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Duke Energy announces investment in wood biomass on first day of the Clinton Global Initiative

The fourth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative kicked off today, bringing together heads of state, business leaders, and representatives from non-governmental organizations in New York City to discuss major initiatives to address the world’s challenges. “Energy & Climate Change” are among the four commitment areas the conference is focused on this year, and […]

Tree-sitting in Northern Calif. redwoods ends for now

For over 20 years, tree-sitters in Northern California have taken a stand for ancient redwoods by camping in their branches and acting as physical barriers to logging. But for now at least, the last trees-sitters have all descended from their perches, thanks to a promise from a timber company that owns huge swaths of redwoods […]

Methane releases from under the Arctic seabed could jeopardize GHG stabilization

The U.K.’s Independent reported today some pretty shocking news in “Exclusive: The methane time bomb”: The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists … The Independent has been passed […]

Al Gore on the climate and financial crises

In this morning’s first panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative, former President Bill Clinton and his VP, Al Gore, talked about how the nation’s financial situation might have played out differently if we’d dealt intelligently with energy issues years ago — a theme Clinton has sounded several times this week. Gore said that the […]

A quick stop at Google HQ

During our travels in the Bay Area, Todd and I ended up near Mountain View and took the opportunity to make a quick stop at Google HQ. We were hoping for a tour and maybe a lunch at their super-sustainable cafeteria, but apparently the place is closed to the public so all we ended up […]

Oregon’s capital far behind its bigger sister

From LoveSalem: So we were talking about keeping chickens as part of a scheme for implementing the "Food Not Lawns" ideal (Victory Gardening for The New Reality). Someone thought you could keep hens but not roosters. Someone else thought you couldn’t keep either. It all led to an inquiry to the powers that be, who […]

This year’s top 10 climate blogs

Last summer, I put together a list of the top 10 climate blogs. For the sake of objectivity, I used Technorati, which ranks all blogs by “authority” (the number of blogs linking to it). The lower the rank, the better. One of the blogs on that list, It’s Getting Hot In Here, has updated it […]

Umbra on small steps with big impacts

Dear Umbra, This year my family is not in the position to make any major CO2-reducing changes. We will not be purchasing a new car, a smaller house, or more efficient appliances. And honestly, with two small children living in a suburb, public transportation is not a realistic option. Still, we’d like to reduce our […]

Reviving national service in a big way

This essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. —– Lately, our news has focused on tropical depressions maturing into monster hurricanes that leave devastation in their wake — and I’m not just talking about Gustav and Ike. Today, we face a perfect storm of financial devastation, notable for […]

Colleges given green grades

How green is your alma mater? Check out the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card, which grades 300 U.S. and Canadian schools on their green practices. The colleges are evaluated in areas including climate and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, and transportation. Many pass those categories with flying colors, but in areas “like […]