China Plants Trees To Hold Back Desertification

Seven years ago, with the desert creeping south at the rate of 3 km (2 miles) a year and the dust storms getting worse, the Chinese government decided to act and the solution was typical of a country where the Great Wall stands as the ultimate grand project.
It began building a “Green Great Wall”, a 700-km (435 mile) barrier of trees and enclosed grassland which will stretch across Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Shanxi provinces by 2010.

May I Have Some Vroooom, Please?

Electric PorscheLast week’s post was devoted to the efforts of Ken Watkins, a Florida senior citizen who electro-refitted a Chevy pickup truck. He turned out a good-looking ride and plans to do more…

Arctic Tale Puts Faces To Global-Warming Threat

“Arctic Tale,” produced by the company behind “March of the Penguins” and narrated by singer-actress Queen Latifah, depicts the lives of female polar bear cub “Nanu” and female walrus calf “Seela” from birth to parenthood. The characters are composites of animals filmed in the Arctic over 10 years.

Ecological Footprint 2.0

Article Photoby Worldchanging Intern, Alex Lowe: To understand the subtleties and difficulties in ecological footprinting, think of accounting. In the past few years, Enron’s collapse and the scandals that surrounded WorldCom gave people a small glimpse into the intricacies of accountancy. To the uninitiated, the swirl of news reports circa 2003 must have posed several questions: How hard can accounting really be? How can any grey areas exist in an activity as seemingly concrete and dry as counting beans? But grey areas abound, and the task of accounting for nature’s resources as well as their depletion from human demand is, to use the colloquial, a doozy. How can one compare the value of a single fish to that of a bushel of corn or a California redwood? How does that relationship change from the exhaust pouring out of your car or the dishwater circling your drain? The methodology for answering these questions in ecological footprint analysis (EFA) is often criticized for being incomplete and for underestimating humanity’s true impact on the environment. In response, researchers at Redefining Progress have made several amendments to the standard methodology, and given their creation the handle ‘Ecological Footprint 2.0.’ (Best explained by the paper Footprint… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Biodiversity and Ecosystems at 9:08 AM)

The Week in Sustainable Mobility (6/17/07)

Article PhotoThe US Senate began debating its energy bill this week. The bill and proposed amendments tackle a broad range of issues, from increasing fuel economy; a national low-carbon fuel standard; a national geothermal energy initiative; a wave, -tide- and current-energy initiative; a significant increase in the renewable fuels standard; support for plug-in hybrids and electric drive transportation; coal-to-liquids programs; and much more. More… The auto industry weighed in to support the more lenient proposal for fuel economy standards under debate in the Senate. More… A new study concludes that there is no trade-off required between higher fuel economy and vehicle safety. More… The 2007 edition of the Cascadia Scorecard, an annual progress report on the Pacific Northwest published by Sightline Institute, shows that per capita gasoline use in the Cascadia region (including British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state) is at a four-decade low. More… California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger notified the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that California will file a lawsuit against the federal government over the government’s failure to grant California a waiver to implement the greenhouse gas regulations for new vehicles. More… European emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) decreased between 2004 and 2005, according to the final… (more)

(Posted by Mike Millikin in Transportation at 8:50 AM)