New York Men Jailed for ‘Rip and Run’ Asbestos Removals
UTICA, New York, February 16, 2009 (ENS) – A federal judge has sentenced two operators of asbestos abatement companies to prison for environmental crimes related to the illegal removal and disposal of asbestos in upstate New York. U.S. District Judge David Hurd for the Northern District of New York handed John Wood of Plattsburgh a [...]
Read More »Alliance Aims to Open Fragile Areas to Oil and Gas Drilling
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, February 16, 2009 (ENS) – Low-impact oil and gas drilling is the goal of a new collaborative research program announced today by the Houston Advanced Research Center and the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. The research targets advanced technologies that can be used to open up environmentally [...]
Read More »New Green Kid’s Toy and More…
The Annual Greener Gadgets Design Competition will be held on February 27th. Checking out this competition and voting on your favorite designs is an excellent way to see great green design. One notable competitor this year would be a kid’s toy line called “Fastronauts.” These toys facilitate an active play style for your kid. The [...]
Read More »Marine Life Explorers Find Same Species at Both Poles
WASHINGTON, DC, February 16, 2009 (ENS) – Gray whales are one of at least 235 species that live in both polar seas despite a distance of more than 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) between them, Census of Marine Life explorers said today. After centuries of whaling, these whales had been thought to remain only in the [...]
Read More »Obama Shifts U.S. Policy to Back Global Mercury Control Treaty
NAIROBI, Kenya, February 16, 2009 (ENS) – The Obama administration has reversed the former U.S. position on limiting mercury pollution worldwide. Before astonished environment ministers attending the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council opening session in Nairobi today, the U.S. delegation endorsed negotiations for a new global treaty to control mercury pollution, to begin this [...]
Read More »Climate Could Cross Critical Threshold by 2100, Expert Warns
CHICAGO, Illinois, February 16, 2009 (ENS) – Without decisive action by governments, corporations and individuals, global warming in the 21st century is likely to accelerate at a much faster pace and cause more environmental damage than predicted, warns a leading member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a business-as-usual world, higher [...]
Read More »Green Home Assistance
Looking for a way to transform your home into a green paradise? There are people and organizations out there who want to help you find your own unique way of joining the green revolution. Whether you have a fancy contractor or you want to do-it-yourself, you can find great information on many websites. There are [...]
Read More »Elvis Costello and Musical Romance
Not-So-Silly Love Songs To avoid a potentially awkward situation, on this week’s edition of SPECTACLE, Elvis Costello turns over the host’s chair to the show’s Executive Producer, Elton John. This is because the guest this time around is none other than Elvis’s wife, the acclaimed jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall. But since we have [...]
Read More »Simran Sethi Covers Kansas Coal
Simran Sethi interviews Rod Bremby, the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, who prevented Sunflower Electric from building multiple coal plants in Kansas on the basis of denying them permits to release CO2 pollution. As it turns out, Rod Bremby has been under a lot of pressure from coal industry lobbyists to [...]
Read More »Environmental Bailout?
The environment needs a bailout. However, there is an inherent quirk in the way the American economy works that makes environmental bailout an unlikely prospect for America. The way free markets work depends on the use of capital. There are two types of capital this article is concerned with; human capital, which are workers, and [...]
Read More »Suggested Guests for Spectacle
There has been a lively discussion going on about potential musical guests for SPECTACLE. In the spirit of getting more names into the pot, we thought we would tabulate the names thus far. Feel free to leave your comments for more names that might have been missed. John Prine (4) Mavis Staples Glenn Tilbrook K.D. [...]
Read More »Can Environmentalism Be Fun?
Environmentalism may be necessary to the survival of life on planet Earth but does it have to be so boring? Many people are desperately trying to create an answer of “no” to this question, but delivering hilarious jokes about cow farts and bad breath that changes the climate can be challenging. After a little bit [...]
