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Urban farmer awarded ‘genius’ grant

Will Allen. Urban farmer Will Allen has been named one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant recognizes Allen’s work bringing affordable fresh produce and quality grass-fed meats to the urban poor and educating communities about sustainable farming. Allen co-founded the group […]

Production and ecosystems are more important than the financial sector

Over the past eight years or so, the so-called “masters of the universe” in the financial sector seem to have swallowed their own hype. Arguing that money equals wealth and the freer the market the better, they have led the charge to offshore our manufacturing base while hopping on the biggest bubble in history, the […]

Chevy Volt not so revolutionary

For those of you who missed it, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz hit the talk show circuit last week to talk up the latest incarnation of the Chevy Volt (more on his boneheaded climate change comments here and here). The marketing goal is to create the public perception that the Volt is an electric car […]

Friends of the Earth says anti-regulation approach causes environmental destruction

Friends of the Earth issued a statement today arguing against the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the troubled U.S. financial system. “This financial crisis has exposed the right wing’s anti-regulation philosophy as an abject failure,” said Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder. “This hands-off approach to managing the economy has resulted in […]

Failing to address climate change could hurt industry, report finds

Failing to address climate change could significantly hurt many industries in the world economy that are together worth around $7 trillion, according to a report by the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust. The report examined six different sectors of the world economy — aluminum, automotive, building materials, consumer electronics, oil and gas, and, uh … brewing […]

GM flack jumps into Huffington Post fray to defend exec’s climate-change skepticism

We posted last week about GM Vice Chair Bob Lutz expressing a little climate-change skepticism on The Colbert Report. Josh Nelson wrote about it as well over on Huffington Post, and thus began an online conversation with GM’s director of news relations, Tom Wilkinson, who defended both Lutz and the company’s environmental policies. “There is […]

Bad policy ideas in Michigan

Environmental pressures and economic slowdowns are admittedly hard for state governors to tackle. Even still, Michigan’s latest is a lousy idea. As noted here, the state legislature has just passed a bill which Gov. Granholm has promised to sign that would: Strengthen the utility monopolies, guaranteeing DTE and Consumer’s Energy at least 90% of the […]

Portland, Ore., tops sustainable-cities ranking

For the fourth year in a row, Portland, Ore., has been named the most sustainable of the 50 largest U.S. cities. The rankings by green org SustainLane, which take 16 economic and quality-of-life factors into consideration, “reveal which cities are increasingly self-sufficient, prepared for the unexpected, and taking steps toward preserving and enhancing their quality […]

The scoop on energy bills in Congress: offshore drilling, oil shale, renewable tax credits, and more

What’s really up with the energy bills in Congress? Will we see oil rigs off the coast of New Jersey anytime soon? Will Congress actually get anything done before it adjourns next week? As the clock ticks down on the 110th Congress, it’s not entirely clear what we can expect in terms of energy. The […]

Is the financial crisis more dire than the climate crisis?

Not even close. If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment. So warned IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri last fall when the IPCC released its major multi-year report synthesizing our understanding of climate science. And remember, […]