Is adding 40,000 cars to this mess a good thing? (Photo: Gene Blevins / Reuters)
Come 2012, California's carpool lanes will be a bit more congested—and it's all the fault of clean energy.
On Monday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 535, which allows for an additional 40,000 California motorists to drive in HOV lanes, reports Treehugger.
The bill's sponsor, State Senator Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Fransisco, said, "It is imperative that we find ways to limit our carbon footprint."
According to the Los Angeles Times, the bill would "provide thousands of permits for new models of fuel-efficient cars, including G.M.'s Chevrolet Volt, due out later this year, as well as the new Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf."
According to Yee, "SB 535 will provide a great incentive for car manufacturers to develop higher emission standards and for individuals to purchase greener vehicles. The Governor's signature of this bill will help jump-start sales of these green vehicles and encourage greater stewardship of our environment."
The California Chronicle is reporting that the previous HOV access program—set to expire at the end of 2010—resulted in the purchase of more than 100,000 hybrid cars. More
The Antarctic expanses await this bio-fueled scooter. (Photo Courtesy Moon-Regan Transantarctic Expedition)
A few months from now, at the height of Antarctica’s very short summer, riders aboard one “bad-ass” snowmobile will attempt to cross the seventh continent.
A “Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle” designed by Lotus—and powered by biofuel—will pace a team of 11 researchers hoping to make the fastest “crossing” of Antarctica ever.
As is required of all expeditions these days, an environmental message is attached. The Moon-Regan Transantarctic Expedition says it wants to “examine the impact of climate change on the continent and raise awareness of the issue.”
Biofuels are produced from renewable resources, especially plant biomass. Vegetable oil is a biofuel. No vehicle powered by vegetable oil has ever attempted to traverse the Antarctic ice.
Still, novel forms of transport are hardly new to Antarctica. Ernest Shackleton took both horses, and the first car to the southernmost continent. In 1912, Australian Douglas Mawson shipped the first airplane to Antarctica (it never successfully flew). Mawson returned to the icy wilderness in 1963—driving a classic Volkswagen Beetle. More
The Sacramento Bee is reporting that a measure to outlaw plastic bags in grocery stories was defeated late Tuesday in the state Senate, where lawmakers said it would be costly for consumers.
The law was to take effect in January 2012.
By July 2013, the ban would have extended to convenience stores, drugstores and mom-and-pop stores.
The bill, officially named AB 1998, was authored by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, a Democrat from Santa Monica, and supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The measure garnered just 14 votes, with 20 opposed.
"I think we missed a great opportunity," said Brownley, reports the Los Angeles Times.
WHAT: Building 150 energy-efficient and environmentally friendly homes. With a price tag of $150,000, the homes are affordable.
WHEN: "Make It Right" was founded in December 2007.
WHERE: New Orleans, Louisiana—Lower Ninth Ward.
WHY: When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, 80 percent of the city was flooded, 1,577 people were killed, and 4,000 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward were destroyed. More
Patriarch Bartholomew prays for the melting glaciers during his 2007 Arctic Ocean Symposium. (Photo: Nikolaos Manginas / Patriarchate.org)
The man with the long white beard and longer official title has a simple request for his 200 million followers.
This coming Wednesday, September 1, His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch—Patriarch Bartholomew for short—will ask the world's Orthodox Christians to pray for the protection of the environment.
The prayer is just one of an untold number of good deeds Patriarch Bartholomew has undertaken on behalf of the natural world since ascending to the throne of the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1991. More
How many of these passengers bought carbon offsets? (Photo: Cheryl Ravelo / Reuters)
Two weeks after TakePart's in-depth look into the aviation industry's topsy-turvy relationship with climate change comes this nugget—only 7 percent of fliers are purchasing carbon offsets when offered.
The Guardian reports that even though 56 percent of passengers surveyed at London's Stansted Airport knew what carbon offsetting was, 93 percent of them did not set aside any funds for green energy. More
We don't know what will happen in future, the most important is to resist such bloody massacres!
The Japanese such behavior can not, for the sea indifferent to their blood? This murder resolutely boycott! So damned!
