26 Mar Digest 3/25: Sustainable Consumers, Obama’s Oil Calculus, Austin Drought Update

My blogs digest this week: Rain! (We're getting some) and Obama! talking tough on oil subsidies. But wait — he's also supporting pipeline expansion. And wait — lake levels are still low. Meanwhile, a former UT grad and old friend gets caught on tape talking about the positive influence sustainable consumers are having on corporate actions. Turns out smarter people = smarter products…

Three features:

What Sustainable Consumers Want
The rapidly growing sector of sustainably minded consumers is changing the way companies produce and market their products. (Yeah to us!) Former Austinite and BBMG cofounder Raphael Bemporad tells us sustainable consumers ask "what's in it for we?" See my brief here. To support local sustainable consumer businesses check out EcoWise, Whole Foods, Wheatsville, or my online store GoodCommonSense.net.

Obama's Political Calculus on Big Oil
"If you just glance at it, it's a mess," my mother says. Is Obama bi-polar on energy policy? Suffice to say, there's a lot of confusion around Obama being both for AND against big oil. He's anti-federal subsidies but pro-transcontinental pipeline. He's pro-climate legislation but light on pushing it through. I've got some theories as to why and would love to hear yours. Read and comment on my brief here.

Central Texas Drought Update
Our very own Travis County just might make it out of drought conditions by June 1, but man, our lake levels are low. Scarier yet, Texas's state climatologist (an Aggie) predicts at least five more years of  intensely hot / dry summers. And that's the best case scenario. What's this costing and how will ongoing drought affect our overall eco-system? See my blog here. Learn about Austin's Water Conservation's many conservation incentives for residential and business customers here.

See last week's digest here.

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Tweets of the week
> Obama's EPA caves on NOx & SOx just like W. Bush's did http://bit.ly/GL3oaR
> Google, Pepsi, MillerCoors Highlight World Water Day Initiatives http://bit.ly/GL34c4
> Coca-Cola Straining City Resources, Officials Claim http://bit.ly/GCc1Fr
> progressive Republican claims our system is paralyzed by hyper-partisanism, founds http://nolabels.org to change the culture in Congress
> Crowdsourcing to revolutionize government http://www.grn.bz/AlAuE4 #GrnBz