Ethanol to Oil in America

An article in the UK newspaper, The Times talks about how America is looking to ethanol and biofuels as an answer to an "addiction to oil". And how Henry Ford hoped to use ethanol in the beginning when he first started mass producing the T Model Ford.
Imagine how different things would be today if there was no oil industry? It's almost too hard to imagine as the oil industry affects so many different areas of life and the way that whole countries are perceived.
America drives for biofuel to beat its addiction to oil
"Ethanol has been the almost-ran of the motor industry pretty much since its foundation beaten into second place by a more efficient and better-organized oil industry. Now, as petrol prices hit record highs in America, ethanol is back in the driving seat.
Next month Ford's great-grandson, Bill Ford, and the leaders of the other American car giants General Motors and Chrysler will meet President George Bush to discuss how they can get more of America's cars running on ethanol." Times Online
>> Ethanol Investing

Bush Cuts National Parks Funding

The 270 million annual visitors to America's national parks will start seeing the effects of President Bush's cutbacks this holiday season. The already under-funded National Park Services have been ordered to cut their spending by 20%.
This will cause facilities, camping grounds, and visitor centers to close.
Chairman of the executive council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Bill Wade said..
"The national parks are probably in worse shape now than any of us have seen in our careers. The impacts go broad and they go deep. It’s not just roads, trails and buildings. There’s a decline in interpretive and educational programs. It actually extends into the very resources the National Park Service is charged to protect."
America's national parks -- for less
"Given all these financial pressures, the parks will have no choice but to cut more services, reduce access for visitors or rely more on private dollars. The Park Service takes in as much as $250 million a year from fees, donations and concession royalties. At Glacier, park officials are considering raising backpacking and camping fees." Kansas City Star
>> George W Bush, Politics, Environment

Wal-Mart's CEO H. Lee Scott Interview

Just like a long list of other giant companies, Wal-Mart has realized that good business now means having a conscience. Where one takes the environment, the community, and its workers into consideration when doing business.
Wal-Mart knows what it is like to be portrayed as the environmental and ethical villian, so it has been working hard to change its image.
Over at the environmental Grist magazine, Amanda Griscom Little has interviewed Wal Mart's CEO H. Lee Scott. Below is a few quotes taken from the interview.

• I had embraced this idea that the world's climate is changing and that man played a part in that, and that Wal-Mart can play a part in reducing man's impact. We recognized that Wal-Mart had such a footprint in this world, and that we had a corresponding part to play in sustainability.
  Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott
• We are taking costs out and finding we are doing things we just do not need to do, whether it be in packaging, or energy usage, or the kind of equipment we buy for refrigeration in our stores, that there are a number of decisions we can make that are great for sustainability and great for bottom-line profit.
  Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott
• Because of our size, it enables us to help create markets for clean technologies that exist today, but don't yet have fully established markets. If Wal-Mart started using or selling those items all of a sudden, there would be enough scale that those would be viable alternatives.Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott

Read the full interview over at Grist.
>> Wal Mart News, Business Ethics, Environmental News

McDonalds Blog and Corporate Responsibility

McDonald's is addressing issues of corporate responsibility in the form of a blog by Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Bob Langert. The blog's aims are..
"I want to use this blog to introduce you to some of the people, programs, and projects that make corporate social responsibility a reality at McDonald's--to take you along with me as I engage with some of our internal and external stakeholders in various parts of the world and to highlight our accomplishments, as well as the challenges we continue to face."

It's also a way of sending in your comments or opinions on how McDonald's does business. I'm not sure howseverelyy comments by the public are deleted, but a lot of comments seem to get responses from Langert.
One comment by a reader got an answer in the form of a whole post. It addresses some of the things that McDonald's is doing to show it cares about the environment and people. Here's a few things they say they're doing..

• Energy efficiency - They train employees to use energy moreefficientlyy and to use energy efficient products. They're also looking into LEED certification and more green designs in the future.
• Food choices - The introduction of real foods, like fruits and salads.
• Organic foods - No organics, but they're phasing out growth promoting antibiotics and have animal welfare guidelines.
• Supply chain environmental impacts - They have developed a set of guidelines for their food suppliers.

So, they're at least putting an effort into changing. Whether it is for profit or a genuine caringdoesn'tt really matter. Even the introduction of a salad or an apple is a major step forward for the fast food giant.
Read the rest of the post at, Do We Care?
>> McDonalds, Corporate Responsibility

Californian Global Warming Slowdown

California will enact plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 level by 2020. In a public announcement the Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said "The debate is over. The science is in. The time to act is now. Global warming is a serious issue facing the world and California has taken an historic step with the release of this report. We are all convinced that we can protect our environment and leave California a better place without harming our economy."
The Bill will be the first of its kind in the United States, to limit gas emissions.
California aims to limit emissions of gases
The bill, which aims to cut emissions by 25 percent, or 145 million tons to 1990 levels by 2020, was drafted by Democrat Speaker Fabian Nunez and Democrat Assemblywoman Fran Pavley.
Pavley also wrote a state law ordering the reduction of emissions from cars and light-duty trucks.
"We cannot continue to ignore the threat of global warming to our environment because it isn't just about the future, it's about the impact that it's already having on our public health. It's about the impact that it's already having on our planet, our natural resources," Nunez said at a news conference. ABC
>> Politics, Climate Change, Environmental News

Australian Uranium off to China

John Howard and the Australian government have agreed to sign a deal to ship large quantities of uranium to China. Australia and China will sign an agreement today, and plan to ship nuclear fuel to China within four years.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has put a positive spin on the deal, claiming that it does not make any difference whether they send nuclear fuel to China or not.
"Honestly, China has a nuclear weapons program whether we like it or not. It's not going to make the slightest difference whether we have this agreement with China or whether we don't to their nuclear weapons program, absolutely no difference at all." Alexander Downer
So, if somebody is already committing a massacre, it's OK to send them more guns to keep committing the massacre? It makes no difference? If we don't send the guns, we miss out on the millions of dollars from the deal and some other country will send them anyway.

The Australian Conservation Foundation's opinion differs quite a bit to the Australian foreign minister Downer's. ACF believes that nuclear power is not the answer to the problem of climate change. Below is part of a statement from the Australian Conservation Foundation, protesting against the decision of the Australian government to send uranium to China..
"The Australian Conservation Foundation strongly opposes the proposed Nuclear Cooperation Treaty for uranium exports to China which will compromise rather than strengthen nuclear safeguards.
"Nuclear is too dangerous, too dirty, too expensive and too slow to provide any legitimate answer to climate change or to energy security for the developing world.
"Australian uranium exports would facilitate diversion of China's limited uranium supplies into their ongoing nuclear weapons program, further regional insecurity and increase nuclear risks including unresolved nuclear waste management.
"China is an authoritarian state with a history of lack of accountability and non-compliance to a range of relevant nuclear and human rights treaties and conventions.
"Uranium, like fossil fuels, is a finite resource. The proposed expansion of uranium mining in Australia and of uranium export to China is contrary to sustainable development and to any proper exercise of our international responsibilities.
"China and many other developing countries are setting strong national targets to grow renewable energy. China has committed to double renewable energy to 15 per cent by 2020. Australia's real opportunity lies in developing and exporting clean renewable energy, rather than to leave future generations with a nuclear waste legacy." ACF
>> Politics, Controversies, Environment News