By LESLIE KAUFMAN

On Route 11 north of Tuscaloosa, Ala., last April, a pickup truck pulled up next to Greta Browne, and a young man began lecturing her about global warming.

He had seen Ms. Browne’s T-shirt announcing that she was “Walking for the Climate,” and he wanted to set her straight. Humans, he told her, have nothing to do with heating up the planet.

Ms. Browne, 65, a Unitarian minister from Bethlehem, Pa., has encountered more than one global warming naysayer since last March, when she began a trek up the Eastern seaboard to draw attention to climate change.

“Sometimes, you just have to stand up,” she said.
nytimes.com

Tags: Envioronment

By Kathleen Gray, USA TODAY

Cash for clunkers ended this week — for cars.
But old energy-hogging refrigerators and freezers qualify for recycling and cash from more than 60 utilities across the nation. And the federal government is making money available to states so consumers could get rebates of $50 to $200 for new, more energy-efficient appliances later this year in a so-called “cash for appliances” program.

Combined, the appliance initiatives have a goal similar to the cash-for-clunker program for autos: They get less-efficient appliances off the nation’s energy grid in favor of newer efficient ones.
usatoday.com

Tags: Envioronment

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced three recovery act grants totaling $20 million in funding for the SmartWay Clean Diesel Finance Program. These recovery act grants will fund the purchase of new, cleaner or retrofitted vehicles and equipment, protecting air quality and creating and retaining jobs in three communities across the country. The program works to reduce premature deaths, asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments, lost work days, and many other health impacts every year.
epa.gov

Tags: Envioronment