Latest Articles
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Snippets from the news
• Building boom could lead to water crisis in Spain. • One of largest U.S. Hummer stores closes its doors. • Can pollution make you fat? • Could invasive species be a good thing? • Zinc mining could threaten world’s deepest lake.
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National Clean Energy Summit videos
A few weeks ago I went to the National Clean Energy Summit (coverage here) organized by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It’s the kind of thing Dems do — wonky, tedious, strenuously bipartisan (even though no Republicans of note show up or give a sh*t), and quickly forgotten. Meanwhile Republicans dominate the debate with their […]
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X-Prize
In San Francisco this Friday, the Long Now Foundation will host a talk by Peter Diamandis, founder and Chairman of the X Prize Foundation, on X-Prizes. Here’s a YouTube taster. It got me thinking. Large prizes are great for stimulating the public’s imagination, but do they make for good public policy? Take John McCain’s proposal […]
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U.S. bottled-water guzzling is slowing
Americans’ seemingly insatiable thirst for bottled water seems to be slowing, according to new industry stats. Annual U.S. bottled-water consumption shot up nearly 46 percent between 2002 and 2007, to an average 29.3 gallons per person. But the Beverage Marketing Corporation predicts that bottled-water guzzling will grow only 6.7 percent in 2008, the smallest increase […]
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Finally
Obama spokesman calls Palin’s “Bridge to Nowhere” claim what it is: a lie. Was that so hard? UPDATE: See also:
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Umbra on bedbugs
Dear Umbra, I desperately need your help. My house has become infested with bedbugs! I’m trying to find an environmentally friendly way to get rid of them. I’ve tried a thorough cleaning and tried using diatomaceous earth (fossil shell flour) to no avail. The local exterminator is looking more and more appealing. Please stop me […]
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Jessy Tolkan comments on industry CEO roundtable
From the Wonk Room. —– During the Democratic National Convention, the Rocky Mountain Roundtable hosted a day-long symposium on energy and climate change. One session included top officials from major global warming polluters: the electric utility Xcel Energy, Arch Coal, Dow Chemical, the natural gas corporation GHK, and the top coal corporation Peabody Energy. The […]
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Over Nevadan objections, Yucca Mountain repository inches forward
Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump inched forward Monday as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to formally review the feds’ license application for the site. It will likely take the NRC four years or so to peruse the Department of Energy’s 8,600-page application and decide whether to give Yucca the go-ahead. Attorneys for the state […]
