we should have all gov't vehicles switched over to hybrids, and then invest in the detroit car makers to make the switch there too. or start the first hydrogen highway like Norway

Are you aware of the environmental hazards that Hybrid cars are?!  Are you aware that the items used to make the batteries for Hybrid cars use some of the most deadly toxic materials known to man like Cadmium??  Green?  I think not.  Bio-Diesel?  It's killing reasonable prices for food for poor people and is a proponent of massive deforestation.  Green my ass. 

Justin, very interesting stuff. What are your thoughts on alternatives for greening pasenger vehicles that the gov't is now using? or do you see it as useless? What type of message would you be interested in hearing as a 'green' alternative for our gov't?

While it is disappointing to see an individual discourage one line of thinking without providing an alternative, I would encourage everyone to be critical of "green" technology.  The public has been hasty in its promotion of advancements made in the green arena that turn out to be not so green after all.  Be weary.  I think the "green movement" has been undermined by large corporations and unwitting consumers.  I propose we all jump ship.  What do you think of the color brown?...maybe orange?

While it is true that the term "green" is often abused, as in "101 easy things you can do to be green and save the world", for lack of a better alternative, it still works as a marketing device.

Otherwise, one could use "clean, cheap, abundant, distributed energy" for green energy.

However, digressions aside, I think points 1 and 3 in the five step program above are the most effective measures that the US goverment could take, in terms of environmental benefits to all.  Just my opinion, I didn't make a full study.

Dear J S, I think you don't need to get aggressive; it would be more productive from you to propose different and better ideas.

Better than hybrids would be to invest in making a transition to plug in electric vehicles and biodiesel made from switchgrass, mustard seed, and woody matter grown on otherwise non productive land. Supposedly ultracapacitors are about to come on line which will be better than batteries anyway. There are solutions, and plenty of them, but we will need to increase the R&D many times over; as well as plan things as comprehensively and holistically as possible - taking into account all of their ramifications and designing the entire system to be as sustainable as possible. 
It is a lot of work and all of the leading thinkers need to be at the table. This is why we need to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability. Our whole country needs to focus on really making a green transition so that we can move as rapidly and wisely as possible to full sustainability. 
Rob Wheeler

I agree that points 1 and 3 would be the most useful in the short run. My daughter runs a small business, about 25 employees, and she has been able to do her small part towards these goals. For instance, every day that an employee car pools, they get to put their name in for a monthly drawing. It is a small thing, but creates a bit of excitement and keeps each employee aware of the problem. They also use recycled paper and installed sky lights.
Regarding hybrid batteries: If we can mass produce the batteries required to convert cars to hybrids or electric, the price will come down significantly. A safety matter was mentioned above. I don't think the idea needs to be discarded; rather, find a way to ensure safety. Gasoline is flammable, but we have relatively few fires compared to accidents. Wouldn't the major universities love a project like this?

Biochar, the modern version of an ancient Amazonian agricultural practice called Terra Preta (black earth), is gaining widespread credibility as a way to address world hunger, climate change, rural poverty, deforestation, and energy shortages… SIMULTANEOUSLY!

The IBI Announces Success in Having Biochar Considered as a Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Tool;
POZNAN, Poland, December 10, 2008 - The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) announces that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has submitted a proposal to include biochar as a mitigation and adaptation technology to be considered in the post-2012-Copenhagen agenda of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A copy of the proposal is posted on the IBI website at
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI).

Modern Pyrolysis of biomass is a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration,10X Lower Methane & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too.
Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration, Bio-Gas & Bio-oil fuels, so is a totally virtuous, carbon negative energy cycle.

Charles Mann ("1491") in the Sept. National Geographic has a wonderful soils article which places Terra Preta / Biochar soils center stage.
I think Biochar has climbed the pinnacle, the Combined English and other language circulation of NGM is nearly nine million monthly with more than fifty million readers monthly!
We need to encourage more coverage now, to ride Mann's coattails to public critical mass.

Please put this (soil) bug in your colleague's ears. These issues need to gain traction among all the various disciplines who have an iron in this fire.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/mann-text


Biochar data base;
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node

It's what Mann hasn't covered that I thought should interest any writer as a follow up article;

The Biochar provisions by Sen.Ken Salazar in the 07 & 08 farm bill,
http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html

NASA's Dr. James Hansen Global warming solutions paper and letter to the G-8 conference, placing Biochar / Land management the central technology for carbon negative energy systems.
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.1126.pdf

The many new university programs & field studies, in temperate soils; Cornell, ISU, U of H, U of GA, Virginia Tech, New Zealand and Australia.



Given the current "Crisis" atmosphere concerning energy, soil sustainability, food vs. Biofuels, and Climate Change what other subject addresses them all?

