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Newt’s new money to fight climate change bill

This post was originally published on the website of the Center for Public Integrity and is reposted on Grist with CPI’s kind permission. The world’s largest coal company and one of the nation’s top fossil-fueled power companies are among the leading donors so far this year to Newt Gingrich’s political advocacy group, which has been […]

Peeing in the shower goes, um, viral

Dearest Readers, Today brings news — oh, and wildly spreading it is — of an ad campaign in Brazil aimed at convincing people to save water by peeing in the shower. Here is the video, and here is the website, if you are seeking extra credit for your Portuguese skills (beware, it starts with a […]

Kimberly-Clark, Greenpeace hug it out

Greenpeace USA Engaging in a bit of a lovefest, Greenpeace and Kimberly-Clark announced today that the paper-products giant has finally agreed to clean up its act. It will source the fiber for its tissue products, under brand names that include Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle, from “environmentally responsible sources,” including those that are FSC-certified and recycled. […]

Meat, climate change, and industry tripe

Washington Post food-politics columnist Ezra Klein has taken a stand: people should eat less meat, because of its vast greenhouse gas footprint. To make his case, Ezra cited the FAO’s landmark “Livestock’s Long Shadow” report, which found that global meat production is responsible for 18 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. To be honest, when […]

Pay no attention to footnote #5

UPDATE 12:35pm: I’m now hearing NAM/ACCF has indefinitely postponed their press call to release their bogus jobs study. Apparently they’re saying they need to “further analyze” the numbers. Does that mean “even with our thumbs on the scale, we couldn’t outweigh the benefits of clean energy, so we need more time to figure out how […]

Ask Umbra on smarter outlets

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I recently spent several months in New Zealand and was impressed with the simple energy-saving electrical outlets they used. Every outlet is equipped with a small switch allowing you to “turn off at the wall” whatever device you have plugged in. I want to replace my current […]

Shining the light on efficiency lies

I blogged last month on the deliberate misinformation campaign that the enemies of energy efficiency used to weaken several key policies in ACES, costing us all money. In the last couple weeks several news stories have continued to shine a light on the happenings. First, the Daily Green and Factcheck.org note where Representative Boehner and […]

Would you trade your car for a bike?

Would you trade your car for a bike? That’s what the folks behind the Tour de Fat want to know. New Belgium Brewing’s now-annual cycle celebration is pedaling to Seattle this Saturday — and they’ll be taking a car off the hands of one (lucky?) local driver and handing him a cool commuter bike in […]

Blame game continues as more details on forged letters to Congress come to light

Officials at the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) are claiming to be victims of the forged anti-climate bill letters sent to three members of Congress earlier this summer, but a background document released by the organization reveals that its leaders knew about the fake letters before the House voted on climate legislation. In […]

More gas contamination affects Pennsylvania residents

Pennsylvania environment officials are investigating another natural gas well leak, after residents near the town of Roaring Branch complained last month that rust-colored water was flowing from a spring and two small creeks were bubbling with methane gas. The incident is the latest in a string of more than 50 similar cases related to gas […]