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Say “I do” to a green wedding on a budget

Photo: SimonShaw via Flickr. In two months, I will walk across a lawn in taffeta and heels to stand beside my baby sister as she says “I do.” Which means I have spent the last several months planning parties, calming crises, and trying not to gawk at the huge price tag looming over this blessed […]

Let millionaires pay to solve our twin environmental and economic crises

Economic and environmental problems are two consequences of one mistake, a mistake every farmer used to know the folly of: eating our seed corn

Power plant performance down in 2008

Here’s an interesting followup to last week’s post about about the uncertain links between recession and long-term climate change: Shakeb Afsah at Climate Data Due Diligence wrote to tell us that even though total carbon emissions from power plants fell in 2008, the carbon intensity of the power sector — that is, the amount of […]

“Peak” gas in 2007?

The Wall Street Journal reports that an increasing number of energy analysts think that U.S. gasoline sales will never surpass their 2007 record: Among those who say U.S. consumption of gasoline has peaked are executives at the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as many private analysts and government energy […]

Cap and trade works!

Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) on the radio last week: You have to believe in a tooth fairy to believe that we can regulate a cap-and-trade system. Say what?! That’s an odd thing to say. Cap and trade markets have been in existence for well over a decade — and the programs have worked quite well. […]

Vilsack makes an industry-friendly pick to head the school lunch program

Processed junk … again? Photo: dancing chopsticks USDA chief Tom Vilsack has repeatedly said that improving child nutrition will be one of his priorities. One key place to start would be the National School Lunch Program. Because of miserly federal funding for ingredients and kitchen equipment, the cafeteria kitchens in our nation’s public schools have […]

What explains the recent popularity of market-based environmental solutions?

Despite the potential cost-effectiveness of market-based policy instruments like pollution taxes and tradable permits, conventional approaches — including design and uniform performance standards — have been the mainstay of U.S. environmental policy since before the first Earth Day in 1970. Gradually, however, the political process has become more receptive to innovative, market-based strategies. In the […]

Are we hearing enough from real-world climate pollution reducers?

I’ve got a somewhat half-formed thought I’d like to throw out. I’m not sure I have the broad historical/academic/whatever knowledge to back it up (“What’s new?” they ask in unison), but let’s see if it resonates with anyone else. It’s well know that actual markets don’t behave like Ideal Markets full of Rational Actors — […]

A few (green) minutes with Andy Rooney…

The old codger has been haunting my Sunday evenings for more than three decades. When I was a kid, “60 Minutes” opinionator Andy Rooney was kinda entertaining; his “common sense” rants about the stupidity of daily life appealed to my pre-pubescent world view. And as I got older, it was still fun to watch the […]

Avoid the bottle blues

Tip #2: Save money (and the planet) by avoiding bottled water. Already heard it? Then get busy converting your friends and family to the anti-bottled-water campaign. Grist has been beating the drum on this one FOREVER… Ashley Braun preached the good word in January 2008, noting: “Production of plastic water bottles requires three times the […]