Latest Articles

South Korean court jails captain of oil tanker involved in 2007 spill

The captain and first mate of an oil tanker that caused South Korea’s largest oil spill last year have been convicted of criminal negligence for failing to avoid a collision with a barge. Members of the barge crew were also jailed for their role in the collision, which dumped some 2.7 million gallons of crude […]

Conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region devastating forests too

Aside from killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions more, the ongoing conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region is also taking a toll on the environment. Displaced people have cut down huge swaths of forest to make mud bricks in wood-fired kilns and to use as cooking fuel. Farmers expelled from their land have […]

Sources say Obama will drop EPA head and ‘energy czar’ as early as today

A source close to the transition tells me that Obama will drop the names of his energy czar and EPA head today. The decision may be coming out earlier than expected to try to help take the edge off the endless Blagojevich coverage. Al Kamen says his sources tell him the energy czar is going […]

O come all ye enemies of the human race

The American Coalition for Coal Ponies, or America’s Manly Power, or whatever they’re called, has a site up where you can watch little lumps of coal singing bastardized holiday songs. Yes: exploiting religious hymns in service of selling a product that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year and may soon make the planet […]

The 25 middle-aged white guys who are frying the earth

You can find their names here.

Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal

The energy and climate news is coming way too fast and furious for me to comment at length on every story. So here is everyone’s favorite W.Va. reporter, Ken Ward Jr. on the story: CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the world’s largest financial institutions said this week it will phase out lending money to coal […]

This gift guide saves energy — and it’s recession-proof!

  Don’t get wrapped up in holiday stress. Giving green is easy!   OK, so gas prices have eased up a bit — but the economy’s still tanking. Wouldn’t it be oh-so-thoughtful to give your loved ones gifts that can help them save money this year? Gifts that also save energy, which helps ye olde […]

A review of The Big Necessity

Great non-fiction writing is like great fiction writing: It produces books that are hard to put down, that give you insight into yourself and others, and that change the way you look at the world. A young woman named Rose George has produced a great work of reporting and, for my money, has likely produced […]

How to green your giving

Give the gift of green. It’s a lovely thing, giving a gift. Whatever the tradition or religion, whatever the source of the custom, there’s no arguing that it’s a lovely thing. However, that lovely thing has been corrupted by our out-of-whack consumer society. No longer is sentiment enough — that sentiment must be expressed through […]

Hill briefing tries to stir support for a carbon tax

With more than a month yet to go before the new Congress is officially sworn in (and the old Congress still kicking around in lame duck session), some wonk-types were on the Hill today trying to stir up support for a carbon tax. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), who last year introduced a carbon tax bill […]