Latest Articles
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Conclusions of ‘hockey stick’ graph stand up to further scrutiny
The infamous “hockey stick” graph, which shows the northern hemisphere beginning to rapidly warm around the industrial age, has been backed up by new research. Michael Mann, who helped develop the 1998 graph that climate skeptics love to hate, is the lead author of the new study to be published in the Proceedings of the […]
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Palin asked folks to pray for natural-gas pipeline
The Huffington Post did some digging on the church that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin spent most of her life attending. Apparently the church films and posts all of its services. In June, Palin gave a speech to the graduating class of commission students at her former church, Wasilla Assembly of God. In the video, […]
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EPA puts kibosh on wetland-destructive Army Corps project
The U.S. EPA has vetoed a giant, expensive plan to build the world’s largest water pump in the Mississippi River delta. The so-called Yazoo Pump flood-control project would have sucked 6 million gallons of water a minute from 67,000 acres of wetlands along the Yazoo River. The scheme, proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of […]
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A presidential pop quiz on energy, water, scientific integrity, oceans, and climate change
Barack Obama’s answers to the 14 top science questions facing America. (McCain is still working on his answers.)
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‘War on the Poor’ astroturf campaign pushes for increased fossil-fuel production
Van Jones often warns clean energy proponents that anyone they don’t organize into their coalition will be organized against them. Increasing energy prices disproportionately impact the poor, which leaves low-income people and minorities open to demagogic appeals from groups focused on increasing fossil-fuel production. We saw some evidence of that dynamic today at a press […]
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Disappearing owls, threatened forests, and the city-country conflict
"Ghost" is a word field biologists use to describe a species near the end of its time on earth. Often these endangered species are birds, but in a spectacular essay in a newly internet-friendly issue of the English literary journal Granta, Robert MacFarlane slightly expands the meaning of the word. He visits an obscure low-lying […]
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How to commute by bike
Easy rider. Ever glance enviously at the cyclists whizzing past while you’re stuck in traffic? Joining ’em is easy — and it doesn’t have to involve full-body spandex. The health benefits of biking to work are plenty, from helmet hair a svelte physique to breathing fewer air pollutants than those stuck in cars. Regular bikers […]
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Udall stumps on renewables and more to a crowded room
I had the opportunity to attend a campaign event for Mark Udall Friday afternoon, when he stopped by the Montezuma County Democratic headquarters for a short stump speech and Q&A. Udall is a sitting representative in the House who is running against Republican Bob Schaffer for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Wayne Allard. Udall, […]
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Oil platforms off La. fare OK under hurricane; wetlands, not so much
Louisiana’s people and property fared better under Hurricane Gustav than had been feared, but acres of valuable wetlands were likely irrevocably destroyed. “The last thing on anyone’s mind during a hurricane is how the wetlands are going to do,” says activist Aaron Giles. But since happy and healthy wetlands act as storm barriers, “wetlands are […]
