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Obama tells government to prepare for climate change, whether Congress likes it or not

Congress may dither and dig in their heels about whether global climate change is even a real thing, let alone an emergency that must be prepared for. But soon all Federal agencies — not to mention a lot of private businesses that deal with the government — will be implementing plans for adapting to climate […]

Alexis Madrigal chats about the crazy greentech history you’ve never heard

This is the first in a series from my conversation with Atlantic tech channel editor Alexis Madrigal about themes and stories from his new book, Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. DR: What were the first glimmers of the book? AM: It was about 2007. At the time, Bruce Sterling had […]

Pedaling away from the health care crisis

This is the third column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. In the United States, we have the most expensive health care system in the world. We collectively invest more than 15 percent of our GDP — that’s around $2 trillion, or $5,700 per person — into health care every year. The […]

Fukushima may end up as a concrete-encased ghost plant, says expert

"My best guess [as to how this ends] is there is going to be a bigger breach than we've already seen — and we suspect there's breaches in the number 2 and number 3 reactors — there'll be a bigger breach, it'll force the evacuation, and we'll see, I think, at least two core meltdowns […]

Why are Obama and Salazar pushing a huge expansion of coal production?

This weekend’s question may have no good answer. On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to auction off 758 million tons of coal in Wyoming over the next few months.  Then on Friday, the Bureau of Land Management explained they will be selling off another 1.6 billion tons of coal at a future date. […]

Stabilizing CO2 levels is tough for humanity, not stabilizing them is tougher

Climate science is the foundation of this blog, the sine qua non for all the other analyses. The reasons we must be far more ambitious in politics and policy and clean technology deployment are the increasing evidence of accelerated carbon-cycle feedbacks and the dire warnings from the scientific community about the dangers of unrestricted greenhouse […]

Ask Umbra on flatulence and climate change

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, The other day I was sitting on the couch after a day of eating an onion-rich diet and wondered … how much impact can a person have on climate change by avoiding flatulence-producing foods? Resourcefully yours,Rob D. Troubled by your bubbles?A. Dearest Rob, I appreciate your desire […]

How the 'peaceful atom' became a serial killer

Replacing coal and oil with nuclear power is like trading heroin for crack.

Debunking myths about free-market environmentalism

Money makes the world go … green?Cross-posted at The PERColator, a project of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). A recent post on Grist attempted to dismantle the intellectual foundations of free-market environmentalism — the application of markets and property rights to solve environmental problems. But far from toppling a burgeoning movement within modern […]

Achtung! German Motorists Boycott Ethanol

The German government’s plan to follow our lead and force a ten percent blend of ethanol down its citizen’s throats has hit a snag. Unlike here in the States, German consumers can choose to buy gasoline without ethanol in it. So, that’s what they’re doing even though it costs more! I took the above photo […]