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1) Arctic Tales: The ice is melting faster than expected. GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) team scientists win the William T. Pecora Award for their satellite technology showing Arctic snow is at an all time low, surpassing the previous record set in 2005 by 23 percent. Norway, Russia, Canada and, of course the US, start a land grab.
2) The Bees and the Birds disappear: What’s killing them? (No, it wasn’t just the awful Seinfeld B-movie). Colony Collapse Disorder wipes out millions of bees. Suspects include pesticides, vampire mites, genetically engineered foods and cell phones but there are no answers. Even more disturbing are the tens of thousands of birds missing all over the world.
3) The end of the plastic bag. Cities started banning plastic bags and retailers have stopped giving them out – even Wal-Mart. The giant retailer started selling reusable bags in January, 2008.
4) The greening of suburbia... from Calgary to Markham to Ohio and of course California, 2007 was the year eco-neighborhood with solar, geothermal energy and with plenty of public/shared transportation as part of the planning.
5) Who killed the Electric Car? No one! The Zenn NEV rolled off a Quebec assembly line as Miles Automotive launched their Neighborhood EVassembled inChina. Phoenix Motorcars unveils the first 100 percent electric SUV with a battery lasting 400 km (250 miles) that recharges in less than 10 minutes. The sporty Tesla Roadster EV graces the pages of Time Magazine (800 sell before production begins). The Vectrix full speed electric motorcycle hits the market. Brown/UPS start testing the Zap World, three wheeled all-electric Xebra and the British EV company Edison announces its new US plant.
6) The Unsustainables: Green’s so hip it’s even in the cartoons.
7) Footprint becomes a common word. Families around North America strive to shrink theirs.
8) CSO became a power-word. Throughout the corporate world, you’re nothing if you don’t have a Chief Sustainability Officer.
9) Where the Lowest Price isn’t just the law, but can also lead to… dead family pets, toxic Barbies and toothpaste that kills… we learn the lesson “you get what you pay for” with cheap goods from China.
10) Cleantech became the leading venture investment category in the United States, surpassing IT and Biotechnology. Investments in clean technology hit $1.78 billion in the third quarter; a 15% increase over the same period in 2006.
11) So much for California dreaming. A January frost kills one billion in fruit sales, an April tropical storm brings high powered winds that fan brush fires and create more than 76,000 power outages. A heat wave of 40°C (104°F) leaves 25 dead and “electrical emergencies” leave 55,000 people in the dark. When wildfires hit southern California, over 960,000 residents are evacuated and over 521,000 acres are charred. The year ends with 327 k/ph (200 mph) winds closing down 37,000 homes and businesses.
12) Two pioneers pass Goodbye to Dr. Bolin! Noted Swedish meteorologist, Bert Rickard Johannes Bolin passed away. He first warned about climate change in the 1950s. He was first Chairman of the UN’s IPCC (the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change). When Al Gore won the Nobel (shared with the IPCC) his first call was to the new Chair of the panel, Rajendra Pachauri, his second call was to Bolin. Goodbye to Mary Anne Brinckman, the co-founding editor of children's nature magazines Owl and Chickadee, the popular Gardening Life and founding member of Green Living Enterprise.
13) In August, Lewis Pugh swam 1 km (.62 miles) in the ice-free, waters of the North Pole. That same month 600 men and women join artist Spencer Tunick to pose nude on a Swiss glacier. Both events are staged to highlight global warming.
14) Toyota shows off its fantasy car of 2057 that travels vertically and uses air pollution for its fuel.
15) Beautifully designed CFL bulbs take on a variety of shapes that save energy and become a symbol of re-inventing our world.
16) Sao Paolo, Brazil enacts the Clean City Law outlawing billboards, electric signage, neon lights and sandwich boards, allowing its citizens to enjoy their city without being inundated.
17) We hold a wake for Radical Environmentalism. Shellenberger & Nordhaus, Chris Turner and even nouveau James Johnston attended the burial.
18) 100 Miles and Running: Restaurants all over North America go green by going local!
19) Getting rid of all your spyware is the easiest way to green your computer. All that snopping eats up processing power and makes for an inefficient computer.
20) Silicon Valley start up launches in-the-box photovoltaic systems with the first Plug n’ play system anywhere.
21) Radiohead plays nice and hires Best Foot Forward to help them reduce their carbon footprint on tour. They bump up the green by selling their next album online only, reducing the need to manufacture and distribute millions of CDs.
22) No Longer on the Brink: Prairie Dog, Whooping Cranes, Grizzly Bears, Bald Eagles, Grey Wolves, Green Sea Turtles, Key Dear, Florida Panthers, Kirtland’s Warbler and the American Alligator, all removed from the endangered species list as of April 2007.
Lee Schnaiberg is a green investigative researcher who has been documenting weird weather since 1993 when he began a series of award winning documentaries on climate change solutions "called The Earth Changes!
Green Living Network
Even in my own university, our cleaners (is that what you call those people who sweep dry leaves on campus?) pack dry leaves in black rubbish bin bags and trash them away. Those dried leaves can definitely (and easily) be composted. And those tens of bin bags can be done away with!