Latest Articles

Climate-change planning should include family planning

Women and their kids in Kunderpara, Bangladesh.The women of Kunderpara village are used to having water all around them. They live on an island in the middle of one of Bangladesh’s many large rivers. The women are even used to the occasional seasonal flood. But lately when the river floods, it takes on new, terrifying […]

We need a whole new kind of capitalism as we aim for sustainability

It’s time to have a broader vision.Photo: MorBCNToday we stand at the crossroads. In one direction lies business as usual, the road we’ve traveled for decades. Down that path, we’d forgo serious measures to rein in our oil consumption, we’d continue buying oil from the dwindling number of oil-rich nations to drive our SUVs a […]

No, ozone regulations were not easy

There’s a certain story you hear from the Breakthrough crowd these days. It goes like this: climate change is not like previous environmental problems. When it came to ozone depletion or acid rain, there were economically viable technologies available. That made it easier for policymakers to impose regulatory limits. Alternatives to fossil fuel energy are […]

Gary Taubes’ sugar article makes an excellent case for diversifying agriculture

In last week’s New York Times Magazine, the science writer Gary Taubes argues forcefully that a range of chronic health problems — heightened rates of obesity, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer — can be blamed on overconsumption of refined sweetener. It isn’t just the surge of empty calories that sweeteners provide that’s […]

Friday music blogging: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

Jason Isbell joined the Drive-By Truckers in 2001 to support them on their Southern Rock Opera tour; he left the band in 2007. In between, he worked with them on three albums that contain some of my all-time favorite songs. It’s a shame he left the band. I view this as a real Rogers/Gilmore, Plant/Page, […]

Google to buy 100.8 megawatts of Oklahoma wind energy

Google’s Oklahoma wind farm will be built this year.Photo: Marcin WicharyIt’s getting a bit hard to keep up with all of Google’s green investments these days — $168 million put into a big solar power plant project one week; $100 million for the world’s largest wind farm the next. But this week’s big money move […]

10 non-boring ideas about the environment

Climate alarmism is counterproductive, and rah-rah Earth fandom is boring. But there are still some fresh perspectives out there — some are a little nutty, sure, but they're a change from the standard fare. Alexis Madrigal at the Atlantic has rounded up ten interesting ideas about the environment, so you can try them on for […]

How Tim Pawlenty ditched his Arctic explorer bestie and turned his back on climate change

This is like something out of Mean Girls: Former Minnesota gov Tim Pawlenty used to pal around with this amazing Arctic explorer dude, Will Steger, having slumber parties and plotting how to get the GOP to believe in climate change. Then Pawlenty fell in with a clique, the GOP Presidential Hopefuls, and if he wanted […]

AEI blogger celebrates the success of the acid rain program, without acknowledging its existence

Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. For Earth Day, Steve Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute posted this shocker: “Energy Fact of the Week: Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Coal Have Declined 54 Percent.” He includes some nice government charts, which I’m sure he won’t mind my reproducing below. But from Hayward’s blog, you’d think this […]

Chart of the day: the U.S. energy mix in 2035

It is important for everyone working or advocating around energy to understand how the power mix is expected to change in the next 20 years or so. To that end, I’ve pulled a chart out of the consulting firm Black & Veatch’s “Energy Market Perspective,” an analysis of U.S. energy markets that they update every […]