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Communities and citizens nationwide are frustrated by their inability to halt the disturbing pattern of ecologically destructive and aesthetically unappealing pattern of land development. William Honachefsky, in his book, “Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning” promulgates that the solution to this dilemma lies in communities’ willingness to construct a Municipal Master Plan. “Until we get local land use planning under control, we will never clean up the environment or stop sprawl,” he says. He believes sprawl is a product of backward planning which puts the potential economic value of the land ahead of the valuable ecological processes the land is already performing. He shows how to elevate preservation of the community’s “ecological infrastructure” to the highest priority of the Municipal Master Plan. Otherwise, local planners are subject to the futile effort of mitigating impacts from a “death of a thousand cuts” as they review one development application after another. Amazon.com has this title.
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A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Clean Power Surge: Ranking the States,” documents and analyzes the surge of interest for renewable energy on the part of many U.S. states. Commitments made by about a third of the states will increase use of these energy sources in the U.S. by 40 percent over 1997 levels, providing clean power to meet the entire electricity needs of 4 million homes. This is equivalent to taking 3.4 million cars off the road in terms of reduced carbon dioxide emissions. States are ranked based on their accomplishments in supporting new and existing renewable electricity generation and capacity, increasing renewables’ share of state electricity use, and providing funding to support renewables. In general, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey, Minnesota, and California have made the most significant commitments to developing new renewables. UCS also identifies the states that have not shown support for renewables. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Automated Power Exchange (APX), an Internet trading firm that develops and operates power exchanges for electric energy, is pioneering wholesale renewable energy trades. APX operates markets in California and the Midwest and is expanding into New York, Washington State, and Ohio later this year. In the “APX Green Power Market green generators can sell their power into the commodity energy market on a yearly basis by trading green tickets. This helps the industry meet real-time end-user demand from renewable energy sources; geothermal, wind, solar, small hydro, biomass, and landfill gas. Renewable energy is traded as commodity energy that flows into the transmission grid and as a green ticket that represents the premium over and above the commodity price that buyers are willing to pay for the environmental benefits of this power. Says Ed Cazalet, CEO of APX, “Green tickets provide our customers with a simple way to lock in their prices for the green attribute up to a year in advance. For green power marketers, green tickets gives them the option to lock in their purchases. This also makes it easy for both baseload and intermittent generators to receive a green premium for every megawatt-hour they produce, since the number […]
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Climate Ark is a new climate change Internet search engine which allows you to search the best Climate Change web sites. You can quickly scan the most recent news on the subject too. Pacific Institute’s Climate Change Website has a resource page with links to over 200 selected websites including science, impacts and mitigation measures. The list links to two research bibliographies, a 2,000+ citation bibliography of climate change impacts on wildlife species, and a 900+ bibliography on climate change impacts on U.S. watersheds. The Pembina Institute’s “Climatechangesolutions.com” is a new website of resources and success stories on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is aimed at Canadian companies but the information is easily generalized. The U.S. EPA’s Climate Information and Outreach Program is making its education and outreach materials on global warming available to individuals and organizations interested in informing the public about climate change. Brochures, fact sheets, slide shows, videos, and CD-ROMs can be downloaded free of charge from the ClimateLink website. A new State and Local Climate Change Outreach Kit on CD-ROM focuses on voluntary strategies state and local government leaders can take to reduce greenhouse gases while help states and communities save money, improve air […]
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This new book, Prospects for Sustainable Energy: A Critical Assessment, published by Cambridge University Press and written by Edward Cassedy, provides a critical overview and assessment of market readiness for the gamut of sustainable energy technologies: solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, ocean energy sources, and solar-derived hydrogen fuel. Written for the non-technical reader, it explores the technical features, status of research and development, and marketability of these alternatives. It addresses arguments for and against the implementation of each option. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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This new book, Prospects for Sustainable Energy: A Critical Assessment, published by Cambridge University Press and written by Edward Cassedy, provides a critical overview and assessment of market readiness for the gamut of sustainable energy technologies: solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, ocean energy sources, and solar-derived hydrogen fuel. Written for the non-technical reader, it explores the technical features, status of research and development, and marketability of these alternatives. It addresses arguments for and against the implementation of each option. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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The United Nations Sustainable Development Division has compiled SD success stories online in a concise, accessible format. For the year 2000, the stories address: Integrated Planning and Management of Land Resources, Agriculture and Forests; Trade and Investment, Economic Growth; and Consumption and Production Patterns, Poverty, Education, Capacity Building. Each case follows a one- page format which quickly covers the problem, how it was addressed, results achieved, lessons learned, and contact information. In the story, “Electric Vehicle Promotion in Nepal” we learn about the multi-pronged approach used to remove bottlenecks for EV use in Nepal. The impressive results include substitution of EVs for polluting diesel 3-wheelers (350 EVs are now in Kathmandu), government incentives for EV use, and measurably cleaner air. Another useful SD resource is ID21: Information for Development in the 21st Century. The online collection of brief abstracts of the latest social and economic research studies across 30 key topic fields, makes the constant stream of development research produced by researchers and NGOs accessible to a much wider audience. It covers categories such as: * Agriculture and Rural Livelihood Issues * Food, Water and Environmental Security * Urban and Industrial Development Issues * Human Wellbeing, Poverty and Health UNDP […]
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If you are interested in sourcing organic fiber products and materials, you might consult the latest version of the Organic Fiber Directory published by the Organic Trade Association. It contains supply chain contacts for 150 companies – growers, brokers, mills, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers – that handle organic cotton, flax, hemp, and wool. You can order it through email. Certified organic product suppliers and buyers can conduct business at WOCX online, the World Organic Commodity Exchange. Organic retailers and wholesalers, for example, can purchase products directly from farmers using the exchange.
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The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is spending $7.4 million to elevate the environment to the forefront of the U.S. 2000 elections. An advertising campaign will inform the public about the environmental records of members of Congress and federal candidates, and promote the strong environmental records of select Republican and Democratic congressional candidates in tight races. Notes LCV president Deb Callahan, “The nation is enjoying relative peace and prosperity and voters can afford to focus on issues that pertain to their quality of life.” Along with promoting “Environmental Champions,” LCV will target its Dirty Dozen – Congressional candidates with poor environmental records – for defeat. 16 of their 25 Dirty Dozen candidates have been defeated. For 1999, the average LCV score of Dirty Dozen designees was 19 percent, their replacements averaged 84 percent. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Even though the BP Amoco shareholder resolution to stop oil exploration off the coast of Alaska failed, 13.5 percent of shareholders voted in favor it, which, according to Matthew Spencer of Greenpeace is the “highest vote for an environmental resolution anywhere in the world.” A resolution asked that BP Amoco stop pursuing its Northstar project and direct the oil exploration funds to support its solar power subsidiary, BP Solarex. BP Amoco defends its activities by claiming they are the best company to do the job because of their sensitivity to the environment. If they pull out, another less environmentally concerned company is likely to develop the area. And it is their conventional oil business that supports development in renewable energy.
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