Chemistry for a sustainable world

Green issues are sometimes complex. We need to recycle many things, like electronics, but we certainly don’t want to poison others in the process. Efforts to protect the environment and conserve valuable resources must be coupled with proper health and safety procedures. Unfortunately, just saying this doesn’t make it happen. Developing countries are becoming a dumping ground for much toxic waste and proper environmental health and safety is being ignored, both by local opportunists and suppliers of e-Waste from developed nations.

In a move destined to have no effect whatsoever on gasoline prices in the near term, and possibly ever, President Bush lifted the ban on offshore drilling. This follows a tradition of disregard for the facts, the science and the truth that has long characterized the administration’s actions.

The website 1sky.org reports that
Congress is now deciding which federal programs will be funded in 2009. Among those programs are the Green Jobs Act, which would invest $125 million in green-collar job training programs, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, which would authorize grants to local communities to help improve their energy efficiency [...]

Several recent articles have indicated the impact that gas costs are having on lifestyles. Two related articles were reported in recent posts at this site, “How to Find the Cheapest Gas Price in Your Area“and “Plug-In Hybrid Leads Toyota’s Drive Beyond Oil“. In The Demise of the RV, Eric Fry reports for Rude [...]

Strong demand for corn from U.S. biofuel producers has contributed to supply tightness in the corn market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast about a third of this year’s crop will be consumed by the biofuel sector.

As reported by By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer: “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson favored giving California some authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks … before he consulted with the White House and reversed course, congressional investigators said yesterday.”

Amnestry International and BlogCatalog are sponsoring today as a day to focus on human rights around the world.
I’ll add a few personal thoughts in support of this effort. First, I would like to emphasize the value of people’s lives, no matter what they believe and where they live. When the historical changeover occurred [...]

In case the first title was too long for the amazing 60 MPG gas mileage to be obvious, I want to call further attention to this recent article on the new VW TurboDiesel Jetta, coming to the US in 2009, and capable of meeting all of the toughest state emissions tests. $22,000 estimated base price.

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy: “Two administrative law judges recommended today that power lines should not be built across west-central Minnesota from the proposed coal-fired plant on the South Dakota side of Big Stone Lake. The decision is a major victory in the fight to combat climate change.
The judges found that the applicant power companies [...]

Michelle Bennett of Cleantechnica.com with the latest on solar concentrators coupled to solar panels: “We already know that concentrated solar power (CSP) is shaking things up in the solar industry. A subset within the industry is turning up the heat. “Extreme” Concentrated solar magnifies intense sunlight onto a solar cell, at temperatures that could melt [...]