Latest Articles
-
U.K. looking to seduce communities into hosting nuke-waste facility
The British government has begun searching in earnest for a community willing to host a new underground nuclear waste burial site. The winning community would not only be, de facto, the hottest place in Britain, but it could also be the lucky recipient of … infrastructure funds! Britain’s environment secretary, Hilary Benn, launched into seduction […]
-
E.U. ending bluefin tuna season early amid overfishing concerns
The European Union is ending its bluefin tuna fishing season early this year due to concerns that fishers are already nearing their quotas for the popular, lucrative fish. Bluefin tuna are prized for their succulence in sushi, and demand remains strong. Market prices for bluefin in Japan have nearly tripled since last year. However, next […]
-
Breaking news: Permafrost loss linked to Arctic sea ice loss
A major new study published Friday in Geophysical Research Letters by leading tundra experts has found "Accelerated Arctic land warming and permafrost degradation during rapid sea ice loss." The lead author is David Lawrence of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, who I interviewed for my book and recently interviewed again via email about his recent work. The study's ominous conclusion: -
Radiant City is a mesmerizing documentary on sprawl
Radiant City is as described in the trailer -- oddly disturbing, strangely amusing, and sadly illuminating:
A terrific movie. It features planning guru/God Andres Duany and dyspeptic sprawlhater James Howard Kunstler (in a strange and hilarious tie that looks like he slept in it for a couple days) intoning, in a reasonable tone, some of their most on-target slams on sprawl and the suburban paradigm. It includes lots of "fun facts" about the suburbs, including one or two from Alan Durning's book The Car and the City.
Not quite up to Errol Morris standards, but really, really good documentary.
-
Republican members of Congress do not believe in climate change or deem it a priority
National Journal polls members of Congress: Matt draws our attention to one particular quote from a Republican No: "If there’s one thing poll after poll indicates, it’s that the science is not settled on this issue." Wow. Also: But don’t worry: McCain is a maverick! So he should have no trouble overcoming the deep institutional […]
-
-
Snippets from the news
• Shower curtains emit toxic chemicals. • Men use more energy than women — at least in Sweden. • Navy was practicing just before dolphins stranded. • Madagascar will sell offsets to fund rainforest conservation. • Group ranks best cities in which to weather an oil crisis. • New Hampshire joins Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
-
China earthquake shook up pandas
China’s destructive earthquake took a toll on wild panda habitat, State Forestry Administration officials said Thursday. Only 1,590 pandas still live in the wild, and about 1,400 of those live in China’s Sichuan Province, which was rocked hard by the quake. Officials estimate that some 8.3 percent of wild panda digs was completely destroyed, and […]
-
As fertilizer flows from the Midwest, a vast algae bloom thrives below the Mississippi
Every year since the early 1980s, a monstrous algae bloom has risen up in the Gulf of Mexico, fed by fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms. The nasty growth sucks oxygen from the ocean beneath it — snuffing out sea life even as climate change and other human-induced factors threaten the globe’s fish stocks. Ironically, as […]
-
House passes Amtrak authorization by veto-proof margin
The House passed a bill yesterday to allocate nearly $15 billion to Amtrak, a move intended to give travelers an alternative as gas prices soar. The bill, which would authorize funding for the passenger railroad for the next five years, passed by a vote of 311-104 — a veto-proof margin. Within the funding package, $14.9 […]
