Latest Articles

Washington’s cap-and-trade legislation no longer involves cap and trade

Photo: libraryman via FlickrWashington state’s cap-and-trade legislation is no more. Or rather, it IS … in the existential sense … but after the House passed a watered down version on Wednesday, it should no longer be allowed to call itself “cap-and-trade legislation.” As there is no cap and trade in said cap-and-trade legislation. There is […]

Breaking: Gates Foundation ag official gets USDA post

Rajiv ShahPresident Obama has named Rajiv Shah, the Gates Foundation’s director of agricultural develpopment, as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the USDA. The Gates Foundation’s agriculture efforts have been criticized for ties to Monsanto, the globe’s largest seed company and dominant purveyor of genetically modified seed traits. In 2007, the Gates Foundation […]

How to comment on the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health

Got something to say about the EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health and welfare?  You’ve got 60 days to speak, or forever hold your peace. Here’s how to submit written comments: Email: GHG-Endangerment-Docket@epa.gov Fax: 202.566.1741 Snail mail: Environmental Protection AgencyEPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) Mailcode 6102T Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0171 […]

EPA’s climate finding ticks off industry, energizes enviros and congressional leaders

Here come the reactions …Grist’s Kate Sheppard has a great story on today’s big news, the EPA decision that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare: The long-expected finding, set in motion two years ago by a Supreme Court ruling, moves the Obama administration one step closer to regulating CO2 emissions from a number of […]

Not all environmental websites are created equal

I’ve been visiting a wide variety of environmental blogs lately to get my daily dose of information and commentary. I have settled on eighteen feeds that I visit most days, opening tabs to articles of interest from each to be read right away or later in the day. This has given me the opportunity to […]

A Sea Change on film

Ocean acidification is an issue that may not be on everyone’s lips, but its causes, solutions, and dire impacts if gone unaddressed are the same as climate change. A Sea Change (check the trailer below the fold) is a new documentary on the subject that follows retired educator Sven Huseby on a mission to Norway […]

Solar powered pogies and other assorted oddities

A few weeks ago I rode my hybrid electric bike from Fremont, which is at sea level, over Capitol Hill, down into the Rainier Valley and back. It was about 15 miles round trip. I took mental notes on the discomfort I experienced along the way.Biodiversivist Although I had on thick gloves my fingers still […]

Stop the environmental subsidy for factory farms

  North Catolina hog-waste lagoon: Smells like CAFO spiritDefMoIn one of the most deliciously perverse (not to say Orwellian) twists in our deliciously perverse (not to say Orwellian) system that is US agricultural policy, the prime beneficiaries of one of the USDA’s main environmental programs are beef, pork, and poultry factory farms. This money, of […]

Broadening the Earth Day tent

Mike CermakAs someone who spends half his time teaching and studying in a university among some rather well-off and highly educated young people, and the other half working as an environmental educator in urban high schools, I see a range of responses to the message and spectacle of Earth Day. At my university, I’m fairly […]

EPA says greenhouse-gas emissions a threat to public health

Photo: cocovanThe Environmental Protection Agency today said it has determined that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and welfare. The long-expected finding, set in motion two years ago by a Supreme Court ruling, moves the Obama administration one step closer to regulating carbon dioxide emissions from a number of sources across the […]