Latest Articles
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I'm speaking Friday at Dartmouth on nukes and climate
For all you New Englanders, the details on the “Second Annual Great Issues in Energy Symposium” are here and below: Friday, April 9, 2010, 3:00–5:15pm Spanos AuditoriumReception immediately followingFree and open to the public An informed view of societal energy challenges and possible responsive measures requires understanding nuclear energy and related issues. While construction of a […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club: The three L’s — laziness, learning, and lawlessness
Dearest readers, I’ve so enjoyed reading all of your comments thus far about Dolly Freed’s Possum Living. The 9-to-5 grind, raising and slaughtering your own meat—stimulating threads. You know, I couldn’t help but notice how often Freed talks about the basis for her and her father’s lifestyle choice being that they are lazy. Tending a […]
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Energy production vs. environmental protection: The partisan divide
Via Samantha Thompson, a new Gallup poll found that, for the first time in 10 years of polling, Americans prioritize energy production over the protection of the environment. Here is the key chart: While the chart is compelling, it falls short on multiple levels. 1. The options it presents are a false dichotomy. We have […]
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Towns invest in smarter streets … in Mississippi
Two Mississippi towns want better options than auto-only streets, and now they’ve made it official. The towns of Tupelo (pop. 36,223) and Hernando (pop. 6,812) each passed Complete Streets legislation that ensures roads will be built and maintained for walkers, cyclists, and other forms of transportation—along with drivers. Yesterday St. Louis citizens voted to fund […]
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Scientific models predict continued decline in Washington Post circulation
OK, the Washington Post’s circulation will probably keep declining even in the unlikely event their coverage of global warming improves. But my headline is at least as scientific as the WP’s latest climate piece “Scientists’ use of computer models to predict climate change is under attack.” Memo to WashPost: Scientists use of computer models to predict/project climate change […]
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St. Louis votes for better transit, despite Tea Party campaign
Here’s some good news: St. Louis citizens want robust mass transit, and they’re willing to pay for it. Despite a Tea Party opposition campaign, St. Louis County voters on Tuesday approved a half-cent sales tax increase to stabilize and eventually expand the region’s ailing transit network. The measure passed by a monstrous 24 point margin. […]
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A lesson from California’s bad ballot measure
California’s nascent cap-and-trade program appears to be threatened by a ballot measure that is both substantively idiotic and yet diabolically clever. Basically, the measure would suspend implementation until California’s unemployment rate declines to below 5.5 percent. Financial backing comes from oil companies and other big polluters. Shocking, I know. Anyway, it’s a stupid idea on […]
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Don Blankenship’s record of profits over safety: ‘Coal pays the bills’
Cross-posted from The Wonk Room. Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.After the worst coal mining disaster in at least 25 years, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is facing long-overdue scrutiny for his record of putting coal profits over fundamental safety and health concerns. Blankenship, a right-wing activist millionaire who sits on the boards of the U.S. […]
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Hansen calls climate change "predominant moral issue of the 21st century," slams Congress
UPDATE: Hansen just won The Sophie Prize (see below). The country’s top climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, writes in HuffPost: The predominant moral issue of the 21st century, almost surely, will be climate change, comparable to Nazism faced by Churchill in the 20th century and slavery faced by Lincoln in the 19th century. Our fossil fuel […]
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Larry Summers and Carol Browner say Obama won't budge on placing a price on global warming pollution
UPDATE: Summers entire, amazing speech, “The Economic Case for Comprehensive Energy Reform,” is reposted below. White House aides Larry Summers and Carol Browner insisted that the administration was willing to bend on several key issues, including the mechanism for pricing carbon and increased domestic energy exploration. But both said the president would not budge when it […]
