Here are five recommended reads for today (6/29/12)

In sum, thanks to the media's skewed priorities, the American people know a lot more about such irrelevancies as who the Kardashians are and what they're up to than they do about one of the most important topics there is: the future survival of life in our oceans, and on our planet. It might be funny if it weren't so sad.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is that, as pointed out by Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law, there is apparently nothing illegal about any of it. Still, Livermore points out, "this is a bad thing for a couple of reasons." And, he asks, "Why did the DEC only talk to industry and not environmental groups and the impacted communities?" It's a great question, and one that we suspect could be asked equally of the relationship between the federal government and the fossil fuel industries it's supposed to be regulating.

First, we do not believe that continuing to pursue a strategy which relies heavily on fossil fuels is the direction we should be going as a nation. Instead, we should be putting all of our efforts into making the United States far more energy efficient, and towards moving as rapidly as possible to transition to an economy powered by 100% clean energy - wind, solar, geothermal, etc. The latter is by far and away where the economic opportunities of the 21st century lie, particularly given the pressing need to slash our emissions of harmful fossil-fuel-generated pollutants.

Here are five recommended reads for today (6/28/12)

Here are five recommended reads for today (6/27/12)

Today, we present a brief preview of Mark Sokolove’s presentation, “Communicating the Value of CSP to the Public: Generating Attention to Reach Critical Audience Sectors.” As an expert in public relations and marketing for clean energy industries, Sokolove has a number of thoughts about the challenges faced by clean energy in general, and CSP in particular, as well as advice for how to win over skeptics and build support at the grassroots and “grasstops” (local elected officials and business leaders, editorial boards, education institutions, etc.) levels.

Given the nature of "dilbit" and its risks, does it make sense to run a major pipeline transporting this stuff across the Ogallala aquifer, "which supplies drinking water for eight states as well as 30 percent of the nation's irrigation water," or is this a disaster waiting to happen? We recommend that you read the InsideClimateNews series and decide for yourself.

Here are five recommended reads for today (6/26/12)

Today, with the conference starting in just 48 hours, we present our interview with Frank “Tex” Wilkins, Executive Director of the Concentrating Solar Power Alliance (CSPA), an organization which includes Abengoa, BrightSource Energy, Sener, and Torresol Energy, and which promotes the implementation of CSP plants, particularly those with thermal energy storage capacity.