This is a Nano technology for the soil that represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.

Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

Michael Pollan is well briefed about Biochar technology, but did not include it in his 8000 word, "Farmer & Chief" NYT's article to President Obama, (Which he did read & cited in a speech) but I'm sure Biochar will be his 8001th word to him.

Erich
540 289 9750

  so many common sense solutions to problems that we face today . a sae project about 10 years ago had students build a solar powered car and drive them from chicago to san francisco . it was a great success the kids came up with fantastic designs , than it was swept under the carpet by big oil , surprise , surprise . regulate corporate greed it has crippled the global economy's .

Alternative energy even with tax cuts and insensitive are priced out of reach for the average Joe. Those that rent are out of luck for any kind of structural changes. That price doesn’t have to stop us from using green energy, collectively we can build green power plants sound to big for 1 person or even 10 it is. But by asking the environmental groups to come together they can. They can do it by setting up donation fund for the actual building of green power plants. Asking for legislation to help with this is great but they are two slow, and we need energy independence now. Please sign this petition to bring them together to start bringing us green energyhttp://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/651803881

Item 2 - There isn't enough food produced in these catagories to supply all the markets listed.

Use your Brain to THINK!   Get a "DO-RIGHT" attitude.

1) LED light bulb technology uses 88% less energy for the same light output.    Outlaw the Edison light bulb.

2) Make ALL POLICE OFFICERS turn their engines OFF, when parked for more than 5-minutes talking and doing nothing to protect the citizens of the USA.

3) OPEN PUBLIC LANDS (BLM) for Farming, and let the unemployed move there and have a sweat-stake in the ownership. Grow SAFE non-imported food and energy producing crops.   Help other Countries with the excess production. 

4) STOP the NO-GROW Subsidies to land owners.

5) Make producing farm land TAX FREE for 10-years. Limited only to acreage with crops.

6) Open SBA direct loans (with layperson capable application process) for all "Green" and "Food producing" farm equipment loans of AMERICAN MADE MACHINERY ONLY!

The entire "green economy" could be kicked off by the federal government if it were to switch to hybrid vehicles including cars, jeeps, tanks, and delivery trucks.  Military bases could be equipped to capture rain water and to re-use "gray" water.  Bases could go "off grid" and use solar, wind, and geothermal energy.  Government buildings could include new lighting and low-water toilets and parking lots that absorb water and do not contribute to run off.

We need something more than this we need the venus project Havn't heard of it? Well you must do more research on it seriously. It is going to be our future without a doubt only if we choose it to be.

http://thepetitionsite.com/1/the-future-that-humanity-deserves

http://www.thevenusproject.com

Trust me this is what we need, a whole redesign of the system.

Many governmental agencies have already started the ideas mentioned by Mr. Whelan.   In order to increase the positive impact of government activities those ideas should be also applicable for all the contractors who work on government projects.  More money is spend on contracts than on governmental employees, thus the effect will be multiplied if applied for contracting companies (almost every company big or small has some contracting with the US Government and thus the effect would be tremendous.

When I worked as a Congressional Fellow in the Office of Dennis Kucinich, I attended the Town Meeting for a Sustainable America in 1999.   There I met the CEO of Interface, Mr. Anderson and suggested that every two years the US Congress should replace their carpets with totally sustainable Interface carpeting and office furniture, which would decrease tremendously the ecological footprint of US Congress.  Unfortunately, I was not able to follow up on this idea but there is no reason that Obama could not send an executive order for such an action on January 21, 2009.

Also, the power plant that provides electrical energy for US Congress is very dirty.  The valuable heat is lost and thus the total efficiency is only ~30%.  Europeans combine electricity generation with heating in winter and thus effectively double the efficiency of their electric power providers.  If Congress cannot stop the polluting power plant in the middle of Washington DC from burning fossil fuels, perhaps they could design some kind of conduit to use the heat energy in their offices and thus stop wasting energy.

While I am all for the preservation of tropical forests and paying poor countries to keep their forests, one has to be very careful when designing carbon-trading mechanisms.

These are all good ideas that the Obama Administration should act on. They could all be included as a part of a National Strategy for Sustainability. But why stop there, we should call on government at all levels to do such things as these. In fact, we should also call on government at the local level (as a part of the National Strategy Plan) to fulfill Article 28 of Agenda 21, the Plan of Action from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit Conference, which calls for them to develop and implement a Local Agenda 21 or Sustainable Community Plan. Then we can insist that all of our government bodies and agencies act more responsibly. 
If you want to vote for Creating a Sustainable America, please go to:   http://www.change.org/ideas/view/develop_implement_a_national_strategy_for_sustainability

Thanks, 
Rob Wheeler

When Senator Obama was in Illinois he tried to push a bill that would require all cars in America to be Flex Fuel or Hybrid.  The bill died after the auto manufacturers balked at the $150 million investment that would be required.  Now, we are investing BILLIONS of dollars into the auto manufacturers and still not requiring them to produce Flex Fuel or Hybrid vehicles! 
If the United States required ALL vehicles sold in the United States be Flex Fuel or Hybrid, If the government guarenteed to replace all federal vehicles with flex fuel or hybrids, and if we invested money into re-tooling AMERICAN autoplants to produce Flex Fuel and Hybrid vehicles then we would save the auto industry, help the enviroment, and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

There has been much talk about climate change, but not much about where we will see its first impact.

