ecoficial

No one likes the high gas prices we’ve been stuck with the past few years, but the truth of the matter is that they encourage us to conserve gas. However according to CreditCardForum.com, they believe “the simple solution to high gas prices are gas credit cards.” Meanwhile, Chrysler thought their “Refuel America” cheap gas guarantee was the answer. In reality, the solution is fuel conservation, but companies like these seem to be telling us to go about “business as usual” and just find a way to get cheaper gas… are they giving us the wrong message?

The truth of the matter is that whether a gallon of gas is cheap or expensive, its pollution is the same. Unfortunately many Americans seem to only be concerned with the economic consequences, not the environmental ones. In their article for the Chase Freedom card, the aforementioned credit card website believes that “5% cash back on gas makes it affordable to drive your SUV again.” An ignorant statement like that just goes to show you that there are too many people out there that just don’t grasp the real issue at hand. [...]

President Obama’s sensible and encouraging first step in ensuring that the BP oil spill disaster can never happen again – but the “never” will only last for the next six months while his commission reaches a conclusion. The President went some way towards exposing the root cause of this disaster in highlighting the oil industry’s “cozy and sometimes corrupt relationship” with government agencies responsible.

“As long as we continue to let oil companies like BP and Shell bully politicians, write our energy laws and bribe regulators, we will remain addicted to their dirty and dangerous fossil fuels.  President Obama should cut the polluter lobbyists out of the debate so we can finally move toward a clean energy revolution that is good for the country, not just for corporations,” said John Hocevar, Greenpeace US oceans campaign director.

“The President’s six month suspensions of new drilling are a welcome reprieve for the communities and animals that rely on those pristine waters, but we need a permanent ban on all new offshore drilling, not just in the Arctic but in all US waters. A ban on all new oil drilling is the only way to avoid another spill disaster,” said Hocevar. [...]

The chemical dispersants being used to break up the oil leaking into the gulf following the explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig have the potential to cause just as much, if not more, harm to the environment and the humans coming into contact with it than the oil possibly would if left untreated.

That is the warning of toxicology experts, led by Dr. William Sawyer, addressing the Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group, a group of lawyers working to protect the rights and interests of environmental groups and persons affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The group represents the United Fishermen’s Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), among others.

Various publications from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council show that baseline data on the environmental and ecologic fate of petroleum spills and their effects in the marine environment is substantially deficient, said Dr. Sawyer. The lack of substantial research in these areas makes many of the decision-making processes pertaining to successful major spill containment and remediation rife with speculation. [...]

The first UNFCCC meeting since the failed Copenhagen Climate Change Summit closed today, with countries agreeing to minimal measures on how to move forward. The meeting was marred by a complete lack of the required sense of urgency as many countries fell back on bad habits.

Instead of focusing on making progress on how to promote climate solutions too many of the negotiators present chose to focus on divergence and problems.

“Now is the time to focus on concrete actions on forest protection, clean energy, adaptation and their financing,” said Wendel Trio, Greenpeace International Climate Policy Coordinator. “Countries must shift gears between now and June and use meetings such as the May Ministerial in Germany and the High Level Advisory group on Climate Finance and to push for real progress.”  [...]

As the 15th meeting of the conference of parties to the Convention in Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) closes today, Greenpeace condemned governments for putting short-term economic interests ahead of the long-term survival of endangered species.

“Country after country has come out at this meeting arguing for business as usual and continued trade in wildlife species that are already devastated by human activity.”

2010 is supposed to be the UN Year of Biodiversity, a serious attempt to highlight and reverse the global trend of huge biodiversity loss which scientists agree is underway. The results of this CITES meeting, particularly for marine life, make a mockery of the UN’s intentions. [...]

As part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s strong commitment to increase information on chemicals, for the first time, EPA is providing web access, free of charge, to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. This inventory contains a consolidated list of thousands of industrial chemicals maintained by the agency. EPA is also making this information available on Data.Gov, a website developed by the Obama Administration to provide public access to important government information. This action represents another step to increase the transparency of chemical information while continuing to push for legislative reform of the 30 year old TSCA law.

“Increasing the public’s access to information on chemicals is one of Administrator Jackson’s top priorities,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. “The American people are entitled to easily accessible information on chemicals, and today’s action is part of a series of ongoing steps that EPA is taking to empower the public with this important information.” [...]

As part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s commitment to strengthen and reform chemical management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a new policy to increase the public’s access to information on chemicals. Starting today, EPA has announced its intention to reject a certain type of confidentiality claim, known as Confidential Business Information (CBI), on the identity of chemicals.

The chemicals that will be affected by this action are those that are submitted to EPA with studies that show a substantial risk to people’s health and the environment and have been previously disclosed on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Inventory. This action represents another step to use the agency’s authority under the existing TSCA to the fullest extent possible, recognizing EPA’s strong belief that the 1976 law is both outdated and in need of reform. [...]

Environment Ministers from the ‘BASIC’ group of the world’s main emerging economies – Brazil, China, India and South Africa – meet in New Delhi, India, on Sunday 24 January to discuss their joint strategy for the UN climate negotiations. Their session will be the first multilateral meeting following the failure of last month’s climate summit in Copenhagen. [...]