Latest Articles
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Umbra on turning down the heat
Dear Umbra, Many of my friends are environmentally minded and do lots of things to try to have a smaller carbon footprint. Yet when I tell people I turn my heat down when I leave the house even for an hour or two, and that I turn it down to 50 at night, they say, […]
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A roundup of greenish news from around the Capitol
• Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) says he is considering running to fill the Senate seat that Republican Mel Martinez is planning to vacate in 2010. • Incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss prevailed in yesterday’s run-off election in Georgia. He beat out Democratic challenger Jim Martin, who was endorsed by Sierra Club and the […]
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‘Time to get real’
I’m not necessarily comfortable with the fact that crusty old white farmer types in beat-up caps are the sine qua non of authenticity in the American imagination, but it is what it is, so I really like this new ad from Repower America:
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If there’s no U.S. climate bill in 2009, would U.N. climate talks collapse in Copenhagen?
I have argued that Obama won’t be able to ratify any global climate treaty that is likely to come out of Copenhagen next December. Since the only thing worse than no global climate treaty in 2009 is a treaty that the President can’t get ratified, Obama, I believe, should be lowering expectations rather than making […]
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Humanity is still bargaining with climate change
I’ve had a thought bouncing around, somewhat inchoate, that I shall now try to render in the language you humans call "English," despite the fuzzy-headedness brought on by Seattle’s relentlessly gray sky. Pardon the rambling. You constantly see stories in the media about things that might derail our still-nascent efforts to avert the worst of […]
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Obama nominates N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson to head Commerce Department
Barack Obama officially announced today that he is nominating New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) to be his secretary of commerce. (See our reporting on Richardson’s green record from last week.) In his announcement, Obama cited Richardson’s work on energy as an important factor. “As a former secretary of energy, Bill understands the steps we […]
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Canadian oil sands projects could kill up to 166 million birds, study says
Canadian oil sands projects are likely to kill up to 166 million birds over the next 50 years through habitat loss, pollution, and other effects, according to a study by a coalition of environmental groups.
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Island nations call for steep emission cuts to curb rising seas
At the United Nations climate conference in Poland this week, a coalition of over 40 island nations called for extremely ambitious reductions in world greenhouse-gas emissions, fearing the effects of rising seas. The nations proposed that industrialized countries slash their emissions more than 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and more than 95 percent […]
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Roadless rule limited to 10 Western states, judge rules
A federal judge on Tuesday limited the scope of President Clinton’s popular “roadless rule” to federal lands in 10 Western states instead of the whole country, leaving some 13.6 million acres of roadless forests largely unprotected from road-building and other development. Tuesday’s ruling is a compromise between throwing the rule out and keeping protections in […]
