Latest Articles

Friday music blogging: The Low Anthem

The Low Anthem originally released their debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, last year. It’s been a sleeper hit (as these things go), gradually spreading by word-of-mouth to the point that label Nonesuch felt compelled to re-release it this year. It’s a really special album — been steadily growing on me for a while. I’ll […]

In dark times, back to the garden

While climate change rages ahead, the climate bill is flat on its back and the most progressive green on President Obama’s staff looks on the verge of being forced out of office for silly reasons. Let’s not talk about healthcare reform or Afghanistan.  But … there’s an organic veggie garden! On the White House lawn! […]

A stunt or not a stunt? That is not the question

Last week, Elizabeth Kolbert, a respected New Yorker journalist who writes admirably about our climate catastrophe and the environment, wrote a scathing attack on my book, No Impact Man. Sadly, casualties on the battlefield of Kolbert’s wrath included not only me, but also the work of James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith (authors of 100 Mile […]

‘Localwashing’ in pictures — bogus marketing at its finest

Local food, local goods, local everything is in, as you’ve no doubt heard. Local is fresher. Local burns less shipping fuel. Local keeps the wealth nearby. Naturally, there’s money to be made off local, so big businesses are muscling into the game. The emerging term is localwashing—a variation on greenwashing wherein businesses claim to be […]

Shake-ups at high-profile coal industry group

This post was originally published on the blog of the Center for Public Integrity and is reposted on Grist with CPI’s kind permission. With its hefty bankroll and polished messaging, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity looked like a juggernaut going into the climate change debate on Capitol Hill. But ever since the House […]

Van Jones seeks a ‘healing for our politics’

Cross-posted from Wonk Room. White House green jobs advisor Van Jones is under attack from Fox News as an “avowed radical revolutionary communist” and from ABC News as a “truther” with a “history of incendiary and provocative remarks.” In an attempt to assassinate the character of Van Jones, the right-wing media are distorting his past […]

Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it

A friend just alerted me to the website PlantsNeedCO2.org, which is running ads on NYTimes.com. From the site’s “about us” page: Our mission is to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2 and help prevent the inadvertent negative impact to human, plant and animal life if we reduce CO2. Plants Need […]

Will Glenn Beck bring down Van Jones after all?

SEE UPDATE BELOW Glenn Beck still can’t believe American voters voted for a black man. A couple days ago I ran a post defending Van Jones from some of the more absurd charges leveled at him by noted race-baiter Glenn Beck over the last month. Jones is not an “ex-con,” he’s not a communist, he’s […]

Does the Wall Street Journal employ anyone who understands energy markets?

Actually, I think they do.  I think Keith Johnson knows quite a bit about energy markets.  Which makes this hit job on solar subsidies, published before the Senate considers national renewable energy legislation, so disturbing. After chronicling the problems of the Spanish solar industry, the article goes on to say: “Clean-energy skeptics, however, point to […]

From Big Ag’s climate problem to Whole Foods’ latest snafu, tasty morsels from around the Web

 When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. —————- Get ’em while they’re hot.  • I’ve been writing a lot recently about how industrial agriculture is screwing up the climate (see here and here). I keep forgetting to add: a warmed-up climate will almost surely […]