Archive: Apr 2012
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Clean coal nonsense: New industry ad claims ‘real environmental progress’
The coal industry has rolled out a new ad trying desperately to paint itself as “clean."
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If everyone used as much energy as Americans, we’d run out of oil in 9 years
Unlike gluttonous American industry, Europe's most profitable companies plan to make even more money by getting ahead of this whole peak oil trend.
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Michigan threatens small farms by calling heritage pigs ‘invasive’
The state recently classified some heritage pigs as "invasive species," which endangers the livelihood of hundreds of small farmers -- and Big Ag could have a hand in it.
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Subsidies 101: A guide to corporate handouts, and why we shouldn’t stand for them
Let's call subsidies what they are: freebies for the richest companies in history. Here are five rules of the road that should be applied to the fossil-fuel industry when it comes to subsidies.
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Google saves energy by cooling its buildings with ice
Google's new $700 million data centers in Taiwan will make ice at night, when electricity is significantly cheaper, and use it to cool the buildings during the day. It's called thermal storage, and it's basically a battery, but for air conditioning.
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Why The Hunger Games is no climate parable: A science fiction pro explains
Author Paolo Bacigalupi (Windup Girl, Ship Breaker) talks about what a real eco-apocalypse looks like and the power of science fiction to inspire a better future.
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Terrified by peak oil, FedEx turns to biofuels, efficiency
FedEx owns 700 planes and tens of thousands of trucks, which is why CEO Fred Smith is crazy for energy efficiency.
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Forest Service employee traps and tortures wolf, doesn’t get fired
When wolves came off the endangered species list in western states like Idaho, wildlife advocates worried how the species would fare without protection. Ranchers aren’t known to be particularly fond of wolves, for starters. In March, a disturbing story confirmed some of advocates’ worst fears: A Forest Service employee had trapped and tortured a wolf […]
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Critical List: A feathered cousin of T. rex; a solar panel thinner than spider silk
The Yutyrannus, a newly discovered dinosaur, was huge, related to Tyrannosaurus rex, and covered in feathers. Thousands of dead dolphins have been washing up on Peruvian beaches. Austrian and Japanese scientists teamed up to make a solar panel that’s thinner than a thread of spider silk. Drought in England means that anyone caught using a […]