Green News
New York City will convert entire taxi fleet to hybrids
The big yellow taxis of the Big Apple will all be hybrids by 2012 under a plan announced last week by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The city has been testing 375 hybrid cabs for 18 months, and will soon begin converting its 13,000-vehicle fleet. "It will be the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet," Bloomberg said, adding that the switch would be the equivalent of taking 30,000 individually owned, gasoline-powered vehicles off the streets. "These [cabs] just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes," he said. "This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us." Louise Vetter, president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York, agreed: "New Yorkers are exposed to some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Putting more clean cabs on New York City streets is an important step in our fight to improve air quality." The move, hailed by the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers too, is part of Bloomberg's plan to cut the city's carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030.
Some car seats leach toxic chemicals, says new report
Car seats have joined baby bottles and bath toys on the ever-growing list of Evil Things You're Subjecting Your Child To. The Michigan-based Ecology Center tested 62 models of tot-toters, finding that about a third can leach chemicals such as chlorine, bromine, and lead. The center, which released a study on the toxicity of car interiors in March, obviously doesn't advocate that you bear your babes on your lap, Britney-style. "Car seats save lives. It's absolutely essential that parents put their children in them while driving," says the group's Jeff Gearhart, but "some car seats are safer than others when it comes to chemical composition." So go for a seat found to be less likely to afflict your child, like the Graco SnugRide Emerson or EvenFlo Discovery Churchill. To reduce degradation, the report suggests parking out of direct sunlight, opening car windows, cleaning regularly, and limiting your child's time in the seat.
Workaholics, especially American ones, are ruining the planet
Now here's a theory we can get behind: workaholism is ruining the earth. "We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet," says Conrad Schmidt, proponent of the 32-hour work week, who declares that overwork leads to overconsumption, pollution, and less fulfilling life experience. If there's anyone who needs to take the message to heart, it's Americans, who work more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world -- a full 500 hours more per year than Germans. Not coincidentally, the U.S. is also the world's largest polluter and produces half the world's solid waste, and a paper issued by the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that Europeans would consume up to 30 percent more energy by 2050 if they worked like Americans. Says CEPR co-director Mark Weisbrot, "Because there's no limit to what we can consume, a change of values has to take place if the planet stands a chance of survival."
The big yellow taxis of the Big Apple will all be hybrids by 2012 under a plan announced last week by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The city has been testing 375 hybrid cabs for 18 months, and will soon begin converting its 13,000-vehicle fleet. "It will be the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet," Bloomberg said, adding that the switch would be the equivalent of taking 30,000 individually owned, gasoline-powered vehicles off the streets. "These [cabs] just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes," he said. "This does a lot less. It's a lot better for all of us." Louise Vetter, president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York, agreed: "New Yorkers are exposed to some of the dirtiest air in the nation. Putting more clean cabs on New York City streets is an important step in our fight to improve air quality." The move, hailed by the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers too, is part of Bloomberg's plan to cut the city's carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030.
Some car seats leach toxic chemicals, says new report
Car seats have joined baby bottles and bath toys on the ever-growing list of Evil Things You're Subjecting Your Child To. The Michigan-based Ecology Center tested 62 models of tot-toters, finding that about a third can leach chemicals such as chlorine, bromine, and lead. The center, which released a study on the toxicity of car interiors in March, obviously doesn't advocate that you bear your babes on your lap, Britney-style. "Car seats save lives. It's absolutely essential that parents put their children in them while driving," says the group's Jeff Gearhart, but "some car seats are safer than others when it comes to chemical composition." So go for a seat found to be less likely to afflict your child, like the Graco SnugRide Emerson or EvenFlo Discovery Churchill. To reduce degradation, the report suggests parking out of direct sunlight, opening car windows, cleaning regularly, and limiting your child's time in the seat.
Workaholics, especially American ones, are ruining the planet
Now here's a theory we can get behind: workaholism is ruining the earth. "We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet," says Conrad Schmidt, proponent of the 32-hour work week, who declares that overwork leads to overconsumption, pollution, and less fulfilling life experience. If there's anyone who needs to take the message to heart, it's Americans, who work more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world -- a full 500 hours more per year than Germans. Not coincidentally, the U.S. is also the world's largest polluter and produces half the world's solid waste, and a paper issued by the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that Europeans would consume up to 30 percent more energy by 2050 if they worked like Americans. Says CEPR co-director Mark Weisbrot, "Because there's no limit to what we can consume, a change of values has to take place if the planet stands a chance of survival."
Labels: Activism, Environmental, Global Warming
posted by Victoria (toy) DeIorio at 2:45 PM
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