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Friday music blogging: Dan Reeder

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know about Dan Reeder until a week or two ago. His debut -- which he made at home, with homemade instruments in a homemade studio, and mailed to John Prine, who liked it enough to give him a two-record deal -- came out in 2004 and was reviewed favorably on NPR. His third record, This New Century, came out in February of last year. It's a gem.

Is it politically realistic to eliminate energy subsidies?

Previously I wrote about the policy question of "getting rid of all energy subsidies." But what about the politics? Could it actually happen?

House GOP drops word 'organic' from committee charged with oversight

New GOP leaders of the House Agriculture Committee are dropping the word "organic" from the name of the subcommittee charged with oversight of the national program. Not a good sign.

Here's one way to prevent local wind-farm fights

Wisconsin has new statewide siting standards for small wind farms, potentially eliminating messy fights over city- and county-level regulation.

Björk protests energy deal with karaoke marathon [VIDEO]

Bj?rk is staging a three-day karaoke marathon -- but not for fun, y'all. It's a protest against a sell-off of Iceland's natural resources. (Oh snarf!)

Do I need a gun to be a farmer?

There are a lot of predators around here, so it's not surprising my neighbor asked if we planned to buy a firearm to protect our farm. But I'd rather rely on my beau and Arrow, our shepherd.

Who is standing against polluters and for clean air?

Several Democratic senators have taken a hard-line stand against proposals to limit the EPA's ability to protect public health.

Recycling 'blackouts in a can' should inspire other uses for recalled food

Here in America, we don't believe in wasting food. Not only do we find a home for unwanted alcoholic energy drinks, but also edible food-like substances and even potentially hazardous items like contaminated eggs.

Four Loko will now fuel cars, not mayhem

Four Loko: It's gross, bad for you, and only existed legitimately for about five minutes before turning into its own punchline. But it's finally doing something useful by getting turned into ethanol.

The Climate Post: In an energy-scarce world, is energy efficiency finally king?

If our energy usage has reached a saturation point, will gains in efficiency save us?