Topic Page: Activism

Fracking battle rages as NY legislative session ends

The influences that distinguish New York’s approach to Shale Gas from Pennsylvania’s were again on full display this week in Albany. I visited the Capitol on Tuesday, the day that New Yorker’s Against Fracking held a rally on the Million Dollar Stair Case, the structure rising through the soaring arches, pillars, and buttresses of the Capitol building. …Read More…

Anti-fracking movement gains ground in New York state: Both politics, demand for gas will influence drilling outcome

The drilling industry’s efforts to open New York state to shale gas development, stymied from the get go, is meeting even more resistance over time. Contrary to public statements earlier this year by New York state governor Andrew Cuomo that suggested permitting for shale gas wells is imminent, there are compelling reasons to believe that it will continue to be on hold for the foreseeable future. Most visible among these is an anti-fracking movement that is growing louder and more organized each year. Read more

What’s Your #InnovationChallenge?

We’ve seen businesses, colleges and communities turn energy innovations into action, but what are you doing? We challenge you to make a difference in your daily life. Is this the year you install a rain barrel and use less water? Are you going to save your company energy and money by linking your building to its neighbors or …Read More…

EPA Water Tests in Dimock Show Incomplete Picture

The quality of well water in Dimock, Pa. is the center of national attention for activists, journalists, regulators, lawyers, policy makers, and industry officials – all looking for the latest evidence from government studies that will support their cases for or against fracking.

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The Unsettling Attacks on Green Cities and Counties

Glenn Beck and other Tea Party Groups have been shutting down town halls and disrupting local plans for energy efficiency programs around the country. Why? Find out.

Taking Recycling To the Extreme

Taking your own recyclable cloth bag to the mall isn’t going to help you go green the whole way. Sure, it will save the cost, use and disposal of one plastic bag. Once you’ve gone past the easy ways to recycle, what other plans can you make to dispose of those hard to get rid …Read More…

Trial: Activist Faces 10 Years in Jail

By David Sassoon from the Great Energy Blog, a blog produced in partnership with National Geographic. Next Monday, February 28, Tim DeChristopher will walk into a Utah courtroom to face federal felony charges for disrupting an oil and gas auction in December 2008. The judge has granted a motion from the prosecution to prohibit DeChristopher …Read More…

“Green” clothing can change the world!

While many assume that the fashion world has minimal involvement in social or political issues, a new wave of eco-friendly clothing says otherwise. Fashion designers, both high-end and affordable, are employing natural and fair-trade materials that make going green both trendy and accessible. The clothing is made up of fair-trade materials like soy, organic cotton, …Read More…

Christian Earthkeeping

There’s a new program at George Fox University, just outside of Portland, Oregon – Christian Earthkeeping. The University describes its program by saying, “Christian Earthkeeping is the Church’s response to the ecological crisis and to God’s command to ‘keep’ the Earth (Genesis 2:15).” For too long climate change and sustainable living have been the domain …Read More…

Towards a Renewable Business Model

I admire the entrepreneurial spirit of renewable businesses. In some ways they exemplify the best of the capitalist tradition. What are renewable entrepreneurs if not the wildest of wildcat companies, pushing the envelope ever further into new and exciting technology. Not every idea can hope for success, but well-developed companies like FirstSolar persevere. Then there …Read More…

Top 5 Uses of Environmental Art

Bill McKibben’s 350.org hopes to stage “the largest piece of public art in the planet’s history.” From Australia to Egypt, Spain, and Canada, groups will be creating images that are visible from space. The question is: with an issue like climate change, is art enough? “We’ve got to try,” says McKibben. “Art, like religion, is …Read More…

Where Does the Power Stand?

The 2010 elections brought with them an onslaught of “wooohoo’s” and “Ahhhhrrghh’s” from the millions of spectators that were eagerly watching, waiting and holding their breath. To many people’s surprise the Tea party’s sweeping introduction came as a shock, but to others, what was more daunting was what this new generation would mean for the …Read More…

Ten Outrageously Easy Ways to Be Green

I will openly admit that I am not a treehugger. I’m not a vegetarian, I don’t watch those PETA videos about animal cruelty, and I certainly would not consider myself the most energy efficient student on the block. Don’t hate me just yet. I like to think of myself as the leading example for all …Read More…

Believe it or not, climate doesn’t vote

Next week’s elections might affect climate and energy conservation less than you might think. Although politico says that it will be difficult for GOP candidates to succeed unless they are climate change deniers, evidence suggests that stance may not be so important in terms of protecting the environment if you approach it for the right reasons. …Read More…

