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See post-bovine methane generate clean electricity!

On some days it's especially fabulous to be an eco-scribe. I had one of those days on Wednesday, Oct. 25. As part of a group from the Society of Environmental Journalists, I got to tour Vermont's very first cow-power operation, in which the non-dairy output of a herd of Holsteins is turned into cleanly generated electricity. It's got the potential to help more of Vermont's beleaguered dairy farmers stay in business, while cutting their operation costs over time and keeping the methane generated by decomposing cow poop out of our greenhousing atmosphere.

The tour took place at Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, Vermont, owned by the same family for about three generations. We begin in the barn, a vast structure lit with natural light ...

... and home to the farm's many, many Holsteins:

Liveblogging it, only two days later

At the 16th annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, there was a panel on media coverage of global warming. One of the panelists was Marc Morano, Sen. James Inhofe's right-hand man (ha ha). The full roster of panelists:

• Andrew Revkin, Environment Reporter, The New York Times
• Bill Blakemore, Senior Correspondent, ABC News
• Dan Fagin, Associate Professor of Journalism/Associate Director of the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, New York University
• Marc Morano, Director of Communications, Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. Senate

Via DeSmogBlog (where I stole the picture above) comes this full audio recording (MP3) of the panel. I'm listening to it now. I shall blog along:

Denialists are not the only ones

There are many who scoff at the notion that climate change is really happening; they are one type of ideologue -- the perpetual skeptic impervious to reason and scientific inquiry.

But there is another type.

Lots of random catch-up

Time for some housecleaning. That's right: a link dump! Here's some random stuff I've had open in Firefox (have you seen 2.0?) tabs for varying lengths of time:

It’s like, get busy over there already!

I have been criminally negligent in failing to draw attention to the fact that the folks at Worldchanging have a book out, and it's gorgeous. (Their website's been spiffed up too, with the de rigeur pinstripe background and gradients galore. Slick.)

The WCers are going on tour to support the book, and to draw attention to local worldchanging efforts in the cities they're visiting. To begin with, they'll be in Seattle -- tonight! Go watch Alex rap with Bruce Sterling and hear about the all the stuff the smart people are doing for a change.

You can get tickets here. Check out other dates here.

Congrats to the Worldchanging crew on all the kick-ass developments this past year. Onward and upward!

In a word, yes

In recent years right-wingers in this country, including the president, have scoffed at the idea of global warming and ignored those who expressed concern and called for action. But even among Republicans and conservatives, the need to act to reduce the risks of climate change is looking increasingly like the new conventional wisdom.

The obvious example is in California, where a Sep. 1 story in the Wall Street Journal [$] rightly predicted that a high-stakes deal between a Republican executive and a Democratic legislature "to cut emissions tied to global warming is likely to boost a resurgence in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity." In fact the "halo effect" from this deal has remade Schwarzenegger's image among independents and Democrats, which -- baring an act of God -- will easily carry him to victory on November 7.

But the California electorate has long supported environmental regulations for the sake of clean air, clean water, coastal protection, and parks and wild lands.

How is global warming seen in the right-wing media in this country?

Meet this year’s Brower Youth Award winners

Whether it’s the Oscars, the Emmys, or the Webbys, everyone’s wished for the chance to be the one in the seat of honor — the one saying “I’d like to thank the Academy” or even the one who’s “honored just to be nominated.” So as the annual Brower Youth Awards came around this year, we […]

It’s a bad frame in the long term

(Hi, I'm Gar Lipow. I've worked extensively on renewable energy issues, and have written an (as-yet-unpublished) book on alternatives to carbon emissions, mentioned by John McGrath here. I'm going to be posting on efficiency and renewable technologies that can replace fossil fuels as well as on the economics and politics of phasing them out.)

"Energy independence" may be the buzzword in the renewable energy field. Even the invaluable Apollo Alliance emphasizes ending "dependence on foreign oil." The short-term political benefit is indisputable. The term polls in the Nineties, probably ahead of motherhood and apple pie.

But it is a loser in the long run. "Energy independence" reinforces a frame that works against renewables. The connotation: "it is all the fault of those outsiders, those others who addicted us to their seductive foreign oil."

Finding a proper coffee in the Texas hipster mecca

In “Mad Flavor,” the author describes his occasional forays from the farm in search of exceptional culinary experiences from small artisanal producers. For the next week or so, Mad Flavor will be reporting from location in Austin, the author’s hometown. News flash: I’ve found proper espresso in Austin, Texas, home of dozens of cafes. The […]

Whatever its other costs and bennies, ethanol is no biggie on global warming

A new study (found via Tidepool, and reported here in the Des Moines Register) claims that U.S. taxpayers will pay somewhere between $5.1 billion and $6.8 billion dollars this year to subsidize ethanol production. That's works out to, oh, around a buck and a half per gallon of gasoline equivalent, on top of the sales price of the fuel.

As far as I can tell, the authors have done a pretty credible job of tallying up the various costs of ethanol subsidies -- not just the federal tax credits, but also farm subsidies, accelerated depreciation allowances for capital investments, and even state-level ethanol promotion programs.

Still, I don't think this is the last word on the matter. Not by a long shot. A complete assessment of the issue would look even farther afield, and tally a far wider swath of costs, as well as benefits.

And when I do that, I see billions and billions of dollars, on both the plus and minus sides of the ledger. But the climate-change benefits of ethanol? Not so big.