Wars in the Middle East and oil rig blowouts in the Gulf have given us gasoline in the range of $4 to $5/gallon.  Growing concerns over asthma-inducing pollution from coal fired power plants, not to mention mercury pollution in food supplies and greenhouse gas emissions, have resulted in the termination of numerous coal projects and even the TVA announcing it would soon close eighteen existing coal facilities.
 

America, it could be worse. We could be Europe. I mean, we’re still mostly in the race with China - - in the past five years, they improved energy efficiency by nearly 20% and have a new five-year plan for another 20%. I say big deal - - the Empire State Building recently completed an energy efficiency upgrade and cut its consumption by nearly 40% after only nine months of remodeling. 

The ferocious tsunami that devastated Japan's coast is a tragic reminder that we have an uneasy relationship with our oceans. While we can't prevent earthquakes, we can minimize at least some of the damage from tsunamis on American shores by dealing with climate change and rising ocean levels now.

A few weeks ago in Lamont, California, a fighting rooster killed a man, when the bird slashed him with the blades he had attached to its legs.

White House climate policy czar Carol Browner recently left her post “to spend more time with her family” (political-speak for “thanks for playing, but don’t let the door hit you in the backside on your way out”).  Given his 2008 campaign pledge to get Congress to deal with US carbon pollution and thereby support a global successor to the Kyoto climate change accord, I assume President Obama will now need to appoint a replacement who can push through what Ms. Browner could not. Let me be the first to nominate Hosni Mubarak.

As the results of our “mission accomplished” in Iraq are tallied by people with Nobel Prizes on their resumes, it appears we may have made a few bad bets. But given the alternatives, it’s clear we should now double down on the oil war strategy, but this time go after another big pool of goo that isn’t so expensive - - Canada.
 

Here it comes - - a shameless self-promotion for my new book, Cracking the Carbon Code: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy (Palgrave Macmillan). I take the liberty to mention the book, because this blog will give you the key for nothing and, once everyone is doing it, can the movie version be far behind?
 

After 9/11, every politician in America quickly donned an American flag lapel pin. Even nine years later, the patriotism of public officials who fail to wear the pin is called into question, while others are called hypocritical if they wear the pin while opposing things like legislation to give health benefits to 9/11 first responders. 

Lose 10 pounds? Get a new job? Be nicer to a neighbor?

Yes, it’s that time of year again and carbon could make your New Year’s resolutions much more successful - - and profitable.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize is $2.2 million equivalent of a Nobel Prize for clean, sustainable energy recognizing individuals, non-profits, and companies that are doing the most to commercialize and distribute renewable energy to replace fossil fuels and cut pollution.

Nearly 200 nations made modest advances in Cancun, Mexico last week towards a new agreement on tackling carbon pollution and modernizing global economies.

Trying to get investors and policymakers to focus on things we can all agree on, such as saving energy and money or creating domestic renewable energy jobs, I have refused to engage the climate change skeptics.

Imagine a weight loss convention, with no more ambitious goal than agreeing that 16 ounces equals a pound, and where those who say “diet” the loudest were actually selling candy and donuts in the parking lot.

A long, long time ago…in a galaxy far, far away…a group of states and provinces banded together in frustration that their national governments were held hostage by Big Oil & Coal and had been unable to break free to harness the economic development opportunities presented by renewable energy, alternative fuels, energy efficiency, and carbon markets.

California is at it again. State regulators just set energy efficiency standards for new TVs, mostly the big flat panel models that gulp kilowatts. 

At the World Economic Forum in Marrakech last week, I expected to hear the sustainability challenges of the Middle East and North Africa (the so-called “MENA” region) described in some detail - - from education to health care, from women in the workplace to replacing oil. I was not disappointed, but what I did not expect to hear in that setting was a lesson on energy economics from Manhattan.

Revlon’s eyeliners. Nabisco’s Oreo cookies. Caress’ Tahitian Renewal Silkening Exfoliating Pomegranate Seeds & Tahitian Palm Oil Body Wash.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed guidelines to address the practice of inflating eco-friendly claims for a growing list of products, commonly known as green-washing. Experts are debating if manufacturers should consider minimum standards for sustainable content and recycling practices, among many other factors, in an effort to help consumers understand just what shade of green they get for any given purchase. It’s a worthy effort and long overdue, but the FTC should go beyond green-washing and tackle green fraud.

In New York last week for the Clinton Global Initiative and United Nations Week, I attended a small dinner party late one night that featured film start Leonardo DiCaprio, billionaire philanthropist/investor George Soros, the President of the central African nation of Gabon and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), among others.

In parts of the West African nation of Ghana, water has become so scarce that young women ask suitors about the distance to sources of clean water in their communities before accepting marriage proposals.  Where water is hard to find, food is also often scarce, so girls are interrogating potential husbands about their ability to farm and feed a family. Should the rest of the world be taking these kinds of practical inventories of disappearing natural resources too?