Latest Articles

NBC news ignores climate change, blows the bark beetle story

The oldest Utah newspaper understands “climate change is now being blamed for an increased population of bark beetles.” The journal Nature published an article just this April, “Mountain pine beetle and forest carbon feedback to climate change.” The Canadian media knows, “Climate-Driven Pest Devours Canada’s Forests.” Yet NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams manages to […]

We need a price-floor on fossil fuels

As oil prices tumble — now hovering around $65 per barrel — there is growing concern that some of the momentum that was building for renewable energy may be waning. This situation highlights one of the key constraints that we face in moving to a low-carbon society: uncertainty in fossil-fuel prices depresses investments in alternative […]

From Junk to Trunk

Or are you just soapy to see me? Man Junk: “A line of organic shampoos for the discriminating scrotum.” Members only, please. Drink, baby, drink! May we interest you in the organic Palin Syrah? It’s a relatively new red, spicy and smooth, that pairs well with something old and tough. And for dessert, the baked […]

Kentucky Republican McConnell calls himself the ‘Godfather of Green’ in reelection bid

Mitch McConnell. In January, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released an ad for his reelection campaign in which he proclaimed himself the “Godfather of Green” and an “environmental champion.” Anyone who’s followed McConnell’s 24-year career in the Senate probably mistook the ad as satire. McConnell has earned an underwhelming lifetime voting score of 7 […]

Day two from the foodie blowout in Turin, Italy

Turin, Italy — Yesterday I left off at the Presidia section of the Salone del Gusto, having met up with my friend the fermentation scholar and teacher Sandor Katz, and his friend the food scholar Jeffrey Roberts, author of The Atlas of American Artisinal Cheese. By that point, I was overwhelmed by the variety on […]

With climate change bringing the heat, take a look at the next tourist hot spots

When we saw this list of so-called “Global Warming’s Winners” on ForbesTraveler.com, at first we thought, “Seriously?” And then we thought, “I sure could go for a cookie!” But after a quick snack, we reconsidered their hot-or-not travel judgments on places that stand to gain or lose from climate change, and made a few assessments […]

Spokesfolk from the presidential campaigns talk transit in Our Nation’s Capital

Via Greater Greater Washington, representatives for both Barack Obama and John McCain spoke on a panel about transportation here in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Local radio station WTOP reports on what they had to say, at least about transit in Our Nation’s Capital: Where does your candidate stand on rail to Dulles? Mortimer Downey, adviser […]

Greenland ice-loss soars: Bad for you, great for bottled water biz

A new study in Geophysical Research Letters ($ub. req’d) led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory finds … … the ice sheet was losing 110 ± 70 Gt/yr [billion tons/year] in the 1960s, 30 ± 50 Gt/yr or near balance in the 1970s-1980s, and 97 ± 47 Gt/yr in 1996 increasing rapidly to 267 ± 38 […]

Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis

Chip and I have an op-ed in the Seattle Times: "Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis." It begins: Polar ice caps are melting, but Wall Street is melting down. The ongoing financial crisis means that the next president will have to postpone or dramatically scale back plans to address the twin problems […]

Recession is the time to build a low-carbon future

Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, has a good article in the U.K.’s Guardian, “Green routes to growth.” The former chief economist with the World Bank offers up “two crucial lessons we must learn from the financial turbulence the world has been facing”: First, this crisis has […]