Environmental Policy 2009

One Year, One Thousand Green Supers

2009-10-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of September 2009, New York City began a program that would focus on the development of energy efficient apartments and buildings in throughout the city. The program called, One Year, One Thousand Green Supers will focus on training 1,000 building superintendents to build better and more energy efficient structures (further details on the program can be found at the following link: NYC Building Program).

I think this is one of the better plans that I have come across in my readings on energy efficient building. By creating a mandatory 40 hour course for building superintendents the city can at least be reassured that they can save on energy costs when it comes to the new buildings being put into place. However, there still remains the issue of all the other buildings previously built in New York City and whether there will be any laws to enforce the courses that the superintendents are attending.

But in the mean time this program seems to be a step in the right direction that I feel that many other cities should try to approach. Because without an educational basis to environmental change it almost seems as though there can be no positive movement for the time being.

"Fuel"

2009-09-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

An article recently posted on cnn.com (found here) raised the rather interesting issue of how films being made can help raise awareness about environmental issues. In the case of this article, the director of the film is trying to shed light on how the United States is extremely dependent on oil as a resource for energy. The director of "Fuel" also makes a point to show that it would be possible for everyone on the planet to be sustained through natural resources, however, a lot of people wouldn't be willing or able to make the changes necessary for this to happen.

However, after reading this article, I can't help but wonder how much people actually listen to these types of films. After "The Inconvenient Truth" was put out by Al Gore there almost seemed to be a focus on what Al Gore was doing in his personal life that contradicted the movie, instead of just focusing on the message of global warming that was presented. While some people may react positively and make a change after viewing these types of films, it almost seems like there are even more people who do not take any action. Why is this? We may never really know without a deeper look into the environmental attitudes of the people who are watching these films. But after seeing "Fuel" I can only hope that people will respond differently and that they will begin to see that it is important for them to take action and change things in their daily lives. Because this will be the only way to guarantee that there will be a positive and healthy environment for the many generations left to come.

Coal and Climate Change

2009-09-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

While we were watching the Carnegie Mellon Lecture; Global Climate Change video in class today one of the speakers presented the issue of how many American citizens are surprised to hear that the United States still uses coal as a resource for energy. While the use of coal for energy isn't surprising to me, in fact my own summer job involves using quite a bit of this resource. But to hear that many people in the United States don't realize our nation uses coal on a regular basis shows almost a lack of knowledge about environmental issues facing our country.

The issue of coal's impact on the environment has been a subject that I've been interested in ever since I started working for a museum that actually powers one of its' ships through a coal fired engine. In the same year that I started my job, 2007, there was an act passed by Congress known as the Clean Coal Act. This Act requires companies built after 2007 that use coal-fired energy to meet "a standard of performance that, at a minimum, requires the unit to produce not more than 285 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for supply to the grid" (Source here). But what about the companies that have been using coal-fired energy prior to 2007? If these companies are still operating at sub-par standards is this act even helping the environment at all?

While I do not have a plan in my mind developing for how nations can go about cutting coal out of their energy resources, I do firmly believe that something needs to be done to educate citizens about the impact coal has on the environment. By educating the public there is a greater chance that the use of coal can eventually be reduced and provide a chance for a better environmental future for the United States and the world as a whole by having a positive impact on climate change.