Latest Articles

Vote for the top eco-hero 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 villains.) Barack Obama OK, it’s obvious — but that don’t mean it ain’t so. The community organizer made it to the White House on a platform of re-powering America. He’s already […]

A new video from Green Gorilla, on MTR

The new episode from Green Gorilla, on mountaintop removal mining:

Breaking! Global warming disproven

Seattle is facing a snowpocalypse. This is my front yard right now: You can’t really tell but those bushes are half-buried. I await Jim Hansen’s apology.

Desperate enough to contemplate geo-engineering

[I think that as a climate-saving strategy geo-engineering is somewhere between a dead end and a hoax — why would you choose chemotherapy that might make you sicker if your doctors told you diet and exercise would definitely work (see "Geo-engineering remains a bad idea" and "Geo-engineering is not the answer")? The likely new science […]

Rewarding utilities for conservation success through ‘decoupling’

Utilities are among the few remaining large companies that are relatively solvent and profitable. Harnessing their might to offer retrofits for all would be a powerful step toward economic stimulus. But most utilities in Cascadia are conflicted about helping their customers save energy. On the one hand, they’re legally obligated to do it. On the […]

Searching for the hope in Obama’s USDA pick

Is it too early to peel my Obama sticker off my car? I am more than disappointed by the President-elect’s nomination of Tom Vilsack for secretary of agriculture. But after some reflection, this dark cloud may have one ray of light coming through. During his remarks at the press conference announcing the choice of Vilsack, […]

RGGI auction: CO2 trading at $3 per ton

The RGGI held its second auction for carbon allowances on Wednesday. As noted on the RGGI website: States will sell emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in consumer benefits: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other clean energy technologies. RGGI will spur innovation in the clean energy economy and create green jobs in each state. […]

For NOAA head, Obama appoints yet another scientist who gets climate

PEBO has picked Jane Lubchenco, a prominent marine biologist at Oregon State University, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science between 1997-98. A video of her talk on “Climate Change and its Implications for Oregon” can be found here. In “Obama […]

NYT weighs in on Vilsack pick

Again, I’m heartened to see media attention alight on the USDA, which until not long ago interested big-ag lobbyists, large-scale grain and cotton farmers, anti-hunger activists, and few others. The latest evidence: The New York Times editorial page has seen fit to comment on Obama’s choice of Tom Vilsack as USDA chief. "The department he […]

Mysteries of on-bill financing revealed!

In my last post, I described a nonprofit bank’s program for financing building energy retrofits, as a way to speed the green-collar recovery. Here, I describe two new, innovative approaches to financing efficiency upgrades in buildings — meter loans and local improvement districts — and one old-school, utility-run approach that may be the best bet […]