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Tomorrow is the first anniversary of President Obama's inauguration. After a year in office, how much of his clean-energy agenda have the President and his administration been able to accomplish? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
Carl Pope wrote in a blog post last week about the administration's success at undoing much of the environmental damage from the previous eight years, and follows up today by looking at how much has been accomplished in just the past week. The White House blog has also posted a good summary of the solid progress that's been made in laying the foundation for a clean-energy economy and green jobs.
Much work remains, of course (especially in Congress), but, all-in-all, it's been, as Pope says, "the best first year on the environment of any president in history."
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska may celebrate the anniversary of President Obama's inauguration by blocking his administration's ability to enforce limits on global-warming pollution under the Clean Air Act -- limits that were reaffirmed by the Supreme Court nearly three years ago. If her amendment passes, the only winners will be Big Oil and Coal companies that want to stop progress toward a clean-energy future. (By the way, lobbyists for dirty-energy companies actually helped craft the amendment.)
Thousands of Americans have contacted their senators, but the outcome is still uncertain.
If you haven't already, please take a moment to let your senators know that we can't afford to let global-warming polluters off the hook.
At Copenhagen last December, we were impressed by a one-off magazine from Norway's Bellona Foundation that simply listed 101 Solutions to global warming. At a time when everyone seemed mired in rehashing all the problems stopping us from making progress, it was refreshing to be reminded that solutions abound.
That magazine was the inspiration behind the new 101 Solutions group on Climate Crossroads. Every day, from now until April 22 (the 40th anniversary of Earth Day), the group will highlight one of the 101 ideas proposed by Bellona. Think of it as an Oprah-style book club for global-warming solutions (only without Oprah). Some solutions might seem obvious. Some might have you scratching your head. Others might get you writing to Congress.
At Climate Crossroads, 2010 is already marked as "the year of solutions" -- whether personal, national, or global. Got two cents? Join the group and let's start solving this thing!
Russell drives a Prius. His friend has a '93 Mustang and knows a lot about cars. Russell's friend keeps telling him that his hybrid has actually got a bad carbon footprint -- worse than his Mustang's, even. Now whom do you call in a situation like this?
Well, you can't call him, but you can always ask Mr. Green on his website. That's what Russell did, and once again our favorite curmudgeonly conservationist came through with the facts.
Want to know whether cloth or disposable diapers are best? Whether it's safe to air-dry your dishes? Mr. Green's got the answers.
Birding Phil, who's a regular blogger at Sierra Club Trails, set his binoculars aside and picked up an iPhone to field test some of the birding apps now available for the iPhone and other mobile devices.
Ever wished you had an easy way to identify a bird (especially one you could hear but not see)? Now there's an app for that!
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President Obama's First 365 Days
Stop the Clean Air Act Sneak Attack 
A Year of Solutions 
Thank You, Mr G.