Latest Articles

Teenage Mutant Frog

While on a hike in the Adirondacks last week, my wife and youngest daughter took this picture of what should be a green frog. I have never seen this blue pigmentation before. I think it’s unlikely to be a mutation that will impart any kind of advantage unless it finds itself living on a blue […]

Should Kuba have a puppy?

Who could say no to this face?Ken WardKuba, 10, has waged a brilliant campaign. Unfortunately, I’m the target. Who can say no to a puppy? It’s … Grinch-like. My parents managed the trick, but that’s because my Dad was raised on a farm and Grandpa Ken, on my Mom’s side, trained hunting dogs — so […]

The Clean Air Act story: back to the beginning

In David Roberts’ story about Henry Waxman’s long struggle to strengthen the Clean Air Act (part one, two), some important lessons were unavoidably overlooked, because Waxman inherited, struggled with, and never did manage to remedy a serious architectural flaw embedded in the original 1970 version of the law. When I first lobbied on clean air […]

Cash for … other things!

So Congress approved and President Obama signed an extension of the hugely popular (and not-really-so-green) cash-for-clunkers program. Woohoo! We can think of some better “Cash for …” programs the government should be funding … Cash for computers—Think of the power savings. Not to mention the peace of a Twitter-free life. Cash for cookies—Your sweet tooth […]

Ask Umbra on livestock and water

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Why is it eating less beef can save water? In addition, if we skip meat to save water, will that affect our health? Besides beef, what other food or drinks use a lot of water to produce and process? Thanks!Jocey A. Dearest Jocey, Wow, you meat-eaters sure […]

The limits of today’s electric car technology

Recently, there has been some blog chatter about my comments on the future of lithium ion batteries — my goal here is to clarify my stance. I do believe that these batteries have been over-hyped in terms of technology available today. However, little focus was given to my statement that Khosla Ventures is backing the […]

Obama needs to take a stand on trade

When President Obama attends the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) meeting (or the more innocuous sounding, North American Leaders Summit) in Guadalajara he has the opportunity to keep some campaign promises. The SPP has been referred to as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on steroids. For good reason. As a candidate Obama was […]

Friday music blogging: David Bazan

David Bazan is an indie artist from Seattle (wo0t!). He fronted the beloved Pedro the Lion until he went solo back in 2006 with a stellar EP called Fewer Moving Parts. His first full-length solo album, Curse Your Branches, is finally coming out on Sept. 1. You can , and anyway, I’m too jazzed to […]

Yes, green jobs do exist and are good for the economy

Remember that transparently hackjob Spanish report titled “Green jobs are like negative jobs, only worse” (or something) that made the rounds of the fossil lobby (in and out of Congress) earlier in the year?  The one that George Will thought worthy of bringing to the nation’s attention the same week the House voted on Waxman-Markey? […]

Sanders & Merkley introduce bill to fund waste heat capture [with video of cats flushing toilets!]

Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.) have introduced a fantastic bill that deserves to be part of the climate/energy package the Senate votes on later this year. The Thermal Energy Efficiency Act (S.1621) “would dedicate 2% of revenues from climate change legislation to fund combined heat and power, waste energy recovery, and district […]