Tag: Natural Resources

The Takeaway

Utah's environmental outlaw: hero or criminal?

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

When the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned off oil and gas drilling leases in Salt Lake City, Utah last month, some activists stood outside and protested. But Tim DeChristopher, a student at the University of Utah, went one step further. He bid on, and won, $1.7 million dollars worth of land rights. The problem is that he never had any means or intent of paying for it. Some are calling him an environmental hero, others, a criminal. The Takeaway talks to DeChristopher himself about his peculiar act of civil disobedience.

For more, watch this interview with Tim DeChristopher courtesy of YouTube.

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The Takeaway

New markets open for carbon emissions, but are people buying it?

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Today marks a new year and a new chapter in the global battle to combat carbon emissions. Utility companies across the eastern seaboard are lining up for the rights to carbon emissions. The new market called The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (REGGI) is the beginning of a global trend in green politics. To explain all of this is Edward McBride, the energy and environment correspondent for The Economist, he joins John and Adaora from London to answer what is the price of used carbon?

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The Takeaway

Tennessee struggling to confront impact of coal ash spill

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A little over a week ago more than one billion gallons of wet coal ash spilled after a retaining wall ruptured forty miles west of Knoxville. Initially authorities didn't realize how much of eastern Tennessee was actually covered in the semi-toxic sludge. More than one billion gallons of coal ash have spilled through the valley adjacent to the Kingston Fossil Plant and now Tennessee Valley authorities have to figure out how to get rid of it and clean up the state. Josh Flory from the Knoxville News Sentinel just returned from the spill site. He joins John and Adaora from Knoxville.

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The Takeaway

Opportunity in crisis: Solving environmental problems

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Has the urgency of climate change dimmed since the global economic crisis? Or is it a potential economic stimulus? Environomental engineer David Greene from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discusses the other global concern that will dominate Barack Obama's administration in the coming years.

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The Takeaway

What President-elect Obama needs to know about water

Monday, December 22, 2008

With a fixed amount of water on earth, a growing population means the competition for water is increasing.

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The Takeaway

North Dakota Oil Diary: Photos from the Bakken oil fields

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 09:31 PM

By Caitlin McNally

A sign identifies Peak Energy's Dunn County, North Dakota drilling site. (Caitlin McNally)

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The Takeaway

North Dakota Oil Diary: "It's always scary, until you get used to it"

Thursday, October 09, 2008 - 12:00 AM

In my previous post about North Dakota's Bakken oil fields, I included a conversation with two young waitresses about their journey from opposite sides of the country to almost the dead northern middle. The girls had left their homes on the coasts with their boyfriends, searching for work in what they had heard was the beginning of an all-out oil boom.

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The Takeaway

Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai explains how deforestation affects us all

Monday, September 22, 2008

This afternoon in New York City, Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai and former Vice President Al Gore will answer questions about deforestation and rainforest preservation at a private roundtable moderated by Dan Rather. Maathai discusses those issues and explains what the United States can do to help preserve tropical rainforests.

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The Takeaway

U.S. House compromises on an energy bill that is not expected to become law

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The House of Representatives passed a long-awaited energy bill late Tuesday night. The bill expands the areas open to offshore oil drilling, cracks down on subsidies for big oil companies, and provides incentives for renewable fuels. But, it's an election-year energy bill and it's not expected to become law.

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The Takeaway

North Dakota Oil Diary: "People around here need to be ready to change"

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 - 12:00 AM

I drove from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, this year as a late spring snowstorm was brewing. Interstate 94, near the state line, closed down and the two lane highways and farm roads snaking westward were covered in hard ice and occasional, demonic flurries of drifting snow. I concocted a route around the storm with some helpful farmers at a gas station. My car limped west then north, west then north, on a maze of empty back roads.

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The Takeaway

Smart grids: What it means to boost our electrical infrastructure’s IQ

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Five years ago today, a power outage blanketed states in the Northeast, Midwest and parts of Canada. Leaving 50 million in the dark, it was the largest blackout in North American history. The outage highlighted the fragility of our electricity system. And with energy demands rising, and economy in a slump and global warming fears taking center stage, "smart grid" technologies could provide solutions.

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