Latest Articles

Bikers and activists ride for the climate from New York to D.C.

On Saturday, more than one hundred climate and cycling activists began a 300-mile cycling journey from New York City to Washington, D.C. Enduring endless chafing, near collisions, and constant pedaling, they are riding for climate change awareness and strong legislation. Most importantly, they will represent the vanguard of the climate movement’s fall of activism and […]

Wrapping up Climate Week, G20 Outcome & on to Bangkok

Well “climate week” has just wrapped up with the conclusion of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.  This week was an important one to build international and US momentum for addressing global warming pollution (as I discussed here).   As I discussed here and my colleague discussed here, some positive steps emerged this week on the […]

Memo to Congress: Don’t dawdle on climate bill

Even though the Senate hasn’t even begun debating a specific climate bill, naysayers at home and abroad are already declaring as dead on arrival the effort to pass climate and energy legislation in the United States this year. And who can blame them? Like health-care reform — and bad teenage slasher movies — the whole […]

Ask Umbra’s video advice on making lunch matter

Common wisdom tells us there’s no free lunch. But you can have a guilt-free lunch, thanks to Umbra Fisk’s recipe for midday munchers everywhere. You won’t have to swallow your pride — you can eat well, save money, and help this juicy planet we call home. “Ask Umbra” is the first video series produced by […]

James Hansen on Obama, climate legislation, and the scourge of coal

Cross-posted from Earth Island Institute. A recent article in the New York Times pointedly asked whether NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen still matters. The subtext to the story was, has Hansen been too vocal and too unconventional in his criticism of Washington’s response to climate change to be taken seriously? Hansen, dubbed by some […]

Feed-in rates: a hard sell

I really feel for the renewable energy activists in the U.S. who are trying to get the most successful policy in the world, feed-in tariffs (FITs), implemented. The problem in the U.S. is, ironically, that so many U.S. renewables advocates actually oppose the idea (because it wasn’t theirs), and even now that everyone seems to […]

Under the Clinton Global Initiative, Growing Power takes its grassroots-agriculture model to Africa

Will Allen: Growing power–and gaining influence in development circles, too. At the Clinton Global Initiative wrap-up on Friday, ex-President Clinton made waves in the sustainable-ag world by declaring Will Allen of Milwaukee/Chicago-based based Growing Power his “hero.” The real news was buried in the press release, though. Toward the bottom of a listing of verbal “commitments” […]

As Philadelphia goes, so goes the nation

More green on the streets will mean less brown in the rivers.Tony the Misfit via flickrPhiladelphia has a poo problem. Old, failing pipes plus a swelling population plus lots of rain equals — well, yuck. So the city has pondered its options, and now it’s poised to make a major splash in the world of […]

What’s Happening On The Fifth Floor?

Millions of people come and go from New York’s iconic Empire State Building every year. The 102 floors bristle with keyboard-clicking, ballpoint-wielding, paper-shredding cubicle dwellers, none of which would appear out of place in an episode of “The Office”. But something very different is happening on the fifth floor – – a magical workplace that […]

Is the global oil tank half-full, is it half-empty … or are we running on fumes?

Cross-posted from Post Carbon Institute. In his article in the New York Times Sept. 24, “Oil Industry Sets a Brisk Pace of New Discoveries,” staff reporter Jad Mouawad cites oil discoveries totaling 10 billion barrels for the first half of 2009. The Tiber field in the Gulf of Mexico alone accounts for four to six […]