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Obama hypes the green aspects of his budget plan

President Obama is giving top billing to clean energy and green jobs as he promotes his $3.6 trillion budget plan. Addressing a group of clean-tech entrepreneurs and researchers on Monday, the president noted that his proposed budget includes $150 billion over 10 years for direct investments in clean energy and efficiency, as well as $75 […]

Using food as a tool of development, not extraction

When Michelle Obama plunged a shovel into the White House lawn last Friday, she wasn’t just preparing a productive vegetable-garden bed. She’s was also tilling fertile ground for debate about  new directions for the food system.  In the New York Times, Andrew Martin helpfully got the ball rolling in a recent piece called “Is a […]

When the global Ponzi scheme collapses (circa 2030), the only jobs left will be green

In The U.S. requires a strong climate bill to remain competitive, Part 1, I reprised the thesis first documented by Harvard’s Michael Porter — strong, leading edge, pro-innovation regulations promote national competitiveness. As President Obama said last week: We can let the jobs of tomorrow be created abroad, or we can create those jobs right […]

I'd Rather Go Naked Than Burn MTR Coal

It is time to abolish mountaintop removal mining, not regulate it. That is the fervent message being spread from community to community, and state to state, now that scores of ANFO explosive-packing mountaintop removal permits stand at the doors of the Army Corps of Engineers, ready to be issued after the recent 4th Circuit Court […]

First DOE loan guarantee goes to … a solar manufacturer

The Department of Energy announced on Friday that the first energy loan guarantee authorized by the 2005 (!) Energy Policy Act went to a plant that manufactures solar panels: Energy Secretary Steven Chu today offered a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra, Inc. to support the company’s construction of a commercial-scale manufacturing plant for its […]

Umbra on the other greenhouse gases

Dear Umbra, I have heard and am beginning to understand one of the biggest movements of social change occurring right now: we need to reduce our carbon footprint. I have also heard that while carbon is our most abundant greenhouse gas byproduct (by way of the burning of fossil fuels) other gases, such as methane, […]

Steven Chu chats with Charlie Rose

Chu starts about 21 minutes in: [vodpod id=Video.1420705&w=425&h=350&fv=docId%3D-8696557984325524065%26playerMode%3Dsimple%26hl%3Den]

The U.S. requires a strong climate bill to remain competitive

Contrary to popular belief, a strong climate bill will not harm U.S. competitiveness. Quite the reverse — it is our only hope for restoring U.S. leadership in key job creating industries such as solar energy, wind power, and automobile manufacturing, which was lost in large part because of conservative orthodoxy (see “U.S. left in the […]

I-5 to become eco-haven?

Rocket scientists Governors Gregoire, Kulongoski, and Schwarzenegger are supporting a brilliant idea to grab some of the stimulus funds. From a Seattle Times article that garnered 140 comments: The three governors envision a series of alternative fueling stations stretching from the Canadian border to Mexico, creating what has been dubbed a “green freeway.” They also […]

Scientists and science writers take Will to task in the WaPo

I didn’t follow the George Will Climate Crank Controversy very closely on this blog. You can read a comprehensive play-by-play from Adam Siegel here. The good news is, two new shots were fired today by the forces of sanity, in the pages of the Washington Post, which hosted Will’s original idiocy. The first is an […]