The biggest decision of President Obama’s two-term presidency looms ahead, and environmentalists are increasingly concerned that Obama will cave to fossil fuel interests and approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Now we can add former vice president Al Gore to the growing chorus of enviros who are calling on Obama to veto the tar sands pipeline. In an interview with The Guardian last week, Gore described the proposed pipeline “an atrocity,” and he called on the president to back up the environmental rhetoric from his inauguration speech with actions.

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Post tags: Al Gore, barack obama, environmental policy, keystone pipeline, keystone xl, Keystone XL Pipeline, obama, Obama climate team, obama environmental policy, president obama, tar sands, tar sands pipeline, white house

There’s nothing fishy about naming a new species of fish after the President of the United States, especially since he’s not the only one. Researchers discovered five new species of darter that navigate the bottom of fast moving freshwater streams and rivers in Alabama and Tennessee and named all but one of them after past and present presidents; another was named after former Vice President Al Gore. Why? To honor their environmental record, of course.

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Post tags: Al Gore, alabama, bill clinton, darter, environmental news, Etheostoma obama, fish named Obama, Jimmy Carter, nature conservation, obama, Obamafish, president obama, president of the united states, Teddy Roosevelt, tennessee

President Obama won the 2012 US election last night, and in a powerful victory speech he called for climate action to address a nation that is “threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet“. The statement came after a long campaign that barely mentioned the environment, so now we look to our Commander in Chief to see what he will do in the face of a rapidly changing climate. With a Republican-controlled House of Representatives filled with many who are skeptical of climate science, what will four more years mean for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, and the growth of our economy? Read on for a look at critical opportunities for the Obama Administration to combat climate change in the years to come.

Read the rest of Obama Calls for Climate Action After Winning 2012 Presidential Election – Here’s What’s Next for the Environment

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Post tags: 2012 Election, 2012 united states presidential election, barack obama, barack obama reelection, Climate Change, election, Environment, environmental policy, environmental protection, green design, obama, obama 2nd term, obama reelected, obama second term, obama/biden 2012, politics, POTUS, president of the united states, sustainable design, us election

By now, most of America has started to shake the Election Night hangover. While it was the wee hours of the morning before President Obama delivered his victory speech, many other victories were won early in the evening. There were several important environmental and socially responsible initiatives on state ballots this year, many of which were strongly opposed by big corporate and industrial interests. Thankfully, grassroots efforts prevailed in many cases, with environmental advocates winning landmark measures that will help keep humans, wildlife, and the planet safer as a result. Read on to find out which green ballot measures won and which ones will have to try again in the next election.

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Post tags: Climate Change, election 2012, energy policy, environmental protection, fracking, GMOs, green jobs, obama, Romney

Read the rest of DIY: A Simple Guide to Beer Brewing for Seasonal Ale Lovers

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Post tags: ale, beer, beer advocate, beersmith, belgian, boil, bottling, brew, brewing beer, brewmaster, carbon dioxide, cerveza, CO2, collaborative consumption, consume less, DIY, do it yourself, grains, green business, green design, green infrastructure, homebrew, homebrewing, homemade, hops, how-to, local, localize, molasses, obama, pilsner, porter, seasonal, sharing, sparge, spiced, stout, suds, water issues, wort

During President Obama’s first term in office, observers have noted that the terms “global warming” and “climate change” have gradually been scrubbed from the president’s vocabulary. Since the start of the Republican primary, Obama has framed “green jobs” mostly in the context of the economy, and he has avoided any mention of climate change. He didn’t even mention it in his 2011 State of the Union address. But in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Obama expressed concern that we aren’t doing enough to combat global warming, and he predicted that climate change would become a bigger part of the presidential campaign.

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Post tags: 2012 campaign, barack obama, Climate Change, general election, global warming, james hansen, keystone xl, Mitt Romney, national politics, obama, politics, POTUS, president, president obama, presidential campaign, Rolling Stone

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed setting federal limits on carbon emissions from new power plants, a move could spell the beginning of the end for conventional coal-fired power plants in the US. The new rules would effectively ban any new coal plants that don’t trap CO2 before it leaves their smokestacks. The historic announcement represents a major step towards moving past one of the biggest contributors to climate change.

