A noteworthy Daily Kos diary takes a look at Joe Biden’s position on a variety of environmental issues, including offshore drilling, capping emissions standards, and nuclear energy. Biden’s overall message: we need solutions for the future. Here’s a snippet from his July 2008 op-ed in the Delaware News Journal (Wilmington) about the problems with offshore drilling. As previously reported here at TakePart, it’s McCain’s solution to the present energy crisis, but Biden has a different view:

First, the oil companies in this country now hold 7,000 leases to drill offshore, yet only 20 percent of those leases are producing oil. That is 68 million acres for which they already have the rights to drill. Nearly 80 percent of our offshore oil is already available for leasing — approximately 54 billion barrels total. They could be drilling in these areas, but they are not.

Assuming oil companies drilled in new areas, it would take at least a decade for new production to begin. Just last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration concluded new drilling would have no impact on oil prices before 2030.

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Let the biofuels debate begin! The video below shows biofuel advocates Josh Boger of the Biotechnology Industrial Organization and Joe Trippi, political consultant, discussing concerns over the link between biofuels and the reduction of food stock and increased food prices. If we’re willing to “keep the conversation going,” and invest in new technologies to improve the functionality of biofuels with regard to food shortages/prices, then we’ll all be better for it. See David Roberts’ response (of Grist Magazine) after the JUMP—>

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"HurriCake" Gustav

The TakePart team is a collection of great people from around the country. Me personally? I’m a proud product of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’ve spent the last few days celebrating the begining of Tiger football and getting increasingly concerned about Hurricane Gustav. Thankfully, the wonders of modern technology are allowing my family in South Louisiana to send me regular text, photo, and video updates from the path of the storm.

Currently, the family is gathered together at my brother’s house to ride out the storm. They’ve bought all their generators in one place figuring they’ll have a better time together and will fare better with more electricity to go around. In the spirit of Louisiana, they’re celebrating accordingly…

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So for the Sunday super-awesome vegetarian posts so far, we’ve gone through Ted Leo, Ian MacKaye, and Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós. Today we’re going for what may be seen as an obvious choice: Peter Buck and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. I don’t think I’m really going to catch any of you saying, “What is this ‘R.E.M.’ band you speak of, and where do you find these underground groups?” Well, bear with me here. R.E.M. may have been around for almost 30 years now, but my best guess is that you may have stopped paying attention to them sometime around Monster came out. Which means you might have missed this song, about Kurt Cobain and terribly touching:

Later-era R.E.M., though entirely different from the jangly rock they became famous for, is some of the most beautiful music they’ve ever created.

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The World Bank’s stated goal is to provide economic assistance to developing nations so these countries may rise above poverty. While this noble goal may not always be congruent with battling global warming, last year World Bank President Robert Zoellick stated the bank would “significantly step up our assistance” in combating climate change. However, Bloomberg News (via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) tells us that “the development institution is increasing its financing of fossil-fuel projects around the globe.”

One such project is the Tata Ultra Mega power plant in India, which just sounds massive. Once fully operational in 2012, the plant will be one of the top 50 greenhouse gas emitters in the world. And the World Bank is giving a lot of support.

The $4.14 billion, coal-powered Ultra Mega plant will emit more carbon dioxide annually than the nation of Tunisia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The World Bank in April agreed to provide $450 million in loans and guarantees for the project and also may buy a $50 million stake in it.

The logic, for the World Bank, is simple. To recoup the money they invest as quickly as possible, so they can lend more money, the Bank needs to invest in short-term things, such as power plants, not renewable energy.

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Left to right: Dawn Brighid and Diane Hatz of Sustainable Table, Kerry Trueman of Eating Liberally, Me, Destin Joy Layne of the Eat Well Guide and Participant’s own Sarah Newman
Related:

TakePart at Slow Food Nation

When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate today, he ended the rally by playing Van Halen’s Right Now and Van Halen is not pleased. According to the Huffington Post, “the band had no idea McCain was planning on using “Right Now” during his big entrance in Ohio telling us, ‘Permission was not sought or granted nor would it have been given.”‘

I went back and watched the original video for the song and think I know why John McCain thought it might be OK to use it - give a watch and see if you can figure it out:

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Chasing the DNC Flame by Fonda Berosini

TakePart at Slow Food Nation by Wendy Cohen

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Nicole Hughes:

State Fair Having Trouble Keeping It Green

TOMS Wrap Boot: Shoe Addicts Saving Lives

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Andy Kondrat:

Mexican Gov Spends $16M to Save Endangered Porpoise

Wilco Offers Section on Website for Carpooling to Shows

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Jon Popham:

Portland Gym Utilizes Human Energy

Angkor Wat Threatened by Tourism Boom

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Gina Telaroli:

10 Powerful Women Using Their Power for Good

10 A+ Worthy Movie and TV Teachers

It’s been a big week for investment in thin-solar technology with more than $400 Million being raised by two industry companies.   With NanoSolar raising $300 Million and AVA Solar bringing in over $100 Million the future is looking bright the next generation of solar collection technology.

The huge push for thin solar comes from its low cost, durability and efficiency at capturing incoming solar energy.   Some estimates put the technology bringing over $15 Billion in revenue by the year 2015 as efficiency continues to improve while costs steadily plummet.

Nanosolar, based in San Jose, California, plans to put the new capital to work expanding its production plants in San Jose and Berlin, Germany.   AVA Solar will put its $104 Million dollar in newly raised capital toward completing a production facility in Colorado where the company is based.

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Of course everyone is now talking about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s new VP pick.   I’ll leave most of the discussion to the pundits except to point out this interview she did with Glenn Beck at the beginning of the summer about drilling for oil and the polar bears.

You may remember that we reported on polar bears being made endangered species - with excitement - back on May 14th. We also reported on Sarah Palin’s fight against the polar bears back in June.

Also take note of how the interview ends…

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