USA

Environmentalists Sue Harper, Bali Begins

- Adam Clare

I’ve never been shy about my dislike of Canada’s current Prime Minister and today won’t be any different. Regular readers of Things Are Good may have noticed that other countries get mentioned often here because their national government take positive action. Three nations, though, get mentioned not because of federal efforts but because of local ones. Those nations are Australia, Canada, and the USA. I’m confident that there is a connection between the lack of good news coming from those national governments and how popular their leaders are. Howard just lost his election and Bush is at an all time low. (EDIT: Australia ratifies Kyoto Protocol! Way to go Rudd!)

The conservatives in Canada are now being sued by an environmental group. I’m sure that the timing of the lawsuit is to draw attention to the potential that Canada has for being a leader in fighting global warming at the UN’s climate change conference in Bali, which started today.

Major policies will be shaped by the countries listed above (among others) over the course of the next two weeks. Stay tuned for the good news that will come from the UN conference.

While in Canada, the environmentalist will continue to fight up north:

The group, Friends of the Earth, alleges that Environment Minister John Baird has broken the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, by ignoring a recent requirement of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.

The act was passed by Parliament in June 2007.

The lawsuit contends that Ottawa was legally required to publish draft regulations by Oct. 20, 2007, which would have enabled Canada to follow its Kyoto commitments, but failed to do so.

“This new application, while relevant to climate change, is all about holding the government of Canada accountable under Canadian law,” said lawyer Chris Paliare, who filed the legal challenge on behalf of the group.

How the USA Can Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases

- Adam Clare

A new study has been released that looks at how the United States can cut 28% of their greenhouse gas emissions. They looked primarily at the wastefulness of energy use and notice problems that can be solved from the level of the consumer, to the landlord, and to every level of government. By knowing the problem, we can begin to solve and, indeed they have a couple suggestions.

“What the report calls out is the fact that the potential is so substantial for energy efficiency,” said Ken Ostrowski, a leader of the report team. “Not that we will do it, but the potential is just staggering here in the U.S. There is a lot of inertia, and a lot of barriers.”

The country can do the job with “tested approaches and high-potential emerging technologies,” the study found, but doing the work “will require strong, coordinated, economywide action that begins in the near future.”

Portland Loves Their Cycling Economy

- Adam Clare

bikeI love bikes, and I love it when places embrace the wonderful invetion, Portland Oregon has arguably done the best job of bike-loving in North America. The International Herald Tribune has a really nice article about what has made Portland the mecca of bike culture in North America.

Mia Birk, a former city employee who helped lead Portland’s efforts to expand cycling in the 1990s, said the original goals were rooted in environmental and public health, not the economy.

“That wasn’t our driving force,” Birk said. “But it has been a result, and we’re comfortable saying it is a positive result.”

Birk now helps run a consulting firm, Alta Planning and Design, which advises other cities on how to become more bicycle-friendly. In a report for the City of Portland last year, the firm estimated that 600 to 800 people worked in the cycling industry in some form. A decade earlier, Birk said in an interview, the number would have been more like 200 and made up almost entirely of employees at retail bike stores.

Thanks Aidan!

The 82 Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles in the USA

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

It’s not shocking to discover that the top 5 most fuel-efficient vehicles in the USA are hybrids, in fact it’s good to see that they are leading the pack. Recently, a blogger went to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website and created a handy list that orders the cars based on fuel-efficiency.

MPG
Ranking Category Vehicle City Highway Combined
1 family sedan Toyota Prius 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic (CVT), HEV, Regular 48 45 46.7
2 small car Honda Civic Hybrid 4 cyl, 1.3 L, Automatic (CVT), HEV, Regular 40 45 42.3
3 family sedan Nissan Altima Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (CVT), HEV, Regular 35 33 34.1
4 family sedan Toyota Camry Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic (CVT), HEV, Regular 33 34 33.5
5 SUV Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.3 L, Automatic (CVT), Regular 34 30 32.2

South Dakota To Sport World’s Largest Windfarm

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

WindyAnother plan for a large wind power generation facility has arisen and this time it’s in a state that’s never been mentioned before on Things Are Good: South Dakota, USA. South Dakota is now considering a plan for creating the world’s largest windfarm!

Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif., intends to erect enough wind turbines in several South Dakota counties to produce up to 6,000 megawatts of electricity, said Bob Gates, the firm’s senior vice president of commercial operations.

That would be eight times larger than the biggest wind farm in the world, a 735-megawatt FPL Energy facility with 421 turbines stretching across three Texas counties.

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