Switchboard: Natural Resource Defense Council Blog

The Light Bulb War: Ideologues Fight for Your Right to Buy Inferior Products

Peter Lehner – Executive Director: Posted May 16, 2012 in U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:: congress, efficiency, lightbulbs, teaparty

House Republicans are preparing to make war on light bulbs once again, attempting to block efficiency standards that will save consumers $100 a year on energy bills and are already creating thousands of jobs across the country. If ideologues in...continued→ | comments

Growing Green Awards: Winners Produce Food that Nourishes People and the Planet

Frances Beinecke – President of NRDC: Posted May 16, 2012 in Living Sustainably

Tags:: farmers, farming, farmworkers, florida, food, GGA, growinggreenawards, organic, organicfarming, schoollunch, sustainability, sustainablefarming, sustainablefood

Today NRDC announces the winners of the 2012 Growing Green Awards. These awards celebrate the farmers, business owners, and bold thinkers who are transforming America’s food system. Each one of them has pioneered ways to produce food that nourishes our...continued→ | comments

Greener Washdays Ahead

Ed Osann – Senior Policy Analyst: Posted May 16, 2012 in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:: applianceefficiency, energy, energyefficiency, infrastructure, water, waterefficiency

In the years ahead, new clothes washers and dishwashers sold throughout the US will be dramatically more energy- and water-efficient, and that’s great news for consumers. Today’s announcement of new efficiency standards by the Department of Energy (see here for...continued→ | comments

Ahmedabad to Atlanta: Partnership Advances Innovative Project to Protect Communities Against Extreme Heat in India

Meredith Connolly – Energy Law and Policy Fellow: Posted May 16, 2012 in Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming

Tags:: Ahmedabad, climate, climateadaptation, climatechange, climatehealth, extremeweather, globalwarming, Gujarat, health, heat, heat-health, India

Co-authored with Kathy Tran, Master of Public Health, Global Environmental Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Our innovative heat adaptation project in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat, gained important momentum last week. Dr....continued→ | comments

Kathy Tran Guest Blog: Ahmedabad to Atlanta - Partnership Advances Innovative Project to Protect Communities Against Extreme Heat in India

Anjali Jaiswal – Senior Attorney: Posted May 16, 2012 in Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment, Solving Global Warming

Tags:: Ahmedabad, climateadaptation, climatechange, climatehealth, emory, heat, heat-health, india

Guest Blog by Kathy Tran, Master of Public Health, Global Environmental Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Our innovative heat adaptation project in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat, gained important momentum last week. ...continued→ | comments

Extreme Rain Storms Double in Midwest: Time to Act

Theo Spencer – Senior Advocate: Posted May 16, 2012 in Solving Global Warming

Tags:: extremeweather, greeninfrastructure, midwest

NRDC released a report today along with the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization using new analysis that shows rain storms that dump more than three inches in a day have doubled over the last 50 years. Those storms are linked to...continued→ | comments

Concerns about the health risks of fracking continue to grow

Amy Mall – Senior Policy Analyst: Posted May 16, 2012 in Health and the Environment

Tags:: colorado, fracking, gasdrilling, healthandtoxics, healthimpactassessment, hydraulicfracturing, hydrofracking, oilandgas, pennsylvania

According to a recent article in Inside EPA (subscription only), the National Research Council (NRC) is preparing to undertake a preliminary review of the potential human and environmental risks of shale gas development, in particular hydraulic fracturing. The article quotes an NRC senior scholar...continued→ | comments

New Standards for Clothes Washers and Dishwashers Great News for Consumers

Meg Waltner – Energy Efficiency Advocate: Posted May 16, 2012

Tags:: appliances, appliancestandards, clotheswashers, dishwashers, energyefficiency

Clothes washers and dishwashers meeting new energy efficiency standards announced today will continue to wash clothes and dishes well, without washing away hard earned cash. The standards issued by DOE today will require clothes washers to use up to 35...continued→ | comments

Citizen participation in the design of sustainable communities

Kaid Benfield – Director, Sustainable Communities, Washington, DC: Posted May 16, 2012 in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably

Tags:: planning, publicparticipation, smartercities, smartgrowth, sustainablecommunities

(Illustration courtesy of Julie Stuart, Making Ideas Visible) Today’s post is guest-authored by my friend and frequent collaborator, Lee Epstein. Lee is an attorney and land use planner working for sustainability in the mid-Atlantic region. First, a confession: I...continued→ | comments (1)

Update: Illinois Shark Fin Ban Clears General Assembly

Josh Mogerman – Deputy Director, National Media: Posted May 15, 2012 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:: antoniomunoz, endangeredspecies, illinois, illinoisgeneralassembly, sarafeigenholtz, sharkfin, sharkfinning, springfield,IL

The effort to ban trade in shark fins is going swimmingly in Illinois! Nick Magrisso just reported from the Statehouse that the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve a measure that would ban the sale, trade, distribution or possession...continued→ | comments

Los Angeles Explores Innovative Model to Address Environmental Injustice

Adrian Martinez – Staff Attorney, Environmental Justice: Posted May 15, 2012 in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice

Tags:: airpollution, asthma, cleanupgreenup, diesel, lacitycouncil, pollution, trucks

I am very excited today to stand in solidarity with community advocates and businesses seeking to address the severe, disproportionate impact of pollution on three of the most overburdened communities in Los Angeles—Wilmington, Pacoima and Boyle Heights. The Policy is...continued→ | comments

