Written by Maya Kelty, Four Green Steps

Last Tuesday, March 27th 2012, the EPA proposed a draft rule that would for the first time regulate carbon emissions from power plants - an important step as the second most carbon emitting country in the world.  The new rule would put a cap of 1,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per megawatt-hour on all new power plants.  The rule comes 5 years after the 2007 Supreme Court instruction to the EPA that it determine whether CO2 qualified as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.  The Clean Air Act calls for the EPA to create and enforce regulations on air pollutants.

Written by Kai Park, Four Green Steps

“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.” - Henry David Thoreau

From as early as the early 1800’s, humans were already beginning to ignore their responsibility to the earth. Only until we began to see the consequences of our action, did we start to take action. Even then, much of the population still choose to ignore the warning signs, while some fully understand the seriousness of the problem, but just fail to act. With the ice caps melting, climate change becoming more and more of a problem, and many other factors, we seem to be heading into turmoil if nothing is done.  Due to our use of fossil fuels and green house gas emission, we have successfully been able to prove Thoreau wrong, and “lay waste the sky”, almost as bad as we did to the earth.