Planet Relations

The U.S. electric power industry withdraws an estimated 136 billion gallons of freshwater per day for generating and then cooling the steam that drives electric turbines. That’s roughly 41 percent of the country’s total withdrawals according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that “changes in the availability [...]

For the last seven years, Building Design and Construction magazine has provided annual updates on the green building movement. They’ve discussed the green building movement (2003), sustainability (2004), life cycle assessment (2005), green building bottom line (2006), industry perspectives (2007), climate change (2008), and now water performance (2009).
In early November, prior to the 28,000-person-attended GreenBuild [...]

Last month, the media reported extensively on the die-off of aspen trees in the West linked to climate change. Called sudden aspen decline or SAD, the phenomenon is characterized by the death of mature over story with an absence of subsequent regeneration. Open stands at lower elevations, with south to west aspects, are more vulnerable.
The [...]

With a projected net loss of $7 billion for fiscal year 2009, the Postal Service needs to find ways to cut costs. While the Postmaster General’s request to cut Saturday delivery will save $3.5 billion, it’s not nearly enough. Electrification of delivery vehicles is one area that holds promise as it could deliver savings of [...]

Leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, there’s much speculation about the roles that both the United States and China will play on the world stage. China and the US together account for 40 percent of greenhouse gases. The goal of the conference is to reach an international agreement to cut [...]

Similar to many states, California is addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy production and use. The state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (i.e., Assembly Bill 32) established the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. One approach to meeting this climate change goal is by [...]

The question posed 20 years ago by scientists at NASA was pretty straight forward:  “Is the current human occupancy and activity of planet Earth sustainable?” The answer was complicated given the lack of data.
The Earth Observing System or EOS was conceived in 1990 as a way to systematically track changes on earth, from the sky.  [...]

Timelapse – Los Angeles Wildfire from Dan Blank on Vimeo.
Environment Canada estimates that for every acre of primarily coniferous forest burned, approximately 4.81 metric tons of carbon is released into the atmosphere—between 80 percent and 90 percent in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), with the rest as carbon monoxide (CO) and [...]

There’s much talk about how climate change will affect weather patterns, causing more intense events such as hurricanes and tornadoes. In California, one consequence of the greenhouse gas buildup is a change in precipitation type; climate change is expected to cause a shift from snow to more rain during winter months (i.e., a [...]

The July/August 2008 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review examines climate change and asserts that "media coverage of climate change is at a crossroads." Essentially, the article is saying that we're [moving] "beyond the science of global warming into the broader arena of what governments, entrepeneurs, and ordinary citizens are doing about it." Hence…
"Journalists [...]