Some of the other photos out there are much worse, but it’s heartbreaking to see these pelicans covered in oil.
Meanwhile, oil spill protests are heating up against BP.
We’ve added more depressing photos after the jump.
Category: Conservation (Page 7 of 9)
prices to rise for shrimp and crab. We’re just beginning to see the devastation from the oil spill.
Meanwhile, BP is mulling its options to contain the spill after recent efforts failed.
The photo above shows birds flying over a wildlife protected area, south of Venice, Louisiana. The United States scrambled on Friday to ward off an ecological disaster that could cost billions of dollars as a huge, spreading oil spill reached coastal Louisiana, imperiling wildlife and seafood areas.
Rescue crews are already rescuing the first bird coated with oil from the spill. Meanwhile, government officials have been criticizing BP, while the Obama administration said that any future drilling plans will be delayed pending an investigation of this disaster.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, which is celebrated April 22 every year. We’ve come very far in 40 years in terms of individuals making a positive impact on the environment, particularly on cleaner air and water, but in many ways the challenges today are even greater.
Adam Rose has a great posted on Wired.com about the significance of the original Earth Day.
Larry Carroll offers up Earth Day lessons to be learned from the movie “Avatar.”
BusinessWeek explains how “air like split-pee soup” in LA helped spur the first Earth Day.
USA Today asks if at 40 Earth Day has gone too corporate.
There are tons of great articles out there, and frankly this is an exciting time as new technologies and a new commitment from government is spurring a real effort to accelerate the changes made over the past 40 years.
We waste a significant amount of electricity due to an outdated and inefficient electric grid in the United States. Thus, this investment is significant.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce $3.4 billion in government grants to help build a “smart” electric grid that will save consumers money on their utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power supplies generated by solar and wind energy, the White House said.
It marks the largest award made in a single day from the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress, and will create tens of thousands of jobs while upgrading the U.S. electric grid, according to administration officials.
The grants, which range from $400,000 to $200 million, will go to 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners in 49 states.
This investment is only the first step, and part of the criteria here was the speed with which companies could implement the changes, as this money comes from the stimulus package. For example, the grants will not be used to build new power lines, but improve the capabilities of the electrical system. The funds will be used for a variety of projects, including approximately “18 million smart meters that will help consumers manage energy use in their homes, 700 automated substations to make it faster for utilities to restore power knocked out by storms and 200,000 smart transformers that allow power companies to replace units before they fail, thus avoiding outages.” Companies had to bid and compete for the funds, and the winning companies secured an additional $4.7 billion in private money to match their government grants, resulting in a total of $8.1 billion in total investment in the smart grid.
The smart meters are critical, as they encourage consumers to use electricity more efficiently. If you can see on your meter that running the dishwasher costs you more during the day, you will consider running it at night instead when rates are cheaper. If you’re costs are spiking during the day, you might realize that you can open the windows instead of running the air conditioner.
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