Why is Newsweek Lobbying for the Oil Industry?

by Mike Smith

Published November 05, 2009 @ 10:46AM PT

I guess the oil industry really can buy whatever it wants.

Newsweek, a magazine that presents itself as unbiased and independent, got caught this week accepting money from oil industry lobbyists and in exchange co-sponsoring a thinly veiled lobbying event on Capitol Hill.

Yesterday TPM Muckraker reported that Newsweek is partnering with the American Petroleum Institute (API) -- the lobbying arm of the oil industry -- to host a panel discussion entitled “Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?” featuring lawmakers, the American Petroleum Institute’s CEO, and Newsweek’s Senior Washington Correspondent.

In case you don’t know much about API they are a giant in the lobbying world and have spent millions of dollars just this year to try to prevent the US from enacting energy policy reform or addressing climate change.

Now API wants to host “policy forums” with their CEO and members of Congress in Washington, D.C. – and that’s fine; it’s exactly what lobbyists do.

The problem is that API is paying Newsweek to co-host the event in order to make it look like an unbiased “discussion” and not an industry-backed lobbying effort. What sort of “discussion” about climate change happens at an event sponsored by the oil industry where the only confirmed panelist is the CEO of the biggest oil lobby?

Newsweek should know better. Offering their sponsors the chance to slap the Newsweek name on any event in exchange for money just reeks of bias and casts suspicion on the independence of Newsweek’s journalism.

We’ve started a petition here on Change.org asking Newsweek to cancel the event entirely, and it’s already gaining momentum. Take action and send a letter to the magazine right now.

Taking money from oil lobbyists and co-hosting lobbying events masquerading as “policy discussions” is clearly an abuse of public trust and an unacceptable business practice.

Photo credit: Spentrails

Another Way to Cut Emissions: Hang Dry

by Katherine Gustafson

categories: energyefficiency, Greenhouse Gas

Published November 05, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

We talk a lot about changing our lightbulbs and going easy on the meat in our personal quests to help our struggling planet. But we've been overlooking one big source of domestic energy expenditure: the laundry.

New Scientist reports that a team from Michigan State University has calculated that if Americans would only hang dry their clothes instead of using the dryer, as well as make 16 other simple changes such as washing clothes in cooler water and installing low-flow showerheads, they would reduce their collective carbon dioxide emissions by 7.4 percent by 2019.

I imagine many people don't have room for a backyard drying rack and don't like the idea of washing soiled garments in cool water. There are, however, all manner of drying racks -- ceiling-suspended, wall-mounted, pulley-operated, collapsible, retractable -- that can make drying clothes fit in even the smallest apartments. Washing less-dirty clothes in cool water and saving the hot for the heavy-stain-lifting is one way to conserve on the washing end, as long as you already have enough laundry for two loads and aren't using double the water.

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No Climate Bill Until 2010 at the Earliest

by Mike Smith

Published November 04, 2009 @ 01:16PM PT

Is Climate Change being put on the back burner? After Blog Action Day, 350.org's events recently, and all the conferences and gatherings in the run up to Copenhagen, the momentum may lead to domestic legislation passing anytime soon.

With Republicans boycotting the markup of a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee bill (can we call this the billibuster?) before it can even hit the floor, the hopes of a deal being done before Copenhagen now seems unrealistic. The committee could forge ahead despite the boycott but, but other committees still need to weigh in — and they aren't making any plans to do so yet.

Commerce Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said on Tuesday that “Some people are talking about not doing it until after the 2010 election.” That would be a long time to wait, and would hardly show how serious America is about fighting climate change if it takes it that long to get legislation passed. Rockefeller is one of a handful of Democrats who may block legislation, fearing it would harm their coal-dependent economies. As a climate change representative for Algeria said this week, industrialized countries are too concerned with economic and political problems, and not sufficiently concerned about the damage that climate change is already causing to developing countries.

Photo credit: Rob Crawley

Nepal Goes to New Heights to Highlight Glacial Melting

by Katherine Gustafson

Published November 04, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

Like the government of the Maldives, which held a cabinet meeting underwater to point out the threat the country faces from rising sea levels, the government of Nepal is going to extremes to alert the world about alarming glacial melt in the Himalayas.

The Associated Press reports that Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and other members of the country's cabinet will convene on Mount Everest to highlight the dangers of lakes created by melting glaciers, which threaten to drown villages below.

The meeting will take place at the 17,400-foot (5,300-meter) high Everest base camp, which the officials will reach by plane. They have scheduled the gathering just prior to the Copenhagen climate summit in December, when world leaders will discuss coordinated action on global warming.

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African Nations End Climate Boycott, But Chances of Copenhagen Protocol Slim

by Mike Smith

Published November 03, 2009 @ 05:58PM PT

African nations have won promises that there will be more in-depth talks about exactly how much rich nations will need to cut their emissions by, ending a boycott of talks. The African countries had been supported by 70 developing countries, arguing that industrialized countries were not making sufficient commitments to cut emissions, with Africa tasking the brunt of drought and flooding blamed on climate change.

The 55 countries were prepared to provoke a major crisis, calling for a suspension of talks unless rich countries agreed to take much more substantial action. It threatened to undermine the Copenhagen Conference's efforts, with Algeria explaining that rich countries were too concerned with political and economic problems in passing legislation, not the damage that climate change is already doing around the world.

That's the good news. The bad? UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon had suggested that a legally binding agreement is unlikely to be signed at Copenhagen — there may be no Copenhagen Protocol to replace Kyoto. This is likely to further infuriate the developed world; with climate change hitting the poorest hardest, they've got a right to be angry.

[Photo credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten - Secretary-General Witnesses Impacts of Climate Change]

Grants for a Clean-Air Future

by Katherine Gustafson

Published November 03, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

Last week Secretary of Energy Chu announced the Department of Energy's first $151 million in new "Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)" grants.

These grants represent an ambitious plan to jump-start the alternative energy sector in a major way. Speaking at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, Chu said the agency would like to do for the energy industry what Google did for the Internet.

"With ARPA-E," he said, "we are swinging from the heels and trying to hit home runs, not just base hits." While there's something to be said for small ball, this apparently is not the time for it.

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Toyota Create New Plant Species to Offset Prius Factory CO2

by Mike Smith

Published November 02, 2009 @ 07:08AM PT

Toyota have moved into the horticultural industry, creating two new species of flowers specifically developed for the grounds of the Prius plant in Toyota City, Japan.

The flowers are designed to take heat out of the atmosphere and absorb nitrogen oxides. The leaves of the flowers will also create water vapor, reduce the temperature of the factory's surroundings, lowering the amount of energy needed to cool it.

It's not just a smart and scientifically incredible PR stunt, but part of a 20 year effort to reduce the Prius plant's carbon emissions — since 1990 they've cut it by 55 per cent. Last year Toyota planted 50,000 trees to offset emissions from the factory. But you've got to wonder whether they should focus on producing greener cars, rather than reducing the emissions of the production process. "Critics claim the Prius production process creates more CO2 than normal petrol vehicles, nullifying the lower CO2 output of the car itself," report Drive.com.au. Reported reductions in CO2 needs to be balanced against the net carbon impact of the Prius if Toyota really want to please the grass roots.

Photo credit: Alan Miles