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From D’oh to Dash

Jessica and Ashlee not included Universal Studios is launching a Simpsons-themed ride, but don’t have a cow, man! It uses LED lighting and energy-efficient electronics — so it’s as green as Ned Flanders’ sweater. Ay, caramba! Though, not, of course, as green as having no ride at all … D’oh! © 2007 Universal Orlando. All […]

Are low gas prices an inalienable right?

I'm listening to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) talk to Thom Hartmann on Air America. Sanders is arguably the best senator in decades, and understands, as he just explained, that we need to transform our energy system toward renewables.

But he also said something to the effect that "we have to get gas prices back down." I can't blame him -- particularly in his state of Vermont, rural people are getting slammed by high gas prices, because they have to drive long distances.

His main explanation of high prices (with which Thom Hartmann, an important progressive radio talk show host, seems to agree) is based on 1) oil companies ripping us off, 2) speculators pushing up the price of oil, and 3) OPEC keeping a lid on production.

While all of those are certainly a problem, and a windfall profits tax that Sanders advocates is certainly in order, if the Senate's most progressive voice is not discussing the problem that the supply of oil is beginning to decline, then I don't see how carbon pricing is going to fare well. In the long run, people will get hysterical as their oil expenditures increase, as I argued in what I will now call Part 1 of what may become a series on oil hysteria. We need to push a mandate on turning the American car fleet into an all-electric fleet, and we need to construct a national high-speed rail and light rail network.

McCain touts gas-tax holiday as well as ‘long-term solutions’

McCain on the long-term solution to dependence on foreign oil: Nuclear! Despite what those “extremist environmental organizations” tell you. And despite the fact that only 2 percent of our electricity comes from oil.

Target launches eco-friendly line by Rogan Gregory

Photos: Target Big-box store Target — or Tar-zhay, as I like to call it — is launching its first eco-friendly line of apparel … at luxury retailer Barneys New York. The collection, designed by Rogan Gregory of Edun and Loomstate denim fame, uses organic cotton, hemp, linen, and bamboo to create a "beach safari vibe" […]

Today, No Pants Day will undoubtedly spark dialogue about climate change

Arguably, a far superior cousin to Earth Day: No Pants Day. It may seem to be an innocuous, juvenile ritual devoid of underlying political intentions, but neglecting one’s trousers provides unavoidable commentary about global warming. Conversation starter: “My legs are hot … and so is the planet.” (Bringing up body hair and deforestation is optional.) […]

An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Stacy Malkan. Beauty, they say, is only skin deep. But given the load of toxic chemicals in everyday products like shampoo, deodorant, and makeup, that superficial truth is still cause for concern. With increasing frequency, studies point to hidden dangers in the medicine cabinet: things like lead in lipstick, phthalates in baby lotions, aluminum in […]

Snippets from the news

• An educational website says it’s auctioning the ozone hole on eBay. • Thailand proposes a Southeast Asian rice cartel to control the price of rice. • The U.S. has officially shut down most salmon fisheries on its West Coast. • Tyson Foods ordered to suspend its ads touting antibiotic-free chickens. • Dead zones in […]

Tar sands are hardly ‘environmentally responsible’

Alberta's tar sands got yet another huge black eye this week when as many as 500 ducks died after simply landing on a giant pond full of highly toxic oil sands tailings. Only five were said to have survived their toxic plunge. A member of a Canadian environmental watchdog group described the water found in the ponds as follows:

Drinking a glass of water from a tailings pond would be like drinking a diluted glass of oil or gasoline.

Whether the bitumen is cooked in situ while still underground or scraped off, carted away, and processed elsewhere -- either process requiring both huge amounts of energy and water -- millions of tons of global warming pollution are produced and nearly unfathomable amounts of toxic wastewater and tailings are left behind. Indeed, it is estimated that producing one barrel of oil from tar sands requires between 2 and 4.5 barrels of water. Last year alone, the Alberta tar sands industry was permitted water withdrawals totaling a staggering 119.5 billion gallons.

Bush supporter apparently fired for doing her job

An EPA controversy brewing in the Midwest calls to mind the U.S. attorneys scandal, as Brad Johnson noted yesterday. Top officials in the agency have forced Mary Gade, head of the EPA’s Region 5 office in Chicago, to step down from her post or be fired by June 1. The ouster comes after Gade pressured […]

Veto override fails in Kansas; embattled coal plants remain dead

Two new coal-fired power plants will not be built in western Kansas due to a failed attempt to override the governor’s veto. The coal-plant saga began when a state environment official last year rejected Sunflower Energy’s permit to build the new plants — the first such rejection in the U.S. on the basis of carbon […]