Congress considering terrible bills to speed up oil and gas destruction of public wildlands

Amy Mall – Senior Policy Analyst: Posted May 15, 2012 in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:: BLM, fracking, gasdrilling, hydraulicfracturing, hydrofracking, mining, NEPA, oilandgas

A suite of bad bills is scheduled to be considered in the House Natural Resources Committee tomorrow, and NRDC opposes all of them. Here are the details from my colleague Bobby McEnaney on the four worst: H.R. 4383 – This draconian bill is designed...continued→ | comments

NRDC continues to fight for the survival of Alaska's Cook Inlet Belugas

Taryn Kiekow – Staff Attorney, Marine Mammal Protection Project: Posted May 15, 2012 in Reviving the World's Oceans, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:: alaska, beluga, cookinletbelugawhale, endangeredspecies, oilandgas, seismic, seismicsurveys, whales

Cook Inlet beluga whales – they’re beautiful. Melodious. Highly intelligent. And critically endangered. There are only 284 of them left on the planet. Yet the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently issued a permit that authorizes Apache Alaska Corporation to...continued→ | comments (1)

Senator Lugar Will Be Missed

Dan Lashof – Program Director, Climate & Clean Air: Posted May 15, 2012 in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming

Tags:: carbondioxide, cleancars, climate, energy, energysecurity, enhancedoilrecovery, Lugar

Next year, for the first time since 1977, the U.S. Senate will convene without Richard Lugar. Over at the NRDC Action Fund there is a discussion of the political implications of Lugar’s defeat and Nate Silver has a great statistical...continued→ | comments

Getting Transportation Back on Track

Rob Perks – Transportation Advocacy Director: Posted May 15, 2012 in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:: coalash, congress, highways, keystonexl, nepa, rail, rails, roads, trains, transit, transportation, transportationdrilling

President Obama signed a declaration making this National Transportation Week. “Our roads, rails, runways and shipyards have formed the foundation for a thriving global marketplace, and our transportation networks have enabled our first responders and service members to react with speed and...continued→ | comments

Voices Against Tar Sands: What Americans closest to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline are saying

Anthony Swift – Attorney, International Program: Posted May 15, 2012 in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:: biogems, bitumen, keystonexl, oilsands, pipeline, pipelinesafety, tarsands, transcanada

In the national debate surrounding tar sands expansion and projects like TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the powerful voices of Americans on the front lines are often lost in the noise. And it’s easy to see why -...continued→ | comments

New Fracking Standards Are a Good Start, but Industry Tries to Water them Down

Frances Beinecke – President of NRDC: Posted May 15, 2012 in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment

Tags:: asthma, BLM, cancer, fracking, frackingairpollution, frackingwaterpollution, naturalgas, naturalgasdrilling, pennsylvania, waterpollution, wyoming

Natural gas fracking has been in the news a lot in the past few weeks. The Obama Administration took initial steps to limit air and water pollution from fracking. Even though these measures are not yet strong enough to protect...continued→ | comments (1)

Voices Against Tar Sands: People on the Front Lines Speak Out - Rocky Kistner (May 15, 2012)
Taming the sound of the city: dealing with noise pollution - Kaid Benfield (May 15, 2012)
GSA's leadership - Philip Henderson (May 15, 2012)
Uranium Mining Environmental Consequences to Be Reviewed in Court - Geoffrey Fettus (May 14, 2012)
Recent fracking-related news from around the nation - Amy Mall (May 14, 2012)
Reflections on the Race to Rio: Crowdsourcing Sustainability at Earth Summit 2012 - Jacob Scherr (May 14, 2012)
Inaugural Ivy League Women's Rowing Championship Goes Green - Alice Henly (May 14, 2012)
A False Connection: New START and nuclear weapons complex modernization - Jonathan McLaughlin (May 14, 2012)
New Report: Illinois Energy Bills Larded-Up with Springfield Coal Giveaways - Rebecca Stanfield (May 14, 2012)
NRDC in the News 5/14: Fracking's hazardous waste, marine mammals threatened by Navy sonar testing, solar power innovation, and more... - NRDC News (May 14, 2012)
'Baseball-oriented development' hits a home run in DC - Kaid Benfield (May 14, 2012)
Asian Carp: Slick PR is Not the Solution - Henry Henderson (May 12, 2012)
Harm of Staggering Proportions to Southern California and Hawaii Whales from Navy Training - Zak Smith (May 11, 2012)
Ivy League Teams Up With NRDC to Green Its Championship Events - Alice Henly (May 11, 2012)
You Can't Make Sushi with Lasagna: A Potluck Approach to Rio+20 - Michael Davidson (May 11, 2012)
When Global Warming Hits Home (Literally) - Peter Lehner (May 11, 2012)
NRDC in the News 5/11: Navy sonar threats, skepticism of oil industry's green energy investments, saving the ozone layer, and more... - NRDC News (May 11, 2012)
Profile of the Chemical Industry: Power, Corruption & Lies - Daniel Rosenberg (May 11, 2012)
Sobering Up: Why Cutting Overdependence, Not Oil Imports, is the Right Goal - Deron Lovaas (May 11, 2012)
NASA's James Hansen: tar sands is the "dirtiest of fuels" and "game over for the climate" - Danielle Droitsch (May 11, 2012)

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Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.

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