Latest Articles

Goodbye to the clamshell?

I rarely buy be-clamshelled merchandise any more, but I remember it with horror, so this seems like excellent news:

Editing is really a good thing for the blogosphere

There is a kerfuffle in the blogosphere because Matt Yglesias’ employer forced a post into the blog Matt writes that disclaims something Matt said about a group called Third Way. And there are good reasons for raised eyebrows. It’s the wrong way to make such a disclaimer. The Center for American Progress could have asked […]

Evidence that Antarctica has warmed significantly over past 50 years

Scientists know the Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass “100 years ahead of schedule” (see here and here). Now, as Nature‘s climate blog reports, two studies presented last week at the AGU meeting document what should not be a surprise, but still is. New research suggests “the entire Antarctic continent may have warmed significantly over […]

The top green stories of 2008

In a sense, there was only one story in 2008, and what a story it was: extraordinary promise, shattered illusions, and ultimately triumph. We’re talking, of course, about Britney’s recovery. And then there was that election. What a ride, eh? Packed with more drama than a telenovela, chock-full of rhetoric on energy and the environment, […]

The VC models are to blame, not the green technologies

It’s worth reviewing this great presentation from the folks at @Ventures: [vodpod id=Video.16097730&w=425&h=350&fv=] If they’re right — as I believe they are — we are soon going to see lots of greentech venture capital funds lose money. Given the potential for that loss to be skewed as “green technologies aren’t profitable” rather than “greentech VCs […]

Grist predicted the ass-fat trend that could land one Beverly Hills doc in the slammer

Back when I was a Grist underling intern, I wrote a piece about the world’s strangest biofuel sources, including, ahem, ass fat. Now it appears that using that trunk junk to power your car is not only gag-worthy, but also illegal. Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner is under investigation for using his patients’ flab […]

Boxer asks DOJ to force EPA withdrawal of ‘blatantly illegal’ emissions memo

Back in November, the EPA Environmental Appeals Board voted to stop new coal plants cold. But as the NYT reported Friday, “Officials weighing federal applications by utilities to build new coal-fired power plants cannot consider their greenhouse gas output, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency ruled late Thursday.” (Note to self: Keep repeating, “January […]

Giant pond of coal ash escapes, floods Tennessee homes

A giant flood of coal ash — the toxic sludge left over after coal burning — broke through an earthen retaining wall at a plant in Harriman, Tenn., Monday. Five hundred million gallons of nastiness flowed into tributaries of the Tennessee River and inundated a dozen nearby homes. Either Santa has it out for Harriman […]

TVA coal disaster is toxic wake-up call

An estimated 500 million gallons of coal-ash sludge are seeping along the I-40 Knoxville-Nashville corridor in eastern Tennessee, after an earthen wall gave way on Dec. 22 at the TVA Harriman coal-fired plant. While no casualties were reported, the coal-ash spill — the refuse left over after the plant burns the coal — should be […]

Politico lets shill get away with the basic dodge at the center of the ‘clean coal’ campaign

The "clean coal" PR people are running a scam. Thing is, it’s an obvious scam — easily exposed, easily debunked. Just because it’s obvious, though, doesn’t mean the media won’t fall for it. Indeed, the entire "clean coal" propaganda push is premised on the media’s gullibility. Here’s the scam: They leave the definition of "clean […]