Why Aren't Americans More Concerned About Climate Disruption?

Joel Makower: "A bevy of seemingly lesser problems manage to get ample coverage by the media -- and loud and clear response on the part of Americans and their leaders: immigration, education reform, gas prices, tax cuts, even avian flu. But public discourse on climate -- arguably the mother of all social, environmental, and economic issues -- never seems to move beyond background noise."

Good analysis of the problem, citing a Yale study with further conclusions.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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Syzmo: I'll Drink to That

The purportedly first energy drink to be 100 percent organic is Syzmo.

Another tough job for GreenForGood's crack product-testing team. Let's get a six pack in here folks and run this thing through the paces!

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

global warming ecological footprint carbon footprint GreenforGood sustainability green lifestyle

New York Times Green Section

The New York Times has an entire section today on "The Business of Green." Interesting not as much for the content imho (it's fairly traditional and rattles no chains) but for the fact that a newspaper doesn't do special sections without a big ad budget. So that means The Times sees money flowing into the "Green" sector, and is out to take advantage.

Alas, how many trees died on the altar of "Green" journalism? Newspapers consume entire forests in production and deplete huge oil fields in distribution. Let's hope they make the transition to all-Internet, all the time, sooner rather than later.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

Carbon Trading: A Good Idea?

From BBC News: "Carbon permits are issued to give firms a financial incentive to invest in clean technology and cut emissions. But the commission's report showed that states have issued too many permits."

This is just one of the flaws in what at first appears to be a great idea: Trading carbon quotas. In other words, a coal plant in Steeltown USA purchases "clean air" from a wheat farm in Iowa so the coal plant can continue to pollute the air.

All this does is rationalize continued pollution in a statistical heresy equivalent to the mile-wide lake with an average depth of 3 inches.

When you add in the EU problem of overdrawn permits, the process equally collapses.

The real solution: Everyone needs to start cleaning up. Now.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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A Green President?

On Saturday Night Live, celeb host Al Gore did a wonderful bit about his presidency since 2000.

Now people seem to be waxing nostalgic over the Gore of Yore. Calls for him to run for President, this time as the real Al Gore and not some cardboard amalgam of pundit advisors, are mounting.

It makes you wonder, on the eve of Gore's new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," what a Green Presidency would look like. A coalition of bicoastal progressives and Corn Belt ethanolcoholics puts a greenie in D.C.? They'd have to rename it the Green House!

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

global warming ecological footprint carbon footprint GreenforGood sustainability green lifestyle