Latest Articles

U.S. negotiating team in Poznan dodges questions on Bush’s climate inactivism

Below is another dispatch from the climate talks in Poland by CAP Senior Fellow Andrew Light, first printed in WonkRoom. —– In one of the more surreal moments of this year’s U.N. climate change talks, Bush’s chief environmental adviser blamed Russia for the Bush administration’s climate change obstructionism. The U.S. negotiating team featuring James Connaughton, […]

Jackson: Standing on the shoulders of pygmies

“This is an exciting time at EPA, and Lisa will direct an agency that is poised to build on the many environmental successes accomplished since 2001. While environmental responsibility is everyone’s responsibility, I am particularly proud of the role EPA has played in bringing about record results on behalf of the American people and our […]

Who will guide Obama’s placemaking policy?

Sources say that Obama is going to tap Adolfo Carrión Jr. to serve as director of the newly created White House Office of Urban Policy. Carrión is the current president of the Bronx Borough, and was formerly a specialist in the New York City Department of City Planning as well as a member of the […]

A roundup of savory holiday links from Grist

Since it’s the holiday season, it’s time for a trip down candy cane Grist archive lane to revisit some festive links that are, uh, evergreen: Decorations Deck your halls with a sprinkling of mistletoe trivia, like that “mistletoe” means “dung on a twig.” That’ll get your lips wet. And Umbra explains why LED holiday lights […]

ACCE pulls down clean coal carolers from its site

Bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee, But the levee was under a half mile of rubble from a mountaintop that had been decapitated … OK, I’m no Don McClean, but then neither is the ACCCE (American Coalition for Clean Coal Euphemisms?). We’re still two weeks from Christmas, but the coal industry […]

Earth Hour hopes to reach a billion people in 2009

It looks like Earth Hour — the one hour a year when everyone turns off their lights as a symbol of concern over global warming — is going to be huge this year. Seventy-four cities in 62 countries have already committed, and organizers are hoping to reach a billion people in 1,000 cities by the […]

Critics say EPA pick failed to clean up N.J.’s toxic sites

Lisa Jackson, who President-elect Barack Obama is expected to name Monday evening to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, is already being hailed as a historic choice. The former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and transition team member would be the first African-American EPA chief, and supporters have praised her work ethic, […]

Obama’s Interior pick still up in the air; Salazar and Berry cited as top contenders

Barack Obama is scheduled to officially announce his key energy and environmental appointments today at 5 p.m. EST, but one important spot is likely to remain unfilled for a few more days: secretary of the interior. Early on, it seemed like Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva was the likely pick. But sources close to the transition […]

Serena’s cautionary tale

On Oct. 18, 1929, just days before the stock market crash, Thomas Wolfe published his monumental novel, Look Homeward, Angel, unveiling the machinations behind small town life in western North Carolina. It took Wolfe several years to return to his Asheville hometown, and when he finally took his first glimpse of the Blue Ridge in […]

Umbra on children’s art supplies

Hey Umbra, I’ve got a niece with a second birthday coming up and I’d like to get her a present that doesn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or TV. So, I thought, how about an art set? What better way to get those creative juices going at an early age than some finger […]