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Time Magazine’s Top Ten Green Stories
Posted by W2GTime Magazine, in the December 22 issue, lists the top ten green stories of 2008. I have listed them below, in reverse order, along with some video and commentary. I look for ward to your comments on the list; it has generated some interesting conversation. Here it is:
10. “Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year: Hypermiling. Definintion: driving to get extreme mileage out of your gas.”
Here is a video interview with a man that practices hypermiling. In it he discusses some challenges, strategies, and his success.
For many of us driving is an unavoidable reality; if you have children and live in an suburban area then you know what I mean. I think this video shows that we can all make some difference, even if we never achieve the ranks of hypermiler.
9. “First CO2 Auction. Northeastern utilities bid $38.5 million for the right to emit 12.5 million tons of CO2.”
8. “Indonesia Warms to Less Deforestation. …in November , Indonesia took the first step in setting up a system that would enable Americans to pay to preserve its rain forests.”
Video contains language inapropriate for persons under the age of 18.
This is a great video. It does contain strong language at the end. If there are children in the room use caution. I would not normally include content that I have to accompany with a warning; I think this gets the message across.
7. “Polar Bear Listed. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorpe announced that the polar bear would be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, the first animal added as a result of global warming, but emphasized that the listing would in no way be used to force reductions in U.S. carbon emissions”
5. “New Rules: EPA Puts a Freeze on Coal Plants. Dirty, cheap coal generates 49% of the electricity in the U.S. and 30% of the country’s carbon emissions. when an obscure board at the Environmental Protection Agency made it virtualy impossible for the agency to certify new coal plants, it halted more than 100 currrently planned.”
4. “Failure of Warner-Lieberman. With President Bush firmly opposed, the first national carbon cap-and-trade legislation to reach a full vote in the Senate had no chance. As gas prices soared, the bill fell a dozen votes short fo the 60 neede to beat a filibuster”
3. “Offshore Drilling Debate. The chant reverberated from Anchorage to Miami: “Drill,baby,drill”. Despite analyses that offshore drilling would have little effect on thevprice of gas, the slogan cought fire. For now, coastal waters are safe. But the debate isn’t over.”
2. “Congress Passes Renewable-Energy Credits. The tax credits that helped build solar and wind industries in the U.S. were set to expire by the end of 2008, wich would have gutted tha renewable-energy industry. Partisan gridlock prevented them from being passed until they were tacked onto October’s bailout bill”.
Call me crazy, but I seem to be seeing a trend here that money drives our environmental policy. Everything from industries offering to pay in order to pollute, to countries offering to sell the conservation of their forests.
Is there hope? According to Time Magazine’s Bryan Walsh’s number one pick, there just might be.
So here it is. The number one green story for 2008, according to Time Magazine…..
1. “Election of Barack Obama. When the presidential campaign began, greens might have thought they’d win either way: Obama and John McCain both supported action on climate change. but as the campaigne wore on, McCain re-entered Republican Orthodoxy, declaring his enthusiasm for fossil fuels, while Obama built a program around alternative-energy investment to create green jobs.”
Please comment. I look forward to hearing your opinion on the list. What do you think of the items picked? Are they important to you? Do you think that they are ranked in the correct order?
For complete article and additional resources, visit Time Magazine… Click here
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