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Indiana bill would define clean coal and nuclear energy as ‘renewable’

Indiana’s statehouse.Flickr: mattindy77The Indiana lawmakers are considering legislation that would define “clean coal” and nuclear-generated electricity as renewable energy. They’re also mulling bills that would define John “Cougar” Mellencamp as a jazz musician and categorize the pork tenderloin sandwich as a vegetable. Seriously, the energy change, being debated as part of a set of changes […]

Greenpeace’s new leader talks up need for a green grassroots

Phil RadfordPhoto: Kate SheppardGreenpeace USA’s announcement on Tuesday that the group is elevating its grassroots director to serve as the next executive director sends a clear signal that the 38-year-old environmental organization is focused on growing its membership and playing a lead role in rallying public support for big changes in U.S. energy and climate […]

Myth: Climate policy must be simple

Among the weird memes that has grown up around the cap-and-trade debate, one of the most puzzling to me is that C&T is fatally flawed because it is complex. Americans don’t “get it.” They’ll only support a climate policy that is so “simple and transparent” that you can explain it on a napkin. (Like a […]

Towards the Copenhagen climate change agreement: Round One

The international global warming negotiations in Bonn, Germany have just wrapped up. They began with a loud applause as U.S. Special Climate Envoy Todd Stern announced that the U.S. is back. And they ended with the reality of the work that needs to be done over the next 8 months to ensure a strong agreement […]

Obama’s school-lunch chief not much of a reformer

Note: This essay was written with Kate Adamick of Food Systems Solutions LLC and Beth Collins of Lunch Lessons LLC. Supersize me.Photo: bookgrlToday, 30 percent of American children are over-weight or obese. For children born in the year 2000, one out of every three Caucasians and one out of every two African American and Hispanics […]

Treehugger lacks sense of humor?

When you “crap all over Earth Day,” you can expect some angry barbs in return. Case in point is Lloyd Alter’s post over at TreeHugger.com about Grist’s “Screw Earth Day” campaign, which we found to be a fair and thoughtful rejoinder. But we think Alter missed the point. Yeah, Grist is cynical about Earth Day […]

We need Earth Day more than ever

Rick BassHaving elected Team Obama, and seen a few months of promising leadership, have we achieved Mission Accomplished with regard to righting the environmental wrongs of the Bush administration? You don’t hear the question being voiced so much as instead sense it infiltrating, with an air of unearned relief. Everywhere, after the majestic battle of […]

Obama calls renewables a ‘pillar’ of new economy

Courtesy of Georgetown UniversityPresident Obama today affirmed the place of renewable energy as one of the “five pillars” upon which he plans to build an economic recovery. In a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Obama warned Americans to expect more economic pain and a long road to recovery. He then sketched out his […]

Brief hybrid electric bike update

That’s a picture of my Hybrid Electric parked next to an especially stupid looking Hummer. Dark tinted windows make it impossible for cyclists to make eye contact with drivers. You’re playing Russian roulette when you cross in front of a car that has them. I noticed that this particular Hummer would not move for days […]

David Broder is the sultan of the status quo, and fatally uninformed about global warming

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. That is attributed to Dante, but applies best to the Washington establishment, especially one David Broder. Part 1 looked at why the establishment media’s coverage of global warming is so fatally useless.  Newsweek’s Evan Thomas unintentionally […]