![On the back of a Dragonfly [B&W]](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6194/6128449851_14ec409b56_s.jpg "On the back of a Dragonfly [B&W]")
Happy Earth Day!
TOP STORY
Climate Week on the Hill
Expect this to stay the top story all week. Whenever Congress sits down to discuss the most ambitious piece of climate and energy legislation ever seen in Washington, discussions that hold our future in the balance, it's worth paying close attention.
The EPA yesterday offered an opening shot: "Just days after declaring that carbon emissions were a threat to human health, the Environmental Protection Agency has given high marks to the bill." More importantly, it counters the standard "energy tax on the poor" argument regularly laid out by opponents of climate policies, proclaiming that "the cap-and-trade policy has a relatively modest impact on U.S. consumers," and that, if revenues from a carbon price are returned to the consumer, median and lower-income households "could be... better off than they would be without the program." [Green, Inc.-New York Times]
- Waxman-Markey analysis [EPA (pdf)]
SCREENING
Green Jobs on Earth Day
The White House sends Van Jones to talk to DC Greenworks, an organization creating good, green jobs in the nation's capitol. They'll be posting updates all day about various agencies' annoucements, activities, and involvements throughout this Earth Day. [The White House Blog]
RECOMMENDED READING
The Pope Goes Solar
The Vatican has announced plans to build a100-megawatt solar power plant, capable of powering 40,000 homes. The €500 million installation would be Europe's largest, and is the latest in a string of environmentally-sensitive announcements coming from the Catholic Church. [The Guardian]
Related:
- Catholics Organize Against Climate Change [Dot Earth-New York Times]
EPA Targets Mercury in Cement
The EPA has had a busy couple of weeks. (See "Top Story.") Yesterday the Agency "proposed a new rule today that would slash mercury emissions from the nation's cement kilns, the fourth-largest domestic emitters of such pollution." [Washington Post]
BY THE NUMBERS
"A single oil company [earned] over 45 percent of the net profits of the entire Fortune 500." That company? Exxon Mobil. [Worldchanging]
FROM THE BLOGS
- 10 Reasons to Celebrate/Grouse About Earth Day. [Earth2Tech]
- The Social Media and Web Guide to Going Green. [Mashable]
