environmental defense fund posts, articles, and infographics

Maybe It’s Time To Stop Talking About Climate

July 29, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 1,504 views

Maybe it’s time to stop talking about climate change. And to stop pushing for comprehensive “climate policy.” That’s what New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, did last week when he gave $50 million to the Sierra Club to fight coal plants. Coal plants should be shuttered, he said, because they endanger public health, pollute the air,... [read more]

Bending the curve

November 23, 2010 by Gernot Wagner
with 430 views

Cutting emissions is about creating opportunities for new, clean energy sources, not about crashing economies. The Great Recession saw a crash with the most severe consequences for employment and other measures of economic output since the Great Depression. Emissions responded in kind. Pierre Friedlingstein and a slew of co-authors... [read more]

Industry, environmental group working on shale gas drilling rules

November 3, 2010 by Michael Giberson
with 1,186 views

The Environmental Defense Fund’s Scott Anderson and Southwestern Energy EVP Mark Boling have been working together on proposed environmental rules to govern the use of hydraulic fracturing, a key technique in the development of shale gas resources. The Houston Chronicle reports: Energy companies and environmental groups have more often... [read more]

Federal cap-and-trade may be non-starter, but AB 32 and WCI kept alive

November 2, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 812 views

With Tea Party-backed Republicans now controlling the U.S. House the already slim chance of getting cap-and-trade legislation over the next two years is now razor thin, but the outcome in California — with Democrat Jerry Brown winning as governor and Dem. Barbara Boxer keeping her senate seat, as well as Proposition 23 being... [read more]

EDF’s Peter Goldmark: “My generation has failed.” - "It has got to be said, over and over again: This is an urgent situation. We must act."

October 14, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 1,051 views

Guest blogger Dominique Browning’s interview with Peter Goldmark is reposted from her EDF blog. I served as Goldmark’s special assistant when he was President of the Rockefeller Foundation two decades ago. He is one of the best thinkers and speakers on climate I know. “What we need more than anything else is a mass movement... [read more]

Climate and Energy Bill Introduced; Gulf Oil Disaster Has Changed Politics

May 18, 2010 by Fred Krupp
with 123 views

Featuring: Fred Krupp, President Steve Cochran, Director, National Climate Campaign Will the oil disaster in the Gulf help or hinder the passage of an historic climate and energy bill? What are the prospects for winning bipartisan support? What can we expect to hear from the bill’s opponents? Listen to this discussion: Download mp3 |... [read more]

Walmart's supply chain beware

March 2, 2010 by Doris de Guzman
with 221 views

Let me get this news from Walmart last week before it becomes stale. Everybody knows in the supply chain community that what Walmart and other big box retailers do vibrates all the way even up to chemical feedstock producers. This year, Walmart decided to further put their nose in their supply chain's businesses by asking them (very... [read more]

Wal-Mart to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution by 2015

February 27, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 392 views

What do you think of the sustainability efforts of the retail giant? Our guest blogger is Sarah Collins, intern with CAP’s Energy Opportunity team at the Center for American Progress. In 2009, Wal-Mart received the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment award for Corporate Energy Efficiency. To build on this success, Wal-Mart just... [read more]

Two cheers for Wal-Mart’s CO2 pledge

February 25, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 327 views

Until now, Walmart’s bold sustainability efforts were marred by a glaring omission. The $405-billion a year retailer has worked hard since 2005 to save energy, reduce waste and sell more sustainable products. But it resisted pressures to reduce or hold steady its own greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, its carbon emissions have grown,... [read more]

Video: EDF launches Fleet Efficiency

February 10, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 113 views

Environmental Defense Fund has been working on fleet efficiency because: Fleet vehicles are driven hard, averaging nearly double the mileage, fuel consumption and emissions of personal vehicles. As a result, fleets are not only expensive to operate but are also a major source of global warming pollution. Interested companies... [read more]

Is geoengineering inevitable?

February 9, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 564 views

Geoengineering, says scientist David Keith, “is like chemotherapy. It’s something nobody should like.” But if you can’t avoid cancer, chemotherapy may be your best option. And, if it becomes evident that the earth can’t avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change, it is not merely possible that governments will turn to... [read more]

The power of small changes

February 2, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 392 views

When Chris McKenna, who manages a fleet of trucks for Poland Spring, learned that the company’s drivers were racking up as much as 1,400 hours a month of idle time, he saw an opportunity to make a difference. Running truck engines in winter kept the cabs warm — the company is based in Maine — but it cost Poland Spring money and polluted... [read more]

Video: EDF Economist Nat Keohane on The Facts of Cap-and-Trade

February 1, 2010 by Rebecca Lutzy
with 713 views

Earlier this month, Environmental Defense Fund's Director of Economic Policy and Analysis, Dr. Nat Keohane, released a clear, helpful video on the facts of cap-and-trade on behalf of the Clean Energy Works coalition. I've re-posted the video and EDF's summary of the facts below. (HT: Professor Nan Keohane) The Facts of Cap... [read more]

The law of unintended consequences and Waxman-Markey

October 23, 2009 by Tim Haab
with 103 views

From Environmental Capital at the WSJ:The law of unintended consequences strikes yet again. Global plans to tackle climate change, from the Kyoto Protocol to the recently-passed Waxman-Markey bill, have a fatal flaw: They essentially encourage large-scale deforestation, which pretty much undermines the whole idea of curbing greenhouse-... [read more]

FedEx: Pushing the envelope on sustainability

October 22, 2009 by Marc Gunther
with 410 views

When you need to ship a package, how do you choose between FedEx and UPS? Their services are similar, if not identical. While I’ve never compared prices, I assume they are roughly equivalent. Could the company’s sustainability practices come into play? I’m told that they do, for select customers. Their employees care as well–people want... [read more]