Latest Articles
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Lots of natural gas is chillin’ on Alaska’s North Slope, says USGS
There’s enough natural gas frozen 2,000 feet below the permafrost on Alaska’s icy North Slope to heat 100 million homes for up to a decade, the U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday. Look alive, Palin pipeline!
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More on the proposed ‘National Energy Council’
The government in waiting Center for American Progress Action Fund held a press conference on Wednesday to unveil its new book, Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President. The book won’t be for sale until January, but some chapters are available free online now. Meanwhile, Wonk Room has a sneak peek at […]
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New Zealand’s new leader wants emissions-trading scheme
New Zealand Prime Minister-Elect John Key has a goal to implement an emissions-trading scheme within nine months — though he will face much pushback from the opposing ACT party.
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Inflated fuel efficiency ratings for Canada’s cars
A few weeks ago, Canadian resident Rachel Perks sent me an email puzzler. Why is it that apparently identical cars — same make, model, engine size, specs, etc. — are advertised with drastically better fuel economy in Canada than in the United States? To see what I mean, compare the official government fuel ratings in […]
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Schwarzenegger on the environment and the state of his party
“Let’s clean our ocean, let’s clean our water, let’s clean our air, let’s create health care reform, let’s pass the budget, let’s fix the budget deficit and the structural deficit. All of those things. And to me, when I look at those issues, I don’t look at them as Republican issues or Democratic issues. I […]
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Obama’s pledge on the border wall
Barack Obama’s victory is good news for reversing one of the great environmental and humanitarian crimes of the Bush era: the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The wall, about 280 miles long, is a disaster for the wildlife, landscape, people, and economy of the American Southwest. It prevents highly endangered species like jaguars (U.S. population unknown), ocelots […]
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T. Boone Pickens’ wind-power plans becalmed
T. Boone Pickens’ plan to build a gigantuous wind farm in Texas is being held up thanks to a drop in natural-gas prices and the credit crunch. “With natural gas prices where they are, you can’t kick off a wind project, you’re not economical,” Pickens said on Tuesday, adding the next day, “When you’re talking […]
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Seven post-financial-crisis opportunities for healthier economies
Are there silver linings to the dark cloud of the financial crisis? It is a truism in our politics that only a crisis produces real change. So, looking on the positive side, what might we hope this crisis will bring forward? Here are seven outcomes worth seeking: 1. For decades, anti-regulation market fundamentalists have argued […]
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Mustache Q&A
There’s an interesting Q&A with Tom Friedman up on Huffington Post. Check it out. DB: I was just reading the chapter in your book titled "205 Ways To Save The Earth." Do you ever wish that "green" hadn’t become stylish? TF: Yes and no. When something becomes a fad, it has an upside and a […]
