Latest Articles

Umbra on shifting to vegetarianism

Dear Umbra, I recently became a vegetarian for environmental reasons. Everyone says I should start eating soy products and tofu. But doesn’t soy come from evil industrial farms in Iowa? I thought the idea was to increase biodiversity, not just eat the same thing 20 different ways. Also, can I keep eating eggs and milk? […]

New data: Green investment would produce about twice the jobs of Wall Street bailout

There’s been a bit of extremely stupid chatter in D.C. lately suggesting that somehow the financial storm could get in the way of action to combat the climate crisis. So I picked up my phone at Greenpeace and asked Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier of the University of Massachusetts to compare the economic effects of […]

Where does McCain get his claim that nuclear will create 700,000 jobs?

In this post, I questioned John McCain’s claim that building 45 new nuclear reactors between now and 2030 would create 700,000 new jobs. I couldn’t find any numbers to back the claim up, and plenty of numbers that cast doubt on it. I contacted the campaign, and they sent along a 2004 study called "U.S. […]

Avent v. Manzi re: global warming

Econ/placemaking blogger Ryan Avent (who, it turns out, also sings for Spoon) takes on everyone’s favorite Reasonable Conservative Jim Manzi on the subject of global warming, on BloggingHeads: Want to know why we’re doomed? Look no further than the first comment: I don’t think anybody is gonna do anything serious about gwarming anytime soon for […]

Northeast states’ first carbon auction goes smoothly despite financial crisis

Carbon allowances sold for $3.07 per ton in the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade auction, auction officials said Monday. The price was lower than futures markets had predicted but higher than the minimum price some had feared. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auction held last Thursday sold all of the 12.6 million allowances offered in this […]

Beijing extends traffic-control measures to keep smog away

Beijing enjoyed its best air quality in a decade during the Olympic Games, thanks in part to strict traffic-control measures. Pleased by their success, city officials have unveiled ongoing modified measures in hopes of continuing to ward off the smog. Under rules that go into effect Oct. 11, privately owned vehicles will be banned from […]

Underdog Tom Allen attempts to unseat GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins

Maine’s Susan Collins (R) was one of just three senators to receive a perfect score on the League of Conservation Voters’ 2007 scorecard. The next-closest Republican on the list was Collins’ home-state colleague, Olympia Snowe, who earned an 80 percent mark. Susan Collins. Photo: susancollins.com Collins’ lifetime score after 11 years in office is significantly […]

Congress looks set to let offshore and oil shale moratoriums expire

The Senate approved a resolution Saturday to continue funding the federal government through next spring, but the measure didn’t include any language on offshore drilling. This means that as of the stroke of midnight tomorrow, the moratorium currently barring drilling in the outer continental shelf that has been in place for 26 years will evaporate. […]

Schwarzenegger to host climate summit of governors, world leaders

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has announced plans to host a climate-change summit in Los Angeles in November in an attempt to form an international climate alliance of local, regional, and world leaders ahead of United Nations climate talks in Poland in December. The summit invitees include governors from all 50 states, as well as […]

Spotlight on North America’s largest solar power plant at Nellis AFB

    This is a guest post from my travel partner, Todd Dwyer, head blogger for Dell’s ReGeneration.org, where the piece originally appeared. —– The ReGeneration Road Trip rolled into Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas to see North America’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant. Covering 140 acres and providing some 14 megawatts of […]