I grew up in Northwest Indiana, with that region’s world-class environmental problems often taking over our family’s dinner table conversation. I enrolled at Georgetown BEFORE they had a nationally ranked basketball program, which permanently stunted my knowledge of sports. I drove a cab in DC for two years and started research and lobbying on environmental issues while in grad school at George Washington U. I married a Congressional staffer that I met on Capitol Hill, who shares two great sons with me and continues to teach me about the politics of life.
Prior to joining NRDC, I worked on water development projects and policy for the National Wildlife Federation, and served on the first board of the California Urban Water Conservation Council. I did a brief stint with the Clinton Administration as Policy Director for the Bureau of Reclamation and then left government to run a consulting practice on energy and water efficiency for 13 years.
In my off-hours, I’m a good gardener, a fair angler, and a mediocre (or worse) golfer. Hunting, tennis, and, water skiing are more memory than reality. But maybe next weekend I’ll get back into one of them.
Posted March 12, 2013 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably
March 18 to 24 was Fix a Leak Week, a commendable effort by the US EPA’s WaterSense program to draw the attention of consumers and water suppliers to the simple steps that we can take to save water and money...continued→
Posted November 8, 2012 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably
There are lots of reasons why California and states throughout the West need to start using water more efficiently, and do so quickly. Climate change will cause water supplies to be more variable, and warmer temperatures will drive up the...continued→
Posted September 27, 2012 by Ed Osann in Curbing Pollution, Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
This week, a final rule setting new efficiency standards for residential clothes washers was approved, finally. It’s been a long time coming, but these new water and energy efficiency requirements adopted by the Department of Energy will save US consumers...continued→
Posted May 16, 2012 by Ed Osann in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
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→
Posted May 10, 2012 by Ed Osann in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
This week, a critical milestone that can eventually save a significant amount of water was passed when the California Water Commission gave its unanimous approval to a rule proposed by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) that requires large irrigation...continued→
Posted August 18, 2011 by Ed Osann in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
How many alarms can you sleep through? Two or three, maybe? How about ten years’ worth, or twenty, or thirty? Over the last several decades, the weight of evidence has steadily grown that the Colorado River is over-allocated – there...continued→
Posted August 17, 2011 by Ed Osann in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
In about 10 days, I’m going to be relaxing on a sandy Lake Michigan beach in Northwest Indiana, with the dunes to my back and the lake stretching in front of me to the horizon. And looking out at the...continued→
Posted June 26, 2011 by Ed Osann in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
Ten years ago this month, the governors of the eight Great Lakes states and the premiers of Ontario and Quebec agreed to work together to more effectively protect the water resources of the Great Lakes. Their agreement eventually took the...continued→
Posted May 26, 2011 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
To recap yesterday’s blog, in 2009, California’s Legislature enacted a major water efficiency law to better manage the state’s variable water supply and prepare for the future as the economy rebounds and millions more people choose to live and work...continued→
Posted May 25, 2011 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
It was called “historic,” “comprehensive,” and “long overdue” when enacted in November 2009. But as California’s package of legislation to overhaul the state’s water system now moves toward implementation, the good vibrations from the signing ceremony are starting to ring...continued→
Posted August 3, 2010 by Ed Osann in Curbing Pollution, Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Ever biked to fight leukemia or walked for a cure for breast cancer? I hope so. But if not, even the most sedentary among us have an opportunity to make the world a better place, and to save money each...continued→
Posted July 13, 2010 by Ed Osann in Curbing Pollution, Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably
The US Energy Department is getting pelted by some industry groups that object to the way that DOE wants to define the word “showerhead.” Plumbing contractors and showroom operators are in a big sweat because DOE is finally cracking down...continued→
Posted May 12, 2010 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably
The event that doesn’t happen or the policy that doesn’t change seldom makes news. A plane crash is news, of course, but ten thousand planes landing safely is no story. So yesterday’s action by the Board of Directors of the...continued→
Posted May 6, 2010 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably
Within the next few days, the Board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the wholesale water supplier to over half the Golden State’s population, will consider budget-cutting proposals designed to shave $20 million from its pending budget of...continued→
Posted April 16, 2010 by Ed Osann in Living Sustainably
How many wake-up calls do we need in Southern California? Friends, guess what? WATER WILL BE GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE. This week, the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District, SoCal’s wholesale supplier of water imported from far away, attempted...continued→
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.
