Latest Articles

Umbra on eco-friendly detergents

Dear Umbra, Like a good guilt-ridden liberal, I’ve switched to supposed earth-friendly dish detergent. And, on the basis of previous Ask Umbra columns, I don’t rinse my dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Here’s the thing: About 10 percent of items are still dirty when the dishwasher pronounces things clean. So then I […]

Where will we find infrastructure funding under cap-and-dividend?

I’m not sure I qualify as a cap-and-dividend advocate — I’m mostly an advocate of not feeling the need to rank every flavor of carbon policy, whose heavily negotiated fate rests in the hands of our brave, capable legislators — but I at least qualify as a fan. If I were king, my carbon edict […]

Does economics even look at the real world?

I keep asking myself these questions — and I hold a PhD that says I should know the answers! When public policy is guided by economic analysis, the environment is under threat, and the economy is in a hole, not knowing the answer to these questions creates a big problem. Unfortunately there is no one […]

The Versace beach will be refrigerated

Is this a sign of the times to come or a sign of the crimes to come? The UK Times reports: Versace, the renowned fashion house, is to create the world’s first refrigerated beach so that hotel guests can walk comfortably across the sand on scorching days. The beach will be next to the the […]

Eco-activist bids up oil and gas leases at auction

At a federal auction for oil and gas leases in Utah last week, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher posed as a buyer, successfully bidding up lease prices on BLM land by hundreds of thousands of dollars and winning 13 parcels that he admits he can’t actually pay for. The BLM is giving the other (real) bidders […]

EPA requires cruise ships to get discharge permits for graywater

Compelled by court order, the U.S. EPA last week announced that cruise ships and a variety of other vessels will be required to seek permits for dumping certain kinds of waste into U.S. waters, including deck runoff, ballast water, and graywater from showers, sinks, and laundry machines. However, greens say the rules would allow cruise […]

Hundreds of Brazilian eco-activists at risk of assassination, report says

Working to save Brazil’s rainforests, as well as its land, air, and water is a dangerous pursuit, putting at least 260 environmental and human-rights activists at risk of assassination, according to a new report by the Catholic Land Commission. The report’s release coincides with the 20th anniversary of the assassination of activist Chico Mendes, who […]

Obama announces science advisers in his weekly radio address

Barack Obama announced his science and technology advisers in his weekly radio address on Saturday. The list includes Jane Lubchenco as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and John Holdren as his assistant for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Whether it’s the science […]

Swedish crematorium plans to partially heat nearby town

A crematorium in the Swedish town of Halmstad, which has been criticized for its heavy pollution, has announced plans to use the waste heat from its body-burning operations to heat its own facilities and eventually also heat other buildings in town. Cemetery director Lennart Andersson said of the plan, “Of course it’s possible that there […]

Vote for the top eco-villain of 2008

Check out our nominees, and then vote in the poll below. And tell us who we missed in comments. (Also see our list of heroes.) Stephen Johnson Once upon a time, we thought Bush’s EPA chief was a harmless technocrat. Instead he turned out to be the most flaccid apparatchik in an administration groaning with […]