May 2008

Check's in the mail
On Earth Day, Sierra Club launched its Buy Green to Save Green campaign, calling on taxpayers to spend their economic stimulus check on energy-efficient products and services such as home insulation and solar hot water.

Green jobs ahead
HA study of 12 eastern states by the Renewable Energy Policy Project found that nearly 170,000 new jobs in wind turbine manufacturing and almost 93,000 jobs in solar power equipment manufacturing could result from investing in clean, renewable energy. The independent study was funded by the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of the United Steel Workers and the Sierra Club.

List growing
The County of Santa Cruz joins the growing list of local jurisdictions which have approved a ban on polystyrene food take-out containers. The ban will be effective this fall.

Way to go
Cabrillo College has joined the ranks of local users of RideSpring, an innovative program that uses a simple web-based interface to encourage and facilitate carpooling. RideSpring enables users to track how much gas, money and CO2 they are saving by not driving alone. For more info visit www.ridespring.com.

Reducing exposure
The Government of Ontario, Canada's most populous province, introduced legislation on Earth Day to outlaw homeowners' use of lawn and garden pesticides starting next year. The new law would not apply to golf courses, farms, and forests. The province of Quebec already has a similar ban. No state in the U.S. has such a ban in place. Observers were asking why the double standard was allowed. The Canadian Cancer Society said it was happy with the ban.

Hispanic voters concerned
The first national poll of Hispanic voters on energy and environmental issues reveals that Hispanic voters are informed and concerned about global warming and the environment and are ready to take action to ensure the health of their families and their communities. "This is no surprise given that minorities are 73 percent more likely to live near air polluting facilities," said Representative Hilda L. Solis, Vice Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials. To view detailed poll results, visit www.sierraclub.org/ecocentro/survey/.

[ top of page ]