Highland Deserts

Enel, First Wind, Razer are elevating the bar with anticipateD Geothermal, Wind, Solar and Algae in South Central Utah. The Three Counties of Beaver, Iron and Millard are considered the Alternative Energy Cooridor of Utah. Enel is Deep Drilling to 10,000′ to tap ancient rivers that float just a mile above magma. First Wind is …Read More…

FEED IN TRANSPORTATION

You can stop the OIL addiction that causes the USA to import 60% of the OIL we burn each day. This cost us over 1 Billion dollar each day and creates pollution at the same time which is killing us. This affects our economy, environment and security. An ICE Internal Combustion Engine is less than …Read More…

Sounds of Silence!

Apple CEO Steve Jobs described it as his “most beautiful and sophisticated creation”. Well, environmentalists in China don’t quite share his sentiment. For them the sleek new Apple iPhone4 that was assembled in China is nothing but a gadget that contributes to heavy metal pollution. 34 environmental NGOs in China conducted research and found data …Read More…

Look! Flammable Tap Water

Check out this trailer for the film “Gasland,” a documentary film that explores the underside of a natural gas extraction process known as “fracking.” The premise: “The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudi Arabia …Read More…

If you don’t think corporate transparency matters, you’ve learned nothing from the BP disaster

BP and this disaster demonstrate why transparency is the foundation of trust and accountability. Before the oil spill, during the worst of it, and to this very day, BP CEO Tony Hayward and his company have continuously resisted being transparent. They were stingy with information on environmental, health, and safety information well before the accident …Read More…

Robert Weissman of Public Citizen on BP’s Criminal Acts

Public Citizen is calling on the Defense Department to suspend contracts with BP and debar the company. The call follows a protest that Public Citizen and seven other prominent public interest groups staged on Friday outside the Washington, DC headquarters of BP.

When the Angel of Death comes knocking we need Moses, not Pharaoh

A murky fog creeps along, choking the life out of the next generation and the most powerful nation on Earth stands powerless to stop it. This image could equally come from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico or out of the Charlton Heston classic, The Ten Commandments. The Mississippi is our Nile. The secret …Read More…

“Play the hand that history has dealt”: Obama and the tale of two crises

Just last week I was talking with one of my Planet Forward colleagues about the similarities I observed between the BP oil spill and recent financial crisis. Having spent the better part of the past year researching the financial crisis for my thesis, I was struck by the recurrent themes in both crises. In a …Read More…

Get the BP spill flow rate right *now* — call Congress, 202-224-3121

Dear Congressman Van Hollen, I’m reading today that the volume of oil being spilled from the Deepwater Horizon disaster site may be substantially larger than government estimates first indicated. It’s *imperative* to get the *best possible estimates* of the size of this catastrophe, and it’s imperative that BP not be allowed to obstruct that in …Read More…

You gonna eat that?

Do you eat fish if it comes from China? I don’t. I have nothing to back up my suspicions, but China doesn’t seem to be in the forefront of environmental safety. I may be all wet, but it just seems like an unnecessary risk. So why don’t I feel the same way about seafood from …Read More…

EPA wants ideas on how to improve!

Now is the time to speak on both energy and environmental issues. Federal and state institutions are listening. On FB the EPA was asking for input on how to improve in a variety of areas, from transparency to participation to collaboration. Energy-Environmental issues are so tightly connected that it is important for us to address …Read More…

Bill Gates on Climate Change & Fast Reactors

It looks like Gates is “all in” so to speak with respect to climate change. He has substantial investments in a new type of nuclear technology (that people on this website have been ranting about for about a year). http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html In an odd coincidence, the president recently “upped nuclear investment for climate fight.” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61F33V20100216 And …Read More…

How can we implement sustainability? Let us count the ways.

By: Elizabeth Cherneff How do we harness ideas for sustainable initiatives and turn them into realities on an urban campus like George Washington University’s? To start, just ask the students, staff and faculty who reside here. On Friday January 29th, members of the university community pitched their plans to greenify GW at the GW Greenhouse, …Read More…

Thomas Friedman Answers Your Questions

Last night, Thomas Friedman came to The George Washington University’s sold-out Lisner Auditorium, where he spoke to over 1000 students and others about climate change and what he thinks needs to be done to solve it. His controversial take: we need real — not phoney — green revolution, and we need a tax on carbon. …Read More…