Latest Articles

House ag chief Peterson: what, me worry about a warming planet?

Peterson, right, with combine rep: With climate change and big diesel-guzzling combines, we can grow lots of corn!After researching my story last week about the ag lobby’s attempt to turn Waxman-Markey into a cash cow for the agrichem and ethanol industries, I assumed that Waxman would quietly make some unspeakable deal with House ag chief […]

Bonn was disappointing, and Copenhagen will be too. Who to blame?

Photo: rolandFirst up, the climate talks are not going very well.  After a rousing start in Rio in 1992, from which we returned with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the negotiations have been anything but inspiring.  1997’s Kyoto Protocol defined the rich-world actions – the first steps – that would put meat on […]

It’s time to act “after many years of dithering and delay”

The Administration has put together a terrific new website, globalchange.gov, on its landmark 13-agency report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.  Every possible summary and graphic you could want is there – heck, they even have the embed codes for their slideshow: GlobalChange.Gov-US Impacts Summary [vodpod id=Video.16092247&w=425&h=350&fv=] If you didn’t catch the live […]

The NYT buries White House “exclusive” on the landmark U.S. climate impacts report

The big story featured on the NYT website at 11 am Tuesday ain’t about climate: “With consumers in revolt, it was almost a relief that Tracey Ullman did not shy away from a bit of a roast at American fashion industry’s annual awards night” (see photo below). This is the NYT as People magazine, except […]

“We’ll get the votes”: One more day to finish talks with farm state Dems

We would appear to be closing in on a final deal and ultimate passage of the Waxman-Markey climate and clean energy bill by the House.  E&E News Reports (subs. req’d): House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) yesterday said he expected a floor victory, although he added that no scheduling decisions have been made. “I think […]

NOAA: “Business as usual” means scorching over inland US

If humanity stays near our current greenhouse gas emissions path, then Americans face hell – every state will be red: The thermometer in this landmark U.S. government report puts warming at 9 to 11°F over the vast majority of the inland U.S. – and that is only the average around 2090 (compared to 1961-1979 baseline).  […]

Who, really, is inciting Americans to violence today?

NYT columnist Frank Rich has a terrific column on the hate-mongering being pushed by the some of the right-wing media these days, “The Obama Haters’ Silent Enablers“: WHEN a Fox News anchor, reacting to his own network’s surging e-mail traffic, warns urgently on-camera of a rise in hate-filled, “amped up” Americans who are “taking the […]

Week of Aug. 3 planned for cap-and-trade markup, given “50-50 or better odds”

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plans to wait until the week of Aug. 3 to mark up climate change legislation in order to have a series of hearings on the issue and the bill first, she said today. This timetable, reported late last week in E&E News PM (subs. req’d), is […]

Ask Umbra on rinse aids

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dearest Umbra, While pleased as pie to have a new super-efficient dishwasher, I remain curious as to the chemical composition of the required rinse aid. This dishwasher relies on a hot water rinse and its stainless steel tub to somehow dry the dishes — there is no energy-sucking, plastic-melting […]

More riding tips and evolutionary insights

Got some more riding tips to share. I’ve learned that nothing catches people’s attention like a hand wave. It has been hypothesized that our brains have literally evolved the ability to detect hand waves against a cluttered background. I always wave at drivers before crossing in front of them. Try it. They can’t seem to […]