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Public service announcement: Don’t spit on the people transporting you

ghmss via Flickr Creative Commons Bus drivers put up with a lot of crap: cranky commuters in the early morning, drunk partiers late at night, and would-be passengers breathlessly demanding that they open-the-doors-right-this-minute-I-didn’t-chase-this-bus-three-blocks-for-nothing. Maybe even witnessing the occasional fight. But, to my surprise, one of the spit falls of working in mass transit appears to […]

What if the oil spill just can’t be fixed?

The BP Gulf oil disaster is reaching an interesting phase. People’s gut instinct, their first reaction, is to find someone to blame. They blame BP for negligence; the Obama administration for its tepid response; the Bush administration for lax regulatory enforcement. People have been casting about for some way to compartmentalize this thing, some way […]

By the way, is anyone checking on nuclear-plant safety plans?

It gives me the willies to think about it, but it’s probably a good time for a hard look at our “backup” accident plans for nuclear power plants, now that we know how unbelievably unprepared the BP/Transocean/Halliburton Dream Team was for an accident on their Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig. I mean, BP’s worthless response […]

Homeless learn to farm in Santa Cruz

January 2011 update: Many of the photos have been removed from this series so they can be published in a Breaking Through Concrete book, forthcoming this year from UC Press. The day began in the parking lot of a real estate office off Hwy 17 south of San Jose. We parked Lewis Lewis there after […]

The 7 dumbest things in BP’s spill response plan

We do not live in the Gulf of Mexico, you stupid oil company.Oil companies are supposed to have spill-response plans prepared before they begin drilling in American offshore waters. Minerals Management Service safety regulators are supposed to scrutinize those plans before signing off on them. But it’s looking more and more like no one bothered […]

Biochar – probably not going to save the world after all

Biochar is being promoted as a way to save the world. (I admit to being optimistic about this myself for a very brief time.) It certainly sounds good. Take agricultural or forestry waste that is pretty much pure carbon, with almost none of the other nutrients plants need. Burn it without oxygen, producing a bit […]

Win some free ‘Dirt!’

Dearest readers, I’m giving away DVDs of Dirt! The Movie signed by the directors to eight lucky readers. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, the film is a glorious ode to the “living skin of the Earth” we so often taken for granted—an homage to dirt, if you will. All you have to do is let […]

The gulf oil spill in video

Day 36: Scenes from the BP oil spill disaster. Embattled CEO walks oil-stained beach. Embattled president caught in Rand Paul/Sarah Palin firestorm. Oily, pink people turn angry and naked in Houston. Rachel Maddow, Steven Chu, Sylvia Earle, and so much more … Last night, Rachel Maddow devoted most of her show to the oil spill, […]

Organic Valley lays down the law on raw milk

Organic Valley started up in 1988 with a vision of being a different kind of milk cooperative, one that helped save small family dairies via promoting organic dairy products. “It was an idealistic, mission-oriented place in those days, spreading the gospel about the benefits of organic dairy and founded on the premise of economic-justice for […]

Prices vs. contracts: Why good CO2 policy needs complex financial markets

Economic theory is predicated on the thesis that if supply and demand are allowed to freely set the price for a given item, rational capital allocation (and a host of other social benefits) will follow.  Much of public policy is predicated on the truth of that thsis. But there’s a problem with the thesis: price […]