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The best books about the deep blue sea, just in time for World Oceans Day

All reading lists are incomplete and arbitrary. This is especially true of a list limited to a dozen works about the ocean, the blue immensity that comprises 71 percent of our planet. So take this list with a grain of sea salt — and suggest your own favorites in the comments section below. ———————————————– Log […]

BP gears up to win over Washington and the rest of us

A BP trash bag — not quite big enough to contain its mess.Photo: abrahamhyat via FlickrA little less than a month ago, back before he was madly tripping over his tongue, BP CEO Tony Hayward was sounding almost inspirational as he channeled Winston Churchill: “We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in […]

Hold Your Breath and Sell BP

I am very cautious about giving investment advice and downright reluctant to just pile onto the media frenzy attacking BP for its blunders in the Gulf of Mexico. That said, I feel compelled to warn America about the greater disaster that looms ahead for anyone who owns BP stock or anyone east of the Mississippi […]

The oil spill’s challenge to corporate sustainability

I generally don’t write much about big business, but in light of the implosion of BP’s “green” oil company image — it’s looking more Exxon than eco these days — I went to a dinner Monday night in San Francisco attended by dozens of Fortune 500 executives committed to corporate sustainability. (There were reportedly a […]

Does Obama need more oilmen, not fewer, in his administration?

Does good governance require a certain amount of this? Last week, I suggested that Obama “purge his administration of oil hacks.” I identified three: William Reilly, co-chair of the administration’s oil-spill investigation commission and a well-compensated director of ConocoPhillips since 1998; Steve Koonin, who took the a top Department of Energy post in 2009 after […]

BP should be like Newman’s Own

After the BP Gulf disaster is ancient history, I want that company to thrive. I want it to be vastly more profitable than ExxonMobil. It should continue exploration and drilling all over the world, including offshore. And I’m asking for just one broad change in how the company operates: BP should donate all its profits for the […]

Just how much oil is still spurting into the Gulf?

“The immense undersea gusher of oil and gas, seen on live video feed, looks as big as it did last week, or bigger, before the company sliced through the pipe known as a riser to install its new collection device.” –From “Rate of Oil Leak, Still Not Clear, Puts Doubt on BP,” The New York […]

CBD responds: David Roberts is right and wrong on the Clean Air Act and the Senate climate bill

When your house is burning down, you don’t debate whether grabbing a fire extinguisher is better than calling 911 or vice versa. You do both, and if you can, you drag out the garden hose too. Our global house is on fire. Congress and the president have answered the alarm by proposing a package of […]

Ask Umbra on celebrating World Oceans Day

Some water over the rainbow … maybe there isn’t an oil spill.Photo: Sean Linehan, NOAAAhoy, mateys! Today is June 8th, and it’s one of my favorite holidays: World Oceans Day! World Oceans Day was officially declared a holiday last year by the United Nations. This year, I’m celebrating by taking a moment to consider the […]

Readers pick their brains for ways to plug the oil leak

Crowdsourcing for solutions sometimes turns up ideas that are more creative or higher quality than the “experts” ever could think up. (Like the protein-folding game/scientific experiment, Foldit, or even urban dictionary.) Which is why we asked you, our dear readers, to plumb the depths of your brains for the slickest ideas to stop up the […]