There are thousands of public stormdrains that dump toxic-laden water into Puget Sound.  Stormwater runoff has been identified as the major source of damage to the Sound and the animals that live in the Sound.  The runoff comes from paved roadways and driveways and parking lots, places that collect oil, grease, dirt and chemical pollutants and deposit them into our streams, rivers and wetlands and from there into the Sound.  The recent Frontline documentary, "Poisoned Waters", described the impact on the Sound and the orca and other animals quite well.

Washington State researchers have developed a Smart Charger Controller that recharges electric cars at the best and cheapest time.  The Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland has developed this grid-friendly new technology to be ready as electric cars come onto the market.  According to the PNNL, "owners program the controller to charge at a specific time of day or night or at a set price point. The controller uses a low-range wireless technology to communicate with the power grid and determine the best and cheapest time to recharge vehicles. By charging vehicles during off-peak times, the controller saves consumers money."

Shortly after the swine flu became a big media topic, Tom Philpott, food writer at Grist, wrote an article about the possible origins of the flu in Mexico.  Based on his reading of a blog, Biosurveillance, that tracks diseases worldwide. Philpott suggested that there was reason to believe that the flu had originated at a huge hog farm owned by U.S. company Smithfield Foods, the worldest biggest hog farming corporation.

We just finished a couple back-to-back rounds of grant writing here at the Institute.  I have about two days until I jump into the next one.  So I finally have had a few minutes to wander around my favorite political sites and dip into a few other blogs, both known and new to me. One of the newer blogs, La Vida Locavore, is written by Jill Richardson, who blogs regularly at DailyKos as well, which is how I discovered her.  Jill is a national blogger/citizen activist who is passionate about food policy and food politics.  She asks questions about the links between agribusiness companies and politicians and promotes  progressives for roles at the USDA and explains why.

UPS' hybrid trucks, Walmart's hybrid trucks, London's hybrid buses and now hybrid school buses.  Yeah!  A. Siegel, DailyKos blogger who writes on energy and energy policy issues, has a post discussing the $10 million the Department of Energy just set aside for another round of plug-in school bus improvement along with funding another 60 buses for testing.  There has been a Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEB), school bus program for awhile. 

This is one of the most straight-forward discussions of climate change I've run across.  Aubrey Cohen at the PI wrote a great piece on what a man named Auden Schendler, executive director of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Co. and author of "Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability", writes and talks about. 

Schendler spoke at a lunch sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce".  (I want to know if the National Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Chapter talk to each other.)