Media Center
Green Points of View
Eating 'Green' – What Are You Really Buying? by Sheila Newhouse
Read board member Chris Elam's interview with Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland, a new book that looks at why we waste so much perfectly edible food.
Read How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water, by Research Director Renee Cho. The article can be found on Columbia University's Earth Institute blog.
City Council Clean Air Legislation
Limited Vision: Fails to Address Key Emerging Health and Energy Security Issues Facing New York City
New York, NY-As the New York City Council prepared today to move forward on legislation to update local transportation¬related environmental laws for the first time in a decade, INFORM, Inc., the national environmental research organization, called its final legislative package "a disappointment - addressing only one of the multiple environmental and energy challenges related to transportation today." INFORM President Joanna D. Underwood commented, "While substantial air quality improvements will result from the requirements this bill imposes on trucks already on the road, it misses the chance for a truly innovative approach to new truck purchases."
As originally drafted, Intro Bill 414 included a groundbreaking provision to expand the use of natural gas¬powered refuse and recycling trucks. INFORM, as well as West Harlem Environmental Action and New York City real estate developer, Douglas Durst, supported this mandate.
"Although the current provisions requiring use of cleaner diesel fuel and advanced pollution controls are important for reducing particulate pollution from government fleets on New York City's roads today," said Joanna D. Underwood, "the natural gas mandate related to new refuse and recycling truck purchases would have jump started a major shift in this huge fleet to trucks providing not just one but three vital benefits. Natural gas refuse trucks would generate far less nitrogen oxides (the central ingredient in health-threatening smog), would improve the quality of life for New York communities since they are much quieter, and would reduce the overwhelming reliance of one of the City's most vital public services on foreign oil."
About INFORM
INFORM is a national, nonprofit research and outreach organization that examines the effects of business practices, technologies, and products on the environment and human health. For 30 years, INFORM has sought practical solutions to the environmental challenges of safeguarding ecosystems from toxic chemicals, shifting to pollution¬free transportation, and preventing solid waste. Combining groundbreaking research with strategic outreach, INFORM endeavors to turn findings into change. INFORM's objective and constructive recommendations have helped guide members of government, industry, environmental groups, and communities around the world in decisions promoting both economic and ecological sustainability.