Read More »Presidio School of Management
Environmental Science and its applications to solving the climate and energy crisis continues to be a field that draws upon virtually every other field of industry and commerce. The Presidio School of Management realizes that one must learn other disciplines in addition to environmental science in order for that person to pursue meaningful and rewarding [...]
Read More »Energy Efficient Home Lowers Utility Bill
Opening up your utility bills and getting slammed with three digit bill totals ruins at least one day a month for every home owner or renter. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District and RJ Walter Homes decided to team up to make a model energy efficient home in Folsom, California. The result is a home with [...]
Read More »On Producing Spectacle
Of all the possibilities in front of us when we started making Spectacle, I’m not sure Elvis covering Steely Dan would have been on my most likely list – but it turned out to be one of my favorite musical performances that our host delivered in the series. The occasion was the opening of this [...]
Read More »Green Job Details
There has been ample discussion about the need for Green Jobs in the Obama Administration’s stated plans for the U.S. economy. What exactly is a green job? If you boiled down the basic definition of Green Jobs, you would find the following maxim; a green job is any job where the environmental impact involved in [...]
Read More »Buy Green Electricity
Right now there are a number of government incentives for green energy power plant companies. These programs are designed to level the playing field between green energy companies and dirty companies such as coal, oil and nuclear energy companies. The Obama administration wants to increase the funding to these programs because they believe green energy [...]
Read More »Green Furniture
Green furniture makes you and the planet more comfortable. Buying sustainable furnishings really makes a huge difference in your environment. Think of all the numberless materials that are required to make furniture, now imagine the pollution that would damage the environment if the materials were not harvested and made in a sustainable fashion. There are [...]
Read More »21st Century Elvis Costello
“I’m very glad to be doing the job I’m doing, which is playing music in front of people,” Elvis Costello recently said. “Making records—it used to be the thing that made the motor go round. Now I just sort of make a record and let it go.” In the New World Order of the music [...]
Read More »Lawsuit Forces U.S. Financing Agencies to Account for Climate
SAN FRANCISCO, California, February 7, 2009 (ENS) – Environmental groups and cities won a settlement Friday in a precedent-setting lawsuit that sought to force two U.S. government agencies to address the global warming effects of their overseas financing activities. After more than six years of litigation, the first case of its kind established important legal [...]
Read More »EPA Revisits Bush-Era Denial of California Tailpipe Emissions Waiver
WASHINGTON, DC, February 6, 2009 (ENS) – In accordance with President Barack Obama’s order in January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider its decision denying California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles. The waiver request was made by California on December 21, 2005, to allow the state the right to [...]
Read More »North Pacific Council Votes to Close Arctic to Commercial Fishing
SEATTLE, Washington, February 6, 2009 (ENS) – The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously Thursday to prohibit all commercial fishing activity in U.S. waters north of the Bering Strait and east to the Canadian border. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this precautionary approach would close roughly 150,000 square nautical mile Arctic Management [...]
Read More »Global Warming Forecast to Delay Ozone Layer Recovery
BALTIMORE, Maryland, February 6, 2009 (ENS) – Increasing greenhouse gases could stall the recovery of stratospheric ozone in some regions of the Earth, according to new research by a team from Johns Hopkins University. The scientists warn that increased rates of skin cancer in those regions might result. Darryn Waugh, a professor in the Department [...]
Read More »Sea Shepherd Battles Japanese Whalers in the Ross Sea
ON BOARD THE STEVE IRWIN, February 6, 2009 (ENS) – The Sea Shepherd whale conservation ship Steve Irwin collided with the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No.2 this morning in the Ross Sea after spending five hours Thursday in a battle with the Japanese, who used a sonic weapon, fouling lines and their ships to [...]
Read More »Florida Governor Declares February Hiking Trails Month
TALLAHASSEE, Florida, February 5, 2009 (ENS) – Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proclaimed February to be Florida Hiking Trails Month to celebrate the more than 2,500 miles of hiking trails on the state’s public lands. The weather is mild, hurricane season is months away, and paved rail-trails, urban trails through cityscapes and wilderness trails criss-cross [...]
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