Latest Articles

Food industry and longer commutes are making us fat

Recently I wrote about a study that looked across a few decades of data about housing and health. And we have written more than once about the relationship between the environment, location, health and price as it relates to food. Certainly there are systems issues that conspire against us when we try to make the […]

Inhofe’s plan: Stall climate action until the next president

The Heartland Institute, an outpost for climate change skeptics, is holding its Third International Conference on Climate Change here in Washington, D.C., this week (just three months after its second one). Yesterday the meeting played host to the Senate’s top climate-change denier, Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe. Inhofe, best known for calling global warming “the greatest […]

‘The Next Wave’ chronicles the climate change refugees

In the Carteret Islands, Papua New Guinea, a rise in sea level is cutting off people’s supplies of fresh water and fertile land. The islands’ residents will be among the first people to be forced to migrate due to climate change.Photo by Toby Parkinson for Oxfam AmericaYou like media that matters — you are reading […]

NOAA puts out “El Niño Watch” — record temperatures are coming

ENSO Alert System Status: El Niño Watch Synopsis: Conditions are favorable for a transition from ENSO-neutral to El Niño conditions during June − August 2009. So begins the monthly El Niño/Southern oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion issued by the Climate Prediction Center of NOAA’s National Weather Service.  This is a significant change from their recent predictions […]

Goldman Sachs: Oil’s going to $85 by year end

Oil hit $67 a barrel yesterday, driven by the perception the global economy may have hit bottom, among other factors: Much of oil’s rally this year has tracked stock market gains as investors look to equity markets for signs of economic recovery, while a weaker dollar can boost the appeal of oil and other commodities […]

West Virginia celebrates the blessings of a coal-based economy

West Virginia gets more of its electricity from coal than any other state. To celebrate that fact, yesterday WV Gov. Joe Manchin (D) declared coal the official state rock. Yes, really. Coal is now the state rock of West Virginia. But why should Manchin stop there? Having a coal-based economy has given his state so […]

Obama calls for cooperation on clean energy and green jobs in Mideast

Photo: White House No one expected President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo today to focus on climate change, and it didn’t. Obama didn’t use the words “climate” or “environment,” but rather talked about the usual Middle East challenges — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the distrust of American […]

The digital TV conversion is here — are you e-ready?

We interrupt your life to bring you this reminder: By June 12, all television signals in the U.S. will be digital. Seriously. So here’s an e-guide to ease your mind. Wait, WTF is happening again? The signals from all TV stations, which were analog for decades, will now be digital. This transition actually began in […]

Video highlights from the GOP’s anti-climate-bill crusade

For the past month, House Republicans have been taking their anti-climate-bill efforts on the road, trying to stir up public resistance to the Waxman-Markey climate and energy legislation. The show kicked off in D.C. and moved on to Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California. Now the House Republican Conference has produced a “greatest hits” reel on their […]

Tales from Spain: baseload renewable energy means hope in the fight against global warming

Hola, amigos y amigas.  I write to you from Spain.  I’m here courtesy of the Catalan government, who brought me in to explain the California solar market to local solar companies.  Why does Spain care about California?  Spanish solar companies are going through a really difficult time right now.  Briefly, the story goes like this.  […]