Stanford’s New Sustainability School Gets Heat for Welcoming Funds from Fossil Fuel Companies
John Doerr, a venture capitalist who made billions of dollars in the tech industry, is giving $1.1 billion to Stanford University to set up a school for sustainability. It is the largest-ever gift to Stanford. Wrote David Gelles in the New York Times: “The school, to be known as the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability,…
Banning Styrofoam Could Be on the Ballot in California
The California legislature is trying to head off a ban-polystyrene initiative this fall. It is crafting legislation that would require 20 percent of the state’s polystyrene (the lightweight plastic with the trademark Styrofoam) to be recycled. Only about 3 percent of the plastic is currently recycled. But environmental activists want the substance banned entirely. They…
How Not to Cool the Earth: Make Air Conditioning Too Expensive for Tropical Regions
Air conditioning has saved thousands of lives, writes Ben Lieberman for HumanProgress, but global emphasis on high-efficiency air conditioning is likely to keep its benefits from many developing countries. In some tropical regions fewer than 10 percent of the population have air conditioning. Lieberman writes: “Despite the public health benefits of air conditioning, its expanded…
New Zealand Proposes a Methane Tax on Farmers
Nearly half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from sheep and cattle. To reduce them, the government is negotiating a plan to tax farmers for methane emissions, beginning in 2025. The tax is part of an effort to reduce agricultural emissions by 24 to 27 percent by 2050. “The proposal includes incentives for farmers…