Articles by Erik Hoffner

It’s not the view: it’s the vision

The most likely candidate for becoming the U.S.'s first offshore wind farm reached another permitting milestone by filing its Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) on February 15 with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office. It's now available, and it's meaty.

New bill would mandate California-like carbon reductions

Whether you live in the Old Line State or not, this is of high interest: the "Global Warming Solutions Act," a bill that Orion Grassroots Network super group Chesapeake Climate Action Network thought could take years to pass, suddenly has a chance, thanks to recent changes in the political climate.

The bill would make Md. just the second in the U.S. -- behind California -- to mandate huge, statutory reductions in greenhouse gases by 2020. CCAN Director Mike Tidwell calls it a "radical and utterly appropriate commitment. More importantly, it encourages other states to do the same, raising pressure for strong federal legislation." Marylanders, get in touch with CCAN and with your reps!

So who's next?

Smackdown!

File this under "A sign of things to come." A coworker here at Orion magazine buys corn to feed his daughter's sheep, and he reports that his supplier is in a quandary about how to afford the stuff himself these days. Everyone and his brother sees the demand for corn to make ethanol coming, sending corn futures through the roof and driving up prices today.

Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians

Turns out that it isn't just U.S. automakers that have been put in mortal danger by hybrids (it is their fault, of course): the National Federation of the Blind said this week that those at risk include (gasp) cyclists, the blind, the elderly, and distracted pedestrians. Lay on those horns, people!