Word: eco
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...could this politically backed, popularly supported solar surge spiral into eco-disaster? That's what some say is happening to the Carrisa Plains, a sparsely populated swath of arid, sunny and relatively cheap land in eastern San Luis Obispo County, where three of the world's largest solar plants ever proposed are under review. Together, the Topaz Solar Farm, California Valley Solar Ranch (both photovoltaic projects) and the Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (a solar thermal operation) would provide energy to nearly 100,000 Golden State homes, but only by covering roughly 16 sq. mi. (41 sq km) of the ecologically...
...These are Humes' "eco-barons" - the modern-day counterpart to the 19th century robber barons who helped set the U.S. on its resource-gobbling path - and they're using their vast wealth and will to help protect the earth's quickly vanishing wilderness. The eco-barons' mission, Humes says, became all the more important when Washington shrank from its role as environmental guardian. "In an era in which government has been either broke, indifferent or actively hostile to environmental causes," writes Humes, "a band of visionaries ... are using their wealth, their energy, their celebrity and their knowledge...
...book, Humes profiles an assortment of eco-barons, from businessmen to inventors, and discovers that what binds them is, he says, a "clear view of the insanity attached to the way we live." Doug Tompkins, who founded the clothing line Esprit - and then left it behind for conservation in the 1990s while it was still wildly successful - is the quintessential eco-baron and the source of Hume's best writing. Tompkins was always an outdoor adventurer - even while heading up Esprit, he would regularly disappear for months-long trips to the forests of South America - so when he burned...
...Eco-Barons profiles other do-gooders, including Andy Frank, who created the plug-in hybrid car, but those stories are less compelling than Humes' description of Tompkins. The book starts to feel repetitive as we're introduced to one extraordinary green after another. But Humes' ultimate point is well taken: at the very moment when the government began abdicating its responsibilities to the environment, the eco-barons stepped in. "We'd be years behind where we are now without these individuals," says Humes. (Read about Chevy's electric...
...longer need them to lead the way, now that the Obama Administration has promised the country that its environmental agencies are back on the job. And in a recession, there will be few barons, eco- or otherwise, left standing. But even with a friend in the White House, the environmental movement still faces hurdles, from oil companies to civic passivity, so there will always be a role for those with the will - and sometimes the wealth - to make a difference...