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The US could create jobs, curb carbon emissions and encourage economic prosperity by switching to a clean energy economy, write Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. A recent report said that the US could create 2 million new jobs by 2050 if it adopted a goal to source 50% of its total electricity from clean energy sources by 2030. "Congress has an opportunity to put our country on a path toward a clean energy future that improves our economy while reinforcing our commitment to reducing dangerous carbon pollution," they write

Washington, D.C., is on track to obtain 40% of the electricity used by its city government from wind and solar sources. Part of the electricity will come from a wind farm in Pennsylvania. The city signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the project in August. Mayor Muriel Bowser says the city will also source electricity from solar panels, with a plan to install panels at 34 government-owned sites. 

In this Yale Environment 360 video, we present the first of a two-part e360 series, "Wasted," on the vexing global problem of food waste. Filmmaker Karim Chrobog visits two cities - Washington, D.C., and Seoul, South Korea - to examine why so much food goes to waste and what can be done about it. Washington, and the U.S. as a whole, has taken only minor steps to reduce this enormous waste and its related human and environmental costs. By contrast, Seoul has adopted innovative programs to minimize the amount of food that ends up going to landfills to rot. 

President Obama told representatives of 90 countries yesterday that taking steps to safeguard the world's oceans is crucial in a warming world. Speaking at the third annual Our Ocean conference, hosted this year by the State Department in Washington, D.C., Obama urged action to relieve stress on the world's oceans as they cope with climate change.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee rejected an amendment on Tuesday that would allow the federal government to allocate funds toward the UN Green Climate Fund. "The Green Climate Fund is the only multilateral institution that supports clean, resilient development around the world," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., adding that the US should be leading the initiative.

A company created by Stanford University is developing a self-sustaining community in the Netherlands. The 25-home neighborhood will produce its own energy from biogas, solar and geothermal sources and will grow its own food. ReGen Villages describes its focus as "[d]esirable, off-grid-capable neighborhoods comprised of power positive homes, renewable energy, water management, and waste-to-resource systems that are based upon on-going resiliency research -- for thriving families and reduced burdens on local and national governments."

Tech giants Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have submitted a joint brief to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court in support of the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan.

What do tech giants Apple, Google, Intel and Microsoft, retailers Kohl's, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart, the U.S. Energy and Veteran Affairs Departments, and the cities of Houston and Washington, D.C. have in common? According to recently updated data in the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership, they are the most prolific users of renewable energy in the United States.

John D. Rockefeller built a vast fortune on oil. Now his heirs are abandoning fossil fuels. The family whose legendary wealth flowed from Standard Oil is planning to announce on Monday that its $860 million philanthropic organization, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, is joining the divestment movement that began a couple years ago on college campuses.

The LEGO Group announced plans to invest approximately $150.5 million in R&D to identify and implement new, sustainable raw material input for its product and packaging manufacturing process

By sharing a pool of kegs rather than owning their own, over 200 leading craft brewers have helped reduce their collective carbon footprint by over 3 million kg of CO2e in 2013. These findings, based on a study by John Heckman, Ph.D with PE International and commissioned by MicroStar Logistics, will be used as a benchmark to help the craft beer industry further minimize its carbon footprint each year.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) proposed Monday to cut in half the gasoline and diesel fuel used by vehicles and get half the state's electricity from renewable sources.

Chevrolet is buying up emissions credits linked to 11,000 acres of grasslands in North Dakota. In exchange for payments from Chevrolet, the ranchers who own the land agree not to till their properties, reducing carbon emissions. "The amount of carbon dioxide removed from our atmosphere by Chevrolet's purchase of these credits equals the amount that would be reduced by taking more than 5,000 cars off the road," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Sustainable food startup Impossible Foods received $108 million in series D financing, which expands its total funding to $183 million. The company is developing meat and dairy alternatives from plant ingredients.

London's Heathrow Airport has unveiled a new sustainability leadership strategy designed to make Heathrow a center of excellence in the aviation industry. The strategy announces ambitious goals to reduce the airport's and the industry's environmental impacts while maximizing economic opportunities throughout the UK. Plans include a new R&D incubator, an ambition for growth from a new runway to be carbon neutral and at least halving the number of late-running departures to reduce noise for local communities.

Johnson & Johnson revamped its Design for Environment program into the new Earthwards program, which brings together branding, marketing, R&D and its supply chain to produce products that continually perform well in an internally designed, strict environmental process, says Paulette Frank, the company's worldwide VP of environment, health, safety and sustainability.

Unsustainable agricultural methods have caused the planet's soil to release up to 70% of its carbon into the atmosphere -- and scientists say that restoring soil conditions might help to reabsorb that carbon and slow climate change. "If we treat soil carbon as a renewable resource, we can change the dynamics," says carbon-cycle expert Thomas Goreau