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Majority of ‘Energy Citizens’ rallies organized by oil-industry lobbyists

Here’s more evidence that the “Energy Citizens” rallies against climate legislation are anything but grassroots uprisings.  We already knew that the American Petroleum Institute was behind the whole idea.  Now it turns out that even the local organizers of individual rallies are oil-industry lobbyists.  Grist obtained a copy of API’s list of coordinators for the […]

Friday music blogging: Lightning Dust

Last year I FMB’d Black Mountain, a druggy, bell-bottomed Canadian indie band that does fantastic stoner rock. Two members of that band, Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, formed a side project a few years ago called Lightning Dust. They have a new album out, Infinite Light, and it’s well worth your time. Where Black Mountain […]

Four ways the U.S. & China can start cooperating now to tackle climate change

This post is from my colleague Barbara Finamore (Director of our China Program).  It is a set of important first steps that China and the U.S. could undertake to help reduce global warming pollution.  Moving these two countries together will be critical to securing a strong global commitment in Copenhagen.  And there have been some important signs […]

Dave Matthews Band offers free music downloads for eco-pledges

Photo: Ryan Eilders via FlickrDuring their 2008 summer tour, the Dave Matthews Band encouraged 160,000 fans to carpool, diverted 8,000 cubic yards of waste from the landfill, employed 550 volunteers to educate fans, and reduced their carbon footprint by almost 8.5 million pounds of CO2 (through eco-efforts and offsets). This year, they are continuing that […]

Neutralizing Big Oil’s climate-bill attack, with investment in manufacturing

The oil lobby’s latest astroturf concoction is “Energy Citizens.” Its website practically looks like it’s a group pushing clean green jobs, with its green-tinted USA map and call to “support American jobs and affordable energy.” Its attempt at a grassroots rally was rightly deemed nothing more than a “company picnic,” just another ruse to kill […]

Climate Riders use pedal power to raise awareness

Courtesy Brita Climate RideHow far would you go to fight climate change? How about 300 miles? Hundreds of cyclists will pedal from New York City to Washington, D.C., in late September to do just that. The Brita Climate Ride is a multi-day bicycle ride that raises money and awareness for climate change action. The riders […]

Climate-news poem: Cash for cukes edition

This week’s verse was contributed by the White House as it worked on plans for a farmers market. Check out more climate poems from Grist. First we thought cars were the fix, so Congress made a bet:Give people cash and they will trade their clunking old Corvette.And boy, they did! In drives — uh, droves […]

Seattle’s bag-fee supporters still smiling despite setback

Photo: ceegee-ceegeeAdvocates of Seattle’s Referendum 1, a proposal for a disposable-bag fee that was soundly defeated in Tuesday’s primary election, may have lost a battle. But Brady Montz, chair of the local Sierra Club chapter and leader of the effort to pass the referendum, feels confident that the war against plastic bags is going well. […]

Middle school teacher responds on real energy education for kids

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity runs an annual Coal Calendar Art & Essay Contest for middle schoolers, asking students to shill for the coal industry, no doubt in response to a biased classroom lesson about coal. See the comment thread on the coal coloring book story. This comment from reader LILACWINE seems […]

Colleges without rocking enviro programs are failed businesses

Every time Sierra Magazine comes out with its top green colleges list I get pissed off that my alma mater, Bowdoin College, doesn’t make the cut.  And the reason I’m pissed is that it seems to me that even if you didn’t care one little tiny bit about climate or environment–if all you cared about […]