Maryland and Michigan Boost Renewable Energy Standards

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While Ohio’s legislature has tried to further weaken the state’s renewable energy standards, lawmakers from two other states – Maryland and Michigan – have beefed up their state’s standards. Maryland is the latest state to do so. Its general assembly passed a law last year that required 22 percent of the electricity sold in the state to be produced by renewable sources by 2020. The old standard had been 20 percent by 2022. In December, Michigan, voted to increase its renewable energy standard to 15 percent from 10 percent by 2021. The legislation also set a voluntary goal of satisfying 35 percent of the state’s electricity demand through a combination of renewable sources, energy efficiency and demand reduction.

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China Plans to Create 13 Million Clean Energy Jobs by 2020

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China has announced that it will invest $361 billion in renewable energy through the end of the decade — another signal that the world’s most populous nation is serious about combating climate change. The investment, Reuters reports, will continue China’s shift away from coal and other dirty fuels. In addition to fighting climate change, investing in clean energy should help China address its air-pollution problems. Major cities like Beijing are often blanketed in smog, due largely to coal burning and other industrial activity.

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Does Your Company or Non-Profit Have a Presidential Transition Strategy?

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The American electorate has picked one of the most powerful climate change deniers on the planet as the steward of U.S. environmental strategy for at least the next four years. The good news is that sustainable business leaders have more clarity about what to expect from the next administration. It’s now time to prioritize what comes next. Here are three considerations that should be central to Trump-era sustainability strategies — and not just those that relate to energy.

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Boone, NC Passes Historic Resolution: Ditch Fossil Fuels, Go 100% Clean Energy

With or without Donald Trump‘s help, the North Carolina municipality of Boone is calling on the whole state – and the United States at large – to encourage green jobs and transition to 100 percent clean energy across all energy sectors. The resolution was approved by a 5-0 vote by Boone Town Council on Thursday. This makes Boone the first town in the country to officially demand that the U.S. completely ditch fossil fuels to “avoid climate catastrophe.” The country’s total transition to clean energy is not as far-fetched as it seems. Boone’s resolution was inspired in part by the research of renewable energy expert Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, a Stanford University professor and cofounder of The Solutions Project, a state-by-state roadmap to convert the country to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

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Nations, Fighting Powerful Refrigerant That Warms Planet, Reach Landmark Deal

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Negotiators from more than 170 countries on Saturday reached a legally binding accord to counter climate change by cutting the worldwide use of a powerful planet-warming chemical used in air-conditioners and refrigerators. The talks in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, did not draw the same spotlight as the climate change accord forged in Paris last year. But the outcome could have an equal or even greater impact on efforts to slow the heating of the planet.

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New Video Series Explores ‘Hidden Connections’ Between Climate Change and Child Marriage

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“Hidden Connections,” a thought-provoking digital video series premiering today, explores one of the human consequences of climate change — specifically its little-known link to child marriage. TakePart, the digital division of Participant Media, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation teamed up to produce the three-part series, which gives an intimate look at the lives of two young girls living in Bangladesh.

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Katharine Hayhoe, a Climate Explainer Who Stays Above the Storm

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is not a climate pioneer like Al Gore or a street-marching activist like Bill McKibben or a geek icon like Bill Nye. But she has emerged as one of the nation’s most effective communicators on the threat of climate change and the need for action. She lives and works out here in West Texas, but lately seems to be everywhere, kicking off a series of “Global Weirding” videos, posting on Twitter and Facebook, and speaking anywhere from local churches to international conferences. Last week, she appeared at the White House to discuss climate change with President Obama and the actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the first South by South Lawn ideas festival.

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Cheers to This: Beer That’s Good for the Climate

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Long Root Ale, a pale ale hitting the market from Patagonia Provisions and Hopworks Urban Brewery, is sustainably brewed and made with organic ingredients, but that’s not what sets it apart. The big difference here is in the grains—and the farming practices behind them. While most beer is brewed with malted barley or wheat that is grown in an annual rotation—meaning the grains are planted every spring, harvested in the fall, to be repeated the following year—Long Root Ale is the first beer to incorporate Kernza, a perennial grain. Once planted, this “superwheat“ derived from an ancient form of intermediate wheatgrass can remain in the ground for years at a time.

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5 New Technologies Could Make Jet Travel Green

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NASA is funding projects with the potential to slash airplane greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent. The agency is targeting airline emissions, a major source of greenhouse gases. NASA last week announced that it was funding research into five new technologies under a “green aviation” initiative that it says could cut airplane fuel use in half, reduce aircraft noise, and most important, slash carbon emissions by as much as 75 percent.

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5 Emerging Trends in Climate Resilience

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The Paris Agreement adopted at COP21 last year placed unprecedented importance on climate adaptation and resilience. Five emerging trends have been identified from learning how countries, cities, researchers and others are putting adaptation priorities into practice.

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