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Carbon cap would deny Iran precious petrodollars: Over $100 million a day
Cross-posted from Wonk Room. A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran’s hostile regime, a Wonk Room analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran’s dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the […]
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Bike love in unlikely places—Detroit, Dallas, Abu Dhabi
Courtesy Moriza via FlickrI’m hard pressed to think of three places less likely to invest in bicycle infrastructure than Detroit, Dallas, and Abu Dhabi. But they are. Motor City will add 30 miles of bike lanes, focused in its southwest quadrant, with hopes to add hundreds of miles more in coming years. Dallas citizens, planners, […]
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Coal barons to (finally) testify before Congress
Well now isn’t this interesting. Throughout the seemingly endless battle over climate-change legislation, not once have the folks behind the biggest source of climate pollution — coal executives — been asked to publicly account for their industry’s role. Now it looks like they will. On Wed. April 14 at 9:30am, the House Select Committee on […]
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Massey coal miner suspected safety problems might prove fatal
At least one miner killed in this week’s tragic disaster in West Virginia seemed to sense that safety problems in the mine might prove fatal. Josh Napper left a note for his girlfriend and toddler daughter the weekend before he died. As his mom, Pam Napper, tells CNN, it said, “If anything happens to me, […]
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A high-fructose corn syrup researcher answers his critics
This is Part 1 of 2 posts of in-depth analysis into the breakthrough work on high-fructose corn syrup and weight gain by Princeton researchers. _______________ I have to admit that I was fascinated to watch the fallout over the Princeton HFCS study. What I thought would generate a “oh, look, another great reason to avoid […]
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Rotten eggs, stampeded rain forests, and more
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. ————- Nasty, brutish, and short: the facts of life for hens in an egg factory. Moral of this story on inhumane practices in the egg industry: when a few huge companies dominate production of a commodity in a low-profit-margin industry, […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club: Are you a possum?
Dearest readers, Thank you all so much for joining me this week as we got down and dirty with our first book club selection, Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money, hitting all the hot buttons like leaving the rat race, eating meat, and bucking the education system. […]
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World Bank bombs with decision to fund South African coal plant
Today the World Bank approved a loan to build the fourth largest power plant in the world. The project is to be financed with a $3 billion loan to Eskom — the South African electricity company — and is the largest coal-plant loan in the Bank history. The 4,800-megawatt Medupi power plant would emit 25 […]
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Northwest mountain towns become home efficiency lab
The American pet-food industry spends more on research and development each year than the American utility industry does, according to a mind-blowing line in Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded. In most competitive industries, companies spend perhaps 8 to 10 percent of total revenues on R&D. Utilities, which don’t have to compete with each other, […]
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Wal-Mart stores are littered with wasteful products this month
This month, in honor of Earth Day, Wal-Mart is selling garbage next to the garbage already on the shelves. The only difference is that these new products have been reincarnated into useful items thanks to the upcycling company TerraCycle. Until April 29, these kites, pots, and bags made from waste are being sold right next […]