Flooding, Drought, water is the vector of climate change, we already have seen in recent times in many areas America/Worldwide areas where there is intense competition for water; Windesal® can sustain many areas America/Worldwide that will be impacted by this issue that may suffer physically or economically from this lack of fresh water shortage.

Here are some more direct steps:
- All gov. including US Postal vehicles replaced by hybrid or 
   electric
- gov. buildings fitted with sloar pannels
- Electricity purchased by US gov gets priority if it;s wind or solar

To President-Elect Obama: Regarding Tensie Whelan recommendation, her plan of “1) Source government paper…” is ignorant and very short sighted.  People we went to the moon first and we are the technology hub!  Anything other than paperless is not green and just more of the same.  You have the chance to make government more open to its people. Most true computer experts know we have the technology to digitize everything and never losing any bit of data plus computers are safe and secure!  Think about imposing this goal of paperless government (and standardization), the industry you would stimulate is the USA future, always has been, and the only thing that can simulate this economy (the middle class).   I am not the best communicator but just think how digitizing photo’s has helped this planet.  Film was one of the worse polluter.  It did not kill the industry to change and it made our earth a little better.  I know these agencies want their funding but anything other than paperless as the goal is just more of the same.  BLISS (Better Leave It Simple Stupid)! Bob ZagarsSenior Software EngineerChamps Software, Inc.

How's this;
Replace the coal combustion Capitol heat plant with a Pyrolysis unit that is fed by all the solid cellulose and sewage waste, Returning Biochar to the Mall, Syn-Gas generated electricity & Bio-Oil fueled surface transport. Cradle to cradle, even a "Victory Garden" on the Mall to feed them all.

This will truly close the cycle, even making it 1/3 carbon negative with every cycle. 

Here in Cambridge, MA we are doing a weatherization barnraising once a month.  Between 30 and 40 people get together at a house and insulate pipes in the basement, weatherstrip doors and windows, install programmable thermostats, and whatever else we can do.  We end with some food, a jam session, and a party.  Our last barnraising was recorded by the web and public access show "Energy Smackdown" and included a blower door test with before and after results for air infiltration and an infrared camera to see where cold air was leaking in.  Our next weatherization barnraising will be on a school and a neighborhood center and will happen on January 18, to celebrate MLKing Jr's birthday and the Inauguration.
I would like to see a weatherization barnraising at the White House.  With coverage by and help from "This Old House," "Extreme Home Makeover," and Home and Garden TV.  I'd like to see the idea of monthly weatherization barnraisings take off across the country.  I'd also like to see them progress to become solar barnraisings (an activity I was involved in 30 years ago).
I've already posted this idea to change.gov and followed up with some contacts from a large transiton houseparty that happened at Harvard's Kennedy School.  You can read more at http://gmoke.dailykos.com if you're interested.  Cambridge is going to continue these barnraisings even if nobody else does but it would be great if others would join in.

I vote yes for a resurgence of Victory Garderns starting with the White House!

The Food Industry Challenges That Obama Needs to Address
President-elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Agriculture could be perhaps the most important clue as to whether Obama really intends to bring change to Washington. It will determine whether or not he plans to take on one of the most powerful lobbies in the country, the businessmen who turned agriculture into agribusiness.

Current farm policy was called by Time magazine, "a welfare program for the megafarms that use the most fuel, water and pesticides; emit the most greenhouse gases; grow the most fattening crops; hire the most illegals; and depopulate rural America." An online movement has sprung up calling on President-elect Obama to name anti-agribusiness crusader Michael Pollan Secretary of Agriculture. Pollan's popular books include The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

In this fascinating interview, Bill Moyers asked Michael Pollan what would happen if he was named Secretary of Agriculture instead of yet one more advocate of industrial farming. Sources: Bill Moyer’s Journal (Part II) November 28, 2008Bill Moyer’s Journal (Part I) November 28, 2008PBS.org Interview TranscriptOrganic Consumers Association Petition to Stop Vilsack's Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture

I don't think this is where government alone would be making changes.

The Bush admin did an enormous job of whitewashing global warming so that corporations would not have to change their activities. In the process ordinary Americans heard the false science reports that there is no global warming.

