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Joseph Romm’s critique of EDF’s contest is misguided

This post was originally published on Environmental Economics. —– Joe Romm’s analysis is mostly spot on — and if a post starts like this, you already know what comes next. This time he responds to a $10,000 contest organized by EDF (yep, my employer) that asks for submissions to help explain: “What is a carbon […]

McCain and Obama need to talk real farm policy

John McCain and Barack Obama need to start talking farm policy. With less than a month before the November elections in a year marked by a world-wide food crisis, energy shortages, climate change, and an international credit crisis, agriculture should be a prominent issue in every media event. Current farm policies are more about corporate […]

New Apple laptop is ‘greenest MacBook ever’

The new Apple laptop that your geeky officemate is swooning over is “the greenest MacBook ever,” according to the company. (But remember, kids: Hanging on to your current laptop is even greener.) Instead of being cobbled together from various pieces, the new MacBook’s main frame is cut out of a single piece of aluminum, and […]

Two very un-green candidates compete for South Carolina Senate seat

In the South Carolina Senate race debate over the weekend, the two candidates were asked directly about climate change and energy concerns. Via Think Progress, here’s what Democratic candidate Bob Conley had to say on global warming: Conley: It really is the arrogance of man to think that we are having any effect. I’m an […]

TV queen shows 10 million viewers the dark side of Chicken McNuggets

The chicken industry has had a rough year, its wings clipped by pricey feed, reduced demand, and financial trouble. Even after a recent rally, Pilgrim’s Pride — which slaughters and packs 24 percent of U.S. chicken — has seen its share price plunge nearly 90 percent. As if the industry didn’t have enough to squawk […]

Deregulation and inequality are bad for both the economy and the environment

Now that financial apocalypse has been (possibly) delayed a few weeks, let’s focus on the mortgage crisis and see what it teaches us about financial regulations in general. Mortgages once were great investments. When lenders were highly regulated and careful never to lend more than the underlying value of homes, mortgages provided a higher return […]

Biz aims to offset habitat impact by boosting biodiversity elsewhere

A giant natural-gas operation that Shell Oil is building in Qatar will disrupt birds and rare desert truffles — but the company plans to make amends by protecting antelopes, turtles, and sea cows elsewhere in the emirate. Such “biodiversity offset” schemes are up-and-coming, as companies seeking to burnish their eco-reputations come together with conservation groups […]

Lawmakers use financial crisis as pretext to screw with climate legislation

In a post yesterday I drew attention to an emerging battle over macroeconomics. To put it crudely: does the financial crisis mean the next president will need to trim his ambitions and focus on reducing the deficit? Or does it call for substantial public spending to get the economy moving again (deficit be damned, at […]

Three states appeal directly to companies to avoid BPA in products

The attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey urged 11 U.S. baby-bottle and baby-formula companies to stop using the chemical bisphenol A in their products and packaging in order to protect kids from the chemical’s damaging effects. BPA has been found in the urine of 93 percent of Americans, and recent studies have linked […]

Huge new hydroelectric dam under construction in Brazilian Amazon

A new $5 billion hydroelectric dam now under construction on a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil will seriously mess with the area’s unique environment and wildlife and displace thousands of indigenous residents, critics say. Up to 3,000 families will be displaced when the dam’s reservoir floods, and the project will also likely affect […]