Posted by Peter Lehner in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
News about forest conservation is often filled with sobering facts about the damage caused by deforestation. Just recently a United Nations study found that globally we are losing the equivalent of an area the size of Costa Rica each year...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Last night, I wrote that I was excited to hear President Obama lay out plans to recover the economy, enhance our energy security, and cut pollution by investing in an efficient, 21st-century high-speed rail network. But I had no idea how...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
As I watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight, I was excited to see the President connect the nation’s most pressing priorities with his vision of a modern high-speed rail network, following in the footsteps of President Dwight...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
This post was co-written with Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. NRDC and Sierra Club are members of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, supporters of the clean truck program. "Cancer alley." That's what many Southern Californians...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy
During eight years as chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau in the New York State Attorney General's Office, I had the political backing necessary to take on large corporate polluters. Such support is crucial to enforce the hard-won standards contained...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably
This weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in a US Open event. No - not a tennis match - but something that is still an integral part of the US Open: the announcement of this year's greening initiative. This...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
President Obama reached across the political aisle when he selected Representative Ray LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, as his Transportation Secretary. The appointment was met by some skepticism: LaHood's resume on transportation issues was decried as very thin. But Secretary...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment
Last night, Hearst's green lifestyle website The Daily Green held its 2009 Heart of Green Awards, honoring those people, organizations and companies that take the green message to the mainstream -- to the "heart" of the American people. The award...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
As a lawyer, I've written about environmental harms quite often. Yet as I recently flew over several of the larger mountaintop mines in eastern Kentucky, I struggled to find the words to describe the devastation. The scars where trees, topsoil...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
On Friday, I took the train to DC to join a panel discussion on energy efficiency at the National Press Club. NRDC is working with a broad coalition of energy groups that are calling on Congress to use part of...
Posted by Peter Lehner in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
At a recent board meeting, NRDC's staff and trustees discussed what big ideas the new administration could propose to engage the American people in solving our tied economic and environmental problems, the way all Americans helped win World War II....
Posted by Peter Lehner in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
I often find myself trying to explain why next year, despite a worldwide economic slump, will present us with such a good opportunity to achieve our climate and energy security goals. Part of the answer, of course, is a new...
Posted by Peter Lehner
Thomas Malthus has suddenly become popular again. While Americans are concerned about fuel prices, much of the rest of the world is concerned about food prices. In countries like Egypt and Bangladesh, and in regions of Africa, riots have...
Posted by Peter Lehner
We need a lot more environmental information to begin to address the lack of public understanding of environmental harms.This may seem obvious, but it isn’t. At a meeting a few years ago, I was shocked to find the head of...
Posted by Peter Lehner
In response to a recent post of mine, a commenter said, “American's can go back to the ‘stone age’ and walk to work and it wouldn't make any difference to the WORLD oil market.” I appreciate your comment, Dan, but...
