Latest Articles

Truth in advertising

Check out this pearl from commenter David Ahlport (found in the comments of David Roberts’ Cost Tic post). I’m a proponent of using ads to spread ideas. The problem with most ads is that they are at best half-truths. This one has it all. They draw a gentle and humorous line between themselves and negative […]

The financial meltdown and other considerations for clean energy development

Tom asked earlier what the "anarchic" disintegration of Lehman Brother’s carbon trading desk — taking place within the broader disintegration of the entire company — means in the bigger picture. And the answer, most likely, is pretty much nothing. This is true for a variety of reasons, not least among them that Lehman Brothers was […]

L.A. train collision dismays new riders

Speaking of trains, the horrific train wreck in L.A. last Friday came as ridership on the region’s rail network was on the rise, The New York Times reports. Los Angeles has long been known for its car-choked freeways. But after gas prices in California rose to more than $4.50 a gallon over the last several […]

Environmental champion Philip Clapp, dead at 54

Philip Clapp. Photo: National Environmental Trust Philip Clapp, a lifelong champion for environmental causes and an early, eloquent voice on global climate change, died in Amsterdam early this morning. He was admitted to the hospital there two weeks ago with a sudden and unexpected illness. He was 54. "This is such a shock," said Carl […]

Snippets from the news

• T. Boone Pickens puts hold on water-pipeline plan. • Grizzlies are thriving in Montana. • Seattle bag tax will be put to a vote. • Berkeley approves city-backed loans for solar panels. • Web sees rise of carpooling startups.

Do we want an economy that’s a bit more Belgian or Belgian Congo?

A simple syllogism to expose the flaws in our GHG debate: Fossil fuels cost money. When burned, fossil fuels emit CO2. Therefore, burning less fossil fuel saves money and CO2. The logic is impeccable (even if not quite as entertaining as Lewis Carroll’s syllogisms). And yet our entire GHG debate continues to be framed as […]

Incoming Yale student plans to ramp up her activism for the big leagues

For some people, life starts after college. For Karoline Evin McMullen, it began in middle school. Karoline Evin McMullen Age: 18 School: Yale University By the time she was 14, McMullen of rural Geauga County, Ohio, had already: written a textbook for elementary school kids; started a project with two friends to protect endangered brook […]

Still trying to make environmental sense of the massive bailout now underway

I like to think of myself as a reasonably cynical person, at least in matters of finance. When I started reporting on Mexico’s markets in 1998, Russia had just defaulted in billions of debt. Russia and Mexico had virtually no direct financial or trade relationship, yet large investors punished Mexico anyway. (To be fair, Mexico […]

Seven tips on green campus organizing from a Harvard pro

Leith Sharp. When Leith Sharp left her native Australia for a five-month tour of the U.S. and Europe in the late 1990s, she could hardly have guessed that she’d be gone for a decade. But that’s exactly what happened. Sharp had spent five years piloting eco-efforts at the University of New South Wales, in a […]

Immelt: yay RPS!

I’m on a conference call, listening to Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, chat with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, about energy. I don’t have a recording, but I tell you, Immelt sounds more and more like a standard greenie — he’s stumping for a national RPS, 10-year extension of renewable tax credits, and a price […]