CleanTechnica

Senator Lisa Murkowski became famous beyond her home state of Alaska when she worked with lobbyists to propose what is popularly known as the Dirty Air Act (Resolution of Disapproval of the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding, S.J. Res 26). Opposition to Murkowski’s proposal to make a horrible step backwards grew quickly.

Basically, the Dirty Air Act would “overturn EPA’s scientific finding that global warming pollution threatens public health” and EPA’s ability to regulate it.

Well, public health organizations are convinced that the EPA, not Murkowski, is the one to support on this topic. Just yesterday, 12 public health organizations announced that they are opposed to the Dirty Air Act.

Additionally, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has made it clear that the Dirty Air Act would undo rules regarding clean cars and clean transportation that Obama proposed last year (despite Murkowski saying it wouldn’t). This brings greater clarity to yet another con of this landmark-destroying resolution by Murkowski.

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Two GREAT videos I just saw this week nail some of the major problems with coal and oil (other than climate change) that we are facing. Without even mentioning the controversial (though scientifically proven) issue of climate change, these videos will stir you and would even get grandma riled up to call Congress, I think.

Watch these videos! They get personal and hopefully they bring to more people’s attention that engaging in a clean energy revolution is about a lot more than the environment (since that just basically isn’t enough for some people).

It’s about freedom, health, national security, and life itself.

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Wipro, the second largest IT company in India, has beaten many of the giants in electronics and unveiled a toxic free computer.

In so doing it becomes only the third manufacturer in the world, behind Apple and HP, to make a toxic free desktop.

Only Acer laptops are similarly toxin free.  All other manufacturers, including Dell, Toshiba and Samsung, continue to make PCs which are environmentally damaging.

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Using coal for electricity produces CO2, and climate policy aims to prevent greenhouse gases from hurting our habitat. But it also produces SOx and NOx and particulate matter that have immediate health dangers.

A University of Wisconsin study was able to put an economic value on just the immediate health benefits of enacting climate policy.  Implications of incorporating air-quality co-benefits into climate change policymaking found coal is really costing us about $40 per each ton of CO2.

In climate policy discourse, the cost/benefit analysis of the health benefits has not till now been a consideration, but there are air quality co-benefits of climate policy. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a new study, solar-powered irrigation systems have significantly enhanced both the household incomes and the nutritional intake of villagers in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Significant fractions of sub-Saharan Africa’s population are considered food insecure,” wrote Jennifer Burney, a scholar with the Program on Food Security and the Environment and the Department of Environmental Earth System Science at Stanford. “They frequently survive on less than $1 per person per day, and … they still spend 50 to 80 percent of their income on food”

The two-year study found the pumps installed in the West African nation of Benin were a cost effective way to deliver water, especially during the dry season. Only 4-percent of the cropland in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, most communities rely on rain-fed agriculture. Read the rest of this entry »

Mercury pollution is next on the list of global health threats to face concentrated action with the goal of elimination.  According to Zero Mercury Working Group, yesterday the first significant steps toward a binding treaty to control mercury pollution were announced at a United Nations Environmental Program meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, in advance of negotiations that will take place in Stockholm next summer.

The global nature of mercury pollution lies in its ability to travel long distances from its point of emission through the food chain.  In fish it accumulates in its most toxic form, methylmercury.  Zero Mercury hopes to achieve a treaty by 2013 that promotes more sustainable alternatives to mercury in products and industrial processes, with the broad goal of addressing all controllable emissions of mercury in the environment.

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Yet another reason for protecting the seas and the biodiversity that exists (including nuisance species): scientists at Ben Gurion University in Israel have developed a biogel that helps fight heart disease. The source of this gel? Seaweed. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to environmental news, doom and gloom often rules the day. And it’s easy to get discouraged. But scientists from Yale University say most polluted ecosystems can recover in as little as 5 or 10 years.

The study means it’s not too late to turn things around if societies commit to cleanup, restoration and sustainability, according to Yale’s analysis of 240 independent studies. The findings appear in this month’s issue of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.
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According to GreenSpaces, these three plants not only lead to fresher indoor air…but also an increase in productivity!

GreenSpaces has tested these plants for the past 15 years in a 20 year old, 50,000 ft2 building with over 300 occupants, and 1,200 plants! A study published on September 8, 2008 found that there is a 42% probability of increasing blood oxygen by 1% if one is inside the building for 10 hours. In fact, the building is rated the healthiest building in Delhi by the Government of India. Read the rest of this entry »

Those of us in cooler climes often forget that malaria is an epidemic in many parts of the world— according to the World Health Organization, 300-500 million cases are diagnosed each year. And while insecticides are helpful, mosquitoes quickly build a resistance to the treatment. Fortunately, a Kentucky engineer named Tom Kruer has come to save the day with a cheap, low-tech solution to the malaria problem.
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