Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Congress finally wrapped up its business last week. It was a challenging session filled with terrible economic news, soaring energy prices, and a great deal of election-year political theater. Now that the dust has settled, we can take a look...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last week the Labor Department reported that 159,000 jobs were cut in September--twice as many as the previous two months. Meanwhile, energy prices remain high and Congress just handed out taxpayer subsidies for a host of polluting and costly fuels....
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
In a few days I will be heading to Barcelona to attend the World Conservation Congress, the most important conservation event in the world. For me it will be a welcome relief from the tired energy debates that have consumed...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
I am an environmental advocate. That means sometimes I travel to Washington to lobby Congress on behalf of the issues NRDC cares about. Big Oil companies dispatches lobbyists to the Hill as well. Last week we covered the same ground:...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Solving Global Warming
Last week I learned about the untimely death of Phil Clapp, one of our fiercest and most devoted environmental champions. The battle to stop global warming is a bruising one, having an ally like Phil in the trenches has made...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Once again, Congress is in the midst of debating energy legislation. Unfortunately, the conversation is taking the same old wrong turns, even in the face of looming concerns for homeowners anticipating cold winters. Many Americans had to put their travel...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Today's Washington Post has a great op-ed written by Susan Hockfield about the urgent need for federal investment in energy research and development. Hockfield asserts that the best way out of our energy and economic crises is by shifting to...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Throughout the fall, you will hear Republican leaders use the phrase “All of the Above” to describe their energy policy. The idea is that our energy crisis is so significant that we need to take all the options on the...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
When you are battling a forbidding foe like global warming, it is always a relief to share good news. Here is one exciting development: yesterday the California Assembly passed the nation’s first bill to link climate policy with transportation funding...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
This week, the California Assembly is poised to pass a bill that will use suburban development to reduce driving time for residents and cut global warming pollution. That’s right, while Congress spent the summer arguing over offshore drilling and other...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
As our nation gets caught up in the frenzy surrounding the two political conventions, I can’t help but think about the role of the individual in all this political machinery. Both conventions will talk a lot about energy policy, for...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
I've written here before about the simple steps people can take to help reduce energy use and cut global warming pollution. To the list of things you can do—such as buying efficient air conditioners and pumping up your tires—I want...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The final sentence in Tom Friedman’s piece from last Sunday’s New York Times has stuck with me this week. Friedman was traveling in Denmark, and he wrote about meeting Ditlev Engel, the president of Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
In the past few days, the editorial pages of the New York Times have identified an alarming trend in the current energy debate. Increasingly, candidates and their surrogates are peddling delusions and fraudulent claims about how we can drive down...
Posted by Frances Beinecke in Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
The Washington Post just ran an editorial highlighting an ad the NRDC Action Fund printed in the paper. The ad, which featured a drawing of President Bush holding a bottle of elixir, said the claim that offshore drilling will drive...
