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IPCC’s Pachauri cleared of financial wrongdoing

The embattled head of the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change has been cleared of allegations of financial irregularity by an independently conducted review. So the Financial Times reported Sunday in its piece, “Climate chief cleared over payments” (reg. req’d).  Here’s more:   KPMG, the professional services company, examined the personal finances of Rajendra Pachauri, chairman […]

Honey, I shrunk the GOP, Part 5: So much for the American Enterprise Institute being a "think" tank

  Sure the American Enterprise Institute is stillcrazy with climate denial and delay after all these years.  And sure it recently compared EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to Clint Eastwood and carbon polluters to criminals.  But it always retained the semblance of a serious think tank. Heck, back in October, Steven F. Hayward, “the F.K. Weyerhaeuser fellow […]

Quiz — Who said this?

Who said: “Continuous research by our best scientists is the key to American scientific leadership and true national security. This indispensable work may be made impossible by the creation of an atmosphere in which no man feels safe against the public airing of unfounded rumors, gossip, and vilification”? If you want a hint, the very […]

‘Britain’s Appalachia’ engineers a brighter post-coal future

Can renewable energy turn Wales as clean and shiny as the Cardiff waterfront?Courtesy ttfnrob via FlickrThe sparkling, sanitized waterfront of Cardiff, Wales, reveals barely a hint of the country’s grimy industrial past. Where one of the busiest ports anywhere once shipped Welsh coal out into the world, a complex of upscale shops, pubs, and restaurants […]

ENERGY STAR ranked cities: Find your perfect match [slideshow]

The Environmental Protection Agency just released a report ranking U.S. cities based on their number of ENERGY STAR–labeled buildings. These rankings make us, well, warm all over, so we decided to check out the sexiest top nine ENERGY STAR buildings of the bunch. Are you in search of the perfect match? Look no further than these sassy personal ads. Maybe […]

H&M’s organic line and the Wal-Mart perspective

Eurochic retailer H&M is launching an earth-friendly spring Garden Collection, H&M shopper Joe Romm reports. No, scratch that, this is from thegreengirls.com. The new line will include recycled polyester, organic cotton, and organic linen. Presumably the expected life of these clothes won’t be any longer than typical H&M items, which aren’t exactly known for their […]

China to de-stink landfill problem with giant deodorant guns

Residents of Beijing are making a stink about the excessive odors residing around the city’s many landfills, which are rising in number nearly as quickly as the Chinese population. (Maybe the government should institute a “one landfill per couple” policy?) But instead of cleaning up this mess of problems for those down in the dumps, […]

The NYT highlights a key food-system gap: infrastucture

When you’ve been in the trenches writing about a problem for a while, it’s good to see it finally getting traction in media and policy circles. That’s why I was thrilled to see Sunday’s New York Times piece on how a shortage of infrastructure is hampering the growth of local and regional food production. If […]

New ratings for sustainability in restaurants

The Sustainable Restaurant Association was started by the founder of Leon. Photo: MomondoIt’s not quite a Michelin Star, but it could be soon. The newly formed Sustainable Restaurant Association will rate restaurants according to how green and sustainable they are. Launched with the backing of leading restaurants and seriously important English chefs, participating restaurants will […]

Leno drives our electric future back from the past [video]

Despite the sexiness of hydrogen options, The Tonight Show host and car aficionado Jay Leno believes electricity is where it’s at for automobile propulsion. Watch as he takes a closer look at the Ford Focus as compared to his own fully electric car—a pretty advanced model, traveling 100 miles on a charge. The kicker? It […]