatement strategies after the collapse of COP 15 and resistance to any further United Nations meetings on climate change, scientists and academics gathered in California to determine alternate ways to manage climate systems in the face of a warming planet. The result: There are no easy solutions in a post-carbon-abatement [...]

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Here’s a news flash of sorts: ExxonMobil (XOM), the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, has barrels of money and plans $28 billion in capital spending this year and about $25-$30 billion each year thereafter through 2014. The company made more than $19 billion last year and generated cash flow of $28.4 billion. [...]

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The struggle to take “dirty” trucks operating in West Coast port areas off the road has been a major rallying cry for ports and environmentalists for at least five years, but the effort is beginning to pay off. The Port of Seattle reports that its voluntary, buy-back incentive clean air program recently saw the 100th [...]

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While we’re stoked that jobs bill passed, Congress must stop ignoring another major source of jobs- a national renewable energy standard. AWEA and Navigant Consulting report up 274,000 potential green jobs …

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Environmental Protection Agency says various reduction scenarios could result in vehicle emission reductions of up 27 percent through 2030, which explains their recent actions on greenhouse gas regulations in the transport sector and general GHG reporting requirements for all companies. EPA also says that implementation of those scenarios could reduce the transportation sector’s cumulative oil consumption [...]

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The Winter Olympics this year in Vancouver, BC, is a little more than the usual venue for endless corporate advertising and big money sponsorship of “amateur” athletes, thanks to the Sierra Club and its campaign against Canada’s tar oil sands extraction industry. A few prominent winter athletes are joining with various international environmental groups in [...]

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A little-known agency within the Commerce Department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will become the Obama Administration’s focal point for climate change information and services. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says NOAA is launching a separate unit, NOAA Climate Service, to address the nation’s “fast-accelerating climate information needs.” The agency is also creating a [...]

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Rather than dealing with a potpourri of environmental emissions regulations and fees, a group comprising the world’s largest international liner shipping companies is proposing a new global vessel efficiency system (VES) intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The 29-member World Shipping Council’s proposal asks the UN’s International Maritime Organization to take the lead in applying [...]

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A funny thing happened on the way to the great Himalayan glacier meltdown. It turns out that that yes, the glaciers are receding at an alarming clip as a result of global warming, but reports of their demise by 2035 apparently were greatly exaggerated. In an interview earlier this week with Agence France-Presse, a glaciologist [...]

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Ford is investing another $450 million in electric vehicle development and facility retooling, bringing its total investment in this area to a cool $1 billion. The latest monetary infusion, a part of its “Electrification Strategy,” paves the way for the Dearborn, Mich. carmaker to engineer, produce and launch new electrified vehicles, battery systems and hybrid [...]

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Just when you thought it might be safe to go hiking in West Virginia’s mountains or along its streams, the EPA apparently has caved to the interests of Big Coal by signing off on one Clean Water Act permit for a mountaintop coal mining project in that state and preparing the way for the eventual [...]

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There’s a big reason that Toyota Motor Company is the world’s largest carmaker: It responds nimbly to the demands of the marketplace. The latest evidence of this is the company’s plan to launch a subcompact version of its hugely popular hybrid auto, the Prius. A Detroit News report this month revealed that TMC is developing [...]

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Just in time for holiday gift-giving season the Environmental Protection Agency wrapped-up final regulations that slap stringent emission control standards on ocean vessels and marine diesel engines. And this is one gift the maritime industry can’t return or exchange. The EPA this week finalized a rule it proposed in July that sets stringent engine and [...]

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A new poll released today (PDF) demonstrates that over 60 percent of Americans recognize that the earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels. The poll, conducted by The McClatchy Company, the third-largest newspaper company in the United States, and Ipsos Public Affairs, found that a slight majority of [...]

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Showing a fine sense of message and timing, the United States entered the first day of the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen armed with a potentially game-changing decision from the Environmental Protection Agency:  Greenhouse gases threaten public health and the environment and must be regulated. EPA’s announcement Monday sent a sharp signal to the [...]

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Kohl’s Department Stores is going all-in on carbon neutrality. The Wisconsin company says it’s the first retailer to commit to reaching a net zero greenhouse gas emission as part of a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leader program. It’s a bold assertion but Kohl’s appears ready to back up it with action. It [...]

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Expecting a full-blown global carbon trading market to emerge without the influence, intervention – or perhaps interference – of world governments is probably not possible and Shell’s new CEO is acknowledging this. Peter Voser told The Guardian and its Environment Network, BusinessGreen, that regional markets alone cannot set the price of pollution and that action [...]

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