The real backbone of Brazil's "zero tolerance" policy is that the country has produced enough ethanol to achieve "oil independence." It can tell Chevron, BP, Total or any other oil company that even one drop of oil spilled is not tolerated.
President Obama has delivered another victory for clean energy innovation. Today his administration moved forward with new standards for cars, SUVs, and pick-up trucks that will almost double vehicle miles per gallon to 54.5 mpg by 2025.
While I commend the Obama administration and 13 automakers for boosting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy of cars and light-duty trucks sold in the U.S., it is only a baby step toward solving our real problem: oil addiction.
Instead of subsidizing industries that anchor us in the past, we should be investing in the kinds of clean energy solutions that prepare us for the future.
The Obama administration can't do much to lower the price of a gallon of gas, but it is on the cusp of a crucial decision that could help consumers come out ahead because they would need less gas.
As of this month the U.S. has fallen behind Romania in the overall performance of our broadband connectivity. Broadband access is a key part of the solution to our addiction to imported oil.
We, vain Americans, blame BP and all the others out there, but it's our addiction providing our neighborhood dealer with the incentives. Our dependency on oil is an addiction we need to break.
When an alcoholic leaves a bar and drives into his third wreck, do you blame the bartender or the alcoholic? When a society addicted to fossil fuels experiences an oil spill, do you blame the company that drilled for oil or the society that uses it?
Petrol pours off each of us like an invisible sweat. The 20th century was propelled into the stratosphere on a geyser of oil, and nobody wanted to ask where it was coming from, or what it would cost us in the end.
How can our smoggiest city move past its addiction to oil once and for all? See what environmental leaders, policymakers, and eco celebs had to say at Tuesday's LA Get Off Oil Day rally.
Words are one thing, but the terrifying reality is that to break the oil addiction, as with any other addiction, it takes a strong will and the means to do it. So far, neither one is there.
The sound that American wind turbines produce as their giant, breeze-propelled blades whip around is a distinctive: Neh-neh-neh-neh-neh-neh.
The anti...
While the tragedy in the Gulf is enormous, an even greater tragedy is failing to set a course for solving the underlying cause of this disaster-America's fossil fuel addiction.
There are a lot of voters in this country, and lots of us painfully aware of the impacts our oil addiction is having on real people, their livelihoods, and life-giving ecosystems.
Whatever harm is done by methane from this one well, the constant flow since then reminds us that methane from many sources is definitely reaching the air.
Our fate and the ocean's are one and we have not been rebellious in our need to get off oil. So here's the deal, America: If you want to blame someone for this catastrophe, look in the mirror.
It's high time to start sifting through the wreckage for some learning so we can avoid similar catastrophes. But why do we need to wait for each fresh disaster to relearn the lessons we already know?
I worked in the oil fields when I was a teenager, and I remember the uneasy feeling that resulted when I heard company representatives claim oil exploration was great for society.
There's no denying that the rust-red plumes of oil and tar balls in the Gulf of Mexico are a potential ecological calamity for American Southern shore...
BP has been responsible for some of the worst oil-related accidents in our nation's history and has been charged with nothing more than misdemeanors. Incredible.