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Snippets from the news

• EBay building has a giant solar roof. • Meet the eco-conscious YAWNs: Young and Wealthy but Normal. • Schwarzenegger won’t take crap from the auto industry. • Thieves target restaurant grease. • Rare iguanas found slaughtered. • “Eco-terrorist” sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Millions of Americans may not be able to afford heat or power this year

So, I spent almost $2,000 today ... to fill up our oil tank. We heat primarily with wood, but we use oil as a backup system to keep the pipes from freezing and occasionally on days when we're going to be out for an extended period. Our hot water is also heated with oil. For whatever reason, most oil heat in the U.S. is in the Northeast, mostly in towns beyond gas lines like mine. I suspect today's purchase may well be the last tank of heating oil we ever buy. Unfortunately, that's not true for most Americans.

Chastised by bloggers, Dell aims to cut down on waste

To paraphrase Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of loud, critical bloggers can change Dell’s packaging M.O.” OK, that’s a bit of a stretch — and we won’t go so far as to say “Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” But photos published on the internet during Earth Week of a […]

Polar-bear listing would hurt the poor, says industry

If the U.S. Interior Department decides that polar bears are endangered, litigation will be immediate from a group arguing that bear protection will “result in higher energy prices across the board, which will disproportionately be borne by minorities.” So says Roy Innis, chair of the Congress for Racial Equality — a recipient of Exxon funding […]

Tom Friedman on the need to invest in infrastructure and revitalize the U.S.

Sometimes Tom Friedman drives me crazy, but he often has a good nugget hidden in the middle of his columns, like this one last Sunday:

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York's Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.'s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore's ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children's play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

I've often wondered what would happen if Germany, Italy, and Japan fought a world war against the U.S., Russia, and Britain in today's world -- but on a more positive note, perhaps we can move past the "private wealth, public squalor" contrast that John Kenneth Galbraith pointed to long ago.

Timothy LaSalle of Rodale on the surprising climate benefits of organic farming

Organic methods: good for carrots and for the climate. The Rodale Institute, founded by organic farming visionary J.I. Rodale, is one of the nation’s leading organic-farming research and advocacy organizations. Today, Rodale sits on a 333-acre farm near Kutztown, Penn., home to the longest-running U.S. field trials study to compare organic and conventional farming practices. […]

McCain kicks off series of environmental events with address in N.J.

John McCain gave a campaign speech in New Jersey today in which he touched on environmental issues and talked up his record in that area. “There is no doubt our environment is globally challenged,” McCain said in a stop at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. “I’m proud of my environmental record.” But […]

The number of the beast?

The population of the earth is expected to pass 6,666,666,666 today. (via Slashdot)

Coal is the enemy of the human race: Criminal negligence edition

Mining accidents and deaths cause a flurry of press coverage and then fade into our collective memory. But for a moment, let’s think back to those horrific weeks last year as we waited to find out the fate of the trapped miners in Crandall Canyon … only to be bitterly disappointed. Now look: The general […]

Dissolving your corpse is the green way to go

Concerned about the environmental impact of your burial or cremation? Well, don’t die. But if you must, consider a third option: have your corpse dissolved. In a procedure called alkaline hydrolysis, the deceased is put into a stainless-steel cylinder resembling a pressure cooker; application of lye, 300-degree heat, and 60 pounds of pressure per inch […]