Latest Articles

Steven Chu and cap-and-snooze on the Daily Show

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivered a twofer last night with a bit of cap-and-trade commentary followed by an interview with “Dr. Nobel McGenius” — aka Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Stewart falls asleep out of boredom while trying to explain cap and trade, pretty much nailing what much of the political media seems to […]

Green Bounty: Historic Navajo green jobs legislation

“Oh these nights. My blessed bounty of dreams.” — Luci Tapahonso, Blue Horses Rush In The bounty of green job dreams is one step toward becoming a reality on the Dinetah-Navajo Nation.  Thanks to the indefatigable work of the Navajo Green Economy Coalition and Navajo Nation Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, among many others, the Navajo […]

Reef Tank blog features ocean news, aquarium advice

If you’re curious about critters that live under the sea, I recommend you check out The Reef Tank. The website started as an information source and community-building tool for aquarists, and to that end, it features product reviews, discussion forums, and even a marine species wiki. But they’ve since realized that people who keep giant […]

Britain’s Labour government places big bet on low-carbon future

The Science Museum is one of London’s best-loved landmarks, largely because generations of children have been taken there by their parents to play with its increasingly sophisticated sets of hands-on gadgets. But it also houses the originals of some of the iconic inventions that made possible Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Lord Mandelson, Britain’s deputy prime minister, […]

Ask Umbra on (gasp) throwing stuff out

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, About a year ago I made the whole body switch to organic and all-natural shampoos, body lotions, makeup, etc. In an attempt to stop my packrat-like habits, I want to know, what do I do with all of my old chemical-laden bottles and tubes? I can’t bare […]

NAACP resolves to fight climate change

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrated its centennial last week by jumping into the policy debate over global warming. Delegates at the storied civil rights organization’s annual meeting in New York voted to adopt a resolution supporting clean energy development, curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, and policies to foster green collar […]

Wendell Berry on the promise of GMOs to ‘feed the world’

“The inevitable aim of industrial agri-investors is the big universal solution. They want a big product that can be marketed everywhere. And the kind of agriculture we’re talking about that leads to food security and land conservation is locally adapted agriculture. And they can’t do that. Industrial agriculture plants cornfields in Arizona; locally adapted agriculture […]

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)

Debbie StabenowSen. Debbie Stabenow wants to make sure climate legislation doesn’t hurt her home state’s auto industry. She has called for financial support for emerging industries such as advanced batteries, specifically praising plans for a clean energy revolving loan fund. “Shame on us as a country if we lose the capacity to manufacture this here,” […]

Jim Webb (D-Va.)

Jim Webb Sen. Jim Webb is a moderate, and Virginia is a coal state. His House colleagues won major concessions for the coal industry in the Waxman-Markey climate bill, but whether they’ll be enough to win over Webb remains to be seen. Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher, who led the pro-coal lobby in shaping the House […]

Game changer 5: RFK, Jr.: How to end America’s deadly coal addiction: natural gas!

Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama’s most obvious first step towards saving our planet and jump-starting our economy. A revolution in natural gas production over the past two years has left America awash with natural gas and has made it possible to eliminate most of our dependence on deadly, destructive […]