Carbon Offsets

Village Green starts today to sell RGGI carbon offsets to the general public….the idea being that you can offset you own carbon impact by buying a RGGI credit. This would result in less credits being available to the electric utilities that are regulated by RGGI, thus forcing further reductions in carbon emissions.
I’m wondering what the [...]

The Panic of 1873

A historian at William and Mary College has drawn all-to-dreary parallels between our current financial crisis and the economic collapse of 1873…. some of the similarities are eerie.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/learning-lessons-from-the-panic-of-1873/

Environmental Markets

There are a number of lessons to be learned from our current financial hurricane.
1) Yesterday I had a very thoughtful recent Princeton graduate ask for comments on his analysis of carbon markets, carbon tax, and the potential of water markets. His analysis was insightful and smart. I only had one concern and I related it [...]

Renewable Energy Potential of Contaminated Lands

EPA has published a Google Earth map of their data on the renewable energy potential of contaminated lands.
Article and Link

Grain Farmers

I just read John Phipps most recent blog about farm finances, fertilizer prices, etc. (http://johnwphipps.blogspot.com/) and realized it sounds a lot like someone trying to explain our recent banking industry. John’s a smart guy who I respect…so I’m worried.
First, it was confusing….lots of stuff that sounded like speculation and manipulation. Second, it was complicated….not complex [...]

Nature’s Loss and Wall Street’s Loss

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.
It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.
The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water [...]

Jeffrey Sachs on a Carbon Tax

I appreciate his concern with more ‘financial engineering’.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Climate taxes, not cap and trade markets alone, will lead to the vast technological changes the world’s energy system needs to fight global warming, a top U.S. economist said on Thursday.
Cap and trade has emerged as the dominant attempt to slow global warming. Global [...]

Meet Me in the Middle

A site that lets you determine where to meet someone “in the middle”….
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/a-cool-way-to-meet-in-the-middle-and-cut-driving.php

Five Ways to Fix the Housing Industry

I like these:
1) No more McMansions.
2) Fix what we’ve got.
3) Ration carbon for construction.
4) No more hurricane bait.
5) Don’t finance unless it is green.
For the entire treehugger.com article:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/memo-to-government-housing.php

Watch Walmart Grow

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/?walmart