Latest Articles

Obama will never get 67 votes for an international climate treaty in the Senate

It is all but inconceivable that Obama can deliver the 67 votes in the Senate needed to ratify a global climate treaty — no matter what happens in the 12 months between Poznań and Copenhagen. And the only thing worse than no global climate treaty in 2009 is a treaty that Obama can’t get ratified. […]

E.U. agrees on emission rules for cars

The European Union has reportedly struck a deal with the bloc’s automakers, agreeing to rules that would see car manufacturers cut their fleets’ emissions 18 percent by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020. The E.U. had proposed a tougher standard last year, but heavy lobbying from automakers successfully diluted the goals.

President Bush pardons man convicted of killing bald eagles

A man convicted of accidentally killing three bald eagles in the 1990s was pardoned by President Bush last week. Leslie Owen Collier of Missouri left hamburger poisoned with pesticide to kill some coyotes, but many of the animals that then ate the coyotes also died, including a red-tailed hawk, a great horned owl, and three […]

Ford planning shift to small cars, company says

Ford Motor Co. is planning a significant product shift that will focus on the manufacture of small, fuel-efficient cars in lieu of its largely failed strategy since the 1990s to churn out mostly large vehicles like trucks and SUVs. Ford’s plan is meant to woo Congress into granting the Big Three U.S. automakers a much-needed […]

Massive solar installation completed in Southern California

California’s largest solar-panel installation was completed this week atop a warehouse in Southern California; 600,000 square feet of solar panels will produce enough electricity to power some 1,300 homes. The installation is the first in the utility Edison’s ambitious plan to affix solar panels on some two square miles of rooftops in the state.

SOS trumps NSA (Hillary Clinton trumps Gen. Jones)

Some enviros are annoyed that PEBO chose a national security adviser (NSA), retired Marine Gen. James Jones, who has emphasized energy security concerns over global warming — see, for instance, this lame transition report on energy (PDF) Jones just oversaw for the US Chamber of Commerce. The Politico actually just interviewed me on this very […]

Turning old bus seat fabric into shoes is a fashion fail

Recycling? Hot. Public transit? Also hot. Recycling bus seat covers into shoes? Fugly.

The food price blame game

Tactic No. 1: Create a straw man. Nobody in their right mind can claim that corn ethanol has no impact on corn prices, or that corn prices have no impact on food prices. You can only debate the extent of the corn’s impact. Here’s a conclusion from a study released this year [PDF] that supports […]

Umbra on greening the office

Dear Umbra, The Powers That Be at my job have decided to start a Green Initiative. The project got put on the desk of the office manager, who doesn’t know where to start. I signed up to be a part of the committee, and I was wondering if you had any advice about how to […]

Rumors swirl that Brazilian bombshell’s NFL heartthrob BF caught MRSA

I’ve been writing about the antibiotic-resistant bacteria strain called MRSA for a while. Evidence is mounting that by regularly dumping strong antibiotics into the feed rations of confined hogs, the meat industry is creating virulent bacteria strains that infect humans. My BF’s got a nasty bug! Photo: Daniel Semper. Well, I knew antibiotic abuse by […]