Latest Articles

Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)

Kent Conrad Sen. Kent Conrad’s colleague in the House, Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), voted against the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act, and Conrad says he wouldn’t vote for the bill either. He also joined with three other moderate Democrats in suggesting that the climate vote should be put off until next year. Last […]

Silicon Valley VC sees bright future for green tech — and a need to engage policy makers

A BrightSource Energy solar thermal project.Photo: BrightSource EnergyDrive around the San Francisco Bay Area and you can see the emerging corporate infrastructure of the new green economy. In a downtown Oakland office tower, you’ll find the headquarters of BrightSource Energy, a solar thermal power-plant developer that has scored contacts to build more than 2,600 megawatts’ […]

Company denies its robots feed on the dead

via Wired: “We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” stated Harry Schoell, Cyclone’s CEO. The basic idea is that this is (among other things) a battlefield robot that runs on biomass it harvests on the battlefield.  I can’t imagine why anyone thought […]

Senate Minority Report on global warming not credible, says Center for Inquiry

A major political struggle surrounds current efforts to enact legislation addressing the harmful effects of climate change. Opponents of legislation limiting carbon dioxide emissions express doubt about the scientific evidence for global warming. Since the issuance of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Science Report in 2007 (the Physical Science Report, hereafter referred to as […]

As farmers battle weeds ‘conventionally,’ the chemical treadmill speeds up [UPDATED]

The never-ending war on weeds. UPDATE at bottom of post. ————————————– I’m an ag nerd, so sometimes you’ll catch me reading stuff like Delta Farm Press–a trade publication for large-scale farmers in the deep south. I find the damnedest things on those reading jags. Here’s one: farmers down there–which is cotton, soy, and corn country–are […]

Hawaii invests in climate change task force

Haleakala National Park in HawaiiPhoto courtesy Simonds via FlickrHawaii’s state legislature established a climate change task force last week to study the potential impacts of rising sea levels, eroding coast lines, ocean acidification, fiercer storms, and other expected affects of climate change, and to suggest response strategies. Lawmakers overrode a veto by Republican Gov. Linda […]

Michael Pollan on the affordability of good, local, organic food

I don’t think our goal should be to make all food in America as cheap as cheap food is now.  … If the goal is cheap food, we’re going to hurt our farmers, we’re going to hurt the environment, we’re going to hurt the public health.  The goal should be to give people the money […]

Jimmy Carter’s next big green adventure

Amid a volatile energy market and a lack of green job investments in the future, the divided Appalachian coalfields have reached a state of emergency this summer. And yet, the Obama administration remains entrenched in a regulatory state of denial. Never has there been such a moral imperative for the personal intervention of the 2002 […]

North Carolina governor calls for better regulation of coal ash dumps

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue (D) has endorsed legislation that would increase oversight of the state’s coal ash dumps, the massive surface impoundments that power companies use to store the toxic waste left over after burning coal. Responding to watchdog pressure, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently disclosed the locations of 44 “high hazard” ash […]

Lithium: Are “blood batteries” next?

The strategic minerals debate is back-but starring some new rocks. One that has received much recent attention is lithium, which is used in cell phone batteries, as well as those under development for electric cars. Turns out lithium isn’t found in too many places. Around 50 percent of known reserves are in Bolivia, underneath some […]