Plastic bags may be free, but it costs the U.S. almost $20 billion in raw materials every year to produce them.Photo courtesy mtsofan via FlickrA science advisor to the U.K. government predicts the growth of artificial meat in tanks to meet the needs of a burgeoning global middle class and to address the impacts on natural resources from raising livestock in more natural ways. The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to grant approval to a Swiss chemical company to coat underwear with nano-particles of silver that would allow us to wear the same skivvies for weeks without washing (ugh!). And …

In the past few weeks, how many of us have seen (or participated in) that summer staple, the three-legged race? Two people stand side by side, each placing one leg into a gunny sack, then trying to coordinate movements to stay upright while running to a picnic table at the finish line. Visualize the U.S. and China similarly tethered together, but each trying to beat the other to a prize more valuable than hot dogs and potato salad -- economic dominance in the 21st century. The two superpowers are clearly joined at the hip economically, because so much of China's …

Dickens begins his novel with the famous line "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Were he writing today about the two American cities -- Lexington, Mass. and Colorado Springs, Colo. -- he might say, "It was the brightest of towns, it was the dimmest of towns." In this case, bright and dim refer quite literally to light levels, but also to the decision making of two very different sets of civic leaders. The brightest bulbs, literally and figuratively, are in Lexington where town Selectmen approved a plan to replace inefficient streetlights with newer energy …

About three years ago, I sat next to a man on a plane who was watching “Pirates of the Caribbean” on his iPod. I couldn’t imagine it being much fun, although the special effects probably looked more realistic on a viewer that defied serious scrutiny than on something like an Imax screen. Ever since then, I have noticed that Apple delivers many familiar products and services in formats that are much lower in carbon content than the ones they replace - - and might even be able to deliver an app that one day saves the entire planet from the …

Fingers crossed. BP’s oil leak has apparently stopped shy of 200 million gallons spewed into the Gulf of Mexico and a few million more burned off into plumes of toxic smoke. Many have dubbed it the worst environmental disaster in American history. In my view, it’s not even close, but shares a great deal in common with those that are on the “top ten worst” list - - and offers lessons we can profit from. #10. Chevron Oil Refinery, El Segundo, CA. Decades of leaking pipes and tanks dumped some 252 million gallons of oil and chemicals into aquifers beneath …

Hitachi’s Plant Technologies division and two cities in Japan are selling treated sewage water to an iron ore mining company in West Australia for use in industrial processes that today consume scarce drinking water. Ore ships go to Japan fully loaded, but come back to Australia empty, taking on seawater as ballast for that return trip. The treated sewage water will be used for ballast instead, so there is no extra energy used (or net carbon and smog emissions) in moving the water. Moreover, invasive marine species typically hitch a ride in ballast water of ships (California is among many …

In a week that saw more oil wash over Gulf of Mexico shores and more oil lobbying money wash over Congress - - both with predictable results - - I thought we could all use some good news and reasons to be hopeful. I found that inspiration on a trip to Germany and the UK inside two companies that have very unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that the world faces today. Of course the continuing debacle in the Gulf speaks for itself, shouts from the headlines with failure upon failure to stop the oil gusher and from the …

As thousands of young scholars bid farewell to familiar homes and high schools to enter college in the fall, it made me wonder where the smart money will be going (other than the contents of my son’s 529 account, which I know is headed to Penn) as it leaves the old economy behind and moves into the 21st Century. Ernst & Young may have the answer. A new survey from the Big Four accounting firm shows that more than two thirds of major corporations globally plan to spend up to 5% of their revenues on carbon cutting initiatives over the …

Last week, oil company executives testified to Congress about energy policy in the wake of BP’s ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A casual observer may have thought we were transported to an alternate universe. At one session, Representative Joe Barton of Texas apologized to BP for what he called a White House “shakedown” (because President Obama demanded a $20 billion escrow account from BP to ensure that damage claims will be paid). Mr. Barton didn’t just get his politics wrong, he got the petroleum-powered math all fouled up too. As suggested in this blog two weeks ago and …

The BP oil disaster is certainly not the first oil spill in US history, but it could be the last. Nor is this the our worst oil spill - - a Chevron refinery leaked over 250 million gallons of oil and refined product into aquifers beneath Los Angeles for decades before it was discovered in the 1970s (the cleanup will take a century to complete). And the true cost of our oil addiction runs higher still - - our kids in smoggy cities lose up to 1% of their lung function every year; the trillion dollar war in Iraq was …