EPI Releases and Blog http://www.earth-policy.org/ ktaylor@earth-policy.org Copyright 2010 2010-07-29T12:45:03+00:00 July 29, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch04_ss3 Book Bytes - Raising Appliance Efficiency: A Big Win for Consumers and the Climate There are enormous opportunities to use energy more efficiently. Investing in energy efficiency is often far cheaper than expanding the energy supply to meet growing demand. Efficiency investments typically yield a high rate of return, saving consumers money, and can help fight climate change by avoiding carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning additional fossil fuels. Just as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) offer great electricity savings over incandescent light bulbs, a similar range of efficiencies is available for many household appliances, such as refrigerators and home electronics. For full report visit the EPI website. July 20, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/indicators/C52/carbon_emissions_2010 Eco-Economy Indicatiors - Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Fall in 2009 -<br />Past Decade Still Sees Rapid Emissions Growth {indicator_summary} July 14, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch01_ss3 Book Bytes - The Emerging Politics of Food Scarcity A dangerous geopolitics of food scarcity is emerging in which individual countries, acting in their narrowly defined self-interest, reinforce the trends causing global food security to deteriorate. This began in late 2007 when wheat-exporting countries, like Russia and Argentina, attempted to counter domestic food price rises by limiting or banning exports. Viet Nam banned rice exports for several months, and several other minor exporters also restricted exports. While these moves reassured those living in the exporting countries, they created panic in the scores of countries that import grain. For full report visit the EPI website. July 06, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch06_ss4 Book Bytes - The Return of the Bicycle The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car. For full report visit the EPI website. June 29, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch07_ss1 Book Bytes - The Population-Poverty Connection The 21st century began on an inspiring note: the United Nations set a goal of reducing the share of the world’s population living in extreme poverty by half by 2015. By early 2007 the world looked to be on track to meet this goal, but as the economic crisis unfolds and the outlook darkens, the world will have to intensify its poverty reduction effort. For full report visit the EPI website. June 22, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch09_ss3 Book Bytes - Raising Water Productivity to Increase Food Security With water shortages constraining food production growth, the world needs an effort to raise water productivity similar to the one that nearly tripled land productivity over the last half-century. Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain, it is not surprising that 70 percent of world water use is devoted to irrigation. Thus, raising irrigation efficiency is central to raising water productivity overall. For full report visit the EPI website. June 16, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch04_ss2 Book Bytes - How Many Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs Does It Take to Close 705 Coal Plants? The lighting sector is on the edge of a spectacular revolution, a shift from the century-old, inefficient incandescent light bulb to far more efficient technologies. Perhaps the quickest, most profitable way to reduce electricity use worldwide—thus cutting carbon emissions—is simply to change light bulbs. For full report visit the EPI website. June 01, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch02_ss6 Book Bytes - Cars and People Compete for Grain At a time when excessive pressures on the earth’s land and water resources are of growing concern, there is a massive new demand emerging for cropland to produce fuel for cars—one that threatens world food security. Although this situation had been developing for a few decades, it was not until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when oil prices jumped above $60 a barrel and U.S. gasoline prices climbed to $3 a gallon, that the situation came into focus. Suddenly investments in U.S. corn-based ethanol distilleries became hugely profitable, unleashing an investment frenzy that will convert one fourth of the 2009 U.S. grain harvest into fuel for cars. For full report visit the EPI website. May 25, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch06_ss1and8 Book Bytes - Parking Lots to Parks: Designing Livable Cities

As I was being driven through Tel Aviv from my hotel to a conference center in 1998, I could not help but note the overwhelming presence of cars and parking lots. It was obvious that Tel Aviv, expanding from a small settlement a half-century ago to a city of some 3 million today, had evolved during the automobile era. It occurred to me that the ratio of parks to parking lots may be the best indicator of the livability of a city—an indication of whether the city is designed for people or for cars. For full report, please visit our website.

May 19, 2010 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch06_ss3 Book Bytes - Reclaiming the Streets EPI Releases and Blog http://www.earth-policy.org/ ktaylor@earth-policy.org Copyright 2010 2010-07-29T12:45:03+00:00 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/last_legs/ EPI Blog - THE LAST LEGS: Japan and China

The last week in May, after receiving the Hero Award from the Colorado Sustainable Alliance in Denver and a few days of R&R with his family, Lester Brown began the final two legs of his five-week trip launching various editions of Plan B 4.0 in other countries. For full blog posting, please visit the EPI website.

 http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/two_billion/ EPI Blog - 2 BILLION DOLLARS A DAY

A news report coming out of the G20 Summit reported that “Every day governments give away an estimated two billion dollars of taxpayer money to the fossil-fuel industry.” (Stephen Leahy, Free Ride for Oil and Coal Industry May Be Over, IPS News)

This massive subsidy to the fossil-fuel industry not only is adding to climate change by rewarding the very energy sources that are helping to create it, but it is making it incredibly difficult for alternative energy sources to compete. It also deprives countries, especially those verging on bankruptcy, to feed and educate their population, attend to infrastructure needs, and more. For full blog visit the EPI website.

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/melting_glaciers/ EPI Blog - MELTING GLACIERS http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_25/ EPI Blog - HONORS http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_24/ EPI Blog - ON THE ROAD - Italy and Romania http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_22/ EPI Blog - ON THE ROAD - Stockholm http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_21/ EPI Blog - ON THE ROAD - Berlin, Brussels, & Oslo http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_20/ EPI Blog - AVATAR AND LESTER BROWN http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_19/ EPI Blog - EARTH DAY http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/blog/blog_entry_18/ EPI Blog - ENVIRONMENTAL MOMENTUM - SOUTH KOREA