Greener Neighborhoods Mean Healthier Kids
[Creative Commons photo by shoe the Linux Librarian]
Archive for the ‘Indiana’ Category
Weekly Roundup of Green U.S. News
Published on December 5th, 2008
Posted in
OK, so I haven’t posted a weekly green news roundup in a while, but I’m getting back to making it a regular feature as of today. So what are the green scoops across the U.S. this week? There’s plenty:
- Over in Dallas, for instance, officials and urban designers are gathering today for an all-day “charrette” (or brainstorming session) to figure out what it would take to create a fully sustainable city block. They hope to follow up their meeting with an international competition to design just such a thing. (You can read more here (PDF)).
Obama Touts Fund to Protect Great Lakes
Published on September 16th, 2008
Posted in
Posted in EcoLocalizer, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said today he would create a $5 billion trust fund to restore and protect the Great Lakes, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The fund would pay for efforts to prevent and control invasive species entering the lakes, clean up polluted sediments and help pay for sewer system repairs throughout the area. The program would also create a Great Lakes coordinator position in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Funding for Obama’s Great Lakes plan would come from reversing some existing tax cuts and incentives for oil companies.
BioTown, USA: Is Total Energy Self-Sufficiency Possible?
Sure, it’s easy enough for one person to attempt energy self-sufficiency: put a solar panel on your roof, run your car on biodiesel, and you’re halfway there. But how easy is it for an entire town to become self-sufficient?
That’s the question that Reynolds, Indiana has been trying to answer for the past 3 years. In 2005, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels declared the town to be BioTown, USA—a model of energy self-sufficiency for the state.
The town was chosen mainly because of its small size (pop. 547), excellent rail and road access, and proximity to organic waste (within 15 miles of more than 150,000 hogs). According to the BioTown website, the finished project will showcase efficient methods of converting biomass into energy, use bioenergy to fuel homes and businesses throughout the town, promote alternative energies across the United States, and show that agricultural energy is safe, reliable, and consistent.
These are certainly some lofty goals for such a tiny town, and progress on the project has been slow. In fact, external signs of energy independence in Reynolds have been few and far between. So where does the project stand now?
Dry and Thirsty? No Great Lakes Water for You!
Published on May 15th, 2008
A Great Lakes compact that would prevent the region’s water from being siphoned off into the thirsty Southwest and other dry parts of the country is a little closer to taking effect, now that lawmakers in Michigan have OK’d the deal.
The Great Lakes Water Resources Compact aims to protect the water rights of the eight states bordering the lakes: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Michigan’s approval of the agreement brings the number of states signed on so far to five: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Trendy Thieves Eye Used Grease, Metals
Published on May 13th, 2008
Posted in
Posted in California, Colorado, Connecticut, EcoLocalizer, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon
Rising prices for everything from copper and platinum to flour, gas and cooking oil are creating new markets for trend-minded thieves across the U.S.
With gasoline prices in the U.S. breaking new records weekly, for example, law enforcement officials are seeing more cases of cooking grease thefts from fast-food establishments and other restaurants. Why used grease? Because cooking oil can be converted into biodiesel fuel that can be sold at a cool profit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Unintended Consequences and the Ethanol Deathwatch
Published on May 6th, 2008
Posted in
The U.S.’s rush to grow corn for fuel has already been blamed for rising food costs that are pricing the world’s poor into hunger and malnutrition. But the high cost of corn is having another unintended consequence: a plunge in biofuel plants’ profit margins.
About one-fourth of all corn grown in the U.S. is now cultivated for fuel rather than for food. Meanwhile, the growing demand for both food and fuel is driving commodity prices for crops like corn to record highs. That means, even with the federal government’s generous subsidies for ethanol production, today’s biofuel profits aren’t what they used to be.
