Results tagged “climatechange”

• Obama confers about Afghanistan with a bipartisan group of legislators (because bipartisanship has been going so well for him lately...)
• Polanski loses bid to be released; court calls him a "flight risk."
• Why are we taking the word "climate" out of climate change legislation?

• Spy vs. spy on the Iranian nukes.
• Businesses leaving US Chamber of Commerce complain about its opposition to climate legislation.
• Polanski tries legal route, asks Swiss to release him.

• The uninsured are more likely to have Republican or Blue Dog representatives in Congress.
• The Southeast floods; 8 people lose their lives.
• Obama at the UN to talk about climate today.

New study out of NYU "discovers" that blogosphere "chatter" about an album is directly correlated to that album's sales. Yahoo will reject Microsoft's buy-out bid of $44.6 billion, claiming that the figure "massively undervalues" the company. Analysts, on the other hand, believe that Yahoo's acceptance of the buy-out offer is only a matter of time. Today, Austin's City Hall will discuss a recent study showing the economic impact of a proposed medical school for the Austin area.

What do you get when you recycle 80,000 pounds of aluminum cans, or approximately 2.7 million cans? Well, evidently $5,000 dollars and a national award for the City Recycling Challenge. Mayor Will Wynn accepted the Cans for Cash prize on behalf of the City of Austin at the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting taking place last week.

Just as the F.T.C gatheredlast week to revisit new guidelines surrounding green marketing claims, Austin's own EnviroMedia has launched the Greenwashing Index (GWI). In a partnership with University of Oregon, consumers can post, review, and assess the credibility of new ads claiming the green word. Volkswagon, BP, and Lexus are among some of the first ads posted.

Yesterday the EarthLab Foundation announced its annual list of the top 10 greenest cities in America. Austin ranked 9th in this year's list. The list is compiled by sampling the one million plus users of the website's carbon and lifestyle calculator that has been featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The Eleventh Hour, at the 2007 Emmy Awards, and by Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

UN reports: Poorest people are most at risk through climate change. Dick Cheney's heart (ha) may be in trouble. In California, they drink sewage. Sort of. Russian hipsters carefully ignore Stalin, long for the good old days. Speaking as a nation wearing Native American t-shirts, we could teach them a thing or two about revisionist history... Living in the city makes your breasts denser. (This is not a metaphor, and it could be dangerous!)...

Tomorrow, November 3rd, the Step It Up Campaign gathers once again to see which of our politicians are stepping up and taking action about global warming. Following up on the first event back in April, the campaign unites ordinary folks concerned about global warming and demanding action from the candidates of 2008 to take bold steps on climate change. Millions will be gathering across the country to address representatives on three key priorities to stop...

Providing incentives for hybrids and investing in renewable technology are just a few of the environmental issues highlighted by U.S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who spoke at City Hall yesterday. Speaking of her "New Direction Congress", she stood with U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, city council members, and Austin Energy head Roger Duncan to highlight Austin's leadership in finding alternative energy sources and reducing energy consumptions. According to the Statesman: "The boast of a clean energy...

The University of Texas received a grade of B-minus on The College Sustainability Report Card, published Wednesday by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. According to the institute, the report card is the only independent sustainability assessment of campus operations and endowment investments. It grades universities with the 200 largest endowments in the areas of administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement. “The overall grade...

Little did we know last Monday when Al Gore stopped off in Austin for his Inconvenient Truth presentation that today he would be announced the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. There were rumors that it might happen - as a way for the Nobel committee to make a firm statement about the correlation between the environment and world peace - but now it is official. Gore will share the prize this year with the...

Mayor Will Wynn and writer/actor/director Turk Pipkin will tackle a hot topic (this one, not that one) this coming Monday as they host a special "Global Warming Q&A Session" between screenings of Pipkin's Nobelity and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth at the Paramount Theatre. Mayor Wynn loves talkin' climate change (he's a key member of the U.S. Mayors Council on Climate Protection, and in January, he trained with Al Gore to deliver the slideshow Gore...

Dems debate in New Hampshire; nothing much ensues. Louisiana congressman to be indicted for bribery; his district includes New Orleans. Why can't the Crescent City catch a damn break? The Weather Channel gets climate change-y. Riddle: Why did the German ostrich lose his mojo? Answer: Whatever it was, it wasn't firecrackers. P-Hilton reports to the slammer, set to pioneer new technologies in eyebrow threading....

Hold on to your pennies, there's some copper sting action going on. (Is zinc next?) Bee stings are on the decline as Colony Collapse Disorder threatens to make the future as bland as the lone guy left on American Idol (Jordin all the way). Maybe the Bee Girls know what's up? Smoke calms bees, but bee (ha!) neighborly and don't smoke out your fellow renters like one Austinite did. Buzzta (er, Busta) Rhymes' real...

Tomorrow, across the country, people are going to be gathering to encourage the gov't to take decisive action on global warming. The organizers of this action, one of whom is climate change prophet Bill McKibben, say that there are 1,367 separate rallies planned for tomorrow across the country. One of those will be in Austin, in front of the Statehouse at noon.

Those of you who breathe and/or can't stand the thought of deformed, three-eyed amphibians taking over Texas may want to read several recently published New York Times articles on TXU, the corporation that had planned to build 11 coal plants throughout the state. Interested in a buyout, investors Texas Pacific and Kohlberg Kravis just completed several weeks of negotiations with the corporation that brought prominent environmental groups like Environmental Defense and NRDC into the...

The Supreme Court takes up its first climate change case. Dedicate your yoga practices to swing voter Anthony Kennedy. Need more evidence that the post-Google YouTube has jumped the shark? Cops are on there now. Wal-Mart's sales fell in November for the first time in a decade. That capitalism, she's a fickle mistress. One in every 32 American adults were under law enforcement control (jail, probation, parole) last year. That's a record. Go team!...

Ever the champion for green energy, Mayor Will Wynn was in Las Vegas today for the 74th Annual U.S. Conference of Mayors, where he accepted awards on our city's behalf from Sustain Lane (Most Sustainable Cities) and the U.S.C.M. (City Livability Award). Wynn, serving as the Chairman of the Energy Committee, has been the leading proponent for the national Plug-in Partners campaign, a grass-roots initiative that's trying to convince automakers that a market for Plug-In...

With all this talk about extreme weather conditions as a result of Global Warming, some governments have good timing. The City of Austin and Travis County are about to release the latest update of flood plains and low-lying areas that could be affected by serious flooding. Homeowners should take a serious look because it could certainly affect home-values and insurance rates. Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a speech regarding the worldwide battle of values...

The Austin Chronicle's Daniel Mottola reports in today's issue that our city's title as Clean Energy Capital of the World may be contested in the near future. Last week, Mayor Wynn agreed to the Energy Freedom Challenge, a "national public education campaign to challenge cities around the U.S. to become the first city to acquire over half of its electricity from renewable energy resources." The EFC is sponsored by Solar Austin, one of the...