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Post tags: CO2, CO2 emissions, coal plants, coal power, coal-fired power plants, enbvironmental protection agency, energy policy, epa, greenhouse gasses, obama

According to a new Gallup poll, 65% of Americans mistakenly believe that President Obama and Congress are responsible for the recent spike in gas prices, while only 31% understand that neither the President nor Congress have any immediate control of the rising costs. Gas prices continue to reach record levels in the U.S., with a gallon of gas getting closer and closer to $5 in some parts of the country, and while that’s alarming, the fact that so many Americans are misinformed about who controls those prices is equally problematic. The poll also revealed that 85% believe that the government should step in to help lower the rising prices.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, american gas prices, electric vehicles, foreign oil, Fox News, gas prices, green transportation, green vehicles, Mitt Romney, obama, obama gas prices, oil prices, oil speculation, president obama, U.S. Government

President Obama stepped to the stage at The University of Miami yesterday to deliver an impressive speech on energy policy. Though the President made mention of his efforts to expand oil and gas drilling in the United States, he also made clear that those were not the long-term answer to our energy woes. He outlined the fact that the United States uses 20% of the world’s oil but only has 2% of the world’s reserves and that even if we tried, we couldn’t drill ourselves out of this mess. After setting this clear line of attack the President then went on to talk to the engineering students in the audience about the Energy Department’s energy assessment program which is saving businesses $5.6 billion dollars in energy costs. He then rolled smoothly through our green energy prospects, leaving no stone unturned – from American manufacturing of wind and solar panels to the development of algae fuels. It’s nice to see that at least one politician out there gets the idea that there is more than one way to solve our energy problems – and that most of those ways are green.

Read the rest of President Obama Shuns Oil and Notes $5.6 Billion Saved by American Businesses Through Energy Efficiency

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Post tags: energy innovation, energy saving, energy technology, obama, oil reserves, president, president obama, renewable energy, us energy, us energy innovation, us energy technology, us oil reserves, us oil use

President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address to the nation last night while standing firm on his believe that American ingenuity will carry us safely into a secure future. His overall message was that we need to clear up the partisan politics in Washington in order to write and pass legislation that overcomes the burdens of bureaucracy while opening doors to the technology of the future that can create jobs on American soil. He firmly spoke of his mission to bypass Congress in order to use public land to create clean energy, pledged government funding for innovation in clean technology and manufacturing here in America, promised to stay dedicated to reforms that keep our air clean and reduce emissions, vowed to force natural gas drilling to become safer, asked again for Congress to stop subsidizing oil, and spoke of incentives for businesses to lower their energy bills through power savings. Though he spoke briefly about the opening of new offshore oil drilling, we all know in a climate like that of Washington you’ve got to give a little to get a lot and the President, when it comes to green reforms, was asking for a lot.

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Post tags: "clean energy", barack obama, climate change legislation, comprehensive climate change legislation, green energy, green energy legislation, obama, obama energy policy, obama green policy, obama state of the union, obama sustainable energy policy, politics, president obama, Solar Power, SOTU, state of the union, washington, washington green energy policy

To the horror of animal rights supporters everywhere, a week before Thanksgiving President Obama signed into law an agricultural spending bill that allows for the restoration of the American horse slaughter industry. Congress was faced with a choice between lifting the domestic slaughter ban or banning the export of horses for slaughter, and they chose to keep the slaughter on domestic grounds – however there was a reason U.S. plants were closed in the first place. The Humane Society reports that U.S. slaughterhouses have a history of excessive abuse and cruelty, and USDA statistics show that 92 percent of horses slaughtered for meat are “in good condition and able to lead productive lives”. Read on to learn more about this horrific industry – and why we shouldn’t allow it on US soil or support the exportation of horses to foreign slaughterhouses.

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Post tags: agricultural spending bill, animal rights, congress, horse, horse meat, horse slaughter, human consumption, inhabitat, obama, slaughter ban

Giant Pandas are well-loved for their distinctive appearance and sedentary nature. Now they will receive even greater adoration and attention for their bowel-based contribution to the development of a clean energy future. In a national meeting at the American Chemical Society, researchers presented a study identifying panda poop as a source of enzyme-producing bacteria that breaks down plant materials in a way that is useful for biofuel production.

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Post tags: agriculture, Alternative Fuel, american chemistry society, Biodiversity, biofuel production, biofuels, biomass, biomass conversion, carbon dioxide, cellulosic biomass, cheap fuel, cheaper fuel, Climate Change, CO2, deforestation, department of agriculture, Department of Energy, doa, DOE, eco design, eco habitat, eco-conscious, eco-friendly, emissions, emissions reduction, Environment, environmental design, enzymes, giant panda, green design, green infrastructure, green investment, green living, green technology, green transportation, infrastructure, memphis zoo, obama, panda, panda poop, poop, reduce, science, sustainable design, sustainable living, waste management

Canada’s tar sands have been dubbed “the most environmentally destructive project on Earth,” and guess what? Now a money-hungry oil company wants to transport that crude acidic oil thousands of miles south to the Gulf Coast in Texas by constructing a massive new pipeline, known as the Keystone XL. Not only would construction of the pipeline tear apart many miles of land in the U.S., but it would require Canada to double its tar sands production, which destroys boreal forests and emits much higher greenhouse gas emissions than traditional oil production. Since Saturday, hundreds of protesters have sat outside the White House, urging Obama to stop Keystone XL, which needs approval from the State Department to continue. More than 160 protesters have been arrested, but we certainly hope that Mr. President is hearing their message loud and clear.

