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A roundup of environmental news from the presidential race

• Obama announced a proposal for a $5 billion Great Lakes restoration program on Tuesday, with funds to be spent on wetlands restoration, sewage repairs, cleaning up mercury and other toxic pollutants, and controlling invasive species. The proposal is expected to help him in the crucial swing states of Michigan and Ohio.   • McCain […]

Lying about drilling: it works

This is what demagoguery on drilling will get you: Senate Republicans’ campaign chief said Wednesday that he’s more optimistic now than he has been at any point in the cycle, and that it’s possible they could play Democrats to a draw in November.  Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee […]

Canada has its own elections, which may shape future of a carbon tax

Canada is two weeks in to its third election in four years, and environmental issues have been … well, not quite front-and-center, but definitely somewhere in the foreground. And that could be a very bad thing for the chances for a carbon tax in the U.S. The election has been pretty dull, even by Canadian […]

Resources to help you green your college experience

The sites below aim to help you find the right green-leaning campus, cause, or contest. There’s no way we’ve uncovered all the good ones, so tell us what we’ve missed in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Green College Rankings Sustainable Endowment Institute’s “College Sustainability Report Card” Princeton Review’s “Green Rating Honor […]

Small-scale slaughterhouses are vital to the health of local food economies

In “Dispatches From the Fields,” Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America’s agro-industrial landscape. —– A trailer load of chickens. Photos: Ariane Lotti In the cold and dark that is 5:30 a.m. in […]

Tesla profile in New Scientist

For those upset about the bashing electric vehicles have taken recently, check out this glowing profile ($ub. req’d) of Tesla — and its Roadster — in New Scientist magazine today. The Roadster does 0-60 in four seconds, tops out at 130 mph, and only costs $109,000 (sigh … not in this writer’s budget this year). […]

Maroon 5 has a message for you

It’s been viewed over 15,000 times already. We’d have to commit acts illegal in most southern states to get that kind of viewership. On the subject of energy legislation, there’s a ton of action on energy this week. Particularly promising is news of a Senate compromise on tax relief — including a long-term extension of […]

Obama details $5 billion plan to help restore Great Lakes

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed a $5 billion trust fund this week to clean up and restore the Great Lakes — a move that may help him win votes in Michigan and Ohio. The fund would be aimed at restoring area wetlands, cleaning up contaminated sediments, curbing the spread of invasive species, and fixing […]

Economists prefer Obama on energy and environment policy

Dilbert author Scott Adams commissioned a survey of 500 economists, asking them which candidate they prefer on a variety of issues. The results are … not very interesting. Short story: economists prefer Obama. Medium story: Democratic economists prefer Obama, Republican economists prefer McCain, and independents swing Obama (46-39 percent). Breakdown of the 500, drawn from […]

Passing the buck or paying the piper

We have just gone through a period in the U.S. when very little new public infrastructure was built (with the exception of wired and wireless telecommunications infrastructure). Led by a generation and a half of politicians and economic theorists — as well as our own inclinations — Americans have become used to believing that a […]