Latest Articles

NRO’s media critic waxes moronic about my Salon piece

Sure, everyone knows National Review Online‘s climate blog is a must-not-read. But now the NRO‘s media critic Kevin D. Williamson has exploded (imploded?) over, of all things, my recent Salon piece, “What will make Obama a great president.” He headlines his post: “Head-Clutching Buffoonery: Salon, Romm, and Kyoto” but then hypocritically criticizes the mild sub-head […]

Spike in public transit ridership highest in 25 years

Public transit ridership in the United States continued its steady rise in the third quarter of 2008, jumping 6.5 percent overall compared to the same quarter last year — the largest quarterly rise in some 25 years. Americans took 2.8 billion trips on public transit from July through September, with ridership rising nationwide on buses, […]

Economics of recycling getting much worse

The world economic slowdown has hit recyclers hard as prices for everything from metals to plastics to paper have fallen dramatically in the last few months. While the downturn hasn’t yet completely shut down many municipal recycling programs in the United States, in some areas the precipitous price drop has led recyclers to stop collecting […]

Scientists using consumers’ computing power to develop new solar cell

Researchers at IBM and Harvard University launched a project recently that aims to use a network of consumers’ home computers to run calculations that could lead to new, more efficient solar panels. “It’s a way for people that have computers to do some good for the world,” said Joe Jasinski of IBM.

Anti-air-travel activists stage protest on U.K. airport runway

More than 50 environmental activists from anti-air-travel group Plane Stupid were arrested Monday in a protest at Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom, some 40 miles from downtown London. The activists broke into a restricted area where planes taxi between takeoff and landing and chained and barricaded themselves in place, declaring their opposition to a […]

The Black Mesa nightmare returns

For the sake of a deliberate and balanced approached to mining, indigenous rights, and environmental concerns, let’s hope U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva takes the reins at the Department of the Interior in Obama’s administration. Take this week’s startling announcement that the George W. Bush administration might quietly give the green light to reopening the scandalous […]

‘The use of carbon offsets in a cap-and-trade system can undermine the system’s integrity’

Yet another damning analysis questions the value of rip-offsets and the Clean Development Mechanism. The Government Accountability Office — hardly a bastion of progressive eco-analysis — has written a devastating critique of rip-offsets, which concludes: Key lessons from the CDM include: (1) the resources necessary to obtain project approval may reduce the cost-effectiveness and quality […]

Review of Fields of Fuel

Back in July, I reviewed a documentary film called Fields of Fuel directed by Josh Tickell. That film recently returned to Seattle after being reedited and renamed, Fuel. I actually think this new iteration is worth seeing with the caveat that you take the conspiracy theories and convoluted defenses of food-based biodiesel with a grain […]

Youth advocate for equitable international response to climate change in Poznan

Friday morning, youth from the global north and the global south gathered to create a stunning visual for the incoming delegates, party leaders, and journalists: a display that said very clearly, “Equity Now: Our Future Lies in the Balance.” That is the heart of the youth’s vision. We’re not all there yet; we have a […]

Berlin Zoo might have to send their once-famed polar bear packing

No longer the adorable baby polar bear who once graced the pages of Vanity Fair, apparently Knut is now under the threat of eviction from the Berlin Zoo. He’s almost 500 pounds, in need of a bigger home, and even, ahem, a mate. The zoo says rising costs and falling revenues mean they might have […]