Latest Articles

Climber scales New York Times building with climate message

For World Environment Day on Thursday, a French climber scaled the New York Times building in Manhattan to protest climate change. Wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “The Solution Is Simple.Org” — the web address of a one-page site calling for meaningful climate action — Alain Robert climbed to the top of the 52-story building […]

A list of strengthening amendments to the climate bill that will probably never be introduced

In all likelihood, these will never be formally introduced on the Senate floor, but here’s a list of the strengthening amendments to the Climate Security Act that various senators have floated: Renewable Electricity Standard, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): This amendment would require that states generate at least 20 percent of their electricity […]

Inhofe: ‘Hey, it’s not our fault’

“All Republicans want just one thing, and that is to debate this bill … When they pull the bill, I don’t want them to say that Republicans had anything to do with it.” — James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on the Senate floor Thursday, after Republican leadership spent nearly four days delaying debate of the Climate Security […]

FDA warns of salmonella-infected tomatoes in the Southwest

What’s next, tainted buns? In yet another blow to the burger, tomatoes have joined beef and lettuce as star players in that booming industrial-food genre, the disease-outbreak drama. This one involves tomatoes that carry what the FDA calls “an uncommon strain” of salmonella called Saintpaul. Some 57 people have come down with salmonellosis in New […]

Snippets from the news

• Bush says will veto plan to fund rural schools and libraries with paid-back oil royalties. • Common pesticides linked to diabetes. • Could liquefied-natural-gas project help salmon? • Stop trashing the climate already. • Few are fans of Bush plan for $100 billion cleantech fund. • Norwegian NGO says we can slash emissions 85 […]

Inhofe: Gore wrong 100 percent of the time

“Almost everything in his movie, in fact, everything has been refuted.” — Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth

House passes bill to green up schools

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would put more than $20 billion over the next five years toward improving energy efficiency in schools. Democrats say the modestly named 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act would save school districts billions in energy costs. In addition, said Education and Labor Committee Chairman […]

Oceans of love for the Tesla-driving Matt Damon

Photo: PBS Not that I’m f*cking (in love with) Matt Damon and would use even vaguely green news as an excuse to write about him — what would give you that idea? — but the Bourne star was spotted earlier this week taking a Tesla prototype for a spin. Autofiends.com chatted him up about how […]

New climate campaign aimed at U.S. consumers

A European campaign to raise consumer awareness of climate change has made its U.S. debut. The Together campaign — not to be confused with the similarly named-and-agendaed “we” campaign — was initiated by the nonprofit Climate Group and kicked off in the U.S. by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and […]

Still more reasons to eat local and lay off the beef

Increasingly, consumers are trying to reduce the environmental impacts of the foods they eat. But it's not so easy to know what to do, in part because of the bewildering array of food choices the market offers, but also because it's hard to know what food choices carry the biggest impact.

This nifty study tries to clear away some of the murk by tackling a fairly straightforward question: If you care about the climate, which is more important, what kind of food you eat, or where that food is grown?

To summarize the findings: All else being equal, locally grown food is friendlier to the climate than food grown half a continent away. But if you're looking for a single food choice that will help curb your climate impact, your best bet is to stay away from cows!