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Gear up for Bike to Work Week
It’s Bike to Work Week, which means it’s the perfect time for you to dust off that two-wheeler and start pedaling (or feel a bit smug-er about already being a committed cyclist). For tips on converting to a cycle-based commute, check out our handy how-to or the entertaining Umbra video at the bottom of the […]
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Close friend of Big Meat may be put in charge of food safety
USDA chief Tom Vilsack is once again on the verge of stepping in it regarding his pick for food safety czar, i.e. the head of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Some may recall that back in March the Obama administration nearly appointed Dr. Michael Osterholm to the post only to back off when […]
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In some cities, the greenest buildings are already built
It’s a cliché of life in New York: on even the chilliest winter days, windows are flung open to let free the over-cranked, inefficient steam heat. “We literally blow money out the window,” says Nancy Biberman, founder of the Bronx-based WHEDCo, a family and affordable housing non-profit. About a third of New York’s building supply […]
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President of Maldives wants to move his island nation
The New York Times Magazine has a pretty good piece on the Maldives, “Wanted: A New Home for My Country“: … ever since Nasheed declared on the eve of his inauguration last November that, because of global warming, he would try to find a new homeland for Maldivians somewhere else in the world, on higher […]
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Has anyone in U.S. history made more Americans less safe than Dick Cheney?
Back in March, Darth Vader former Vice President Dick Cheney said Americans are “less safe” now thanks to President Barack Obama and his policies. He repeated and expanded on the charge yesterday on Face the Nation. Let’s set aside the fact that if a President’s actions and policies in his first 100 days make him […]
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How I learned to stop worrying and love Waxman-Markey, Part 1
The Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill is certainly not “da bomb.” At best, it’s a B+. Then again, it is not a total bomb, as some think. So you don’t have to be Dr. Strangelove — or the bill’s mother — to love it. You just have to compare it to the alternative (i.e. utter […]
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Get your coal ringtones!
The dirty coal folks are still trying to prove they can be as musical as a Coal Miner’s Daughter. The clean coal carolers got sent home (see “You won’t believe your ears: Frosty the Coalman, Clean Coal Night, Deck the Halls with Clean Coal). Now they are trying again. This post was first published by […]
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Another symptom of swine flu: instant amnesia
Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / Grist Swine flu: how very two weeks ago. Sure, H1N1 transmission is “still on the upswing” in the United States, and the World Health Organization warned that as much of a third of the globe’s population could eventually catch it, Reuters reported last week. But the disease is turning […]
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Do you have any questions for McKinsey about their updated GHG cost curve?
I have written a great deal about the terrific work of McKinsey & Company (see “McKinsey 2008 Research in Review: Stabilizing at 450 ppm has a net cost near zero” and links below). So I was excited and delighted to be invited by The German Marshall Fund to be the respondent for a roundtable discussion […]
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Ask Umbra on comparing green products
Q. Dear Umbra, I am a consumer who has recently convinced a friend of mine to green his business. I am now in charge of doing all of the research. My question is, how do I go about assessing the life cycle of various products? … Do you know of such a service/website? I have […]
