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Ask Umbra on anti-idling campaigns

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My daughter’s Girl Scout troop wants to start an anti-idling campaign at her school. We need help justifying why a car should be turned off for more than 30 seconds. Although they have found that it saves gas and wear and tear on the engine and other […]

US Chamber Calls for Global Powers for Congress

I couldn’t help wonder what kind of stories the Chamber hoped to generate with the statement it issued earlier today. So I leaned back, closed my eyes, and used my imagination: US Chamber Emerges as Unlikely Hero for Climate Protection; Calls for Global Powers for Congress In a surprising departure from its century long-fight for […]

Obama’s absurd Olympic boosterism

Arches, now deserted, built for the 2004 Athens Olympics. As healthcare reform shipwrecks and climate legislation lurches toward a similar fate, President Obama is … preparing to jet to Copenhagen to shill for Chicago as 2016 Olympic site? Really? What an absurd and ignoble use of time and prestige. When I think of the Olympics, […]

National Day of Action Against Coal

This post was co-written by Kathleen Ridihalgh, Senior Representative for the Sierra Club’s Northwest Region The first three days of this week are seeing a slew of activities taking on coal. We have events in 25 states to counter the coal industry and cheer on clean energy investments. It’s all part of our National Day […]

Therapy on the Titanic

A recent Facebook exchange was striking. Someone posted a Washington Post article on the latest climate science. It predicted a temperature rise of 8 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century if no systemic changes are made to reduce our carbon output. The better case scenario — in which world governments implement their current […]

Pa. Rep. Doyle on getting blue-collar support for a climate bill

Rep. Mike Doyle chats with Grist.Photo: G20VoiceDuring last week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) was out and about networking with climate-action advocates and talking up the city’s green cred.  A southwestern Pennsylvania native, Doyle comes from a steelworking family and has been a friend to the industry during his nine years in […]

On gaming the political spectrum

He’s been called a lot of things, but …If Bill Gates visited a homeless shelter with nine people, the Washington Post would predictably report on a gathering of tycoons with an average net worth of $123 million. Why do I say that? Read this from today’s WaPo: Tony Kreindler, spokesman for the advocacy group Environmental […]

If REDD can’t save this….

Bukit Tigapuluh Forest is truly one of those special places. It’s got three endangered species, two minority groups of indigenous people and a superlative: it’s the last remaining stand of tropical lowland forest left on the island of Sumatra. Funnily enough, it’s also about to be cut down. Notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp and Paper […]

Boxer-Kerry climate bill: what to watch for

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) plan to introduce their climate bill tomorrow. Here are a few brief notes on what to watch for. Just as a reminder, for the non-wonks, here’s how the process works: 1) House passes bill, 2) Senate passes bill, 3) House and Senate bills reconciled via conference committee, […]

Saving the planet is hard

Paul Krugman concludes in “It’s easy being green” (NY Times Opinion, 9/24/2009) that “the claim that climate legislation will kill the economy deserves the same disdain as the claim that global warming is a hoax.” Indeed, but the notion that the Waxman-Markey legislation is about “saving the planet” (Krugman’s words) is equally inscrutable. Even Joe […]