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Post tags: canadian tar sands, dirty energy, keystone pipeline, keystone tar sands, keystone tar sands protests, keystone xl tar sands pipeline, new york times keystone editorial, obama, oil pipeline, president obama, proposed oil pipeline, protesters arrested, tar sands pipeline, white house protests

As part of his push to cut our dependence on foreign oil, President Obama said at his State of the Union address reiterated his vision of seeing one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. “With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” he said. Well, the reality may be slightly different — a new report from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, has found that automakers are not planning to produce that many cars in the next four years, nor are consumers willing to buy them.

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Post tags: electric car tax rebate, electric cars, electric plug-in vehicles, electric vehicles, obama, one million electric cars, plug-in cars, plug-in vehicles, president obama, state of the union

As we’ve reported in earlier articles, BP has been trying to contain a portion of the oil that’s been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico in what is being called the biggest oil spill in US history. Even though they’re collecting it, they aren’t sure what the heck to do with all of it. One idea? How about burning it using a device (very ironically) called an EverGreen Burner? We can’t say that we’ve done much research into setting petroleum on fire in the middle of the ocean, but it doesn’t sound like the greenest idea to us…

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Post tags: BP, british petroleum, burn oil, coast guard, deepwater horizon, evergreen, evergreen burner, Gulf, gulf coast, Gulf oil spill, halliburton, key riser pipe, obama, of mexico, oil spill, oil spill solutions, riser pipe cut, schlumberger

We’ve come to the point where we’re pretty darn pessimistic about almost any supposed advancements in the BP oil spill saga – but as of yesterday, there seems to be some actual good news. According to Admiral Thad W. Allen, who is overseeing the federal response to the disaster, a key riser pipe at the Deepwater Horizon site was successfully cut yesterday, meaning that we are one crucial step closer to capping off and containing the leak. Not everything went smoothly though – read on to see what has officials worried about this still fragile, but momentous progress.

UPDATE: As of last night, technicians were able to go one step further and actually get the containment cap or “top hat” in place. On NBC’s Today Show this morning, BP’s chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, confirmed that oil has started flowing up the pipe from the cap, but that we would have to wait until later in the day to see how much is actually being diverted.

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Post tags: BP, british petroleum, coast guard, deepwater horizon, Gulf, gulf coast, Gulf oil spill, halliburton, key riser pipe, obama, of mexico, oil spill, oil spill solutions, riser pipe cut

An announcement was made on Thursday that BP’s latest crazily named tactic — the “top kill” which we reported on earlier this week — seems to be working to stop the flow of oil the Gulf of Mexico. They initiated the plan yesterday, which involved shooting a dense liquid at high pressures into the five story tall drill pipes on the ocean floor, slowing the flow of oil and then plugging the hole with cement. It didn’t sound too promising a plan to us but according to reports, the drilling structure has been successfully blocked and the flow of oil stopped. If they are able to plug the oil with cement it will be deemed a success.

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Post tags: BP, british petroleum, coast guard, deepwater horizon, Gulf, gulf coast, Gulf oil spill, halliburton, obama, of mexico, oil spill, oil spill solutions

In the Rose Garden at the White House today, President Obama signed into law new fuel efficiency and emissions standards for medium and heavy duty trucks. The executive order mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department develop new requirements for larger vehicles and extend and improve upon those for smaller vehicles. Though — as we recently reported — Congress now has a climate change bill in the works, the President decided to push these vehicle standards forward on the road towards a more energy-efficient tomorrow.

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Post tags: emissions, executive order, fuel efficiency, Fuel Efficient, global warming, obama, president, trucks, white house

Amid the depressing news that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is still not contained nor getting better — over two week after the disaster started — there may be a little green ray of hope. The devastating effects of this oil rig spill could be the perfect moment to garner support for renewable energy. Last week President Obama announced that he was halting all future offshore drilling until this oily mess is figured out, but we think he should take that a step further. This oil spill is the perfect chance to educate the public about the devastating side effects of our dependency on oil and the clean future that renewable energy offers us as an alternative.

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Post tags: "clean energy", administration, BP, energy policy, government, green energy, gulf of mexico, horizon, obama, oil dependent, oil spill, renewable energy

Some of you probably know that President Jimmy Carter installed an array of solar panels on the White House roof in 1979. You also may remember that they were unceremoniously removed in 1986 — about the same time that President Ronald Reagan allowed President Carter’s solar power tax credits to expire. Well, now a coalition of solar power companies led by Sungevity are calling on the American people to sign a petition to convince the Obama Administration to have a solar panel system permanently reinstalled on White House roof — one that would lower White House utility bills by 81%.

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Post tags: administration, government, obama, president, renewable energy, soar array, solar panels, Solar Power, white house