Okay, it’s Earth Day and everything, so maybe I’m imagining things, but it certainly feels like the renewable energy/carbon emissions/let’s-fix-global-warming conversation has picked up steam dramatically in the last couple of weeks. I thought it might be nice to take a step back and review where things stand in Washington and elsewhere.
The US Department of the Interior reports that they will start spending the stimulus money granted them in February, and among the $140 million-worth of projects is $15.2 million for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s favorite activity: volcano monitoring!
The stimulus package approved in February contains items aimed at making everyone an environmentalist. Well, let’s say practical environmentalist.
The Environmental Protection Agency has launched the National Cell Phone Recycling Week as part of the month-long Earth Day festivities. If all 100 million unwanted phones were recycled now it would save enough energy to power 18,500 homes for one full year.
Communicating climate change is a difficult task, and in some sense a sea change is needed before the public and policy makers truly can catch up to the science.