Latest Articles

Greenpeace protesters acquitted in coal-activism case

In a decision that anti-coal activists say is a gamechanger, six Greenpeace protesters have been acquitted of nearly $53,000 in criminal-damage charges for painting “Gordon” on a British coal plant. The activists climbed a 650-foot coal-plant chimney last year with the intent to paint “Gordon bin it” in huge letters, aiming to pressure Prime Minister […]

NYT critiques alien biology

Last year, I posted an argument that not all alien species are bad, based on a study of the invasive aquatic plant Hydrilla; I got pretty bloodied, not only because it’s an unpopular notion in enviro circles, but also because of my clumsy presentation and defense of the idea. Yesterday’s New York Times ran a […]

Turns out McCain doesn’t care about the greatest threat we face

All you need to know about McCain’s core beliefs on climate change: The 72-year-old McCain named a global-warming-denying, Big Oil Super-Shill as his vice presidential nominee. His much anticipated acceptance speech never once mentioned the gravest threat facing the health and well-being of the nation and the world. After walking away from a mandatory cap-and-trade […]

Coal vs. wind showdown in West Virginia today

Back in August, Kate brought you the story of Coal River Mountain, one of the last intact mountains in West Virginia’s Coal River Valley. WV activists want to site a wind farm on the mountain (see Coal River Wind); Massey Energy wants to blow the top off and mine coal out of it. Massey wants […]

Umbra on being an energy-efficient renter

Dear Umbra, I’m an apartment dweller in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it doesn’t get too cold or too hot. Still, my energy bill is much too high for my liking and I’m wondering what I can do to bring down the cost and the waste. Any suggestions for non-homeowners? Sarah J. Oakland, Calif. […]

Renewables and the ‘Cheap Energy Contract’

Earlier in this series, we established that electric-driven transport can fairly rapidly substitute for petroleum in most ground transport applications and that renewable electric generators will be the most quickly deployable and functional of the available energy alternatives. However, there are challenges and barriers to overcome in order to move quickly toward the clean energy […]

Transportation stuff

Still catching up with stuff I missed. On the public transportation front, check out this article about the rare prospect of having an Amtrak fan (Biden) in the White House, a cool chart from Brookings comparing Obama and McCain on a range of important transportation issues, and this happy AP story about transit ridership skyrocketing.

Reid to hold votes on three drilling plans next week

E&E Daily reports ($ub. req’d) Tuesday that “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to bring three competing energy packages to the floor next week that include wider offshore oil and gas drilling.” I think the key is that any proposal brought up must marry “opt in” offshore drilling with a serious extension of renewable […]

White roofs could help keep climate change at bay

This whole climate-change debacle could be significantly slowed down if the world’s 100 largest cities thing installed white roofs and more-reflective pavement, says a new study to be published in the journal Climatic Change. It may sound like greenwhitewashing, but physicist Hashem Akbari crunches the numbers: By bouncing heat away from the Earth, a 1,000-square-foot […]

McCain’s VP pick has a mixed record on supporting renewables in home state

McCain VP pick Sarah Palin has a record of being both a friend and foe of Big Oil in her home state of Alaska. But she’s also made a point of voicing support for renewable and “clean” energy sources. Flashback one week to Palin’s big convention speech in St. Paul: “Starting in January, in a […]