Latest Articles

15 creative ways that students and colleges are going greener

Kappa and Trade Green the Greeks, a student organization at UCLA, is trying to educate the school’s Greek system about sustainability issues. Frats and sororities use a disproportionate amount of energy, the group says, so it’s aiming to “harness the resources of the Greek community for the environment,” its website explains. The rush to get […]

Hillary Clinton stumps for public transportation

“Across America places that thought there would never be much demand for public transit are now finding that there is. We can’t keep burdening public transit systems without giving them the money they need to run.” — Hillary Clinton (who introduced the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act and testified about it before the Senate […]

WSJ special package runs the energy gamut

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday produced a special report covering all things energy. The series warns that the gasoline engine won’t be phased out anytime soon; considers the newfound popularity of wood stoves and LED lights; takes a critical look at “clean coal”; peruses the latest in clean-tech; and surveys the energy situation in […]

Renewable energy promotion policies: non-transparent or hidden

Tax credit policies One of the ways the gap between market price and feasible price of renewable energy plants has been bridged is through tax benefits to investors. Just as the oil and gas industries have enjoyed various tax benefits to encourage investment in drilling, exploration, and production facilities, in the last couple decades investors […]

Public transit and oil dependence

Those of you interested in strengthening the ability of public transportation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil should check out Congressional testimony from Brookings metropolitan policy expert Robert Puentes, entitled, um, "Strengthening the Ability of Public Transportation to Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil." I’m not sure the general public — or even the […]

McCain and Obama answer questions on science and scientific integrity

Scientists and Engineers for America sent a questionnaire to the major-party presidential candidates asking them about innovation and a number of science-related issues. Obama responded several weeks ago, and now McCain has delivered his answers. You can compare their responses on climate change, energy, ocean health, water shortages, government-funded research, and scientific integrity. Most of […]

Physics For Future Presidents fails to deliver sound climate science

The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– We all bemoan the low level of scientific discourse in politics. So one might have high hopes for a course, textbook, and book for the general public all titled Physics For Future Presidents as resources that might help educate today’s students and […]

Student activist gets Phoenix buzzing with green biz expo

Chris Samila Age: 23 School: Arizona State University Sometimes people do things because they don’t realize they can’t. If this makes no sense to you, you haven’t met Chris Samila, a (permanent, as he jokingly puts it) senior at Arizona State University in Tempe, where he had some epiphanies, founded a business (Green Summit Inc.), […]

New study links BPA to heart disease and diabetes

Ubiquitous chemical bisphenol A is linked to heart disease and diabetes, says new research released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Food and Drug Administration recently declared that BPA is safe; the new study’s release was timed to coincide with an independent panel’s review of that conclusion. Researchers studied urine samples […]

Oh, not those special interests

The Science Debate folks got both the candidates to answer a list of 14 questions. (h/t Andy Revkin) Drawn from John McCain’s answer on climate policy: I am also committed to investing two billion dollars every year for the next 15 years on clean coal technologies, to unlock the potential of America’s oldest and most […]