Green Blog

Last week, the House Natural Resource Committee passed legislation called the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act, known as the CLEAR Act.

Challenge yourself this summer with these 10 useful tips to eliminate your water waste!

In addition to saving money on your utility bill, water conservation helps prevent water pollution in nearby lakes, rivers and local watersheds.  Conserving water can also extend the life of your septic system by reducing soil saturation, and reducing any pollution due to leaks.

In April, twenty-five cities and states received “Retrofit Ramp-up” awards from the U.S. Department of Energy’s stimulus funds (a competitive grant under the Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant Program). These grants are beefing up existing programs and new initiatives set to launch this fall and winter that allow households and building owners to improve the energy efficiency performance of their homes and businesses.

Before you buy your next bag of coffee beans, it may do you some good to think about your purchase. It makes a dramatic difference, not only in the quality and flavor of the coffee beans, but also in the impact on the environment, to purchase from a sustainable roaster. All over the world, commercial coffee companies are focusing on the economic value for their brand, meaning that they want high-enough quality coffee beans for the cheapest possible cost.

NRDC's David Pettit made a blog post on Tuesday about a day he just spent on the Louisiana bayou.

It's neither news nor political commentary. It's not focused on health or wildlife or our oil-fueled economy. It's just observation, written and photographic.

Today NRDC, Oceana, and Mote Marine Laboratory launched “Waldo” – an ocean robot that will help defend the environmental and economic bounty of the Florida Keys from impacts from the Gulf oil spill.

Satellite imagery and aerial reconnaissance can only see what’s visible on the surface of the water – they’re not able to tell us the locations and movement of the submerged plumes of oil droplets. These plumes could well be drifting offshore of Florida and without looking to see if they’re there, we won’t know.

Oil continues to plague the Gulf of Mexico, but press reports indicate that today President Obama will adopt a new policy that provides hope for the future of our seas. Like the groundbreaking Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, this national policy will transform the way we manage our oceans and Great Lakes – helping us protect and restore our marine resources.

The broken wellhead on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor has now been capped for about 24 hours, and BP says they feel "encouraged" by measurements they are taking under the cap. Pressure is increasing steadily, as predicted, and they expect it to level off soon, which will allow the cap to hold the oil in the well until BP finishes their relief well and sucks it all out.

President Obama visited the site of a future battery factory in Michigan on Thursday and gave a speech about a new American economy, an economy powered by batteries.

The battery story is one that Obama has told before.

Today I am speaking at an event on Capitol Hill to unveil a giant ice sculpture. The globe symbolizes our melting planet – due to man-made climate change. The words “climate deniers” are also melting away-- just like their baseless attacks on climate scientists.

The message is simple: The time for denial and delay is over. We are facing our last best chance to prevent a meltdown of the environmental systems that sustain us all.