president obama

Earth Talk: Barack Obama’s climate change initiative

Roddy Scheer

In what’s being billed as the greatest environmental initiative of his presidency, Barack Obama announced on June 25, 2013 that his administration is instituting stringent mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions by power plants, factories and other industrial sources. These sources combined account for roughly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. The goal is to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions nationally by four percent below 1990 levels within the next seven years.

Earth Talk: Monarch butterflies in sharp decline

Roddy Scheer

The monarch butterfly, royally adorned in black, white and reddish-orange and able to migrate as far as 2,800 miles, is a true wonder of nature. Each year monarchs travel from Canada and the U.S. to hibernate in the forests of central Mexico. But in recent years the monarchs have been in sharp population decline due to habitat loss, eradication of the plants it depends upon and other environmental factors.

Gov. McDonnell announces major Chinese purchase of Virginia soybeans

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today that Perdue Agribusiness, Incorporated, which owns and operates a major deep-water export terminal for grains and oilseeds in Chesapeake, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Dandong Port Group Company and its affiliate, Dandong Pasite Grain and Oilseed Co. Ltd., to supply up to 29 million bushels of soybeans in a series of bulk shipments for the 2013 crop.

Agreement launches Virginia-based Hamilton Beach products into Chinese market

Gov. Bob McDonnell today attended the signing of a contract between YingLi, a distributor that specializes in e-commerce channel and high-end retailers, and Yihaodian, the fastest-growing integrated e-commerce company, 51 percent owned by Wal-Mart, with more than 30 million registered users in China, to sell Virginia-based Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. (Hamilton Beach) products.