Latest Articles

Reality Coalition releases new ad spoofing coal industry

The Reality Coalition has another installment of its campaign pointing out that “clean coal” doesn’t really exist. This one, “COALergy: Leave Climate Change to Us,” spoofs coal-industry advertising:

New NOAA head will have plenty of work to do

President-elect Barack Obama’s appointment of Jane Lubchenco, an Oregon State University marine biologist, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could be a major positive step for protecting America’s fisheries. In recent years, NOAA has ignored scientists’ advice when it comes to setting quotas for some of our most vulnerable fish species, favoring commercial […]

Proposed new USDA rule generates controversy

What are you seeking when you shell out extra cash for organic milk? Some folks aim to avoid the synthetic growth hormones and genetically modified, pesticide-treated feed U.S. dairy cows typically find in their rations. As currently written, USDA organic rules deliver that. But what about access to pasture? Cows evolved as grass eaters; forcing […]

Pielke, Tierney, Lomborg, and CEI diss Obama science adviser

[Please post your response to Tierney’s column here.] Science advisor pick John Holdren gets global warming. Although he is wildly overqualified for the job compared to anybody a GOP President has named in recent memory — heck, Holdren was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science — the deniers and delayers have […]

Obama says trade agreements must protect environment

Any trade agreements signed by soon-to-be-President Barack Obama must “[preserve] the planet we all share,” the president-elect declared Friday. Chief trade negotiator nominee Ron Kirk concurred: “[A] values-driven agenda that stays true to our commitment to … environmental sustainability is not only consistent with a pro-trade agenda, but it’s also necessary for its success.” Obama […]

We got tanked at the Architecture for Humanity holiday fete

What happens when your nonprofit asks for a donation of nine bottles of vodka for its "recession special" holiday party and gets nine cases of Grey Goose instead? We crashed Architecture for Humanity‘s offices last week to find out. The organization has become a media darling for harnessing open source, Web 2.0 technologies to bring […]

Hadley Center study warns of ‘catastrophic’ 5-7°C warming by 2100 on current emissions path

Dr. Vicky Pope, head of climate change predictions at the Met Office’s Hadley Centre, writes in the UK Times that In a worst-case scenario, where no action is taken to check the rise in Greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures would most likely rise by more than 5°C by the end of the century. It may be […]

What Obama’s new science adviser has to say about climate change

Ben Smith digs up two pieces from Obama’s new science adviser, John Holdren. The first, from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, titled “The Sky Is Falling,” requires a subscription (though perhaps the title says enough). And here’s a piece titled “The Future of Climate Change Policy: The U.S.’s Last Chance to Lead,” from Scientific […]

Weak dollar and economy are an opportunity for land conservation

It’s an interesting time to be running any sort of nonprofit, but especially so for those that specialize in buying and conserving land. The market crash has staved off development pressures in most parts of the country as new housing starts are slumping, putting on hold the constant race to buy parcels with important conservation […]

Barbara Boxer wants AG to block EPA’s Johnson

Senate Environment and Public Works chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) is petitioning Attorney General Michael Mukasey to stop “renegade” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson’s recent decision on coal-fired power plants. Johnson decreed last week that power plants’ greenhouse-gas emissions shouldn’t be taken into consideration when determining whether to approve their construction, countering the EPA Appeals […]