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Click Here to Create a Better World

Written by William Craven on . Posted in NRDC segment. 3 Comments on Click Here to Create a Better World

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This week NRDC OnEarth magazine senior editor Laura Wright and journalist Lisa Selin Davis bring us environmental activism in virtual space, or if you prefer, Massive. Multiplayer. Online. Roleplaying. Games. Got it? OK. But whereas most games of this sort allow you to behave violently in the most unthinkably violent civilizations, Second Life houses virtual ecosystems, clean water systems, and visions of post-global warming tragedy. While it is  a virtual pastime in a world of rather concrete problems, Second Life offers the opportunity to envision many of the various futures still available to us. LISTEN (7 min)

Deadly Sonar: The U.S. Navy’s Assault on Whales and Science

Written by William Craven on . Posted in NRDC segment.

Sonarmain NRDC’s flagship magazine OnEarth features an article by Peter Canby on the Navy’s use of Sonar (widely accepted to be harmful and/or fatal to whales), and the Navy’s efforts to silence its (often authoritative, science-based) critics. Daniel Hinerfeld follows up on the article with NRDC Senior Policy Analyst Michael Jasny. LISTEN (7 min)
Picture: Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

TXU Buyout Makes Utility Greener

Written by William Craven on . Posted in Energy, NRDC segment.

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Good news! NRDC’s Climate Center Director David Hawkins tells Betsy how the two private equity firms who are in talks to buy energy giant TXU wanted to talk to Environmental Defense and NRDC about how they could satisfy rising public opposition to proposed coal power plants in Texas.
This is a major victory for grassroots organizing, and the blueprint is clear: citizens make themselves heard in the streets, online, on the air, and in their state capitols; public opposition brings stock prices down; corporations are then forced to meet environmental groups at the bargaining table. Americans, you helped save the air you breathe! LISTEN (11 min)

The Car 2.0

Written by William Craven on . Posted in NRDC segment.

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NRDC Vehicles Policy Director Roland Hwang tells Betsy how when other countries come to the US to talk proactive environmental strategy, they are increasingly bypassing Washington for California: "California and Europe are moving forward together into the future, while Washington seems stuck in the past." Unlike the Bush Administration, which has long used China and India’s inaction as an excuse for their own, California and Europe remained undeterred by cynicism or nearsightedness: Mandatory carbon and tailpipe standards in California and Europe promise to transform the automotive industry,  and the influential precedents that the world needs will be in place and ready for copy. PART ONE (11 min)
Picture Treehugger  Title from Boston Globe

Roland also shared with us one of the more succinct and cogent analyses of Ethanol that we have heard: "Not all ethanol is created equal, and if you want to help the environment, you have to use the ethanol in the right way. Here’s what I mean…." PART TWO (7 min)