Latest Articles

Oil refineries are full of asbestos, not just carbon

I received this article about the connection between mesothelioma cancer and oil refineries via email along with a request to share it. As we continue to rely on oil, some will face worse consequences than losing their shirts. The original article is posted below: If you’ve been following the widespread coverage related to the upcoming […]

Chef Dan Barber and sustainable ag expert Fred Kirschenmann set the table for a new food policy

Grist asked two gurus from the sustainable farm/food world to weigh in on the role of food in the 2008 election. Before they could get to work on their piece, Michael Pollan landed his opus in The New York Times Magazine. That sent our experts in a new direction — an op-ed as dialogue. Dan […]

How to make a meal from your market basket

  Turning market treats into good eats.   On a recent trip to the farmers market, I found a mountain of leafy greens of all different hues and textures. I couldn’t resist buying four varieties: rainbow chard, red Russian kale, an Asian green similar to spinach, and escarole. Cooler weather also means the arrival of […]

Khosla’s letter to Science backfires

Vinod Khosla has a letter in the Oct. 17 issue of Science ($ub. req’d) critiquing the Searchinger et al study: “U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change.” Question: Why would the editors at Science publish a letter from someone who is not a biologist or a peer of the researchers […]

The word of Lahde

The internets have been having lots of fun with a farewell letter sent by Andrew Lahde, who ran the hedge fund Lahde Capital Management. That fund was up 870 percent last year, so Lahde decided, screw it, he’s rich enough and he’s quitting. And going out with quite a bang too. The entire letter is […]

Gratitude for quirky wind entrepreneurs

This story about a quirky entrepreneur pursuing the first large-scale, floating-turbine, offshore wind project on the Oregon coast reminded me of this story of a quirky entrepreneur pursuing a massive offshore wind project on the Delaware coast. Both faced stiff resistance — the latter eventually overcame it, the former, not yet. Let us pause and […]

Two men convicted in Ivory Coast toxic-waste-dumping case, execs not charged

Two men were handed jail sentences of five and 20 years respectively this week for their roles in illegally dumping some 400 tons of toxic waste in populated areas of the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 2006, killing 17 and sickening tens of thousands more. All together, some 140,000 gallons of waste was dumped […]

Population growth and climate: The E.U.-15 vs. the U.S.

The relative population trends of the E.U.-15 and the United States seem to be a source of some confusion, if comments to my recent post on the European Union’s effort to meet its Kyoto targets are any indication. One commenter writes “EU population is flat/declining. US population is growing.” Even our friend Roger Pielke, Jr. […]

Friedman’s Chapter 18

For ages I’ve been meaning to mention Thomas Friedman’s Chapter 18 Project, an online addendum to his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded (which I reviewed). It’s a not-very-frequently-updated blog, but it’s also a call for ideas, which Friedman will allegedly rate or assess or something, for possible inclusion in a paperback edition. Share your […]

Who’s getting the ‘special interest’ money this election?

The presidential race isn’t the only one attracting big bucks this election season; members of Congress are getting some sizable donations too. The Center for Responsive Politics has been keeping tabs on it all. Here’s how some environment-related sectors have been spending their cash this year. Energy and natural resource sector: $58,519,935, this election cycle, […]