You’ve heard about quotas being placed on automobiles, steel and produce.  But how about carbon dioxide?  Well believe it or not, a German think tank has proposed placing a CO2 quota on each individual person inhabiting our Earth.  The reason of course is to address the issue of global warming.  The scientists advocate a cap of five tons of carbon per year for each individual.  People exceeding that limit, by either driving too much or heating their home too high, for example, would be taxed for their misdeeds, unless of course they purchase credits from other individuals who haven’t [...]

  Lots of people have ideas about amendments that ought to be added to the U.S. Constitution.  But leave it to PETA to propose one that would define all mammals, birds and fish as "persons" in the eyes of the law.  This according to the Center for Consumer Freedom, which wonders why PETA would want to degrade animals by bringing them down to our status, since PETA president Ingrid Newkirk has called human beings "the biggest blight on the face of the earth."  But the group, which spends only one percent of its 24 million dollar budget actually helping [...]

Light bulbs have lit up quite a discussion over the past year as policymakers struggle to balance environmental needs with those of public safety.    While incandescent bulbs are getting the off-switch because of their inefficient energy consumption, many have complained about the toxics and poor light quality produced by their fluorescent replacements.  Now there's a newcomer to the scene which promises to bring the best of both worlds.  Called nanofiber bulbs, these new contraptions emit a warm, white light that is more agreeable to the human eye than fluorescents.  But since they put out 55 lumens of light per [...]

  First it was Climategate in which leaked emails revealed major scientific corruption at one of the world's leading global warming research centers.  Then, the U.N. was forced to recant on its claims about the melting of the Himalayas.  And now?  Well how about the U.N.'s main science body, the IPCC, being forced to admit that an alarming 2007 report regarding 40% of the Amazon being in danger from climate change was based on unsubstantiated claims by environmental activists.  The IPCC had claimed even a slight change in rainfall could turn swaths of rainforest into savannah grassland, but this [...]

  Should the EPA regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act?  While the Obama Administration maintains such action is necessary to curb so-called global warming, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is challenging a recent EPA ruling that carbon dioxide is an endangerment to public health.  Comments CEI's Sam Kazman: "EPA wants to regulate carbon dioxide to prevent what it calls a climate catastrophe. We're suing EPA to prevent a job-destroying regulatory catastrophe. EPA's shoddy science is falling apart by the week, as demonstrated by revelations from newly-released British documents that show outright manipulation of climate data. The mainstream press [...]

Everyone knows that oil and water don’t mix.  But did you know the same can be said about barbed wire and sage grouse?  Probably not, but according to a new study by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department it appears a chicken-like bird known as the sage grouse, now perilously in decline, might be having a hang up with old-fashioned barbed wire.  According to the study, some 146 birds flew into a five mile wide stretch of barbed wire, often resulting in injury and death.  Fortunately, a solution may come from simply attaching reflectors to the barbed wire – [...]

Many believe the United States and other industrialized nations are the primary culprits behind emissions of greenhouse gasses. But is this true? Not according to new data which shows that it is now the developing world, led by China and India, which release most of the world’s greenhouse gasses. A peer reviewed study released by Nature Geoscience Journal found that nearly 54 percent of carbon dioxide is produced by developing countries, while only 46 percent comes from countries like the United States or Japan. So while developed countries like the US and Japan have had no increase in recent [...]

President Obama has argued that the creation of so called green jobs will stimulate our economy and help us out of our current recession.  But best selling author, Chris Horner, disagrees, and has this to say:  "What's a green job? A green job [. . .]means requiring more man hours to produce a kilowatt hour of electricity, meaning much more expensive. So, the logical conclusion is sure, if you require x percentage of our electricity come from people running on giant hamster wheels, you will create jobs in the giant hamster wheel industry. [. . .]But also, are their [...]

Could a large new solar power plant set to be built in the Mojave Desert cause major environment damage?  Well the federal government just determined that a new 400 megawatt facility would not cause significant harm, but according to Energy and Environment’s Land Letter, a closer look at the federal findings reveal that even with extensive mitigation, the proposed Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project would destroy rare plants and permanently alter prized views from the nearby Mohave National Preserve.  It would also consume an estimated 32 million gallons of groundwater in a region where water is scarce.  So [...]

President Barack Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, recently declared that legally limiting carbon dioxide emissions would greatly reduce global warming.  But would it really?  Well not according to Lord Christopher Monckton, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who has recently been  touring the U.S. taking issue with many of the claims of global warming advocates.  Comments Monckton : "Warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions is miniscule at best.  In order to forestall just one degree Fahrenheit of warming the entire world would need to forego all carbon emissions for more than 200 years. Reduction of emission [...]

Environmental officials have long been concerned about what to do with old, discarded computers, especially since their circuit boards often contain heavy metals and other high-level pollutants.  But according to an article in Science Daily, some researchers from Romania and Turkey have developed a process that subjects old computers to high temperatures, catalysts and chemical filtration processes which not only remove most of the toxic materials from scraps, but also capture the oils they discharge to be utilized for making fuel, plastic and other consumer products.  Indeed, so optimistic are the scientists with their new discovery, that they believe [...]

Could vast sums of government money being doled out for global warming research actually influence the science surrounding this issue?  Well that’s the assertion of a new report by the Science and Policy Insitute, whose lead author, Joanne Nova, has this to say: “Our research revealed the U.S. government has spent over $79 billion since 1989 on policies related to climate change, including science and technology research, administration, education campaigns, foreign aid, and tax breaks.  These large expenditures in search of a connection between carbon and climate creates a powerful set of vested interests, which is no doubt hindering [...]

Slow moving, non-aggressive, and generally curious creatures, the manatee is an animal that has attracted public curiosity for decades.  And while many of the 1,500 pound animals had been killed in the past for their meat and through boating accidents, things are beginning to look up for this aptly named sea cow.  According to Environment and Climate News, Florida is considering moving the status of the manatee up from endangered to only threatened, as its numbers have increased from some 1,200 in the 1980's to over 3,000 today.   With new plans to continue monitoring boating speeds and retrofitting [...]

  Want to hear the latest answer to concerns about global warming?  Well how about a skinnier world population!  That’s right, an article in England’s Lancet journal says that since overweight people require more fuel for food and transport, obesity is an overlooked cause of man-made climate change.  The authors say that by 2015, there will be more than 700 million obese people in the world, requiring 18% more calories just to maintain their daily activities.  Since thinner people eat less and are more likely to walk than always relying on cars, a slimmer population would lower demand for [...]

For many trying to do laundry, figuring out how much detergent to put with what colors can be a difficult chore.  But if a new technology at the Australian National University is soon unveiled, getting the ring out may be a whole lot easier.  This is because the researchers have developed a cleaning process that doesn’t use any detergent, but only pure, degassed water.  Degassed water works better than conventional water because it removes tiny air bubbles that hinder the breaking apart of greasy, dirty substances.  The air bubbles can be removed using several cycles of freezing and vacuum [...]