Every day new strides are being made, laws are being passed and ideas are being generated that deal with environmentalism, and if you genuinely want to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle and incorporate it into your school, then you need to learn from others who are active in environmental reform.
Environmental reforms on climate change have been discussed for decades by the UN, separate countries governments, environmental groups, and individuals. The need for change is evident, but getting a national response, much less an international response, is difficult to see through.
The Gulf coast oil spill “is an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years,” President Obama grimly reported last night in his first Oval Office speech. After visiting the coast for two days, the president’s speech showed a passionate man out for BP’s blood and aching for progressive environmental reform.
The end of the worst oil spill in American history might be on the horizon with the success of top kill. Top kill was one of the many environmental reform measures brought forth by BP to plug the oil rig leak. Although environmentalism activists are still in shock at the devastating consequences the oil rig has brought on the environment, top kill is the first beacon of hope since the oil rig explosion over a month ago.
Despite Obama’s moratorium on May 14th issuing the immediate halt of drilling new wells and granting of environmental waivers, grants for drilling permits and environmental waivers have continued to be permitted by the federal government, met with skepticism and complaints that the terms of the moratorium are too narrowly defined and have been violated.
On April 20th, 2010 a Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded and killed 11 workers, spawning what is predicted to be the biggest oil spill in this country’s history. The oil is spilling out at over 5,000 barrels a day due to the three breaks in the well pipes and hit the Louisiana coastline late Thursday night, nine days after the initial spill.
When President Obama gave his budget for the 2011 Fiscal Year, he addressed environmental reform as well as implemented green legislation that could really help the environment and our countries dependence on unnatural resources.
In response to the plan, Natural Resource Defense Council Director of Programs Wesley Warren said “With this budget, President Obama is starting to usher in a clean energy economy. That means more jobs, less carbon pollution and a more secure nation.His budget promotes America’s energy independence by reducing our reliance on foreign oil, starting the transition away from dirty fossil fuels, and investing in conservation and clean power like wind and solar. Cutting harmful greenhouse pollution and ramping up renewable energy will secure our nation and foster innovation that will make our economy more competitive. Now it’s up to Congress to deliver on the president’s funding priorities for a cleaner, more secure America.”
Last week President Obama and his administration outlined changes that would greatly alter the fuel economy and emissions standards of the auto industry. Not only would these changes reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted into the air by cars, but they would also save the average car buyer thousands of dollars in fuel.
So far both environmental organizations and lobby groups seem to be on board for the car fuel economy changes.
From 1998 to 2005 scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, an organization whose mission is to provide scientific information to describe the earth, studied over 1000 fish from 291 streams across the nation, and what they found in regards to high mercury levels was pretty astounding.
Every fish that was sampled had some of the toxic mercury substance in it, and that raises concern over the rising amount of pollution in water across the country.
According to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit organization that provides grants to improve public policy, the U.S. states of Oregon, Colorado and Tennessee have emerged as the top leaders for job growth in the clean-energy sector.
The study looked at green job growth in 38 states from 1998 to 2007.
Along with the U.S., China is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. In 2006 the World Bank, which offers financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world, declared that 16 out of 20 of the world’s most polluted cities are in China.
So last Friday China announced that it is considering collecting environmental taxes from polluting companies.
