Latest Articles
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At prime time presser, Obama says an energy plan will pass
During his prime time press conference Tuesday evening, President Obama was put on the spot about Congress’ apparent unwillingness to go along with some of his budget proposals. The questioner listed a number of areas where Democrats on Capitol Hill may part ways, including the White House’s proposed cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. […]
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EPA issues clarification on mountaintop removal notice
One can only wonder whether the following EPA statement regarding its move on mountaintop removal was prompted by some angry phone calls to the agency from certain influential West Virginia lawmakers. In any event, here’s what the EPA sent out late Tuesday: Following reports that mischaracterize actions taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), […]
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Chicago tries to meet 20% renewables commitment with 20-year-old rip-offsets
At one time, Chicago was a serious contender for America’s greenest big city. Now they appear to be mostly contending for biggest greenwasher. I didn’t learn the stunning story about what Chicago is trying to get away with until I was interviewed by a Chicago Tribune reporter. His story “Chicago’s ‘green’ promise fades: Chicago taxpayers […]
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Heaven is solar powered
If the Wall Street Journal says it, it must be true.
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Does Sen. Feinstein get global warming, desertification, and California’s looming demise?
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) appears to like deserts so much that she wants them to stretch from Oklahoma to California and cover one third the planet. The AP reported Friday, “Feinstein seeks [to] block solar power from desert land“: Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 […]
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Food-movement doc screens March 28 in Emerald City; Philpott, Alice Waters to attend
So, I’m featured as a talking head in a documentary on the sustainable-food movement called Food Fight. Other folks who appear include Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, and Dan Barber. Food Fight will be screening this coming Saturday, March 28, 7 pm, in Seattle as part of Green Festival. I’ll be attending the screening, and moderating […]
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Regional climate policy is still moving forward in the Northwest
Over the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about the state of climate policy in the Northwest. Washington’s citizen-backed renewable energy standard is in jeopardy and neither Oregon nor Washington appears close to implementing the Western Climate Initiative. Even British Columbia’s pioneering carbon tax is taking fire. Freak out! Everybody panic! […]
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Boucher bill would put billions into carbon-capture-and-sequestration technologies
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), one of the House’s biggest coal supporters, on Tuesday reintroduced a bill that would invest billions of dollars in the development of carbon-capture-and-sequestration (CCS) technology for fossil-fuel power plants. Like a similar measure Boucher introduced last year, the “Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act” would create a $1 billion annual […]
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Springtime is peak time for naturally raised eggs — and bread puddings and meringues
Before moving on to the more glamorous spring harvests of asparagus, sweet peas, and strawberries, let us first praise the pastured farm egg. That’s right: Eggs, too, have a season. Spring has long represented the beginning of a new cycle, and eggs are the epitome of rebirth. Easter egg huntshave their origins in ancient Pagan […]
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Why the foodie press needs to do better work on seafood
I recently finished Taras Grescoe’s wonderful, vitally important book Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood. Everyone who loves seafood and would prefer to be able to enjoy it in 20 years must read it. Basic message: overfishing, pollution, climate change, and abusive aquaculture practices threaten to turn the oceans into […]
