The GREEN MARKET ORACLE: letter

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year: Lets Make 2013 a More Sustainable Year

As 2013 commences we are called to to reflect on the year that has been. Most importantly we need to consider what we will do in the year to come. Last year we saw a number of studies and dire warnings about the state of our environment.There is reason to believe that both the business community and ordinary people are coming to terms with the facts.

The costs and risks associated with climate change make a powerful business case and extreme weather is making it increasingly difficult for the average person to ignore global warming.

In 2012 governments dithered but businesses around the world engaged climate change in record numbers. There was even evidence suggesting that average Americans are embracing climate science in ever increasing numbers.

This year we must come together to act. Businesses, consumers and even elected officials must get serious about engaging the environmental threats we face.

Let us dare to hope that despite the prodigious obstacles arrayed against us that 2013 will be the year that climate change gets the attention that it deserves. At the very least let us all commit to doing what we can to make human activities less egregious to the Earth.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Monday, December 13, 2010

House Lawmakers Oppose New Car Ratings

Dozens of House lawmakers are opposed to the Obama administration's plan to put letter grades on the window stickers of new cars and trucks that rate a vehicle's fuel efficiency.

Although Republican resistance to the White House is common, legislators are resisting the new car rating system despite the fact that these changes will make it easier for consumers to compare vehicular emissions and save money on gas.

The stickers have not been updated in three decades and the government wants the letter ratings to reflect new technologies and account for emissions affecting the environment. The Obama administration said in August it was considering adding grades ranging from A+ for the most fuel-efficient to D for the least fuel-efficient to the stickers. Under the letter grade proposal, an average vehicle would receive a B- on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

On December 8, Fifty-three House members sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department indicating that a proposal to add letter grades to the stickers was biased in favor of electric and hybrid cars and would hurt sales of sport utility vehicles and trucks. The letter was signed by 17 Democrats and 36 Republicans.

These lawmakers object to the fact that the plan favors low emission electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. They support an alternative that would maintain the current label's focus on the miles per gallon rating so as not to highlight the emissions of combustion engine powered cars.

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