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Veterans to be trained for green jobs
Los Angeles Times
07/01/2009
Seventeen groups nationwide, including the Long Beach office of United States Veterans Initiative -- which will receive $500,000 -- have been awarded grants to train and find green jobs for veterans. The jobs include work associated with residential and commercial solar energy systems and wastewater treatment.
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In S.F., thou shalt compost: It's the law
Sacramento Bee
07/02/2009
A new San Francisco law gives the city authority to fine residents and small businesses $100 -- and impose penalties up to $1,000 on big firms and apartment owners -- if they refuse to segregate leftover fish bones, watermelon rinds, and watercress salad into compost bins.
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Using grazing sheep, goats against invasive weeds
USA Today
07/02/2009
Grazing vineyards is just one application of a growing niche industry that is harnessing the eating power of animals to control invasive weeds, maintain lawns, and clear fire-prone grasses.
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Landfill gas to power homes in northern California
Contra Costa Times
07/01/2009
The largest landfill gas-to-energy project in the Bay Area will produce 12 megawatts of power at a constant rate, drawing on a potentially bottomless source of renewable "green" power that has proved more predictable and reliable than either solar or wind energy.
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Judge overturns Bush admin. logging rule
Oregonian
07/01/2009
A federal judge on Tuesday struck down the Bush administration's change to a rule designed to protect the northern spotted owl from logging in national forests.
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The politics of parking
San Francisco Bay Guardian
06/30/2009
The local politics of parking in San Francisco have reached "a spatial stalemate." Even as residents in the 1960s decided they did not want gashes of freeway through their waterfront and parks, the city didn't take space away from cars. And if you don't do that, you're not solving the problem.
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CA chains must fork over calorie counts
Sacramento Bee
07/01/2009
Today California becomes the first state to require that chain restaurants supply calorie counts for virtually everything they serve. There will be no guessing – or denial – about that double Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr.: 960 calories.
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Feds OK tougher emissions rules in CA
San Francisco Chronicle
06/30/2009
Federal officials cleared California to impose tough greenhouse gas limits on new motor vehicles that more than a dozen other states can follow immediately and that will form the basis of new nationwide rules in 2012.
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EPA gives California emissions waiver
Los Angeles Times
06/30/2009
The Environmental Protection Agency will announce today that it is granting California's request to impose tough restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks - reversing the Bush administration's position and opening the way for the state to take the lead on global-warming policy.
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Views: Harper should spend on climate change
Toronto Globe and Mail
06/30/2009
US greenhouse-gas vision is missing in Canada.
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US works to speed solar energy development in the West
Los Angeles Times
06/30/2009
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signs an order that sets aside some 676,000 acres of federal land - more than half in California - for study and environmental reviews.
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Going whole hog on energy upgrades
Sacramento Bee
06/28/2009
Jon Pyle is trying to do right by the environment and his pocketbook by having double-pane windows installed in his home, but some energy experts say the California resident doing it all wrong. Like most people, he's doing piecemeal energy efficiency upgrades rather than embarking on wholesale change.
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Saving species no longer about the prettiest
Washington Post
06/29/2009
Are we ready to start saving ugly species? Though we gravitate towards iconic creatures like salmon, scientists say they're noticing a little more love for the unlovely lately. Plain-Jane plants, birds with fluorescent goiters and beetles that meet their mates at rat corpses are getting new respect - valued as homely canaries inside treasured ecosystems.
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San Francisco aims for universal coverage
Sacramento Bee
06/29/2009
Three years ago, this city turned itself into a laboratory for remaking the country's health care system with a bold experiment to expand services to the uninsured, working poor and medically underserved. It's early to tell whether it should serve as a national model, with researchers beginning to evaluate the program's early successes and longer-term limitations.
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CA fingerprints all over climate policy
San Francisco Chronicle
06/28/2009
When California passed sweeping laws to fight global warming nearly three years ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state politicians hoped the move would force a reluctant federal government to act. They got their wish.
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Ship of plastic bottles to send eco-message
Seattle Times
06/25/2009
You've heard of a ship in a bottle. How about a ship made of plastic bottles? That would be the Plastiki, designed to sail the Pacific on an 11,000-mile voyage highlighting the dangers of living in a throwaway world.
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Suddenly farming is cool with kids
Astoria Daily Astorian
06/25/2009
A funny thing happened on the way to the 21st Century. Americans rediscovered agriculture. They want to know where their food comes from. And young people are interested in farming.
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More preemies linked to pollution from cars, trucks
Environmental Health News
06/25/2009
Women exposed to air pollution from freeways and congested roads are much more likely to give birth to premature babies and suffer from preeclampsia, according to a study by California scientists. The findings add to the growing evidence that car and truck exhaust can jeopardize the health of babies while they are in the womb.
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CA weighs global warming fees on producers
San Jose Mercury News
06/25/2009
California air regulators on Thursday will consider leveling the nation's first statewide carbon fee on utilities, oil refineries, and other industries as a way to pay for the state's landmark greenhouse gas emissions law.
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Putting a financial spin on global warming
NPR
06/24/2009
Urging Congress to cast carbon dioxide as a pollutant that needs to be controlled will constantly swim against the tide of public opinion, a tiny Oakland, CA think tank says. Instead, people are motivated when the issue is presented as an opportunity to revolutionize energy technology with government investment.
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Electric carmakers get multimillion boost
San Francisco Chronicle
06/23/2009
Tesla Motors, the Bay Area's luxury electric carmaker, won $465 million in federal loans today to build two plants in California, as the Obama administration started doling out funds for fuel-efficient vehicles. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has made creating "green jobs" a priority, welcomed it as a victory for California and the country
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Oakland Green Job Corps grads get to work
San Francisco Chronicle
06/23/2009
More than 40 hammer-swinging, lumber-toting, drywall-nailing young people broke out the apple cider in Oakland on Monday to celebrate their graduation from one of the nation's first green-collar job training programs.
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Eco-consultants help navigate green minefield
San Francisco Chronicle
06/23/2009
A loosely defined but emerging field of eco-consultants are filling a niche, somewhere between energy assessors who might suggest adding solar panels and insulation to interior designers focused on aesthetics.
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Startup's prefab homes aim for zero energy bills
San Francisco Chronicle
06/22/2009
Prefabricated housing seems an unlikely ally in the fight against climate change, but a new San Francisco company is setting out to construct factory-built homes that create as much energy as they use - reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with operating buildings.
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Critics in California fault climate-change legislation
San Francisco Chronicle
06/22/2009
At the Joseph Farms dairy in Atwater (Merced County), farmers aren't just transforming milk into cheese. They've also figured out how to turn manure into fuel - and a paycheck.
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