Super Eco

Photo credit: xymonau, SXC

From the Department of Oh, Really?: In case you didn't already have suspicions of your own, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that greenhouse gases are harmful to your health and to the environment. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson laid down the law in a press conference yesterday: "This administration will not ignore science or the law any longer, nor will we avoid the responsibility we owe to our children and grandchildren. Today, I’m proud to announce that EPA has finalized its endangerment finding on greenhouse gas pollution, and is now authorized and obligated to take reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse pollutants under the Clean Air Act."

We kinda dig Jackson. With the blessing of the Obama administration, she's not-so-quietly changing the face of the EPA from obstructor to facilitator. And this dog has teeth. Jackson and the EPA appear ready to chomp into growing an economy based on clean energy and shaking loose from our dependence on foreign oil.

As for climate change, Jackson has words about that as well. "But the overwhelming amounts of scientific study show that the threat is real – as does the evidence before our very eyes," she notes. "... After decades of this mounting evidence, climate change has now become a household issue. Parents across the United States and around the world are concerned for their children and grandchildren. Governments are investing billions in adaptation strategies. Businesses are investing billions in efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Military planners are projecting new hotspots of instability and conflict. They know that if we do not act to reduce greenhouse gases, the planet we leave to the next generation will be a very different place than the one we know today."

Onward!