Loggers Try to Adapt to Greener Economy

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

Published: March 28, 2009

LOWELL, Ore. — Booming timber towns with three-shift lumber mills are a distant memory in the densely forested Northwest. Now, with the housing market and the economy in crisis, some rural areas have never been more raw. Mills keep closing. People keep leaving. Unemployment in some counties is near 20 percent.

Yet in parts of the region, the decline is being met by an unlikely optimism. Some people who have long fought to clear-cut the region’s verdant slopes are trying to reposition themselves for a more environmentally friendly economy, motivated by changing political interests, the federal stimulus package and sheer desperation.

Read the rest of the article at the New York Times

Global Warming Called Security Threat

By ANDREW C. REVKIN and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS

For the second time in a month, private consultants to the government are warning that human-driven warming of the climate poses risks to the national security of the United States.

A report, scheduled to be published on Monday but distributed to some reporters yesterday, said issues usually associated with the environment — like rising ocean levels, droughts and violent weather caused by global warming — were also national security concerns...

Read the rest at the New York Times

Friendly Skies? With Oil Above $100, Aviation Sees Green Appeal

April 22, 2008, 11:19 am

Posted by Keith Johnson

This Earth Day, a high-flying reminder from the Green Continent that what’s environmental is ultimately about what’s economic.

The world’s aviation industry says it’s taking climate change seriously, though it’s probably the bottom line that caught its attention. Either way, at the Third annual Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva, airlines, airports, and aircraft makers all pledged for the first time to cut emissions.

Looking for gas money in the couch. (Associated Press)

Aviation accounts for about 2% of global emissions of greenhouse gases, although some scientists say the effect could be magnified because the emissions are high-altitude. Granted, that’s less than half as much as the cement industry—but aviation’s sheer visibility and relentless growth has made it a popular target for climate campaigners.

Now, the industry says it’s listening. Companies like Boeing and Airbus, and international aviation trade groups and airports, all signed off on a four-step plan to curb emissions from aviation. The four “pillars”: New technologies, including cleaner fuels; better fuel efficiency in fleets; more efficient air routes and air-traffic management; and “positive economic instruments” to cut GHG wherever it’s “cost-effective.”

What’s the common denominator there? Hint: Jet kerosene now costs $145 a barrel. And there’s no easy way to “hedge” against higher fuel prices when crude is $118 a barrel.

Higher fuel prices hammer airlines. Fuel has overtaken labor costs as airlines’ No. 1 expense, and that takes some doing. U.S. airlines, already fretful that a slumping economy will stint air travel, got drygulched this earnings season by higher fuel prices. Cost savings, even from fuel, is one of the factors behind the Delta-Northwest merger.

Airlines got the green bug a few years ago when fuel prices started rising. That explains the appeal of newer aircrafts, like Boeing’s Dreamliner, which uses lighter materials and new-generation engines to cut fuel consumption. Airbus’ big answer, the superjumbo 380, is to pack more passengers into a plane—which means lower unit costs for fuel, among other things.

The other pillars in Geneva address the same concerns. Airlines hate zig-zag air traffic routes that make them burn fuel dodging military no-fly zones. Airlines hate antiquated air traffic rules that make them stagger-step down for landing, or circle endlessly, burning extra fuel. And airlines are scared to death that Europe will see them as an easy target as it seeks to revamp economy-wide limits on greenhouse-gas emissions.

So what’s the answer? Bail us out, please. The summit’s declaration calls for governments to help finance research into new technology, revamp air traffic, and to make sure that any global climate change accord is “equitable.” In other words, a new meaning for the term “flag carrier.”

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Yahoo! Free is Good - Earth Day '08

It's not a charity or a business: It's an idea that perfectly good used stuff deserves a home other than the landfill. Instead of throwing out things like furniture, dishes, bikes, and electronics, people in a reuse group give these items away for free to other people in their community who can use them. Find a local reuse group.

Also check out their Yahoo! Green website.

Earth Day, April 22, 2008

Americans produce enough trash every year to fill a line of garbage trucks that would stretch from the Earth half-way to the moon. That’s 4.6 pounds of trash per person, per day. All of that waste doesn’t have to go to waste, though. With Earth Day approaching Carbonfund.org is asking for your help to turn rubbish into a local, renewable fuel source.

Methane landfill biodigesters like the ones that Carbonfund.org supports in New Bedford, Massachusetts typically produce enough electricity to power 850 households and remove 162,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year – the equivalent of planting 49,000 acres of trees. So instead of just wasting trash, we’re urging you to use this Earth Day to put our trash to work for the environment.

Parks Printing takes our commitment to the environment seriously. That is why we are reducing our carbon footprint with Carbonfund.org and why we asking you to do the same. An alternative energy future awaits us - all it needs is you. With your help we can make renewable energy the norm instead of the alternative, while helping kick our dirty, fossil fuel habit. Reach for the green and support Carbonfund.org’s Earth Day Challenge today!