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Food Inc. Director Robert Kenner speaks on the ills of the food system

Food Inc. director Robert KennerRobert Kenner never set out to make a terrifying film when he started Food, Inc. But along the way, he found the food industry to be stunningly secretive–and what it’s hiding to be downright scary. The film shines a bright light on the handful of corporations that, behind a cloak of […]

EPA: Waxman-Markey will lower electricity bills

The main argument conservatives and big oil and coal companies use against the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) is that it would cripple American households with a crushing energy tax. To make that claim, they have distorted cost estimates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and conducted their own biased studies. Today, […]

SCREEEEECH

That, my friends, is the sound of the California solar market grinding to a halt — which is exactly what will happen if we don’t lift the cap on net metering. Net metering, of course, is the policy that allows you to roll you meter backwards when you generate more solar electricity than you use. […]

Memo to Hillary’s science czar: organic ag isn’t a ‘myth’

Is organic farming productive enough to feed billions of people–or will it always be a yuppie niche in a food system increasingly dependent on agrichemicals, massive animal factories, synthetic fertilizers, and biotechnology? Nina Fedoroff, the State Department’s chief technology adviser, propounds the latter view. A trained scientist with ties to the biotech industry, Fedoroff thinks […]

Collin Peterson is not killing the planet

Not yet, anyway. I agree with Tom Philpott that Peterson’s meddling in the Waxman-Markey climate bill is far more than a distraction. Weakening the bill out of spite is pretty much the extreme opposite of statesmanship. And I decried Peterson’s clearly implied climate denial just the other day. But I’m a bit leery of going […]

Live at Coal River — mass arrests against mountaintop removal

James Hansen getting arrested on June 23 at an anti-mountaintop-removal protest.Antrim Caskey Note: This blog will be updated during the day, with dispatches, video and photos being filed by Stephanie Pistello.) “When I get to the other side, I shall tell God Almighty about West Virginia!” — Mother Jones UPDATE: “The Sword of Damocles hangs […]

Growing a better world

Crossposted from Znet “Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth.” So begins “Prosperity Without Growth“[1], the report of the UK government’s Sustainable Development Commission.  Questioning growth has been the obsessive focus of many for decades. Questioners make important points. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been, […]

Florida’s beaches now threatened by offshore drilling

In a disappointing move, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee gave its blessing for offshore drilling in Florida last week, potentially opening Florida’s coasts to oil and gas development. This is a major reversal that reneges on the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, which offered the oil and gas industry […]

Climate bill might get a vote this week after all

The American Clean Energy and Security Act might get a vote in the House this week after all. The House Committee on Rules posted the bill on its website late Monday — with 255 additional pages, bringing the total page count to 1201. The bill’s prospects for going to a floor vote this week looked […]

Goodbye to Cancer Valley: In remembrance of my friend John Soley

John SoleyAfter a long struggle with cancer, my friend Mr. John Soley died at his home in Carbon County, Pa. on Saturday, June 20. He was only 62, which is too young to die of natural causes. But then, neither John nor I believe he got sick from natural causes. We believe he and many […]