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My interview on Diane Rehm

You can listen to the full Diane Rehm show here.  This didn’t end up being a debate, and I think was pretty informative. Democracy Now! has posted a full transcript of what they bill as “Greenpeace v. Center for American Progress: A Debate on the Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill.” I don’t really consider it a debate […]

Kerry Emanuel slams media, asserts Lindzen charge in Boston Globe is “pure fabrication”

UPDATE:  I emailed MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel about the smear that Richard Lindzen launched at him with the help of a credulous Boston Globe reporter stenographer.  His reply is below. I’ve been bombarded with emails from folks stunned by a shamefully bad Globe article by Beth Daley, “A cooling trend.”  It certainly qualifies as […]

War on science: Alabama’s “True Republican” TV ad mocks evolution

In the current Alabama gubernatorial primary race, there’s some serious mudslinging and general ugliness going on. True Republican PAC recently produced this campaign ad attacking conservative candidate Bradley Byrne for not being conservative enough. His crime? Bradley Byrne might believe in evolution! Technorati reports the story and posts the “True Republican” TV ad: Not to […]

What the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill means for farmers

Thus far the majority of analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill has focused on the energy components of the bill, including an extension of nuclear power, “clean coal” from carbon storage and sequestration, and offshore drilling expansion. The bill also provides unprecedented programs for agriculture and food systems in the U.S. and internationally. Unfortunately, while […]

Healthy breakfasts buy lunch in Berkeley schools

Part 4 of Cafeteria Confidential: Berkeley, in which Ed Bruske reports on his recent week-long, firsthand look at how Berkeley, Calif., schools part ways from the typical school diet of frozen, industrially processed convenience foods. Cross-posted from The Slow Cook. And check out the rest of the Cafeteria Confidential series. Breakfasts for Berkeley schoolkids are […]

How green are the ‘childless by choice’?

Laura S. Scott has surveyed and interviewed more than 170 people for her Childless by Choice Project.  “I’m keenly interested in the process of decision-making,” she says. “How do we get from assuming parenthood for ourselves to the point where we’re saying, ‘No kids, thank you!’?”  She shares what she’s learned in a new book, […]

Ask Umbra on pasta, Clorox wipes, and a satisfied customer

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I am a fairly active, athletic person; that being said, I love my pasta. When I boil the water for my pasta, I run the tap water for about 5–10 seconds until the water becomes very hot, then fill up my pot, and set it on my […]

Solar: not as expensive as the WSJ thinks

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article called “Test Your Solar Power IQ,” that cites the cost of solar power at 25 cents/kWh, or more than double the cost of natural gas or coal. Solar is actually a lot cheaper than that. It’s not the reporter’s fault. She got the figure from a national […]

American PRIDE Alternative to Lieberman-Kerry Climate bill -short executive summary

This is the executive summary(doc) of the American PRIDE (Promote Renewable Infrastructure & Develop Efficiency) proposal.  The PRIDE(doc) proposal is a two decade ~400 billion a year jobs bill that makes a profit, while creating two to five million new jobs per year, reducing U.S. oil use by a third within ten years, and reducing […]

Climate change: Four futures

As the debate over the climate bill heats up, there’s one rule of thumb that may help you keep your bearings as the rhetoric becomes more gaseous and the weeds grow ever higher around the facts. It’s this: There are, in the end, only four possible futures here. Future 1: Continuation More business as usual. […]