The damage done by that campaign of falsehood needs to be undone so that people generally have an interest in changing their light bulb buying habits.

If the Obama White House makes green changes, then the best part of that would be publicizing why the changes were made and how all of us want to make changes.

People should be praised for stopping their traveling while gas was so expensive, and they should be praised for the huge change their actions made in the price of gasoline.

I like the premise of this idea (government goes green to lead and create demand). But, I'm not sure these 5 "steps" are the best way to do it.

Instead of forcing traveling government employees to rent hybrids, how about only buying plug-in hybrids. Or make existing government buildings xx% more efficient and new buildings more efficient.

While I agree that we should do what we can to make our planet more healty, I think that  global warming is a  scam and is just a big redistribution of wealth.  The LED light bulbs might use less energy, but because of the mercury level in them, they take a special handeling to dispose of them and could be harmful if broken.  I think we still have freedom in this country and I think you should be green if you want.  I don't like the led light blubs so I use the regular kind, but am green in other ways.  We will never have alternative energy until the environmentalists get out of the way.   I do think we need to drill and use our own oil and get rid of buying it from other countries.  Even if we found a new excellect source of energy today, it would be ten to fifteen years before we could use it.  So what do we use in the mean time.  We cannot get 300 million people of oil all at once.  Besides, we use oil in other things and products beside driving.

Hi Alice, while I understand that the science reports which Bush had changed so that they said Global Warming was not happening or could not be proved were influential, as indeed they were intended to be, the fact is that global warming is happening and all you have to do to see it is look at the ice caps, and, you'd better hurry because they are fast disappearing.

I'm sure you're not on the oil and gas payroll, but if you were your post could not be more helpful to them, while at the same time failing to identify significant problems with drilling for oil and gas in areas near people.

Do you know that oil wells release significant hydrogen sulfide? That is much MUCH more dangerous to health than the tiny amount of mercury in LEDs. (And thank you, I didn't know they contained any... they last something like 90,000 hours, so the mercury doesn't add up very fast, but still, good to know.)

Hydrogen sulfide comes out of the wells in quite huge amounts and in emails I have received from people affected by the toxic gas I know that it quickly ruins lives and destroys home values when wells are installed after a home is long in existence.

Hi George Mokray,

While reducing air infiltration keeps the heat in, it also keeps fresh air out.

I lived in a home that was built over an old outdoor toilet pit, still full of excrement, for a couple years. I began to fall a lot and my memory deteriorated. In one fall I injured my brain. Later the pit was discovered and I had it excavated, but the financial cost has been huge and I'm still suffering from it.

It's really important to have air exchange in a home.

There were homes here in Santa Fe that were built so well that water that slipped in from the flat roof never got past the barrier and rotted the ends of vegas which then fell... that's basically a collapsing ceiling.

When I was a Realtor years ago and we did radon tests, the opening and closing of doors to let out pets was enough to reduce the amount of radon to safe levels.

So, if someone in an air tight home is opening and closing outside doors regularly, then that's a lot more safe. But if they become homebound because of sickness then it would be safer to have a few air leaks (exhanges).

I have been thinking for a long time that if the government switched to FSC paper this would have a huge impact on the paper and logging industries and the kinds of products available on the market. Our government should be a leader and not a laggard. Thank you so much Rainforest Alliance for posting this.

Organic farming has less carbon impact than the fuel generated Big AG.....This includes milk production...

Our foods are heavily adulterated.  To do this creates more emissions while at the same time turning out an ever increasing population of sick people, requiring more industrial use to make more medications and run larger hospitals....

We need to keep sustainable farms, growing REAL food...NOT the
 engineered, monsanto type, nutrition depleted, poisoned products now approved as good...Big Ag and Big Pharm are making a killing in two ways....Raking in the dollars, and slowly killing the people that consume it...

For example.  Hawaii- They drank raw natural milk, then it became a USA state...Raw milk was banned....Farms closed down, and now their milk if shipped in from the USA mainland...Also at a much larger price...

Have milk straight from farm to consumer....Far, far less pollution all round...

PLEASE EVERYONE, HELP THIS CAUSE AS WELL.   LIVES ACTUALLY DEPEND ON IT AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT.
GO TO ....

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/legalize_milk

remember to press the blue button on top left-hand side to register your vote on both sites...

If all government departments had certain "green" standards they had to meet (and it would even be possible to apply some standards for vendors), it would create significant demand for green suppliers.  This encourages innovation and is a kind of green stimulus package in it's own right without being based on hand-outs.

I like that approach.

Make state governments pick up litter/debris along public properties and help stop killing motorist.
Fine/jail litterbugs and toxic waste disposers!
Force property owners to clean up their messes and/or fine/jail them!