Latest Articles
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Live Twitter chat: Can bicycling save the economy?
Making statements like “bicycling will save the economy” sounds like pure hyperbole, and our bike columnist Elly Blue nearly nixed the idea as too out-there. Then she started looking at the numbers. And what she found is that bicycling turns out to be a tremendously reasonable salve to many of our current economic woes. The […]
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Fred Upton’s EPA-blocking bill will put more of your money in oil industry pockets
Rep. Upton wants to raise your gas bill.Photo: Mike SchmidCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Some politicians will say anything to gain from the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. Anyone watching the news knows that pump prices are rising because world-wide demand is recovering after the recession, oil traders are speculating over […]
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Nicholas Stern: Congressional budget analysis of climate threat is ‘ludicrous’
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. This is the third in a three-part interview with economist Lord Nicholas Stern on climate policy. Watch the first part, in which he argued that failure to address global warming could eventually lead to World War III; and the second part, in which he discusses how action will lead to […]
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The toilet I’m going to buy Rand Paul
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had a bit of an outburst at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee the other day, revealing that he hasn’t had a working toilet for 20 years and, damn it, he blames the gubmint. Bill Scher has already offered the the senator some judicious advice on how […]
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Con: Nuclear power is expensive, risky, and some of its proponents are kind of annoying
Today, many outlets report that it’s very likely that the #2 reactor at Daiichi is in full meltdown. There is a strong possibility that rising radiation levels from other sources (such as a pool of spent nuclear fuel rods that is heating up) will force the 50 remaining workers at the plant to evacuate. That […]
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Pro: Japan’s terrible disaster is no reason to stop building nuclear power
Japan is now facing a worst-case scenario for its Daiichi nuclear power plant. But that’s no reason to stop building new nuclear power plants, say a bevy of pundits. Their reasons are myriad. Some, like one Wall Street Journal editor, make the economic argument that all human endeavors are fraught with risk, so this one […]
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Hemp chair is not just eco-friendly, it’s eco-kind
You know those hiddy plastic stackable chairs that you see on basically every porch, stoop, and backyard? (I have some. They came with the house.) Well, what if they were biodegradable, made with sustainable materials, and kind of awesome looking? And also made out of pot? TOTAL DREAM CHAIR, right? Okay, so Werner Aisslinger’s stackable […]
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Grading cities on their carbon emissions
The folks at Global Green USA have come up with an easy way to tell how a city is doing on its carbon emissions: give it a grade. That’s the idea behind Global Green’s City Carbon Index, an online tool unveiled late last month. It aims to measure a city’s emissions and helps to set […]
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John Kerry takes infrastructure to the bank
John Kerry is willing to bank on infrastructure building. He and Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) are introducing a bipartisan bill to create a bank for funding infrastructure projects — which includes roads (good way to get Republicans and John Cassidy on board) but also rail. The bank would issue loans to help finance […]
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As Nuclear Falters: A Practical and Affordable Clean Electricity Plan
The President of the United States has chosen to make the goal of 80% clean electricity generation by 2035 the first priority in his move to make America more competitive. In his recent State of the Union Address, Barack Obama compared this project to the 1960’s moon shot program, noting we are at another “Sputnik moment” […]
