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Snippets from the news

• Will the economic crisis cause E.U. countries to ditch climate commitments? • “Superworms” can eat toxic waste. • Could more renewable energy mean lower power prices? • Defense lawyers threaten to stop Ivory Coast pollution trial. • Prince Charles skeptical of green buildings.

Deal reached to halt deforestation on Sumatra

Indonesian authorities have agreed to halt deforestation on the island of Sumatra, which has lost about half of its forest cover to logging since 1985. Conservationists joined Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinos, and elephants in applauding the deal, launched at the World Conservation Congress being held this week. Deforestation has increased the impact of flooding and […]

Inhofe digs deeper

“I think I was right on that … It’s not whether or not we’re going into a global warming period. We were. We’re not now. You know, God’s still up there. We’re now going through a cooling spell.” — Sen. James Inhofe, in an Oct. 7 debate with Democratic challenger Andrew Rice, defending his notorious […]

A price on carbon will not tackle transportation pollution

A new study [PDF, via WSJ] from the Congressional Budget Office “discovers” something I guess I kind of thought was common knowledge: realistically, no price on carbon will ever be high enough to substantially curtail driving in the U.S. Even $200/ton carbon — wildly outside the range of anything Americans will accept — would only […]

As GM goes …

GM stock is down 30 percent today — the lowest GM stock price since 1950. Ford dropped by almost a quarter before a slight uptick — lowest since 1983. S&P may downgrade their credit rating (again). Witness: Stocks, which had opened higher, dived into the close, with the S&P 500 index ending down 7.6 per […]

Recipes for a classic, unfussy Southern meal built around field peas and history

It’s what’s on the inside that counts. Photos: April McGreger Growing up in a rural Mississippi farming community, I learned to value connectedness to the land, to the people who grow our food, to those who cook it, to those who gather at the table, and to the memories of all who have enjoyed this […]

Financial shock and awe

“Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.” — former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, in 2004

Can you see Russia from behind that skirt?

“This may sound gratuitous, but at least because Gov. Palin — Sarah Palin is so persuasive, I would like to come to Alaska. I haven’t been there in many years anyway, maybe I’ll agree to go visit that area and have a look.” — Sen. John McCain, continuing the slow walkback of his longstanding opposition […]

New report finds unconventional liquid fuels will boost CO2

The interwebs are abuzz over a new study from RAND Corp., which finds that unconventional liquid fuels like oils sands and liquid coal would dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions relative to regular oil. In other news, the earth is round. It also found that Canadian tar sands are economically competitive given current (and expected) prices […]

While global markets crater, a Vermont town unites around food

The effort to revive global credit markets has devolved into farce. Every day, U.S. authorities announce some earth-shaking new measure — a $700 billion bailout, the Fed’s extraordinary move into the commercial-paper business, a coordinated global set of rate cuts — and every day, investors continue acting as tweaky as meth heads when the dope […]