Latest Articles

RPJr. is at it again

Roger Pielke Jr., last seen bobbing and weaving in an online bout with an Actual Scientist — and getting pummeled — can now be found in a story in the Moonie-owned, far-right Washington Times: Roger A. Pielke, environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, and not previously a global warming skeptic, reacted to the […]

Coming to terms with the reality of a world of refugees

There's definitely a survivalist streak building in the environmental movement. Mainstream newspapers are starting to run stories about survivalism.

There are quite a few people who hear that the energy peak or climate change is coming and believe that building up their stocks of ammo and heading for the hills is the way to go. I recognize, even if I do not share, that impulse: It is the impulse to protect your own, the panic you feel when you realize that your society, which on some level is supposed to protect you, hasn't planned ahead for this one. And so there's a tendency of people to get into discussions about what happens when refugees or hungry folk come around, and a lot of times the answer is that you have to protect your own again. Protect your own means "shoot people," in many cases.

Snippets from the news

• Competing forest studies spar over CO2. • Chemical-safety bill introduced in House. • Big investors call on Congress to tackle climate change. • Fisheries Service considers Makah whaling request. • Al Gore receives yet another prize.

Caribou numbers declining in Alaska and Canada

Hello, and welcome back to The Plight of Arctic Wildlife. Previously we’ve covered polar bears, narwhals, seals, and walruses — today we’re going to tackle caribou. (Well, not literally.) After years of steady growth, Alaska’s largest caribou herd lost 20 percent of its population between 2003 and 2007, according to the latest count. The Western […]

Deloitte survey of consumers and utility regulators

On Monday, consultant firm Deloitte released two new surveys, one of consumers and one of utility regulators. There’s some fairly interesting stuff in there. First off, some 87 percent of utility regulators expect the cost of producing electricity to rise next year. Why? Here’s what they attribute it to: Fuel prices (35 percent). Environmental compliance […]

Much depends on finding a new generation to put dinner on the table

Every time I come in from my farm fields and tune into the news these days, the headline is about food: food prices, food scares, food shortages, food riots. Food has America's attention these days, but folks are overlooking a critical piece of the brewing crisis: a national shortage of farmers.

We farmers make up a mere 1.6 percent of the U.S. population right now. Picture an inverted pyramid balanced precariously on its nose: that's our national food supply, with about 3 million of us feeding three hundred million of you. In food terms, our nation resembles an elephant perched on a pair of stiletto heels.

A dozen men’s shaving creams get put to the blade

The best a man can get? For men, shaving surely ranks as one of our most bizarre daily rituals: We take a razor-sharp blade, scald it hot with water, and scrape the hair off of our faces and necks — even the regions over our jugular veins. Yikes. And to complicate matters yet more, we […]

U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions rising

U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions increased 1.6 percent in 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration. Factors at fault, according to the EIA: wacky weather that increased the need for heating and cooling, and “a higher carbon intensity of electricity supply.” (Our electricity supply is carbon-intensive? Who knew?) The agency was quick to point out that GDP […]

Senate Energy Committee members wring their hands about the cost of climate action

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing this morning on the economic effects of global climate change legislation, and as expected, it was largely devoted to stoking fears about the potential costs of meaningful action. “On the extremes, models have been used to show that legislation will have massive disruptions to the […]

USDA considers first-ever organic standards for farmed fish

You may have seen "organic salmon" on the menu in your favorite seafood restaurant or counter. Guess what? It's not organic, according to the USDA. It turns out that some fishmongers have been promoting their fish as organic with definitions of their own.

This week, a USDA advisory panel will consider a key element of the country's first-ever standards for "organic" farmed fish, including salmon. The surprising news is that this standard -- if adopted -- could be a boon for both seafood consumers and conservation.