Climate 411

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Earlier this month I posted about problems with a Pew poll that found a majority of Americans now favor expanding oil drilling over protecting the environment. I suggested that the results were misleading, biased by the questions Pew asked. A new poll released last week confirms this.

When asked whether government’s priority should be "invest in new energy technology" or "expand exploration and drilling", a full 76 percent said "invest in new energy technology" should be the priority.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

This week, seven U.S. governors and four Canadian premiers – partners in the fast-growing Western Climate Initiative (WCI) – released a draft design for what would be the largest cap-and-trade market for global warming pollution in North America. The outcome of many public workshops, the draft caps emissions for utilities and industry by 2012, and adds caps for residential, commercial and transportation sources by 2015.

WCI will present the draft at a stakeholder workshop and webinar in San Diego next week. Environmental Defense Fund experts Derek Walker, Jamie Fine and Martha Roberts will be there to speak in favor of a firm, binding emissions limit that declines over time, strict standards for offsets, and to remind participants of the economic benefits of action.

This post is by Michael Replogle, Transportation Director at Environmental Defense Fund.

Today, the New York City MTA proposed another fare and toll hike to manage a projected $900 million deficit next year. To avoid service cuts, according to WNYC, MTA head Lee Sander is "going begging everywhere, to Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, the federal government, and riders."

But in many other cities across the country, service cuts due to budget shortfalls are unavoidable. Ironically, communities are cutting services just when use of public transit is at a 50-year high due to skyrocketing gasoline prices (see map).

To avoid cutting these crucially important services, public transit systems urgently need federal help.

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This post is by Tony Kreindler, media director for the National Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.

Quick post because I’m about to get on an airplane to join the migration to Austin for Netroots Nation 2008…

Environmental Defense Fund is hosting a reception in Exhibit Hall 4, Saturday evening at 7pm, just before the keynote speech. If you’re attending the conference, stop by for free beer and to meet Lisa Moore, myself, and some EDF folks from the Austin office.

This post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense Fund. You can meet Lisa at the Netroots Nation conference, July 17-20.

Congress and producer groups are pressuring the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to release millions of acres from Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts and open them up to crop production. Supporters say this move would increase production and bring down food prices.

Wrong! Ripping up conservation lands would not make a big dent in commodity supplies or prices, but it would waste billions of taxpayer dollars that have been invested in conservation on these lands.

It also would be a tragedy for wildlife, water quality, and climate.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

The June 2008 issue of Treasury and Risk lists Gwen Ruta, vice president for Corporate Partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund, as one of the year’s 100 most influential people in finance, along with movers and shakers like Al Gore and Carl Icahn:

Gwen Ruta, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Environmental Defense Fund
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts put the nonprofit group on the corporate map when it asked EDF to assess the environmental performance of its U.S. companies. It’s Ruta’s job to help business partners create best practices when it comes to protecting the earth.

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