Uncategorized

Seriously

Commentary seems unnecessary: (hat tip: mean green dean machine)

First thoughts after the Global Green USA pre-Oscar party

Got back to Santa Barbara late last night early this morning from the Global Green USA pre-Oscar party in L.A. and am officially running on organic coffee fumes. Here are a few first impressions of a very eventful night:

• Using celebrities to lure hundreds of people with large disposable incomes into a club showcasing solar panels, natural carpets, and other sustainable building materials -- Global Green USA president Matt Petersen is a frickin' genius!


• Unfortunately, I don't fit into the "large disposable income" category. Do you think it's too early to ask for a Tesla sports car for Christmas?


• Chevy Chase thinks green carpets are cooler than red ones.


• Never got all tingly for Orlando Bloom until last night when he showed up with a new spiky haircut. Keep it up, Orlando -- keep it up.

Stay tuned; a more fulsome post to come.

Take the Grist reader survey

All of us here at Grist are still dying to know what you think of us. Don't keep us in suspense: Take our reader survey. We want it straight up, no sugar added, told like it is. We wanna make Grist better than ever.

If you're not into taking surveys for the warm fuzzies they give you, we'll sweeten the deal by entering you in a drawing to win a solar-powered backpack that can charge up all your electronic doodads.

So really now. Please?

Now and later

Peter Madden asks, "What should greens do about air travel?" The problem is twofold. Planes are responsible for about 3 percent of carbon emissions. But thanks to NO2 emissions from planes, and the fact that water vapor emitted at or near stratospheric levels (where planes fly) acts as forcing and not just as feedback (as at ground level), the actual effect on climate is about triple that from CO2 -- about 9 percent and rising.

Yes, yes, part of solution to all these problems is to tax environmental effects, and to stop massive subsidies of environmentally destructive things (like airports). But what technical means exist to respond to such signals? Is the world going to have become a bigger place again, with less travel?

A sad realization

Yesterday, my trusty steed bit the dust. It had been (to use the technical terms) smelling funny and running funny for a few weeks, and we finally gave up on our home hospice care and took it to The Man. The Man said we had seven oil leaks. The Man said stop driving your car […]

Creation care idea is spreading

Jehovah's Witnesses. Two of them just knocked on my door. I mention it because they had a brochure detailing their version of "creation care." I told them I was happy to see more Christian sects beginning to interpret Bible passages in an environmentally positive manner. "Oh no," they assured me. "We aren't environmentalists."

Yay for Austin

Sustainlane has released a list of the top five U.S. "cleantech incubation clusters," which despite the name is quite interesting. Here’s what qualifies a city: Start-up or advanced stage venture capital (VC) and investor network access, including mentoring. Academic or federal research lab collaboration. Active state or local government participation (field testing, prototyping, and pilot […]

Cool feature in Nat’l Geo

National Geographic has a fairly awesome new web feature. It's an interactive look at smart growth that does a good job of spelling out -- with pictures! -- some of the key differences between low-density sprawl and healthier compact communities. There's more in the magazine.

Unfortunately, NG's representation of healthy urban development seems to make a puzzling omission. I was unable to find the multibillion dollar giant new elevated freeway through the heart of town -- the hallmark of responsible planning for the future.

A bit odd, if you ask me.

More interesting than it sounds

In case you hadn’t heard, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is suing the Bush administration’s Council on Environmental Quality for refusing to reply with its FOIA request for records relating to global warming science and policy. Surely the administration isn’t hiding anything …

Finally!

At last, some of the nation's biggest newspapers have been making a big deal of energy efficiency and conservation.

Over the weekend the Washington Post ran an article on California's ambitious and profitable efforts by utilities. The Post's article followed an energy series by the Wall Street Journal on cutting energy use and costs.