Greg Galitzine : Green Blog
Greg Galitzine
| Helping environmentally-conscientious business leaders choose environmentally-friendly solutions.

government initiatives

New Zealand PM on Carbon

June 16, 2007

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark says arguments against traveling overseas or buying foreign food because of the carbon footprint are "idiotic" and not the way to tackle climate change. This according to Radio New Zealand. The Prime Minister goes on to say there are better ways to tackle global warming.   In separate news, new Zealand and Australia will be join forces to develop a compatible carbon trading system.   In my mind a carbon trading system would indeed reduce the number of flights and put pressure on people to reduce purchasing imported food. Somehow these two news items seem opposed to one another but perhaps the PM sees other ways to reduce carbon besides the ones she calls idiotic.

New Fuel Economy Standards

June 21, 2007

The Senate voted today to require average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon for new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs by 2020, raising efficiency standards that have not changed significantly for nearly twenty years. While many politicians ands automakers oppose the bill as they say it is impossible to comply with, I believe this is not entirely accurate.   If we as a nation (the US) decided we wanted to drive environmentally friendly cars like in Europe I believe this new goal would be relatively easy to achieve. The reality of course is we are horsepower and space hungry nation when it comes to our vehicles and more is better.

New Smog Standards

June 22, 2007

The EPA is proposing tougher smog rules. Otherwise known as ground-level ozone, smog has been linked to breathing problems with children and adults. Much of the Midwest would be in violation of these new rules. Illinois will be hit especially hard. Here are the details from the Chicago Tribune.

Big Green Day

July 3, 2007

It has been a pretty green day so far today with lots of news to keep our green loving readers on the edge of their carbon-free seats. For example, Cadbury Schweppes will be cutting its net absolute carbon emissions By 2020, the confectionery company famous for its Cadbury chocolate Easter eggs and other sweets intends to slash half of its net absolute carbon emissions, with at least 30 percent from in-company actions.
"We recognize that if we are serious about tackling climate change, we need to be 'absolutely' committed," said Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer in a statement. "This means re-thinking the way we do business, embedding sustainability into every decision we take."   Salon has an article about carbon credits which explains a bit about how the system works and moreover talks about politicians and companies supporting such initiatives.   Finally, here is a brief article with some links to carbon footprint reducing resources.

Carbon Footprint Calculators

July 3, 2007

Here is a list of carbon footprint calculators. If you are interested, Nigel’s Eco Blog will be testing some of these over the next few weeks. I tried the BP calculator (Flash version) out and was pretty surprised at how large a footprint a single household can have. This is especially true as my business requires me to be on an airplane constantly.   Awareness is certainly something that will help reduce carbon emissions.

Germany Harnesses Wind

July 7, 2007

In the German green movement, the government has decided to take some subsidies away from the solar industry and apply them to wind farms. The solar industry of the country is not happy and is concerned competition from Asia will make it more difficult to compete. Still, industry spokespeople believe the subsidies could have been cut more and are not entirely displeased. See more from Red Herring.

Live Earth More Good Than Harm

July 7, 2007

Greg has a post titled Live Earth More Harm Than Good? Which points out the negatives associated with producing massive amounts of carbon gas in an effort to reduce the amount of carbon gas we generate. Quite a dilemma, right?   Really, the naysayers are wrong on this one.

Chicago Goes Green

July 8, 2007

Chicago like many other cities is trying to become the epicenter of green technology and manufacturing. With financial incentives like promising to buy 5 million dollars worth of green technology from solar thermal energy companies, it seems possible that Chicago could become an epicenter of green technology manufacturing and implementation. Here is more on what the city is doing.

Did Live Earth Mean Anything?

July 9, 2007

Absolutely according to this article from Time Magazine. The article on the topic does talk about the concept of just staying home as a better way to cut carbon emissions. But in the end, as the author points out… If these events make the concert-goers [and the rest of the world] change their carbon emitting ways and also push politicians to promote such policies, then the concert was worthwhile.

Vietnam Green Fund

July 19, 2007

I am intrigued with government initiatives such as this which allow for a trust fund to be set up whose purpose is to help companies go greener. In theory, companies in Vietnam of a certain size who qualify will be able to receive credits for reducing their carbon emissions. I wonder if something like this could take hold in the US.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Next
Featured Events