Podcast: Green Week in Review - February 20, 2009

02/20/2009

The Green Week in Review is a podcast, hosted by SustainableBusiness.com News Editor Bart King. It's posted every Friday morning and is about 15 minutes long. You can listen to it through your browser or download it to a portable MP3 player. Sign up for our General News RSS Feed and it will be automatically downloaded to your computer's media player each week.

In this week's show...

President Obama signed the economic stimulus package into law, containing $92 billion in cleantech spending. It also includes $8 billion for the development of high-speed trains, which could prove to be a signature project for the administration. The administration also announced its support for a global treaty to phase out the industrial use of toxic mercury and a decision by the EPA to review whether or not greenhouse gas emissions are dangerous to human health. The President also travelled to Canada on Thursday, where he faces a major test in addressing the destructive oil sand being developed in Alberta.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed his support for increasing ethanol blending levels in an effort to boost the industry. But a new issue over food safety has come to light concerning a genetically engineered variant of corn for ethanol.

And 2008 was a record year for for clean energy patents in the U.S.

This week's editorial: Healthcare and Sustainability.

Plus, as always, a quick review of top cleantech stories from the week.

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Email comments or questions to bart@sustainablebusiness.com.

The music in today's program is from the CD Artifact by Athens, GA-based instrumental due Dromedary.