Mother's Day is just around the corner (May 11th, for the truly preoccupied). In our experience, if there's one thing a mom really wants, it's to spend the day with her kids. So we're thinking, what better way to celebrate than a beautiful, organic meal from an eco-eatery?
Antarctica may not be warming as fast as computer models project; windpower and solar companies boom; and Wal-Mart offers state government free expert energy audits. It’s your Thursday edition of The Daily Five:
Climate Models Overheat Antarctica: Sometimes being wrong is good news. A new report from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) suggests concern about warming in Antarctica may be overstated. NCAR scientist Andrew Monaghan says that while warming is clearly happening elsewhere, the best climate models consistently show greater heating than has been historically observed. Why the divergence? It seems that the models assume more water vapor in the Antarctic atmosphere than is actually present. (Newswise)
Cooking at home is a great way to ensure a healthy meal; so we asked nutritionist Julie Lerner Grayson for the dish on the best preparation methods.
Steaming veggies retains flavor, color and nutrients. Boil 2 inches of water in a pot, put veggies in a steaming basket and cover. Once cooked, splash with cool water to stop the cooking process.
Blanching, or quick boiling, breaks down vegetables’ fiber, which helps digestion. Boil water, add a pinch of salt, drop in vegetables and lower heat, cooking until bright. Rinse in cool water.
Stir-Frying uses a little healthy fat to cook foods quickly (canola oil works well). Brush the wok or pan with oil, heat, add food and stir constantly.
Sautéing requires oil that doesn’t burn easily (try grapeseed, canola, avocado or coconut). Try sautéing in broth to reduce calories. Add food to a very hot pan (food should be totally dry), shaking occasionally to ensure even cooking.
Poaching fish is easy and low-cal. Bring a broth to a simmer and add your fillet (fish should be fully submerged); cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota, Lightweight
By Kate Sheppard
Congressional Democrats are expected to announce their plan to counter the rising cost of gasoline as early as next Wednesday, and despite the pressure Sen. Hillary Clinton is putting on her congressional colleagues, it's not likely to include a "gas tax holiday."
The plan being worked up by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and a team of Democratic senators will be focused instead on long-term solutions, according to Bill Wicker, spokesperson for Bingaman, chair the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
"I think the overall frame of the Democratic bill is to try to get at the root causes of a price increase," said Wicker. "Everyone acknowledges that there's very little you can do in the near term to reduce gasoline prices, but there are steps that can be taken now that will help set the stage for reducing gasoline prices down the road."
Though senators are keeping a tight wrap on the specifics of the legislation, Wicker said the bill is likely to include a temporary suspension of the build-up of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (a move also contained in the Republican bill), as well as mechanisms to stop market manipulation by oil traders and discourage speculative trading in oil and gas markets. It's unclear whether the legislation will include a "windfall-profits tax" on oil companies, though it has been rumored that it could include a tax of up to 25 percent. It's also unclear how the revenue from such a tax would be used. In discussions this week, some advocated rebates for consumers while others wanted to see the funds invested in renewable-energy R&D.
The climate-change bills Congress is mulling will create winners and losersin the utility business and in industry. Who and how much they win depends on how the game is played.
Weve noted before that the devil is in the details when it comes to legislating caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. But for the electric power companies under targetwhich would shoulder 80% to 90% of the burden of cuts in the popular Lieberman-Warner billthose details are potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
A new study released today by Ceres, a shareholder coalition pushing companies to curb their global-warming emissions, and the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that wants the same thing, breaks down the impact of two leading bills on the U.S. power sector, which accounts for 40% of the countrys emissions of carbon dioxide.
Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota, Green Daily, USA
The past month has seen shock waves resonating throughout the world of sustainable architecture with two monumental reports on green building backed by some serious changes in public policy. First, the CEC released “Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges”, which lauded sustainable buildings as the quickest, cheapest, and most substantive way to cut down on North American greenhouse gas emissions. Next, CoStar released a comparison report stating that LEED buildings consistently outperform their peers in terms of occupancy rates, sale prices, and rental rates, with demand far outnumbering their supply. And, last week on Earth Day, Los Angeles approved a green building ordinance that signifies a significant shift towards a policy and market-driven era of economically and environmentally viable building.
