Latest Articles

On the need to distinguish between consumption spending and investment spending

A while back, both Ezra and Ryan pointed to this post from James Surowecki, economics writer for the New Yorker. The first paragraph should be inscribed on the wall of Congress: One of the peculiarities of the U.S. budget process is that we don’t distinguish between "expenditures" that are actually long-term investments, often with high […]

Obama has outplayed McCain on coal

There’s a lot of hubbub about the latest Obama coal controversy. To state the obvious: there’s very little chance that something like this, breaking this late in the election, will have any effect on anything. It’s sound and fury. That said, folks should look closely at exactly what Obama said. As I argued in these […]

Umbra on compost and climate

Dear Umbra, I was explaining to my neighbor (who doesn’t even recycle) why he shouldn’t throw out a bag of leaves with his trash. Just to clarify, he asked what to do with it. I explained composting; he doesn’t want to. I explained the energy expended in transporting his leaves and that landfills emit greenhouse […]

The European wind industry continues its march to dominance

The European energy market has been driven for years by restrictions on CO2 and taxpayer support for renewable energy. As a result, Europe boasts many of the biggest, strongest wind companies in the world. In the U.S., we largely leave the energy market up to the vagaries of rising and falling oil prices. As a […]

Some 10,000 endangered-turtle eggs seized in Malaysia

About 10,000 eggs from endangered green and hawksbill sea turtles were seized in Malaysia this week, though the eggs are believed to be from the Philippines. If the eggs haven’t been damaged too much, some of them may still be able to hatch in a nature reserve, officials said.

Cheney, others oppose Bush’s pending marine-reserve plan

Vice President Dick Cheney and others inside the White House have expressed opposition to President Bush’s proposed plan to designate more marine protected areas in the Pacific before he leaves office. (We definitely did not see that one coming.) Fisheries interests and some local officials in the Mariana Islands have also said they oppose restricted […]

How could Obama put climate and energy policy under a single roof?

Last month, the U.K. government grouped energy and environmental policy under a single department. Last week, the Canadian government put the economy, environment, and energy security together under a single ministry. This reflects growing realization in the developed world that environmental policy is no longer an add-on, no longer an altruistic affair to be addressed […]

Running mags go green!

Running has not escaped the ever-more-embracing tentacles of our friend Going Green. The past weekend’s New York City Marathon made efforts to improve eco-friendliness, and magazines Runner’s World and Running Times both highlighted greenness in recent editions. For its article, Running Times elicited advice from one Sarah K. Burkhalter. Oh hey, that’s me! Money quote: […]

New, more restrictive plan released for Yellowstone snowmobiles

A new plan allowing fewer snowmobiles into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks has been released by the National Park Service which would cut by nearly 40 percent the number of loud, polluting snowmobiles allowed into the parks each day. The previous plan called for allowing up to 540 snowmobiles a day, but that plan […]

EPA investigator blows the whistle on BP oil spill case

Way back in March 2006, BP pipelines ruptured and dumped tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil all over the Alaskan tundra. It was the biggest oil spill since the Exxon-Valdez. There was a criminal investigation. And then … there wasn’t. What happened? Seattle’s King 5 has broken the story: Scott West, a top […]