Latest Articles
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Twists and turns on the ‘Hope-to-Despair Express’
The Rutschbanen roller coaster.Photo courtesy wikimedia commonsCOPENHAGEN — The Danish capital’s famous Tivoli gardens boasts an equally celebrated roller coaster. Built in 1914, it is the oldest all-wooden one still operating in the world; being at the climate summit here over the last two days has felt like taking as ride on it. In truth, […]
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New data paints a more toxic picture of TVA coal ash spill
The disastrous coal ash spill that occurred a year ago at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston power plant in eastern Tennessee dumped a whopping 2.66 million pounds of 10 toxic pollutants into the nearby Emory and Clinch rivers — more than all the surface-water discharges from all U.S. power plants in 2007. That’s one of […]
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Take a walk through the JP Green House [video]
JP Green House walk-through from Ken Ward on Vimeo. Walk through of JP Green House, by Ken Ward, co-founder, and Simon Hare & Declan Keefe of Placetailor, showing materials, design and construction techiques being used, aiming to meet passivhaus standards and meet negative, net carbon impact objective.
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Study says green shoppers more likely to later cheat, steal
Dearests, I know this won’t apply to any of you, but it is a curious phenomenon: according to a piece in Slate, a recent psychological study shows that a small group of shoppers who bought green products later acted badly in constructed situations — in one case, sharing less money with those in need, and […]
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$200 a day – why Sierra Leone will get screwed at Copenhagen
Behind the smart suits, tinted windows, and Swiss fountain pens of COP15 there are delegates from poorer countries who struggle to attend the conference and struggle to have a voice amongst the well-polished rhetoric of the E.U. and American delegations. One such country is Sierra Leone.
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Climate advocates should build ties with the public-health community
They can be climate activists too.“Green jobs now” has become the rallying cry for environmental activists over the last few years as they have worked to build political support for climate action by tying it to economic growth — a powerful message in a world rocked by the worst recession in decades. Politicians have responded […]
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The ‘leaked draft’ non-story and Copenhagen journo-hype
The latest story out of Copenhagen has to do with a leaked draft agreement put together by Denmark, the U.S., and the U.K. According to the Guardian‘s breathless coverage, the leak has climate talks in “disarray,” with developing countries at war with rich countries and the whole edifice getting ready to collapse. Disarray I tell […]
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The specter of violence in Copenhagen
Cops after an Ungdomshuset demonstration in Copenhagen.Photo courtesy aai4c via Flickr One of the questions hanging over Copenhagen for these two weeks is whether there will be significant violence, especially at mass rallies. The city’s English-language newspaper (turns out there is one) has an interesting article about the very long shifts that Danish police will […]
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Roberts, take 3: New energy sources are cheaper than trying to clean coal
This is the last entry in a series of six email exchanges between two climate-change experts on the future use of coal. The series was originally posted here. Editorial note: The price of energy should reflect its “true” cost, Roberts argues. Non-renewable dirty sources like coal should be priced to take into account their real […]
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Mackler, take 3: The technology is right here, right now
This is the fifth entry in a series of six email exchanges between two climate-change experts on the future use of coal. The series was originally posted here. Editorial note: Current social and political barriers to adopting carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) are not insurmountable, Mackler argues. The first step toward a solution lies […]
